I covered his six, squeezing two rounds into a hostile who’d broken from cover.
“Threats neutralized,” Ryder announced once we’d taken out the three tangos.
We pushed forward. Every shot we took calculated. Every second a countdown.
We weren’t dealing with amateurs, but with men who’d received similar training as us, which made my stomach turn.
Operators. Former military. Now turncoats.
“Alpha One.” Carter’s voice popped back onto the line. “We’ve secured the perimeter. All enemies outside the plane are now down. You’re green to move on the plane.”
Then came the gut punch.
“Be advised: Rhett’s still inside with the hostage. He’s requesting a face-to-face. Refuses to come out unless he talks to Delta.”
“This is Delta One,” Ryder said, his voice steel. “Roger. Moving now.”
The hangar lights flickered in front of us, painting long shadows across the field.
We knocked our night vision up when closing in on Alpha Team holding the ground, armed and waiting for us. Our backup had saved the day, thank God.
Now to get Audrey out uninjured. Thankfully, this was what we’d been trained to do in Delta Force: hostage-rescue even from a hijacked plane. We would defeat this asshole. I had to believe that. No suicide missions taking Audrey with him.
“Alpha One,” Carter said. “He’s ready to talk to you.” He gave us the frequency to switch over to as we closed in on Alpha Team.
I turned the knob, catching a new voice as I did. “This is Zero Tango. I know you’re there.” Rhett, the asshole I’d clocked in the woods in Colorado.
Ryder keyed his mic. “We’re listening.”
“I know how this plays. You breach, people die. Probably her. So let’s make a deal,” Rhett continued.
“You’re out of deals and out of chances. Nowhere for you to run—not even for a dead man,” Ryder hissed back.
“Maybe not, but I’ve still got the hostage. I also have both rings. I kill her, you lose her and the evidence in the vault falls into the wrong hands. You won’t be able to access it without her, even if you have the rings. You. Need. Me.”
“The fuck we do,” I ground out, unable to stop myself.
“Ah, the boyfriend.” Rhett’s voice remained steady, as if he actually still believed he held all the cards. “Is that you, Rodriguez? Your ex-wife’s a real piece of work. Though you already know that, don’t you?”
I kept quiet that time, not looking to play into his hands.
“Don’t do what he wants!” Audrey yelled in the background, giving me a heart attack. Both her words and her voice.
“I don’t know how you found our location or figured out—”
“Your hacker girlfriend isn’t as good as she thinks she is. If she was, she’d have figured out how to hack that secure call you knew I’d take with Beth. You’d have found out you’d been played.”
“Bullshit.” Was that Rhett’s girlfriend? “She told you what we wanted her to. You fell for it all, or you’d never have come to New Zealand.”
Ryder advanced toward the jet, methodical and calm, rifle angled low but ready.
Alpha Team flanked wide, their muzzles still trained on the plane, but they gradually peeled off to give us the lead.
Once the cockpit came into view, my stomach sank.
Rhett was in the pilot’s seat, his arm locked tight around Audrey, who was crouched next to him, gun pressed to her temple.
His girlfriend was in the seat off to Rhett’s right, armed as well.
