“Wait until he gets back,” Ryder requested in a low, almost regretful-sounding voice. “As much as I hate asking that of you, the mission is about keeping everyone safe, so it has—”
“To come first,” I finished for him, lowering the phone to my side.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Alejandro
The morning sun crawled over the alpine peaks from where I sat in my elevated overwatch position. I was lying prone on the edge of the ridgeline overlooking the Helix-owned safe house in Queenstown. The place was nestled in a cul-de-sac of glass and stone. A sleek modern fortress perched with purpose.
Multiple-car garage. Shuttered windows. Strategic sight lines. A perfect place for a traitorous security company to hide out.
I took a moment to stretch my neck, and wiggled my fingers since they were cramping up. My suppressed MK 13 Mod 7 sniper rifle was steady on its bipod, the precision scope trained on the front entrance. Ten hours here in my stakeout, and aside from taking a piss twice, I’d barely budged or blinked all night.
Now that there was more light, I was able to snap a few photos and text them to the team to get names. I assumed they’d all be employed by Helix, which meant they were more than likely veterans.
That made my stomach turn thinking about possibly having to go up against them. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was pull the trigger and take out one of our own.
At the vibration of a text, I checked to see Reed warning me not to shoot, that he was coming up behind me.
“Thanks, I would have.”
He offered a thermos of coffee, and I was almost in just enough of a shit mood to turn him down, but I grumbled and took it.
“I’m your replacement. You get to go.” He settled in next to me.
“I’m good right where I’m at. You should have stayed at the hotel. Now that I have my coffee, go back.”
“I can’t deal with Hollis. I needed a break.”
“What do you have against her, anyway? I mean, besides your usual hate for people.”
“She gets under my skin. I don’t want to talk about it.” He flicked my arm with the back of his hand. “Now, stop hiding and go.”
“Give you a turn to hide, you mean?”
“Exactly.” He reached for the bipod and moved the rifle since I wouldn’t physically reposition my body like he wanted. “Audrey needs to talk to you. She barely slept last night, and Hollis is worried about her. And Hollis on edge puts me on edge.”
I acted ignorant, shaking my head. “What does she want to talk about?”
“How would I know? But you upset her, and that upsets—”
“Hollis, got it. Which means you’re here to be a pain in my ass, now,” I grumbled. “And I can’t talk to her, because then I’ll have to tell her I caught her making out with Trevor and openly admit it’s over with her before it ever started.” Shit. I was so tired I’d accidentally told him the truth.
“You saw her make out with him? When?”
“In the bedroom, right after he arrived last night and before he took off with Echo.” I set aside the coffee, stealing back my rifle.
“I don’t believe that.”
“Well, I saw it with my own eyes.”Didn’t I? Shit.Jet lag and devastation were both doing a number on my head.
“You sure about that?”
“Yes.” I exhaled a deep breath and admitted, “Well, no. They were about to. I tucked tail and walked away.”
“So you didn’tactuallysee anything.” He stole back the rifle. Probably in safer hands right now than my unstable ones. “We have someone rolling up now,” he said, voice tight, switching gears. “Black Mercedes.” He read off the plate, and I pulled out my phone and texted the details to Gwen. “Female. Brunette. Looks to be in her mid-forties, and the two co-owners of Helix are personally greeting her. We need to send her image to Gwen.”
“Something feels really fucked up about all this, and I don’t mean what’s currently happening here. You get that feeling, too?”
