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Judge led the way up the hillside, keeping in sight certain landmarks he’d committed to memory as they’d scouted the location for the meetup with the TCW leader.
As they neared the mine’s entrance, Judge studied the underbrush, searching for signs his guys were there. He looked to the bluff to the west, where he expected Grimm would set up his position as the best sniper of the team. He’d had a helluva kill record when he’d been on active duty in Delta Force. Since leaving the Army, he practiced regularly to keep up his skills.
Judge had complete confidence in Grimm’s ability to nail the target. If the target showed up, Murdock, Drake and Utah would ensure the man didn’t get away by capturing him or putting a bullet through his black heart.
PJ had insisted she be the one to step out into the open, leaving him carefully hidden. If they both came out, Augustus could order them both shot and be done with it.
If only PJ stepped out, they wouldn’t shoot until she told them where she’d hidden Judge. At least, that was the theory.
If the TCW leader failed to show, she wouldn’t tell them where she’d hidden Judge.
If whomever Augustus had sent made a move to shoot PJ, Judge’s team would be ready to take them down before they could pull the trigger.
It was a huge risk she was taking that Judge didn’t like.
The idea was to get Augustus to come out into the open before PJ produced Judge for him to kill.
No Augustus. No Judge.
Without communication equipment to connect with his team, Judge had to trust that they’d made it to the site, had dug in and camouflaged so well he couldn’t even pick them out of the trees or rocks surrounding the mine entrance.
Judge took up his position ten yards away, hidden between giant boulders that had fallen from the mountainside above. From where he hunkered down, he could see the open area in front of the mine and PJ, who hid among the smaller boulders, closer to the clearing. She wouldn’t step out into the open until the representatives of TCW arrived and got out of their vehicles.
The sun edged closer to the mountain peaks.
If they were coming, they’d be there soon.
Headlights shone through the trees, coming up the old mining road, moving fast.
Two dirt bikes burst into the open and spun around, kicking up dust.
Neither PJ nor Judge moved from their positions.
Moments later, a four-wheel-drive Jeep entered the clearing, followed by another and two more dirt bikes. The two Jeeps and the four dirt bikes formed a circle, reminding Judge of circling wagons.
When they finally came to a stop, the men on the bikes dismounted, pulled semi-automatic rifles from scabbards mounted on the bikes and formed a perimeter around the clearing.
Once they were in place, three men got out of the Jeeps. Judge recognized Wiley and Augustus’s two bodyguards.
Wiley turned in a three-hundred-sixty-degree circle, then turned to the bodyguards and shrugged.
“Either she’s here, or she’s not,” a voice called out from inside the vehicle.
“She doesn’t appear to be here,” Wiley said.
PJ stepped out from behind the rocks, her rifle aimed at Wiley. “I’m here.”
All four dirt bikers and the two bodyguards spun, aiming their weapons at PJ.
Judge almost leaped from his position.
Wiley moved toward her, staying within the circle of bikes and Jeeps. “We came. Where’s Judge?”
“Did Augustus come out of hiding to take his revenge like a leader?” PJ called out loud enough for the man in the Jeep to hear. “Or did he send all of you to do his dirty work like the coward I suspect he is?”
Wiley waved PJ forward. “Give us Judge, and Augustus will use him as an example to all the members of TCW of what happens when someone breaks the rules and kills one of our own.”
“I don’t believe he’s here,” PJ said. “If he doesn’t have the balls to show himself, he certainly doesn’t have the balls to kill Judge.”
