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“You want me to shoot him in the leg?” Ryder asked, and Ethan’s eyes widened as he froze.
“Fuck’s sake, Ryder, we’re not shooting him.” I yanked at Ryder’s hand across Josh’s mouth. “He’s scared.”
“I need a fucking plan, Ethan!” Luca demanded.
Fuck. Where do we go?
I hadn’t considered much past getting Josh out of the building and away from Danvers, and I ran through places we could go without sticking out like a sore thumb. The city was quiet this early and it was too soon for commuters, so we couldn’t try blending in. There was no use in me regretting what I’d done or wishing I’d never pulled my friends into this—what’s done was done, and now we needed to get somewhere safe.
“Take us into parking at the West Tower Mall. I’m going to have to contact Ali.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Luca was shocked.
I knew it wasn’t regarding the choice of destination but the fact I wanted to bring his ex-wife into this. Luca and Ali’s marriage had ended in chaos, and the wider friendship group had split.
“It was two years ago; she must be over it by now.”
“Have you met my ex?” Luca snarled.
“Well, it’s the only plan I’ve got right now,” I snapped.
Luca cursed as he maneuvered around parked cars and ended up on the wrong side of the road for the next turn. Eight years deployed together before being recruited to various branches of federal agencies, the three of us trusted each other implicitly. Still, the fourth part of our old unit—Ali—was an unknown quantity, even if shecouldhelp us.
“It’s not like I want to involve anyone else.” I reasoned and gripped the door for dear life as we careened around a slow-moving street cleaner.
“She chose her path when she signed up for private work.”
“It’s not like she’s hired security in a mall,” Ryder said. “It’s a private foundation doing good work.”
“Ali’s off the fucking map with that Sanctuary Foundation, and it’s not a good plan bringing her in,” Luca was way past annoyed. “Y’know what Cap, maybe if you told us what the fuck you were doing with him, before you did it—”
“It happened too fast; I didn’t know what was gonna go down—hell, I didn’t know for real,” I defended as the van took another violent turn to the left.
Ryder lost his grip on Josh, who fell into me, but at the last moment, Ryder caught us both to stop us from tumbling to the floor.
“Take it easy on the bends, asshole!” Ryder shouted at Luca.
Luca twisted the wheel, “You want to drive?”
“I could probably do a better job than you!”
“Fuck you!”
I winced when Josh flailed and landed a punch on Ryder’s cheekbone. “Let me go!”
Ryder didn’t react to the punch, instead he caught Josh’s hands and gripped them hard.
“Listen. We’re the good guys and we’re here to save you and your son. You have to trust us—trust Ethan.” Ryder released his hold on Josh, then holstered his weapon to underline his statement. “That’s all I have to say.”
Luca took another side road, using all the available shortcuts he knew, and entered the parking behind Target. The entry camera would have picked up the van, and as we headed down to the level connected to the lower mall, I considered every option.
“This is where I split with the asset,” I announced. “I’m sorry, guys. I’ll get word to you as soon as I’ve got him safe.”
“Fucking right you will,” Ryder yanked out a duffel and handed it to me before exchanging fist bumps. “Stay safe, Ethan.”
“Will do.”
“Give us ten to create a distraction, then leave,” Ryder added and rested a hand on Ethan’s shoulder, “got that?”
