Rubin nodded, but Gino looked at Joe sharply. They had two men with the particular psychic ability to disrupt electrical equipment and Rubin was one of them. His brother Diego was the other. How had Joe known they’d volunteer? He’d known exactly who would go. Probably, he was counting on all of them volunteering. No one would leave another GhostWalker behind in enemy territory, especially one who had risked her life to save the rest of them. A woman. Damn Whitney to hell for using women.
“We know she’s being held on the top floor, but we don’t know the room. That floor will be heavily guarded with cameras everywhere. It will take both of you to take those cameras out while the others take down the guards. Gino, Draden, the two of you do your thing that you never explain to any of us and find where she is fast. Get her out of there.” Joe sighed and looked around the table at his men. “This is a non-sanctioned op. You can’t kill anyone. We take only less than lethal arms. In and out like ghosts.”
Ezekiel nodded. “We understand, Joe.”
“That being said, if you have no choice, if it’s them or you, kill them,” Joe said. “And get the hell out fast. Leave no trace if possible, so it’s thought to be an enemy of Cheng’s. He’ll know the GhostWalkers came for her, because Violet gave us up, but the government won’t.”
“We’ll get the job done quietly,” Ezekiel assured.
“You’ll need to carry a lot of gear on the jump because you’ll be using the powered paragliders to leave from the rooftop. Anyone who prays, now is the time to start. You’ll need favorable winds. With good winds, you should get close to thirty miles with the gliders. That should get you to this park, right here on the map. That will put you a quarter mile from the embassy. You get her there, and they have to help you, we’re golden. With any luck, you’re at the embassy before any authorities are notified with some bogus story Cheng comes up with.”
Powered paragliders were heavy. This was getting worse and worse. A small landing target with a series of water towers on it. A high rise, which meant winds. In the city. Gino shook his head and looked around him. The others were thinking the same thing he was and it wasn’t good. Their chances were looking worse every minute.
“How is her disappearance going to be explained as well as her exit from the country?” he asked.
“We’ve got that covered. She was very ill and went to the embassy for help. They flew her out of the country to get medical aid for her. Someone from the embassy will go to her hotel room and collect her things. Cheng will know who took her, but what’s he going to say to the authorities? They aren’t going to like him kidnapping an American professor who is famous in her own right. He can’t very will admit to that.”
Ezekiel nodded. “Everyone get some rest and be back here at 7:00 so we can get to work. We want to run this precisely. We’ll need the rest of you to help us have a mock-up ready of the building, rooftop and floor. Gino, she’ll be going out with you on the glider. If she’s in bad shape, and we’ll have to expect that with Zhu on board, you’re not going to have much time to prepare her for the escape. She may be unconscious. And it has to be said, it’s possible she’s already dead. If so, we take her body out of there.”
Gino shrugged. He was strong. Extremely strong, enhanced strong, and he’d started with that trait long before Whitney got creative. He could deal with the woman, unconscious, dead weight or not.
“If she’s alive, she may fight you,” Joe said. “Bellisia didn’t trust us at first, and Zara has no reason to either. She’ll have been in their hands three days by the time we can get there. In Zhu’s hands, three days is likely to be a lifetime, especially for someone who can’t take pain.”
“She’ll tell them what she knows,” Diego said, rubbing his hand along the barrel of his rifle. He carried the weapon just about everywhere he went, like a security blanket. “And they’ll stop working on her.” His tone was hopeful.
Gino knew it wouldn’t matter if the woman gave Zhu everything. He’d want to make certain there wasn’t more. The torture wouldn’t stop until she was dead.
“I don’t think she will,” Joe disagreed. “According to Bellisia, she might be terrified of pain, but she doesn’t break. Her best defense is ignorance. Her cover is solid because it’s the truth or as close to it as possible.” He looked to Ezekiel. “Stay, let’s go over this so you can look to see if there’s any holes in my plan.”
Ezekiel nodded. Gino studied the two men. All differences had been put aside for the mission. They were good. He walked out of the room, Draden pacing along beside him. Draden was considered the epitome of what a man should look like. He’d made his way through college and grad school on modeling. He’d been in high demand for some of the most high-end companies imaginable. The ladies loved him, calling out to him as he passed them on the street. Draden ran most nights, sometimes with Gino, but mostly alone. Whatever demons drove him, they were deep. Mostly, he kept to himself, even among the GhostWalkers, just as Gino did.
“This is a bad one,” Draden observed.
“They usually are.” Gino was noncommittal.
“She’s a beautiful woman. Has brains too,” Draden continued.
Gino paused and looked at him. “Spit it out.”
“Just saying you want me to take over if the job needs doin’, I will. Won’t like it, but I’ll live with it. You don’t sleep so good.”
Gino didn’t know how to feel about the offer, but Draden wasn’t going to have to do his job for him. He decided to be grateful. Brothers did that, noticed when something didn’t sit well and tried to help out, but Zara Hightower was his responsibility and he wasn’t shirking. Draden didn’t sleep much better than he did, if at all.
“Thanks, man, I appreciate the offer, but it’s mine to do if necessary.”
Draden nodded and peeled off, heading toward the road. He ran before he slept. Always. Sometimes miles. Sometimes all night. The man rarely slept and seemed like a machine. Gino shook his head and headed toward the house. He wanted to find his laptop and research Zara. There was something about her that caught at him.
He wasn’t like the others—well—maybe Wyatt, a little bit. He didn’t want a warrior woman. Bellisia and Cayenne were lethal. Pepper was as well, in her own right, but killing had a vicious backlash for her and was dangerous. She did it if she had to, but all of them were aware the consequences for her could include death so it was a last resort.
Gino knew if he had a woman, he wouldn’t want her anywhere near killing. He’d killed enough for both of them. He didn’t want his woman trying to stand in front of him like his parents and grandparents had done. He’d watched them be mowed down, one by one. It was never happening again. With the help of Ciro, he’d shaped himself into a killing machine. He was quiet and deadly. He never picked a fight. He faded into the background whenever possible, but he could take apart a man if needed and not look back. He didn’t need or want his woman to be anything like him. Listening to Joe and the others talk about Zara, it had occurred to him, just crept right into his mind, that she wasn’t anything at all like him.
Wyatt’s three little girls came running out of the house straight at him. All three. He didn’t know the first thing about kids. Hadn’t thought to find out about them either. Not in this lifetime, but these three little girls blew right past that notion and wormed their way into everyone’s affections—his included.
He crouched low as they got to him so they could fling their arms around him. Triplets. Hard to tell them apart unless you knew what you were looking for. Beautiful little girls with their dark, thick curls, skin like their mother and eyes like their father. They had been deemed mistakes and had been scheduled for termination. Pepper had gotten one out of their prison, and Wyatt and their team had rescued the other two—and Cayenne.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“We’re going to hide in the swamp and see if Daddy can find us,” Ginger, the spokesperson for the three, said.