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“No. But we should tie him up,” Tasha admitted. She stared down at Chet’s unconscious body and felt absolutely nothing but tired of dealing with him. What had she been thinking? Dare would hold this asshole over her head for all of time. She suddenly knew it because she wasn’t letting him go. If she had to follow that man to Toronto, she would. She would give him all the space he needed, but in the end they would be together because he was the right man for her and she was good for him. “Lou, can you handle him? Check his phone. He’s supposed to be getting a location from Oakley about where the data is. Try to get him to send it before you give him proof of life. Mostly because you won’t be able to. I need to get to the meet spot. If Dad sees me, he’ll know he’s got a go to let Mom take Oakley down. We have to risk not getting the intel because I’m worried he’ll get away with Dare if Mom can’t work because she’s not sure where I am.”
There was no question who would have that sniper rifle in her hands. It would be her mom.
“I’ll text him that I changed the deal and he gets nothing without the coordinates. Chet’s an asshole. It’s a believable play.” Lou nodded and started to hog-tie Chet with the precision of a Master. She liked to practice and her dad lived on a farm, though no piglet on Boomer Ward’s land would ever be treated the way Lou was treating Chet. “He’ll survive the experience. Just come and pick us up when you’re done. We still have to deal with the body outside, though there’s minimal cleanup there. Kala’s gotten good with the head shot.”
Kala gave them a little curtsey. “I practice.”
Lou shook her head and proceeded. “I think all of Oakley’s security detail is with him. It’s why it was so easy for us to get here from the big house. We searched all of the outer buildings once your dad called and told us you’d been taken. He figured you wouldn’t be far from where Oakley was meeting Dare.”
She started out of the gardening shed, which was more like a small house. She found herself in the middle of a beautiful yard, the main house in the distance and surrounded by mountains. “Who’s playing Dare? Cooper’s too tall.”
“Dare’s going in. He wouldn’t let anyone else do it,” Kala admitted.
Dare was here? She’d been sure he would let her parents handle it. He had come for her, and while she knew her parents would watch over him, he wasn’t trained for this. Anything could happen to him. Anything. He would have to walk out there alone.
And then she heard the sound of gunfire echoing in the distance.
Tasha took off running, her sister at her side.
* * * *
“The minute you see Tasha, hit the ground, son. Charlie will start shooting. She’ll give me cover and I’ll get Tash out. Cooper will come for you,” Ian Taggart said.
It was weird because Taggart wasn’t anywhere close to him and yet it sounded like he was standing next to Dare.
Cooper had been the one to teach him how to place the small communication device in his ear. It was flesh colored so it blended, but he’d been told if someone got close enough they could see it.
He wasn’t supposed to let anyone get close enough.
They were all here, even though he couldn’t see them. As he’d driven in, Ian had been on his cell explaining everything that was going to happen. Kenzie and Tristan had come out with the rest of the team, and they were monitoring the situation from the back of Taggart’s vehicle, but they wouldn’t stay there. The minute they saw Tasha, everyone would come running.
Should they?
“Why don’t you let Oakley take me?” He turned the corner onto the dirt road he’d been told would lead him to the meet spot. Five minutes before, he’d dropped off Charlotte Taggart, who’d gone from worried mom to cool and confident the minute her husband put a massive rifle in her hands. “I’m worried Tash will get caught in the crossfire.”
That was the plan he preferred. Tasha would be released, and he would go with Oakley and whatever happened would happen. They could try to get him back or let his father negotiate. Except, according to the Taggarts, his father was likely to be arrested soon.
Damn it. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was Tasha. Now that he was here he realized how dumb he’d been. Nothing mattered except her, and it hadn’t from the moment he’d met her. His life had changed when she’d walked into that pub, and he wouldn’t allow his pride to get in the way of his happiness.
