Page 60 of Protecting Maggie
It took a moment, but MacGyver burst into laughter. Quiet chuckles, but he was definitely amused.
Maggie smiled at him, then turned her head to look at Preacher. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make him pay for what he’s done. Not for getting me locked up. I did my time, and I can’t go back andundoit, so the damage is done. But for what he’s doing to the Navy. How many other SEAL teams has he sent to places they shouldn’t have been in? Or without the support they needed? His power trips know no bounds. I was child’s play for him, butmanipulating people who signed up to serve their country? To give their lives if necessary? That’s not right. He’s not playing Risk, for God’s sake. He’s messing with real people, real lives. He needs to be stopped.”
She wasn’t wrong. But Preacher wanted Robertson to pay for the time Maggie had done behind bars. She hadn’t knowingly transported those drugs, and she certainly hadn’t planned on selling them. She’d lost her career, her friends, her apartment, her car, and two years of her life—for what? For Robertson’s amusement? That wasn’t acceptable. No fucking way in hell.
“I agree,” Preacher told her a little belatedly.
“Me too,” MacGyver said.
Maggie yawned then, sagging heavily against him.
“Why don’t you sleep?” he suggested.
“Are we safe?” she asked, looking around the room with tired eyes.
“As safe as we can be at the moment,” MacGyver told her.
“I’m not sure that’s very reassuring, but I’m too tired to care,” she said dryly. It didn’t take her long to go completely boneless against him.
Preacher looked up at MacGyver and said quietly, “Tell me you have your radio on you.”
“Nope. We had no plans to put boots on the ground. No need for it.”
“Damn,” he swore.
“Doesn’t matter. They’ll find us,” MacGyver said. “If I have to, I’ll find the parts to make a fucking radio.”
That made Preacher smile. He didn’t doubt his friend could do just that.
“Besides, I have a tracker. Tex’ll lead ’em right to us.”
Relief swam through Preacher’s veins. He’d forgotten about the trackers. “I don’t have mine because we didn’t get to go home and pack.” After what happened to Blink, he’d concealed one of his trackers in the waistband of a pair of briefs. Not that bad guys couldn’t strip him completely bare, but Blink was a perfect example of how that usually didn’t happen. Of course, that underwear was sitting at home in a drawer, useless.
“I’ve started wearing one of mine every goddamn day,” MacGyver said with a shrug. “Paranoid? Yes. But I’m damn glad now.”
“Me too,” Preacher agreed.
Several minutes of silence stretched between them, before MacGyver broke it by saying, “He’s insane.”
Preacher didn’t have to ask who he was talking about.
“Putting her in that box and arranging for us to drop it? Foryouto drop it? He’s fucking sick.”
“He’s going down,” Preacher growled between clenched teeth.
“I know some guys. They live in Indiana. They run a completely legitimate business but do contract work on the side. If needed, I’ll get a hold of them. They’ll take care of Robertson once and for all.”
The thought of an assassin taking out the trash was appealing, but Preacher wasn’t a man who worked outside the law. None of them were. There were rules for whatthey did. And hiring someone to put a bullet in Robertson’s head was way outside what he was comfortable with.
Preacher looked down at a sleeping Maggie, and once more saw the duct tape hanging from her hair. It would most likely have to be cut out.
His conviction wavered.
Taking a deep breath, he said, “I think this stunt will be his undoing. He thought he was so smart, getting rid of Maggie in a way he didn’t think anyone would ever find out about. But he was too cocky. Sending us on this asinine mission will be the nail in his coffin. He thought Maggie would die, and he probably hoped the Russians would take care of us as well. But she didn’t. And he’ll get his, MacGyver.”
“Okay. But if anything starts going sideways, and it looks like he’s going to get off with some bullshit punishment, I’m calling Silverstone.”
“Deal,” Preacher said without hesitation. Personal moral code or not, deep down he knew the very idea of a man like Roman Robertson wandering around, free to fuck with other people’s lives, was abhorrent. Not to mention it would put Maggie’s life in extreme danger. The fact that she’d survived what he’d planned for her was reason enough for him to do everything he could to take her out. Until the man was stopped, he’d always be a threat.
