Torsten Dahl book 1 - Stand Your Ground Read Online Free PDF Page B

middle-distance, suppressing a shallow memory of the rainforest battle where he’d first seen the Swede – it had all been such a blur of violence and death and, even now, he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d made it out. Blind luck had helped, but Gabrio Vega certainly hadn’t, utterly crushed, to the point of disability, following the death of his brother.
    Today, Gabrio Vega considered himself untouchable, but Grant knew otherwise. Not a single person alive was truly untouchable
    It had taken little effort to locate the Swede. Now came the difficult part. Grant didn’t like that this side operation of Vega’s could place their main mission in jeopardy. He’d had different ideas from Vega’s . . . ways to profit from the destruction of Torsten Dahl and his family. He should have known that Vega would view it simply as an opportunity for revenge.
    And if the whole job went south . . . who would be to blame? Not Gabrio goddamn Vega, that was for sure.
    As for the existing mission . . .
    Grant sighed and upended the bottle. Their primary mission already floated on eggshells; one misstep would result in disaster for all concerned. And the list of those concerned went high up, to people who could influence world conflicts. And others who could initiate destruction with a simple phone call. One thing Grant had learned was to furnish his undertakings with a seamless escape route, and this one was no different. But even if he survived a disastrous outcome, failure damaged one’s reputation. And his reputation was all he had.
    More information came from his men as the rest of the day and night progressed. Then Vega got in touch via his lieutenant and his bodyguard. An even dicier element had been added to the mix – Vega was bringing Dario in.
    Against Torsten Dahl? Fucking insane.
    “Is this wise?” Grant pressed Vega’s bodyguard in a way he would never have spoken to Vega himself. “The timescale is already amazingly tight. If one thing goes wrong, we could be looking at total disaster.”
    “Agreed,” said Vin. “But it is our place and our jobs to make sure everything goes right. Despite Dario. You understand?”
    Grant did. “I will help capture the Dahls for your boss. It would be a shame to kill them all, though. The girls – perhaps they could be merely wounded?”
    “Why?”
    “I could get good money for them. I’d split the take with you.”
    Vin grunted. “Tempting . . . We’ll see how it all unfolds. Vega isn’t the world’s worst boss, and he’s coming too.”
    Exactly what Grant had feared. “We can work with that, I guess.”
    “You’ll have to.”
    “The man truly has no idea how difficult it is to organize something like this.”
    “Email the complaints department.”
    “If only, eh?” Grant tossed away another empty water bottle. God, this place was hot . “So just to confirm . . . the men are organized and about to cause a terrorist incident. Would you like one more crack at your boss, try to turn this around? I could just as easily engineer a quiet extraction.”
    “Vega wants it in their faces, big, messy and loud. It will help with the . . . other matter.”
    Grant didn’t push. The die was already cast. To question any aspect of Vega’s plan now would lead to a cold, ragged hole in the ground. It always fascinated Grant how a powerful man could suggest a job, happily accept the finalized structure and then change the parameters at will, all the while expecting everything to coast along smoothly. The same thing happened the world over, and in every type of job imaginable.
    The boss is a dick, Grant thought. No matter where you work.
    “Right. Well, we’re ready to go here.”
    “Then go. We’re already on our way.”
    Grant ended the call and remained still for a while longer. Parameters changing was one thing, but this was outright madness. The way Vega insisted on proceeding was dangerous. Volcano-diving dangerous. Everyone involved was likely to get burned.
    Grant