On one such walk, my burner rings. I answer it.
"Yeah."
"Status update." It's Camilla.
"Working on it."
"My source says Jarrod has entered the base. I thought you said getting him out once he was in there would be impossible short of an all-out assault."
"It is. Which is why I've changed tactics."
"To what? What's the plan, now?"
I hesitate, wondering how much to tell her. "Camilla, do you trust me? Dumb question, maybe, I know."
"I suppose I trust you as much as I trust anyone. Perhaps a touch more. Why?"
"Because I have a plan. But it requires you to trust me. I'll call you late tonight or early tomorrow. When I call, you'll have to follow my lead and trust me. Blindly. No questions asked. If I can pull this off, you'll have Jarrod and a huge leg up over the Moreno cartel—shit, all the cartels. If I don't, well, I'll be dead and you'll be no worse off."
"Trust you blindly."
"Yes."
A long silence. "It's a big ask, Saxon."
"I know."
"I have just one condition. I get Jarrod Carmichael. Alive. And I get to do whatever the fuck I want to him. Preferably without risking open war with the Cabal."
"I understand the condition. I'm not making any promises, because my plan is so batshit crazy it just might work. But it is batshit crazy. I'll serve Jarrod to you on a silver fuckin' platter. And then some."
"Then I will choose to trust you, Saxon. Do not let me down."
"Don't plan to." A pause. "How's Anthony?"
"Getting both knees reconstructed, thanks to you."
I let out a long sigh. "I let my temper get the best of me. Tell him I'm sorry."
"Saxon Cabot, the Bloody Viking, is apologizing?"
"I'm not that man anymore. So yeah, I am. I feel bad. Shouldn't have shot him."
"Once upon a time, I would have killed you for that. And your lovely girlfriend. But like you, I've changed."
"Once upon a time, I'd have put the bullet in his skull."
"Once upon a time, I'd have kidnapped Terra and cut her fingers off until you did what I wanted."
"I know. I gotta say I'm glad you didn't."
"She's good with her hands, is she?"
"She's good with everything." I hesitate. "She's just good, period."
Her silence is thick with tension. "The hug she gave me. I couldn’t say so at the time, but…it meant more to me than I can say. I've never had a real girlfriend. If circumstance were different…"
"Cam, I think she'd be your friend even under the current circumstances."
