Page 109 of Defending You

“Do you now?” There was amusement in Gagnon’s tone. “And what exactly would that be?”

“An SD card.”

Asher counted twelve seconds that followed his pronouncement.

“Interesting.” His tone was cooler now, more calculating. Far less amused. “And how exactly did you find it?”

“I was there when your guys came back looking for it.” Asher kept his voice steady, injecting just enough smugness to sound believable. “Had a front row seat to their little treasure hunt. Amazing how much you can learn when idiots think you’re dead.”

Through his earpiece, he heard Grant’s quiet “Good” and the barely audible sounds of his team moving into position.

“You were listening,” Gagnon said.

Another GBPA agent, Whiteman, spoke in Asher’s ear. “Two men closing in on your location.”

He was well hidden behind an old oak tree. The ditch where he crouched was protected by bushes all around. Even if they managed to track him, he’d see them long before they saw him.

“I heard every word,” he said to Gagnon, his gaze roaming the darkness, thankful for the night-vision goggles Bartlett had brought with the arsenal he’d distributed out of the back of his SUV. Asher picked out the first enemy, coming from the west, the direction of the road.

He continued speaking, his voice steady. “Including the part where they admitted they couldn’t find it.” Asher shifted. Where was the second man? “I dropped a little present in their truck too—a cell phone with GPS. Led me right to your front door.”

“You’re alone?”

“Cici’s got people, and I’ve got people, and they’re all on their way.” He let that hang in the air, still searching…

Got him.

The second man had circled and was closing in from behind.

Asher had gotten close enough to the front gate to let himself be seen. So far, the plan was working.

He needed to finish the conversation and move before they got close enough to hear. He had about two minutes.

“Thing is,” he said, keeping his voice low, “I don’t care about taking you into custody or bringing down your organization. I don’t give a rip if you keep doing whatever it is you’ve been doing. I’m not here to make you pay. All I want is Cici. But if you and I can’t come to terms now, well, our people will be here soon, and then it’ll be too late.”

“Why not just let them do their work?” Gagnon asked. “Maybe they could take us all out.”

“We could kill every one of you, no problem. But she could be hurt, and I’m not willing to risk that. Do you want to deal, or take your chances? Because if you wait until every law enforcement agent in New England converges, I won’t be able to control what happens to you—or this SD card. Your window’s closing.”

The men moving in still didn’t show any sign they’d seen him, but he needed to shut this down. To take these two enemies out.

“Think it through,” he said. “You have five minutes.”

He ended the call and shoved the cell into his jeans pocket. Through the night-vision goggles, he watched the men converge from opposite directions on his general location, their movements deliberate but uncertain. Both wore night-vision goggles and carried handguns.

The first man, compact and wiry, gestured in the direction where Asher hid. His partner, taller with broader shoulders,shook his head and pointed east. As the first man neared, Asher could hear his whispered words.

“I’m gonna swing south,” the wiry one said.

The other guy must’ve answered because he snapped, “I don’t see him yet.”

Asher smiled grimly.I’m about six feet below your eye line.

He eased his knife from its sheath, the matte black blade catching no light in the darkness. Two targets, two different approaches needed. The wiry one should go down easily—he moved like someone who relied more on speed than strength. The bigger guy would be a problem if Asher didn’t drop him fast.

The wiry man stepped closer to the oak, weapon drawn, scanning the forest.

His partner moved in the opposite direction, creating distance between them. Smart, but not smart enough.