Targeted Risk (R.I.S.C. #7) - Anna Blakely Page 0,61
then and now are the players. I’m telling you, Mike...the best piece of advice I got then is the same thing I’m telling you, now. Treat this like an op. Stay focused, know your goal, and do what it takes to reach it.”
Mike knew his brother-in-law was right, but this was Jules. She wasn’t just some nameless hostage on an op. She was his life. She was...
“My everything.”
“I know she is, man. Which is why you’ve got to get your head in the game.”
Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but Jake was right. Goddamn it, he was right. Juliet was on her own with Fuller, and if he didn’t lock down his emotions right the fuck now, he might lose her forever.
Blinking away the remainder of his tears, Mike sat up straight and cleared his throat. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, man. I’m good.”
He could practically hear Jake’s smile when he said, “Welcome back.”
As serious as the situation was, Mike found himself grinning. “Smart ass.”
“Better than being a dumbass.”
Through the phone, Mike heard someone else talking in the background. “That D?”
“Yeah. He just got here. I’ll put him on speaker.”
“Hey, man,” Derek greeted him. “I’m tracking your phone, and I’ve got you pulled up on the GPS.”
“Good, because I’m looking up ahead, and all I see are trees, trees, and more fucking trees.”
“I’m sure you can feel it, but you’re on a steady incline. That road goes up into the mountain you’re currently on, but it levels out before long and then starts to go back down.”
“Anything else that might be good to know?”
“Just that you’ll want to stay on the paved road. There’s a trail not far from where you are now, but all it leads to is a pretty steep drop-off.”
A horrifying image of Fuller taking Juliet there tried working its way into Mike’s mind, but he shoved that shit away and remained focused.
“Copy that.”
Mike drove a couple of miles farther, and just when he was starting to give up hope, something up ahead caught his eye.
“I see something.” He squinted his eyes for better focus. “It’s hard to tell from here, but it almost looks like...ah, fuck.”
“What?” Jake and Derek spoke in unison.
“It’s Fuller’s car.”
“Wait, you found them?” Jake asked.
“Maybe.”
Derek spoke up next. “What exactly do you see, Mike?”
“I see Fuller’s car...or what’s left of it. Looks like the asshole lost control. He ran it into a goddamn tree.”
Several low curses hit Mike’s ear, but all he could focus on, all he could think about, was that Juliet had been in that car, too.
As he got closer, he could make out the skid marks on the pavement and gouges in the grass. “I’m pulling onto the shoulder where the car went off.”
“Watch your back, dude,” Derek warned. “There are a fuck ton of trees around there. Plenty of places for that douchecanoe, Fuller, to hide.
“D’s right,” Jake offered up his two cents. “You don’t know what you’re going to walk up on so stay alert.”
Stopping the car, Mike grabbed the pistol from the passenger seat and jumped out. “I don’t know whether to be touched or insulted.”
This wasn’t his first rodeo, and both men damn well knew it.
“Just stay focused, asshole,” Jake grumbled. “Remember the goal.”
“Trust me, it’s the only thing I’m thinking about.” Mike raised the gun and started walking toward the wreckage. “I’m putting my phone into my pocket, so I can use both my hands. I’ll keep it on, though, just in case.”
Jake surprised him when he said, “Ryker’s got some guys headed your way, since we can’t be there ourselves to give you backup.”
Jason Ryker was a Homeland Security agent and R.I.S.C.’s handler when they took on jobs for the government agency.
“Ryker?” Mike jumped the ditch and ran up the opposite incline. “I thought you told him to go fuck himself after the shit he pulled with Bravo Team a while back.”
“I did. This is one of the many things he’s doing to make up for it.”
Bravo Team was the other R.I.S.C. security team. From what Mike had heard, some shit went down with that team’s leader, and Ryker had played a part in letting it happen.
“I’ll keep an eye out for them, too.”
Mike started to put his phone into his pocket when he heard Jake’s voice again.
“Hey, Mike?”
“Yeah?”
“Your sister will never forgive either of us if you get your ass killed.”
He smiled. “Don’t worry. The only one dying today is Fuller. Maybe Lopez if I can track his ass down, too.”
“Copy that.”
With the