Riley didn’t have to downplay his own skills nearly as much as he would’ve thought. Sayed was that good.
Meanwhile, Riley trusted Gavin and Wyatt to get the job done. Because there was nothing he could do to help them besides play ringmaster at the circus.
He kept track of every minute, but as it neared ten p.m., he acted like he was caught by surprise. “Holy shit, Sayed, I’ve got to go. I’m barely going to make it back to Cairo for my flight, and I’ve got to be in Sri Lanka tomorrow.”
Sayed took a sip of his water, as did Riley. Both of them had their hair matted to their heads from the sweat under the helmets.
“No, stay. Eat with us. I insist. Then we’ll have another few goes at the track and see if you can finally beat me in a speed test. I’ll personally escort you and your friends to the airport tomorrow and you can take my private jet to your next location.”
Riley smiled tightly. This was an unexpected offer. If Riley hadn’t known Sayed was a terrorist asshole, he might have taken the older man up on his offer. “I can’t.”
“Come on, Phoenix. Since when have you ever turned down a challenge in order to make a flight?” This came from one of the other guys who’d been hanging out and riding with them all day. Someone who thought he knew Riley because he’d watched all the Phoenix videos over and over.
He didn’t know Riley.
But, then again, in this case, the guy wasn’t incorrect. Riley would never back down from a challenge like this just to make a flight. Of course, Sayed didn’t need to know that.
Riley shot the guy an easy smile before turning to Sayed. “I hate to sound like anybody’s mother, but my team and I have responsibilities in Sri Lanka.”
Sayed gave Riley a smile of his own. “How about we race for it? If you beat me in a speed test on the course, you go tonight on your flight. If I win, you stay until tomorrow.”
Turning this down would draw much more attention than they could afford. Riley took another sip of his water and winked at Sayed. “You got yourself a deal.”
Cheers lit up all around them. Riley still didn’t see Gavin or Wyatt. He sure as hell hoped they had Andre and cousin Josh already in the van.
Riley hadn’t been able to beat Sayed in a speed test on the course. If he didn’t do it now, they were going to have to think way outside the box on how to get out of here.
“I’m not going to take it easy on you just because you’ve been a great host.” Riley kept an easy smile plastered on his face as they walked over to their bikes.
“You wouldn’t be in the record books for so many different sports if you did.” Sayed grabbed the helmet off the handlebars. “I know why you’re here, Phoenix.”
Oh shit. “Is that so?”
“I’ve known from the moment you first drove in here.”
For the first time Riley glanced over to where Gavin and Wyatt would be, trying to figure out a way to signal them if necessary.
“Oh yeah? What’s that, Sayed?”
“To win. You always chase the win—I’ve seen it in your videos. Too many people here are too afraid of me to truly give me a challenge.”
Riley relaxed.
That’s because you’re a tyrant, asshole. “Trust me, I’m not afraid of you.”
They got their bikes to the top of the hill and situated themselves. Riley took a deep breath, pushing all thoughts of Wyatt and Gavin and the mission from his mind.
When the large red light turned green, Riley didn’t hold back.
Sayed was right. Riley was here to win. Phoenix never started a race he didn’t plan to win.
Sayed knew the course better, but that wasn’t as much of an advantage anymore after the past couple of hours, during which Riley had become familiar with it too.
And Riley was much more familiar with the art of riding itself. And it was an art.
True to his word, Riley didn’t take it easy at all; he raced like his life depended on it—which it might. In Sayed’s defense, there were a couple of times the man could’ve cheated, an ugly cutoff he could’ve made a la Omar, but he didn’t. He stuck to the race rules. Clean.
Amazing how a criminal with blood on his hands could be so scrupulous in other areas.
In the end, Riley crossed the finish line a wheel’s length in front of Sayed. It was close, but it was enough.
He was a little afraid he was going to have a fight on his hands, but when Sayed took off his helmet, he was smiling. “You gave me a fair fight. That’s all I can ask for. Although, if you had seen my luxury jet, you might not have pushed so hard to win.”
Riley shook Sayed’s outstretched hand. “I always push hard. Like you said, chasing the win.”
Fifteen minutes later, ten minutes past when they were supposed to have left, Riley was back at the van. Wyatt and Gavin gave him a silent nod as they helped him load his bike into the vehicle. That meant Andre and Josh were secure and hidden in the two large storage boxes near the front.
They drove out of the gate, Riley once again talking to the guard and distracting him from searching anything too thoroughly. As they left, he gave a little salute to the group waving them off near the gate, including Sayed.
Nobody said much, none of them daring to breathe until they finally reached the airport. They got Andre and Josh out of their hiding spot and cleared the private security area. Within minutes, they were all on board the plane and speeding down the runway.
As they took off and the lights of Cairo became smaller and smaller, Riley looked over his shoulder at Wyatt and Gavin. They were smiling. So was he.
Another win, chased and captured.
Chapter 3
“Riley, girl, I hope to hell we don’t need all this stuff.”
Riley Wilde studied the boxes of medical supplies stacked up in the RV camper. This would be her home for the next week.
It was, in fact, a shit ton of stuff.
“We’ve got fifty people racing over a hundred miles through some of the toughest Wyoming wilderness, hurling themselves through obstacle courses, rappelling down cliffs, kayaking through white water, and doing whatever else your fiancé has cooked up for them. All while trying to beat each other to the finish line.” Riley looked over at her friend Anne Griffin, one of Oak Creek’s best emergency physicians. “We probably don’t have enough supplies.”
The Wild Wyoming Adventure Race, or WAR, was starting tomorrow. What had started out as a multiday training exercise for the Linear Tactical guys five years ago had turned into a popular multistage race among endurance and adventure athletes—people looking for something challenging.
After all, who knew how to push athletes better than a bunch of former Special Forces soldiers?
“I’m just glad Zac is in charge of it this year instead of racing,” Anne said about her fiancé. “Nearly gave me a heart attack last year, watching him. This entire thing is insanity.”
Riley chuckled. “All the Linear guys are half insane. Why do you think Boy Riley gets along so well—”
She stopped talking, throat closing up in pain. She couldn’t keep talking about Riley as if the two of them were still together.
What she could do was ignore the fact that her heart was in a million pieces on the ground, her life was falling apart, and her future was uncertain at best.