Page 46 of The 9th Man

He realized that he and Jillian were leaks that Persik needed to plug. This realization brought him full circle back to the only course open. Go in with as much firepower as he could muster, try to take out or scatter as many of Persik’s men as possible, and hopefully escape with Jillian in the chaos. The odds against a favorable outcome were steep, but it was still preferable to allowing Persik to simply call the shots.

So do it, Ranger.

One of the phones he’d taken vibrated with an incoming text. He checked the screen. No words. Just an image. Jillian’s face with the tip of a knife hovering a hair’s breadth from her eye. Persik knew. How?

He texted back,You have my attention.

Give yourself up. You have thirty seconds or she goes blind.

Dammit. He was out of cards to play. He texted back,I’m coming out.

Make sure your hands are empty.

He dropped both guns and spare magazines. Then, after a few moments’ thought, he turned the knob and swung open the door. Hands raised, he stepped across the threshold. On either side of the door a pair of men stepped forward and shoved him to the ground. His hands were zip-cuffed and he was yanked back to his feet. Persik appeared and walked over, stopping when they were nose-to-nose.

“You killed my men?” Persik said.

“Just two of ’em. The other two are trussed up.”

To the nearest minion Persik ordered, “Go find them.”

The man jogged away.

Luke was curious. “What gave me away?”

“Instinct,” Persik said.

“Luke, is that you?”

Jillian. Calling out from somewhere deeper in the hangar.

“It’s me,” he said back. “Unfortunately, I’m a little tied up at the moment.”

“Join the club.”

He smiled. She was a tough one.

He lowered his voice to a whisper and said to Persik, “I’m going to ask you to do me a favor.”

“You have no leverage, Mr. Daniels.”

“Soldier-to-soldier. Like before. But this time for real.”

Persik stared into his eyes, then nodded. “Ask.”

“Let her go. She doesn’t know anything about this. Somebody killed her grandfather and she was trying to figure out who, that’s all. I’m a government intelligence officer and I know a lot. You let her go and I’ll work with you.”

“That’s a chance I cannot take. But you already know that. So ask your real favor, Mr. Daniels.”

He stayed silent.

“Let me guess,” Persik said. “When the time comes, you want her to go quickly, correct?”

He nodded. “I mean it. She doesn’t know anything. Don’t put her through this. Once she’s gone you can take your time with me, if that’s your thing.”

“I don’t have athing. I have a mission. And there are consequences for every choice,” Persik said. “Choices you made.”

That there were. He could have turned away and left at any time. Hell, he had no idea what this was about beyond helping a friend. Malone would definitely give him some crap for being so uninformed.

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