18. Lucas
LUCAS
The man on the phone had made one mistake.
He thought threatening Wynn would frighten me into cooperating.
It didn’t.
It gave me a target.
Adam took the satellite phone from my hand.
“Can Hawk trace the call?”
“Already trying.”
Hawk stood near the overturned transport with a field unit connected to the phone.
His fingers moved quickly.
“They bounced the signal through four countries.”
“Last relay?” I asked.
“Switzerland.”
Wynn’s fingers tightened around mine.
“Geneva.”
“Maybe,” Hawk said. “Or they want us to think that.”
Helicopters thundered somewhere beyond the southern ridge.
Everyone looked up.
Adam raised his radio.
“Identify incoming aircraft.”
Static answered.
Then a pilot’s voice came through.
“Brave Actual, this is Guardian One. Authentication Indigo Four-Seven.”
Adam’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
“Response: Courage.”
“Confirmed.”
Two medical helicopters rose above the mountains.
Two armed escorts followed close behind them.
This time, no one cheered.
We had learned what happened when help arrived too easily.
Russ and Boone established a perimeter around the landing zone while Hawk scanned every approaching aircraft through his scope.
The first medical helicopter touched down.
Its rotors blasted dirt and debris across the road.
Doctors rushed toward the overturned transport.
Janice emerged beside Samir’s stretcher.
Her broken wrist had been secured against her chest, but she refused to leave him.
Wynn pulled away from me and ran toward her.
“Is he stable?”
“Barely.”
Janice’s face was streaked with tears and blood.
“But he has a chance.”
The medics lifted Samir into the helicopter.
Wynn touched his hand before they carried him aboard.
“You’re going home,” she whispered.
His eyes remained closed.
“He can’t hear you,” Janice said.
“Yes, he can.”
Janice looked at her.
Then smiled faintly.
“I think you’re right.”
One of the flight medics reached for Janice.
She shook him off.
“I can walk.”
“So can Wynn,” I said. “That hasn’t stopped her from bleeding.”
Wynn turned.
“I am fine.”
Janice and I answered together.
“No, you aren’t.”
For half a second, the mountain disappeared.
Wynn laughed.
A real laugh.
Exhausted.
Shaky.
Beautiful.
It hit me straight in the chest.
Then the pilot shouted from the cockpit.
“We need to move!”
Adam approached us.
“Everyone is being taken to a secure air base. No one separates until we know the extraction force is clean.”
“Who has access to the destination?” I asked.
“Three people.”
“Names?”
“I have them. Hawk is verifying all three.”
Wynn folded her arms.
“What happens to the aid workers after that?”
“They’ll be placed under protection.”
“Whose protection?”
Adam studied her.
“Ours.”
“You can’t protect all these people and take us to Geneva.”
“No,” Adam said. “Not without dividing the team.”
“No,” I answered immediately.
“We may not have another choice.”
“I’m not pulling the Brave into a private war.”
Adam’s expression didn’t change.
“Someone just attempted to slaughter my men. This stopped being your private war the second they marked us for death.”
“You have families.”
“So do you.”
“I don’t.”
Wynn inhaled sharply.
I heard my mistake the moment the words left me.
Adam’s gaze moved toward her.
Then back to me.
“You sure about that?”
I looked away.
Wynn said nothing.
That hurt worse.
Boone and Russ approached from the roadblock.
“We’ve secured the surviving attackers,” Boone said.
“Are they talking?” Adam asked.
“One hasn’t regained consciousness,” Boone answered. “The other says he’s a contractor.”
“For Meridian?”
Russ shook his head.
“He claims he’s never heard of it.”
“He’s lying,” Wynn said.
“Probably.”
“Or Meridian hired another company,” I said. “More distance between them and the operation.”
Hawk joined us carrying the satellite phone.
“I recovered part of the caller’s transmission.”
Adam held out his hand.
“Let’s hear it.”
Hawk tapped the screen.
At first, only static came through.
Then the calm voice returned.
“Bring it to us, and perhaps we’ll allow Mrs. Spencer to live.”
A pause.
“And if I don’t?”
My voice sounded colder than I remembered.
“Then we’ll show you how much worse losing her can be the second time.”
The recording ended.
Wynn’s face had gone pale.
I wanted to reach for her.
I didn’t.
Not with the entire team watching.
Hawk tapped the phone again.
“That’s the part we heard. Now listen to the background.”
He amplified the recording.
The voices became distorted.
Behind them, I heard a soft mechanical chime.
Then an announcement.
Muffled.
Female.
French.
Wynn stepped closer.
“Play it again.”
Hawk did.
She closed her eyes.
The announcement repeated.
“What does it say?” Boone asked.
“Last call for passengers traveling to Lausanne.”
Hawk looked at Adam.
“A train station.”
“Geneva Cornavin,” Wynn said. “Trains leave for Lausanne several times an hour.”
Russ frowned.
“They called from the middle of a public station?”
“No.”
Wynn took the phone from Hawk and replayed the recording.
“That announcement isn’t current.”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“It mentions Platform Six. The Lausanne trains were moved to Platform Four months ago because of construction.”
Every man looked at her.
Wynn shrugged.
“I spent a lot of time in Geneva.”
“You think the recording was planted,” Adam said.
“Yes. Either to make us believe the caller was near the bank or to hide another sound.”
Hawk ran the audio through another filter.
The train announcement faded.
Another sound emerged beneath it.
Low.
Rhythmic.
Metal striking metal.
Boone listened.
“Machinery?”
“No,” I said.
I knew that sound.
I’d heard it aboard dozens of military aircraft.
“Rotors.”
Adam nodded.
“He was in a helicopter.”
“Not a small one,” Russ said. “That sounds like a heavy transport.”
Hawk isolated another sound.
Three short electronic tones.
Then two.
I frowned.
“Aircraft warning system.”
Adam’s expression hardened.
“The caller was inside a military aircraft.”
Wynn looked between us.
“Can you identify which kind?”
“Not from this.”
“Maybe we can.”
She took the phone again.
“What are you doing?”
“Listening.”
She replayed the recording.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third time.
Her expression changed.
“Stop.”
“What?”
“There.”
She held the phone closer to my ear.
A man spoke somewhere behind the caller.
Barely audible.
Not English.
Not French.
Farsi.
I couldn’t make out every word.
Only two.
“Base” and “south.”
Adam heard them too.
“The call came from somewhere in this region.”
“Or passed close enough to pick up local personnel,” Hawk said.
Wynn’s eyes widened.
“They aren’t waiting for us in Geneva.”
“No,” I said. “They’re trying to reach the file before we do.”
Boone glanced toward the sky.
“Then we’re in a race.”
Adam looked around the team.
“We need to decide how we move everyone.”
Russ pointed toward the waiting helicopters.
“We stay together.”
“We have wounded civilians,” Adam said.
“And we already know the extraction force was compromised,” Russ answered. “You don’t divide the team after something like this.”
Silence followed.
There was no good choice.
If we separated, Meridian could attack us one group at a time.
If we remained together, the civilians stayed close to whoever was hunting Wynn.
Russ continued.
“We take everyone to the same secure air base. The wounded are stabilized there under our protection. Then we fly to Europe as one unit.”
Boone grinned.
“I knew we kept him around for something.”
Russ looked at him.
“I’m older than you.”
“Not emotionally.”
Adam ignored them.
“It could work.”
“It exposes the civilians to anyone coming after Wynn,” I said.
“They’re already exposed.” Russ gestured toward the destroyed convoy. “Keeping them close gives us one perimeter instead of three.”
Adam considered it.
Then nodded.
“One flight. One destination. We establish a protected ward at Ramstein. Once they’re secure, we continue to Geneva.”
Wynn’s expression changed.
“Ramstein is in Germany.”
“Yes.”
“That gives Meridian time to reach the bank.”
“How soon can they access the box?” I asked.
“They can’t.”
“You said someone already tried.”
“And failed.”
“Why?”
Her gaze met mine.
“Because our box has a dual-control agreement. It requires both account holders.”
“You and me.”
“Yes.”
I stared at her.
“You kept our joint box after the divorce?”
Boone made a choking sound.
Russ elbowed him.
Hard.
Wynn lifted her chin.
“It was the safest option.”
“It requires both of us to open it?”
“Yes.”
“So Meridian can’t get the file without us.”
“No.”
Her answer came too slowly.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
She looked toward the mountains.
“There’s another way.”
“Wynn.”
“If one account holder dies, the other can receive sole access after the bank receives verified proof of death and completes its review.”
Every man went silent.
I understood immediately.
“They forged my passport,” I said. “They may be able to forge proof of my death.”
Wynn’s face drained of color.
Meridian didn’t need both of us.
They only needed one of us alive.
Wynn.
PRIMARY ASSET.
Lucas Spencer.
TERMINATE ON SIGHT.
The orders hadn’t been separate.
They were connected.
If Meridian killed me and convinced the bank I was dead, Wynn could eventually open the box alone.
And if they took her alive, they could force her to do it.
I stepped closer.
“You knew the terms of the agreement.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell me.”
“I didn’t expect anyone to find out.”
“Someone forged my passport.”
“I know.”
“They’ve ordered my death.”
“I know!”
Her voice broke.
Tears filled her eyes.
“I know, Lucas. This is exactly what I was trying to prevent.”
She pressed both hands against her face.
“I used our old account because I thought it would keep the file safe. I never thought they would find you. I never thought anyone would get hurt. I thought…”
Her words collapsed.
I closed the distance between us.
Wynn tried to turn away.
I caught her.
She fought me for one second.
Then she broke.
Her forehead dropped against my chest.
A sob tore out of her.
“I brought them to you.”
“No.”
“They’re going to kill you because of me.”
“No.”
I wrapped both arms around her.
“You didn’t bring them to me. I walked into this.”
“You didn’t even know I was in that warehouse.”
“I know, but?—”
“They came after my team. They threatened you. They made those choices. Not you.”
She gripped the front of my vest.
“I can’t lose you again.”
The words struck deep.
I lowered my mouth to her hair.
“You won’t.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Watch me.”
Her shoulders shook.
Around us, the team gave us what privacy they could.
I held her tighter.
Six years ago, Wynn had cried alone because I believed leaving her was an act of love.
I understood now.
Love wasn’t walking away so someone else wouldn’t have to watch you bleed.
Love was staying.
Especially when it hurt.
I tipped her face toward mine.
“Listen to me.”
Her emerald eyes glistened.
“No one is killing me. No one is taking you. And no one is opening that box until the Brave knows exactly what’s inside.”
“What if we’re too late?”
“Then we deal with whatever comes next.”
“Together?”
I brushed another tear from her cheek.
“Together.”
Her gaze dropped to my mouth.
This time, I knew she felt it too.
The pull.
The memory.
The six years between us thinning until they almost disappeared.
I leaned closer.
Not enough to kiss her.
Enough to give her the choice.
Wynn’s fingers tightened against my vest.
Her lips parted.
A radio crackled.
“Commander, we have another incoming transmission.”
Wynn closed her eyes.
I rested my forehead against hers.
Of course.
My timing remained terrible.
Adam approached with the satellite phone.
“There’s a video.”
Hawk opened the attachment.
The image filled the screen.
A woman sat tied to a chair inside a dark room.
Silver hair.
Blood on her temple.
Fear in her eyes.
Wynn made a broken sound.
“Elise.”
The attorney looked directly into the camera.
A man stepped into view behind her.
His face remained hidden.
He placed a pistol against Elise’s head.
Then a message appeared across the screen.
brING LUCAS AND WYNN SPENCER TO GENEVA.
COME ALONE.
OR ELISE MOREAU DIES.
The video ended.
Wynn stared at the black screen.
I looked toward my team.
Meridian had just given us a deadline.
They believed they were forcing Wynn and me into a trap.
They didn’t understand.
We wouldn’t be coming alone.
The Brave was coming with us.