Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Yartym’s reporting a gunshot at the factory.”
Asher’s gaze snapped to Bartlett, whose expression was grim.
“It’s not Cici,” Asher snapped. “Gagnon won’t kill her as long as he thinks he can use her.”
Praying he was right, Asher put the gunshot out of his mind and returned his focus to the satellite image on the laptop screen, which looked like a blueprint for a nightmare.
Alyssa had found and disabled the tracking software loaded onto the SD card, so they’d powered up their phones again. Now, her laptop was connected to the internet—hotspot, he figured, but he didn’t care how she’d done it before she’d wandered off to make a phone call.
The paper mill complex sprawled across the screen in grainy detail—three main buildings connected by covered walkways, surrounded by a chain-link fence, not to mention a summer’s worth of growth—trees, bushes, weeds—where anyone could hide.
Cici was in the middle of that, guarded by monsters. He couldn’t think of a better setup for a horror movie.
He inhaled and exhaled, focusing his thoughts. Work the problem. Don’t think about all the things that could go wrong.
“Main factory building.” He tapped the largest structure with his index finger.
“That’s where the mercenaries went. It’s got the most cover, multiple exits, and”—he tapped the exterior fire-escape staircases, which led from the roof, down to the second floor, then to the ground—“two floors. If this is like other factories I’ve seen, then the top floor probably looks down over the first, giving them the high ground.
If I were holding a hostage, that’s where I’d set up shop. ”
Grant had found photos of the paper mill from when it was still operational. His gaze bounced between his cell phone and the satellite image. “There’re windows on the second floor.” He turned to Bartlett. “Your guys see any lights on?”
Bartlett asked the question of his team on his cell phone. He shook his head. “No lights. Some of the windows look like they’ve been blocked.”
“We have to assume they’re watching,” Grant said. “The covered walkways are a double-edged sword. They can move between buildings without being spotted from above, but so can we.”
Callan’s focus was on Alyssa, who paced a few feet away, still talking on the phone. He seemed to have to force his gaze back to the laptop. “We’ll need to get inside the fence without alerting them we’re there. Do they have guards outside it?”
Bartlett fielded that. “At least four, and my guys’ view is limited.”
Callan’s gaze bounced back to Alyssa, who was coming toward them. “Well?”
“Michael and Dad are both working on getting us real-time satellite imagery. One of them will get it done.”
Two more were working on getting them help, added to those who’d come when he’d called.
Asher felt something shift inside him. The familiar weight of responsibility hadn’t lifted from his shoulders, but it didn’t feel like it was crushing him anymore.
He didn’t have to do this by himself. He met each team member’s eyes before focusing on Grant.
He was a legend at GBPA. Some claimed that he’d attacked a boatload of killers, taken them all out, and rescued two hostages.
Even if the stories were exaggerated, this guy knew what he was doing. “What’s our best approach?”
“Simultaneous breach from multiple points.” Grant’s finger traced paths on the old satellite image. “We go in quiet, take out their sentries. Even if we’re discovered, their attention will be divided. They’ll be forced to respond on several fronts.”
Bartlett stepped closer to the laptop. “My men are positioned here and here.” He pointed to two spots on opposite sides of the property, outside the fence. “They’re in high spots. They can provide cover.”
“What about Cici?” Alyssa’s pitch rose with worry. “As soon as they know we’re there, Gagnon could cut his losses.”
“He won’t kill her.” Callan wrapped his arm around Alyssa, giving her a little squeeze. “Not if he thinks there’s any chance we have the SD card. It has names, dates, financial records—enough to bring down half the criminal organizations on the East Coast.”
“But he doesn’t know we have it,” Bartlett pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter.” Asher tried to keep fear out of his voice, hoping his assessment of Gagnon was accurate. “Leverage is this guy’s forte. He’ll keep Cici alive as long as he believes he can use her life to trade—for the SD card, for his own freedom, probably for both.”
Asher prayed he was right.
Callan nodded. “If it comes to dialog, we make him think we’re willing to trade.”
“Except we’re not,” Grant said flatly. “The moment he gets that card back, Cici becomes expendable.”
Asher’s jaw clenched, rage and fear threatening to cloud his judgment, but he forced them down.
Think. Plan. Execute. There was no room for anything else.
“Too many variables. Maybe they see us coming before we can get close. They regroup, surround her, and then we can’t get to her. It’ll be a shootout. Maybe we win—”
“We’ll win,” Grant said.
“But at what cost? We’re good, but we’re outgunned, and those guys who just showed up.” His gaze bounced to Bartlett. “Pros, right?”
“Bearing and equipment of soldiers.”
Grant said, “But we have the element—”
“Wait.” Asher silenced him. “Just let me…” An idea started taking shape. “What if we draw his attention elsewhere?”
Bartlett raised an eyebrow. “Explain.”
“He’s got twelve men, most of them professionals.
” He nodded at Grant. “Our advantage is that they don’t know we’re coming.
But think it through. He didn’t bring in trained killers to search for an SD card.
They’re here because he expects trouble.
His whole shtick depends on information.
He must know who Cici is, who her family is.
Meaning he knows somebody’s going to come after him.
” Asher’s mind raced through possibilities.
“We have to throw him off. Create a diversion.”
“That’s what we’re talking about doing, right?” Alyssa looked from Asher to Callan to Grant. “Two teams, each breaching at a different spot?”
Eyes on Asher, Grant gave the tiniest go-on nod.
“It won’t be enough. They might separate to take us on, but that would leave plenty of them to protect her. They have the cover of buildings. Windows and doors. We’ll be exposed.”
“What are you suggesting?” Callan asked.
“I act as bait.” As he spoke the words, the idea solidified in his mind. This was the answer, the only option. “I walk up to the front gate, hands visible, and demand a trade. The SD card for Cici.”
“Absolutely not.” Bartlett’s voice rose in the night air. “That’s suicide.”
“They’ll think I’m alone.” He didn’t rise to the challenge, just kept his cadence even, his voice low. “They’ll think I’m the only threat, and—”
“That’s because it’s insane,” Bartlett snapped.
“It’s a risk.” Asher focused on Grant, who waited, silently, giving Asher room to work out all the details.
“Gagnon’s spent his entire life out of the line of fire,” Asher said. “He’s not going to change that pattern tonight. No, he’ll send men out. I won’t have the SD card on me. I’ll convince them that…that if anything happens to me, it goes public.”
“Your own dead-man’s switch.” Alyssa was nodding. “I can give you enough information to sound credible.”
That would be helpful, since he didn’t have the slightest idea how to make something like that work. “I’ll insist on seeing Cici.”
“There’s no way they’ll bring her out.”
Even in the darkness, it was impossible to miss the growing flush on Bartlett’s face. He was truly angry about this, all of it. But why? Did he think Asher was so incompetent that he couldn’t come up with a plan? Or was there something else going on here?
He’d have to think about that later, when all this was over. Assuming he was still breathing. “Maybe they bring me in—”
“And then we have two people to rescue,” Bartlett said.
“Cici’s the goal.” Asher kept his voice level. “Cici’s life is what matters. If I can help from inside, then I will.”
“Every life matters,” Bartlett said.
“Agreed, and I’d rather not die today. But I will. For her.”
The words seemed to float above the group, and a tiny part of Asher wished he hadn’t said them, not because they weren’t true, and not because he was embarrassed or ashamed of how he felt. Just because the last thing they needed was a distraction.
Everybody was staring at him.
He ignored the rest and focused on Grant, who seemed the least distractible.
Grant prompted with “While you’re playing bait—”
“The rest of you breach from the rear. Get to her.” Asher looked at each of them. “By the time Gagnon realizes what’s going on, God willing, you guys will have saved her.”
“But what about you?” Alyssa asked. “If something happens to you… Does Cici feel the same…? Is this thing between you—?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Saving her life. That’s what matters.”
Alyssa’s eyes filled with tears, which was exactly the last thing he needed.
He met her gaze steadily. “I’m scrappy. I’ll figure it out.”
“‘Scrappy’ is not a plan,” Callan said. “It’s a death wish.”
“You have a better idea?” His voice rose, and he didn’t care. “Because I’m all ears. Please, tell me a better way to guarantee Cici is saved.”
The silence stretched between them. Asher could see the calculations running behind Grant’s eyes, the weighing of odds and outcomes.
“He’s right,” Grant finally said, his matter-of-fact tone cutting through the tension. “It’s our best shot.”
“No.” Bartlett’s shout was loud enough that it reverberated off the trees.
“Listen.” Grant held up a hand. “Gagnon’s got the high ground, superior numbers, and defensive positions.
A straight assault gets people killed. But if we can draw their attention to the front while we hit from behind…
” He nodded slowly. “It could work.” His focus shifted to Asher.
“But unless you have a death wish, we’re going to switch it up. ”
He definitely didn’t have a death wish. “Let’s hear it.”
“You’re not walking up to the front gate. You’re going to get in touch with him.” Grant turned to Alyssa. “Can you get a number for Gagnon?”
“On it.” She slid the laptop closer and bent over it.
“You call him. You tell him where you are. Maybe do something to prove it, but stay out of the line of sight. That way, if they want to find you, they have to send men.”
“Drawing them away,” Bartlett said.
“Exactly.”
Asher asked, “Where will I be?”
Grant lifted his phone screen and tapped on the forest that surrounded the road leading to the front gate. “In here somewhere. We’ll find a good spot to hide you. It’s the most logical place for you to approach.”
“They’ll see my hiding as a way to protect myself, a way to start the conversation without acting like a sacrificial lamb.”
“Exactly. While they’re trying to find you—and you’re making all sorts of threats about the SD card, which they may or may not buy—”
“You guys will move.”
Alyssa’s phone buzzed. She glanced at the screen, then looked up. “Michael says they can reposition a satellite, but it’ll take a couple of hours to get into place.”
“That’ll be too late,” Asher said. “We’ll have to go without it.”
Bartlett said, “We should wait—”
“No.” Grant looked at his old friend and former employer. “We don’t need it.”
“Those aren’t your people in there.” Bartlett pointed to Asher. “He’s not your people. You’re not the one who has to tell his family that you got him killed.”
Oh.
Bartlett didn’t think he was incompetent. He thought he was valuable.
For all his talk in the last two days about the bottom line, what mattered most was the care of the people he protected and the people he employed.
Asher didn’t hate his employer’s priorities. But they didn’t align with his own. Rather than argue, he decided it wasn’t his place to jump into the conflict between the two men, but he trusted Grant. Bartlett hardly ever left the office anymore. His job was to coordinate the protection agents.
Grant, on the other hand, had field experience, and lots of it. He squared off with Bartlett. “You have to trust me.”
The two men stared at each other while the rest of them waited.
Finally, Bartlett’s gaze flicked to Asher. He blinked. “Right. Okay. Just…”
“I get it, man. I know.” Grant’s gaze shifted to Asher, then to Callan. “Let’s nail down the details.”
They figured out the timeline and assigned roles. Finally, they were ready.
Asher’d been involved in a lot of dangerous operations in his life, but none had ever had the stakes this one did, not for him, anyway. Because the woman he loved—and yeah, he was calling it that—was in danger. If he screwed this up, then…then she might not walk out of this alive.
That was an outcome he wasn’t willing to live with.