Merc caught Aaron's sideways glance. “I don't know, man. The thought of putting Celine in any possible danger makes me want to puke, but the thought of her having to live in fear any longer than necessary is just as bad.”
Merc strode forward and slammed his fist onto the table. “Not true, dammit. We'd be putting all three of them directly into action. There's no way for us to control all the variables. Hell, he could have spooks roaming outside these walls right now, waiting on any one of us to leave and strike. He wants us all dead.”
Ethan cleared his throat. “There's no way he could have deployed a team here already. And even if he did, we’re sure as hell ready to take them out just like we did when they attacked TF-S headquarters in Mercy.”
Rage pounded through Merc’s blood with the force of a jackhammer ripping up old concrete in a hundred-degree heat. “Am I the only one who remembers that night? How terrified your families were? They came at us with everything they had. There’s still bullet holes in Hank's house.”
“You're right, Merc.” Hunter's deep, quiet voice filled the room. “He came at us with everything he had, and we killed every last one of those sons-of-bitches.”
“Have you all lost your minds?” Merc couldn't put Caroline at risk. What if Mr. J succeeded this time in killing her? She was the only real connection he'd ever felt, and he knew without a doubt if J severed that connection, he might as well slice out Merc's heart and stick it on a fucking spike to rot and die.
The memory of Caroline’s wide eyes and pale clammy skin when she'd been shot in the palace rushed forward, followed immediately by the memory of the explosion… and the dead men in the street whose names he couldn't remember but he felt their loss just as keenly as if they were his own brothers.
He broke out in a cold sweat. “You can't ask her to do this. You don't know what she's been through.”What I've been through… I can't lose her.
“Merc, this girl you're so worried about held our entire team at bay in a cave in the Afghanistan Mountains after hauling you there by herself. I don't think you're giving her enough credit,” Hunter said.
Was he second-guessing her? Hell, she’d practically saved his life. No, she'd restored his life.
A dark voice whispered through his mind:Ifyou drew Mr. J in, you could find out about your past once and for all. You could kill him and still get the girl.
Maybe…
No. No way. Merc shook his head, trying to clear the demons from his thoughts. “Dammit, Hunter, would you string Evie and Hank Junior out like bait for that monster? What about you, Ranger? What about Amy and the kids?”
Silence. Crickets. Nothing.
“There has to be another way.”
Grey lifted his hand in the air, calling for everyone's attention. “I've already asked Celine and Kate. They want to do it. I think we should give them a shot.”
Ranger stood and turned to Merc. “We don’t like this any better than you. But think about their futures. What if Mr. J gets away again? Each and every one of our families will have to spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders. He's already proven he's not scared to attack us at home. He could pick off one of our women on their way to the grocery store. We can’t be there with them every minute of every day. You know that. At least here we’d get to set the playground. We’d get to pick the location. We’d get to set the trap.”
Jared Crow rapped his knuckles on the table, speaking for both himself and his brother, Hoyt. “We agree.”
Merc saw red, straight up fire-blazing-bright burning red. It was too risky. There were too many variables, and J loved variables. He loved being unpredictable. Chest tight, Merc crushed the back of the chair in an effort to keep from rubbing the hollow ache in his chest.
Then Hoyt, one of the men he was closest to on the team said, “Merc, man, I don't know what's going on between you and Caroline, but it's obvious she's important to you. She's the first thing I've seen you care about ever since I’ve known you, and I vow to you right now that I will protect her with my life.”
A loud round of knuckles rapping on the table followed Hoyt's declaration, his team’s promise they'd all give their lives for his woman.
His woman.
Caroline Cotter was his woman.
Every ounce of air left Merc’s lungs and he suddenly found himself holding on to the chair for support rather than crushing it in anger.
Ethan faced Merc, his expression as black as his hair. “Ever since I've known you, you've done whatever it takes for our team. You've been there even when you didn't have to be. Hell, you're the one who had the balls to take out one of our own when he turned against us. It's our turn to pay you back.” The rest of the team nodded their agreement. Ethan continued, “We will trap J, and it won't be because we’re smarter than him or sneakier – Satan blessed that bastard with a sense of cunning I think few in this world possess. But Satan also gave him an overdose of confidence, and the man's starting to get reckless. Starting to make mistakes. We need to take advantage while we can.”
It’s true. TF-S had been able to track Mr. J down because they’d rescued Celine before she was sold as a sex slave, and Celine had found out that Mr. J was really Jack Mankel. Mankel's greed would be his own undoing.
Merc took a deep breath and met Grey's cold hard stare. “I get final say on the location and the setup, or I'm out.”
Grey’s lips twisted into a smile that could cut through steel. “You got it.”
