Thank you, Echo Team.
Knowing Emmett Shaw and Blake Savage were watching Talia’s six from afar eased the tension in Jagger’s neck and shoulders. Mostly, anyway.
Would you relax, already? The woman is going to be in one of the most secured buildings in the country. Not to mention, she’ll be surrounded by some of the most capable and highly trained members of the U.S. government all damn day.
Jagger’s brain understood all that, but his heart? That was a different beast all its own. For now—actually, for the foreseeable future—all that mattered was knowing the woman it belonged to was safe.
There was a knock at the door less than five minutes later. The pounding sounded strong. Familiar. After a quick check to verify the visitor’s identity, he disarmed the security system before opening the door to greet his friend.
“Hey, brother.” Liam held out a hand with a jut of his scruff-covered chin. “How’s the head?”
“As good as always,” Jagger joined his teammate outside.
The other man gave a serious shake of his head. “Well, damn. That’s not good. Want me to swing you by the hospital so the doc can have another look?”
Jagger lifted his middle finger in Liam’s direction, prompting his teammate to burst out in laughter. With a slight shift in his stance, he punched in the code on the door’s digital keypad and waited for confirmation that the locks had been engaged.
“Won’t Talia know you left the safe house?”
“Nah.” He gave a quick shake of his head. “She’ll get an alert that the door was opened and shut, but she knew you werecoming, so it’s no big deal. As long as the alarm doesn’t go off, she’ll have no reason to question it.”
Liam glanced back to scan that section of the apartment’s brick wall. “What about the cameras?”
“Tal has too much on her mind with work to worry about how well I’m behaving. Trust me. If all goes as planned, and it will, we’ll be back here before she’s even finished with her interrogation.”
Jagger smirked when reached the white, four-door sedan. “Nice car,” he muttered sarcastically as Liam used a tagged key fob to unlock the doors.
“Fuck off.” The man scowled. “I gave up a Lamborghini for you.”
Opening his door, Jagger slid his body into the passenger seat. “The hell you mean, you gave up a Lamborghini for me?”
Liam plopped himself behind the wheel. “The rental place had this sweet, candy apple red Lamborghini.” His dark eyes met Jagger’s. “You know…the kind of car Allison willneverlet me buy? Anyway, I wanted to get it so damn bad, but I knew this would blend in better, so”—He swept a dramatic hand out in front of him—“here we are.”
After a few seconds’ worth of feigned pondering, he looked at his friend with a nod. “Fair enough.” He grinned. Switching the topic as Liam pulled away from the curb, he asked, “Did the others go back?”
“The guys are still here, but we sent the women back.” Liam’s throat worked a hard swallow. “I needed Allison and Maddie out of the city.”
Jagger didn’t have to ask the man why he’d sent his fiancée and her daughter back to Chicago with the other Delta Team women. Memories of the explosion were explanation enough.
If the bastard who’d tried killing Talia knew who Jagger was, and that he worked as a Delta Team operator, it could put anyone of his friends in danger. One thing the men of R.I.S.C. all had in common was their primal need to protect the ones they loved.
Jagger had borne witness to it time and again. With his Delta brothers and, before them, the members of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. They would lay down their lives for the women who owned their hearts. Some of his fellow R.I.S.C. men had even come damn close a time or two, but not Jagger.
That’s because I never let it be me.
His entire adult life had been spent walking the wire. Always diving headfirst into danger. Jagger thrived on adrenaline and the rush that came later, but a life like that wasn’t meant to be shared.
It was risky. Dangerous. Anyone close to him would automatically become a possible target. In this particular case, Talia was already in danger. As far as he knew, it had nothing to do with him.
Regardless, the person responsible had stirred up a shitstorm of epic proportions. And Jagger wouldn’t stop searching for them until he’d made the son of a bitch pay.
“Okay, so I know you said you were good to go, but are you recovered enough to go up against the CIA?”
“Sinclair is former CIA.” Jagger turned and looked at his friend. “And is that really even a question?”
“I’m just saying, this little plan of yours goes sideways, we need to be ready. I come home all shot to hell and back, Allison’s going to have my ass.”
Something about the way Liam said his fiancée’s name created a funny feeling somewhere deep inside Jagger’s gut. “You know, that’s like the third time you’ve mentioned your fiancée in, what…two minutes?” He frowned. “Is everything okay on the home front?”
