She tried to scream around the duct tape over her mouth and make as much noise as she could.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” The madman laughed at her. “No one can hear you for miles. So I suppose we don’t need this anymore.” He ripped the tape off her mouth, and she couldn’t help but cry out at the pain.
He came into focus slowly as she tasted blood on her torn lip. “Help!” she screamed. “Someone, please! Help me!”
He stood by watching her, a satisfied grin on his face, and she shuddered. For him to be so smug and confident, there truly must be no one around to hear her. “Where have you taken me?” she demanded.
He leaned down in her face, and she realized he had his knife out again. “Far, far away. Which isn’t that far away in this shitty little town.”
He had just given away a valuable clue, even though he hadn’t realized it. He’d revealed that they were still in town, though out of earshot of anyone. Which left a million possibilities. Her mind raced.
“So, what do you plan to do with me?” she demanded. “You’ve brought me out here so no one can hear me scream. Why? I’ve already proven to you that I have nothing to offer you.”
His eyes traveled down to the lace of her nightshirt, and he slid the knife underneath it, slashing one of the straps, allowing the blouse to flutter open, revealing the top of her left breast. “Oh, I wouldn’t say we’ve exhausted all possibilities.”
“You’re a sick, perverted bastard. I doubt you can even get it up.”
He jerked his hand back, and when she flinched, she felt her world momentarily tip, then right itself again. Confused, she looked down and realized he’d taped her securely in a chair that he had found in this…this warehouse? Was that where they were? It had to be one of the old warehouses located along the old train line.
“Such a filthy mouth for such a beautiful girl,” he said softly. “Now, I thought we had a discussion earlier where we agreed you were going to be my good girl. Do you remember that conversation?” He looked at her with concerned eyes, as if he were talking to a child.
“I remember. And I’m not a girl, and I will never be yours.”
“Oh, such a pity. You have far too much anger for one so young. If you were mine, I would never let you feel the pain you are going through now. But because you fight me… Well, it is only worse for you in the long run.”
“Who are you? Why are you even here?”
“Ah. How rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Benicio Davila. Until very recently I ran one of the biggest drug cartels in Nuevo Laredo. But, then, for some reason, your rancher friend and his associates decided to take me down. They think they’ve destroyed me. They know so little.”
“You wouldn’t be here if they didn’t do at least some damage, and for that, I’m grateful. The drug trade is illegal and must come to an end one way or another.”
Rage crossed his face, and he gripped her chin tightly between his thumb and forefinger, his face just inches from hers. “You would think that, puta. But it is my drug cartel that is giving so many young men a future. They have jobs, responsibilities, power. All the things a mother could ever want for her son.”
“And all the death? All the people who overdose on your drugs? What of them? What about their grieving parents? What about the parents of the men you murder?”
“Necessary business. If your country would only see the fruitlessness of the war on drugs, there would be a lot less death, trust me. But as long as they continue to be fools like you…” He squeezed her jaw hard one last time and then released her.
Anya decided that if she could keep him talking, she could buy some time to come up with an escape plan. “For some reason, I get the impression that you like talking. About yourself, your plans, your gang—”
“Cartel. I run a drug cartel, puta. Very different than a mere gang.”
Anya shrugged with indifference. “Whatever you say.”
“Yes, it is. Whatever I say. That’s what you need to remember right now. Whatever I say is what you listen to. Do you understand me?”
She didn’t know what was prompting her to continue testing him. She was actually grateful for the tape at the moment because it hid how badly she was trembling. She couldn’t let him know he frightened her. She had to keep up the false bravado as long as possible.
“There actually is something I’m looking forward to more than putting you through hell,” he said, his face close enough to hers that she could smell his breath and was certain she smelled alcohol.
“What? What is it you expect?”
“I expect to torture and kill your boyfriend…your rancher…and all his fucking partners. I’ll let him watch me torture you and ruin you first, so he can watch me destroy something that he cares about the way he destroyed something I cared about. Then I’ll kill them all.”
* * *
“Walk us through everything. Starting with this morning.” They sat in the communications conference room, everyone watching Stryker anxiously.
Stryker looked down at his clasped hands, trying to think of how to answer Brusco’s request. His mind was a jumble of things at the moment. All he could think about was how good she smelled, of how warm her embrace had been, how happy he’d been when he had left her, knowing that he was going back to her within a few short hours.
And then there had been fear. Immense, overwhelming fear.
Icy fingers tickled his spine, triggering a memory. “When I pulled up to her place this morning, something felt wrong. Something felt off.”
“Wrong how? What was off?” Snap fired questions at him. Santo smacked Snap on the shoulder, and Snap turned to him, a bewildered look on his face. “What the fuck, man?”
“Let him talk,” Santo said calmly. “Give him a chance to say what he needs to say before you hit him with your fifty million questions.”
Snap opened his mouth as if he were going to protest, but the look from Santo must have been strong enough to make a difference. Stryker wanted to thank Santo, but he couldn’t find the strength in his voice at the moment. Anya trusted him and believed in him. He had asked for her trust, and she had given it to him in spite of everything he’d put her through. She’d given him her heart, and she’d given him more than he could ever have asked for. And now she was paying the price for it.
“I don’t know. I thought it was just the adrenaline from the mission. But now I wonder…” he finally said, his voice thick with emotions and frustration.
“Shit,” Buzz said softly. “The fucker must have followed us out of Nuevo Laredo.”
“No.” Stryker shook his head. “I was watching our six the entire time. There wasn’t a single car that followed us from Nuevo Laredo or any point in between.”
“Then how did he know to come here? And who is he? We took down all the lieutenants and sicarios. There shouldn’t be anyone left.” Phantom’s face was contorted with frustration.
“I counted all of them that were there last night. It added up to the exact number we were targeting,” Buzz said softly.
“Except Jefe.” Stryker lifted his eyes to look at the team and met expressions of confusion. “Look, Buzz, Phantom, you saw the same thing I did. Benicio was talking to someone in that camera. Someone had to receive that message.”
“Even so, he wouldn’t know where we’re located. He wouldn’t know…” Buzz’s voice died away, and then he began to shake his head, as if he didn’t want to believe what he was thinking.
“Speak up, Buzz,” Brusco said. “It’s not going to help any of us if you retreat into that nerd brain of yours.”
Buzz cast Brusco a go-to-hell look, then focused on Stryker. “Vidal,” he said softly.
“You think Vidal is behind all of this? The man didn’t strike me as smart enough even to know how to cross the border, let alone find us.” Phantom scowled.
“I agree,�
� Stryker said, shaking his head. “Vidal didn’t have the mental capabilities to pull off something like this.”
“I’m not saying he did. But someone got to him. How did Hector know we weren’t who we said we were? He got a phone call right before everything went to hell. Someone had found out information about us. It was damning information, and made our stories, our carefully crafted backgrounds, everything, worthless. Who would have had that kind of information?”
“The navy, for one,” Stryker replied in a monotone.
“Okay, that’s obvious, but let’s just pray for one moment that we haven’t been compromised that severely. Who else knew everything about us, had our dossiers, and would have access to the cartel?”
“Vidal. And we all had suspicions about him.” Phantom was listening intently to Buzz.
“But why would he turn on us? There’s no reason for him to.” Stryker was shaking his head. It still didn’t add up. “And exactly who did he betray us to? Like Buzz already said, every head was accounted for, other than my mysterious Jefe, and none of you seem to believe he even exists.”
“That’s not true, Stryker. We believe you. We just don’t know who he could be. And that puts us in an even more difficult position.” Snap glanced around at the group, looking for consensus.
“You seem to think there’s someone operating at a higher level, and that this person is involved in more than just the drug cartel.” Buzz frowned.
“That’s exactly what I think,” Stryker said, his voice adamant. “Even if it was one guy attached to the cartel directly, I think there’s a strong possibility someone is out there coordinating things between the cartels and other entities. And I believe that person has contacts within the navy, if not directly into the U.S. government.”
“Those are some really big allegations you’re making,” Phantom said in a room that had suddenly gone so silent, the only sound was the click of the air conditioner turning on.
“You guys weren’t with me to witness the total clusterfuck at the naval offices over the redacted file we received when we first started the mission. We know the admiral has launched an investigation. What that tells me is that someone with the appropriate clearance wanted to make sure we were headed into Mexico without the latest, most accurate data.”
The men exchanged glances around the dining room table. “I think this will be a deeper question to dive into once we have Anya back safely. But, for right now, she’s our number one priority,” Buzz said, though his expression was grim.
“Let’s go back to the beginning. So, you felt like you were being watched this morning.” Snap led him off in the dialogue once more.
“Yes. But I looked around, and I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. The town was fast asleep. It was too early for any cars to be on the road, and from what I could tell, there was no one within the immediate vicinity. I should have looked closer. I should have trusted my gut.” Stryker pounded his fist on the table.
“None of that is going to help her now. You went inside to be with her. Was there anything unusual then?” Phantom asked.
“No. Yes! She had a handgun.”
“Anya? Our little Anya?” Santo asked in astonishment.
“She grew up on a ranch, and she’s a native Texan,” Stryker said, feeling a little bit of pride that Anya was his woman. “It’s practically in her blood.”
Stryker flexed and stretched his hands slowly, curling them into fists. He was angrier with himself than with anyone else at the moment. “Her place was pristine as usual. She was groggy, but came fully awake after she saw it was me. I was there for about fifteen minutes, and then I asked her if I could come back for lunch. When I left, I had the same feeling—as if something was off.”
“What time was it that you left?” Buzz asked.
“Twenty or thirty past zero four hundred hours…right in between there.”
“And what time was it that you got to her place later today?”
“Eleven thirty hours.”
“That means whoever took her could have over a seven-hour lead on us by now. Would he take her into Mexico?” Santo asked.
The thought made Stryker sick to his stomach, but he immediately dashed the idea from his mind. “No. Whoever did this knows about the flash drive that Buzz took and wants it back as quickly as possible. He wouldn’t risk taking her to Mexico and asking us to follow him.”
“You got that from the message you found on the shower wall, right?” Phantom asked.
Stryker pulled out his phone and opened the photos folder. He passed his phone around, and each man frowned grimly as they looked at the picture. “Is that…?”
“Blood? Yeah, Snap, it is. There was a whole puddle of it on the floor near her bed. And it trailed through the clinic. Also, a lot of her medicine and supplies were missing. Scroll through the pictures. I documented everything. I even got samples of the blood and hair off her brush to run through DNA testing if we decide we can trust the naval labs.”
“Let’s hold off on all that for right now. I’m still running searches from all the surrounding cameras, and even those coming across the border to help us narrow down the search. Was there anything indicating where to take the flash drive or directions of any sort?” Buzz’s fingers were already twitching, ready to go back to his computer keyboard.
“No. Which gives me hope. He wouldn’t have taken her with that threat if he intended to kill her, right? He has to have something to negotiate with.” Stryker clasped his hands together under the table, silently praying for her safety. She had to make it home to him. He couldn’t lose her after finally realizing he was in love with her.
Chapter 27
“The lovely little town of Hebbronville hasn’t jumped forward into modern times,” Buzz said as his hands flew across the keyboard. “There are only a few security cameras I can tap into, and they’re located at the grocery store, Ritz Feed Store, and Extreme Ranches, Inc. None of those are anywhere near Anya’s clinic.”
“What about any vehicles that passed Extreme Ranches? Anya’s clinic is just farther down Smith Avenue from there.” Stryker leaned over Buzz’s shoulder to get a look at the surveillance videos.
Buzz hesitated, his fingers poised over the keyboard as he cast an annoyed look at Stryker. “Personal space, man. I needs me my personal space.”
Stryker frowned down at him. “You don’t get personal space, sailor, not when—”
“All right you two lovebirds, break it up.” Snap stepped into the room and handed out sandwiches. “Everyone knows how testy Buzz is around his toys. Let’s just give him his space and let him work his magic.”
Stryker raised his hands in acceptance and stepped back, though he still glowered at the back of Buzz’s head. “Give me something good to work with, Buzz. Give me something good.”
“Unfortunately, none of the cameras are pointed out toward the streets. They’re all focused on the doors of the establishments, which makes sense if you’re trying to keep the bad guys from getting in.”
“But?” Stryker asked, apprehension clawing at his throat. He needed answers. He needed solutions. He needed Anya.
“But, our pals at the border patrol may have come through for us.”
“Really? Never would have thought that would pan out… How did you make that happen?”
“Well, I didn’t really ask them for their help. I just hacked into their database and pulled up footage of the last twenty-four hours of people crossing the border in Nuevo Laredo. You’re not going to believe who popped up on one of the screens.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense, Buzz. Stryker’s ready to put his foot up your ass already.” Snap’s words were muffled around a mouthful of sandwich.
“I’m pulling it up right…now.” An image popped up and flashed a few times before it became a semi-steady, pulsating picture of a face.
“Wh
at the fuck?” Phantom nearly spat out his food, but instead, swallowed it whole without chewing. “How is that even possible?”
Stryker’s blood ran cold. “It’s not possible. We need to think back through everything that happened last night, Buzz, Phantom. Something has gone terribly wrong.”
They all stared at the images Buzz had pulled up and had flickering on the various screens. Sliding across the border in a Land Rover was none other than Benicio Davila.
* * *
Anya felt ill. The last meal she’d eaten was breakfast the day before. Then her day had just become too hectic and she’d tumbled into bed exhausted.
Now, she sat in front of a madman who was so bent on his own agenda that he was clueless to the world around him. Or, so she thought. He had vanished for a short time, and in that period she had worked frantically to free her hands from the binds of the tape. It had only served to tighten them further.
She decided to focus on her surroundings, trying to identify exactly where she was. The familiar scent of corn and oats kept teasing her nose, so she thought it must be the old feed mill. She looked around the large, vacant room with old equipment piled in a corner. The doors that used to open directly to the train were closed. The glass windows at the top of the building were long gone or left in jagged ridges from where kids had chucked rocks or fired BB guns, or worse, at the windowpanes.
No one ever came to this area unless they were looking for trouble. Or to cause trouble. It was frequently where teens hooked up to make out on weekends, or to share a few joints, or just to escape. But it wasn’t the weekend, and she was in serious trouble.
The heat was climbing, and sweat rolled between her breasts and down her back. Yet her body felt cold and numb.
She would give anything for some water. The idea of the cool liquid sliding down her throat made her close her eyes with a delicious daydream of the fresh beverage that could coat her parched tongue.
A sudden noise jolted her out of her daydream. Had she fallen asleep? She glanced up at the sun and realized it hadn’t moved far since she’d closed her eyes. She may have dozed off, though. She felt confused and lost and…frightened. She wanted Stryker desperately. She wanted his arms around her, telling her everything was okay. But more than anything, she wanted him safe.
A SEAL Never Quits Page 24
