Page 56 of Waiting for Him
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!”
She twisted her head toward Benny’s voice as Dryagin forced her down a slight incline toward a low guardrail. It took her a moment to spot him in the southbound lanes, standing next to Ian and two men dressed in black holding what looked like assault weapons. Kat’s eyes filled with tears as she climbed over the thigh-high railing. Would this be the last time she ever saw the man she loved with all her heart?
“Kitten, I love you! Remember, a sub always listens to her Dom!”
What? Was he fucking kidding her? Okay, the “I love you” was great, but why bring up subs and Doms?
Behind her, Dryagin growled, “Faster. Move.” He urged her up the slight incline.
“Kitten! Remember!”
Kat focused on Benny again. He and Ian were waving at her.
No! Wait!
They weren’t waving. They were signaling her. One. Two. Three fingers. And then their right arms, palms down, swept out in front of them from their waists up over their heads—the K9 sign language for “down.” Holy shit, on the count of three, they wanted her to hit the dirt and stay down!
She copied the silent command, hoping the Russians thought she was waving. “I love you too!”
Keeping her gaze on Benny, with the chopper in her peripheral vision, she waited for the signal and prayed she understood them correctly. Two steps before she would need to duck for the slow-moving rotor, he raised his hand in a fist and, one by one, uncurled his fingers.
One.
Two.
Three.
