Ricochet (Renegades #3)(25)
Author: Skye Jordan

“Whoa.” Ryker sat back. “Hold the fuck on. This isn’t Afghanistan, and you can’t begin to know what that’s like, so don’t tell me what’s hard and what’s easy. You make it sound like we have one big fuckin’ party over there, and you don’t know anything about my work, dude. Don’t tell me—”

“Jesus, stop acting like a fuckin’ girl, Ry. I wasn’t trying to offend you.” Troy’s voice grew louder, more serious. “But don’t tell me I don’t know anything about your work when I’ve listened to every one of your goddamned stories three times over and watched all your videos and heard you explain every step you took to blow every building safely, without damaging neighboring buildings or injuring civilians. I know what you do over there.”

Everything inside Ryker darkened and grew heavy. He obviously talked too much during those late-night drunken calls to Troy after he’d ditched the bars and the girls, still unable to settle or sleep.

He clenched his teeth. Curled his fingers into fists. The urge to escape, to run where no one knew him, crashed like an ocean wave, making Ryker crave a swim. And a run. And an hour or two in the weight room. And a hard, mindless fuck.

Only none of that was working as well as it had in the beginning. Until last night. Last night, Rachel had taken him completely away from his demons for the first time in months.

He glanced toward her, checking her reaction to all this information. She had her elbows propped on the desk, two fingers at each temple, holding her head up, and her eyes closed. But the tight set to her mouth and the vertical line between her brows revealed exactly how unhappy she was with this whole mess.

“You’re here now, Ry,” Troy said. “And you’re stuck here for at least three more weeks. You’re licensed, capable, and you’ve got time on your hands. We need someone good. Someone ballsy. And we need someone now.”

Troy knew more than what Ryker went through in his work. He knew about every death Ryker had suffered, every disaster he’d responded to, every close call that had nearly taken Ryker’s own life. And he knew why Ryker had been put on leave. He’d obviously kept that to himself, or they wouldn’t be looking at him for this job.

Troy had been picking Ryker up off the ground from the first time they’d met during a schoolyard fight, to the day Troy had hauled Ryker’s ass to basic training after he’d stayed out all night drinking.

Nobody understood how the next few weeks looked to Ryker but Troy, and he was offering an opportunity to fill them with focus and purpose.

Ryker blew out a hard breath, sat forward again, and lowered his head into his hands, raking his fingers through his hair. “Tell me about the bridge.”

“It’s in the middle of nowhere,” Troy said, voice leveling. “Three and a half hours north of here in the hills near the coast. There isn’t an inhabitable structure for ten miles in all directions except one defunct cattle ranch that Rachel’s secured to house the staff.

“Rachel’s already done all the preliminary work. The bridge was built in 1912, one of those camelbacks with the curved steel canopies that was replaced a couple decades ago with a modern two-lane highway that bypasses all the twists and turns of the old road. Rachel’s got the city on board, the permits, the engineering survey, and the geologist’s survey. Safety considerations are minimal.”

“Minimal? What about your stunt guys?”

“We won’t be using the guys during the blast,” Jax said. “We’ve already filmed Wes driving the car across the bridge. We’ll coordinate the filming so that the explosion filming can be cut into the drive to create the movie’s climax. That way we reduce the risk to safety and still get the drama.”

His shoulders relaxed a little. “So, it’s only the bridge. No people involved.”

Jax nodded.

Ryker glanced Rachel’s direction. Her eyes were open now, but spitting anger. In a lot of ways, the look made her even more beautiful, and he wanted her. Bad. Even worse now that he knew how completely she could settle him.

“What about major utilities?” he asked.

“One gas line,” she said without hesitation, without looking at any notes, but her voice was clipped with irritation. “It runs half a mile west. The gas company doesn’t anticipate a problem but would like to be notified of the stunt’s progress.”

He pushed to his feet and paced the length of the trailer, then back. “I can’t buy—”

“Renegades is licensed to purchase any explosives you’ll need,” Jax said.

Ryker stopped, crossed his arms.

“Troy said you’re a certified blaster,” Rachel said. “True?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you have hard copies of those certificates?” she asked, almost monotone.

“Digital copies.”

“And you’re licensed to use explosives in a civilian capacity, not just military?”

He narrowed his eyes again. Damn, she was smart. One more turn-on. “Yes.”

“In what areas?”

He dropped his hands to his hips. “How do you know all this?”

“When Troy told me…Ryker…was going to talk with us, I did some research on how military experience would transfer into the private sector. Because, you know, that’s part of my job. I didn’t know at that time we’d be asking you to blow the bridge”—she cut a look at Troy, then Jax, then focused on Ryker again—“only possibly consult on the strategy. Of course, when important details are held back, it’s difficult to make informed decisions or accurate plans.”

Nice cut. Between Rachel and Troy, Ryker was going to walk out of here an inch tall. “I can handle, detonate, and store. I can’t transport or purchase.”

“That shouldn’t be an issue,” she said, as if she were disappointed.

Ryker looked at Jax. “Dude, you’re talking about a big operation here.”

“That’s what we do best,” Troy said. “The bigger the better.”

Ryker glanced down at the floor, shaking his head. “Look.” He lifted his gaze to Jax. “I’m really good at taking shitty buildings down to rubble, but I don’t know anything about flashy. I sure as shit don’t know anything about movies.”

“We work together on jobs like this.” He gestured to the room, including everyone present and eluding to more who weren’t. “We’ll create a plan as a team. You’ll be surprised how much you already know from watching movies.”