“Who the hell knows?” Hollywood put the gas to the floorboard and drove like a boss. “Wherever it is, he won’t get far.”
The chase continued for several minutes. The men tilting side to side as Hollywood maneuvered the SUV along the same path as the vehicle in front of them.
At one point, Garrett feared they’d lost them, but his fears were put to rest when they turned a curve and spotted Garcia’s taillights once more.
“There’s a river up ahead,” Ghost informed them. Looking down at his phone, he added, “A big one.”
“Bet the fucker’s got a boat,” Bones piped in from the back.
Garrett’s gut tightened with fear. If Garcia got Avery on that river, she was dead.
Sure enough, five miles and a shit ton of burned rubber later, they pulled into a parking lot near an impressive boat dock at the river’s edge.
Garrett was out of the SUV and running toward the shadowy figures before Hollywood had a chance to put the damn thing in park.
Weapon up, he yelled at Garcia and the other man with him to stop. They didn’t.
Dragging a fighting Avery with him, Garcia continued down the long, wooden path as the other man turned and opened fire.
“Garrett!” Avery screamed his name as the shot went wide.
“Shut up!” Garcia jerked her around like a rag doll.
Garrett’s jaw clenched, a murderous rage filling his veins with ice. He’d never wanted to kill someone more than he did in that moment, but he couldn’t risk it.
The way Garcia was holding her put her directly in his line of fire. And if he did try to take the shot and hit her instead of Garcia…
Put that shit away, man. She needs you to be the trained operative you are.
His subconscious was right. Pushing everything aside, Garrett let his emotionless operator mask fall over him.
Garcia made a sudden turn, he and Avery disappearing between two docked boats. The other man got off three more shots before vanishing behind them.
With a quick assessment of the layout, Garrett made a last-minute decision. One he prayed wouldn’t cost him everything.
While he and the others continued dodging Garcia and the other hidden man’s flying bullets, he hopped onto one of the nearby boats and silently climbed to the top. He spotted Garcia and the other man in seconds.
They were forcing Avery onto the large yacht next to him. One with too many fucking places to hide. He needed to take them out now, before they got her inside.
“I’ve got the guard,” Apollo’s low voice came through the coms.
A second later, a shot rang out, and the man who’d been protecting Garcia fell.
One down, one to go.
With Garcia in his sights, Garrett did a lightning-fast assessment of the situation to determine whether or not he was good to shoot.
He wasn’t.
Fuck!“Hold your fire,” he spoke only to the teams.
With his gun at Avery’s head, Garcia pulled her toward the back of the boat near a section with no railing.
“Put your weapons down, or she’s dead!” the once-powerful man yelled.
Garrett was already off the boat, his boots hitting the wooden dock before the man had uttered the first word of his threat.
“Let her go, Garcia!” he ordered. “It’s over!”