by Rebecca Deel
“I’m glad I could work the series into my schedule.”
“Sean tells me you have to leave soon. Would you like to see my collection of your art before you go?”
“I’d love to.” Mercy freed her hand again and threaded her fingers with Nico’s. “Please, lead the way.”
“I’ll come with you.” Sean grabbed a couple of glasses filled with a clear liquid and fell into step with his father.
The Jeffries crossed the ballroom, stopping frequently to greet guests who detained them with well wishes and congratulations. When they finally left the room, the men led them to the elevator.
Nico squeezed Mercy’s hand, a silent reminder about his elevator warning.
“Sean, I’d rather take the stairs. What floor should we meet you on?” Mercy asked.
A frown. “Are you claustrophobic?”
“What floor?” she pressed.
“Second.”
“We’ll meet you there,” Nico murmured and turned Mercy toward the stairs. Inside the stairwell, the noise level dropped dramatically.
Mercy sighed. “I hate to be in crowds that size.”
Despite the tension wracking him, Nico grinned at her. “Same for me.” Mercedes Powers was a perfect match for him. A good thing since he’d fallen head-over-heels in love with her.
They exited the stairwell on the second floor where the Jeffries were waiting for them.
“That way.” Dwayne gestured toward the right wing.
And have this man and his son at Nico’s back? Not in this lifetime. “We’ll follow you.”
With a shrug the older man walked ahead of them until he reached a large room on the right side of the hall. “I wanted to keep the drawings together. The library seemed the most appropriate place to display them as a group.” He smiled over his shoulder. “I wanted to keep the drawings all to myself.”
Nico held Mercy by his side as he glanced over his shoulder at Ben. The EOD man slipped into the library and did a cursory inspection of the room. When he signaled the room was safe, Nico moved forward with her while his teammates waited in the hall.
She smiled as soon as she saw the drawings. “You chose some of my favorite pieces, and I love how you’ve displayed them.”
Pleasure flooded Dwayne’s expression. “I bought a few others. Since you’re pressed for time, you’ll have to come back to see them.”
“I appreciate the invitation.” Mercy turned to Nico, eyebrow raised.
He gave her a slight nod in silent agreement for her to broach the topic of Dwayne’s presence in the Scorpion compound.
“Did Sean tell you about my kidnapping in Mexico last week, Mr. Jeffries?”
The senator’s cheeks flushed and his eyes glittered as he stared at Mercy.
Dwayne’s smile faded. “He mentioned it. Were you hurt?”
“I was shot in the shoulder while escaping.”
His gaze swept over her. “I would have never known you were injured if you hadn’t told me.”
“Have you been to Mexico, Mr. Jeffries?”
“Of course. I have many business contacts in that part of the world and many others.”
“When were you there last?”
A frown. “Why are you asking me these questions?”
“Answer the lady’s question,” Nico said. “When were you in Mexico the last time?”
“You’re not a cop. I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“No, you don’t. You will, however, be answering questions for the feds in a matter of hours if you don’t tell us what we want to know.”
The scowl on his face couldn’t disguise the glint of terror in the older man’s eyes. His gaze skated to Sean before returning to Nico. “I was there last week. Why does it matter?”
“Where exactly in Mexico?” Nico pressed.
“What are you after?” Dwayne countered.
“The truth, Mr. Jeffries.” When he remained mute, Nico continued. “We know you were in the Scorpion compound when Mercy was being held captive. She saw you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do. The question is, why are you lying about it?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Sean Jeffries set the glasses on his father’s desk and pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He tapped in a few keystrokes before sliding the instrument away and picking up the glasses again.
Nico frowned as the senator gulped down one of the drinks. His hands were shaking and his face dotted with perspiration. What was wrong with him?
Sean set aside the empty glass and pressed the remaining drink into Mercy’s hand. “Here. Have a drink. You look like you could use one.”
Muscles tensing, Nico prepared to stop her from taking anything offered by the senator when she shook her head.
“No, thanks.” Mercy tried to give the drink back to Sean.
He shrugged. “Your loss.” The senator moved to take the glass from her when he tripped and stumbled into Mercy. The full glass tilted toward her and spilled the drink down the front of Mercy’s dress.
Nico shoved the senator away from her.
“I’m so sorry, honey. I’m a klutz tonight.” Sean dragged a white handkerchief from his pocket as though he intended to blot the liquid from her dress.
“No.” Nico eased her back a few steps. “You’re not touching her.” Not if what he suspected about the senator was true. His eyes narrowed. Who was he kidding? If Nico had anything to say about it, neither Jeffries nor any other man was going to touch her.
“I wouldn’t hurt her,” Sean insisted. “You’re overreacting. There’s a bathroom in the suite across the hall, Mercy. You can use towels to dry your dress. I’m sorry, honey. For everything.”
Was he admitting to having a role in her kidnapping? Nico glanced at Sam. “Go with her. The senator and his father have questions to answer.”
When the women left, Joe slipped from the room to follow them.
Nico returned his attention to the Jeffries. “Let’s try this again, Dwayne. Why were you in Mexico?”
“Business,” the man snapped. “The kind that doesn’t concern you.”
“Wrong.” Nico jabbed a finger his direction. “Anything that impacts Mercy is my business. You arranged her kidnapping, didn’t you?”
“What? You’re crazy. I have no reason to harm her.”
Interesting that Dwayne didn’t deny he’d ever arranged a kidnapping, just that he had no reason to harm Mercy. “You’re doing business with the Scorpions.”
Another scowl. “It’s a legitimate business deal, one I don’t have to explain to you.”
“You’re dealing with thugs and terrorists, Jeffries. Do you know they’re a weapons broker?”
“I don’t knowingly import weapons from anyone.”
The man was lying through his teeth. “The president has a vested interest in Mercy’s kidnapping. If he thinks you had anything to do with it, Martin will investigate your son as well. You know Washington politics. People like nothing better than a juicy story, and D.C.’s gossipmongers work overtime 24 hours a day. What do you think Sean’s association with terrorists would do to his presidential ambitions?”
Dwayne cursed him, his face reddening in outrage. “You’re threatening to leak a false story? I have a team of lawyers who’ll sue you into the poor house, then have you thrown into jail.”
Nico bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile, one he knew held no warmth or humor. “It’s fact, and by the time a court case is finished, your son’s potential career would be toast.”
“How dare you?”
He moved several steps closer to Dwayne, deliberately crowding the older man against the desk. “Mercy means everything to me. I’ll do anything to protect her, Jeffries. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”
After a hard swallow, Dwayne gave a curt nod.
Shots rang out. Nico pivoted as screams and running footsteps echoed through the mansion. As shots continued to pepper the air, he raced into the
hall in time to see Trace and Ben sprinting toward the stairs. Joe spun and pounded on the door to the suite where Mercy and Sam had gone.
“Sam, open up. Trouble.”
As Nico ran toward him, Joe turned the knob and frowned. “Sam!” A moment later, the operative kicked the door open and hurried into the suite with his weapon drawn, Nico on his heels.
“Mercy.” Heart in his throat, Nico glanced around the living room of the suite. Empty. He ran to the bedroom and skidded to a stop at the closed bathroom door. Blood pooled under the door.
Oh, man. Please, no. Had he failed to keep her safe? Nico opened the door only to have it stop after swinging in a few inches. He saw black boots and pants and shoved harder. “Joe.”
His teammate rushed into the bedroom. “No. Nico, I didn’t hear anything, I swear.”
Nico entered the bathroom, avoiding the red puddle on the floor. He scanned the bathroom as Joe surged into the room and dropped to his knees beside his fallen comrade.
Joe pressed shaking fingers against Sam’s neck and let out a breath. “She’s alive.”
“Take her to the closest hospital.” Nico tossed Joe his keys. “I’ll find Ben and send him with you.”
The spotter shook his head as he gently scooped the medic into his arms. “Shadow will be down three. We’ll be fine.”
“Wait for Ben. That’s an order.”
“He’s got two minutes. After that, I’m leaving with or without him,” Joe said flatly and strode from the suite.
Worried over Sam’s chance of surviving a chest wound and Joe’s reaction if he lost her, Nico shot Ben a text, then went after the Jeffries. The senator’s statement rang in his ears. Did Sean know this was going to happen? That would explain his odd apology to Mercy.
Guilt assailed Nico. He’d promised Mercy the Scorpions wouldn’t touch her again on his watch and he’d broken that promise. Running into the hall, he spotted the senator talking on his cell phone and saw red. He crossed the remaining distance between them, caught the senator by the shoulders, spun him around, and slammed him against the wall. “What did you do?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice.”
Nico thumped him against the wall once more, pleasure blooming at the satisfying thud of Sean’s head against the flat surface. “Try again.”
“They have my daughter. She’s only two. They threatened to turn her into a sex slave if I didn’t give them what they wanted.”
“What do they want?”
“Mercy and her memory card. I swear, I don’t understand why they want it. I just want my daughter back alive.”
“You sold Mercy to them.” Nico forced himself to let go and back away before he killed Jeffries. “Who has her, Jeffries?” He needed confirmation. If what he suspected was true, Nico might need more help than just Eli and Jon. His gut knotted. He’d better not need more than the SEALs and Trace. Mercy might not survive until Maddox sent in another team to back up Shadow. “Give me a name.”
“I don’t know. I only have a cell phone number.”
“Give it to me.” Nico sent Zane a text with the number and asked him to trace it. He glared at the senator. “What’s your father’s role in this? Why was he in Mexico?”
“Bargaining for Georgia’s life. I didn’t know who they were until you told me Mercy saw Dad in the Scorpion compound. I still don’t know if that’s who kidnapped my daughter. For all I know, they could simply be a go between. I’m sorry,” Jeffries muttered. “I never meant for Mercy to be hurt.”
Hand fisted around his phone, Nico said, “You better pray nothing happens to her. If she dies, I will kill you after I destroy whoever took her from me.”
He turned and sprinted for the stairs. Trace called him from the third-floor landing.
“We’ve got several wounded up here. EMTs and cops are on the way.”
“We need to get out of here.” No one was going to stop him from going after Mercy, not even law enforcement.
“Mercy?”
“Someone took her. Don’t know who. Sam was unconscious when Joe and I found her in the bathroom. One shot to the chest.”
Trace’s face hardened. “She going to make it?”
“I don’t know.” A wry smile curved his mouth. “She could tell if one of us was hit.”
The two men hurried down the stairwell, through the kitchen and out the back door. Inside Trace’s SUV, Nico called Zane. “Please tell me you have information.”
“Sorry, man. It’s a burner. I can tell you the phone signal is pinging off cell towers heading toward D.C.”
“Keep tracking the signal. Is another Fortress team in the D.C. area?”
“Negative. Why?”
“Mercy’s missing and Sam’s been shot. Two of my team are with her. I have Trace, Eli, and Jon with me. I’m not sure Jeffries and his father are involved.” He summarized the information he’d learned from the senator. “There’s another player in the mix, Z. That person wants Mercy’s memory card. She must have caught something incriminating when she was taking photographs at the Jeffries estate.”
“I’ll inform the boss, then look closer at the photographs you sent me. Want Fortress to mobilize another unit?”
“Put them on standby for now. Don’t pull the details from Mercy’s family or Sorensen.”
“Copy that.”
Nico ended the call to Zane and placed the next one to Eli. “Trace and I are headed to you. Mercy’s missing and Sam’s down. The others are headed to the hospital.”
“We’ll be ready.”
That done, he activated the tracking program and keyed in the information to track Mercy. His fist clenched. The signal showed she was headed into D.C. The person holding Sean Jeffries’ daughter hostage either had Mercy or was heading to meet with the people who took Georgia. If Nico and the others couldn’t get to her fast enough, Mercy would die.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Mercy woke to darkness again. For a moment, she feared she was back in a dank Mexican cave. Then she realized she was sitting up in a chair, hands restrained, and the air smelled of dust and water. In fact, she could hear water sloshing close by.
She frowned. A boat? No, she didn’t feel like she was moving. Maybe a house near the water. Her heart sank, realizing that she must not be on the Jeffries estate, close to Nico and the rest of Shadow. Sam. Mercy’s stomach twisted. So much blood had poured from the medic’s chest wound. Sam had been wounded trying to fight off the three gunmen who had emerged from seemingly out of nowhere to take Mercy.
They’d hit her with something. Not a shot of nasty drugs, thank goodness. This time, pain had flooded her system and her muscles had simply quit responding. The way her head ached, she must have hit the counter or bathtub when she fell because she didn’t remember anything else.
How did the men enter the bathroom? Joe wouldn’t have let anyone into the suite with Mercy and Sam inside. That meant the suite had a hidden entrance.
A sick certainty filled Mercy. Sean and his father knew. They had to know about the entrance. Did that mean they were complicit in her second kidnapping and perhaps the first one? A weird mix of anger and sadness weighed on her heart. What had she done to either of them to elicit this kind of violence?
She thought about calling out to them and decided to wait. She’d know soon who was desperate enough to pull off such a bold stunt in the middle of a large birthday celebration when she was surrounded by a team of bodyguards.
Mercy remembered multiple gunshots and prayed there weren’t any injuries other than Sam’s. A door opened, bringing with it a gust of fresh, cool evening air permeated with the scent of water.
She sat still, waiting. If the person calling the shots was in the room, Mercy didn’t want to give him or her the satisfaction of knowing she was terrified. All she had to do was wait, she reminded herself. Her jewelry had trackers in them. Nico would come for her. But would it be in time to save her life?
If the creep who took Mercy killed her before N
ico arrived, the operative would never forgive himself. After losing his sister and his buddies on various battlefields, Mercy’s loss would scar the warrior on a deep level.
Footsteps drew near. A moment later, a bright light blinded her. Squinting against the glare, Mercy saw a strip of black cloth on the ground. A blindfold. No wonder she hadn’t been able to see anything.
Once her eyes adjusted, Mercy glanced around. She was in a deserted warehouse. Her gaze locked on the man dressed in a black tux, waiting for her to acknowledge him. “Theo. I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?”
His dark eyes glittered at her. “You’re a threat. You know too much, Mercedes.”
Confused, she said, “I don’t know anything. You’re my contact with Sean.” Mercy stopped. “Sean’s to blame for this?”
A scoffing laugh from the senator’s aide. “You think the future president is going to jeopardize his election chances by dipping his hands in dirt? Oh, no. He’s too ambitious to take that risk. No, this is all me.”
“What have you done?”
“Nothing some other enterprising soul wouldn’t be doing. I’m selling information to the Scorpions. My employer has access to a lot of classified information. All I have to do is throw around Jeffries’ name and information falls into my lap. I pass it along to my boss and the Scorpions for a nice fee.”
“How can you do this? Your enterprise is costing innocent lives and compromising our nation’s security.”
“Do I look like I care?” He moved closer, hands fisted. “Where is it, Mercy?”
“What are you looking for?” She needed to stall to give Nico time to find her.
“The memory card. Where is it?”
Mercy stared. Memory card. “You know what I do for a living. I have many memory cards.”
Theo backhanded her. “You try my patience. You’re a danger to my plan and I’m not having it. Where is the memory card with the pictures of your visit to the Jeffries estate?”
She waited for the blackness at the edge of her vision to clear. Man, she was getting tired of blows to the face. First Hector and his goons, and now Theo.
