“You’ll need bait,” P.J. said thoughtfully. “Without evidence of Honor, we’ll never get close enough to take them out.”
“No!” Cole exploded in fury, knowing exactly where she was going with this. Hancock could see the raw pain in Cole’s eyes and knew he was remembering the last time KGI had used bait—P.J.—and the horrific results. She’d been raped and brutalized and every single member of KGI still carried the weight of their guilt, but no one more than Cole.
“It is not an option,” Cole said in an icy, furious tone. “I will not risk you again, P.J. You can’t expect me to let you. Not after . . .”
He broke off, the words choking and dying in his voice, but tears glittered harshly in his eyes.
“Of course she can’t,” Skylar said in a soothing voice, putting her hand on Cole’s arm, squeezing in a comforting gesture. “P.J. looks nothing like Honor. It would never work.”
Relief made Cole go weak in the knees, and he dragged P.J. against his side, burying his face in her hair, and she let him, a testament to just how upset she knew her husband was.
P.J. was not a woman to allow herself to seem weak or in need of protection or comfort in front of others. She was a fucking fierce warrior. Honor was every bit as fierce, just in a different way.
“I would be the logical choice,” Skylar said calmly.
The entire cabin exploded with a chorus that ranged from Hell no to Over my dead body! Edge stood, the big man seeming to take up the entire space of the already cramped cabin, his eyes glittering with rage.
“You will not do this, Sky.”
“You aren’t my team leader, Zane,” Skylar said gently, using his real name.
The two roomed together and were close friends. Best friends. There was nothing romantic to their relationship. It was more one of close siblings. But that didn’t mean Edge wasn’t fiercely protective of her.
“No, but we are,” Nathan said in a hard voice, thumbing his chest and then in Joe’s direction. “And we aren’t risking you as fucking bait. Never again will we put someone in the position P.J. was forced into. She paid the ultimate price and we damn near lost her. We will not lose you. And that’s an order.”
Skylar sent them all an exasperated look. She and P.J. exchanged quick looks of sisterhood and the equivalent of a mental eye roll. They were highly trained, lethal weapons, equal to their male counterparts in the KGI organization, but above all, KGI cherished and protected their women. All of them. Wives, sisters, mothers. And even their teammates.
“If we needed a male to use as bait, would any of you even hesitate to volunteer?” Skylar challenged. “I distinctly remember Nathan taking the place of the pilot of the plane that was going to fly Maren and Caldwell to wherever the fuck he was taking her. No one made any bones about risking him.”
The KGI men exchanged uneasy looks because they were well and truly fucked. If they insisted on not risking Skylar, it sent the wrong message. That she wasn’t an equal when she was in every possible way. That they didn’t trust her to be able to take care of herself and do her job.
“Just listen to me before you hand down your decree from on high,” Skylar said with heavy sarcasm.
“Honor is small. We’re almost exactly the same height. She’s thinner than me, but she’s been through hell so that’s to be expected. But we’re both blond and I don’t have to get up close and personal for them to get a detailed look. They just need to see who they think is Honor trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey about to be delivered to ANE.