Page 30 of Property of Buck
“That’s not possible,” Ghost insisted.
“You don’t know that,” Buck whispered.
Ghost crossed the room and stopped directly in front of him. “Buck.” Buck forced himself to look up. Ghost’s pale eyes held his steadily. “That woman looked at us like we hung the damn moon after one night.” His voice roughened slightly. “She knows we’re coming for her, and then I plan to make her ours. None of that is going to change because we’re going to find her—alive.” Buck swallowed hard because deep down, he believed that too.
Ghost reached out suddenly and gripped the back of Buck’s neck firmly, grounding him. “We get her back,” Ghost said quietly. “Then we figure the rest out after.” This impossible thing growing between all three of them might be the death of him, but if it were, he’d die a happy man.
Buck covered Ghost’s wrist with his hand. “You really okay with this?”
Ghost’s mouth curved faintly. “Brother, I kissed you in front of Reaper.” He grinned slightly. “Pretty sure we crossed the okay line already.” Buck huffed out another rough laugh as the war room door burst open hard enough to slam against the wall.
Mason stumbled inside, breathing hard. “VP,” he said roughly. “We intercepted a transmission.”
Every muscle in Buck’s body tightened instantly. “What kind of transmission?”
Mason swallowed visibly. “From Blackwater Ridge.” Hope and dread collided violently inside Buck’s chest, and he was finding it hard to talk.
Ghost straightened beside him immediately. “Play it.” Mason held up the radio receiver with shaking hands as static crackled through the room, and then Wren’s voice filled the speakers. She was breathing hard and sounded terrified, but she was alive.
“Buck—” Her voice shook slightly before steadying. “It’s a trap.”
The second Wren’s voice came through the speakers; Buck stopped breathing. Static crackled violently around her words. “Buck—” She sounded terrified and breathless. “It’s a trap.” Every man in the room froze. Buck crossed the distance to the radio so fast that the chair behind him crashed onto the floor.
“Wren,” he shouted.
The radio was silent at first, but then her breathing came back through the static. “Don’t come through the loading bays,” she whispered quickly. “They’re wired—” A loud crash cut her off, followed by men shouting. Wren’s gasp was the last thing he heard before Eli’s voice exploded over the transmission.
“Well, look who got out of her cage,” he drawled mockingly. “That’s disappointing.”
Buck’s vision went red instantly. “You touch her, and I’ll skin you alive,” Buck growled into the receiver.
Eli’s laughter filled the room. “See, this is exactly why she’s useful.” Ghost moved beside Buck immediately, one hand settling hard on his shoulder like he already knew Buck was seconds from snapping. “You got balls threatening me when I’m standing in a warehouse full of explosives,” Eli continued casually. “Especially considering your girl’s sitting right in the middle of them.” Buck’s heart slammed violently against his ribs. The fucking warehouse was full of explosives. Ghost heard it too, and their eyes locked instantly. She was sitting in the middle of the fuel depot.
“Listen carefully,” Eli said. “Tomorrow night, you need to come to Blackwater Ridge. Bring the route maps you have with you.” He paused. “And Buck?” Buck gripped the radio tighter. “If I see even one sniper on those hills,” Eli said softly, “Ghost getsto watch me put a bullet in her head first, and then I’ll finish you.” The line went dead, and silence crashed over the war room.
Buck stood perfectly still, and Ghost recognized the danger radiating off him immediately. “Brother.” Buck turned slowly, and Ghost actually took a step back because he looked lethal now. He was past angry.
“You heard her,” Buck said quietly. “Loading bays are rigged.”
Ghost nodded carefully. “Yeah.”
“She risked herself to warn us,” Buck said, almost choking on the words as he said them. The rough emotion buried beneath the words punched Buck straight through the chest. Because even trapped and terrified, Wren’s first instinct had been to protect them.
Buck laughed without humor. “Jesus Christ.”
Ghost moved closer again, slowly. “We’ll figure this out. We’re going to get our girl back,” he promised.
“No.” Buck’s voice dropped lower. “We’ll do more than get Wren back. We are going to end Eli and the Vultures.” The promise in his tone silenced the room.
Reaper shifted uneasily near the wall. “If the place is wired, we can’t go in blind.” Buck looked toward the map again, and something clicked. They could use the emergency exits in the western corridor. Wren had given them enough intel to know where not to go, but the western corridor would be the perfect entry point.
“She found us a way in,” Buck muttered suddenly.
Ghost frowned. “What?”
Buck pointed hard at the western side of the warehouse sketch. “She warned us about the loading bays specifically.”
Understanding dawned instantly on Ghost’s face. “She’s steering us somewhere else.”
