His ears started to ring.
He gripped her ass and pulled her closer. He was in a vortex of need, and the bells wouldn’t stop.
“Aiden,” Evie said as she pushed against his shoulders.
He looked down at her beautiful face. It was then he realized that the buzzer on the dryer was ringing. He choked out a laugh. She grinned up at him.
“I don’t have words, Eva.”
“I do. Let me down. I have laundry to finish.” She sounded so prim and proper with her honeyed Southern accent, but her hair was messed, her eyes were glittering, and her lips were swollen.
“I’ll help.”
“You’re banned from the laundry room. I think Trenda needs help getting supper started.”
Aiden laughed. “That’s not going to be nearly as fun,” he said as he left the small room.
Chapter Nine
Aiden stood up with a gun in his hand when there was a knock on the door. He checked the peephole and saw Gray. He had a backpack that he hadn’t had before.
“What’s new?” Gray asked as he got into the room.
“Dex and the team have a plan in place where we should be good to demand proof of life in an hour or two.”
“Will it be solid?” Gray questioned.
Aiden explained it. Gray winced when Aiden described the picture of the corpse that Clint had found.
“Okay, that will work. Anything else?”
“Jim and Blake should arrive any minute.”
Gray gave Aiden a level stare. “Are you still good with having them in on this operation?”
“I checked them out months ago when I was in Tennessee. Their reputations are strong.”
“But?”
“As soon as this is over, game over,” Aiden said softly.
Gray nodded. He shrugged the backpack off his shoulders and dropped it onto the carpeted floor with a clunk. “Let’s divvy up the toys.”
They were going over the weapons when there was a call on Nathan’s phone.
“Yeah?” Aiden answered.
“We’re here. What room are you in?”
“Five-oh-seven.”
Gray and Aiden tucked away what they needed, then left out two pistols on the bed for Blake and Jim.
“You haven’t met them before, have you?” Gray said.
“Nope, but I’ve seen pictures. I’ll recognize them.”
Gray nodded.
Aiden’s phone rang when the knock sounded on the door. It was Dexter. He handed the phone to Gray and checked the peephole. He easily recognized the two men. They looked ragged.
He threw open the door.
“Why the fuck didn’t you answer your phones? Why didn’t you call Drake?” So much for calm and cool. Aiden sucked in a deep breath.
“I thought we could handle this,” Jim said.
“We fucked up,” Blake said at the same time.
Aiden looked over his shoulder at Gray. “Things are in place, do you want me to put it on speaker?” he asked.
Aiden focused on the phone and nodded.
“Dex, we have Jim Sellers and Blake Tenkin here. Take it from the top,” Gray requested.
“The plan is to demand another proof of life,” Dex said from the phone.
“They’ll never go for it,” Jim broke in as he sank down onto the bed. His grief was palpable. “They’ll just start hurting her sooner. Don’t do it.” He looked up at Aiden pleadingly.
“Stop it,” Blake bit out. “Aiden wouldn’t be here if he didn’t care. He won’t have some half-assed plan. Let him explain.”
“Keep quiet,” Gray glared at Blake and Jim. Both men stilled at Gray’s command. “Dex, continue.”
“It’s all over every Turkish news site that a Caucasian woman was found in the Antakya landfill. She matches the description of Evie.”
“How in the hell did you manage that?” Jim asked.
“I told you to keep your mouth shut. Don’t make me say it again,” Gray commanded.
Jim nodded.
“When you ask for proof of life. Ask for more than a video. Demand to talk to her, say that a video could have been previously recorded. Keep her talking,” Dex directed them. “She has a smart phone, so we should only need thirty seconds, but the longer we have to pinpoint the signal, the better.”
“Can we take a call now?” Aiden asked.
“Yeah, we’re ready on our end.”
“Jim, they call your phone, right?”
Jim nodded and pulled his phone out of his jean’s pocket.
“Don’t be a shit. Talk to them,” Blake said.
“Yeah, they call me on this phone.”
“Do you have the videos on it?” Aiden asked.
“Don’t look,” Dex said.
“He’s right. Don’t look,” Blake concurred. “Evie’s going to make it. She’s tough. Now that we have a plan, we’re going to get her.”
Aiden looked at Jim, his jaw was trembling.
“Jim, are they used to talking to you?”
The man nodded.
“Okay. Expect a call. Dex, send the email.”
“But we don’t have the passports,” Jim protested.
“Think it through, Jim,” Blake said. He was clearly upset with his partner. “Right now we aren’t contacting them with delivery, we just want proof of life.”
“Oh yeah. That’s right.”
Jesus. The man was a basket case, Aiden thought with disgust.
“The email is sent. I copied links to the articles. I’ll call you when they pick it up.”
***
It was the longest three hours of Aiden’s life. Gray arranged for food to be sent up to the room since Jim and Blake hadn’t eaten since they’d left Istanbul. Everybody needed to be fueled up for the mission.
Jim didn’t talk at all. Blake explained that they had paid the landlord of Tahaf Books to let them in for a price. They had spent the last day and a half going through the entire store looking for the passports. Finally, they had gotten ahold of the bookdealer, Mehmet Tahaf, on his mobile phone. He said he would be back in Antakya in three days. He had Nathan’s special order with him.
It was three and a half hours before Dex called. Aiden lunged for the phone on the dresser.
“They picked up the email. I asked for a FaceTime call. They said they would arrange it in ten minutes. Remember, keep her talking,” Dex reminded Aiden.
“Got it.”
Aiden had already watched the three videos. The first had been fine. The second two had made him want to howl. He’d kept it together...just. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that she had mentioned him. There she was, facing death, and she mentioned him. God, what had he thrown away?
He had to focus on the mission. He would get her out of there. Then he would exact retribution on everyone involved. His eyes shot over to Jim, who jerked under the weight of his stare.
The distinctive ring of a FaceTime call sounded.
Jim answered. “Hello, let me talk to Evie.”
“You have one minute,” a man answered. He had an English accent. Aiden had already memorized it.
Evie came on screen. Her face was a mass of bruises. “Jim?” she whispered through a swollen jaw.
“Honey,” he choked out. “Oh, Sweetheart,” he didn’t seem to know what to say. Blake took the phone from him.
“Evie. It’s going to be all right. We’re getting the passports. Everything is going to be just fine,” he said firmly.
“Really?” The word came out garbled.
“Yes. You need to hang on.”
“When?”
“Tomorrow morning,” he lied.
Aiden watched from off screen as her face crumpled. “Thank you.”
“Enough.” The phone was taken from her. Once again all they saw was the wall of her room she was being held in. “What time tomorrow can we expect receipt?” the man asked.
“Ten a.m.”
“We will call you with delivery instructions
at nine a.m. Have your phone turned on.” The man disconnected the call.
Jim was trying not to cry. Blake put his arm around his shoulders. “She’s going to be fine. We’ll get her.”
Dex was still on the line with Gray, and he had been listening in. “We have their location. They’re fourteen miles from you.” He rattled off an address. “I’ll have more information on the neighborhood and building before you get there.”
“Thanks,” Gray said, before disconnecting the call and following Aiden out the door of the hotel room. Blake led the way since it had been decided he would drive.
They all folded into the gray Fiat. It was a little after midnight, so the traffic was light. Gray had the address loaded into his phone, and he was in the front seat providing directions to Blake. They drove by the building, parked two blocks away in a narrow alley, and then called Dexter.
“Can’t read the signs on the building. But it looks like an auto body shop to me,” Gray said.
“You got it in one,” Dex confirmed. “It went out of business last year.”
Aiden didn’t know how Dexter had gotten the information, but he trusted him.
“I don’t have the blueprints.”
“We can take it from here,” Gray assured him.
“Call when you’ve secured her. I’ll direct you to the correct hospital. There is an American doctor expecting her. I’ll also wake up somebody at the Embassy.”
“Gotta go,” Aiden said from the backseat as he opened his car door. He was in charge of the mission. They could talk about her aftercare as soon as she was safe.
The three other men got out of the car just as quietly as he did, and melted into the night, with Aiden in the lead. When they got to the back of the auto body shop, there was a chain link fence around the lot that contained at least ten cars in various states of repair. There were three garage doors leading to car bays, as well as an office door.
“Looks like they’re still in business,” Jim said softly.
“Look closer,” Gray pointed. Every car had dirt and rust on them. “They haven’t been touched in forever.”
Jim nodded.
Aiden softly rattled the fence.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jim hissed.
“He’s checking for a dog,” Gray whispered in exasperation.
When moments passed, and there was no barking Aiden figured it was safe. “Okay, Gray, you’re with Blake, go left. Jim and I will go right, we’ll meet in front. Let’s determine where we want to enter.”
As they followed the fence around to the right, Jim pointed out the ladder that led to the roof, it was next to a padlocked side entrance. There were no windows on that side of the building. Aiden motioned for Jim to climb the ladder and check out the roof. He waited.
When Jim returned, he was grinning.
“There is a skylight into the garage. I could break it and drop in, it’s not too far of a drop. We just need to have the timing tight.”
Aiden nodded.
They paused at the corner of the building. Gray was at the front of the building. He was inspecting the front entrance, then came over to them. “Blake is headed back toward the rear. Let’s go.” They jogged to where Blake was waiting outside the fence.
“There were no points of entry on the left side of the building, no windows, no nothing,” Blake reported.
“The front entrance is boarded shut,” Gray explained.
Jim explained about the skylight.
“I’ll be right back,” Aiden was over the fence before the others could blink. He made his way carefully to the building using the cars as cover. Finally, he ran the last ten yards to the office. He peeked into the office window and saw two men at the desk playing dominoes. The middle garage door wasn’t totally closed, so he slid over and peered under. There were three doors along the left wall, behind where the office was. He assumed at least one of them was a bathroom. No other doors. That had to be where Evie was being held. He waited and listened. He heard the faint sounds of Turkish being spoken. No English.
One of the three doors opened and a man came out, zipping his pants. Bile rose up his throat, but Aiden forced it down. He needed to be ice cold to help Evie. She didn’t need his emotions.
The man went into the office with the two domino players. It was time to move. He made his way back to the chain link fence in less than a minute.
“Gray and Jim, go through the skylight.” He looked at his watch. “We’ll do this in exactly four minutes. Blake, you’re with me. There are three men in the office. Behind the office are three doors, I’m almost a hundred percent sure that Evie is being held in one of those rooms.”
All three men nodded. Blake quietly jumped the fence. Gray and Jim glided to the right. Aiden and Blake waited behind a rusted-out Buick for three minutes and thirty seconds. At the four-minute mark, Aiden kicked in the door, and he heard a crash. The two men who had been playing dominoes scrambled for the guns on the desk, and Blake and Aiden fired kill shots. The third man had a gun in his hand. Aiden shot him in the forehead.
“Clear!” Gray shouted from the garage.
“Found her!” Jim shouted.
Gray was holding open a door, it wasn’t the one that the man had come out of. Before Aiden could go in, Gray grabbed his arm. “Brace,” Gray warned.
“Let me go,” Aiden growled.
He was assaulted by hideous stink.
“Evie, it’s me, Jim.”
“Get away,” Evie said in a garbled Southern accent. “Please not again.”
Aiden looked for a light switch. He eventually found one. A spare bulb shone a weak light in the dank room. Jim sat cross-legged on the floor with Evie on his lap. She struggled in his hold. Aiden crouched beside the duo.
“Evie, it’s me, Aiden.”
“Aiden?” she said softly. “Aiden?”
“Yeah, Kitten, it’s me.” He gently brushed his fingertips across her bruised cheek.
One of her eyes was swollen shut, but one brown eye clearly assessed him.
“You look good as a brunette,” she lisped. “More intelligent.”
He allowed himself to smile at her humor, knowing that she wanted him to, but she was killing him. They needed to get her to a hospital.
“Hand her to me.” He scooped her out of Jim’s arms.
“I can walk,” she protested half-heartedly, but then she ruined it by groaning in pain.
“Hush. Where does it hurt?”
“I’m fine.” He had trouble understanding her.
“Oh, Baby,” he actually thought he might cry. He’d seen the beating. Why had he even bothered to ask where it hurt, it had to hurt everywhere.
She could only lift one arm part way to hold onto his shirt. He moved past Gray and raised his eyebrow.
“Blake’s already taken the boards off the front entrance. He’s bringing the car around to the front. I’ve notified Dex to have the doc ready, and he’s calling the Embassy.”
Evie’s small body curled into him. “Can’t I just go home?” she whispered softly.
“Eva, you need to get to a hospital, and you know it.”
“Handsome, I need to get out of this country. Please take me home.” He could hear tears in her voice.
Jim was hovering at his elbow. “Evie, you need to go to the hospital. Honey, you’re hurting. You might have internal injuries.”
She whimpered.
Aiden glared at the man.
“It’s going to be all right. You’re a hellcat, remember? We’ll get you back to the states as quick as possible.”
“Where’s Drake?” She squirmed around in his arms.
“Karen?” she asked worriedly.
“He’s home with Karen. She and the baby are fine, but she was in a small car accident. He needed to be with her.”
Evie settled back down. It was as if she lost all of her strength. Her head dropped against his chest. Her breath rattled and then she passed out.
“We need to get her to
the hospital. Now.”
Chapter Ten
Evie was in and out of consciousness the entire ride to the hospital. She didn’t look anything like his mother, but he couldn’t help but see the similarities between the two women who had been so badly hurt.
But Evie was alive. He had to focus on that.
Doctor Invins was waiting outside the Emergency entrance with an orderly and a gurney.
“What can you tell me?” he asked Aiden.
“She just passed out about ten minutes ago. She’s been able to talk. She’s favoring her right side. I think she has broken ribs.”
“Okay, we’ve got it from here. There’s a woman from the Embassy waiting for you inside.”
Aiden followed the gurney through the sliding doors. It wasn’t until they took her through the back doors and Dr. Invins waved him off that he stopped. “I’ll come out as soon as I have news,” the doctor assured Aiden.
They had decided in the car that Gray would do all of the talking. They would not be explaining where and how they rescued Evie. Let the Turkish police deal with the human trash at the auto dealership. The doctor had been prepped and knew that Evie needed to be ambulatory as quickly as possible.
Gray was responsible for getting Evie cleared to leave the country. They needed to get her a temporary passport since hers was missing.
Aiden finally spared a glance at Blake and Jim. They were arguing in the corner of the waiting room. Blake was pissed.
He walked over to them. If he made a scene, if he did anything that called attention to them, he would put himself in jeopardy and not be able to help Evie. He had to keep his head. But once they were back in the states all bets were off. He would end them.
Jim was clutching Blake’s arm, he shook it off and strode over to Aiden.
“Don’t hurt Jim.”
Aiden looked past Blake to the former Marine who was bigger than he was. He looked depleted.
“Don’t do this, Tenkin. Don’t stand in the way of what needs to happen.”
“I love him,” Blake’s blue eyes pleaded with him.
“Doesn’t matter. He’s done. Don’t be collateral damage. Leave the country now.”
Her Relentless SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 10) Page 7
