Chapter 859 Chapter 859
“She’s over the water now,” Amari reported. “She looks like she is just circling, looking for a fish.”
Uri was supposed to keep an eye on the main road while being close enough to hop in when it was time for Kelii to go to the house. He was having a hard time focusing on that. His owl was antsy, and Uri first thought it was because he usually wasn’t even in the area still when the ops went down, but now, as he looked at the sky over the water- again, he realized it was because of Oryn being out there. It was still too dark out to see clearly. He caught a glimpse of her when the clouds were clear of the moon, but he couldn’t follow her the entire time because there were obstacles blocking the rest of his view from here. If he were in the air, then he’d have no problem.
Forcing himself to check the road, he turned so he’d have to physically move his entire body to look over the water again.
“Cameras show someone leaving. I think he had grey hair, but it could just be the light.” Nola reported.
“Shit,” Jett said what they all thought.
“Tripp and I will just have to stay back and nab him later,” Amari said.
“We will? I mean, we got it.” Tripp didn’t sound as sure as his mate did.
“One minute from Konner’s time for the boats,” Nola announced.
“How is Oryn looking?” It was Konner. Uri wasn’t sure where he was hiding with an entire helicopter, but he knew it wasn’t in view of the water.
“She’s still circling like she doesn’t have a care in the world,” Amari answered.
“Good. Malik and Struan Won't take more than a minute to do it. They make me look slow in the water.”
Uri grinned. He was willing to bet Konner had never said that before in his life.
“She's flying higher now, oh, she’s not circling. They must be done.” Amari sighed. “Too bad there wasn’t a boom or explosion to let us know it’s done.”
“I believe they wanted it to be undetected,” Eaton said quietly. “Any movement on those camera’s Nola?”
“A few lights on, but nothing moving since that guy left.”
“Sounds like we’ll get to wake some of them up.” Sloane chuckled. “Nothing like a barrel in your face to start your day.”
Uri smiled. Some of the incursion and special ops team members enjoyed this far more than any sane person should.
“Let’s get into place. No need to wait too long. Five-minute mark, starting now.”
Uri glanced at his phone, knowing the team members would have watches on and not pause to pull out their phones.
“Oryn is circling over the roads on the outskirts now.”
Uri nodded to no one. That was her assigned space. She’d be safe over there with so few houses and no traffic at this time of day. He touched the button on the earpiece. “I’m moving down to where Kelii is. There’s been no traffic here.”
“You’ll see the lights if any cars come,” Tripp whispered. Uri figured he was already in place to go inside.
Uri jogged down the short slope to where Kelii was waiting in the van. They had two but left one parked where Amari and Tripp had because they usually had more to go into a place than this spur-of-the-moment event.
As he reached for the handle on the door, a shot rang out in the quiet morning, and he spun around. The echo made it hard to tell where it had come from.
“Shit. Shit.” Amari mumbled it a few more times. “I think someone is trying to shoot Oryn down.”
Uri’s heart stopped. He touched his ear. “Can you see her?”
“Looking.”
Another shot rang out.
“They’re definitely after her. She just dodged it.”
“Watch for the fire, Amari,” Tripp said, not as quietly this time.
“I’m on it. The way she ducked down, I have an idea of where it came from.”
Something moved through Uri, causing his insides to hurt. It was his owl. “I’m shifting and going after her in case she gets hit.”
“They must have seen you guys flying over last night,” Tripp said.
“We’re still going in. Nola, give me a two-minute mark. Get your asses to the breech points.” Eaton sounded mad. “Amari, find the shooter. Uri, go get Oryn.”
Uri tapped the window, and Kelii nodded to him. Spinning around, he took off running toward the next street. There was a treed area he could shift in. When a third shot rang out, he stumbled.
“She’s good. I think she’s going after them. She has to be. She keeps diving down.”
He ripped his jacket off, dropped it, and then touched his ear. “She's showing you where the shooter is, Amari.”
“I don’t have the right angle.” She growled. “I’ll get him. Do what you are supposed to be doing.”
“Uri. I’ll fly over and get in the way.”
He could hear the chopper starting up as Konner spoke. He had never undressed so fast in his life. How the hell did they spot her? The sun was only a spec of light on the horizon right now. He shifted as he squatted. It hurt like nothing before, but his owl was going with or without his permission.
As soon as he was in the air, he spotted her. Why wasn’t she landing? Did she think she could take on a gun and win? His owl took over and pushed Uri to the back. He needed full control to get to her fast.
The sound of a chopper echoed, and he knew without looking where it was. Konner was heading straight toward her. He hoped she would get the hint and get out of range or find a sheltered spot to land.
Uri dropped down so he could use the treetops to block any shots. She wasn’t quitting. The only thing that gave him hope that he was going to reach her was that there had been no more shots since he’d taken to the air.
It had to be the man that had left Kenric’s. Who else would be out at this time of day trying to take down an owl? He watched her circle around and then go higher and thought for a second she was finally going to put some space between them, but then she dove down again. When he reached her, Uri was going to pluck her main feathers out so she’d be forced to the ground.
He heard the chopper before he saw it. Konner was flying low to the trees. There was no way anyone would get a clear shot with him in the way.
Oryn appeared on the side of the chopper he could see, and Uri was just about to lose his mind when he saw that the door was open. He increased his speed as much as he was able and headed straight for it.
Oryn maneuvered and landed inside the back of the chopper, and Uri felt like he could breathe again.
Konner swung it around and started in Uri’s direction. Uri had spent his entire life as a flier, avoiding anything else in the sky, but now he was moving toward a large, loud piece of metal coming at him. If Oryn wasn’t inside it, he would have dropped down and headed for the ground. The ground where someone with a rifle was trying to knock owls out of the sky, his aves reminded him. Helicopter it is.
He was trying to figure out how to get close enough to land inside it when his owl took over again. He dropped down and then brought them up under it so the wind disturbance from the blades didn’t affect their direction.
As soon as his feet touched the inside, Konner spun the chopper and took them around back in the direction they’d come from. Uri looked at Oryn. He didn’t see any blood. She hadn’t been hit. His owl took over again and moved to stand in front of her. Oryn stared at him.
Uri’s owl bowed and spread his wings. He was stunned. Ten seconds passed before it dawned on him what was happening. He forced his creature to stand up again and pulled the wings in.
Oryn made a soft coo sound and then a whistle.
Uri blinked and stared right into her dark eyes. He didn’t know how he was so sure, but at this moment, he had never been surer of anything in his life. Their owls were mates. Which meant they were mates.