Darkest Before Dawn
Page 76

The plane had lifted into the air an hour ago and Honor lay in the small bedroom, sedated, while the others had sprawled in the sitting area on chairs, the couch and even the floor.
One of Resnick’s teams had taken the other jet so they could keep close watch on Honor’s family. Sam had sent word ahead to Sean to lock down the compound, and that under no circumstances was anyone to go in or out of the secure area.
It had already been decided that Nathan and Joe’s team would remain at the compound to ensure the safety of the family while every other available KGI member along with Titan would go after Maksimov.
“Spill,” Hancock growled.
He was the only one not seated and the one who needed to be resting the most, but he paced the small confines of the sitting area, his gaze going often to the door to the bedroom where Honor slept, which was left ajar just in case she awoke and panicked.
“If it were anyone else, I’d suspect a trap,” Donovan said. “But Maksimov is an arrogant bastard who truly believes he’s invincible and is unstoppable. I have the coordinates, the place and the time he’s making the exchange with ANE and he’s gone ahead already. It’s why he wasn’t here. He’s negotiating with ANE and milking his ‘find’ for all its worth. He sent his men to bring Honor to him—and ANE. We have a dream scenario here. We can take them both out at the same time. We’ll never get another opportunity like this, so we have to go in and get it done.”
Sam frowned. “We don’t have the manpower for that kind of op. We’re good, but we’re vastly outnumbered and without the team guarding Honor’s family and Nathan and Joe’s team locking down the compound, we don’t have a chance in hell of taking both Maksimov and ANE out.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Resnick said fiercely. “I’m going all out on this. I have four SEAL teams I’m calling in. I have the two black ops teams, and I’m bringing three special forces units and the best of the best, army rangers and several airborne units. They won’t know what hit them. Uncle Sam would like nothing more than to kill two birds with one stone, and they’ll give us whatever the fuck we need to take them all down. For this mission? They’ll give me the fucking keys to the kingdom. And that’s a fact.”
“You’ll need bait,” P.J. said thoughtfully. “Without evidence of Honor, we’ll never get close enough to take them out.”
“No!” Cole exploded in fury, knowing exactly where she was going with this. Hancock could see the raw pain in Cole’s eyes and knew he was remembering the last time KGI had used bait—P.J.—and the horrific results. She’d been raped and brutalized and every single member of KGI still carried the weight of their guilt, but no one more than Cole.
“It is not an option,” Cole said in an icy, furious tone. “I will not risk you again, P.J. You can’t expect me to let you. Not after . . .”
He broke off, the words choking and dying in his voice, but tears glittered harshly in his eyes.
“Of course she can’t,” Skylar said in a soothing voice, putting her hand on Cole’s arm, squeezing in a comforting gesture. “P.J. looks nothing like Honor. It would never work.”
Relief made Cole go weak in the knees, and he dragged P.J. against his side, burying his face in her hair, and she let him, a testament to just how upset she knew her husband was.
P.J. was not a woman to allow herself to seem weak or in need of protection or comfort in front of others. She was a fucking fierce warrior. Honor was every bit as fierce, just in a different way.
“I would be the logical choice,” Skylar said calmly.
The entire cabin exploded with a chorus that ranged from Hell no to Over my dead body! Edge stood, the big man seeming to take up the entire space of the already cramped cabin, his eyes glittering with rage.
“You will not do this, Sky.”
“You aren’t my team leader, Zane,” Skylar said gently, using his real name.
The two roomed together and were close friends. Best friends. There was nothing romantic to their relationship. It was more one of close siblings. But that didn’t mean Edge wasn’t fiercely protective of her.
“No, but we are,” Nathan said in a hard voice, thumbing his chest and then in Joe’s direction. “And we aren’t risking you as fucking bait. Never again will we put someone in the position P.J. was forced into. She paid the ultimate price and we damn near lost her. We will not lose you. And that’s an order.”
Skylar sent them all an exasperated look. She and P.J. exchanged quick looks of sisterhood and the equivalent of a mental eye roll. They were highly trained, lethal weapons, equal to their male counterparts in the KGI organization, but above all, KGI cherished and protected their women. All of them. Wives, sisters, mothers. And even their teammates.
“If we needed a male to use as bait, would any of you even hesitate to volunteer?” Skylar challenged. “I distinctly remember Nathan taking the place of the pilot of the plane that was going to fly Maren and Caldwell to wherever the fuck he was taking her. No one made any bones about risking him.”
The KGI men exchanged uneasy looks because they were well and truly fucked. If they insisted on not risking Skylar, it sent the wrong message. That she wasn’t an equal when she was in every possible way. That they didn’t trust her to be able to take care of herself and do her job.
“Just listen to me before you hand down your decree from on high,” Skylar said with heavy sarcasm.
“Honor is small. We’re almost exactly the same height. She’s thinner than me, but she’s been through hell so that’s to be expected. But we’re both blond and I don’t have to get up close and personal for them to get a detailed look. They just need to see who they think is Honor trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey about to be delivered to ANE.
“We bruise me up. Not literally,” she added hastily when every single expression in the plane blackened to rage. “Makeup is a useful tool. We make me appear as she was when we found her. And I’ll pretend unconsciousness, which they would expect since they seem to have a predilection for drugged women,” she added in disgust.
“The point is, me being Honor gets us in. The rest is up to us, Resnick’s teams and whoever the hell else Uncle Sam decides to send. You know it’s a damn good plan and if you’d set aside your manly thirteenth-century egos for two seconds, you’d recognize that it’s the only way we achieve our objective.”
“Well fuck,” Garrett muttered.
Edge didn’t look any happier than he had in the beginning, but he pressed his lips together, obviously refusing to give voice to the torrent of objections he wanted to launch.
“She’s right,” Sam said quietly. “Goddamn it, I don’t have to like it—I don’t like it. I fucking hate it—but she’s right. But I want her covered at all times.”
P.J. reached over and squeezed Skylar’s hand. “Thank you. I didn’t intend for you to do it. I wasn’t setting you up to be the bait. I would have done it, dyed my hair, whatever. But . . .”
She looked embarrassed and vulnerable, enough so for Cole to slide his hand around her nape and squeeze gently in comfort and support.