Page 64 of Secrets Along the Shore

Holding it open one-handed, she read through the information. Their new guy had an impressive military history despite his young age and discharge. He’d worked hard for certain, and now he was figuring things out. “He’s intriguing.”

Amir leaned closer to see the file. “He’s your age.” He pointed at the number twenty-six.

But he looked older in his picture. Maybe because of his eyes. He had the eyes of someone who’d seen a lot. A lot of people did when serving in the military. But she had a couple of guys on her team who had served longer, and were deployed more, and yet they didn’t have that same look.

“Are you thinking about hiring him?”

“No.” She wasn’t going to consider that until after the mission. She had to know how he worked, if he could get along with others, if this was what he wanted to do permanently. “No, but I believe that Koen is right about him.”

“Alright.” Amir came to his feet. “As long as he’s not taking our money, I’ll take it easy on him.”

She rolled her eyes. Amir treated everyone the same. He teased whoever was in the room with him. One way he’d almost gotten killed. He didn’t know when to stop.

Her phone rang.

Tossing aside the file, she lifted her phone. A familiar phone number showed on the screen. She held it to her ear. “Hello.”

“You want the woman. I’m ready to negotiate.”

Yvonne smiled. Time to put her skills to work.

June 6

4:37 p.m., Dubrovnik, Croatia

Tyler pulled a rentedVolkswagen T-Cross out of the airport parking lot and onto the main road. He shifted his right shoulder trying to ease the tension. Ever since he’d had it dislocated a few years ago, it acted up at random times. The long flight from Australia had put a lot of tension in his shoulders. The people filling the confines of the plane and their chatter, combined with the airline crew’s updates, had him on edge the whole flight.

He should have found an alternate way to Croatia. But he didn’t have the money to pay for a private jet. And with the timeslot on the job, he couldn’t have taken a boat…or cargo plane if he figured out how to do that.

Why had he agreed to this? The last two years of his military career had been rough. Bad injuries. Difficulties with his commanding officers. Deaths of his mates. All those things had been major obstacles that he’d fought to get past, and then he’d been discarded.

Now he was trying to get back into the same kind of missions. What if this one went wrong too?

He sighed. No matter what happened, there was always the chance that a mission would go wrong. This was his chance to get back to work. If he couldn’t handle this, he might as well give up. He hadn’t been taught to quit so easily.

Tyler would complete this mission. No matter what. The fear of messing up again crept up on him. He tried to shake it off. Maybe he wouldn’t have to go in and get her. Koen’s team was working on negotiations, so there was a chance they’d get her out the easy way.

Driving down the only road to Dubrovnik from the airport took him by the coastline. The clear blue water reminded him of Australia. It’d been a couple of years since he’d surfed those waves. He just hadn’t gotten around to it since settling in the Kimberley. Not that he had anything to occupy him. It was just a long drive to any body of water in Australia from his home.

A twenty-minute drive brought him into Dubrovnik. The GPS guided him to Lapad. The landscaped lawns, wrought-iron gates, and stone walls of the properties made them stand out from the simple limestone homes in the neighborhood he’d driven through earlier. Koen gave him the address of a residence, hadn’t he? Not a black ops team’s place of operation. Unless these people worked out of a luxurious house.

Tyler followed the GPS and turned down a road. He was stopped by an iron gate. A call box was attached to a post a few feet from the gate. He rolled down his window.

“Who are you?” a man asked.

These people got straight to business. He liked that. “Tyler Reid.”

“Oh.”

Tyler glanced up as the gate started to swing inward.

“Welcome. Great to have you with us. We’ll meet you at the front door.”

“Thanks.” He rolled up his window and continued down the driveway to a modern home near the water. A few cars were parked on the left of the house. He pulled his rental around the front and put it in park. Leaning down, he surveyed the home.

The owners were well off. The multi-level mansion had a fancy balcony on the upper level. The walls appeared to be made of white granite. The vehicles parked beside it weren’t cheap either. A Rolls-Royce and a Lamborghini. So they liked to show off their wealth. Those vehicles didn’t blend into the traffic he’d seen today.

Above the front entrance, a black object caught his attention. A camera. They had a security system.