Page 43 of Waiting for Him (Trident Security #3)

Understanding the man was making a huge concession by allowing him to stay, Jake replaced the Trident headset over his left ear with the new one, pocketing the former, which was only on the compound’s frequency.

Murray was now in an ambulance on his way to the hospital with Colleen in tow, so there wasn’t anyone back at the war-room for him to talk to.

“ Thanks , and no worries. I trust you to do your thing.”

“ Sir ?” Both men looked at the second tech monitoring several radio frequencies, among other things. “ We’ve got a State PD chopper requesting permission to land nearby. Says they have the rest of the Trident team with them.”

Cal raised an eyebrow at Jake , who shrugged. “ Friends in high places—what else can I say?”

The negotiator barked out a laugh. “ Yeah , okay, Smitty . Since the highway is shut down in both directions, tell TPD on the ground to clear a landing zone in the southbound lanes south of us and ask the state boys to stick around. We might be able to use them.”

“ Yes , sir.”

“ Hey , Cal ?” The agent followed when Jake took a few steps backward, away from the techs, silently acknowledging the fact that whatever Jake would tell him was for his ears only.

“ We’ve got an extra man with the team. Black -ops with federal clearances up the ass, and don’t ask for any other information because I can’t tell you.

Just know he’s got Moran , Keon , and POTUS on speed dial, and the same in reverse. ”

The agent’s surprise was evident at the mention of the director and assistant director of the FBI , along with the President of the United States , but he let Jake finish.

“ The man is one of the best snipers I know, and he’s got my spare rifle on board the bird.

Not stepping on your toes here, but just know I trust him with my own mother’s life. ”

“ That’s saying a lot coming from a SEAL sniper.” Jake waited while Cal mulled things over, knowing he would have to accept his response either way. “ All right, I hope we don’t need him, but here’s what we’ll do.”

* * *

Under the watchful eyes of his teammates, Boomer paced back and forth behind the line of law enforcement vehicles and personnel.

The only reason he was back there and not leading a full-out assault on the Cadillac Escalade in the middle of the highway, some forty yards away, was Ian had threatened to handcuff him to Tanner’s truck. “ This is taking too fucking long.”

Since they all knew how this had to play out, no one answered him, letting him vent his frustrations verbally.

Hostage negotiations were a psychological game for the lead negotiator.

There were five steps to communicating and negotiating with the hostage takers—active listening, empathy, rapport, influence, and behavioral change.

An ideal situation would have the bad guys releasing the hostage and surrendering without escalating things.

Unfortunately , very few hostage situations were ideal.

For a trained group of retired Navy SEALs , such as Trident , it was difficult to sit back and let another team take over.

But they all knew Calvin Watts’s SWAT was one of the best on the East Coast , with a long history of successful missions to their credit.

They'd even won awards in national competitions.

If Trident had to relinquish the rescue to a law enforcement agency, they were lucky it was this team.

It’d been over an hour since the police spike strip had been thrown on the highway, blowing all four tires on the Russians ’ SUV .

Kat must be going out of her mind with fear, and Boomer knew precisely what it felt like.

At least the team had an inside man. Jake was still in the communications van and using Marco’s borrowed earpiece to pass on information to them.

Occasionally , he would ask a question to give the hostage negotiator some intel, which Ian or Boomer hopefully had the answer to.

Also in the comm van was Egghead , who was using a program on his tablet to listen in on the conversation taking place between the two Russians , thanks to the microphone in Kat’s GPS bracelet.

The men mainly spoke in their native language, but the geek had a bilingual TPD officer also plugged in, translating for him.

Unfortunately , they weren’t learning anything from the exchange that could help them end the incident peacefully.

“ Ian ?” Jake’s voice came over the team’s earpieces.

“ Go .”

“ These guys are getting antsy. They insist on taking the State PD chopper, or they’ll start cutting her up with a knife. With Dryagin’s background, Cal thinks we’re running out of time.”

Boomer’s eyes widened in horror, but a glare from his boss had him keeping his mouth shut. There had to be a reason for Jake telling them this, knowing he was listening. “ We have an idea, but we need your input to see if it’ll work. Cal wants you and Boomer in the comm van.”

Both men headed to the FBI command center after being waved under the yellow Do - Not - Cross tape spanning the width of the highway.

They ignored a dirty look from SAC Stonewall as they passed him and a few other agents along the way.

Now wasn’t the time for a pissing match with the Special Ass -hat in Charge .

Ian opened the door and allowed Boomer to climb in ahead of him.

Both men shook hands with Cal Watts before the negotiator laid out the plan Jake and he had devised.

Ian agreed it was a good strategy since they were down to the wire with Dryagin’s threats, but Boomer was terrified something would go wrong.

“ What if she doesn’t get it or even fucking see it?

She’s probably petrified. What if she doesn’t understand what we want her to do? ”

Crossing his arms, Ian addressed Jake . “ You’ve seen Kat in action twice now. Once at the motel and again at the compound. Do you think she can focus on what we’re telling her? If she doesn’t, this shit will get ugly real fast because we can’t let the chopper take off with her in it.”

Even though it seemed Boomer was playing the pessimist, that’s what the team did—examined a situation from every angle before giving it a go.

Jake took a deep breath and let it out. “ At the motel, she didn’t hesitate, and from what I heard afterward, she jumped in to make sure I was okay.

The injury didn’t bother her. Same goes for what just happened at the gate.

Yeah , she was probably scared shitless, but both she and Colleen made us proud.

Kat thought fast enough to give Beau the command to attack.

And from what I saw on the monitor, she also didn’t hesitate to open the gate and do what she had to do to save the others.

I’m positive, as long as we get her attention on the way to the chopper, this will work. ”

All eyes turned to Boomer . They were out of options, and he knew it. “ It’s gotta be me. Out of all the voices, it’ll be mine she’ll be listening for and focus in on.”

Cal nodded. “ Agreed . But just in case, I want Ian with you, and you’ll be flanked by two of my men.” He pointed his finger at Boomer . “ You know how this goes, man. Don’t do anything stupid out there and fuck up my operation.”

A lesser man would have been insulted, but Boomer knew the negotiator was right.

The SWAT team trained together, day in and day out, and knew exactly what each other was thinking and how they would react.

Bringing in an unknown, such as himself, no matter how well trained, could throw someone’s timing off, and that’s when things became a cluster-fuck. “ Let’s do this.”

Kat couldn’t have heard right. The man on the megaphone said the Russians could take the police chopper wherever they wanted to go if they released her. When the response was she was going with them, the jackass agreed.

What the fuck?

Maybe they would continue to track her through her GPS and stage a rescue somewhere else. Or perhaps they had something up their sleeve.

A trick. That had to be it. Right ?

God , she hoped she was right. At least Dryagin had put away the sharp knife he was threatening to use to cut off her fingers. But then again, the gun was pointed at her head again, so she was still in deep shit.

Down the road, the helicopter’s rotors sped up.

After a moment, the craft hovered a few feet off the ground, moving north in the southbound lanes until it was directly across the median from the disabled Escalade .

The pilot positioned the chopper so the tail was facing them but turned slightly so they could see the open door on the left side, then set it back down on the road.

From what she could tell, no one was inside except for the solo pilot.

Kat decided to try one last futile attempt at getting the Russians to leave her behind. “ Please , let me go. You have the helicopter to escape in, and I’ll write down the account number and password for the bank account the money is in. Please .”

“ Shut up!” Dryagin tightened his grip on her arm and eyed the activity surrounding them. “ Open door and get out. Be stupid, and you regret it.”

“ I have a feeling I’ll regret it either way,” she mumbled, pulling on the handle and easing the door open.

She climbed out slowly, still in his tight grasp, as he got out behind her.

Once she was blocking the officers’ line of fire, Pig -face also exited the vehicle, his own gun pointed toward her as well.

As a unit, they made their way over the grassy median with Kat held closely in front of them.

“ Kitten !”