Page 18 of The Ranger (Black Hawke Security #5)

COLE

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“O kay, we have movement ,” Josh says, putting the phone down. “Chen has left the office, and our team leader thinks he’s heading towards the ports.”

The ports?

Josh told him to stay on his tail, so we will know soon enough.

“Why would he go to the ports?” I ask Nathan.

He shakes his head. “The only time we go there is if there’s a problem with customs and need to be there when they inspect or open something.”

I watch him, thinking.

“Oh, fuck.” Nathan suddenly locks eyes with me. “The South Korean chips. He’s going to try to get them to the border.”

“Explain,” Aidan growls.

“We supply the telcos over there with 5G chips for their phones. The products are at the port right now, ready to be shipped. Chen and I are the only people who have the authority to intercept. Goddamn, I should have foreseen this.”

I rub my forehead. “Could he put something inside those boxes?”

He nods. “It’ll be an administrative nightmare, but if he’s pushy or pays someone, they’d do it.”

“Fuck.”

Josh and I glance at one another; then he stands and addresses the team. “Ryder, get a senior team out there to take over, and we might have to look at sending Nathan in.”

“On it.” Ryder stands, looking at me from across the table. “You coming or staying? Might want to get out of your fancy suit.”

I laugh. “I can still shoot better than you while wearing a tutu.”

“I’ll take you up on that while streaming live on Instagram.”

“No one is shooting,” Josh reminds us, and Ryder and I share a grin.

Marshall says he’ll join us for a few hours. I’m about to tell them to give me a few minutes to get changed into my tactical gear when Josh calls me over.

“Give me five,” I say, and they nod, leaving the room.

“I can’t go in there. What if he tries to kill me?” Nathan looks white as a sheet.

“I’ll go with you.” Aidan says.

Nathan shakes his head. “It’s like customs, a very tightly controlled area. You can’t.”

Shit.

“Take a breath. At least we are tracking his movements. Ring your team and find out when that product is due to ship.”

“Okay.” Nathan pulls out his phone.

Josh’s phone beeps, and he stares at it with a frown as I stride over.

“What’s up, boss?”

“Is Scarlett okay?” His eyes lift to mine as my blood turns cold, that same feeling returning. “Tell me to mind my fucking business, but it’s the second day she hasn’t turned up at the salon. Cassy is worried.”

What?

“Did she say she was sick?” I ask, hearing the fear in my voice.

“She hasn’t spoken to her.”

My entire body freezes as a thousand terrifying scenarios fill my brain.

“What?”

The rapid beating of my heart inside my chest drowns out everything as Josh curses. I feel the color on my cheeks fade as we stare at one another.

“When did you last speak to her?”

“Sunday night,” I barely reply, feeling the need to vomit. “Fuck.”

My training tells me to stay, to ask questions, to make sense of this, but my heart has me glancing at the door.

Josh grabs my arm.

“Who is Scarlett?” I hear Nathan ask.

“His girl. She’s pregnant.”

My girl.

“Fuck.” I call her. Then again. Then again. Then again.

Josh is calling Cassy and asking questions. “Not at all? Nothing?”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I start pacing around a small spot on the carpet, my entire body painfully tense.

I text her and watch for the little dots.

Nothing.

My eyes lift suddenly when Thomas comes running in. “Ah, we have a problem.” He glances around the room, then his eyes land on me. “That white van—”

No.

I keep listening as he tells us one of his team followed up that stolen white van, checking the cameras outside Scarlett’s house that I may or may not be responsible for installing.

I did. Now I’m not fucking sorry.

“Unless they turned up at two in the morning to buy a carpet from her, it looks fucking suspicious.” Thomas drops the laptop in front of us, and I watch as a body is carried across the street and tossed into the van.

Scarlett’s body.

“Motherfuckers,” I yell, palming the top of my head.

“You think this is Chen’s doing?” Aidan asks. “Because, I mean, what else? Who would want Scarlett?”

I glance at Josh, and he nods.

“Fuck.”

This is my fucking fault.

“Chen must’ve worked out who you are,” the Navy SEAL says. “Why else would someone want your pregnant...girl?”

“It could be random,” Marshall says from the doorway. I never saw him return.

God, I’m a fucking idiot. I should’ve taken more precautions, gone deeper undercover. None of us foresaw this. We didn’t know Nathan was supplying the US government until I started last week. This is not an everyday corporate espionage with some asshole stealing a chocolate bar recipe.

This is global warfare off the battlefield.

I tear at my hair, and glance around the room at my fellow warriors. We’re all highly skilled at evac and retrieving people. This is what we fucking do. I will get her back.

Get Scarlett and my baby back.

I just hope we do it in time.

“Have you traced it?” I ask Thomas, fighting my back my fury and nausea.

“They just found the footage, so they’re working on it now. But that means hacking and searching through hundreds of local street cams.”

Which means time.

I drop my palms on the table, then something clicks in my brain, remembering what Thomas initially said. “Wait, when did they take her?”

“Early Monday morning.”

My head flicks up. Oh fuck!

Scarlett was taken over thirty-six hours ago.

Every muscle in my body tightens, ready for battle. That motherfucking cunt! I am going to kill him.

“Stay calm.” Josh puts a solid hand on my back. “We will find her. We’ll get Scarlett home safely.

And kill Chen.

Good plan.

I register that Scarlett is also Cassy’s best friend, and that Josh is invested in this too, but she’s carrying my child. My unborn child.

“Get the entire team on this and advise the authorities that we have a missing person.” Josh keeps talking, and I don’t know who to, because my brain is whirling.

Stay calm .

“Send someone to his house. Nathan, get us his address,” I order.

He nods and pulls out his laptop.

“Let’s go,” Aidan says once Nathan shares the information. “We need to run some data on Chen and work out who we call first.”

Marshall and Josh surround me.

“The baby.” My voice croaks. “They’ve had her for almost two fucking days.”

What if she’s dead?

“Did he say anything in the past two days that indicated he knew who you were?” Marshall asks.

I shake my head and say, “Maybe. I was putting pressure on him, but he hasn’t made any threats or—”

My phone rings.

I quickly flip it over in my hand, hoping it’s Scarlett even though I know it’s not.

“Hello,” I put it on speaker.

“Cole Reynolds,” Chen’s voice fills the room, and he sounds cheerful. “Are you having me followed?”

I glance up at Josh, who has turned into the dangerous Navy SEAL right before my eyes. My fists clench, the veins on my forearms popping.

“Why would I do that, Chen?”

“It’s too late to stop me. What’s done is done.” He laughs. “Plus, if you want to see your lady friend again, you will stay back.”

Fuck.

I want to scream at him, but Josh gives me a pointed look. Don’t show your vulnerabilities even if the enemy knows it. Or thinks they do.

“Who? Stop you from doing what, Chen?”

Playing dumb could save Scarlett’s life. He’s all but told us she’s alive, and for a second, I can breathe.

“Ah, you are a funny guy, Cole Reynolds.” His voice turns dark. “Stay away, or she dies.”

Then the line goes dead.

“Fuck.”

“Motherfucking North Korea.” Marshall curses.

Josh lets out a breath, and paces. “I’m not going to ask you to stand down, because you won’t, but I need you to tell me right now if you can focus?”

“No,” I answer because I’m an Army Ranger and I know lying will get men fucking killed. “At least not right now.”

Liam and Ryder walk into the room, tossing me a pair of BHS sweatpants, T-shirt, jacket, sneakers and a Glock.

“Just heard, man, sorry,” Liam says, leaning on the wall and crossing his arms.

“Thanks,” I grab the Glock, check the magazine and slam it back in.

Mostly to make myself feel better.

“Stay with him.” Josh tells Marshall, then glances at me. “Ryder is in charge of whether you go or stay.”

Then he leaves the room to join Aidan and Nathan.

I don’t wait for the door to shut before tearing off my shirt and pants. If Penny walks in she’s going to get a big eyeful of my tattoo-covered back and my Calvin Klein briefs.

No one says a single word.

These are men who will die for me, as I would for them. Someone has taken one of ours—two of ours—and I know they’ll do what it takes to get her back.

But that doesn’t mean our role in protecting or retrieving the chip is done. The stakes just got higher.

I’m trying to ignore the fact that one or two lives are not greater than protecting the entire country. We are all trained and experienced enough to know how this works.

It’s why Josh put Ryder in charge.

I crouch and tie up the laces, tears threatening to spill while fury still pounds in my veins.

Scarlett.

When I stand, I rub a hand over my face. “She was having some pains last week.”

All three men nod.

“We need to have an ambulance ready for when we find them.”

They nod again.

I know what that means. They aren’t confident we’ll get her out alive. A North Korean spy is holding my pregnant girl hostage. It’s not good.

Not fucking good at all.

My desperate eyes find Marshall’s, and he closes in, gripping my shoulders. He looks me dead in the eye. “We are going to get them back. You. Me. These men. We are the best. We will get them back.”

I do fucking love her.

It’s never been clearer.

Chen has stolen part of my soul. He has my child, and my girl.

Scarlett is mine.

Suddenly everything is fucking clear.

When I get her back, I’m not letting her go and she is just going to have to goddamn accept that.

I draw in four or five deep breaths as I stare at the ground, then look up at the three big fuckers standing around me.

“Let’s go.”