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All he could think about was Riley.
In the crosshairs of the Sommers Group.
When he first heard that operatives from the Sommers Group were targeting Riley, he’d broken out in a cold sweat. He’d faced danger many times. He’d been a SEAL, for fuck’s sake. Under live fire, in training, his heart rate never rose above 80. He always kept his cool. Except now.
Because they weren’t gunning for him, or his trained teammates. They were gunning for a smart lady who could out-think them, no problem, but not outgun and outrun them. And who sure as hell couldn’t out-fight them. He felt that to his very core.
He knew the Sommers guys, and they could be brutal and ruthless. They wouldn’t think twice about hurting or shooting a woman.
Pierce had never seen Riley in person, but he’d seen photos with her best friends Felicity, Hope and Emma. The affection the women held for each other rose up off the photo.
Four fabulous-looking women. Felicity, Hope and Emma were good- looking, but Riley—she was spectacularly beautiful. Ice blonde, light gray eyes, elegantly slender. She just shone on the photos. And for someone so smart, working in the field of security, she had a softness to her eyes, not the hard, cynical look so many had. The price for keeping secrets and for working in a field where bad things sometimes happened.
Like now.
Where she was being hunted by mercenaries known for their ruthlessness.
He pressed on the accelerator, taking a corner on two wheels.
If the police came after him, he’d just outrun them, because time was running out and he was terrified of finding a gorgeous corpse at the end of his run.
He could hear Hope and Emma giving her instructions over the open line, though he didn’t intervene. There was nothing he could do beyond what he was already doing—racing like an arrow to her.
Hope and Emma—and Felicity when she wasn’t in the bathroom throwing up—were guiding her, blanking out video cameras in a nonobvious way, following the movements of the Sommers operators.
Riley could have done this herself, but she said her magic computer was in her apartment. On the job, NRO employees were not allowed to bring their own electronic devices into the building. Pierce inferred that Riley had managed to copy some data onto a thumb drive, which she gave to a man who was now dead.
She couldn’t hack into the security system with just her cell phone.
But her friends back at ASI could. Oh yeah.
Pierce had actually never seen the women of the IT department say something couldn’t be done, when asked. The Queens of IT. Somehow, they always found a way. And they’d found a way to follow where the Sommers operators were at all times. Riley had to get out of the building just in time to meet him on Lee Road.
Pierce gave a quick glance to the GPS. “Eight minutes out,” he muttered to Hope and Emma and heard them repeat that to Riley. She had eight minutes to make her way down to the ground floor and come out the side entrance, where the blacked-out video cameras wouldn’t be noticed.
“Red Team has split up,” Hope announced. Shit. That was bad news. While the Sommers operators were moving as a team, Riley had more chances of slipping out. Three operators splitting up decreased her chances of getting out unnoticed. They could cover three times the ground.
Fuck. He increased his speed, shooting past red lights when he thought he could. He’d been a combat driving instructor, and trusted himself and the vehicle, driving as fast as possible because these douchebros had already killed one person and were gunning for Riley.
Not if he could stop it.
He accelerated a bit more.
“Five minutes.” Hope and Emma relayed the information. “We looped the cameras in the western stairwell, she’s coming down now. She’s locking the stairwell doors as she comes down.”
Smart cookie. Sommers guys were ruthless but they also would not want to attract too much attention. The geniuses back at ASI would definitely have not cut out the video cameras where the Sommers men passed through the NSO. They were leaving behind a ton of evidence. So whatever it was they wanted from Riley, or wanted to stop Riley from doing, they were willing to risk big.
They wanted her, badly.
“Coming up on the building,” he muttered. There was a straightaway and he poured on the speed, shooting past other cars as if they were standing still. “Tell Riley—” He leaned forward a little. “Never mind, I see her! Tell her to cross to Lee Road.”
He could see her cock her head, listening to her friends on the other side of the country. Her head snapped up and she saw him, speeding along the highway that fronted the NSO.
She was a fast runner, and she was going to meet him just as he came to the closest point.
Wow. Very fast runner. She looked like an Olympian runner, all blurry speed and grace.
It was going to work.
