Page 8 of Duty Unbound

“More risk,” I countered. “More red tape.”

Logan hummed. “True. And let’s be real, how bad could the pop star gig be? Air conditioning. Private jets. Catered food. We could use a little luxury.”

Ty grinned. “And she’s hot.”

Jace shot him a flat look. “We’d be her security, not her fan club.”

I kept my eyes on the horizon, but something about the job sat wrong in my gut.

Jace tapped a few more keys, his brow furrowing. “Pop star gig might not be as easy as it sounds. They already had a break-in.”

I frowned. “Personal residence?”

“Yeah, bad enough that management wants us full time, twenty-four seven. Not just security at events—personal protection, house lockdown, the works.”

Logan exhaled. “So it’s not just a creeper fan situation. This guy’s serious.”

“Looks like.” Jace shut the laptop and leaned back. “Still better than a firefight in Morocco. It’s easier to fight perverts than terrorists.”

The van rattled over another pothole, sending a fresh jolt through my spine. Fifteen minutes to the airfield. The jungle was dense on either side of the path that passed for a road.

“What do we know about Nova Rivers?”

“Age twenty-six,” Jace rattled off. “Estate outside of Dallas. She’s been on the pop music scene for a decade but only hit stardom in the past year. Two breakout hits that you can’t turnon the radio for five minutes without hearing. She’s about to kick off another tour?—”

“Shit—company!” Logan suddenly yelled, eyes darting to the rearview mirror. “Where the hell did they come from?”

Jace had ducked down, frantically tapping at his laptop. “There’s a secondary road that intersects a quarter mile back. They must have been waiting.”

Bullets struck our van, taking out the back window in a rain of glass.

I slid the side door open enough to return fire, aiming with practiced precision. “Ty, cover the other side!”

Ty was already positioning himself at the opposite window, weapon ready, all traces of his earlier lightheartedness gone. He might be green, but the kid had solid training.

“Two vehicles!” Jace called out. “Four hostiles visible!”

A bullet pinged off the doorframe, inches from my face. I didn’t flinch. Close, but not close enough. I returned fire.

“Ty, concentrate your fire on the driver of the lead vehicle,” I ordered. “Jace, you have eyes on aerial?”

“Checking our drone feed now… No additional vehicles visible within a five-mile radius.”

I squeezed off three more rounds, hitting one of the gunmen. He disappeared inside their vehicle, but another immediately took his place.

“They’re persistent,” Logan commented, as if we were discussing the weather rather than being in the middle of a firefight. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, but his voice remained calm.

Ty fired steadily, his aim improving with each shot. “Got the driver!” he called out as the lead SUV swerved violently before crashing into the dense jungle foliage alongside the road.

The second vehicle continued pursuit. One of the gunmen leaned farther out, aiming what looked like a grenade launcher.

“Fuck. RPG!” I warned.

“Hang on!” Logan swerved hard right, then left, throwing us all against the sides of the van.

The grenade streaked past, detonating in the trees ahead with a thunderous boom. Debris rained down on the road.

Fuck that shit. It was time to end this. “Logan, hard brake and swerve on my mark,” I said. “Ty, ready on my three. One…two…three!”