Page 46 of Tangled With You

He had to do the job.

Slowly, he drew in a breath, then nodded, as much to himselfas to Trevor. “Okay,” he said. “I’m ready. Go gather the team.”

For a moment, Trevor only looked at him, his expression darkand a little sad. And why wouldn’t it be? They didn’t have the victim safelytucked away and the kidnapper was still on the loose. They were going to haveto deliver the ransom, and that was the riskiest maneuver in a kidnapping.Trevor knew that as well as Ollie did.

Not a good situation. But Ollie wasn’t thinking about that.On the contrary, he was determined that he would see Courtney again. And whenhe did, she’d be alive and unharmed.

“Right,” Trevor said, not quite meeting Ollie’s eyes. “Fiveminutes. We’ll convene on the driveway.” He glanced around Bobby’s smallbungalow. “Better outside. There’s a chance this place is wired.”

“Good thinking,” Ollie said as they moved outside and intothe front yard. “In fact, let’s get a team in here to sweep for that. If Bobbyis listening in, maybe we can trace it back.”

“On it,” Trevor said, then moved away. This time, he didn’treach for Ollie, and even though Ollie couldn’t afford the distraction ofTrevor’s touch—even though he needed to cling to pure professionalism if he wasgoing to get through this—that simple absence weighed on him.

Outside, the two teams gathered in the driveway, speaking inlow voices to avoid being overheard by any of the neighbors.

“We have two hours until the ransom drop,” Trevor said.“Unless anyone else has a better idea, we’re going to move forward as planned.Ollie will take the money in, leave it at the drop site. We’ll have eyes on foras long as it takes, but hopefully he’ll make a move to get the cash withintwenty-four hours. According to his instructions, once he’s acquired the cash,he’ll let us know where to find Courtney.”

He glanced around at the group, his eyes skimming over Olliewithout even hesitating. “We’ll follow the money, but the hostage is ourpriority. Questions?”

There were none, and so the group split up, heading backinto the Range Rovers to both plan and head to the drop site.

The site itself was a men’s room inside the Sherman OaksGalleria. They parked a half mile away where a variety of base model cars wereparked and ready for them, courtesy of ASAC Horowitz. The team switched fromthe Range Rovers to the cars, then each driver engaged in some evasivemaneuvers before parking at the shopping center.

“You ready?” Trevor asked, his hands tight on the steeringwheel, as if he was gluing himself in place.

“Yeah.” Ollie drew a breath. “Yeah, I’ve got this.” Hereached over, then pressed his hand to Trevor’s thigh. He wanted to pull him infor a kiss. For support.

But he couldn’t. Not if he wanted to keep himself centered.Right then, he needed absolute focus.

One more breath, then he nodded. “Okay. Keep a close eye.I’m not keen on being taken out by one to the head.” Presumably the kevlar he wore under his shirt would take care of one tothe chest, but he wasn’t wearing a kevlar skull cap.Wouldn’t matter anyway. Any self-respecting sniper would get him right betweenthe eyes.

Rambling.

He forced his nerves back down, then opened the door. Trevorreached for him, then squeezed his hand before he could pull away, and hesqueezed back, afraid the touch would knock him off his game, but still needingit as much as Trevor did.

“In. Out. Done. You’ve got this,” Trevor said. “You’ll makethe drop, we’ll get the address, and Courtney will be fine.”

“And Bobby?”

“We’ve got eyes everywhere,” Trevor reminded him. “We’lltrack him down. But priority one is Courtney, and we’re making that happen today.Right?”

“Hell, yes,” Ollie said, then slipped out of the car. Heopened the back door, grabbed the bags that Damien had prepped, and headed intothe mall.

He couldn’t see any of the team—they were all too damngood—but he knew they were watching. Hewalked in through one of the main entrances, only to find the place relativelyempty. Once a popular destination, it almost seemed abandoned.

Worked out great for the good guys, Ollie thought. Easier tokeep eyes on the target.

He found the restroom easily enough then, entered, hisstomach in knots since that was the one area in the mall without eyes.

It was completely empty, and he let out a slow sigh ofrelief.

His instructions were to put the duffels in the handicappedstall, stacked on the toilet. Then lock the door and crawl out of the stallfrom underneath.

Someone would be along within the hour to collect the ransom,and they’d leave an envelope with the address where Courtney was being held.Any attempt to follow the bag man would be noted, and a call would be made tothe appropriate party, who would quickly and efficiently put a bullet inCourtney’s brain.

So, yeah. Ollie was following the rules.

He entered the stall, found that the duffels stacked justfine, and then he locked the door as ordered. He wasn’t particularly keen oncrawling on the floor, but he had little choice. So he got down, crawled under,then stood upright again to wash his hands.