Page 80 of Iron Willed Warrior

I stared down at him, surprised that he’d made such a concession.

It had been so important to me to prove I could handle this. But Cole had just acknowledged that his hangups were irrelevant to our mission. So I had to admit that mine were too.

I couldn’t let my uncle’s cruel words, all the times he’dcalled meweakandworthless, dictate the choices I made now. I had to consider what was best for this mission and this partnership, setting everything else aside.

Cole and I were good together. We had chemistry, and it wasn’t just sexual. In the short time we had worked with one another, we had fought side by side more than once. We had learned to read one another. There had to be a way for us to use that.

“I don’t want any man touching me but you, either.”

He pulled me into his lap, wrapping me in his arms. Kissed the top of my head. “Damn right,” he muttered.

“But we need alternatives. We have to separate Westwick from his security team to get access to his devices. Unless we can get his phone away from him without him knowing. But Ryker will be watching our every move.”

“I was coming up with contingencies on the drive home. I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”

“Try me.”

He sighed, his breath warm against my neck. “I already told you that I never intended to let Westwick walk away unscathed.”

I nodded. Cole had said as much when we were out in the desert. Could I say I was surprised? “I feel the same way. Taking out Westwick ourselves would be far more satisfying than waiting around for the legal system to do it. More efficient too. But how does that get us the rest of Stillwater?”

“You’re assuming I mean to kill him.” Cole huffed a laugh. “Well, I do, but not right away. I’m suggesting we kidnap Westwick. Take him to a secure location and bleed him dry of everything he knows about Stillwater.”

A cold chill ran through me, but it wasn’t reluctance. It was eagerness. Talk about poetic justice. Westwick had ordered Stillwater’s lieutenants to kidnap my best friend,torture her for information. I liked the idea of doing the same to him.

“From what you’ve told me about Stillwater’s decentralized structure,” Cole went on, “I doubt Westwick has a clear second in command. There’s Ryker, but he’s the muscle, not the brains.”

“There are others near the top who could potentially replace Westwick and keep Stillwater going if he disappears. But if we have Westwick, we can anticipate the next moves of Stillwater’s inner circle. Assuming we can make him talk. We’ll also need a safe house where we can keep him. The Protectors have several.”

Cole shrugged. “The Protectors also have two ex-CIA spies who can take over interrogation, should we need them. Trace and River will be more than happy to spend some quality time with Garon Westwick, given what the man has done.”

We would be kidnapping a US citizen on American soil, using any means to get him to spill his secrets, all with the knowledge that he would never spend another day as a free man.

But wasn’tthisthe real reason I had resigned from the FBI? It wasn’t just the need for secrecy, or even Stanford’s desire to give the rest of the FBI deniability if this mission went wrong. I wanted to destroy Stillwater using any means necessary. No FBI rules. No guardrails. Yet I hadn’t been ready to admit that truth about myself until now.

To destroy Stillwater, Cole and I had to fight dirty. Side by side.

We had to be vigilantes.

We talked awhile longer about how to get Westwick away from his bodyguards. It would be tricky. Our best option was to go with a version of my original idea. Brianna would lure Westwick into meeting alone. But Cole would be waiting.

It had to happentoday. Given Ryker’s growing suspicion and that dead guard we’d left at the facility, we couldn’t afford to stay here another night. It was time to make our move.

“I need to shower and get some rest,” I said. The sun would be up way too soon.

“Same. I’ll go after you.” Cole stroked his thumb down my cheek, but his touch and his words weren’t a prelude to more. It was just a small comfort. A reminder that I wasn’t alone.

In the shower, I scrubbed my skin until it was red and raw. Cole trimmed his beard over the sink. I felt his eyes on me in the mirror as I cleaned up, but there was still no heat there. Just reassurance whenever our gazes met.

When I’d finished, I wrapped myself in a towel. I went to the sink to brush my teeth and try to comb out the tangles in my hair. Cole took his turn in the shower, removing his prosthesis first, then moving in that practiced way he had. Whether he was in tactical gear or naked, he was so comfortable in his skin.

Desire swirled in my lower belly, waking up from the numbness I’d been feeling earlier.

He hadn’t told me much about his ex-wife. Just enough for me to know I didn’t like her. What kind of fool would let a man like him go?

Trust was a battle for me, but Cole kept on working his way past my barriers. And he’d done it just by being himself. He’d told me he was no actor. Maybe he could lie when we were up against the enemy, but most of the time, Colecouldn’t be anyone other than himself. That was probably the thing I liked most about him.

I had to tell him about that burner phone Stanford had given me. How I hadn’t fully cut ties to the FBI like I had claimed.

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