She wondered where Jax was, resisted the urge to scan the area in search of him. He was out there somewhere. She trusted Jax and Maddox to keep her safe. Mindy kept walking.
WEARINGCAMOCARGOpants and an olive-drab T-shirt beneath a tactical vest, Jax adjusted the eight-inch knife on his pistol belt next to his HK45. He moved into position behind the wide trunk of an oak tree, fixing his gaze on Charley Burns, aka Mr. Average, the guy with the pale blue eyes.
Easing silently closer, Jax stepped up behind him, locked an arm around Burns’s neck and started to squeeze, at the same time jerking Burns’s semiauto out of his hand and tossing it away. Burns struggled, clawed and tried to kick backward. Jax tightened his hold. Burns made a few wheezing noises and went limp.
Almost too easy.
Propping Burns against the tree trunk, Jax bound the man’s wrists and ankles with plastic zip ties, slapped a piece of duct tape over his mouth and moved on to his next target.
Through his earbud, he could hear Mindy speaking to Susan DeMarco. She had just arrived at the rendezvous site. He felt a surge of pride at the calm control in her voice. It was followed by a shot of worry. She wasn’t a police officer or a private detective. She had no law enforcement training. Anything could happen.
He clamped down on his fear and picked up his pace. He had a job to do, same as Mindy. Counting on Maddox to take care of Whiteman, the smoker in the Zanotti high-tops, Jax wove quietly through the trees and shrubs, making his way around behind the big man with the scar on the back of his hand.
In a lightweight trench coat, Walker Riley stood in the shadows, using the lower branch of a tree to steady the barrel of the .308 rifle he pointed toward the path leading back to Mindy’s car.
Knowing he meant to kill the woman Jax loved, he felt a wave of fury so hot he had to clamp down hard to stay in control. He pulled his pistol, slipped up behind Riley and pressed the barrel against the side of his head. “One move and you’re a dead man.”
The rifle fell off the tree branch and landed with a thud on the soft green grass at Riley’s feet. “I told them you’d be here. The fools didn’t believe me. They thought the girl would do whatever they said to get the money. They figured she was as rotten as the rest of us.”
“Put your hands behind your back.”
Riley pretended to turn, feigned right and whirled left, his knife sliding into his hand at the same time he managed to dance away. Jax cursed. With the op still underway, there was no chance he could take a shot without giving them away and putting Mindy in even graver danger. He tossed his pistol and pulled his knife, jumped back as Riley’s blade slashed toward his throat above the vest, missing him by inches.
The two men began to circle, silver blades flashing in the sunlight shining between the clouds. Time was running out. He needed to get to Mindy before something else went wrong.
He slashed and thrust, dodged a slicing attack that came from the right, felt the deadly blade rip down his arm and jumped back out of the way. Riley was good. Agile for a man his size.
Jax swore softly, thrust and parried, jumped back as a sharp pain sliced across his thigh. He prayed the blade hadn’t nicked his femoral artery, knew he needed to make this end before Riley’s superior knife skill cost him his life.
Whirling, he shot out a kick with his boot that knocked the blade out of Riley’s big hand. Followed with an elbow to Riley’s chin, drove a hard right into his face that knocked him backward, and punched him again, breaking his nose and sending a spray of blood into the air.
Riley turned to run, but Jax tackled him, taking him to the ground. In seconds, Walker Riley was on his stomach, his wrists and ankles bound, duct tape over his mouth, Jax on the move toward Mindy.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SHE’DWANTEDTOget there early, be there before Susan arrived, but when she reached the granite conversation area near the flagpole, Susan rose to greet her. A leather satchel sat on the ground at her feet.
Mindy took a shaky breath. Plastering a fake smile on her face, she kept moving. The trick was to get Susan talking, get as much information as possible before it was time to take the money and leave.
Susan’s smile was a parody of warmth. “Well...if it isn’t my old ex-friend and employee, Mindy Stewart. You always played it so meek and mild. Who would have guessed what a ruthless little bitch you are.”
Mindy walked up in front of her. “I guess we both have our secrets. Yours is going to cost you twenty-five thousand dollars.”
A cold smile curved Susan’s red-painted lips. “Ryan was a good fuck, but he wasn’t worth twenty-five grand.”
“For the information on this drive, I bet he wanted a lot more than that. Is that the reason you had him killed? Or maybe you were the scorned lover, and you killed him for revenge. Which was it?”
“He’s dead because he tried to play me,” Susan said. “Didn’t work out very well for him. I guess we’ll find out if it’s going to work for you.”
She should have been afraid but instead anger rolled through her. “Are you threatening me? Because if you are, I’ll turn around right now and walk away. I’ll drive straight to your husband’s office and hand the flash drive over to him. I imagine he’ll be very grateful.”
Susan’s spine stiffened. “You little whore. You try to go against me and you’ll be as dead as Ryan Shipman. I’ll see to it personally.”
“The way you did him?”
She smirked, but didn’t answer.
Mindy looked down at the satchel. “You want the flash drive. I want the money. Let’s get this over with.”
