“No. I do not want to hear how we’re going to figure it out. Rally. Make this all work out. I want to know what the fuck happened. Step by step. No leaving shit out to spare my precious feelings. The last thing I remember is Kam leaving with Bishop to collect the others.”
Bishop nodded. “Everything was fine. We got to the clinic, went inside. Hadn’t spotted any tails. Nothing suspicious at all. That guy, Brady, was just putting a new dressing on Six’s shoulder. Reading us the riot act about how Six needed to take it easy. That he’d send his buddy Gibson our way if he heard Six was pushing it.”
Bishop looked at the man in question, shaking his head. “I don’t know how Six knew something was wrong. Kameron had volunteered to go grab a few supplies from Ice’s truck so Brady could make sure Ice had everything he needed to keep Six’s wound clean. None of us heard a damn sound, until Six jumped off the fucking table. No shirt. Just his pants and socks as he raced to the door. Yelling that Kameron was in trouble. We allfollowed out behind him in time to see some bastards dragging her into a black Suburban. She was fighting…”
Bishop wiped his hand down his face. “Christ, I didn’t know she had that many moves. She must have gotten some martial arts training because one guy was picking himself up off the gravel, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, while two more wrestled her inside. I think they drugged her because she just went limp.
“Was hard to see much else because Six was running after them like a damn banshee. No weapons. Nothing. Bearing down on them. We all pursued. Exchanged more than a few bullets, but they just had too much of a lead on us.”
Bishop pointed a finger at Six. “You’re insane, you know that?”
Six’s eyes narrowed. “Damn cold day in hell when I let a teammate get hijacked without doing something about it.”
“I’m not questioning your honor. Or your conviction. I’m questioning you pulling out half your damn stitches when you had a MARSOC and a bloody Green Beret standing right beside you.”
“I didn’t want to waste time explaining.” Six huffed out a breath, looked down at the floor. “I was too late. If I’d just been a couple of seconds faster…”
“I don’t know what it is you have going on inside your head, buddy. And honestly, I think I’d rather remain in the dark, because it’s some scary shit. What I do know is you’re one stubborn SOB. And a hell of a soldier.”
Ellis forced herself to swallow. To let it all just roll off while she figured everything out. Though, she pretty much knew how this had to play out. The way she’d always known it would play out.
Six sighed. “If it was as good as I thought it was, Kam wouldn’t have gotten taken. I would have known, sooner.”
“This isn’t on you. I shouldn’t have sent her out there alone.” Bishop moved over to the table, took a seat. “Brady wanted to stitch him up, again. Hell, come here to ensure Six didn’t do something crazy like that, again, but we agreed it was better for him to keep his distance. In case we need to call on him, again.” He snorted. “And we all know we’ll be calling on him, again. Besides, it wasn’t anything Ice couldn’t handle. Hasn’t handled a thousand times over.”
Ellis nodded, though, that was the least of her worries. She knew McCormick. Knew what his endgame was. And he didn’t care about a mobile clinic. Hell, even about Brett’s team. McCormick knew if he eliminated the proof, there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do to touch him. Which meant he was only after one thing.
Cannon was talking. Describing steps they’d take to get Kameron back. Staking out the facility Ellis had taken Brett to. Calling in favors to unearth whatever safehouses McCormick might have in the area. Something about asking Jericho’s uncle to acquisition a predator drone for them. And they were all nodding. Making more suggestions—locking it down. Tightening it up. One well-oiled machine that just jumped in and attacked the problem. There was just one fatal flaw in their thinking…
“I know how to get Kameron back.”
Ellis hadn’t raised her voice. Had barely talked above a whisper, but they all stopped. Voices cutting out mid-sentence as everyone turned and focused on her.
She leaned against the table, looking at Brett for one long, agonizing moment. He’d hate this. Would fight against it. But, she knew it was the only way. And damn it, she wasn’t losing another life to the CIA. Besides, she had a few tricks left up her sleeve. And with the caliber of men standing around her, she still had a decent shot at walking out of this alive.
She wet her lips, and all the doubts, the fear that had plagued her since waking up in that warehouse tied to a chair, just faded away. Vanished because it had finally come full circle.
Cannon nodded at her. “You have something to add, Ellis?”
“The plan is simple. We just give McCormick what he wants.” She looked directly at Brett. “Me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Five minutes until the exchange...
Ellis Baker was killing him. Second by second. Minute by minute. Slowly carving away at what made Colt whole. Poking holes in his armor, until she reached the soft flesh underneath. Then, she’d grabbed a knife and just shoved it through the opening. And all his life had started spilling out.
That’s how he felt. Sitting in front of her in the Jeep. Staring at the empty expanse of pavement stretching out in front of him—a deserted section of the wharf south of the city that had been demolished but was awaiting approval to be rebuilt. Waiting for the man who’d been trying to kill the woman Colt loved to arrive—make the trade.
Ellis for Kameron.
Colt still couldn’t believe he’d let Ellis talk him into this. Belay that. Talk his entire team into this. Because they’d discussed it—all night. Laid out their concerns—every way this could go horribly wrong. How she’d end up dead. Colt wasn’t ashamed to say he’d yelled. Not just at Ellis. At his buddies, too, for even entertaining the thought.
Delta Force didn’t trade lives. Period.
No negotiating with terrorists, and no trading one life another.
Yet, here they were, prepared to do just that. Sure, they had a plan. Not a terrible one, if Colt was being honest. But it wasn’t foolproof. Not even close. The fact it hinged on a few key elements actually working—at McCormick wanting Ellis and the information she’d stolen more than he wanted to have a damn predator drone just fly overhead and blast them all to bits. That the GPS tracker scam she claimed would work, actually did. That Colt and his team would arrive in time. That this meeting wouldn’t just turn into a modern version of the OK Corral—all made this another string of ‘ifs’ with even deadlier consequences. Because if they were wrong about McCormick’s motivations…
