19. Wynn
WYNN
Come alone.
The men who had taken Elise clearly knew nothing about the Brave.
Adam watched the video three more times.
Hawk studied the shadows behind Elise.
Russ listened to the background noise.
Boone searched for anything that might identify the room.
Lucas watched the gun pressed against her head.
His expression never changed.
That frightened me more than anger would have.
“Play it again,” I said.
Hawk restarted the video.
Elise appeared on the screen.
Her silver hair was disheveled.
A bruise darkened her temple.
Her hands were bound behind the chair.
She stared directly into the camera while the man stepped into view.
The pistol touched her head.
brING LUCAS AND WYNN SPENCER TO GENEVA.
COME ALONE.
OR ELISE MOREAU DIES.
The screen went black.
“What do you see?” Adam asked.
“Nothing.”
“That isn’t true,” Lucas said.
I looked at him.
“You leaned closer when Elise moved her hand.”
Of course he noticed.
Lucas had always seen the things I tried to hide.
Even after six years, he still knew me.
“She was signaling.”
Boone moved closer.
“With her fingers?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“I’m not sure.”
Lucas folded his arms.
“You recognized it.”
“I recognized the system.”
“What system?”
“Elise and I developed a few emergency signals after someone followed me from the bank.”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed.
“When did that happen?”
“Four months ago.”
“And you didn’t think that was worth mentioning?”
“We’re discussing Elise.”
“We’re going to discuss you being followed too.”
“Later.”
His jaw tightened.
“Definitely later.”
Adam stepped between us before the argument could grow.
“What did Elise signal?”
“Three taps against the chair.”
I took the phone and replayed the moment.
“Here.”
Elise’s fingers moved behind her back.
Three taps.
A pause.
Two taps.
Another pause.
One.
“Three-two-one,” Russ said.
“Yes.”
“What does it mean?”
“Time is running out.”
Boone frowned.
“We already knew that.”
“No.”
I enlarged the image.
“It means there’s a countdown.”
“To what?” Hawk asked.
“I don’t know.”
Lucas studied the screen.
“Could be the box.”
I shook my head.
“The bank doesn’t destroy unclaimed property.”
“What happens if someone attempts to force entry?”
“The private vault seals automatically.”
“For how long?”
“Seventy-two hours.”
Adam looked at the frozen image.
“Three days.”
“Maybe.”
“But Elise tapped three-two-one,” Boone said. “Not seventy-two.”
“It could mean the lockdown has already started.”
I looked at Lucas.
“If someone attempted access again, the vault would begin a seventy-two-hour security cycle.”
“And at the end?”
“Both account holders must appear in person.”
“What happens if they don’t?”
“The bank transfers the contents to a secure off-site repository.”
“Where?”
“No one outside the bank knows.”
Hawk nodded toward the phone.
“Meridian wants the file before it disappears.”
“That explains the urgency,” Adam said. “It doesn’t explain why they kidnapped Elise.”
“She manages the account,” I answered. “She can authorize a private appointment after hours.”
Lucas took the phone from me.
“Or she knows how to stop the transfer.”
“She wouldn’t help them.”
“Everyone helps when the right person is threatened.”
His silver eyes found mine.
We both understood.
Meridian wasn’t threatening Elise to control Elise.
They were threatening her to control me.
Another helicopter approached the mountain.
This one transmitted the identification codes for our flight to the air base.
Adam raised his voice.
“Brave, prepare to move.”
The team separated immediately.
Hawk and Russ secured the satellite phone and equipment.
Boone coordinated the civilians boarding the two medical helicopters.
Lucas checked his weapons.
I stood beside the road with blood on my clothes and a pistol still clutched in my hand.
None of this felt real.
A little more than a day ago, I had been locked inside a warehouse.
Now I was flying to Europe with my former husband and his special operations team to rescue a kidnapped attorney and recover evidence connected to a private army.
Boone walked past me.
“You planning to keep that?”
I looked down at the pistol.
“I forgot I was holding it.”
“That’s comforting.”
He carefully took the weapon from my hand.
“I remembered which direction to point it.”
“Yes.”
He checked the magazine.
“And you used half of Lucas’s ammunition proving it.”
“I saved his life.”
“You did.”
His teasing faded.
“That was a good shot.”
“Thank you.”
“You still pull left.”
I stared at him.
“You remember?”
Boone grinned.
“I remember the first time Lucas took you to the range.”
“You laughed at me.”
“You shot his target instead of yours.”
“I hit the center.”
“Of his target.”
“It was still the center.”
Russ passed behind us carrying two equipment bags.
“Some things never change.”
I smiled.
“You still pretend not to find Boone funny?”
“I don’t have to pretend.”
Boone pressed a hand against his chest.
“That hurts.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“You’ve wounded me deeply.”
Russ kept walking.
“Try to survive.”
A laugh escaped me.
For one brief moment, we weren’t standing in a war zone.
We were back at the old training facility in Virginia.
Boone was twenty pounds lighter and twice as loud.
Russ had fewer lines around his eyes.
Adam spent most of his time trying to stop them from destroying government property.
And Lucas…
Lucas used to stand behind me at the range.
One hand on my hip.
The other guiding my arms.
His mouth close to my ear as he taught me how to breathe before squeezing the trigger.
The memory warmed me from the inside.
Then I saw Lucas watching.
He stood near the approaching helicopter, his rifle strapped across his chest.
His eyes moved from Boone to me.
Something dark flickered across his expression.
I knew that look too.
Jealousy.
After six years.
After signing our divorce papers.
After letting me walk out of his life.
Lucas Spencer was jealous because Boone had made me laugh.
I lifted one eyebrow.
Lucas looked away.
Oh, no.
He wasn’t escaping that easily.
I walked toward him.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
“You look annoyed.”
“I always look annoyed.”
“That’s true.”
His mouth twitched.
I stopped beside him.
“Are you jealous of Boone?”
“No.”
“You are.”
“I’m not.”
“He made me laugh.”
“Boone makes everyone laugh.”
“He remembered teaching me to shoot.”
“I taught you to shoot.”
“You stood behind me and distracted me.”
“I corrected your stance.”
“You kissed my neck.”
“Your shoulders were tense.”
I stared at him.
He stared back.
Then Boone shouted from behind us.
“We can all hear you!”
Lucas closed his eyes.
Russ’s voice followed.
“Every word.”
Adam walked past us.
“We heard most of it six years ago too.”
Heat rushed into my cheeks.
Lucas glared at the team.
“Does anyone have a job to do?”
Hawk climbed into the helicopter.
“No. We’re all completely free.”
I laughed again.
Lucas looked down at me.
His annoyance softened.
“You fit right back in.”
The words struck deeper than he intended.
Back then, the Brave had been my family too.
Holiday dinners.
Backyard cookouts.
Hospital waiting rooms.
Long nights when none of us knew whether everyone was coming home.
When Lucas and I divorced, I didn’t lose only my husband.
I lost all of them.
“I missed this,” I whispered.
Lucas’s expression changed.
“We missed you.”
“You never called.”
“We thought you wanted distance.”
“I did.”
That wasn’t the complete truth.
“I didn’t know how to see all of you without seeing him.”
Lucas absorbed the blow without looking away.
“I understand.”
“I don’t think I did. Not until now.”
The helicopter landed.
Rotors whipped my hair around my face.
Lucas caught one loose strand and tucked it behind my ear.
His fingers lingered against my cheek.
“You’re seeing me now.”
“Yes. I am.”
For one suspended heartbeat, neither of us moved.
Then Adam shouted over the engines.
“Get aboard!”
Lucas offered me his hand.
I took it.
The cabin was crowded.
Boone and Russ sat near the doors.
Hawk took the seat beside the communications equipment.
Adam spoke with the pilots.
Lucas secured me into a seat, then pulled the harness tight enough to make breathing optional.
“I can buckle myself in.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
He sat beside me, secured his own harness, and connected his headset.
The helicopter rose.
The destroyed convoy disappeared beneath us.
Burning vehicles became small orange flames against the mountain.
Bodies became shadows.
From the air, it almost looked peaceful.
It wasn’t.
Adam’s voice came through our headsets.
“We have forty minutes to the air base. A transport will take us to Ramstein. From there, we’ll secure the civilians and build the Geneva operation.”
Lucas shook his head.
“We don’t have time to sit at Ramstein.”
“We aren’t. Hawk is assembling intelligence during the flight.”
Hawk turned his laptop so we could see the screen.
“Elise Moreau.”
Her photograph appeared.
Sixty-one years old.
International finance attorney.
Thirty-four years in private banking law.
Widowed.
One daughter.
My stomach dropped.
“Camille.”
Lucas looked at me.
“Who’s Camille?”
“Elise’s daughter.”
“Where is she?”
“Paris.”
Hawk typed rapidly.
“Not anymore.”
A map appeared.
Her phone had last connected to a cell tower near Geneva Airport.
“When?” I asked.
“Yesterday morning.”
“She went to see her mother.”
“Or someone brought her there.”
I thought about the bruises on Elise’s face.
The terror in her eyes.
Everyone helps when the right person is threatened.
“They have Camille too.”
Lucas’s hand closed around mine.
“We don’t know that.”
“Yes, we do.”
Hawk opened another file.
“Camille Moreau boarded a train from Paris to Geneva yesterday. She never checked into her hotel. No credit-card activity. No phone calls. She disappeared less than an hour after arriving.”
Adam leaned forward.
“Then we have two hostages.”
“Maybe more,” Hawk said.
He brought up the bank’s executive directory.
Four senior employees had failed to report for work.
The vault manager.
The chief security officer.
A systems engineer.
And the bank’s managing director.
“They’re taking everyone who can help them reach the box,” Russ said.
“Or killing them,” Boone added.
I looked toward the mountains beneath us.
“What is inside that file?”
“You tell us,” Lucas said.
“I only saw part of it.”
“The financial transactions.”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“Several directories were encrypted.”
“Names?”
“Orion. Janus. Aegis. And one called Fate.”
The cabin went silent.
Lucas looked at me.
“Fate?”
“Yes.”
“What was inside it?”
“I couldn’t open it.”
Hawk’s fingers stopped moving over the keyboard.
“Could Fate be an operation?”
“Or a person,” Adam said.
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.”
The helicopter banked sharply.
Warning lights flashed inside the cabin.
The pilot’s voice came over our headsets.
“Unidentified aircraft approaching from the east.”
Every member of the Brave became alert.
Hawk closed his laptop.
Russ and Boone leaned toward the windows.
Lucas checked my harness and shifted as far as his restraints allowed between me and the cabin door.
“What kind of aircraft?” Adam asked.
“Military helicopter.”
“Identification?”
“None.”
“How far?”
“Three miles and closing.”
Our escort helicopters changed formation.
One moved ahead.
The other dropped behind us.
I looked through the window.
At first, I saw only mountains.
Then a dark helicopter rose from the valley.
No markings.
No lights.
A launcher mounted beneath one of its short wings turned toward us.
Lucas saw it at the same time.
“Missile!”
The pilot banked hard.
The world tilted.
Boone grabbed an overhead strap.
Russ braced himself against the wall.
Lucas leaned over me as far as his harness allowed.
A streak of fire crossed the sky.
The escort helicopters released flares.
Dozens of burning lights filled the air.
The missile veered away.
Missed us.
Then struck the mountain.
The explosion sent a wall of smoke and rock into the sky.
The pilot fought the controls.
“We’ve got another lock!”
Lucas looked toward Adam.
“We can’t outrun them.”
Adam stared through the opposite window.
“No. But we can lead them somewhere they won’t expect.”
He keyed the radio.
“Guardian One to escorts. Break formation. Draw the hostile north.”
Both escort pilots answered immediately.
“Copy.”
The armed helicopters peeled away.
The enemy followed one.
For three seconds.
Then it turned back toward us.
“They’re not interested in the escorts,” Hawk said. “They know which aircraft Wynn is aboard.”
Lucas’s arm tightened around me.
The tracker had been removed.
The source was dead.
Yet Meridian still knew exactly where I was.
“There’s another transmitter,” I said.
“We scanned you,” Lucas answered.
“Not me.”
I looked around the cabin.
“They’re tracking this helicopter.”
Adam turned toward the cockpit.
“Pilot, who assigned this aircraft?”
A long silence followed.
Too long.
The copilot slowly looked back.
His face had gone pale.
“The order came from command.”
“What command?”
“I…”
He reached toward the control panel.
Lucas drew his sidearm.
“Don’t move.”
The copilot froze.
The pilot glanced between them.
“What the hell is happening?”
Adam left his seat.
“Keep flying,” he told the pilot.
Then he pointed at the copilot.
“You. Take your hands off the controls.”
The man lifted his hands.
Hawk moved into the cockpit and searched beneath the console.
He pulled out a small black device.
A red light blinked.
Tracker.
The copilot lunged.
Not for the device.
For two guarded switches beneath his seat.
Lucas fired.
The bullet struck the man’s shoulder and spun him away from the controls.
But not before he slammed both switches down.
The helicopter dropped.
My stomach rose into my throat.
The pilot fought to recover.
“What did he hit?”
Hawk ripped open the panel.
“Both emergency fuel shutoffs!”
The engines screamed.
Then coughed.
The rotors began to slow.
The mountains rushed toward us.
Adam dragged the wounded copilot out of the cockpit.
Russ secured his hands.
The pilot forced both switches back into position.
“Attempting restart!”
Lucas retightened my harness, then checked his own.
“What’s happening?”
“We’re losing power.”
“Can the pilot land?”
Lucas looked through the window.
Below us, there was nothing but cliffs.
Forests.
Rock.
“He’s going to try.”
The helicopter dropped again.
One engine coughed but failed to catch.
Warning alarms filled the cabin.
The pilot shouted.
“Brace for impact!”
Lucas pulled me against him as far as our harnesses allowed.
His body covered mine.
I heard his heartbeat against my ear.
Fast.
Strong.
Alive.
“Lucas.”
“I’ve got you.”
The trees rose toward us.
Branches struck the underside of the helicopter.
Metal tore.
The cabin spun.
I held on to Lucas.
He held on to me.
The last thing I heard before the world went black was his voice.
Not shouting.
Not praying.
Making a promise.
“I’m not letting you go again.”