Page 13 (1/2)

Revenge

Vengeance for one of their own

"What happened, Steele?" Garrett asked, first to break the silence "And I don’t want any of that I failed my team bullshit Just the facts"

"Why the fuck was she left alone?" Rio dee and he sier Cole could see the fear in his eyes and kneas thinking of Grace, and that once, Grace had been as helpless as PJ had been

He also knew that Rio and PJ were friends of sorts As et close to her She and Rio had hung out in that dive PJ frequented It had pissed him off that she’d made it obvious he wasn’t welcome when apparently she and Rio had thrown back a few drinks together

Saure out what the fuck rong so it never happens again"

"I should have stayed closer to her in the ballrooet close to Nelson, but he took her out the back, and before I could get over to keep an eye on her, he’d gotten her into a car"

"It was the fucking traffic," Dolphin seethed "We would have been able to intercept her at the hotel They were there long enough that he took off her bracelet If we hadn’t gotten caught in the wreck, ould have tagged her leaving the hotel and ould have been in the house as soon as we knew Brumley was there"

Garrett frowned "Do you think he made her? Is that why Nelson took the bracelet?"

Steele shook his head "No, I think this was just routine If it weren’t for Brumley, Nelson would have just taken PJ back to the hotel thinking he was going to get some action and ould have been there the whole tiey, paranoid bastard and he wanted Nelson to ht her to Brumley’s house"

"So what now?" Ethan asked, his tone soht as well His wife, Rachel, had been a victione an entire year of captivity in South America before Ethan was tipped off that she wasn’t dead, like the entire fae Nerves were frayed The women that had married into the Kelly family, and the woman who’d married Rio, were all resilient woedy in one shape or another

Rachel, Sophie, Sarah, Shea and Grace eighing heavily on all their minds And now violence--violation--had touched PJ Their teammate Partner A woman that had Cole’s insides so twisted up that his stoo after those fuckers," Cole seethed "That’s what’s now"

Dolphin, Renshaw and Baker nodded grireelances

Donovan’s cell phone went off, breaking the aard silence He glanced down, frowned and then put it to his ear

Cole didn’t tune in until Donovan swore and said, "She did what? And you just let her walk out of there? What the hell happened? How did this happen? I want some damn answers"

Everyone focused intently on Donovan as he listened to the person on the other end of the line Then he cursed again and shoved the phone back into the clip at his side

"What the fuck is going on?" Cole demanded

Donovan blew out his breath "I don’t even kno to say this PJ checked out Or rather she didn’t check out She just walked out"

There was an explosion of what-the-fucks that echoed around the room

"Where?" Cole bit out He didn’t care about the details He just wanted to knohere to find her

Donovan looked like he’d just sed barbed wire "No idea She didn’t exactly infor to take off"

"Son of a bitch," Steele swore

The others cast surprised glances in his direction Garrett raised an eyebrow, but Cole wasn’t as aghast as the others

Steele may be a cold-blooded machine to some, but Cole knew his team leader was invested absolutely in his team He considered each and every member his, and he was possessive and protective of them all He didn’t take shit froave an order, but everything he did, every decision he everto coo?" Sam asked softly

He directed the statement to Cole and his teah at that idea Did anyone really know PJ? Did anyone knohat made her tick?

Renshaw shook his head "She’s private, man She doesn’t talk a lot about personal shit I wouldn’t have the first clue where to start looking"

"Get on the phone and start calling the airports Every one in a hundred-mile radius," Sam said to Ethan "See what you can find out I don’t care what kind of story you have to et it done"

"I’ toward the computer as he spoke

"And what if we find her?" Nathan asked "We can’t make her stay where we put her Or where ant her We can’t make her accept ourhelp Or support, even as ive it"

No one had a ready answer for that Cole didn’t need to verbalize his intentions PJ needed theive a shit about her lone-wolf status in life

He wanted to be there for her, to help her get through this God, he just wanted to o back to the way they hen they bantered back and forth, cut jokes and threw insults

He didn’t want to contemplate a world without PJ He didn’t want to be on a tearal part He didn’t want to lose any of his team They were a unit

They were faure out our options," Steele said

Everyone nodded, agreeing with Steele’s assessroup broke and Cole headed in Rio’s direction

"Can I have a word?" he asked Rio quietly

Rio stared back at him with dark eyes "Yeah, let’s step outside"