by Billi Jean
He didn’t let go of hers and both Jansen and Bryson narrowed their eyes at her. Jansen gave her a curt nod, but Bryson just lifted a black eyebrow, too busy scanning the area to do more. Jansen looked like hell. He’d grown a beard—or sorta one. He probably never got more than the major bristle lining his jaw, but he was trying. Or else he was that torn up. She’d not really given his attachment to Paris a thought, but now, seeing his red eyes and tense expression, she realized he was. Worse, her heart thudded painfully just thinking of experiencing the same loss he must feel over Paris. The thought of losing Cody made her hands sweat. She owed Jansen more than he could ever know, for coming today, and for having her back at Duke’s, even though he’d lost his girl. That quickly, she knew, if she and Cody made it through the next twenty-four hours, she’d locate Paris Masters and haul her butt down here, if she had to. If what the couple had was real, she’d not have to, though.
“Troy Richards, sir, also Ranger,” Troy added, surprising her and gaining her attention off her sappy thoughts. He gave her a quick grin and shrugged. “Never came up, I guess,” he muttered.
Carson nodded for them to move over to the SUV with him. As soon as he got by it, he turned with a stern glare.
She cut him off before he did more than open his mouth. “So, Walters is out here, hunting me,” she began. Carson anchored his fists on his hips, going into what she thought of as lecture mode. “I don’t have time to hear it, but I am going to end this. You should have long ago. The man’s—”
“He’s got people trying to make the drug, Petrok. We snatched his man, but more people know about the Sentinel Program than we knew. We want to know who Walters has told. That means I want him alive,” Carson said, pointing his finger at her face like a gun.
“No can do,” she responded, then paused to give him a chance to reply. He didn’t. Instead his glare got harder. “Look, he crossed the line. You can trace whoever the hell he has on his contacts, but he’s done.”
“Agreed,” Jansen said, surprising her. “He’s crossed the line, sir. We have to put him down. Do you have a plan?”
“Yes,” Sonya said, watching Carson hang his silver head and shake it, but not stop them. “Cody, tell him.”
Cody chuckled and let go of her hand to gesture back over the men’s shoulders where the mountains were clear in the distance. “He’s up there, waiting for a piece of Sonya. I’m not willing to let him build up more steam while you try to get him to talk. He escapes, and then what?”
“We just don’t put down our own men, son,” Carson began.
“We do if they’ve turned rabid,” Jansen said quietly. He shouldered his weapon and nodded to Cody. “Go on. What’s the plan?”
“Troy and I are trained on intel and recon. We know it, inside and out. We go up, act like we’re neighbors of Sonya’s, maybe for me a bit more—talking, though, about closing the place up. If he comes out, we talk to him. If he stays hidden, we ride off. Either way, he has to come out. If he comes out, you four should have a clear shot. If that fails, we’ll take care of things,” he added.
Carson frowned, scanning all their faces but settling on her. “This your idea?”
“No, it’s Cody’s. I’ll be on the ridge behind the cabin. I can use my ropes to rappel down. He’ll never expect that. There’s only a few feet between the house and the cliff. If he’s hiding in the house, he won’t see me. If he’s on the mountain, he also won’t see me. I will be back up. I’m expecting you guys,” she said to Jansen and Bryson, “to do the heavy lifting.”
Both men nodded. “It’s a sound plan,” Bryson offered. We can go circling in from both sides. If he’s there, we’ll spot him. He sucks at hiding, and he’s worse at being patient. He’ll make a mistake,” he added.
“He always does,” Jansen said, popping his gum.
“Sloppy. You’re counting on him being up there and being sloppy,” Carson asked sounding incredulous. “With all he has riding on this drug, you think he’ll foul up on his revenge?”
“He thinks he has me.” Sonya stepped closer to Cody so that her shoulder brushed his arm. “Why wouldn’t that make him sloppier? He thinks he’s in the clear, sir. Now is the time to nail him for good.”
“Hell,” Carson muttered, then heaved a sigh. “He’s had his sights on you for months. We all saw it. You double crossed him. He wants you dead. Maybe,” Carson added quietly with a painful wince, “if you’re lucky, that is all he wants. But you know as well as I do, he won’t hurry that up. The best bet is to bring you in, protect you behind walls he can’t breach.”
“No, sir,” Jansen argued before she could. “It’s too late for that.”
“He’s up there, now,” Cody agreed firmly. “I’m not willing to let this chance slip by.”
“Agreed,” Jansen said, popping another bubble before he added, “If he gets his hands on her, she’s not going to last. We’re here to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’m thinking the Army boys are, too. Am I right?”
Cody settled his arm over her shoulder and drew her into his heat. “We are.”
Troy nodded in agreement.
“If he’s there, he’s a dead man, sir,” Cody said, directing his comment to Carson. Cody wasn’t asking but after only a moment of Carson meeting his eyes, the commander nodded, resigned to the plan for now.
“Captain, are you back in with the Rangers, then?”
“No, sir, I am not.” Cody’s response was laced with command. “I’m back to living. Thanks to this woman.” It should have sounded corny, but with a possessive squeeze of her shoulder, she thought he sounded and felt perfect. “I don’t intend to let some crazy ass sailor take it away either.”
She laughed, especially when both ex-SEALs frowned at his reference.
Troy slapped Jansen on the back and grinned. “Us Army boys will show you how it’s done on land, okay? Just be ready.”
“Born that way,” Jansen said.
Cody started talking to Carson and Troy turned his attention on them as well.
She narrowed her eyes on Jansen and smirked. “That’s not the way I heard it. Last time I saw you there was an issue of getting caught with your pants down,” she whispered, grinning when he got the reference to his fun with the blonde, Paris Masters, at Duke’s. She’d assumed it was just that, especially since he’d shared her with Will on camera, but she knew it was more.
If they got her out of this, she was going to return that favor. After all, she’d been the one to do recon on the last mission and on Duke. She knew everything about Paris—and how to find her.
“But you do this for me,” she said, taking Jansen by the shoulder to walk between him and Bryson, who was never far behind his friend. A few feet away from the others, she turned and met Jansen’s bloodshot eyes. “And I’ll give you Paris Masters on a silver platter—if that’s what you want.”
Jansen’s shoulders tightened to hard, firm muscle under his tight, long-sleeved T-shirt. He ran a quick scan of her face and widened his blue eyes.
“Hell,” he breathed. “You’re such a little—”
“Jansen,” Bryson muttered, throwing a hand out on Jansen’s shoulder to keep him back
“Hey, how was I supposed to know? You shared her—”
Jansen shoved Bryson off. “For show and to save Bryson’s ass after you left us—”
Bryson stopped Jansen again and she laughed, surprised by the aggression. Jansen was always such a joker. It was hard to align him with the man who was obviously in love with a woman he’d lost.
“Sonya, if you know where she is, I’ll give you a million, just to get Jansen off the binge he’s been on.” Bryson gripped Jansen again when he made a move at Sonya.
“Fuck, are you telling me you’ve known where she’s been?” Jansen demanded. “I’ve been fucking—”
“Stop the fucking pissed off aggression, Jansen, or I’ll stop it.” Enough was enough. Cody gave her a worried glance from where he was talking to Carson. She shook her head and
faced a very angry Jansen. His blue eyes were pinned on her and she had no doubt that if they were alone, he’d have had her in his fists. “I didn’t realize you were this bad over her. I assumed it was a fling,” she added. “Especially with the sharing.”
He moved to speak but Bryson stopped him.
“You help me and after, I’ll not only tell you where she is, but what went down when we were off saving the day,” she lowered her voice and winked. “Put it this way… She didn’t leave you willingly. That’s for certain.” He’d want to know that, she thought, and by the pain that filled his eyes, he knew what that meant. “She’s good, though. Safe and sound back in Canada.”
His eyes widened but his shoulders lost the tension and he took a deep, long breath. After a few of those he nodded.
“Canada.”
“Yep, she’s Canadian. Now, let’s get through this and I’ll return the favor.”
“We were doing this anyway, Petrok,” Jansen said firmly, then turned to focus on the mountains in the distance. “But you do me this favor and I’ll owe you.” He re-focused on her. There was a fierceness in his eyes she’d never seen before. Jansen was one of those men who kidded his way through life, making everyone think nothing fazed him and that he didn’t give a shit about anything, but she knew better. “Just lead us to the bastard and we’ll make sure you survive and he doesn’t.”
“Both of us, not just me,” she emphasized, and felt Cody coming up behind her. Jansen nodded tightly and that’s all she needed. The best sharp shooter—correction, the best sharp shooters—she’d ever met at their backs. The two of them would hit Walters hard—if he got past Cody and Troy—or her.
She glanced up at Cody when he slung his arm around her shoulders, but ignored his frown to focus on Carson. The commander was talking in a low voice to the pilot and Troy about how best to get them up there unseen and unheard.
“This is going to work.” As she said it, she met Cody’s blue eyes. Hope rose in her heart that she was right.
“Yeah, it is, and after, you can fill me in on what the hell you just whispered to the two squids.”
She smirked and tapped his nose. “Green does not suit you, cowboy. Remember who you’re with,” she teased and tiptoed to kiss him. “Me. I don’t tackle more than I can handle. Ever. And you, I gotta say, are nearly more than one girl can handle alone.”
He laughed, as she knew he would, but he wrapped his arms around her waist, like she’d hoped he would, and leaned in close to say, “That’s not the way I see it, but we’ll talk about that real soon. Now, let’s get this done so we can go back to having fun.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Cody reined his gelding in and Troy did the same. This far from the cabin, they could see nothing to indicate that anyone was around. But there were tracks. The guy was sloppy. Cody hoped he stayed that way. The sun was at their backs, but that just meant it hit the big windows and reflected back at them blindingly.
Troy had a Sauer on him, and Cody had another. He’d stowed his under his shirt in his belt. He wore a long Carhartt jacket to hide the telltale bulge and Troy had done the same. It was brisk out, so the jackets made sense.
“How long you think before he comes out?” Troy asked and started his horse up again.
“If he shows up, he’ll do it when we’re outside the cabin, dismounting. Just keep it light, talk about what we have to get ready and locked up so we can get back down to supper. Nothing fancy, just as we discussed.”
“Hell, I am fancy. What do you expect?”
“I expect you to do this right,” Cody growled, not in the mood for fucking up.
“I will, Cody. Simmer down. I will. I got your six. You know that,” he added lower, then wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Damn hot. You think we can hurry this up? I have a date and it’s not with your sorry ass.”
“It’s going to take ten, maybe twenty minutes,” Cody said on cue. He couldn’t spot Sonya, but then he wasn’t supposed to. She’d changed into army brown BDUs and was so damn hot that he’d wanted to hide her away. No doubt she was already up that cliff and coming down. They’d landed twenty minutes down from his place, far enough so that if Walters was up here, waiting in the hills and not the cabin, he’d not see them. Sonya and Jansen had taken off to circle around the back side of the cabin while Bryson had done the same but in the opposite direction. Carson was on the com, ready to come in at a moment’s notice.
When Cody had watched Sonya running for the trail, he’d been amazed. She didn’t run, she crouched low and raced along the uneven grass like a damn deer. Even though he knew she was highly trained and should have expected it, he was still caught staring at how easy she made it appear.
“Great,” Troy muttered, drawing him out of his thoughts. “Because hell, it’s a beer and bar day, not a fetch and close someone’s goddamn house up day. Why’d she go anyway? Didn’t she just get up here?” Troy said perfectly. He pulled up at the trees to the left of the cabin and Cody moved in next to him so they could dismount away from the open doorway but be sheltered from the cliffs on either side.
“Some event in LA she couldn’t miss.” Cody’s instincts roared at him that danger was near. He’d been in enough situations to know that he shouldn’t ignore that tingle on his neck either, but he’d known this might be a risk. There was more threat here than they’d discussed—especially to him. If Sonya had thought of it, she wouldn’t have let him within a mile of Walters.
Jealousy.
Sonya loved him. The thought still blew him away. He knew his red hot firecracker had never spoken those words to another man. Here he had her, more of her than he’d ever dared hoped for, or would if he could clean this trash up, and that might get his ass shot off.
“I have no idea,” he shrugged as if he didn’t care either. “I promised Ace I’d look after the place. That includes closing it up when his flaky friends leave like this,” he grumbled.
Sonya had drilled into him that Ace was the one that owned this place and using his name might get Walters to come out. Ace, who was another big Navy SEAL she happened to know. The woman had some hardcore men around her. Too bad none of them were him.
He grinned over at Troy. “But we can take the beer. I bet there’s some inside and, man, if ever I needed one—”
“You?” Troy demanded, loosening his horse’s cinch and sounding disgruntled. “I didn’t drag your sorry ass up here—”
“No, you just dragged me all over the damn country searching for some damn heifers.”
They both got their horses, straightened out and still nothing came from the cabin. The sensation of being watched didn’t lessen. If anything, it increased.
“Steve, you got the key?” Troy called, acting as if he didn’t have a care in the world. By now Sonya would be coming down that cliff. He didn’t glance up but he did glance at his watch. Yep, by now she would be at the top.
“Yeah, sure, here somewhere, give me a damn minute. I gotta piss.” He walked off a step or two. “Go check if it’s open, Troy. Maybe she left that quick.”
“Yeah, I’ll see.”
They’d come up with the plan for him to impersonate Steve Murphy, a rancher not too far from there, in case Walters was that good and knew the area and who was sharing the cabin with Sonya. He wasn’t a hundred percent sure he hadn’t left his name somewhere in the place. After weeks, though, there might be something. Sloppy, but he’d not understood the danger.
He heard Troy open the door easily enough and called out his name again. “Steve, no problem. It’s open.”
Cody finished his business and zipped up, limping with exaggeration back up to the porch and inside. They went through the place as if they really were shutting it down. They closed off the water at each sink, shut and locked the windows, checked the stove and cleaned up, all the while carrying on like they were in a hurry to get back for some beers.
No one showed. The place was empty, but it hadn’t been.
Cody nearly popped a
blood vessel on his temple when he found the evidence of what Walters had left on the sheets in their bed. He tangled the sheets up with the ones upstairs as if it was normal practice and stuffed them all in a bag. He didn’t want Sonya seeing that shit, and no way was he allowing anyone else to.
He took all her clothes away, too, emptying out drawers, cursing at the mess as he boxed it up. He wasn’t letting her have the clothes back either. No telling if the bastard had soiled them as well.
“You about done?” Troy called.
“Yep, just boxing this up for shipping,” he yelled back over his shoulder. He met Troy’s eyes and saw the signal that all was clear. Still, he kept his work up then acted as if he’d forgotten something. “Damn, that main water line, basement,” he muttered. “It’s always a pain. You’ll have to help me turn it off.”
Troy popped the top off a beer and grinned. “Sure thing. We have time,” he added, lifting the beer up but not drinking.
Shit sucked. If Walters wasn’t here, where was he?
* * * *
Sonya listened in on Cody’s act and grinned at his cursing. He never cursed around her, but for some reason he wasn’t holding back now. She added that to the list of things she loved about him. He respected her, didn’t he?
She got all silly happy over that as she prepared the last of her gear. Walters wasn’t here, and that sucked, but she had to go down. No matter what, they stuck to the plan. She had made Cody promise that enough, so she couldn’t deviate. She had a feeling Walters wasn’t done yet.
Bryson did a quick check-in, followed by Jansen minutes later. As soon as she heard them both, she eased down past the lip of the cliff, finding her first handhold easy enough, then her next. The angle was difficult more than anything, but she couldn’t go faster, not without banging against the side of the cliff. She was halfway down when the first frissons of unease crept up her spine.
“You should have stayed on the drug, princess,” she heard, then Walters hauled her off the side of the cliff and onto a hidden ledge to her right. Something hit the rocks near her arm.
