Forged in Steele (KGI #7)(99)

Then he quickly went over the situation in clipped sentences and in the end there was a room full of pissed-off, ready-to-go-in-and-kick-ass people.

“I’m going,” Maren said, staring down the entire team. “There’s no way you can do this without me. He’s calling me and if I don’t answer, my parents die.”

“Yes, you’re coming,” Steele said, each word dragged painfully from him. As if he recognized the inevitability of her having to go and had no choice but to place her in harm’s way.

She touched his arm and locked gazes with him. “I trust you, Steele. I trust KGI. We’ll think of a way out of this. But for now we have to go and we have to play it his way.”

Steele nodded, but he looked tortured. Then he turned to his team. “Let’s roll. We’re going to have to do all our planning in the air. We don’t have time to map it out with the others at the compound. I just hope to f**k that Sam and the others are available and can meet us at the airport.”

CHAPTER 37

AN hour and a half later, they were in the air. Hancock’s presence had been contentious, and it was clear that no one wanted him there and that they didn’t trust him. But at the moment, Steele didn’t give a f**k who came as long as it meant keeping Maren out of Caldwell’s grasp.

She was sitting on the end of the couch in the lounging area of the jet, feet curled underneath her, silent and pale as she listened to the strategy being discussed.

Sam, Garrett, Donovan and even Ethan had come, as had Nathan, Joe, Swanny, Skylar and Edge. Plenty of muscle. If only they knew what they were up against.

Hancock had taken the floor, giving what information he had on Caldwell. It was his opinion that Caldwell wasn’t operating with a lot of manpower. Only two of his men had disappeared with him the morning Maksimov had lost patience and had moved to take Caldwell out. So if Caldwell had hired more men, it wasn’t likely he’d been able to recruit the most qualified of candidates on such short notice.

It had been only days since Maren had been taken from Caldwell, even though it seemed like weeks had gone by. Caldwell had disappeared only two days before, and finding hired muscle that quickly, while not out of the realm of possibility with the wealth and resources at Caldwell’s disposal, was difficult for a man who’d gone off the deep end.

One point in their favor. Hopefully they were dealing with subpar lackeys who were only looking to score a few quick bucks off Caldwell.

“If we knew where Caldwell was going to have Maren meet him, it would make things a hell of a lot easier,” Donovan muttered. “We’d know if it’s open or if there’s room for us to move in and take position, surround him on all sides.”

“But we can’t do that,” Maren broke in, her tone desperate. “If anything happens to him and he doesn’t make that call, my parents die. I can’t trade my life for theirs. I can’t! It’s obvious he doesn’t want to kill me. He’s talking a long-term relationship here.”

A visible shudder worked over her shoulders. Skylar was sitting beside her on the couch and reached over to squeeze Maren’s hand. Maren clung to it, as if desperate for that connection. Shared strength. So far she was holding up well, but Steele could tell she was teetering on the edge and could lose it at any moment.

“We know, Maren,” Donovan said, his voice low and soothing. “But if I can get in close enough to lock on to his cell signal, I can trace the call to the location where your parents are being held.”

“But he’s not going to make that call until he has Maren,” Sam said grimly.

No one looked pleased with that statement. Steele barely controlled his own reaction. He had to turn it off. He had to think of this as any other mission. Focus. Turn off emotion. Turn off the fact that the thought of Maren being in Caldwell’s possession for even a minute made him want to lose his mind.

Edge sat forward and cleared his throat. Everyone turned in his direction. The man never said much, but it was clear he had something to add.

“Look, I know this isn’t ideal, but as Maren said, he’s not planning to kill her. He’s obsessed with her. And he thinks of her child as his. So he’s not going to do anything that would risk her or the baby unless he feels threatened and decides to take them both out with him.”

Steele scowled, the words evoking images that had his insides so twisted up he could barely breathe.

Turn it off. No matter how many times he told himself to do it, he couldn’t manage the feat. His tightly leashed control that had never failed him, the tight rein he had on his emotions at all times, was frayed and at its breaking point.

“So we send Maren in just long enough that he makes that call. We wire her up, have her demand to speak to her parents. If we keep that line open long enough, Donovan can do his magic and lock onto that location. We split teams. One with Maren, one ready to move out the minute we get a bead on where her parents are. The minute that call ends, we go in, take Caldwell down, and the other team takes out the f**kers who have her parents.”

“Gotta say, that’s not a bad idea,” Donovan said.

“I don’t want her in his hands even for a minute,” Steele ground out.

“We don’t have a choice,” Maren said. “It has to be done, Steele. I trust you. I trust all of you. You’ll have my back. You won’t let him get away with me.”