Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(56)

“I don’t know,” Rio said calmly. “It’s a chance I have to take.”

“I don’t like it,” Donovan muttered. “This reeks of a setup.”

“He’s not going alone,” Terrence said, speaking for the first time.

“Hell no, he isn’t,” Steele broke in. “Me and my team will be there.”

Rio held up his hands for silence. “Look, Hancock is a cagey, paranoid bastard with ice in his veins. I don’t doubt for one second that he’ll pull the plug on this if I show up with two teams. Yeah, my team goes. Where I go, they go. Hancock will know this. Even if I’m at the meeting place alone, he’ll know I never go anywhere without my team. Steele, you and your team are going to have to hang back with Terrence and the others whether you like it or not. Once I have Maren, we’ll pull out and hook up with you as soon as I have her safe.”

“So he’s just going to give us Maren and expect us not to give a f**k that Mendoza or Caldwell or whatever the f**k he calls himself is still out there and a threat to Maren?” Steele asked.

Rio nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly what he wants. He’s risking his mission to get Maren out, which is highly uncharacteristic of him. He won’t hesitate to pull the plug on the entire thing if he even thinks we’re planning to move against Caldwell before he’s ready to shut Caldwell down himself. I know it goes against your grain to stand down, Steele, but that’s exactly what we’re going to have to do if we want Maren back and out of harm’s way.”

Steele’s jaw clenched until his teeth felt ready to break. Hell yeah, it went against his grain to just walk away and let the bastard who’d abducted Maren go free. He wanted the bastard taken down where he’d no longer pose a threat to her. But first and foremost he wanted Maren out of Caldwell’s grasp, and if he had to sit on his hands for the time being, then it was what he’d have to do. As long as he got Maren back, Caldwell and Hancock could go f**k themselves.

“You tell your buddy that if he f**ks us on this, I’ll hunt his ass down. I’ll devote the rest of my life to hunting him down and taking him out,” Steele said in an icy voice.

Rio raised one eyebrow. “I’ll let him know.”

“Now where the hell are we going?” Steele asked.

“Kosovo,” Rio replied grimly.

CHAPTER 21

MAREN sensed the presence of someone in her bedroom and woke through the heavy veil of sleep just as a hand clamped down over her mouth. Her shriek was muffled and her entire body went rigid, prepared to defend itself.

Her instant thought was that Tristan had come to her bedroom, that her time was up, and that he was making his move. She struggled under the firm hand and then another went to her throat, squeezing lightly. It wasn’t hurtful, but the pressure prevented her from moving.

“Be quiet, Maren. I’m not going to hurt you. I need you to wake up. Above all, remain silent. Nod if you understand me.”

Armand’s voice filtered through her panic and she nodded. His hand loosened but hovered close in case she attempted to scream again. Who would save her? Certainly not Tristan, although he might not be pleased to find his guard in Maren’s bedroom in the middle of the night.

“Sit up. You have to hurry. Get dressed. Take nothing with you.”

She did as he said and glanced at the bedside clock to see it was just a few minutes past midnight.

“What’s going on?” she hissed. “What are you doing here? And where am I going?”

“There’s no time for questions,” he said impatiently. “Get dressed or you’ll have to go in your nightclothes. Wear something warm. It’s cooler where we’re going.”

She grabbed his arm as he started to move away from the bed. “Tell me what’s going on. You expect me to blindly trust you? Did Tristan order this?”

He turned back to her, his voice calm. “I’m getting you out of here. But if you don’t hurry we’ll lose our window of opportunity. It’s my guard shift and the others are sleeping except for the guards patrolling the estate, and we have to time our exit just right so we aren’t seen. You have exactly twelve minutes to get dressed and get the hell out of this house or you stay here. Your choice.”

When put like that, she wasn’t going to argue. No, she didn’t trust Armand, but he had been kind to her, and if he was getting her out of her prison, she wasn’t going to protest. She just hoped to hell she wasn’t jumping from the frying pan straight into the fire.

She scrambled up and went to her closet, tearing off the silk pajamas. She paid no heed to modesty. She doubted Armand was looking anyway. Not bothering with a bra, she pulled on a T-shirt and jeans, gifts from Tristan. She hated to take anything at all that he’d given her, but she had nothing else to wear.

She pulled on socks and a pair of boots and then reached for one of the fur-lined jackets Tristan had provided. She hadn’t given it a thought before, but it was obvious he’d planned for her to remain with him long term because he’d purchased items she’d need in colder weather and it had been cool but not cold wherever they were so far.

No matter what Armand’s motives were, if he offered her a way to escape, she was grabbing it with both hands.

Returning from the closet, she whispered, “I’m ready. Where are we, Armand? Tristan never said and I’ve not been allowed outside long enough to get any idea where the hell this place is.”