Page 34 of Guarding Salvation

“Hand over the girl and we’ll leave.”

Bram tensed his hand, tightening on his weapon at the demand in the strong Irish accent. “Don’t know what you’re talking about but you’re trespassing.”

“Just give us the girl.”

Bram glanced at Lotus and they both knew these men weren’t going to surrender. “You’re boring me now, asshole. There’s no girl here, so why you don’t fuck off home?”

He could see the man’s finger tighten on the trigger before he looked to his mate who was around the same height as him. If he wasn’t mistaken, they were the same men who’d attacked Bob, the description the ex-operator had given them had been detailed and matched these assholes to a tee.

He saw the second they made the choice to die and all three fired, but they were never going to be fast enough, not up against them. Moving fast, they searched the dead men, finding identification on all of them with names and addresses. He wasn’t sure how they could be any more stupid.

“Help me get these bodies into the tunnel. I don’t want some adventurous rambler having a heart attack on my watch.”

Bram followed Bás’ order, dragging the bodies inside the underground space for them to deal with when it was dark.

“Watchdog sent up a drone and the area is now clear, but we need to know how the fuck they got so close.” Bás was angry and frankly so was he.

“You think we’ve got a mole?” Lotus asked the question none of them wanted to voice, never one to back away from a confrontation.

“No, I don’t. I trust our team implicitly or none of you would be here, but something is up, and I don’t fucking like it.”

As they made their way back to the main facility, Bram knew what they were thinking and his instincts wanted to defend her. Aoife wouldn’t lead her father’s men here, not when she was the one in trouble.

“You think it’s Aoife, don’t you?”

Bás and Lotus stopped dead both turning toward him in the barely lit underground space.

“I didn’t say that,” Bás answered with caution.

“You didn’t have to. I could hear your thoughts from here.”

“You have to admit, Bram, it’s strange how we’ve never had issues before and now we have these fuckers practically knocking on our door.”

“I know, but it isn’t her. She was the one in trouble, for god’s sake.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time a woman has used an elaborate ruse to wheedle her way in, only to stab the person who trusted her in the heart.”

Bram knew what Lotus said was right, but his gut angrily rejected the thoughts.

“I know that, but Aoife isn’t that person.”

“I hope not.”

Bram knew what Bás was saying. He’d have no hesitation in putting her down if she turned out to be a threat to his team. Bás was fiercely loyal but he was also happy to make the hard choices to keep his team safe. If Aoife was a threat, Bás would kill her and not think twice about it. In that respect, he was a cold bastard.

“I’m right and I can prove it. Let me take her away. We can go to my family home in Scotland until we have this sorted.”

“You’re happy to have her around your family? You’re that sure she’s safe?”

Bram nodded. “Yes.”

Bás was silent but the more Bram thought it through the more he felt this was the right thing to do.

“Fine, but you take Snow and Titan with you.”

“Okay. What about Hansen?”

“Watchdog still has the protocols in place, and you can resume the hunt for that bastard when this is dealt with.”