Page 25 of Defender (Omega Sector: Under Siege #1)

“I think that’s enough talking to her.”

“Damn it, Harper,” he roared into the phone. “If you hurt her—”

“You have thirty minutes to get here, Fitzgerald. It’s time for you to pay for what you did to my dad. Come alone. If I see anyone else, she dies.”

The call disconnected. Roman immediately spun the truck around and they were on their way.

Ashton felt stunned. How had Harper gotten Summer?

“You can dump us half a mile out and take the truck in yourself,” Derek said. “We’ll get into position and radio you with what we find.”

Ashton just stared at the team leader for a long moment. Derek reached over and clasped both hands onto Ashton’s shoulders. “I know it’s tough, but you have to focus. She and Chloe are still alive. That’s the most important thing.”

Derek knew from firsthand experience what it was like to have the woman you loved held by someone with plans to hurt her. His wife, Molly, had been kidnapped by a terrorist intent on torturing information out of her.

Ashton nodded. Derek was right. He had to focus. Work the problem. This was what the team trained to do.

But it was so much damn harder when it was the people you loved on the line.

They were all already in full gear. All already situated with comms. Harper had given him thirty minutes, thinking it would be a crunch, causing Ashton to panic and not be able to bring the team with him, but he’d been wrong. They were ready and Harper was going down.

“I just talked to my contact at the airport. Evidently an ‘Omega agent—’” Lillian put her fingers up for quotations “—flashed a badge, stated there was an emergency and got Summer and Chloe off the plane.”

Damn it. That would’ve been after Tyrone Marcus had left. He’d seen Summer and Chloe onto the plane. There was no reason to think someone would dare take her off it afterward.

“Here’s a picture of the agent.” She passed her phone around.

“That man is definitely not Curtis Harper,” Ashton said.

“It could be the same guy Harper met with after the shoot-out on Friday. Different appearance but same height and build,” Lillian pointed out.

“We still have no idea who this guy is, right?”

Lillian shook her head. “Jon and Brandon are working on it, but nothing as of right now.”

“I’ve got the details on the address. It’s a foreclosure property. Been empty for years,” Derek said. “It’s a large, dead-end lot. Shouldn’t be anybody else just hanging around.”

Ashton checked the clip of his sidearm as if he didn’t already know it was ready to go. “Good, we don’t want any friendlies in the way.”

“HQ is coordinating with locals,” Derek continued. “There will be a roadblock on all roads about two miles out from the house. If Harper tries to run, they’ll stop him. Bomb squad and medics are on their way just in case. They’ll come in stealthy so as not to aggravate the situation.”

“He’s got a lot of advantages, Fitzy,” Lillian said softly. “He knows the house. He has this second person. We’re going in blind with little prep time.”

“I know.”

“He could shoot you outright and we couldn’t do anything to stop it,” Roman continued from the driver’s seat, all signs of his usual jesting nature gone.

Ashton shrugged. They weren’t saying anything he didn’t already know. “But you’d be able to get Summer and Chloe out. That’s the most important thing.”

“Alright, people, cut the goodbyes. That’s not what we do,” Derek said. “Everybody stay frosty. Ashton, you get in there and don’t get killed. We’ll get the tactical positions we need and call it in to you.”

“Okay.” Ashton slipped the earpiece into his ear. “But Summer and Chloe are the most important thing. Nobody lose track of that. You see a chance to get them out, you take it. I don’t care what happens to me.”

Years of training were the only thing that kept the panic from swallowing Ashton. He couldn’t let himself dwell on how frightened Summer had to be. And Chloe’s little face—he had to push that away entirely. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to focus the way he needed to.

Summer and Chloe would get out of this.

If Ashton walked away, too, that would just be a bonus.

“You keep your Kevlar and your helmet on,” Derek told him. “If mystery man number two is around with a rifle, we’ll find him. But it will take a little time. Let’s not give him a free shot.”

“Buy us time with Harper, Fitzy,” Roman said. “We’ll have your back.”

“I wish I had some pointers from Joe Matarazzo.” Joe was the best hostage negotiator any of them had ever seen.

“We’ll patch Joe through from HQ,” Derek said. “But you’ve heard him enough to know a lot of his tactics. Just keep the perp talking as much as possible. Listen to him. Give us time to do our job.”

“I’m better with a gun than words,” Ashton muttered. “Always have been.”

The truck stopped and the team filed out. Ashton had been trusting them with his life for years. Trusting them with Summer and Chloe’s was harder, but he knew he could.

“You guys,” he told them as he got into the driver’s seat. “These girls are everything to me.”

Derek and Lillian nodded.

“We’ve all known that from the first muffin, man.” Roman winked. “We’ll get them out.”