Power: Special Tactical Units Division (In Wilde Country Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

room.
    And yet, Tanner thought, not involving State could be the best course of action for whoever planned and coordinated a rescue. He wasn’t a fan of protocol and diplomacy and red tape, and he sure as hell hated dealing with by-the-book government functionaries making life-and-death decisions when the toughest life-and-death issue most of them ever handled was traffic on the Beltway each morning.
    Somebody working off the grid with contacts in Special Forces would best know how to handle this situation—somebody with contacts in the CIA. In the NSA. In the place referred to only as The Agency.
    In STUD.
    A coordinator like that would have worked in the field. He’d know how to bypass the petty rules established by petty politicians.
    And he was the lucky guy Blake and the general had chosen to oversee the rescue of the spoiled estranged daughter of a four-star general. Of a woman who wanted to turn cats into coats.
    She’d certainly chosen the right place.
    San Escobal was pretty much the jaguar capital of Central America. He’d learned that when he’d served there. A couple of times, he and his squad had been lucky enough to glimpse the big, graceful cats slipping through the trees.
    Had she gone there to make the arrangements herself? Maybe she’d wanted to take a personal look at the creatures she was going to pay men to kill. There were laws against hunting the cats, but there were laws against lots of things in San Escobal and one of the reasons people went to such places was because nobody paid attention to the laws.
    Amazing. He’d never met the lady, and he already didn’t like her. Still, she didn’t deserve to be raped or murdered or worse. And yeah, there was worse.
    “Who else knows about this besides this jungle group and your pal at State?”
    “Only you.”
    “And Captain Blake.”
    “Yes. I told him everything. He immediately suggested you. He said you knew more about Central America, more about the scum operating in its jungles, than any operative he had.”
    “Why did you contact the captain instead of someone else? You surely have access to every service that exists.”
    “We go way back. Jim and I served on a joint task force in Europe years ago, and now he’s in charge of STUD.” Wilde managed a quick smile. “No point in playing games, Akecheta. We have the world’s best military, but everyone knows STUD is where to turn when you’re knee-deep in shit.”
    Tanner walked to the wall of windows and drew open the blinds. Bright afternoon light flooded the room. A long stretch of pristine white sand led to the ocean, where gulls dipped and soared over the water. The sight was beautiful and serene, almost a gut-wrenching contrast to what might be happening in the jungles of San Escobal, more than three thousand miles away.
    Slowly, he turned and looked at John Hamilton Wilde.
    “I’m on rehabilitative leave, General, but you probably know that.”
    “Jim told me. He also said he didn’t think it would keep you from being…effective.”
    No. It wouldn’t. You could be effective behind a desk even if you had a gimpy leg.
    He knew the right people to contact. He’d get in touch with them, call in some favors, set in motion a process that would, he had to admit, undoubtedly be more efficient than what Wilde could do by going through the usual channels. And he could do it all from here. Satellites would put everything he needed within his grasp.
    The only question was who to ask to go in and do the dirty work. The trek through the green hell of San Escobal, the stalking of lowlifes who’d as soon murder a woman as keep her alive. And, toughest of all, the job of getting her out without getting her killed in the process.
    It had to be a one-man job by a lone wolf who knew how to remain damn near invisible.
    Goddammit.
    He wanted it to be him.
    It was the kind of work he’d been trained to do, the kind he loved. The excitement. The risk. The danger. There were times it was better