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Merc hit the ground right behind him.
“That’s not a rifle.” Screams from the beach punctuated the continued fire and a motor tore through the water. Slinging the rifle onto his back and freeing his sidearm, Brad sprinted for the beach. Gabriel and Copper were exposed where all hell broke loose. A shadow at his back, Merc moved with the same purpose. Three years hadn’t dampened their ability to work in concert, and they shared the same goal.
A detonation boomed through the morning, silencing the screams, and a wall of heat billowed from the beach. Ignoring the danger, Brad raced inward. He’d lost her to one explosion before, no fucking way was he letting it happen again.
Rising out of the water,Sachi stared at the smoking remains of the restaurant. Flaming debris continued to flutter downward. Dead men littered the beach. Fortunately, most of the civilians had taken off into the trees at the first sound of gunfire. She’d barely had time to process the grenades before she and Gabriel had headed for the water together to escape the fireball.
Where the fuck was Gabriel? Spinning, she scanned the forms on the beach, then the water around her. The two dead men floated a few meters out, drifting further thanks to the tug of the tide. A motor…she’d heard a motor—and then she spotted the boat skimming the waves. A light skiff, it had come all the way in, and it raced out of the cove at speed.
A white shirt reflected the sunlight—Gabriel.Fuck me.The skiff angled toward a boat further out. The light craft crashed up, riding the wave and over it. Too small for long travel, they’d either used it to skirt the island or…yes, it was definitely heading for the boat.
The swim would take time, but she could do it. The men on those boats had weapons, so when she got there, she’d arm herself.
“Copper.” Brad splashed into the water and looped an arm around her waist. “We have to evac, now.”
Shoving him away, she glared. “Gabriel is on that boat.”
“And we’re going to go get him,” Brad told her, hauling her toward shore. “First, we need to clear the area,now.” The order resonated. In the field, Brad outranked her. Abandoning Gabriel flew in the face of everything she believed. Not waiting for her response, Brad got her to the beach and then hauled her with him as he sprinted for the tree line. Merc was a heartbeat behind.
“I have their transmitters.”
The underbrush stabbed at her bare feet. Merc moved to her side as they ran, and both men slammed sharper branches and foliage away. Two klicks to their vehicle, then Copper slid into the back and ripped open her bag. Dragging her clothes on over her damp skin wasn’t comfortable.
Brad started the engine and held his hand out to Merc before he could climb in the passenger seat. “Phone.”
Not questioning him, Merc slapped it in his hand, and the jeep lurched forward as Brad accelerated. The trees whipped past, but she had her boots on and a knife strapped to her leg, then another to her arm and a third in the sheath at her waistband.
The phone rang on the speaker setting, and Poppy’s voice was a tad breathless when she answered. “Code in.”
“Tungsten. Five-Delta-Sierra.”
“Confirm, Tungsten. Five-Delta-Sierra. Code word?”
The jeep bounced over a nasty divot, and Copper braced herself as she slid the forty-five into a holster. Merc held a hand toward her, and she pulled a fresh clip from the bag at her feet to pass to him.
“Copper. Confirm.”
Brad’s code word was her name? Some other time, she might decide whether she was tickled or irritated.
“Confirmed. What’s going on?”
“Activate Gabriel’s tracker. I don’t have the code to do it from here. We’re on Tortola. He’s been taken by persons unknown aboard a yacht…”
“Mike Alpha Charlie One One Delta Bravo Lima,” Merc supplied. “Eighty-footer, Argentinian flag.”
“Activating Gabriel’s tracker and sending info to your phone. Tin’s team just landed on the island. They are on their way. Titanium orders you to stand down and let the team take point.”
“With all due respect, fuck that. They could be weighing anchor right now. We’re not leaving him.” The grit and absolute certitude in Tungsten’s voice steadied her. The chaos of worry bled away, and she focused. Eighty-foot yacht. Seven men dispatched to bring Brad in, but they’d taken Gabriel instead. “Have them activate our trackers and retrieve, but we’ll be on the yacht. Tungsten out.”
They broke from the tree line, and their tires squealed on the passing blacktop.
“You don’t have Gabriel’s tracker I.D.?” Off the rutted road, the vehicle moved even faster, and she could afford the question.
“They never let me have his.” Tungsten gave her a toothy grin, one equal parts amused and furious. “Too worried I’d track him down and slit his throat.”
“Plan?” Merc had one arm braced on the dashboard. Their green and tans blended well with the natural landscape around them, but stood out in the crystal clear water. Didn’t matter, they could do this. They’d gone up against worse odds in far more terrible places.At least the water is warm here.
“Small local harbor, two minutes,” Tungsten said. “Grab a boat and angle out. Make sure they aren’t moving, then hit the water and take the yacht. We clear deck–by-deck. Merc, you get the control room and upper deck. If it moves and it isn’t ours, eliminate it. Copper and I are going for Gabriel.”
