“She Tasered me and took off on her own.” Dimitri could barely get the words out of his mouth, he was so furious. But rage was good. Rage was better than the fear that threatened to overwhelm him and leave him helpless.
“You let her get the drop on you? Did you learn nothing in the rangers?”
“I know.” It was all he could say.
“She just climbed out of a taxi in front of the house. They’ve taken her into the guardhouse.”
Dimitri’s jaw clenched so tight, he thought a tooth might crack. “She’s going to get killed. We need to get her out of there.”
“We can’t. We’ll put her in more danger if we rush in now. She has twenty minutes, like we agreed.”
“You can’t give her twenty minutes. You know what can happen in that time.” Images Dimitri didn’t want in his head flashed in front of his eyes. The ones from yesterday’s impromptu slide show were uppermost in his mind. They had to get her out of there.
“Interfering with her plan will jeopardise her more. We need to let this play out.” Callum didn’t sound any more pleased about that than Dimitri felt. “The boys have gear for you. Suit up and get over to Joe. You two will be first in if there’s trouble.”
“When there’s trouble,” Dimitri corrected.
“I’m going to kill her,” Callum said.
“Get in line.” Dimitri ended the call and tossed the phone back into the boot. He turned to the two men. “What you got for me?”
Bill handed over a bag. Relief hit him when he saw his gear. He took off his denim jacket and tugged on his shoulder holster over his T-shirt. Once he’d shrugged back into his jacket, he filled the pockets with extra clips. Next he strapped his knife, in its leather holder, to his ankle under his jeans. He grabbed the earpiece, switched it on and inserted it in his ear.
“Dimitri on,” he said.
“Glad you could join us,” Joe drawled. “Now get over here so we can cover your girl.”
“On my way.” Dimitri nodded at the two old men and climbed into the driver’s seat. “What’s happening?”
“Nothing,” Joe said. “She’s still in the guardhouse.”
“This is a total clusterfuck.” Dimitri pulled out into traffic and fought the urge to speed all the way to Joe’s position.
“You said it,” Joe mumbled.
“I can’t get a response from any of the women.” Callum’s tight voice cut in.
“None of them?” Joe’s tone was deadly.
“None of them,” Callum confirmed.
“They’re all in on this,” Dimitri said.
“Even Rachel?” Ryan joined the conversation.
“My last communication from the women was a text from Rachel telling me to calm down, that they had it under control.”
The men spoke all at once as curses filled the line. Dimitri spotted the house Joe was parked in front of and pulled his car in beside him.
“You okay?” Joe asked from his position near the gate.
“I will be once this is over.” He moved to stand beside Joe, pulling his gun from its holster as he did so.
“I see movement.” Callum’s voice made Dimitri’s stomach roil. “She’s being escorted to the house. She’s smiling. Looks relaxed. The guards look relaxed too.”
Good. That was good. It bought her more time. She’d made it this far. She had to be okay. He closed his eyes. What if she didn’t get the info on his sister? His whole world was lying in the hands of a twenty-three year old ex-hairdresser with no sense of fear.
“Breathe,” Joe ordered. “You need to be on your game.”