Breaking Hearts (Delta Force Strong Book 5)

by Elle James

  “Are we going straight back to the hotel, or do we need to ditch the motorcycles before we get there?”

  “We might as well go back to the hotel and park in the employee parking lot. We can slip in through the back entrance.”

  They rode the motorcycles, zigzagging through the streets of Cancún back to the resort and parked in the rear. Darkness had settled in. It was getting late. Blade worried about what was happening with Sophia. He’d hated leaving the compound, but he knew he couldn’t do anything on his own. He slipped around back of the bungalows. Ramón broke off and said that he would get back with him after he talked with his cousin.

  Blade needed supplies, he needed explosives and he needed a bigger gun. Most of all, he needed his team.

  When Blade arrived at the bungalow, he shined his flashlight from his cellphone at the building and cringed. Although it appeared as if someone had tried to scrub off the paint, there were still bold red letters spelling, Surrender or she dies. Footsteps behind him made him spin around. A familiar face appeared out of the darkness.

  “Dude,” Rucker said, “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

  A huge sense of relief washed over Blade as his friend and teammate engulfed him in a hug.

  “How did you get here so fast? Is it just you?” Blade asked. “Because if it is, I can use all the help I can get, even if it’s just one other guy.”

  “No, man, they wouldn’t let me have all the fun.” Rucker stood back with a grin.

  “That’s right. We couldn’t let Rucker have all of the fun,” Mac’s voice said as he walked out of the shadows.

  “No,” Dawg said, following Mac. “You’re stuck with the whole damned team.”

  The rest of the guys emerged from the shadows.

  Blade laughed. “How the hell did you get everybody here so quickly?”

  Rucker turned to Dash.

  “Sunny had connections,” Dash said. “One of her counterparts in the music industry has a private jet. She called in a favor, and he had his pilot transport us down here.”

  “Not only that, but we also got to skip customs,” Rucker added.

  Blade captured his gaze. “Does that mean…?”

  Rucker nodded.

  “Thank God.” Blade hugged Rucker. “Please tell me you brought something that will make a big bang?”

  Rucker smiled. “Will a couple pounds of C-4 be enough?”

  Blade grinned. “If it’s not, I might have a connection here.”

  “Do you know where they took her?” Rucker asked.

  “I have a good idea. I performed a reconnaissance on it. It’s out in the jungle and pretty heavily guarded.”

  Bull clapped his hands together. “Just the kind of challenge we need on vacation.”

  Blade frowned. “What did you tell the commander?”

  “We told him we were all going on a fishing trip, and that we’d be out of cellphone range for at least a couple of days,” Rucker said. “If he calls, don’t answer.”

  “How’d you get hold of the weapons and the C-4?”

  Rucker shook his head. “You know us. We all like our boy toys. We gathered up what we could, broke into your place and got your guns, and the C-4 was confiscated from a prior mission. Don’t tell the commander. We’ll all lose our jobs.”

  “Well, we better come up with a plan quickly.” Blade shoved a hand through his hair. “I don’t want them to move her while we’re standing around patting each other on the back. I especially don’t want them to know that my team is here. Let’s get out there, form a plan and bust her out.”

  “That’s right,” Bull said. “Can’t have the best bartender at the Salty Dog going missing.”

  “You guys got transport?” Blade asked.

  Rucker nodded. “Sure do. We rented a nine-passenger van.”

  “That’ll get us all out there.” Blade waved toward the door. “Let’s go inside. I’ll draw out a map of the compound.”

  They crowded into the bungalow. Dawg let out a low whistle.

  “Damn,” Bull said.

  “No kidding,” Mac seconded.

  Whoever had painted the outside had gone inside and tossed everything, including the furniture. Sofa cushions had been ripped, bedding shredded and their suitcases had been turned upside down. Clothes lay all over the place, some ripped, others spray painted.

  “Looks like they did a little interior redecorating in here,” Dash said.

  Blade didn’t give a damn about what had happened to the inside of the bungalow. Things could be replaced. People couldn’t. All he cared about was coming up with a plan to rescue Sophia. He found a pen and piece of paper, laid it out on the counter and started drawing what he could remember of the compound. He indicated where the sentries stood guard on the exterior wall as well as on the interior buildings.

  When a knock sounded at the door, all members of the team stiffened and turned toward the sound.

  Blade touched a finger to his lips, and his team faded back into the shadows. He went to the door. “Who is it?”

  “Ramón,” came a muffled voice through the door panel.

  Blade checked through the peephole.

  Ramón stood outside.

  Blade opened the door, stuck his head out and checked both right and left.

  “I am alone,” Ramón said. “I came in from the backside. I made certain no one followed me.”

  Blade pulled Ramón through the door and closed it quickly behind him, then he turned to his team. “Guys, this is Ramón. He and his cousins helped me find the compound.”

  The guys all moved forward out of the shadows into the light.

  Rucker’s eyes narrowed. “Can he be trusted?”

  Ramón lifted his chin. “I hate what the cartel has done to our city. Even more so, I hate what the cartel has done to my family. They killed my brother, my mother and my father as they slept because they got the wrong address. They’d come in search of a member of a rival gang who actually lived next door.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Blade said.

  Ramón nodded. “Working at the resort is my livelihood. It’s what pays the bills to raise my two children and protect my wife. The people of Cancún are tired of being held hostage by the cartel. I will gladly assist you in any way to bring them down.”

  Rucker stepped forward. “You have to understand we’re not here on official U.S. business. What we do here will have to remain anonymous. No one can know that members of the U.S. military were involved.”

  Ramón’s mouth formed a tight line. “Then you need us even more.”

  Rucker tilted his head. “How so?”

  “To give the credit to someone else for taking down the cartel.”

  Rucker shook his head. “We’re not here to take down the cartel. We’re here to rescue a U.S. citizen.”

  Ramón nodded. “I understand, but you are going into their compound. They will die defending it. There are those who track cartel members. Someone will have to take credit. I know just who those someones will be.”

  Rucker shot a glance toward Blade and back to Ramón. “Are you part of a rival gang?”

  He shook his head. “We are not a part of a cartel. We are just concerned citizens who would like to clean up what the cartel has muddied. If you get it started, we’ll finish it.”

  “Word cannot get out that we were here,” Rucker said. “It could create an international incident between the Mexican and the U.S. governments.”

  Ramón drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Understood.”

  “Okay,” Rucker said with his eyes narrowed. “We’re going in to get our citizen out. When we’re done, it’s up to you to take it from there.” His jaw hardened. “Just don’t get in the way.”

  Ramón waved a hand. “If you need additional firepower, we have it. Some of our members are former Mexican military special forces, including me and our cousin.” Ramón met Blade’s gaze.

  Blade turned to Rucker. “Maria’s cousin is also
Ramón’s cousin, and he was the one who gave us the coordinates to find the compound.”

  “Did you bring communications equipment?” Blade asked Rucker.

  Rucker tipped his head toward Bull.

  Bull nodded. “I have it all.”

  “How’d you get it past the commander?”

  Bull shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Equip everybody, including Ramón,” Rucker said. “Put Ramón on a different communication frequency. Blade you’ll be in charge of notifying Ramón of what’s going on.”

  The Deltas gathered around the small dining table while Blade and Ramón discussed the layout of the compound and the roads leading in.

  “The best way we can use the people in Ramón’s group would be as the first line of defense on the roads coming in.”

  Ramón nodded. “We can do that.”

  Bull equipped Ramón with a headset with a specific frequency on it. He gave another headset to Blade with the same frequency. They tested them to make sure they worked.

  After tucking the device into his pocket, Ramón’s brow dipped. “Would it help if we could get somebody inside? Before you launch your attack?”

  “Hell yeah, it would,” Rucker said. “They could locate Sophia before we go in. That would help a lot.”

  Ramón glanced at Blade. “I think Maria can get in.”

  Blade shook his head. “How?”

  “She had a relationship with one of the cartel members who happens to be one of Calderón’s guards.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Rucker said.

  “Me either,” Blade agreed. “We don’t want to put Maria in danger.”

  “She will be part of the team I’m working with.” Ramón shrugged. “She offered. She doesn’t want anything to happen to Miss Sophia either. Again, our jobs here at the resort are our livelihoods. What the cartel is doing is threatening our livelihoods. We want them gone.”

  “You know as soon as this gang is gone, another will replace them,” Rucker said. “Money talks. Even good people with the best intentions are lured by money.”

  “If she wants in, let her,” Dawg said. “At the very least she can locate Sophia and make it easier to find her when we get inside. She can also warn her about what’s going to happen. And if we wait one more night, she might be able to tell us more about the compound.”

  Blade shook his head. “We can’t wait another night. They might move her.”

  Rucker’s eyes narrowed. “Have they tried to contact you yet?”

  Blade’s lips pressed together. “No.”

  “They want you to give yourself up, but they have to contact you in order to give you instructions on how to surrender.”

  “I don’t want to wait until then,” Blade said. “I want to take care of this before we get to that point. We don’t know enough about the inside of that compound. Maria can get in and get back out with information that will give us a better idea of what we’re up against.”

  Rucker’s brow puckered. “We aren’t absolutely certain they have Sophia there. Did you see her go in or come out?”

  Blade shook his head. “But my gut tells me she’s there.”

  “If we go in there and blow up the outer walls, and then blow up the interior structure’s walls, we might take Sophia out with it. Or we might be knocking down some rich celebrity’s home who wanted to have a place with absolute privacy.”

  Blade’s lips pressed tightly together. They were right. They didn’t know absolutely for sure that Sophia was inside that complex. All he had was coordinates from a man he didn’t know, but who had delayed the cartel members from capturing him.

  Blade’s phone rang. He glanced down to see who was calling, but it was a “no caller” ID number. His pulse sped, and he glanced across at Rucker.

  “Put it on speaker,” Rucker said.

  Blade answered immediately and put it on speaker. “This is Blade.”

  “If you want to see your woman again, you will meet me at the cathedral in downtown Cancún at midnight tomorrow night.”

  “How do I even know you have her?” Blade asked.

  “Because we do.”

  “Let me talk to her,” Blade demanded. “I want to know she’s alive.”

  There was silence, and then he heard a yelp and a, “Stop pulling my hair you, son of a bitch!”

  “Sophia!” Blade called out, “Sophia, are you doing okay, babe?”

  She grunted. “I’d be doing a lot better if this asshole wasn’t pulling my hair.”

  Blade couldn’t help but grin. At least he knew she was alive. “Tomorrow night midnight. I’ll be there, but she better be there, too.”

  “Come alone,” the voice said.

  “Don’t do it, Blade,” Sophia called out. “They’re just going to kill you.”

  “I’m coming to get you, Sophia,” Blade said. “Hang tight.”

  “I can get myself out of this,” she said. “It’s my fault I’m here in the first place. Don’t do it.”

  The call ended.

  “Sophia!” Blade called out, but she was gone. He wanted to throw his cellphone, but he needed it in case they tried to get in touch with him again. He looked across at his team. “We have to get her out of there.” He turned to Ramón. “If Maria’s game, send her in, but gear her up with communications equipment. I don’t know how she’s going to get in there, but we need to know what’s going on inside.”

  Ramón nodded. “Her ex-boyfriend has been after her to come back to them. She used to be a part of the group of cartel members, until she was almost busted by the Mexican police. She got a job at the resort and left the cartel behind.”

  Blade nodded. “Then she can get in and not raise too many eyebrows.”

  Chapter 13

  After they’d thrown Sophia into the dark room, she’d spent the next hour feeling her way along the wall for anything sharp that she could use to tear the tape away from her wrists. The only thing protruding from any wall was the door handle, and it wasn’t sharp enough to do anything.

  With no way to free her wrists she sat on the floor and tried to think of another way to get free. Her only hope was that somebody would come in long enough for her to headbutt them hard enough to knock them flat on their ass and out cold. Then she might be able to run through the building and find something that she could use to break the tape on her wrists.

  How plausible was that?

  Exhausted from her struggle she must have fallen asleep. The next thing she knew the door opened and light flooded the room. She blinked as the two goons who had dragged her in there hurried in and grabbed her up by the arms and dragged her down the hall to what looked like a study, inside which she found Andrés Calderón talking on a cellphone.

  He shoved the phone toward her at the same time one of the guards yanked her hair back. She cursed him.

  A familiar voice called out, “Sophia!”

  In the few short seconds she heard Blade’s voice, hope blossomed in Sophia’s chest, until Calderón cut off their conversation and ended the call.

  Sophia had begged Blade not to come. Calderón would kill him. Then he’d do whatever he wanted with Sophia anyway. Whether that was to kill her or to sell her off to some sex trade, she didn’t know, nor would she let it happen. She had to get herself out of the situation. She couldn’t let Blade come alone to her rescue.

  It would be suicide.

  When the guards started to drag her back to her cell, she dug her feet into the floor. “No. Wait. I have to go to the bathroom. Andrés, tell them to take me to the bathroom. Surely you have such a thing in this compound. Or are you just a bunch of animals that piss out the door?”

  “Take her back to her cell,” he said.

  “Fine. I’ll pee all over your floor. Then you’ll have to clean up after me,” she shouted over her shoulder.

  The guards dragged her toward her cell. Andrés called out in Spanish to them.

  The two men holding her arms changed
directions and shoved her inside a bathroom. Thankfully they closed the door, leaving her alone inside.

  Unfortunately, there was no lock on the other side for her to lock them out. She quickly relieved herself while looking around the room for something, anything she could use as a weapon or to tear the tape.

  She eyed a metal cabinet in the corner that had a sharp edge on the leg. She dropped to the floor, turned her back to the cabinet and scraped her wrists and the tape against the sharp metal leg. She didn’t have much time. She had to cut through it quickly. She scraped hard, taking off skin as well as layers of tape.

  After a minute or two, she could feel the tape loosening. She knew that if she pulled hard enough it would rip the rest of the way. Sophia staggered to her feet and used her foot to flush the toilet. Then she kicked the door. The guards opened it, grabbed her arms beneath her shoulders and led her back to her cell. Her wrists weren’t free yet and those two goons were too much for her to handle by herself. She’d wait for another opportunity when her wrists were completely free. She might even try to see if she could open the door lock from the inside somehow. Maybe she could use the wiring in her swimsuit bra to jimmy the lock. Having her hands free would be a huge help.

  Once inside her room with the door closed, she was plunged back into darkness. She turned her back to the door, hung her wrists on the doorknob and pulled hard. The rest of the tape snapped loose, and her wrists were free.

  Sophia pulled the remaining tape off, taking a layer of skin with it. She quickly took her swimsuit top off and worked the underwire out of the bra. She dressed in the top sans the underwire and felt on the door handle until she found the little hole in the middle. She stuck the wire in the hole and worked with it for the next hour to no avail. Tired and hungry, she sank to the floor and prayed for a miracle.

  She didn’t wake until she heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway the next day. She assumed it was the next day. It was still dark as pitch in the room she was locked in. People were moving about the complex, their footsteps clumping loudly in the hallway outside her door.

  She hoped that they would come and bring her some food so that she might have a chance to slip out when they came in. With no furniture inside the room, it would have to use her strength and wits to make the attack.