Page 30 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)

Tyler worked his jaw. He wasn’t in a place to take care of a pet, but he doubted he’d convince Koen otherwise.

He folded his arms. “You didn’t call me here for the dogs, did you?

” It wouldn’t be the first time that the man had pulled him out of the Kimberley for a ridiculous matter, but it didn’t seem like this was like those times.

“No.” Although Koen’s eyes seemed hollow, like he was looking through Tyler, he gestured for Tyler to sit. “This is a life-or-death situation. I wasn’t joking.”

Tyler pulled out a seat and settled into it. He eyed his friend. His gaze drifted to the picture on the table. It showed Koen with a young brunette girl in his arms. Both smiled broadly at the camera as the girl wrapped her small arms around his neck.

He turned back to his mate. “Why pull me into it?” With Koen spending the last six months keeping Tyler out of danger, this didn’t make sense.

“Because I know you can do this.” Koen slid the manila folder to Tyler.

Tyler eyed the folder. This couldn’t be what he thought it was. He flipped it open and confirmed his suspicions. A file for a target. A picture of a brunette was pinned to the left side of the folder. On the right, several pages contained information on her. His eyes rested on her name.

Elara Atkinson.

“Your daughter.” He met Koen’s gaze.

His mate nodded. “Yep.”

Great. Just great. Tyler rested a hand over his beard. He didn’t have to ask whether she was a target for assassination or for extraction. Of course, Koen’s daughter was in a tight spot, and he wanted her out alive. And that’s why he handed the file to Tyler.

“I got a call from her yesterday morning.”

A surprise. Koen had told him that his daughter ran off, and he hadn’t heard from her in twelve years. A long time. The odds were that she probably died. But no. Somehow, she survived on her own at seventeen .

“I need you to extract her.”

Tyler shoved the folder away. “No, you need a team to do that.” Extracting someone wasn’t the type of mission that one could do alone.

Too many things could go wrong. There needed to be several sets of eyes keeping surveillance of the location as well as orchestrating things to ensure that the target got out of enemy territory via boat or plane.

“I have a team.”

“Good—”

“But I need you on it.”

Tyler leaned forward in the chair. “No. You, of all people, know that you shouldn’t add new people to a team right before a mission.

Too many unknowns.” Was Koen mad? He seriously wanted Tyler to rescue his daughter.

He was risking his daughter’s life if he sent Tyler.

Yeah, Tyler refused to believe that his COs were right, that he was done, but if his first mission after the IED went wrong, it’d cost his friend’s daughter.

How was he supposed to take that kind of risk?

That wasn’t the only problem. Tyler refused to work with a team, although the reason he gave Koen was legitimate.

The military wouldn’t take him back, and he’d rather be on his own—everything that had happened over the last several years pointed to the fact that he needed to be alone.

If he got back into working at all, he had to do it solo.

“Tyler, I’ve worked with them. They’re good people.”

“Then they can handle this.” Tyler shoved away from the table and stood.

No reason for him to go if someone else could do it.

If no one would do it, Tyler would have to take the job, only to help his mate.

Success wasn’t guaranteed. But this was better.

Koen’s friends could take care of it. “You don’t need me there.

I’m going home.” Tyler pulled Koen’s keys from his pocket and tossed them onto the table. He headed for the door.

“They work well…and hard. But this is my daughter we’re talking about.” Koen exited the dining room and trailed him to the entrance. He cut off Tyler’s exit and pressed a hand against the door.

Tyler rested his hands on his belt. “The last mission I was on ended with eight dead soldiers.”—seven men and Tyler’s MWD— “Why do you think I should go rescue her after that failure? ”

“Because you didn’t fail.”

He glared at the older man. Everyone knew he had. It was just that Koen couldn’t see that. If Tyler had done a better job leading them, if the other soldiers had more respect for him, it’d never have happened.

“Yesterday, Elara called me, begging for help as men found her.” Koen’s voice held a hard edge. “They hit my daughter.” Anger radiated from him and creased his brow. As it should. A good father should be enraged by someone hurting his children.

Tyler couldn’t do it. His friend needed help. But not his help. “Your team can handle it.” He kept his voice low. Guilt washed over him. He should do something.

“This is what you used to do, and you”—Koen’s finger jabbed his chest— “were bloody good at it.”

Tyler had done more than a dozen hostage rescues while serving. His team was trained to infiltrate enemy positions and extract their targets. In about six years, they’d only failed once. Their skill set made them a valuable asset. Until his men died.

Koen stepped back from the door, his eyes glassy now and his throat became thick as he spoke. “I don’t know how much time I have. My team is in contact with them and they’re trying to negotiate. But if things don’t work, I need someone I can trust to bring her out of there alive.”

Why did Koen put so much trust in him?

It didn’t matter. This was a bloody bad idea.

Ten minutes ago, in the vehicle, he’d wanted this. Wanted to get back into working. To do what he’d been trained to. But he didn’t want to do this. Not like this. Not with Koen’s daughter at risk. Not with a team he didn’t know.

An opportunity had been handed to him. Should he take it? For Koen’s sake, he had to.

Tyler met his gaze. “Where is she?”