Page 72 of Secrets Along the Shore

“Hey! Yvonne, did you get her? Or do you have a day or time?” The eagerness in his voice put extra weight on her shoulders. She tried her best to look out for her people. She protected her brother, then her people, and lastly her home. This had to be done for Koen.

“Not yet. They refused to cooperate.”

“I…I wondered about that.” His voice quieted a notch.

She sighed. “I’m sorry, Koen.”

“Look, you can’t quit. I know it’s in your backyard, but I?—”

“No. We are going to go in and extract your daughter.”

Tyler shifted in her peripheral vision.

“You are, then why are you sorry?”

Yvonne exchanged a look with her brother. “I don’t know exactly when we’ll be getting her back. We have to locate and plan, then go in?—”

“Don’t worry about that. I trust you. And to ensure that my daughter gets home, I sent you the best soldier I know.”

She lifted her gaze to Tyler. Best soldier? Really? Just twenty-six years old. She’d seen his records, but it was hard to believe the medals he’d won. The intensity in his eyes made her pause. He may have been young, but he had the skills to do this.

But why was there doubt in his eyes?

She saw it when she first met him. He was confident overall, but the topic of extracting Elara—while he knew it was what needed to happen—seemed to bother him. Koen had said he’d done extractions many times. So what made this time any different?

That’d have to be something she figured out before he went in. And if she couldn’t, then she hoped he’d get past that doubt and complete the job.

“I hope you’re right, Koen.”

June 7

7:12 p.m., Dubrovnik, Croatia

The team was going in.Tyler with them. He pressed his shoulder against the doorframe, standing on the sidelines as the team worked to gather the necessary intel. Von’s brother and the hacker obtained blueprints for Viktor’s home in Dubrovnik. Now they were trying to figure out the number of people on site.

His phone buzzed in his pants pocket.

He ignored the message. It’d be Koen. Of course. Probably checking up to see how he was handling the idea of going in. At the moment, Tyler didn’t want to think about that. He needed to prepare himself for it, not remember the reasons why he hadn’t wanted to.

Von stood in front of the wall monitor with Amir. “What is that?” she pointed at something on the screen. From Tyler’s spot, he could see that it showed Viktor’s mansion.

“Not sure,” Amir replied.

“Get me a better view of that.” She turned to Patrick. “I don’t want our guys stepping into a trap.”

“Roger that.” The hacker typed on his computer.

Something shifted behind Tyler, casting a shadow over part of the floor. He maintained his position while Adam stepped beside him. The American stood at a hair over six feet, making him about three inches shorter than Tyler. He folded his arms over his chest. “You knew the negotiations weren’t going to work.”

Tyler glanced at him and shrugged. “Viktor didn’t seem like he’d cooperate.”

“But how’d you know that? You’ve never spoken to him before, right?”

“I’ve dealt with a lot of people like him. His big thing is maintaining control over the people and things around him. He wanted that money, but he didn’t need it.”

Adam nodded, then eyed Tyler. “Why do I get the feeling that you’ve dealt with a lot of rough types?”

“That’s about all you deal with in the military.” And it was all hedealt with outside, too. But Adam didn’t need that information. Tyler preferred that people knew as little about him as possible.