Page 114 of Her Unflinching Warrior (Omega Sky)
“Agreed,” Kostya said. Gideon knew that Ryker was one of their trained tactical driving specialists; here in the backwoods of Pennsylvania it shouldn’t matter, but after all the shit that had gone down with Kendall Douglas, none of them were taking any chances.
“I’m driving the other,” Kane said. “I’m certified.”
Kostya, Kane, and Gideon looked at one another, then Gideon turned to Jada and pulled her a little to the side.
“Uh-uh,” she said as she shook her head. “You’re not leaving me behind at this point. He’s arranged to have me kidnapped twice, he’s used me as bait to get to you and I’m the one who figured out how to stop his evil plan. Nope, no way, no how, no sir.”
“She’s got a point,” Ryker said as he sauntered up to the couple before Gideon had a chance to open his mouth.
Gideon scowled at Ryker, then turned to Jada. “Angel, we don’t know what we could be walking into,” Gideon explained patiently.
“All that matters is that we’re walking into it together,” Jada said firmly.
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Ryker drawled. “You should definitely stay in the car.”
“Butt out!” Gideon and Jada yelled simultaneously.
Ryker laughed and went to stand next to Kostya and Kane.
“It’s too dangerous,” Gideon said softly.
“You’re going to a freaking bed and breakfast!” she cried out.
Gideon could tell that Jada was at her wit’s end, and who could blame her? This had been a major roller coaster.
“Do you promise to stay in the SUV?” he asked.
“Fine. Whatever. Let’s just get a move on before he gets away. A-fucking-gain!”
Gideon heard both SUVs’ engines start up. He grabbed her hand and headed to the one with Ryker behind the wheel.
* * *
Most of themen had brought their packs and they had comm systems available as well as their weapons. Clint had gotten back to Gideon and given him the rundown on the current occupants of the B&B, as well as the staff. It wasn’t good. There were four other guests besides Kendall. Kendall had registered under the name Henry Smythe.
What a prick!
Gideon continued to look at his phone to read the incoming information from Clint. As for staff, there were also at least three, maybe four, depending if one of the maids had left yet.
The good news was that Kendall’s room was in the back of the Manor and looked out over the valley, so he shouldn’t see them approaching. They stopped their vehicles a half mile before they got to the Manor House to regroup.
“We’ve got seven, maybe eight people we need to get out of the Manor House,” Gideon said as they huddled up around the hood of the first SUV. “If we send in the police, it could be a bloodbath, it could be a hostage situation, or somehow that sneaky bastard could get away again.”
“He’s going to get away if we don’t do something fast,” Jada said. “If I were him, I’d have a drone flying over the dam, watching things.”
Gideon’s eyes shot up to her face. “Shit, you’re right. We’ve got to move fast. You should have mentioned that before, Jada.”
“And if I had thought of it even thirty seconds earlier, I would have.” She glared at Gideon and everyone laughed.
Gideon rubbed the top of his head and blew out a long sigh. “Sorry, Angel, that’s a brilliant thought. We’ve got to get moving fast. Jada and I would be instantly recognized, so we need to stay outside. The rest of you might be able to pull off being guests or visitors if anyone trips over you.”
“That could work,” Kostya nodded.
“Two of you need to be in charge of vacating the civilians, and the other two need to target Kendall.” Gideon looked up to see how Kostya and Simon would want people deployed.
Simon looked at Kostya and shrugged, then Kostya nodded.
“Nolan, you’re with me,” Kostya said. “We’ll focus on Kendall. Commander, you and Ryker will work on getting the civilians out of harm’s way.”
