“Yeah, under no circumstances will I allow Ella to be lured into any room, cave, or fucking flying vehicle if we think Yuri will show up there,” Jesse rasped, that unsettled feeling sparking to life again. Might as well be walking into a lion’s den. Fucking perfect.
“Flying vehicles?” Jack erased the smile from his lips with the back of his hand. “Like a plane?”
A little joking around during an op was normal, but with Ella’s life on the line, Jesse couldn’t see the humor in anything right now. “Yuri must be pretty damn confident that I’ll bring Ella with me.” Jesse had to think like a hitman to get into the man’s mind, a skill he’d never hoped to use again.
“You’re anticipating he makes contact with us on our way to Austria, aren’t you? The one stop in Frankfurt. It’s the opportunity for someone on Yuri’s team to get on and off the train if need be. You think he’s going to try and force my hand? Find a way to guarantee Ella shows up for some fucking showdown?” Jesse closed in on Carter, freeing his hands from his pockets in the process.
“Yes, he’ll plan a way to make sure Ella is with you whenever he decides to make his move,” Zoey quickly answered, and the blood rushed from Jesse’s face at how calmly she’d delivered her words.
Was she as bad as the CIA? Would she go to any lengths to get her mark? The man killed her fiancé, so maybe.
Zoey surrendered a palm. “It’s imperative we keep the ball in our court.”
“Did you just throw a basketball metaphor at me?” Jesse hissed.
“Whatever Yuri’s planning, we’ll be prepared,” Zoey went on, ignoring his comment. “And based on Yuri’s MO, he’ll probably have an explosive device somewhere in Hallstatt that he’ll threaten to detonate if we all don’t meet him where he wants.”
Jesse gritted his teeth as he remembered that Zoey’s fiancé and Carter had been in a similar situation years ago. There’d been only the two of them, and since Carter was more experienced with explosives, he’d gone to defuse the device. Yuri had killed Zoey’s fiancé in the meantime. How could she be sure they wouldn’t have a déjà vu moment with this op?
“I know,” Zoey said as if reading his thoughts. “But this will be different. We’ll have a team. And no red tape from our agencies to cut through.”
“So, you think he’ll threaten to hurt civilians in order to force Jesse’s hand, to make sure I show up wherever he wants me to go?” Ella was on her feet, and Jesse circled the table to get to her as Savanna and Griffin stood as well.
“I won’t let that happen,” Jesse firmly told her, taking Ella’s hands into his. “I’m not letting you walk into any kind of trap. That’s not up for discussion.”
“Jesse.” Carter’s tone held a warning that had him snapping his gaze to his boss without dropping Ella’s hands.
“I don’t care if he threatens to bring down all of Europe. Ella’s not going anywhere at that madman’s request.” He tried to keep his head on straight, but when it came to Ella, he wasn’t sure he could. “Dealing with Zoran was one thing. We knew he wouldn’t go to such extremes. An-eye-for-an-eye kind of guy,” he said at the memory of A.J.’s words. “Zoran wouldn’t kill someone’s mother or son as retribution for the death of his wife, but with Yuri involved, this is . . .”
Jesse abruptly let go of Ella’s hands, realizing their concern about Yuri sending men to Alabama was spot-the-fuck-on, and they were more than likely already there. But so were Gray’s men.
He wasn’t sure if Yuri would risk taking anyone out in broad daylight, but if he was short on time and wanted to keep “the ball in his court,” then he might do the unexpected.
Jesse checked his watch and then reached for one of the burner phones from the table.
A.J.’s plane arrived in Birmingham a few hours ago, and he’d need a heads-up. It was highly likely the worst-case scenario might happen today—that Ella’s family would be targeted, and A.J. needed to be prepared.
“There’s only one way on God’s green earth Ella would go anywhere Yuri wanted her to,” Jesse said, his voice shaky at the realization. He knew Ella would do anything if her niece, practically a daughter to her, were in trouble.
Ella’s blue eyes focused on him as if she struggled to comprehend what he was truly suggesting. “McKenna,” she murmured.
“A.J.,” Jesse said the second the line connected, and he switched it to speakerphone. “Where are you?”
“In Shep’s truck. We’re heading to the sheriff’s station to check on Beckett. About one mile out,” A.J. answered. “Why, what’s wrong?”
“I think McKenna might be Yuri’s next target.” Jesse spied Savanna grab hold of Ella as if she might collapse as he added, “And I’m guessing his men are in town by now.”
But they weren’t too late, or they would’ve already heard about it.
“What the hell was that?” Jesse heard Shep rasp.
The line was quiet for a moment before A.J. responded, “Some type of explosion.”
“The sheriff’s station,” Shep began in a grave tone. “It’s on fire.”
Jesse paced back and forth in the living room, wearing down the wood floors as he waited for A.J. to call him back after the call had abruptly ended.
The closest police station to their small town was twenty minutes away, and based on the sounds of gunfire that had ripped through the air before the line went dead, A.J. didn’t have time to wait.
“Two of my guys were with Beckett,” Gray reminded him, but that didn’t stop Jesse’s racing thoughts or worries. “We anticipated this possibility and were prepared for it. You just nailed the timing.”
“Shep’s with A.J. too, and surely they’re armed,” Savanna said, reiterating the fact that the guys were prepared and knew what they were doing. Jesse shook his head. He should’ve been the one to calm Savanna, not the other way around.
But calm was a state of mind lost to him right now.
Ella was on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth, just as Rory used to do when she was a kid hiding in her closet to escape their parents’ fighting, and it fucking broke his heart. But he couldn’t bring himself to go to her. To do anything other than pace, because it was killing him that he wasn’t there helping A.J. And if anything happened to Beckett or McKenna, it’d be his fault. Prepared or not.
“You don’t know my guys,” Gray said, “but you know A.J. won’t let anyone take McKenna. Not a fucking chance.”
A.J. wasn’t one of the President’s clandestine operators for nothing, sure, but Jesse had no idea how many tangos were at the sheriff’s station or how much firepower they’d be up against.
“They got there in time. That explosion,” Jack began, joining the efforts to calm Jesse down, “was probably from a breaching charge to infil the station. Not to hurt anyone. They need McKenna alive to bait Ella.”
“And Beckett?” Jesse rasped. “They don’t need him alive.” He could barely stomach getting the words out while the love of his life, Beckett’s sister, rocked anxiously on the couch.