He spared the insistent man a glance as his boots covered the distance to the team’s SUVs. “I thought you were the authorities.”
“You know what I mean.” Boone looked pissed. “We need to handle this thing through proper channels. At the very least, we should be calling in SWAT.”
Emmett stopped in his tracks next to the vehicle he planned to drive. Before opening the door, he looked the well-meaning detective square in the eyes.
“We hand this over to the authorities, Janie will be dead before they even breach the front door.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Idoknow that, because I know the kind of men we’re dealing with,” Emmett shot back. “And if we call this in, we’ll have to wait for a warrant, which isn’t guaranteed, as you well know. Then,ifit’s approved and a judge signs off on it, onlythenwill a SWAT team be brought in and briefed. They’ll sit down together and make a plan of approach before ever leaving the damn precinct.”
“That’s how situations like this work, Emmett.”
“It’s also how innocent hostages wind up dead.”
He’d seen it before, and there wasn’t a chance in hell he was risking Janie’s life to cross some Ts and dot a few Is.
“I can’t let you do this.”
Emmett sent Boone a sinister grin. “Guess it’s a good thing I’m not asking.”
“This goes sideways, and my bosses find out I had prior knowledge; it will bemyass.”
Shit goes sideways, I stand to lose a lot more than that.
It was a risk, no doubt. But they had to at least try.
Emmett put himself directly within the other man’s personal space. “I’m getting her back, Lincoln.” His deep vow was laced with deadly venom. “And I’m going to do that with or without your help.”
He opened the door, slid behind the wheel, but Boone’s hand kept him from pulling the door shut.
“You sure you know what you’re doing?”
No.“I’m sure this is our best chance of getting her out of this thing alive.”
Despite Boone’s efforts to prevent them from making what he obviously felt was a grave mistake, Emmett felt in his gut the D.C. detective could be trusted. Because of this, he motioned to the back seat that was nearly full.
“You want proof?” He motioned with his head to the seat behind him. “We’ll fill you in on the way. Otherwise let go of my door, because I have someplace I need to be.”
And a woman I desperately need to save from the men who will most assuredly kill her.
With a look of defeat and not-so-quiet curse, Boone released the hold on the door’s metal frame. Gwen was quick to offer up her seat, climbing back into the third row so Boone could sit in the middle. Once he was in, the doors slammed shut, and Emmett shoved the vehicle into drive.
The sound of tires squealing echoed all around them as they sped through the underground garage. As he drove, he half-listened to what Blake and the others were saying, his focus split between his team’s plan of attack and the woman they were trying like hell to save.
We’re coming, sweetheart. We know where you are, and we’re on our way to you now. Just a little longer, sweetheart.
Janie wiped the sweat from her clammy palms as she paced the concrete prison. It had been hours, and no one had come to her. Or to her, it had felt like hours.
There’d been no interrogation. No demands. Only a deafening silence that was slowly driving her mad.
That’s probably part of their plan.
Wear her down with psychological warfare, starting with isolation. Give her just enough time for her mind to start working against her.
News flash, fellas. I’m already there.
Tiny bits of gravel, dirt, and grime created a soft crunching sound beneath her feet. At least she’d had the sense to dress in comfortable shoes for the trip to the hospital.
