The Risks We Take Duet Box Set

81. Cooper

COOPER

A xel’s words trigger my memory, and it comes back to me like a flash-bang.

“Disable the last car” is ordered. I don’t hesitate before taking out their tires.

“Are we taking out the others?” I ask, then look over at Axel, who’s been strangely quiet. “Axe, man. You with me?”

He doesn’t answer right away.

“Axel,” I yell. “You okay, brother?”

“Fuck. Fuck! This wasn’t supposed to happen.” Axel isn’t making any sense. “Fuck, Linc. Let her go.”

Ford is fighting a losing battle on the ground, trying to calm everyone down when the first gunshot is fired from the terrorists’ second vehicle.

Linc secures Saylor and takes cover to return fire. Our team is in a standoff, and Axe and I are supposed to be covering them.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Linc go down. But the angle of the shot... it’s wrong.

I shift to look at Axel.

He’s already on his feet, coming my way.

His rifle is on the rooftop, and his handgun is pointed at me.

“What did you do?” I look up at him from my position, not believing what I just saw.

A small electronic device falls from his pocket, and I grab it, shoving it in mine.

“I’m gonna need you to give that back to me, Sinclair.” Axe points his gun at my head, and I sweep my leg out and up, taking him down at the ankles. He falls backward and pulls his trigger.

Red-hot heat tears through my body a second before the building collapses.

N obody warned me what it’s like to look back with regret.

To be left wondering, What if . . . ?

What if I’d told her sooner?

What if I hadn’t missed the signs?

It was my job to protect them... What if I hadn’t failed?

What if I’d only had a little more time?

Axel stands across from me. His shaking hand is holding a gun pressed to Carys’s temple, and I can’t make a move. At no point during my training has anything ever prepared me for having her life in the hands of a highly trained, desperate killer.

Her lips tremble in fear, and I have no way to comfort her.

No good shot to take him out without risking her life.

“None of this was supposed to happen. It was supposed to be easy money. Help them get the money and keep the girls. That’s what my contact said. That’s what they wanted.” Axel shields himself with Carys in front of him.

He anticipates every move I make.

He can predict my actions the way I’m positive of his reactions.

He knows I won’t risk her.

But with each passing second, he’s becoming more agitated.

More unstable.

It’s my only play. Unstable can mean sloppy. And sloppy can offer an opportunity.

“What about Linc? If nobody was supposed to get hurt, why is Linc dead?” The words hide my hate. They’re calm, masking my fury.

As long as he’s talking, there’s a chance I can get us out of this.

“This isn’t you, man. You don’t betray your team.” I inch forward again. “Your brothers.”

“You’re not my brother, Sinclair. You’ve got a rich brother and a richer daddy who can take care of you. I ain’t got shit to go home to. This was my score. Help them out on one op and get a million-dollar payday. They approached me in the city before our team ever knew about the mission. They knew. They’d been planning. Easy money, they said. But nothing’s ever easy, so before the guy left the café that day, I swiped the flash drive from the pocket of his briefcase. An insurance policy.” He shakes his head, lost in the thought.

Remorse is written over every inch of his face, but it’s too late for that.

He and I both know it.

We’re not both getting out of here alive.

“Dumb fuck. He didn’t even notice. Not then. And when I got back to base and saw what was on it... That wasn’t just a million-dollar payday. The contents of that little flash drive were going to set me up for life. They weren’t even encrypted.”

My reaction must flash across my face because he raises a brow.

“Your boys haven’t been able to crack it, have they? I encrypted that shit myself. Couldn’t have anybody stumble onto what’s on there. I figured, after I got my million, I’d tell them what I found and offer them a way to buy it back. Then I’d live out the rest of my life sipping margaritas out of a coconut on a beach somewhere in South America.”

Axel jerks his arm back and catches Carys’s jaw, causing her to cry out, but it doesn’t even register with him.

“If no one was supposed to get hurt... if everything was easy, what the fucking hell happened, man?” Keep him talking plays over and over in my mind.

A mantra I’m fighting for.

Praying it works.

“They figured out I had it. One of their guys made contact the morning of the op. Told me if I didn’t hand it over and make sure they left with the money and both girls, I was dead. Once I explained there were already copies and it wouldn’t be that easy to silence me, we struck a deal we could both walk away from.”

My eyes stay locked on Carys’s, but she’s panicking. Her eyes are glazed and unfocused, and I can see from here her breathing is shallow and rapid.

I see it but can’t stop it.

Fuck .

“Carys.” Her green eyes snap to mine, centering on me.

“Don’t talk to her. Do you want to wear her brains, Sinclair? I got nothing to lose, so don’t make me pull this trigger.”

Her body shakes as she tries to breathe through her fear.

“I still don’t get it. Why Linc?” My brain is scrambling for a way to disarm him without him killing her, but the risks are too high.

“He got to Saylor.” His wild eyes bounce around the room, probably finalizing his exit strategy. “I needed both girls to leave with the group, not with our team. They couldn’t be saved. That was part of the deal. And there was no way Linc was letting her go. It was his life or mine.” The gun moves, pushing harder against Carys’s pale skin, and I know I’ll never forget the terror in her eyes. “Kinda like now. I’m not gonna die today, Sinclair. So you can ignore your savior complex. Me and baby momma are gonna walk out of here, and you’re gonna let us.”

“No,” Carys cries out, and Axe presses his forearm to the front of her neck. “Cooper...” she sobs.

“We’re gonna back through this door, and you’re gonna let me, or she’s gonna die. I got nothing left to lose, Sinclair. You better believe if her life is my only bargaining chip, I’m gonna play it.”

Carys’s cell phone rings in the pocket of her leggings.

It’s not much, but it’s enough.

I take the shot.

Red blooms directly between his eyes, and I dive for Carys, hoping to God his finger doesn’t squeeze the trigger as we go down.