Page 79 of Guarding Bristol

Chapter Twenty-Nine

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TJ was partway backto Bristol’s car when his phone buzzed in his pocket.He pulled it out, stopped walking when he saw an image sent from Bristol’s number.

When he opened the picture file, his heart seized.

It showed Bristol, sitting in a chair in what looked like the cabin of a boat, with her hands tied behind her and a strip of duct tape across her mouth.Her face was pinched with fear, her big blue eyes wide with it.

His guts clenched.Then a message came through beneath it.

Bring Jon out to theSea Sirenin the next thirty minutes or she dies.

“Jesus Christ,” he breathed, raw panic tearing at him.

Motherfucker.This was his fault.He should have pushed Bristol away harder in the beginning.Then this never would have happened.But he hadn’t.Deep down he’d been too fucking selfish to sever contact, and now she was facing torture and execution by one of the cartel’s enforcers.

Beside him, Jon stopped too.“What?”

“They’ve got Bristol.”

Jon frowned.“Who?”

“Someone connected to me.The message says to bring you to the boat she’s on within thirty minutes, or they’ll kill her.”

Jon’s face tightened.“An enforcer.”

“Yeah.No one else is close enough to get to her in time.You gotta come with me.”

“No way in hell.”

“You have to.She’s an innocent civilian, she’s got nothing to do with any of this.”

“Fuck that.I go anywhere near that boat, I’m dead.”

TJ whipped out his weapon, aimed it at him.He wasn’t fucking around.“Move.”

Jon stared at him for a long, tense moment with a cold expression.“I’ll get you close enough to board the boat.But that’s it.”

“Just move.Go.”Keeping his weapon in one hand, he dialed CPS with the other as they ran for the marina.CPS were way closer than the DEA team, and they were the only ones he trusted to provide backup.He wasn’t going to risk Bristol’s life by waiting for the cops to respond.“I need to talk to Ryder, Callum or Walker immediately,” he said when the receptionist answered.There was no time to explain.“This is an emergency.”

“Putting you through to Walker now,” the woman said without asking questions.

“Walker,” a deep voice answered a few moments later.

“It’s TJ Barros.I need backup at the Shelter Cove Marina ASAP.Bristol Moreau has been taken hostage on a boat by a cartel enforcer.”

“Ah, shit.”

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