Page 106 of Always Been Mine

“What’s going on?” Nate asked.

“Can’t talk now. Need to get to Gabe and Viktor Baran before they kill each other,” Travis said. His voice jarred, indicating he was jogging.

“What?” Beatrice exclaimed, grabbing the mic from Nate. Viktor was one of the most lethal operatives in the history of security companies. “Tell me you’re joking, Travis.”

Travis didn’t respond for a while until he said, “They’re alive.”

Beatrice sank in the swivel chair in relief.

Her relief did notlast long because Gabe and Travis were planning to join up with the AGS team in the raid, which was already underway. There was no time for discussions; split-second decisions were the order of the night.

“I’m not so sure about that, Travis,” Caitlin said. “You promised you were just doing recon.”

“I know, sunshine, but with Viktor at the helm, we should be fine. Gabe wants to get his hands on Zach Jamison,” Travis said. “Besides, I don’t think you want BSI to be labeled as a bunch of pussies, do you?”

Nate and Sam chuckled. Beatrice was leaning toward the plan. She had huge respect for Viktor and his team.

“Speak for yourself, Travis,” Gabe mocked, then addressing the control room, he said, “I think we’ll be fine going in. You okay with that, Beatrice?”

“It’s Viktor. There’s no one else I trust more,” Beatrice said. “You’re in good hands, Gabe.”

There was a stretch of silence and Beatrice thought theyhad lost communication again. Finally, Gabe’s voice crackled over comms.

“Hmm, not sure I like your total confidence in this guy.”

“Knock it off, Gabe,” Travis muttered. “We’re going in. Out.”

They watched the two blips of Gabe and Travis travel down the hill on their tracking map.

“So you know Viktor?” Caitlin asked Beatrice.

“Most of his team, actually,” Beatrice said. “You might even know Maia. I frequently bump into her in high-society functions. How she keeps doing undercover ops, I have no clue.”

Just then, the alarm on the driveway beeped loudly.

“Are we expecting anyone?” Nate frowned into the monitor as they watched the dark outline of a car come up the driveway. “Are you expecting Doug, Beatrice?”

“No. And it’s 10:00 p.m.” Beatrice said urgently.

Nate got moving and punched the button that would flood the front of the house with lights. In seconds, he and Sam were armed to the teeth with pistols and assault rifles as they strode down the hallway to the front door.

Beatrice watched in horror as the figure staggered out of the car, obviously hurt.

“It’s Dad,” she whispered.

19

Gabe’s fistsmashed into Zach Jamison’s face.

Fucking exhilarating.

He and Travis caught up with Viktor just as they entered the perimeter of the yard fronting the barn. By the time they got there, it had been mostly a clean-up job.

The four buyers who showed up were quickly subdued. Much to their own detriment, they were only allowed two security guys for this meet. One of them was a French defense company, another one was a security firm based in Africa. The third guy was connected to a German pharmaceutical corporation, but it was the fourth buyer who Viktor had his Guardians haul off to the main house beside the barn to await interrogation. The man was the ISIS agent rumored to be looking for a bioweapon to unleash on U.S. soil.

Maia had secured Jamison to a chair while Viktor, Gabe, and Travis looked on. Afterward, Viktor looked at Gabe. “Consider this a bonus. He’s all yours.”

“Not sure I know what you mean, Baran,” Gabe said warily. Everyone seemed to trust Viktor, not sure he did quite yet.

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