Thrill Ride (Black Knights Inc. #4)(43)
Boss ran a big hand back through his hair. “Yeah…yeah…Shit! Are you sure?” He looked around, spotting the notepad in Ozzie’s hand, and snapped his fingers indicating he needed something write with. Ozzie handed over the notepad and slipped the pen that was clipped to the collar of his faded Star Trek T-shirt into Boss’s hand.
“How long until you get there?” Boss asked, turning his wrist to check the time on his diver’s watch before jotting down the name of an intersection and San Jose’s major metropolitan park. “Yeah, we can make it. You just make sure Rock doesn’t shoot us once we come barreling in.”
Bill couldn’t help but smile. Because he didn’t care what was being said about Rock, the ragin’ Cajun could never harm a single hair on any one of their heads. Of course, Eve didn’t know this, because she glanced over at him, sapphire eyes as big as saucers.
“He’s joking, Eve,” he assured her on a whisper. “I promise,” he emphasized, inwardly shaking his head at himself.
Why am I always reassuring her?
And not that he really wanted an answer, but from somewhere deep within, a voice whispered, because you still care.
No. He frowned. He didn’t care about her. At least not any more than he cared about the next person. Any person.
Liar. The little voice taunted, and Bill had the sudden urge to strangle the bastard.
“Will do,” Boss said, once again dragging Bill’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. Goddamnit! Being this close to Eve, shoved in a closet and smelling the sweet perfume lingering on all her clothes, was seriously screwing with his ability to keep his mind on task. “And good job, by the way,” Boss finished before clicking off. Then, addressing everyone gathered in the closet, he announced, “It’s time to roll.”
“What’s up?” Steady asked.
“We’re bringing him in.” And considering that was good news, Boss’s face looked suspiciously stony. Then Bill understood why when he added, “But he’s not going to come willingly.”
Oh, shit.
“Ozzie,” Boss barreled ahead, “did you do like I asked and check to make sure both of our secondary vehicles were secure before you got here?”
Before heading over to Eve’s house, they’d purchased a couple of old beater pickup trucks from a Costa Rican farmer who’d allowed them to use his hot-as-the-surface-of-the-sun barn to overhaul the engines before secreting them away in the garage of an abandoned house down the street. Because, you know, there was always the off chance they might need to make a clandestine escape. And one thing Bill could say for the Black Knights, they were nothing if not prepared for every eventuality. A man learned early on in his spec-ops training that it was better to sweat more now, so he could bleed less later…
“Affirmative,” Ozzie nodded. “Locked up safe and sound. Checked them and the house for any bugs or surveillance gear. Nada. No one’s the wiser on our secondary base.”
“Good,” Boss mused, rubbing a hand back through his hair again. “Okay, so while you distract the spooks and see just what type of gear they’ve got going in that van of theirs, the four of us,” he pointed to himself, Bill, Steady, and Ghost, “will sneak out the back to the secondary base, grab the vehicles, and go apprehend Vanessa and Rock. Becky,” the big guy turned to his wife, and Bill beat back the protestation that jumped to his lips. His little sister was no longer his sole responsibility. Sometimes he had a hard time remembering that.
“Don’t you dare leave me out of this, Frank,” she hissed, hands on hips, nostrils flaring.
The big guy rolled his eyes. “Wouldn’t think of it, love,” he chuckled. “I want you and Eve to take her Land Rover and tear ass out of here about twenty minutes after me and the boys are gone. I want The Company guys following you, and—this is important—you gotta make sure you give ’em one helluva race. If it looks like they’re losing interest, you’ll need to stop. Preferably somewhere seedy or strange, so they’ll wonder what you’re up to and stay with you. You need to keep them occupied until after we get back here with Vanessa and Rock, which should be no more than half an hour, tops. You think you can manage that?”
“Done,” Becky nodded, her eyes alight with excitement. Bill chanced a glance at Eve and found her face just the opposite of Becky’s. Now he knew what people were talking about when they described someone’s complexion as ashen. The woman was so pale she was gray.
“Uh,” he felt it was time to pipe up. “I’m not sure Eve—”
“I’ll do it,” she interjected, turning to him and lifting her chin. The move might have looked convincing had her lower lip not been trembling like a leaf in the wind.
“Eve, you don’t have to—”
“I said I’ll do it,” she declared, and he couldn’t help but admire her determination. The woman had courage, he’d give her that. Because while most people thought courage came from facing danger without fear, the truth of the matter was real courage was doing what needed to be done even when you were scared shitless to do it.
“Okay,” he nodded, trying, really trying, to remember all the reasons why he disliked her.
“One last thing,” Boss said. “Ozzie, once you’ve distracted the spooks, I need you to scramble all satellite feeds. I don’t want anybody knowing what we’re about to do.”