Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
“Delta Two, do you copy?”
A.J. reserved Delta One for his wife, but I’d love nothing more than for you to become Delta Two. Chris recalled his words to Rory just before Asher breached the compound, and all hell broke loose. Fortunately, that “hell” was of their making, and it was raining down on Cutter’s men.
Knowing Rory was in the compound with Bear at her side had him checking on her every few seconds, even though she was in visual range, only twenty feet ahead of him alongside the exterior of building one.
“This is Delta Two. That’s a good copy. Again.”
“Just checking,” Chris replied with the same response he’d used thirty seconds ago, and the thirty seconds before that. He was fairly certain he’d never been so on edge during an operation.
A crackling sound had Chris setting his focus on a small speaker positioned next to a floodlight at the corner of the building. The light was broken, but a little static could be heard coming from the square speaker.
“I didn’t expect you to come.” The words flowed out of the speaker now, interspersed by more static. “This is a surprise.”
Cutter?
Rory halted and flinched at the sound of Cutter’s voice, and Chris watched as she tracked the voice to the speaker.
“I can’t see you since someone cut off my cameras, but it’s you, right?
It’s my Rory. I had planned on bringing you back to the city where it all started for us, but you found me yourself,” Cutter went on, sounding more creepy stalker than corrupt smuggler right about now.
His tone was deep and eerie and disturbingly calm.
Cutter was the kind of crazy that Chris knew could transform into a psychopathic killer within a blink of an eye, though.
Cue dramatic music here. Chris closed the space between him and Rory, then set a hand to her shoulder to let her know he was with her. He didn’t want any more space between them from now on.
Thankfully, they had Liam on overwatch, and he’d cut down any enemies before Chris even knew there was a threat.
They were safe with him out there. Plus, Asher and the others had the perimeter secure from all possible entry points.
No one would be getting out. Carter and his men wanted to be the first to clear the building, though, and Luke hesitantly agreed.
“We had a great life. Five years of adventures,” Cutter went on. “Five years of fucking.”
Chris’s stomach grew sick at Cutter’s words. It was bad enough Chris had seen those photos of Cutter and Rebecca, naked in bed together. But to have to ask Rory to identify the scumbag’s naked body . . . he did not need to draw up any thoughts of Cutter with Rory.
Rory looked back, and even in the dim lighting, he knew there was an apology in her eyes.
“Building one secure,” Carter announced a few seconds later.
“I found the animals,” one of Carter’s men spoke up. “Asiatic black bear cubs. Ten of them in cages.”
Yeah, that was also fucking horrible to picture.
“Where the hell is our target?” Carter rasped.
“Given his monologuing, I’m checking the security room,” one of Carter’s men said.
Cutter’s performance had stopped, though. What did that mean?
“Continue to hold your positions, Delta Two and Echo Three,” Luke instructed. “Wait to proceed until we know both buildings are clear. If the target isn’t inside one of those buildings, he has to be nearby.”
“We’ve got a tunnel!” Carter yelled. “I think he’s already outside the gate. Don’t let him get away!”
That’s what Chris was worried about, damn it. Cutter was distracting them with his creepy talk.
And they hadn’t had time to do a thorough sweep of the area prior to the time-sensitive mission before the sun came up.
But the property was smack in the middle of ancient ruins, and now Chris knew why.
Cutter had an escape plan if needed. The tunnel had probably existed for hundreds and hundreds of years. But where was the exit?
“We’re on it,” Luke responded in a level tone.
“Second building is secure. All enemies are down,” another one of Carter’s men said. “No more tangos in sight.”
Chris relaxed at his words, but they still needed to find Cutter.
“He can’t be far if he was able to talk over the speaker from outside the fence.
” Or maybe he’d been talking over the speaker before he’d entered the tunnel, and he lost the signal once he went underground.
Fuck. “We gotta get you out of here. Too much high ground around us.”
“I’ve got you in my sights,” Liam reminded them he had their backs. “And my guess is he’s on the north side. It’s like a maze over there. The walls are high in some areas, and he might know I can’t put eyes on him in every spot.”
Carter emerged from building one, and Rory signaled Bear to move. The rest of the team fanned out to search the property outside the fenced area, focusing on the north side.
“Alpha One. Hold back. Let my people handle this,” Luke instructed Carter, and it felt so damn odd to have Carter included with a call sign on this op.
Was he still their enemy? Or had he only led the world to believe he was a villain in order to exact justice for his wife?
Chris didn’t have time to think about that now, though.
“I think we might need to send Bear into those ruins,” Liam said from somewhere on the hilltop, flat on his belly behind his long gun, watching them.
Bear? Sort of ironic given the actual bears on site.
“I don’t know.” Once outside the fence, Rory stopped and looked to Chris, then to Bear.
Chris set his rifle aside and crouched before Bear.
“You got this, boy. Right?” He scratched Bear behind his ears.
“He can track him. I know he can do it. He was meant to do this, be a Team dog. What you said to me in Virginia, well, you were right.” That felt like forever ago, but it was fresh on his mind.
“Okay.” Rory knelt next to him and clipped a small tracker to Bear’s collar, then she reached into her pocket for one of Cutter’s handkerchiefs she’d selected for the just-in-case moment that was about to happen.
Rory let Bear get a good scent, then she issued the command, and Bear hurried off without a second thought.
Born for this.
She retrieved the small black GPS device from the pocket of her vest the team had given her to track Bear.
Chris and Rory rounded the fence and kept their heads low as they followed Bear’s signal on their GPS device as he disappeared into the ruins, the zigzag of crumbling walls.
“Bravo Four, what’s on the other side of the ruins?” Chris asked.
“The river,” Liam answered. “I assume that’s his escape plan.”
Luke diverted a few of his men to head along the sides of the ruins to get in place near the river.
Carter and his men hung back a few feet, closely following behind him and Rory.
Rory provided Bear’s movements as she and Chris followed the little blinking light of Bear’s tracker, every left and right turn Bear quickly made as he traversed the maze-like ruins.
“We’re moving in,” Chris said, his heartbeat fast and furious.
Carter was at his six, and he felt oddly comforted by his presence.
Bear’s roar traveled loud into the air as he barked continuously.
“He found his target. Cutter’s still inside the walls, then,” Chris told his team, but then the barking abruptly stopped.
“He’s immobilized.” Cutter’s voice shattered the air and echoed off the walls.
“I had a feeling you’d have an animal with you, Rory.
He’s been tranquilized. He was about to rip out my throat,” he continued.
“I had no choice but to knock him out. If you don’t want me to put a bullet in him next, then I want to talk to you.
I know you’re close. I can feel it. But only you, Rory. ”
“You’re out of options!” Chris called out to the sick prick, and if the man hurt his dog, so help him. He’d go John Wick on his ass. “Nowhere left to run! It’s over.”
Carter advanced on Chris’s left, and Chris wasn’t sure if he could stop a man focused on revenge.
Carter might just walk into a trap and get himself killed because one thing Chris knew for certain about Andrew Cutter—he was a master at setting traps.
He’d tricked a genius like Rory for years, which was no easy feat.
Granted, he’d been her mentor and probably taught her all the tricks in the book, so he knew her moves before she even made them.
Plus, he’d had Danny and Rebecca doing his bidding and steering her along a path he’d designed.
Chris’s blood boiled as he considered it all. He needed to get his team closer and position Cutter somewhere in Liam’s line of sight, where the walls weren’t as high.
“I’ll go. I’m not letting Bear die.” Rory faced Chris. “Please. He won’t hurt me. Danny said he’s obsessed with me, remember? Still in love with me. He could’ve killed me at any point over the years, and he didn’t.”
“Absolutely not.” Chris allowed his sling to catch his rifle as he grasped her forearms, terrified she’d run toward danger. “I’ve also heard of crazy-ass people killing those they love so no one else can have them.”
“We don’t have time for your argument,” Carter said, starting to walk past them, but Chris whirled around and grabbed him by the arm. “I don’t want your dog to get hurt, either, but we’re not trading a human life for an animal.”
“That dog put his life on the line for us tonight.” Rory’s voice broke, and Chris felt like someone had grabbed hold of his heart and squeezed. “He’s worth saving.”
“I know that. Believe me,” Chris began, “but I can’t lose you.
Please don’t walk away from me.” And fucking A, this isn’t my mom messing with me.
No, no, no. Not my issues talking, he told himself.
This was about saving the life of the woman he wanted to .
. . marry. Yeah, he wanted to marry her. And he planned on doing it.