Garret’s Gambit E-Book

Mayer Dale

• Herausgeber: Valley Publishing Ltd.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

Stronger than he had any right to be after the plane explosion and still angry about it all, Garret’s seriously unimpressed to fly to London to speak with an ex-fiancée who’d screwed him over with his own brother. But she had information on his missing brother, who was a link to the plane crash that sent Garret into the ocean.
Yet Astra, not Amy, waits in London for Garret, to explain the little she knows, hoping he’ll let go of some of his resentment and help her look for her sister, Amy—who disappears just before Garret’s arrival. Some coincidence there. Then her sister hasn’t faced the music for any of her actions in a long time. Today is no different. Too bad Amy and Garret hadn’t broken up much earlier. It might have given Astra a chance with the man she has loved since forever.

Still, if finding Astra’s sister leads Garret to finding his brother, who might be able to give them answers regarding the sabotaged plane, then Astra’s happy to play the game. However, it’s not that easy, as the men who failed to kill the two team members are still looking for their chance to finish the job. And to take out anyone who is close by …

Leseprobe

Garret’s Gambit

Bullard’s BattleBook #4

Dale Mayer

Books in This Series:

Ryland’s Reach, Book 1

Cain’s Cross, Book 2

Eton’s Escape, Book 3

Garret’s Gambit, Book 4

Kano’s Keep, Book 5

Fallon’s Flaw, Book 6

Quinn’s Quest, Book 7

Bullard’s Beauty, Book 8

Bullard’s Best, Book 9

Bullard’s Battle, Books 1–2

Bullard’s Battle, Books 3–4

Bullard’s Battle, Books 5–6

Bullard’s Battle, Books 7–8

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

About This Book

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Epilogue

About Kano’s Keep

Excerpt from Damon’s Deal

Author’s Note

Complimentary Download

About the Author

Copyright Page

About This Book

Welcome to a new stand-alone but interconnected series from Dale Mayer. This is Bullard’s story—and that of his team’s. All raw, rough, incredibly capable men who have one goal: to find out who was behind the attack on their leader, before the attacker, or attackers, return to finish the job.

Stay tuned for more nonstop action as the men narrow down their suspects … and find a way to let love back into their own empty lives.

Stronger than he had any right to be after the plane explosion and still angry about it all, Garret’s seriously unimpressed to fly to London to speak with an ex-fiancée who’d screwed him over with his own brother. But she had information on his missing brother, who was a link to the plane crash that sent Garret into the ocean.

Yet Astra, not Amy, waits in London for Garret, to explain the little she knows, hoping he’ll let go of some of his resentment and help her look for her sister, Amy—who disappears just before Garret’s arrival. Some coincidence there. Then her sister hasn’t faced the music for any of her actions in a long time. Today is no different. Too bad Amy and Garret hadn’t broken up much earlier. It might have given Astra a chance with the man she has loved since forever.

Still, if finding Astra’s sister leads Garret to finding his brother, who might be able to give them answers regarding the sabotaged plane, then Astra’s happy to play the game. However, it’s not that easy, as the men who failed to kill the two team members are still looking for their chance to finish the job. And to take out anyone who is close by …

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Chapter 1

Garret Balderson and Kano walked toward the front doors of the airport. They carried only duffel bags with them, and Garret hadn’t even had a chance to regroup from his last trip, still dealing with the aftermath of his coma, yet powering through that too. But he was here now, walking into the same airport that he’d only left a few minutes before. He never made it out of the parking lot before being informed of his newest destination. Once on the plane and in the air, he finally started to relax. Without realizing, he slipped into a deep restorative sleep.

Kano shook Garret gently, as the plane began to descend. “Okay, time to get busy. So, how bad is your relationship with Amy?”

“It sucks,” he said grimly.

“Wonderful,” he said. “She didn’t ask for you specifically. Is that important?”

“No, she wouldn’t,” he said. “Not unless it was a dire emergency.”

“Well, with your brother missing, it potentially is.”

Granted, they worked on different teams for Bullard but, with compartmentalized ops, there wasn’t any crossover, unless one team had to bail out another. Garret didn’t respond because he, Amy, and his brother, Gregg, had all been caught up in a nasty triangle that ended with Garret being the odd man out, once he discovered his fiancée was having an affair with his brother.

As far as he knew, his relationship with Gregg was still strong but maybe not. Maybe Garret just used that as a way to keep his mind clear and to help his heart disengage.

As they walked out into the hazy, rainy day, Garret stopped and sighed. “I wonder if London has ever once looked sunny with clear skies?”

“Not any time that I’ve landed here,” Kano replied. “Come on. Let’s grab a rental.”

“Isn’t it already arranged?”

“Supposedly but waiting on confirmation, as my messages download. We seem to be having some network trouble since we landed.” Just then both of their phones went off, showing the updates that had come in. Kano looked at his phone and said, “Oh, we have a ride here waiting for us.”

“As long as it’s not Amy,” Garret said, with feeling. “I’m not quite ready for that.”

“Maybe not,” he said. “Charles sent a car.”

Garret stopped, looked at him, and said, “Charles? How did that work out? Are we staying with him?”

Kano shrugged. “Potentially. Have no idea as yet.”

“That means MI6 is already aware that we’re here,” Garret said.

“No surprise there,” Kano said. “I’m sure they flagged us as soon as we came through security.”

“And yet no need for them to know,” he said.

“Doesn’t matter that there is or isn’t. We’re on their home turf, and we sometimes do property damage while we’re here,” Kano said, with half a smile.

“I don’t really think that’s a fair assessment,” Garret said, with a chuckle of his own.

“No, you’re right,” he said. “We always do property damage when we’re here.”

“Not intentionally though,” Garret clarified. “It’s not like we intend to leave a path of destruction in our wake.”

“No, but, whenever we’re here, we’re after bad guys, and they are the ones causing damage.”

“A much better way of looking at it,” he said, with a smirk. When they made their way outside, they saw a black luxury car waiting, its driver leaning against the door, his arms crossed.

They stopped, looked at him, and Kano said, “Ah, it’s Jonas.”

“Wow,” Jonas said, walking toward them. “Did you think it would be anybody else?”

“Don’t you have somebody else better to babysit?” Garret said, complaining.

“You land in my country, then you land on my turf,” he replied in a reasonable voice. But his jaw muscle twitched.

“We thought somebody else was coming to get us.”

“Maybe, but you’re not going anywhere before you talk to me,” Jonas said, and his tone brooked no argument.

So they stood at the side of the vehicle. “Here and now?” Garret asked.

“Sure, and then I can drop you off wherever you want to go.”

“Of course you can,” Garret said, with a sigh. The three men got inside, Jonas driving, with Garret and Kano taking the back seat, but the car was not moving.

“What are you here for?” Jonas asked.

“To talk to my ex-fiancée,” Garret said in a hard voice. “You got a problem with that?”

Jonas twisted around in the front seat to look back at him. “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

“Apparently she has some information for me,” he said. “I don’t know if I believe her or not because I don’t trust her.”

“Nice relationship,” he said.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“That’s Amy, huh?”

Frowning, Garret looked at him and asked, “How do you know that?”

“Hey, we’ve got sources too,” Jonas replied.

“Sure, you do,” Garret said, rolling his eyes. “The bottom line is, I’m not exactly sure what it is she wants to tell us or even if it’s coming from her or someone else. But, either way, what difference does it make to you?”

“Well, for one thing, she’s gone missing,” he said, “and her sister’s here, raising hell.”

“What do you mean, Amy’s gone missing?”

Again came that look from the front seat. “Just what I said. She’s gone missing.”

“Who reported her missing?”

“Again, just what I said. Her sister,” Jonas replied. “Do you know her?”

“Astra, yes,” Garret said. “I do.”

“Good, because we need to talk to her, and she’s not being very cooperative.”

“Huh, it’s almost like she knows you,” Garret said.

“Funny. We need to find out if she knows anything about her sister’s disappearance.”

“If she’s the one who called it in, then she’s probably already told you everything she knows,” he said.

Kano looked at Garret. “Who is this Astra?”

“Amy’s kid sister,” he said.

“How much of a kid sister?”

“Four years maybe,” he said. “I don’t remember exactly. She was there when it all blew up. I told her that I was walking, and she just shrugged and said that she would too.”

“Interesting take on it.”

“Yeah, Amy and Astra don’t get along very well,” he said. “So it’s interesting that she’s the one who called it in.”

“Maybe,” Kano said.

“Let’s go have a little talk with her, shall we?” Jonas said.

“What are we, inseparable now? But, if I don’t have a choice, then I don’t have a choice,” Garret said. “Let’s get on with it. But, Jonas, it would have been nice if I’d had a choice.”

“Dream on,” he said. “You know how we feel about giving you too much of a choice.”

“You didn’t have to meet us here.”

“Not to worry,” he said. “We’ll drop you off at Charles’s later.”

Garret settled in his seat and said, “So you’ll put Charles in the spotlight over this too?”

“Of course not,” he said. “The way we get along with Charles is that he keeps us in the loop.”

“And did he tell you that we were coming?”

“Doesn’t matter if he did or didn’t,” Jonas said cheerfully, as they pulled up in front of a hotel. “We would have heard from other channels.”

Garret looked at the hotel and asked, “Astra’s here?”

“Yes.”

“And you expect our presence to loosen her tongue?”

“It’s worth a try,” Jonas said.

“You’re not treating her like the family of a missing person, which I find interesting. You treat all your crime victims this way?”

“Why would she be a victim?”

“Well, her sister’s missing. Yet you think she has intel that she’s not giving up? Isn’t that counterproductive? The sister would want you to find Amy. So what gives, Jonas?”

“Yeah, I don’t understand that either,” Kano said. “Something else is behind this.”

“There is,” Garret said, “no doubt. But Jonas here, he likes to play things close to the vest.”

“It’s the only way to operate,” Jonas said.

“Not true,” Garret said.

“With you guys, it is,” Jonas said. “You are nothing but consistent—consistently right in our way.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Garret said. “It’s not likely to stay that way.”

“Says you, but we need something to break here.”

“Twenty-four hours already gone by?”

“Almost,” Jonas admitted.

“Well, I’m glad that she’s deserving of at least that much attention,” he said. “Anybody mention my brother?”

At that, Jonas got out of the vehicle and leaned down, looking at him with a frown. “What about your brother?”

“Well, apparently he’s missing,” Garret said. “That’s why I’m here to talk to Amy. She supposedly had information on his disappearance.”

At that, Jonas started to swear.

“What’s the matter?” Garret said. “Did you think you were the only one with access to intel?”

“I was hoping I had access to the right information, at least,” he said, “but you guys keep hiding stuff from us.”

“I’m not hiding anything,” he said. “I was sent over to talk to her. I only found out my brother was missing moments before we got on the plane that landed here.”

“How long has he been missing?”

“Our intel is a little short on that,” Kano said smoothly. “But we’re looking at thirty-six hours, possibly forty-eight.”

“Which means not very long, and, knowing you guys, maybe he’s not missing at all.”

“Maybe not,” Garret said. “I don’t know much, but I for damn sure wouldn’t have made this trip on the back of another if I’d thought something wasn’t behind it.”

“Good point,” Jonas said, as they all got out of the vehicle and walked into the lobby.

“Is Astra expecting us?” Garret asked.

“No,” Jonas replied.

“So how do you know she’s here?”

“I called ahead, while I was waiting for you guys.”

“And don’t tell me. I can guess. She still doesn’t know that you’re here, right?”

“I don’t know if she does or not,” he said. “It would be really nice of you guys to help us out though. I understand no love is lost between you and your ex-fiancée, but, if her sister can lead us to answers on your brother and Amy, that would be worth your while.”

“I still want to know why you’re tracking Astra, the sister,” Garret said, feeling the hair on the back of his neck going up at the thought. “She’s not in this industry.”

“Says you,” he said.

“What does that mean?”

Jonas hesitated, then shrugged. “Our intel says she’s pretty high up in the government, the US government. We want to know what’s going on, but nobody’s talking.”

“So, if you’re asking us,” Garret said, “then chances are she’s in one of those little secret divisions.”

“That’s what we’re assuming because we find no sign of her on any of the websites. Also, when we Google her, we don’t get anything.”

“Sounds like little sister’s grown up,” Garret said. “You could be completely wrong though, you know?”

“It happens,” Jonas said, “but not very often.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not happening now.”

“Like we said, if it is, it is.”

“Damn,” he said. “I hope she isn’t involved in that shit. She was a pretty nice, innocent young girl.”

Just then a cold crisp voice with a hard edge cut across the lobby. “I still am, only now, I’m a woman.” And she walked across, her gaze on Garret.

He stopped and stared. “Okay, little sis, you grew up.”

She gave him a big hug. “We came very close to being family,” she said, “but all that went by the wayside.”

“I thought you would have been family by now, through my brother instead,” he said.

“Your brother isn’t too eager to move forward.”

At that, Garret stopped and stared at her. “Seriously?”

“He said he wanted to straighten things up with you before he took any further steps in that direction.”

Something inside Garret settled a little at that. “I can’t imagine he loved Amy, what with the way it happened,” he said. “But still, that’s no excuse.”

“No, it isn’t,” Astra said. “The only thing I can say is that I thought my sister was growing up a little bit.”

“Well, there’s definitely room for that,” he snapped back.

She winced. “You still pining for her?”

“Hell no,” he said. “She’s just another life lesson, that’s all.”

“Maybe so,” Astra said. “But not all lessons have to be bad.”

“They’re never good though,” he said. “So, enough of that. What are you doing here?” He motioned at the two men at his side. “Do you know these two?”

She looked at Kano, frowned, and said, “You work with Garret, don’t you?”

Kano reached out a hand, introduced himself.

She nodded. “That’s what I thought.” She turned to look at Jonas and frowned. “You’re the one who’s been bugging me for information that I don’t have.”

Watching their interactions, Garret found nothing in her crisp assertive mannerisms even slightly reminiscent of the young girl he used to know. It was all he could do to not stare at her bemusedly.

At that point, Jonas stepped forward. “We do have a few questions.”

“And I don’t have any answers,” she said. “Maybe now that Garret’s here, we can find some though.”

“What is it you think Garret can do for you?” Kano asked curiously.

Garret had to admit he was looking forward to hearing that answer as well.

She looked at Kano, then at Jonas and finally back at Garret. “He’s the only one who has answers, at least according to my sister.”

*

Astra watched their faces when she said that. She knew that Garret had already been shocked at her presence. But she wasn’t the young woman he used to know. She’d grown up a lot over the last few years, becoming a little more directed, a little more focused on getting what she wanted. And what she wanted now—and in the past—was Garret, and she wanted her sister out of his life completely. But she hadn’t wanted her sister to disappear.

The minute Amy had emailed, saying Gregg had gone missing and that she might have some information, Astra immediately contacted her sister, but Amy hadn’t answered her phone. Neither had she given any inclination as to divulging what that information was.

As she studied the MI6 officer in front of her, Astra said, “I really don’t have anything more to tell you.”

“If I believed you,” he said easily, “I wouldn’t be here.”

She glared at him.

He just smiled genuinely back at her.

“Okay, enough with the in-house fighting,” Garret said.

“My sister said she had information that might help find Garret’s brother, but she gave no details,” Astra said coolly. “I’ll forward the email to you.” She pulled out her cell phone, brought it up, and showed it to Jonas. Then she said, “Give me your email.” When Jonas supplied it, she forwarded the message to him. “That’s it. That’s all I have. Talk to Amy.”

Jonas studied her for a long moment, then gave a clipped nod. “We don’t have any details or even a report about Gregg being missing,” he said. “But, now that we know she’s involved in something to do with him, that’s a whole different story.”

“That’s quite a leap,” Astra said. “We don’t know that she’s involved in Gregg’s disappearance.”

“Maybe not,” he replied, “but it’s a likely deduction.”

“Possibly,” she admitted. Then she glanced at Garret. “I’m sorry. She didn’t give me any details, only that stupid email.”

“Did you call her?”

“Yes, several times, and I got nothing.” Just enough bitterness was in her voice that he was coming down on the side of believing her, and she could see it.

“That’s why I flew over,” she said. “I was actually in France for a conference at the time.”

“Are you in the government? Like, high up?”

She gave a bitter laugh. “No,” she said. “I used to be.” She looked at Jonas. “Your intel’s a little outdated.”

He shrugged.

“I now work for a private security company,” she said.

“Please tell me it’s not Kingdom Securities,” Garret said.

She smiled. “No, it’s not them, and it’s not Bullard’s team either, or you would know.”

He nodded slowly. “Not too many other big players. Legendary Security out of Texas being the other.”

“Different kind of intelligence,” she said. “I’m working with an international cybersecurity company.”

“Okay,” he said. “So you know about my brother being missing—your sister too—but have you done anything to find them?”

“Outside of contacting you?”

“Yes.”

“Not a whole lot,” she said. “I’ve sent out some feelers, but I don’t have any answers at this time.” She looked back at Jonas. “So, as I said, I really don’t have anything more to offer you.” Then, adding an unexpected twist to the conversation, she asked Jonas a question of her own. “Do you have anything to offer me?”

He shook his head. “No, we don’t.”

She nodded., “In that case, I guess you can leave then, right?”

“I guess so,” he said, frowning. He turned to the other two men and said, “I can give you a ride.”

“No need,” Garret said. “We’ll be fine.”

Jonas nodded and turned to leave. After a few steps, he stopped and did a half turn, looking back at Garret and Kano. “You will keep me apprised of your comings and goings, correct?”

“Of course,” he said. “I’m here to find my brother.”

“See that you stay in touch,” Jonas replied, and, with that, he walked out.

Astra turned to Garret. “Do you want to go to the coffee shop or up to my room to talk?”

“Upstairs,” he said immediately. “We also need to get our own lodging taken care of.”

Kano nudged him gently. “I’ll go ahead and give Charles a call,” he said, already on his phone.

“What room are you in?” Garret asked, as he turned to Astra.

“Room 212,” she replied, then led the way to the stairs.

Kano nodded to Garret, still on the phone, indicating he would join them soon.

Astra walked up one flight of stairs, then turned to the left. Garret followed behind her. “Are you doing okay?” Astra asked Garret.

“It’s been a rough few weeks,” he replied.

She shot him a glance. “I heard about the plane crash. Are you really okay? The reports varied wildly from one side to the other. I didn’t know what to believe.”

“I’m sure the intel was all over the place. I’m fine now though. A few extra metal pieces, some residual headaches, but I’m back to work.” He shrugged, as little could be done now but give his body time to heal. Too bad the bad blood between his brother, Amy, and Garret couldn’t heal quite so easily. He and his brother had barely spoken in the last three years. Same for Amy. “I wondered why my brother wasn’t there when I came out of the coma.”

“I’m thinking he didn’t know,” she said. “And even Amy seemed shocked, when I mentioned the accident.”

“Yeah, but that would imply that Gregg was in trouble even then.”

“It hasn’t been that long, has it?”

“Four weeks,” he said.

“Should you even be back to duty?”

“Good luck to anyone trying to tell me not to be,” he said, his voice hard.

She nodded. “Understood.”

“How are your parents?”

“Both are deceased,” she said, her tone short. “It’s just Amy and me now.”

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“We’ve never been close as a family, but, after her split from you, there was a rift between all of us,” she said, with a shrug.

“Understood,” he said. “You weren’t exactly happy about what she did, as I recall.”

“No, I wasn’t,” she said. “I’ve tried to talk to your brother about it a couple times, but he won’t discuss it. He always has this kind of haunted look on his face.”

“That sort of explains it,” Garret said, with a smile.

“I think Amy took him by surprise.”

“Yeah, she has that effect on people,” he said.

“In all fairness to the two of them, I honestly think what they have is something that they may make work.” He looked at her in surprise, as she shrugged. “I know. I wasn’t happy about how they started their relationship without your knowledge, but, now that I see them together, I think it’s a better match than the two of you were.”

“No doubt,” he said. “No way I want to be married to somebody I can’t trust.”

“That always meant a lot to you, didn’t it?” she said, as she unlocked the door.

He walked in behind her, as she tossed her purse and keys on the small counter, then headed to the small coffeemaker and set it up for a pot. She watched him as he surveyed the room. He was tall, dark-haired, lean, and looking a little stressed from everything he’d been going through. His color was a little pale, but, all in all, he looked almost back to full strength.

His gaze suddenly pierced through her. “So, do I pass muster?”

She nodded. “Sorry. I was just checking to see how physically exhausted you were. That was a major accident.”

“Well, I can tell you one thing. Anger, outrage, and the need for revenge are great motivators,” he said. “I’ll make it through.”

“I have no doubt about that,” she said, with a half smile. “No doubt at all.”

Chapter 2

Astra knew she shouldn’t say anything, but she’d never been any good at staying quiet. “That also doesn’t mean you should be putting yourself into more danger than you need to be.”

“And I won’t,” Garret said, his tone cool. Then got to the point. “So you obviously wanted me alone. What is it you wanted to say?” She hesitated, and he shook his head. “I don’t have time for games here, Astra.”

“None of us do,” she said. “It’s my sister too.”

“Got it. We’re both in a position of having to look for our cheating siblings. Siblings that we’re currently on the outs with.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “You could say that,” she said. “What I don’t know is what we’re supposed to do about it?”

“All that drama aside,” he said, “we still have to figure out what’s going on and try to help them.”

“I don’t even know where to start,” she said, raising her hands in the air.

“Where has Amy been living?”

“In Belgium was the last I knew,” she said, “but she was looking to relocate. I don’t know where. But the last time I actually saw her, she was in Paris.”

“So maybe we need to go there,” he murmured.

“No, that was a few years ago. I think she left Belgium because of some danger. I just don’t know what or why. She wouldn’t tell me,” she said.

“Listen, Astra. I get that you’re frustrated, and God knows your sister has an exceptional ability to do that to both of us. But, if she came from Belgium, then chances are that’s where we need to start our investigation.”

She frowned at him. “I don’t work in quite the same field as you, but I wanted to start tracking her online.”

“What you mean is that you’ve already started, right?” he said, studying her carefully.

She smiled. “You know me so well.”

“In many ways I do,” he said. “For a while there, it seemed like I was spending more time with you than with Amy.”

“I know,” she answered, trying to keep her feelings out of her expression. “So why the hell did you even keep waiting around for my sister?”

“I don’t know. I should have seen what she was like from the beginning.”

“What I think you should have seen was the attraction between Amy and your brother and the fact that they were hiding something,” she said.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s hard to see that kind of stuff when you’re locked inside your own feelings,” he said. “I honestly didn’t see it.” Realization dawned on his face. “Are you saying that you did?”

She nodded. “I did.”

“Did you think that maybe you should have said something to me?”

“Are you kidding? Nobody could tell you anything,” she said in exasperation. “Especially me.”

He burst out with a laugh. “Well, that hasn’t changed. I’m still pretty bull-headed.”

“Surprise, surprise,” she murmured.

He just looked at her, as she shrugged. Then came a knock on the door. “I imagine it’s Kano.”

At that, the knock continued with an odd pattern to it.

Garret nodded and said, “Definitely Kano.” He walked over, opened the door, and smiled when he saw his buddy.