Under Fire (Love Over Duty #1)(89)

Cabe coughed. "What she's saying makes sense, Six. We can track the shit out of her. Put a vest on her. The question is where would they take her?"

"Aiden told us Vasilii is distracted by a property he's buying. Could it be there?" Louisa offered.

It was a crapshoot. They could take her anywhere. Wait. The photo of her mom. "Lite," he said, turning to the resident tech guy. "If he just bought the property, there'd be a listing, right?"

Lite's face brightened with a smile. "If it was a public sale. But even if it's somewhere else, I got you. Louisa, can you send me the photo from Vasilii?"

Louisa listened as he spelled out his email address, then forwarded the photograph to him. "What are you going to do?"

"Use an image-matching app. See if we can't get a fix on where your mom is through what's in the background of the picture." Lite typed away on his laptop furiously. The energy level in the room was rising as people hurried around, falling into old military habits.

"I called some of the guys to come over and give us a hand. Play decoy, watch the pickup. They're going to expect us to follow Lou. So we should leave now. Get out ahead of them. Let the driver think we all stayed behind."

Louisa moved closer to him and he slipped his arm around her, even though they didn't have much time.

"I'm out, man," Buddha said as he pushed the door open. "Buddy of mine runs the helicopter school north of Serra Mesa. I'll be there in ten, up in fifteen. He's getting it ready for me now." Buddha grabbed Lou from him and hugged her. "Avoid looking up for me," he said. "It kind of ruins the element of surprise. You'll hear me. Most people don't look up anymore when they hear a helicopter or plane because they are so commonplace. But I'll be there, and I'm really good. See these hands?" he asked.

Louisa nodded.

"Good. Well, you're safe in them. I promise." Buddha saluted her and jogged out of the room.

Six let out a breath. "Give me your right shoe," he said as Louisa watched Buddha leave.

"Is this for the tracker? And are you guys always that cocky?" she asked, putting her phone down to unlace her sneakers.

"Yes, and yes," he said with a wink. He hurried to the cupboard, grabbed a pack of something from one of the shelves, and threw the pack at Bailey. "Set her up, Bailey."

Bailey ripped it open and held out what looked like an insole for a shoe.

"It may look like a sole, but it's got a GPS tracker in it. If anything were to happen to you, if they take you for any reason, they'll pat you down and probably take your phone and anything else they think looks suspicious. But rarely do they take your shoes," Bailey said, sliding it in her sneaker. He messed around on his laptop for a little while, and then handed her shoe back to her.



       
         
       
        

"Reassuring thought," she said. "I seem to recall someone else telling me the same thing on a beach once."

Despite all the activity going on around them, Six smiled. Their walk on the sand felt like an age ago, but was probably the day he'd begun to fall for her.

"Get ready to move out, guys," Mac said.

"I don't like this," Six said minutes later as he fixed the bulletproof vest on Louisa's shoulders. What were they thinking, letting Louisa go off alone to Vasilii? Once they were en route, he was going to call his contact at the CIA. Hell, they should call in every brother, active or not, to circle the perimeter. But Vasilii had refused point-blank to tell her where her mother was.

"It's okay," Louisa said, looking up at him through those dark eyelashes. "I have faith in you to keep me safe, even though you should be lying down in bed."

"It's just a scratch," he said, pulling on the front of her vest to make sure it was secure. The vest didn't seem like enough protection. Parts of her were exposed. No matter how many times Mac had reminded him that they wanted to take Louisa alive, no matter how much intel they'd already gained about the lab, it didn't seem like enough.

"It was a gunshot wound." She took his wrists in her hands and stilled them. "I'm going to be fine. At least, I hope I am. You and your men will make sure nothing happens. There is no way this is going to stop until they have the formula. We can't let them get that, Six. It's too important. Even if it came down to Mom or me, even."

Six tilted his head from left to right, loosening the muscles. Going in tight was stupid, but he couldn't relax. "We could just go somewhere else. I don't give a shit about Ivan Popov or his grandfather, and please, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't even give a shit about your mom or the medicine you are trying to create." He placed his hands on Louisa's cheeks. Why did she have to look so fucking perfect and fragile today of all days. "You are the only thing that matters to me. None of that other stuff. We could get a flight out of here today and disappear."