“We’ll find it.” Owen gave a quick nod. “We’ll get Eva back.”
“Can you hack the CIA?” Luke peered at his sister, knowing he was asking her to break a dozen laws.
“Luke,” Owen grit out. “You can’t ask her to do that, man.”
“Eva could die, probably will die, if we don’t do something.” He paused to take a breath; he couldn’t let thoughts of her being tortured enter his head, or he’d completely lose all control. “This guy will offer her as an exchange, and you and I both know shit will go belly-up. This isn’t like last night.”
“I have friends in the agency. People I can trust. I’ll make some calls,” Jessica said.
“What if you put a target on their head, like Harper’s?” Owen countered, which had Luke gripping his teammate’s shoulder.
“The mission is now about Eva. It’s about her survival, you got it? We do whatever it takes to bring her back safe.” He shook his head, realizing he’d gone over the edge or was sure as hell about to.
He staggered back, his black boots rubbing against the tiled floor. He couldn’t think straight, not with Eva in danger. His heart beat furiously in his chest, and he wanted to claw out the damn organ that was making him feel so much right now.
“There’re only four people outside of our team who know what we really do. How would anyone else know of the hotel, and that we’re there?” Owen asked after he’d given Luke a minute to cool down.
“Someone could’ve been watching Harper, and when they realized she’d been looking into Reggie, they pressed the gas on their plans,” Jessica rationalized.
Owen held his palms face up as if to say hear me out. “Or, it’s one of the big four who don’t want the contents of the safe exposed. Who better to clean up the mess than a team that doesn’t exist. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, it’s CIA Director Rutherford. He forced Reggie to take out Odem—”
“Why send me to Berlin to get the USB, though?” Luke interrupted.
“Maybe Reggie was the fall guy all along, and the plan had always been for us to complete the mission. Pin everything on Reggie and Malik, and no one would be the wiser,” Owen pitched. “I mean, how the hell did they find out Reggie’s specific location in Berlin so fast? Not to mention the fact Reggie wasn’t in the city, but on the outskirts of town in some place where no one would witness your shoot-out.”
“I didn’t have orders to kill,” Luke reminded him.
“Maybe a sniper was in position from higher ground, prepared to put a bullet in Reggie’s head after you got the USB,” Jessica said.
“I don’t believe it. The director’s a good man.” Luke pressed a fist to the bar top counter.
“You were the only one commissioned to go after Reggie in Berlin. Will said the director didn’t want to draw attention from German officials or anyone in the CIA by sending too many people,” Owen added. “Had more of us been with you, we’d have prevented Ender from shooting you, and we could have spotted a sniper in the wings.”
He couldn’t digest this. He couldn’t stomach the idea of such betrayal from someone he’d trusted with his life. “It’s not uncommon for us to be sent individually to protect the integrity of the mission or to prevent compromising our team.”
“I don’t want to believe it, either,” Owen said. “But, we have to consider the possibility that someone from our side is—”
“Excuse me,” Malik interrupted, standing at the edge of the hall. “One of your guys sent me to grab you ASAP.”
They hurried to the safe, and Luke rushed out, “Did you find something?” He knelt alongside one of his crew who was on his knees, holding a set of images.
His teammate flicked his finger at an image of two SEALs with guns in hand, standing before a dead woman and child. “That’s Reggie, right?” he asked. “It’s a side view, but I have a few more shots—some of them actually shooting the unarmed woman and child. I can see why he’d rather shoot Odem than risk these pictures seeing the light of day.”
“Reggie was a SEAL? He killed those people in Afghanistan?” Jessica whispered and snatched another image.
“It was the start of the war over there after 9/11. Shit must’ve gotten hairy, but that’s sure as hell no excuse—” Owen began.
“Is that who I think it is next to him?” Jessica cut him off, her voice grave.
Luke’s throat tightened, and he nodded. “Yeah, the fucking Ghost.”
No calls. Nothing from the man who took Eva.
Two hours had passed, and not a damn word, but Luke was pretty sure he knew why.
“Will’s here. Knox spotted him in the lobby,” Jessica announced. “He’s taking the elevator now.”
Luke looked around at his remaining crew in the hotel room: Asher, Owen, and his sister. The rest of his team waited in position at Malik’s home, and Liam was still at the hospital with Harper while she was in surgery.
“We ready for this?” Owen huffed out a breath.
“I’m always fucking ready.” Asher tipped up his chin and made eye contact with Jessica. “How about you, Peaches?”
Jessica rolled her eyes and checked the ammo in her piece before strapping it to her ankle beneath her pant leg. “I still can’t believe this is happening, or that there’s not some other explanation.”
A knock on the door had Luke’s muscles tensing.
“It’s me,” Will called out.
Luke buried his anger the best he could and let him in. “You could’ve told us you were hopping on a flight over here.”
“I was in a hurry.” Will walked in and directed his focus on Jessica. “It was a pleasant surprise to get off the plane and find out you’ve completed the mission.” A tight grin met his lips. “Where’s Malik now?”
Jessica’s gaze skated to Luke’s as he stood behind Will. “He’s being held by some of our team.”
“I’m surprised you got him to hand everything over without a fight,” Will noted.
“It took some arm-twisting,” Luke said.
“Well, I talked to POTUS on my way here.” Will twisted his neck to the side to catch sight of Luke. “He’s pleased. Says good job.”
“Unfortunately, what Jessica left out of her text was that we’ve encountered a new problem,” Luke said. “Eva, the woman who got mixed up in all of this, was abducted this morning from the hotel. We believe someone else is after the safe, and they’re looking to make a switch.”
Will crossed his arms and fully faced him, a pinch of irritation on his face. He swiped a hand through his dark hair as his eyes fell to the floor. “Did you get some sort of ransom request?”
“Not yet.”
“If this man is working with the men who were originally after Odem Yilmaz, it could prove highly problematic. We can’t let them get access to the safe,” Will said.
“Agreed,” Luke said. “So, we’ve come up with a plan.”
Will raised a brow. “And?”
“We swap both codes and the location of the safe for Eva,” Luke replied.
Will’s green eyes narrowed. “What?”
“We’ve already removed the contents of the safe and placed them in a secure location, but Eva’s captors won’t know that.”
“You opened the safe?” Will scratched at his jaw. “Did you get a chance to look at anything?”
“No time. It was all hard copies. Nothing electronic. We put everything in boxes for now,” Jessica interjected.
“Where’s the intel being kept?” Will asked.
“The fewer who know about it the better, so none of us would be tempted to make a deal with Eva’s kidnapper. Particularly this guy,” Jessica said, jerking her thumb toward Luke. “Two of our men took the boxes outside of Monaco. They’re with them as we speak, and we’ll radio our guys once Eva’s safe and her captors have been taken out.”
“Smart.” Will tucked his hands in his pockets.
Jessica nodded. “So, now we wait for her abductor to call, so we can make the exchange. We have men in p
osition to grab her kidnapper when he shows up at Malik’s residence to access the safe,” she explained.
“Do you think this man is working with anyone over here?” Will asked.
“The same man who grabbed Eva also took down Harper. We believe he acted alone, but he probably has a team on standby to go after the safe. He’ll suspect we’ll have men in place to try and stop him at Malik’s.” Jessica’s gaze softened.
“What the hell happened to Harper?” Will’s mouth tightened.
“She was shot; her body was abandoned on the way here.” There was a tight strain to Luke’s words as he reeled back his desire to unleash his anger.
“Christ.” Will touched the platinum wedding band on his ring finger. He still wore it, even though his wife had died in combat in 2003.
Grief burrowed into the pit of Luke’s stomach as a wave of emotions crashed to the surface. I can’t lose Eva. She can’t go out like this, not because of me.
“I have a hard time believing he’ll trade Eva without confirming the contents of the safe first,” Asher said from behind. “She could get killed if anyone opens fire.”
Three, two, one . . .
Will released a heavy sigh. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but—call your people, tell them we’ll arrange a meet if the abductor calls. Explain you’ve already emptied the safe and can show them the files only if Eva’s safe.”
Luke feigned surprise, his mouth agape. “You’d be willing to risk the files getting in the hands of an enemy to save her?”
Will cupped a hand over his mouth.
What a fucking actor . . .
“I trust you guys to get the files back once we’ve secured Eva. When he runs, you’ll find him in time. It’s what you do.”
Luke’s forearms tightened at his sides. “You’re right,” he said in a low voice. “We always get our man.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Your people have arranged for a swap.” The harsh grit of his voice plucked Eva out of her daze.
He grabbed her off the cement floor she’d been curled up on, and held her by the arm as he forced her to move.
Once outside, the daylight pierced her eyes, and she dropped her lids closed.
She swallowed the last drop of fear swirling around inside of her as he tossed her into the trunk as if she were trash.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been on the floor in that room—maybe three hours. She’d already sped through her gamut of emotions at hyper speed while waiting for the masked man to reappear.
Anger had paralyzed each of her limbs at first, before sadness had spilled like a rush of hot water over her skin. And now, she didn’t know what to think or feel.
Her masked abductor hadn’t said a word to her after he’d unceremoniously chucked her into the dark room before slamming the door. She’d screamed against the tape, tears had smattered her skin, and the memories of her past had blanketed her mind.
Memories from childhood, mostly: the moments she’d said goodbye to when she’d closed the door on her old life. A flicker of regret had started to burn in the pit of her stomach as she had lain on the damp floor.
The memories gnawed at her: from the first time she’d seen her mother win an Oscar, to her sister’s big audition for a major Paramount film—to the time her dad had let her yell Cut! on set of one of his movies at age seven.
And then her mind circled back to last week. She’d spent the last hour trying to understand her feelings for a man she barely knew, and how it was possible to have such emotions so fast.
She had cut through Luke’s impenetrable walls and found the beautiful soul he’d been keeping shielded from the world, but after all of this was said and done, what would happen?
Her eyes opened at the feel of the car rolling to a stop maybe ten minutes later.
She broke her quiet resignation and screamed, a desperate attempt with the tape on her lips, sounding more like a pair of screeching brakes.
Her shoulders relaxed and the back of her throat squeezed as the anticipation of what was to come rose to the surface, and so, she stopped yelling.
A door opened and closed.
A few heavy steps progressed closer to her, and then her captor opened the trunk. “Ready?”
She nodded, and he reached between her ankles and cut the zip tie.
He held on to her elbow and helped her out.
Once on her feet, she adjusted her gaze, close to tears yet again as she eagerly searched for Luke while being escorted to the front of the car.
A bright yellow sports car appeared in the distance, with an SUV following behind it. The sea served as a backdrop to her rescuers.
The man kept his arm looped around hers, holding her tight against him. He glanced to the left then right, and she surveyed his gaze.
He had masked men crouched on higher ground. Rifles in position and aimed toward the road. Four men in total that she could see.
Would Luke be able to spot them from his vantage point? Maybe not until they got closer, and by then, it could be too late.
But Luke was a SEAL—he would prepare for every scenario, she tried to reassure herself.
The man reached behind his back. With a gun in hand now, he rested it against his chest with the muzzle fixated toward her chin.
Liquid welled in her eyes again, but she fought to hold her ground and not wilt to her feet.
Luke’s Lamborghini slowed a hundred feet away before stopping. Even at such a distance, she could see Luke’s eyes right on her, and not up above at the snipers. She was throwing him off, wasn’t she? Was she leading him to his potential death?
Luke exited the vehicle, and a man she didn’t recognize remained in the passenger seat.
Asher, Knox, and Owen stepped out of the SUV behind Luke’s car and positioned themselves alongside Luke with rifles in hand. The guys looked up, noting the snipers in the wings, and directed their weapons toward the masked men.
Luke held his palms up as he started to walk.
Each step closer had her heart breaking into shards.
“I need to verify the intel before I hand her over, and clearly you’ve noticed my men”—the man tipped his chin to the left and right—“waiting in case shit goes south.”
“Get me the boxes,” Luke said, already halfway to her. His gaze drifted to the snipers in waiting before drawing her back in with his blues. “You okay?” He mouthed the question as if the man holding her couldn’t read lips.
She tightened her lids closed and mustered a nod and a quick prayer before looking at him again.
“Don’t come any closer,” the man said once Luke was within ten feet.
Luke halted, but a dark shadow of anger brushed across his face. “Four boxes of hard copies. No electronic files.”
“I’m aware of Yilmaz’s recordkeeping,” the man said.
“Guessing you don’t work for al Jawali, given your lack of an accent. Friends of Reggie, huh?” Luke said, his voice deepening a couple dozen octaves.
Eva’s shoulders shrank at the sight of Asher and Knox carrying the boxes toward her.
“I’m friends with whoever writes the biggest check,” the guy answered dryly.
“Mercenary? Former Spec Ops?” Luke asked, as the guys dropped the boxes before the man, and both looked at Eva when the cardboard boxes thudded against the ground.
“Doesn’t matter, brother. All that matters is we both walk away with what we want, right?” His fingers curled tighter around her bicep.
“You can let her go then,” Luke demanded.
Her captor jerked his head to the left, and two men stood, guns still in hand as they came down to the road.
One of the masked men popped the top lid off one of the boxes and reached inside. He thumbed through some of the pages, closed the lid, and began doing the same with the rest of the boxes.
“Where’s Malik?” her abductor asked while waiting for his asshole colleague to verify the documents—documents Eva knew Luke couldn’t poss
ibly hand over, so he had to have a plan.
“Dead,” Luke said.
“Saves me the trouble.” The guy snickered.
“Looks good, boss.” The masked sniper lifted one of the boxes and placed it in the trunk where she’d been previously stashed.
“If I find out you made any copies,” the guy in charge started, “I’ll hunt this bitch down like a deer and keyhole her. You got it? And then, I’ll come for you.”
Luke’s jaw set in a hard line, and Eva hoped to hell he wouldn’t lose his temper.
He was a SEAL, she reminded herself, yet again; he’d keep it together.
“You have my word. Now, you have what you want. Let her go.” Luke’s low, almost too calm voice, had a chill creeping up the back of her neck.
“My men will be waiting until I’m a safe distance. So, if you don’t want to risk a shoot-out, I suggest you don’t follow,” the guy answered.
She gasped when he shoved her in Luke’s direction.
Luke swallowed the distance between them in three quick strides and wrapped his arms around her before pulling her behind him to shield her.
She wanted to be relieved, but it wasn’t over yet.
When she watched the man drive in the other direction a moment later, she lifted her gaze to the snipers who still had their guns trained on them. But, Asher and the other guys had their weapons positioned on the masked men, as well.
Luke reached for a gun he had tucked at his back. He held it tight as he walked them backward, keeping his eyes on the snipers.
“She comes with me,” he hollered to the guy in the Lamborghini she didn’t recognize.
The man locked eyes with her before stepping out and heading to the SUV behind the sports car.
Once they were in the Lamborghini, Luke set his gun on his lap and removed the tape from her lips.
“I’m so fucking sorry,” he said, his voice hoarse as he slipped a blade between the zip ties at her wrists and tears cascaded over her cheeks. He cupped her face between his palms, and she braced his forearms. “Are you sure you’re okay?” The emotion caught in his throat.
Stealth Ops Series Box Set Page 19
