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Jericho pulled in a long breath. “My guess is Buckner wants to dick around with you.” He shifted the view of the compound to the side of one of the outer shipping containers.
And Rafe cursed.
“Come and get them, hero,” had been painted on the outside. “You can save just one.”
Rafe tried not to let that feel like a punch to the throat. He failed. This sonofabitch had both Bree and Tessa, and he was making a game out of their lives.
“Let’s go,” Rafe insisted, heading toward the house to see what equipment he could salvage.
Jericho kept moving but stepped in front of him, facing him while he walked backwards. “You know this is a trap, right? That Buckner probably wants you there so he can kill all of us in some evil shit kind of way.”
“Yeah. Can’t be helped,” Rafe muttered.
“Good. As long as you know what you’re up against. No need to grab anything. I have everything we need in my van.”
Rafe saw the van then, parked in his driveway, and he started toward it. He felt the pain with each step, but more than that, he felt the determination to do this. To get both women back. To hell with saving just one. He’d figure out a way to get them both out.
He hoped.
The doubts came though. The images of his last mission, the one where Lieutenant Ellie Abrahamson had died.
“You know, it’s so much easier to remember the shitstorm missions,” Jericho said as he began hauling gear from the back of his van. Earbud communicators. A replacement phone for Rafe. Guns. Knives. “They stay with you. My advice? Forget the shitstorm and focus on the guardian angel stuff. I can assist with the ass-kicking if it comes down to it.”
Rafe didn’t have a single doubt about Jericho’s abilities. But they were walking into a trap, and this was personal.
“You don’t have to go in with me,” Rafe offered.
Jericho rolled his eyes. “Shove that notion up Buckner’s ass, okay?”
Rafe didn’t attempt to thank the man. Nor would Jericho want it. Rafe only hoped this mission didn’t get them all killed.
“Final weapon,” Jericho said, pulling out a slingshot from the equipment bag, and he tucked it in one of the pockets of his camo pants.
The slingshot was famous. Or rather infamous. And Jericho always, always had it with him on missions. Maybe for sentimental reasons. Jericho had never said. But once Rafe had watched Jericho do some damage to a sniper’s head, all while making no sound to alert the sniper’s comrades that they were under attack.
They got in the van, and Jericho started driving while he pulled up the live feed of the compound. Rafe used his new phone to access the blueprints of the camp. When the FBI had raided it all those years ago, they’d thankfully provided a drawing of the layout in their final reports.
“Tunnels,” Rafe grumbled. He tapped the spot on the dash display to show Jericho the two tunnels that fed off two of the units. “It’s my guess that Buckner will have men waiting for us in those.”
Jericho made a fast sound of agreement. “There are a couple of ventilation fans.”
He tapped those, and they did look large enough to access the building. Still, Buckner would have made plans for that as well.
“Buckner kept me alive,” Rafe said, thinking out loud. “That means he probably won’t gun me down the moment he sees me. He needs something to play out.”
But what?
Maybe he wanted Tessa to watch them die to make her suffer? Or was this about cleaning up loose ends and making sure no part of the murders or attacks could be linked back to him?
“What does Buckner want?” Rafe muttered. The question was meant for himself, to try to trigger his brain to come up with the right answer. The answer that would save Tessa and Bree.
“Well, either he’s totally lost it and wants his revenge against Tessa served up with a dose of carnage,” Jericho answered. “Or he’s a calculating piece of shit with a plan to get that revenge and walk away scot-free.”
“I’m going with door number two of this,” Rafe said, and once again Jericho agreed.
“So, how are we getting in?” Jericho asked.
Rafe pointed to the main entrance. “I’m going in through there. You and your slingshot can go through one of the ventilation fans.”
