Turbulent Intrigue (Billionaire Aviators Book 4)

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Turbulent Intrigue (Billionaire Aviators Book 4) Page 23

by Melody Anne


  Taking a step forward, he pushed back the pain that was trying to pull him under, and he carefully made his way forward. When he had Dakota safely back in his arms, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight again. No way, no how.

  She was far too important to him. She was now a part of his life and his family, and he wasn’t ever going to let her go.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Dakota’s head was pounding as consciousness slowly returned to her. She couldn’t open her eyes, the throbbing was so great, and when she tried to lift her arm to massage her head, she was unable to raise it, which sent a jolt of panic through her.

  Struggling, she finally wrenched her eyes open as she tried to figure out what was going on and where she was. The room was dark. She closed her eyes again and forced herself to calm down. She concentrated on what she remembered last.

  Forcing her breathing to calm, she remembered rushing Ace to the hospital. Then they’d been hit by another vehicle. He’d flown forward. She would never forget the sound his head had made as it came into contact with the windshield of his SUV. She had to fight back tears as she lay tied to the bed.

  She didn’t know if Ace was alive or dead. One second she’d been panicking as she’d tried to help him; the next, someone had grabbed her, punched her in the head, and the world had gone black. Now she was in some cold, dark room.

  Opening her eyes again, she strained to see around her. Not much was visible in this prison. Ace had been right all along. The people after him had gotten her, and she didn’t know why she was still alive. Maybe they wanted to use her against him. That had to be the case. She knew he would feel responsible and he would stop at nothing to get to her.

  She just wasn’t sure if he would make it in time. Or if these sick fools would kill her right in front of him to teach him a lesson. She had hope, though, because if she was still alive, that meant they hadn’t killed him yet.

  Taking calming breaths, Dakota tried to listen for any noise of approaching people. Not a sound could be heard anywhere in the place. It was creepy. She would almost rather hear someone, even if he was making threats. At least then she would know where the danger was.

  She had to escape. That was her sole purpose. If she could get away, then Ace wouldn’t be in danger trying to find her, trying to rescue her. She should be more worried about herself, but her sense of panic decreased if she concentrated on Ace instead.

  Focusing on the room she was in, her eyes began to adjust to the blackness. There was a window to her right, but it was sealed. She could see a bit of light coming in from low on the horizon, which meant the sun must be setting. But she had no idea where she was or how she was going to get out.

  Dakota realized she was bound with rope. That was a good thing. She could eventually escape from knots. After all, she had grown up with brothers who’d enjoyed torturing her as they played their cops and robbers games. She’d always been the woman who’d had to be rescued. She’d eventually learned how to rescue herself.

  She was finally beginning to make some progress when she heard voices outside her door, then the sound of the knob turning. She lay still as the door was thrust open and some men walked inside. It sounded like two of them.

  “How hard did you punch her?” one of the men asked.

  “She was screaming, and I was trying to shut her up,” the other guy said. She could practically see him shrugging his shoulders as if he didn’t really care.

  “We need her alive, or she doesn’t make very good bait,” the first guy said. “Go and check her. Make sure she’s still alive.”

  Footsteps moved toward her. She made herself take deep, even breaths as the man reached up and ran his hand down her chest, supposedly feeling for her heart, but taking his time groping her. She had to fight not to cringe.

  “You’re taking your time,” the man standing back said, laughing as if this was nothing more than a big joke to him. It took all Dakota had not to lash out. Playing the victim wasn’t an easy thing for her.

  “She’s alive and quite beautiful,” the man touching her said. He seemed somewhat bored and somewhat excited. The excitement frightened her more than anything else. She was tied to some stinky cot and they had all the power in the world, while she had none.

  “Okay, leave her be,” man number two said, starting to sound irritated.

  “Why? The boss isn’t here. We could wake her up and play for a while,” the guy running his hand down her stomach said. It took all she had not to shudder in revulsion.

  “I don’t think so. If something happens while we’re playing, we’re going to get shot,” villain number two reminded his partner, who finally removed his filthy hands from Dakota.

  “The guys are downstairs. They will keep a lookout,” villain number one said, but he’d moved a few inches away.

  “I guess you are right,” the other one said. She could feel him step closer to her. She imagined him leering in the dark. She wanted to scream.

  “Hey Tony, Pete, something is happening,” a voice called. “Get down here.”

  The urgency in the voice gave Dakota hope. They were worried about something. Did that mean someone was coming for her? Was this nightmare going to end? She didn’t want to hope for that, because she feared she would break into tears and give away the fact that she was very much awake.

  The men left the room, their steps a lot more rushed than when they’d entered. The door slammed behind them, and she waited, holding her breath as she listened to their steps growing fainter. Only when she knew for sure they were gone did she allow a tear to fall down her cheek.

  She began shaking, hoping and praying someone was there for her. She was a strong woman who didn’t often give in to hysteria, but terror was currently tickling at her brain. She resumed trying to escape her binds.

  She heard activity in the house, but she had no idea what was going on. When she finally began to feel a bit of give in the rope on her right wrist, she doubled her efforts to get it off. First one hand, and then the other.

  She could do this. Yes, she wanted Ace to come for her, but she wasn’t going to simply lie there and wait for rescue. She wasn’t going to give up. She would get away if it was the last thing she did. And maybe she’d be the one to rescue Ace, she thought with a half smile.

  Soon, she was able to slip a finger beneath a loose piece of the rope, and she tugged more. She heard voices coming closer to her room, heard shouts. But she didn’t stop this time. If they were coming back, they might think they were safe—they might be coming back to continue what they’d started.

  She wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Her brothers had insisted she take self-defense classes when she’d gone off to college. She was more than grateful to them for that now. Finally, her wrist was free. She pulled up her raw arm and didn’t take time to analyze the scraped skin.

  She immediately began working on the other rope. Shouts continued being yelled in the house, and she could feel the anxiety of her captors growing. She wanted to be free by the time they burst into her room. She needed to be able to defend herself.

  When her second wrist was free, she sat up in the filthy bed, ignoring the throbbing in her swollen wrists and the tingling in her fingers. She still had to undo her feet, and that was only the beginning in her escape. She then had to figure out how to get out of this house.

  She didn’t even know how many men were there watching her. She didn’t know what weapons they had. She knew she was upstairs. Maybe she could get out the window somehow and be gone before they knew what had happened.

  But even if she were able to do that, she didn’t know if they were in the city or out in the country, if they had guard dogs. She knew nothing. But none of that stopped her as she finally got her feet free. She rubbed her swollen ankles and then tentatively placed her feet on the ground.

  She could feel the tingling of the blood returning to her once-restricted limbs, so she waited a moment to stand. She didn’t want to screw this up by standing up o
n numb legs and then crashing to the floor, alerting the men below that she was not only awake but free.

  Every second that passed as she did nothing but sit on the bed rubbing her legs felt like an eternity. She was wasting too much time, and she knew it, but the other options were too terrifying to even begin to contemplate.

  When she was finally able to get to her feet, she smiled. Her freedom was so close. She looked from the door to the window, not knowing which way she should try to go. Then she heard more shouting and the firing of a gun.

  Her body froze for a moment before she sprang into action. Dakota wasn’t a victim. She was going to prove that to them right now.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Ace came around the corner, ignoring the pain throbbing through his body. He found Maverick, Cooper, and the other men who were there to save Dakota. He stood back as they spoke. He wasn’t going to interrupt them if they could do the job, but he had to be close, had to help if he could.

  “I can’t tell how many men are in there,” Maverick said. “I don’t like going in against all these odds.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Cooper responded.

  “I know,” Maverick agreed.

  “I would be a lot happier, though, if we knew exactly where she was,” one of the men said.

  “We’ll find her,” Mav said, his voice sure. That made Ace feel a hell of a lot better.

  Ace glanced around the neighborhood at abandoned businesses and crappy homes. These men were either arrogant or they had a lot more traps than what was obvious to the naked eye. Ace didn’t believe in luck. He waited to make sure his family was being cautious.

  “Okay, we’re wasting time,” Cooper said. “Mav and I will take the front of the house. You three take the back. We’ll surprise them. Top priority is finding Dakota and getting her out. When Ace is better, he can come after these bastards.”

  Ace fully agreed with his brother as he stayed out of sight. Right now, all that mattered was getting to Dakota, getting her to safety. His revenge would come swift and hard—and soon. He didn’t stay down for long. The bastards might have counted on incapacitating him with gunshots when they formulated their plans, but they obviously didn’t know him as well as they thought they did.

  “Let’s do this,” Mav said.

  The five of them began moving swiftly. Ace was going to give them a few minutes’ head start, and then he was going in. They didn’t know he was there, so he wouldn’t be a liability to them. But he was going in after her.

  His heart thundering, Ace watched the three CIA agents disappear around the back of the house while Cooper and Maverick stealthily went to the front door. Mav lifted his gun and smashed the doorknob with the butt of his weapon. There were instant shouts and shots fired as Maverick and Cooper disappeared inside the place.

  “Get down,” he heard Cooper yell as more weapons were discharged.

  All of Ace’s pain disappeared as his adrenaline pumped, and he rushed forward. Smoke was coming out the front door. He feared a fire had started. He had to get to Dakota. Once he had her, he would radio the other men, tell them to get the hell out of there.

  “Do not let them get to the girl,” a voice yelled. Ace’s fury rose. “Go upstairs now!”

  Good. Ace now knew she was on the top floor. That narrowed down his search. He moved rapidly through the door, his lungs instantly filling with smoke. He ignored his labored breathing and quickly moved to the stairs.

  A man was ascending them. Ace grabbed him, throwing him to the bottom of the staircase before the man knew what was happening. He landed with a thud, moaning as he gripped his broken leg.

  Ace didn’t give him another glance as he quickly ran up the remaining steps. He thrust open the first door at the top of the staircase. The room was empty. He quickly opened another door—the filthy bathroom was also empty.

  Ace charged the remaining door, breaking it open. A scream came hurling out at him, and then a terrified animal launched herself at him, scratching his face with her claws.

  The relief that flooded through Ace was incomparable. His arms wrapped around her as she kicked at him, his little minx unwilling to be anyone’s victim.

  “Damn, I love you,” he said. He was too relieved and elated to realize his words or be worried about them.

  Dakota stilled in his arms as she pulled back, instant gratitude in her eyes.

  “Ace?” she gasped, her eyes brimming over with tears. “Is it really you?”

  “Yeah, baby. And I do love this kinky side to you, but as you can hear, there’s a hell of a lot of gunfire going on. I think this piece-of-shit house is about to burn down. We need to get out of here,” he told her.

  She leaned forward and kissed him hard before pulling back. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I didn’t know,” she gasped.

  “I promise we’ll catch up when I get you to safety,” he assured her.

  He spoke into his mic. “Don’t be pissed, but I have Dakota. We’re leaving through the front door in exactly ten seconds, so give us some cover fire and then get the hell out of here,” he snapped.

  “Damn it, Ace,” Maverick growled over the speaker, then it went silent.

  Ace grabbed Dakota’s hand and moved to the door, looking out into the hallway before pulling her from the room. All was clear on the upper floor. More shots were being fired down below.

  “Get this bastard off me,” someone yelled before another shot went off and the same voice screamed.

  “Stay behind me,” Ace told Dakota while he pressed her into the wall. They came down the staircase with great alacrity.

  “You’re hurt,” Dakota told him. His wounds must have opened.

  “Don’t think about that right now. We have to get out of here,” he said.

  They reached the bottom of the staircase, and he looked at the distance from the stairs to the front door. The smoke was growing thicker, which was horrible for their lungs but gave them great cover.

  “Get down,” he told her.

  She didn’t argue as the two of them knelt down and crawl-walked to the front door. Ace’s heart thundered as the firing of weapons became fewer and farther between.

  “Are you out?” Cooper asked in his earpiece.

  Ace pulled Dakota through the front door and launched the two of them down the front stairs. More gunfire erupted beside the house. Someone was firing from the back porch, someone else from the cover of the bushes. It was too dark for Ace to see who was who, so he couldn’t assist.

  “We’re out of the house,” Ace said quietly into the microphone. “Get out now. Flames are climbing the walls, and this place is going to collapse.”

  “All clear,” repeated through his earpiece.

  “Maverick?” Ace said, hiding behind an old truck with Dakota safely tucked beside him. He’d only heard four replies.

  “Maverick, you need to answer us,” Coop said, urgency in his tone.

  “Where is he?” Ace asked. If something had happened to his brother, he would never get over it.

  “I’m out,” Maverick finally responded. “But the assholes got a shot into my leg. I’m on the west side of the house,” he said before coughing.

  “Got him,” Cooper responded. “We will meet up at the car.”

  “Be there in thirty seconds,” Ace said.

  “We should wait for Maverick,” Dakota told him.

  She’d been silent during the exchange, but Ace finally looked at her, and though her face was pale and those bastards had hurt her, there was determination in her eyes. He would take her as his partner anytime.

  “They are already out of danger. It’s time to get you to safety,” he told her, running his fingers along her dirty cheek. “I have never been as scared as I was not knowing where you were or who was after you.”

  “I’m okay, Ace. Let’s go home,” she told him.

  “Yes, let’s go home,” he responded.

  Everything inside him wanted to punish each man who had been responsible for
hurting this woman. He could see the bruising on her wrists, and he had no doubt there were more injuries they would pay for. But he wouldn’t leave her here on her own, so he had to get her away. He would come back for these guys. Maybe not today, but he would be back.

  “We’re not out of danger,” he said. “So stay with me, and let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “Let’s go,” she said, her lip trembling as she fought to remain cool under pressure.

  “They never should have gotten their hands on you, Dakota. That’s all on me. I’m sorry.”

  “Now is not the time for apologies,” she said sternly. “And I will hurt you if you blame yourself for me being foolish enough to take a walk alone. I wanted to pretend the danger wasn’t there, so I acted foolishly. Let’s leave now, and then we can grovel to each other when we’re safely away,” she finished with a hint of a smile.

  “But they hurt you,” he said, his rage and anguish rushing to the surface.

  “They are just surface wounds, and they will heal,” she said. “I promise you nothing else happened.”

  The relief that rushed through him was indescribable. He had a feeling she wasn’t telling him the entire story, but she would be much more traumatized if she’d been sexually violated. They’d rescued her in time, he assured himself.

  Ace squeezed her hand, and then looked around. It appeared as if they were clear to leave. Still being cautious, he began to move from behind the truck. They were going to continue their conversation, but they’d do it when they weren’t under attack.

  “Ace, get down,” one of the men shouted.

  His worst nightmares came to life when one of the CIA men stood up and fired at a man who came around the back of the truck, his gun aimed directly at Dakota.

  “You bitch,” the man cried.

  He fired the gun, and Dakota let out a moan as blood pooled on her chest.

  It all happened so quickly. Ace didn’t even have time to shoot before the other man took down his victim. Dakota fell into his arms, her eyes closed. Ace’s heart stopped in his chest as he gazed at the woman he loved, not knowing how bad her injuries were.

 

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