Page 44 of SEAL of Fate

“Keep your hands on the desk where I can see them.” Travis had seen the same reaction on the faces of racist pricks around the globe. He was used to it, but it still pissed him off.

Halstead sneered. “I spend thousands of dollars hiring men and arming them, and you steal my property, destroy my house, and break in unchallenged.Unbelievable!”

“You just can’t get good help these days.” Travis walked the room's perimeter, closed the drapes, then positioned himself to see both the man and the door.

“Why aren’tyouworking for me?” Halstead spun the high-backed office chair around and sat down.

“No future for a man like me.”

Halstead laughed and nodded in apparent agreement. “What do you want?”

“As I said, I want the woman. I’ll return your precious merchandise in exchange and leave you alone.”

“And if I don’t like that deal?”

“Then I don’t need you anymore, and the world would be better off without you.”

Their gazes met while Halstead undoubtedly weighed whether Travis had the guts to pull the trigger. Travis already knew the older man wouldn’t hesitate. He’d operated above the law for too long to have any reservations about blowing Travis away. Halstead, however, couldn’t know how many terrorists Travis had brought down or how far he was willing to go to get Jordan back alive. The man was as good as dead if he didn’t take the deal. Halstead just didn’t know it yet.

Travis aimed his weapon between Halstead’s eyes. “You’ve got about five seconds to decide.”

The man’s gaze wavered, and sweat broke out on his forehead. He raised his hands, palms out, in apparent surrender. “The woman has been nothing but trouble anyway.”

Travis motioned toward the door. “Take me to her.”

“I would if she were here.”

“Where is she?”

Halstead’s eyebrows raised. “How do I know you’ll keep your end of the bargain? You obviously didn’t bring any trading stock with you.”

“You’ll have to trust me, I guess.” Travis held up his free hand, two fingers extended. “Scout’s honor, I’ll draw you a map.”

“I should have known you were a fucking Boy Scout.”

Travis waved the gun’s barrel toward the door. “Let’s go.” He followed close behind Halstead as they approached the ruins of the ranch house’s front door. No armed men patrolled nearby, but Travis could see movement near the barns and other outbuildings, so the search was still on. He walked past the mangled truck unhindered.

“Let’s take the Jag.” Travis probably shouldn’t yank Halstead’s chain, but oh well. “Too bad it’s all banged up.”

Halstead glared, but Travis grinned and pushed him toward the car. He turned the man to face the hood on the passenger side and pulled a zip tie from his coat pocket. After binding his hostage’s hands securely behind his back, he opened the door, shoved him inside, then jogged to the driver’s side and climbed behind the wheel. The keys dangled from the ignition, and the engine purred to life on the first try.Nice!And if Halstead’s men discovered the car missing along with their boss, there’d be no vehicles left on the ranch that could catch the Jag. Still, Travis drove down the driveway slowly and didn’t flip on the lights until they were almost to the county road. Then he turned to Halstead. “Okay, where to?”

*****

WHEN ROBERTS JOINEDhim in the parking lot, he had news. Coop listened as the FBI agent relayed the two-hours-old message from Luke and MacGyver. They’d heard from Travis as Coop had when he’d finally checked his messages. As he’d surmised, his friend was on a mission to save Jordan. After he freed her, he intended to regroup at one of the safe houses they’d arranged for this job northwest of Prineville. His partners were en route to evacuate them by helicopter.

Roberts also let slip that he had eyes and ears on the caravan of Jeeps and trucks hauling weapons out of the mountains. He planned to bust the whole group at the ranch, but not until he was sure Brody and the last vehicles had arrived.

“You son of a bitch. Travis handed you your case against Halstead, Brody, and William Mann, and you left him twisting in the wind, so you didn’t have to do any of the work.” Coop started for his truck. “Do whatever the hell you think you need to do. I’m going after Travis.” He should have listened to Jordan and left a long time ago.

“Wait a minute. Brody and the others will scatter if they see you there. The message was at least two hours old. Either Travis made it out of there, or he didn’t. We can’t help him either way, but this could be our last, best chance to destroy the entire cell and save innocent lives. That’s what Travis would want. He would have asked if he’d wanted help to storm Halstead’s fortress, but that’s not his style. You know that.”

Coop’s hands fisted, and he had to tamp down his instant reflex to deck the guy. Despite the fact Roberts was probably right, his cold, off-handed manner of dismissing Travis’s life didn’t sit well with Coop. “Maybe he would have asked if he’d been able to contact me. I’m not just giving up on him.” The FBI agent was an asshole, but Coop couldn’t afford to burn those bridges—not if PTS Security ever wanted to work with the agency again. Coop couldn’t care less, but that was a decision all of the partners needed to make.

He took another step toward his vehicle, preparing to heft his pack into the bed, but stopped when Roberts laid a hand on his arm. Coop bristled and met Roberts’s gaze until the agent removed his hand. “I’ve wasted enough time, so stay out of my way.” It was a simple statement of fact with no room for argument.

Roberts started to speak, but Coop turned away and strode toward the pickup he and Jordan had stolen. He didn’t want an altercation with their boss, but he wouldn’t back down either.

The agent sighed. “Someone might recognize Alex Halstead’s truck before you get close enough. I’ll get you an unmarked car, and it will have a sat phone, so keep in touch.” His voice was gruff, but he’d apparently concluded it would do no good to try changing Coop’s mind.

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