“I told you if you came to Austria, you’d end up dead. And I’m trying to prevent that from happening.” Thatcher’s soft tone almost convinced Ella he cared, but weren’t CIA operatives experts at the art of persuasion and such? “If you haven’t already figured it out, the mine is a trap.”
“The bomb’s not in the village, is it?” Zoey stepped forward, closing in on Thatcher and Jesse. “It’s in the mine.”
“Yuri only gives a fuck about Carter. He’ll bring down that mine with the rest of you in it, I’m sure of it,” Thatcher said. “I guarantee he has plans to redirect Carter elsewhere, but first, he’ll keep his deal with Zoran and have Jesse and Ella killed.”
“That’s not his MO. Or Zoran’s. Zoran wants to watch Jesse and Ella die.” This time it was Sydney who spoke up. And when Ella peered her way, Sydney’s eyes were narrowed like she was carefully considering her next words. “But both Carter and Zoey are here, and Yuri knows what he’s up against. He has to go about his plans in a different way. The men on the mountain. He wanted us to know about them. They’re a decoy to ensure we come to the mine, assuming if they’re there, Yuri will be too.”
“Plus, he sounded a bit unhinged,” Jack tossed out the reminder. “I think having Carter in the mix is throwing him off.”
“Maybe we can use that to our advantage,” Zoey suggested.
“But the question is, you being here, is that also part of the plan?” Jesse bit out. “Another tit for tat? You make a deal with someone?”
“No,” Thatcher quickly replied. “I swear. I’m here to help. It’s time we take this bastard out, but I won’t let you die because I . . .”
“Because you what?” Jesse snapped, reigniting Ella’s fear that Jesse was seconds away from reaching for him again.
“Because,” Thatcher began as she spied his shoulders falling, “I always choose the mission over my operators.”
“And you suddenly had a change of heart? Don’t want any more bodies on your conscience?” Jesse drawled sarcastically. “Bullshit, Thatch. You want the credit for taking down one of the most sought-after assassins. You don’t care about me. Or Ella. No one. Mission first. Always. Like you said.”
“Regardless of his reasons for being here,” Carter said, pointing to Thatcher, “I think it’s safe to say Yuri never intended to meet us inside the mine. And I apologize for not realizing that sooner.”
“It was the only location Yuri could be certain we’d have no aerial advantage with CIA or military support,” Zoey reminded him, surprisingly coming in for his defense. “It made the most sense.”
“But that also means whatever entrance he texts us to use,” Gray said while quickly checking his watch, “is where the explosive device will be located. The C4 may have only been intended to trap us inside the mine. A contained blast. Not enough that’d kill his crew positioned on overwatch on the mountainside.”
“And after the blast, he’d send those guys in to pick off any of us who survived,” Jesse said in a low voice. “But if Yuri wants Carter alive, that text he sends to indicate which mine entrance to use will probably also demand we split up. For Carter to use a different mine entrance, one away from the blast zone.”
“I think he plans to redirect the three of us, not just me. And use the explosion to take out our team. He made a deal with Zoran, and Zoran will want to watch you two die up close. He can’t live stream the feed of you dying from within the mine. Plus, he said he wants to kill my friends personally. Regardless,” he rushed out, and took a quick breath, “he’d have planned to take me, or us, somewhere else. But where?”
Zoey snatched the old-school map of Hallstatt from the bed, studied it for a moment, and then went for her phone. “My guess? Schloss Grub. It’s a castle on the other side of the lake.” She tapped at her screen. “A seventeen-minute drive around the lake to get there from here. Can’t take a boat, or he’ll see us coming.”
Jesse let Ella go and stepped alongside Zoey to eye her phone. “Plenty of surrounding woods to cover us by foot when we infil. Soft perimeter despite being a castle. They’d have a hard time with a big element advancing on them, which they won’t be expecting.”
“Because they think we’ll be on the mountainside,” Ella whispered in understanding.
“I can send my drone over the water. Fly it low. Confirm he and his men are there. Get a tango count,” Sydney offered. “I’ll have to stay behind, then. And you’ll need to leave now. We’re short on time.”
“What about me?” Ella softly asked, and Jesse faced her, his shoulders sagging.
“I’ll stay back with Sydney and watch over Ella,” Thatcher offered, quickly snatching Jesse’s attention.
“Over my dead body will you be staying with her. Hell no,” Jesse growled. “You’re coming with us to the castle. Apparently, you can still operate since you killed Zoran’s wife last year.”
“Are you sure you want him with us?” Gray asked, looking back and forth between Jesse and Thatcher.
“I’m not taking my eyes off this bastard.” Jesse moved closer to his former boss and cocked his head as if daring him to protest, but Thatcher remained quietly observing him.
“I’ll call the guys on the mountainside and let them know there’s been a change in plans. They’ll need to stay put, so Yuri doesn’t realize we figured out his plan.” Carter removed his phone from his pocket. “We can deal with the bomb in the mine after Yuri is dead. There’ll be no point in him setting it off once he realizes we’re not there.” He twirled a finger in the air. “We roll out in three minutes. We need to get to him before his text comes through.”
“Carter,” Zoey spoke up. “When we get to the castle, Yuri’s mine. I’m killing him. Understood?”
Carter pinned Zoey with an intimidating look, brought his phone to his ear, and turned his back to the room. Well, there was his answer—over his dead body would he allow Yuri to end Zoey the way he’d killed her fiancé.
“Ella?” Jesse took her hand. “I need a word.” He guided her to the door, and they started for their suite.
“Are you okay?” she asked once they were alone. “I know being in the same room with Thatcher wasn’t easy.”
“I want to kill him, but I’m . . . trying to . . . not be that guy.”
For me. He’s trying for me. For us.
Tears filled her eyes at the realization Jesse was, in a sense, getting his way. She wouldn’t be placed in danger tonight, but he would be, and that still scared her to death.
“But I almost screwed up again. If you’d gone into that mine tonight, I would have lost you.” His voice was hoarse, and he circled his arms around her waist and pinned her to his hard frame.
“It wouldn’t have been your fault. And you and Zoey figured it out before Thatcher even showed up. You can’t blame yourself for anything. Please. I—I don’t.” More tears fell down her cheeks, and she swiped her tongue along the seam of her lips, catching them.