Chapter 11
RCMP WILD Headquarters, Conference Room, Outskirts of Kamloops, British Columbia.
Blair didn’t turn. “Sir, you didn’t answer your phone.” Her voice shook, but it was clear it was from fury only. Her body posture was broadcasting a clear and present danger.
“I was at a very important event!”
Blair faced him fully, her voice even. “An undercover operation was compromised because I was not informed. We nearly lost lives today. This briefing was happening whether you were present or not.”
Darrow scoffed. “It was need-to-know. Clearances were limited, especially with Tier 1 Navy SEALs involved.”
“I needed to know,” Blair snapped, loud enough that even Ice blinked.
“I’m second in charge here, and I didn’t have the information I needed to handle the situation as effectively as I would have if I had known.
” She turned to him, pointed at him. “This is Petty Officer First Class Kelly “Breakneck” Gatlin, the undercover man who was arrested for defending himself against a cartel hit. The constables who arrested him wouldn’t listen to him.
He was brought here for processing in cuffs, treated like a criminal, and he is the one you should thank.
It’s a goddamn miracle we don’t have bodies lined up in the hallway. ”
Darrow reddened, barely glancing at him. “Watch yourself, Blair.”
But Blair stepped closer, eyes like fire. “If Petty Officer Gatlin hadn’t been who he is, if he hadn’t convinced me, if he hadn’t fought like hell, we’d be writing eulogies. Your personal head games nearly got officers killed.”
Breakneck felt the room freeze.
She leaned in even closer, voice a whisper only he and some of the SEALs could hear. “I’m taking point. From now on, all WILD operational coordination goes through me. I will liaison with the Americans. I will handle the DEA, and you will stay out of the way.”
Darrow sputtered. “You can’t—”
She grabbed his elbow, pulled him aside, and hissed, “You will agree to this, or I will burn your entire career to the ground. I don’t care if it takes me down, too. This shit stops right now. Today.”
Breakneck felt a slow, involuntary smile pull at his mouth. Fuck, she was magnificent, and his body stirred all over again.
Ice folded his arms across his chest like he’d just found his new favorite Canadian.
Boomer muttered, “Oh yeah. She’s definitely one of ours.”
Skull whispered, “Break’s fucked.”
Breakneck didn’t answer.
He was too busy watching the woman at the front of the room command a division, a team of foreign operators, and the remnants of her patience all at once.
Damn if he didn’t want her even more for it.
The moment hung there, charged, brittle, electric, as if the air itself wasn’t sure what to do next.
Blair stepped back from Darrow like she hadn’t just handed him his spine with surgical precision. She smoothed a hand across the top file in front of her, eyes calm, voice steady.
“Let’s proceed,” she said.
Chairs scraped. Ice moved to one end of the table, commanding without announcing it. The DEA agents stiffened like men bracing for the fallout they knew was coming. Boomer and Skull flanked Breakneck instinctively, silent walls of muscle and loyalty.
Darrow slunk toward the far side of the conference table, posture too rigid for a man pretending to be in control.
Blair stood at the head. Not Darrow. Her.
Breakneck felt that like a hot, undeniable truth sinking into his bones.
She clicked on the overhead monitor. A satellite map of the Stone Creek Ranch region illuminated the wall, a bright pulse of terrain and heat signatures overlaid in red.
“As you all know, this is where the operation failed,” she said. “Where Petty Officer Gatlin got his intel and was jumped and tortured.” She looked at Iceman with a faint nod. “I believe Master Chief Snow has a question for you that hasn’t been answered yet.”
Carver straightened. “We dropped the ball. We were too focused on the border guard he flagged so that we could solidify his cover. We haven’t had time to dive in, and we don’t know what happened exactly.”
“We do,” Blair cut in, “because Petty Officer Gatlin heard it firsthand.” She inclined her head toward Breakneck, her tone leveling into that quiet authority that made men sit straighter. “Petty Officer—”
“Breakneck,” he said. “Callsign is fine.”
“Breakneck. Tell them what you told me.”
Breakneck cleared his throat, ribs twinging. “I overheard Ramos getting inside information regarding the DEA pulling Marques’s jacket. They have someone on the inside.”
He let his gaze drift toward Carver, slow, deliberate. “After they strung me up and started tuning up my torso and tazing my nads, they discovered their shipment was confiscated by RCMP. Said they were hitting RCMP HQ to get the product back.”
Carver’s jaw tightened. “We had no knowledge—”
“Then you lost control of your own operation,” Blair said. “It landed on my doorstep.”
Ice snorted. “Welcome to the meeting, gentlemen. Given your track record. We’ll be handling Break’s backup from now on. As for you, who’s watching your backs now?”
Carver shot daggers at Ice, then cleared his throat. “We would be grateful to have your support, Master Chief, and you, Sergeant Brown.”
Breakneck wondered how that crow was going down. Rough. Very rough.
Skull leaned toward Breakneck. “Five bucks says Ice snaps one of their necks by accident before this is over.”
Breakneck didn’t smile, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Blair continued. “Ryker identified a leak. Someone on the inside of the border post. The cartel knew things they shouldn’t have. Someone fed them intel.”
She clicked to the next slide. The RCMP badge and the DEA crest glowed side by side, uncomfortably close. “We have no idea where the breach is coming from. That means we keep this operation as tight as possible,” Blair said.
Carver nodded. “Sergeant Brown, that’s a smart move.”
Ice stepped forward, voice low and deadly. “You let my operator go in blind. Your mistake nearly got him killed. I suggest you understand who’s in charge now”
Jones swallowed hard.
“We didn’t know the intel was compromised,” Jones said, his voice tight. “That wasn’t on him.” His gaze flicked to Breakneck for half a second, the blame and challenge gone, nothing but apology left.
He had to wonder if this was just the agent covering his own ass.
Blair didn’t raise her voice. “We’re going to identify the leak.
We’re going to stop Ramos, and we’re going to do it together.
But from this point forward—” Her gaze sharpened like a knife’s edge.
“—I lead the Canadian side. Master Chief Snow leads the American side. My people are not dying because someone in DC forgot how to share a goddamn briefing.”
Breakneck felt something coil hot under his sternum, running like wildfire to his dick. Fuck, he wanted this woman, but something in him resisted like hell, tasting a lot like trouble.
Darrow huffed. “You don’t have the clearance for cross-border—”
Blair turned her head. Slowly. Beautifully. “I will. I’ll be speaking to Ottawa. I’m not only going to get that clearance, but I’m going to let them know that I’m taking on this op, while you handle your normal workload.”
His eyes narrowed, and he looked away. “Yes, ma’am.”
Boomer muttered under his breath, “She’s going to make Ice look like a guidance counselor.”
Ice crossed his arms. “I like her.”
Breakneck liked her too in a way that made his chest tight and his blood run hot.
In a way that made him feel something he had no business feeling with a cartel breathing down his neck.
Blair tapped the screen again. A grainy satellite video flickered to life. “This is the Stone River Ranch,” Blair said, “one hour ago.”
Break’s stomach dropped. There was no movement. None, not even horses or cattle.
“There’s nothing to see.” Boomer said.
“That’s because they’re gone, lock, stock and barrel. They’ve moved their base of operations,” she answered. “My guess? To a secondary site deeper in the backcountry. Harder terrain. Fewer access points.”
“How do you know?” Carver asked tightly.
“Because,” Blair said, “that’s what I would do.” Her phone rang and she answered. Her mouth tightened. “When? You have footage?” Her eyes flicked to Breakneck. “Send it to me.”
He leaned forward when she hung up. “What happened?”
“The cartel is striking back.” Blair clicked several buttons on her phone, the big screen came to life, and she picked up a remote and zoomed in on a big 4x4 speeding away from a border patrol shack, bodies on the road. “This is one of our border patrol checkpoints.”
The room quieted.
“Attack?” Ice asked.
Blair’s jaw tightened. “Worse than that.”
Breakneck’s blood iced.
Boomer swore. “Focused attack?”
Blair nodded her head. “Yes, very focused.” She dropped a photograph onto the table. A bruised face. A uniform. Terrified eyes. “Border guard Jacques Marques,” Blair said. “The one Breakneck was told to blackmail.”
Breakneck felt heat surge through him. “They grabbed him?”
Blair nodded. “He cooperated with you for your cover. It was a warranted move.”
Carver cursed. “Christ. He doesn’t know a goddamned thing. We spoke to his supervisor, and he was the one who spoke to Marques.”
“He’ll give him up,” Ice said.
Blair pressed her palms to the table. “We need to find him before that happens and secure Marques’s supervisor, Inspector Leo Tremblay.”
Breakneck stood. Every bruise screamed. Every muscle protested. He didn’t care.
“I’m going,” he said.
Blair looked up sharply. “You can barely breathe.”
“I can breathe fine.”
“You were strung up and beaten two hours ago—”
“And I’m still a Tier 1 operator.” Breakneck’s voice dropped, low and uncompromising. “The team will have to be split. We have two snipers, and I’m one of them.”
Ice opened his mouth, likely to shut that down, but Blair moved before he could.
She stepped closer. Close enough, Breakneck could feel her heat.
Close enough, he caught the clean scent of magnolia and leather on her skin.
Close enough that every bone in his body strained toward her without permission.
“You’re not going alone,” she said quietly.
Breakneck’s heartbeat kicked hard against his ribs. “What are you saying?” he asked.
Her gaze didn’t waver. “I’m going with you, and Beef and Tyler. They’re my best constables.”
The room fell dead silent.
Ice blinked. “Sergeant—”
“My terrain,” Blair said. “My people. My jurisdiction. My missing man.” Her voice softened, deadly calm. “My operation.”
Breakneck stared at her, breath caught in his bruised lungs. She stared right back, and in that impossible, dangerous moment, he realized something inescapable.
He wasn’t just fucked.
He was gone.