A man stepped out of the bathroom, grinning in an almost friendly way.
Killian stared at him and murmured, “I almost shot you. Who are you, and why are you here?”
“Nah, I knew you wouldn’t shoot without asking questions,” said the relaxed man in front of him.
Killian studied the stranger’s face. Tall and swarthy with dark hair, yet somehow vaguely familiar. “I know you, but I don’t know you.”
“Surgery,” he said. “A hell of a lot of it.”
“Hatch?” Killian asked in shock, his gun hand dropping by his side as recognition slammed into him.
A real smile crept out. He nodded. “Hatch Collar, in the flesh. Your sight is still pretty decent, considering you recognized me through the damage.”
“Jesus,” he said. “I didn’t even know you were back to work.”
“I’m not really,” Hatch said. “At least not the normal route. The Mavericks suit me better.”
“Last I heard, you were severely injured,” Killian said cautiously. “As in, never to return to active duty.”
“I was, but now I’m fully recovered and back in fighting form.” His voice held a slight edge, as if daring anyone to argue the point.
“And you’re working for the Mavericks?” He was stilled stunned at his old friend’s appearance.
“Yes,” he said. “Unless you veto my participation.”
Immediately Killian shook his head. “Oh, hell no. You made it this far, so you go all the way. You deserve it.”
“I don’t deserve or need another chance,” he said tersely. “I’m just fine as I am. I just thought maybe I could do more to help the messed-up world out there.”
“It’s even worse now,” Killian said. He studied Hatch’s face, the scars visible, even though everything possible had been done to minimize them. “What happened to you? I heard stories but—”
“I entered a house as it was bombed. The ceiling came down on top of me, while I was trying to get the rest of the team out.”
“And you got them out, as I recall.”
“I did, but, of course, you’re not the same afterward. The military didn’t want to keep me in the same line of work, especially after I’d been through something like that. They offered me retirement or a desk job.”
“Not our style,” Killian replied, as he studied the man he used to know, and yet he looked so very different. “It’s a bit of a shock to see you.”
“I’m half waiting for you to call it in,” he said, with a careless shrug.
“Oh, God, I know what happened was terrible, but, hey, I also know you saved your team,” he said. “Nobody else could have done what you did. I’ll be happy to have you watch my back any day.”
And, with that, a little bit more of the tension held in Hatch’s shoulders sagged, and he began to relax. “Oh, well, I don’t know what to—thanks for that,” he said, blowing out a big exhale. “I ended up with a chip on my shoulder, even though I thought I had already dealt with all this shit.”
“A word to the wise,” Killian said. “We never get all this shit dealt with.”
At that, Hatch burst out laughing. “Isn’t that the truth,” he said. “So what are we doing here? Where are we at?”
“Supposed to pick up a woman who was kidnapped, escaped, and then was kidnapped again. We don’t know if it’s the same kidnapper or if it’s a completely different issue.”
“Surely a woman can’t have such bad luck that she would end up with two different kidnapping issues,” Hatch said.
“You wouldn’t think so, wouldn’t you?” he said. “But, on the other hand, this gal apparently has bad luck, all the way around.”
“Interesting. And you’ve just come back from dinner, and I’ve already eaten.” He sat down in a chair and said, “What kind of details do we have?”
Killian quickly shared what little he had.
“And a second ransom note?”
“No, not yet,” he said. “But he demanded a drop in the Yukon. Which is why we’re here now.”
“That makes no sense,” Hatch said.
“I know,” Killian replied. “I told Jerricho it sounded like a setup.”
“It does, indeed,” Hatch said, with a frown. “So … we’re just waiting for him to make contact then?”
“Yes.”
“And do we know for sure that he has the woman?”
“I’ll be asking him for proof, if he calls.”
“Great, so we really don’t know a whole lot.”
“We really don’t.”
“A trip for nothing, maybe, huh?”
“God no, if there’s even a chance to save the woman’s life, it’s worth the trip, but, at the same time, we just don’t know if we really have a case here.”
“That would be great, since it would mean that maybe she wasn’t in trouble,” Hatch said. “So the first kidnapping was the husband?”
“I can’t say that for certain,” Killian cautioned. “I can say that he is looking like a good suspect.”
“Asshole,” he said. “Why can’t people just get divorced?”
“That would make the world a whole lot easier,” he murmured, “but it doesn’t seem to be that way, does it?”
“Nope, so I guess we’ll just sit here, waiting, huh?”
Killian pointed at the bag. “Did you bring this?”
“Yep. As per your instructions.”
“Let’s stash this, connect with the bosses, and see who all knows something.” Killian took off a grate in the wall behind an oversize chair, settling the bag inside, then replaced the grate.
“I don’t quite understand how it is that we have bosses,” Hatch said, “but we don’t really have bosses.”
“Basically the last guy you looked after becomes your handler. So the next mission would be yours, and I’d be your handler.”
“So my boss?”
“No, the decisions would be yours. This time we’ll make them together, you and me in this instance,” he said. “It’s very much a two-man operation.”
“Did your last job go okay?” Hatch asked Killian.
“Can’t say it was wonderful, but it turned out fine.”
“Good,” Hatch said. “So let’s hope this one does too.”
Killian sat down with a laptop and quickly opened it up, logged in on a secure video connection to check on any updates.
Jerricho appeared onscreen and responded, “No update. The father is worried and pressing for action.”
“What did you tell him?”
“Told him that you two were involved and had boots on the ground.”
“Probably not enough information for him to feel comfortable.”
“Well, if it was your daughter, would you?”
“Uh, nope. I need more information on the drop.”
“Did they give you the address earlier?”
“Yep, and I took a hotel only a few blocks away from it. Man, this place is dead,” Killian said. “I don’t see any street cameras, none at all.”