Sloane leaned back in her chair. “I’ll find a way in as soon as they start broadcasting.”
Tierney stared at the map for another minute, then turned. “Men like Pike don’t like to lose, and I already escaped once. Don’t count on him playing by his own rules.”
They headed off, geared up, then drove to the hangar. Foster had the bird gassed up and ready, his team already kitted out. Dalton, Nick, and Bodie climbed in beside Tierney and Buck, a heavy silence filling the cabin as Foster lifted off, angled toward the coordinates.
He clicked on the mic, tipping the bird over as he screamed through the air, the skids barely missing the treetops. “I suggest every one buckle in. This is gonna be low and fast.”
Buck slid his hand over Tierney’s, holding it as the chopper banked left and right, rising over a large outcrop before dropping into a winding riverbed. The rotors pounded the air, everything inside the cabin lifting off then slamming back down as Foster followed the contour of the landscape, finally slowing a bit as he neared a break in the canopy, a hint of a dirt road glaring up at them.
He bled off the speed, flaring them into the spot, the blades missing the surrounding trees by maybe an inch. Zain and Kash jumped out, holding the doors as Rowan and Buck’s team disembarked, kneeling off to one side as Foster lifted the aircraft, vanished into the setting sun a moment later.
Bodie waited until silence settled over the forest, glancing down at his GPS. “The perimeter’s five klicks away. We’ll have to move it. Nick and Dalton will peel off early, find a way inside without getting caught while the rest of us head for the safe zone. Greer and Avery should be arriving at Foster’s makeshift landing zone in about thirty. They’ll monitor directly with Sloane, who’s apparently hacking into one of the CIA’s satellites. Said she’ll swing it our way. And no, I don’t want to know how she’s doing that or what the fallout will be. We can deal with the legal side of things once everyone’s safe.” He looked pointedly at Tierney. “I realize this is personal, and I know you both want to save everyone, but you can’t help Pike’s victims if you’re dead, so…”
Tierney simply nodded, racing off a second later — running the trail as if she saw the map in her head. And hell, maybe she did. Maybe that last scan she’d done back at the office had put the entire area into memory.
Buck kept pace behind her, watching for any hint of a tripwire, as Tierney jumped over decaying nurse logs, cutting through a stand of old-growth spruce before stopping at the top of a short rise. The scent of damp earth and fresh cut cedar filled the air, a couple crows cawing overhead.
Tierney crouched at the ridge, pointing down at a narrow ravine — the perfect funnel point for picking off prey. “That’s our entrance.”
Buck shook his head. “This feels wrong in so many ways. Bodie, maybe you and Rowan should hang back until we’re sure Pike isn’t going to simply open fire or blow us up.”
Bodie glanced at Rowan. They’d been together for several months, and while Buck knew Rowan could more than hold her own — had saved their asses more than once — putting his family in the line of fire tore at the man they’d all helped him become.
He looked at Tierney. Head high, eyes clear, she looked more than fierce.
They picked their way down the embankment, jogged along the gravel two track before stopping at where the area opened into a tear-shaped clearing. Towering trees filled the landscape, that river she’d talked about roaring in the distance. She scanned the open space, took a breath when a tuft in the dirt caught his eye.
He grabbed her shoulder, yanked her back before she took a step — crossed the perimeter. She stumbled backward, catching her balance with a hand on his chest as she arched a brow.
He went to one knee, found the nearly invisible wire buried amidst the stones and moss. “Bastard rigged the front door.” He followed it over to the edge, revealing a directional fragmentation mine. “Wire’s strung the entire width of the trail.”
It took Buck a minute to disarm it — tuck the mine in his pack — before he nodded, and they crossed into the zone. He checked his watch — one minute to spare.
The forest fell into an eerie silence, those crows taking wing. Tierney looked over at him when a gunshot echoed through the trees, bouncing back on itself a few moments later. Shouts rose above the lingering report, hollow footsteps sounding all around them.
He looked over at her. “Game on, sweetheart. Time to show Pike he just got more than he bargained for.”
Chapter Ten
A fine mist wove through the basin, choking out the air, making her lungs work harder just to draw in a breath. Fading sunlight filtered through the growing fog, painting the forest floor with scattered beams that blended everything into a wash of twilight gray light. Water dripped from the collection of cedar and spruce, each drop swallowed by the spongy layer of wet pine needles and dead fern fronds spread out like a carpet beneath the towering evergreens. The thick scent of pine and decaying wood surrounded them, tempered by the suggestion of more rain.
Tierney pushed to the edge of the clearing, getting ten yards in when her comms unit hissed, then died, nothing but dead air in her ear.
Buck tapped the unit, cursing under his breath. “He must have strung up short-wave blockers. Probably jamming cell service, too, other than when he wants to communicate.”
“Like I said. He won’t play fair.”
“Then, neither will we.” Buck pressed his rifle against his shoulder, scoped the perimeter. “Nothing in the trees. We should stay on the edge until?—”
The phone vibrated in her pocket, the hum deceivingly loud in the unnatural quiet.
Tierney met his gaze, flipped it open and put it on speaker. “We’re here. But then, I’m sure you already knew that.”
Pike laughed. “Welcome to the board. I see you came with just the big bloke, and your designated rescuers are staying beyond the line, just like I asked. Such a good, lass.”
The compliment slithered down her spine, making her skin crawl. He’d used that same phrase while she’d been chained to the bed, as if not dying had been a reflection on her skill set. “If you’re so keen to have me play the game, you wouldn’t have wired the entrance.”
“Just making sure you haven’t lost your edge since we last played together. This is theater, pet. I need to ensure I give my audience what they paid for.”
