A SEAL Always Wins

by Holly Castillo

  Phantom led the way and shouldered the door open, his team behind him prepared to take down anyone within. The largest bedroom so far, it had to be Jonas’s room. The drawers hanging open, clothes strewn across the floor, and broken closet door indicated the last person in the room had been in a hurry. “Clear on our side,” Phantom said into the com.

  “Clear here,” Stryker said. “The place has been trashed, though.”

  “Same in here. There’s a safe built into the wall that’s open and cleaned out.” Snap pulled the picture that hung loosely away from the wall, further revealing the open safe. “Hold on…there’s something in here.”

  Phantom stepped further into the room as Snap pulled a small, lumpy item from a dark corner of the safe. “It looks like raw gold,” Snap said, turning the object over to Phantom. “I’ve been investigating the illegal mining in Colombia to see if there’s a connection to activities we’ve been seeing here. This could be a solid lead for us.”

  “Illegally mined gold has become one of the biggest exports of Colombia in the last few years, bigger even than cocaine. It’s one of the things I’ve been discussing with Judge O’Connor. She’s been following the activities in Colombia for a while now, Snap. She may be able to help you with your investigation.” Santo frowned at the small lump Phantom held in the palm of his hand.

  After looking at it for only a few moments, Phantom tossed the gold to Snap. “I’ll hand this over to you to do what’s needed.”

  “They must have been moving fast to miss something as valuable as a lump of raw gold,” Stryker said. “His office is a disaster zone. It’s obvious he’s on the run.”

  “We need to clear the barn next. Stryker, Snap, Lobo, Buzz, and Brusco, go clear the barn. Santo and I are going to search the office for any information we can find.” Phantom looked over at Santo, and they nodded at each other. They had worked so many missions together that they knew how to think in sync and find critical information as quickly as possible.

  The rest of the men headed out toward the barn while Santo and Phantom moved to the office on the other side of the house. As Stryker had said, it was a complete disaster. Papers were strewn across the floor. The docking station lacked its laptop, and file cabinets had the drawers hanging open and still holding a few folders.

  Not knowing if there were tangos out on the land just waiting for a light to come on inside the house so they could take an easy shot, Phantom and Santo kept the room dark and used their night-vision optics to view everything. “I know we want to catch this bastard, but I doubt he left anything that will tell us where he’s run.” Santo shook his head as he sifted through the papers on the desk. “He probably kept everything stored on his computers. Hell, it’s what I would do.”

  “I know. But when you’re racing to get out, you make mistakes. He already made a mistake by letting Elena have access to his computer to find what she did. It’s obvious he hasn’t thought clearly through all his actions.”

  “You realize the man is more than likely obsessed with her, right? He probably thought he could even bring her over to his way of thinking. His statement that he would have her in a matter of time speaks volumes about the way he sees her.” Santo didn’t look up from the papers he was rifling through to see Phantom’s pained expression.

  Knowing Elena had been put in such a horrible position infuriated him. He had no doubt Jonas knew about her brutal attack a few years ago, given that the man had practically been stalking her. Jonas had pushed himself on Elena, trying to force her into a relationship she didn’t want. The more he learned about Jonas, the more Phantom despised the man. The fact that he operated as a human trafficker sickened him.

  He pushed his fury to the side and focused on the knowledge that at least thirty women, and quite possibly as many children, were being stored somewhere and were about to be either auctioned off or executed depending on how paranoid Jonas had become. Phantom didn’t want to find their bodies. He wanted to find them alive, and he wanted to see Jonas pay for his heinous crimes.

  “Three more guards at the barn. All three have been secured.” Stryker’s voice came over the coms. “The first two should be coming around any moment. We’ll set them up for questioning.”

  “Phantom, you need to see this.” Santo’s voice was urgent.

  Phantom turned to the large table at the back of the office and frowned at the blueprints. “This must be the facility Elena mentioned. I didn’t expect it to be this big. Do you have any idea where it could be located? Elena said Jonas wanted to show her personally, but never did.”

  “There was a large area of foliage and trees on the south side of the ranch. I thought it might be the area around the watering tank. But if the facility is really large, larger than the barn we just saw, the area I saw on satellite could be where it’s located,.” Buzz chimed in over the coms.

  “We’re looking at blueprints now, and it’s easily much larger than the barn. Like Elena said, on the surface it appears to be just another barn, but the schematics are wrong. There are storage rooms locked away from the rest of the area. And then…shit. Phantom, look. It has compartments built underneath the main barn. It’s a holding facility.” Santo tilted his head from side to side, popping his tense muscles.

  Phantom flipped through the blueprints and shook his head. “This is more than just a holding facility. He built this specifically to hide hostages for as long as necessary. He has all sorts of hidden compartments and passageways. This place is a damned fortress.”

  Chapter 24

  Santo looked at Phantom, his face grim. “Do you think the hostages are still there?”

  “We need to get to this site and evaluate it thoroughly. We can’t get our hopes up that we’re going to find them that easily. Team, reassemble at the back of the house. We’ll question the guards and make our move.” Phantom looked at the blueprints one more time, memorizing the layout, before heading to the rear of the house with Santo.

  Both guards were slowly coming out of their stupor, and cursed loudly in both Spanish and English at the team. Phantom stepped forward and pressed the muzzle of his handgun under the chin of one of the guards. “Tell us where Jonas is.”

  “Go to hell.”

  Phantom pulled back the hammer on the gun. “I really don’t want to kill you. But I will to get the answers I need.”

  “You can’t kill me. I haven’t done anything wrong. You’ll be a murderer.” The guard sneered at him, and his fellow guard grinned, his mouth slightly bloody from the hard punch Santo had delivered to bring him down.

  Phantom shrugged. “Have it your way.” His handgun had a silencer on it, so there was only a soft pop as he shot the man in the leg. The man howled in pain and Phantom shoved a piece of cloth into his mouth, silencing his screams. He squatted down to eye level with the man and pulled back the hammer on his gun again. “Do we need to go through this process again?”

  The man screamed behind the rag, trying to get Phantom to understand him. The rest of the team stood around them, their eyes scanning the entire area surrounding them for any movement. Phantom glanced up at Santo who nodded to him. The team supported him and any efforts it took to get answers and get to the hostages.

  “Are you going to answer my questions, or just scream? I’ll remove the rag if you answer my questions. But if you scream, I’ll shove the rag back in and shoot your other leg. Depending on where I shoot you, there’s a strong chance you’ll have difficulty walking again. Regardless, your career as a mercenary is over.”

  The guard moaned around the fabric and nodded. Slowly, Phantom took the gag out of the man’s mouth. “You fucking coward! You shot me! You’ll never get away with any of this. The Puppet Master will see to the end of all of you.”

  Buzz, instantly engaged, kneeled down next to Phantom. “Have you met the Puppet Master?”

  The guard’s eyes widened slightly, and he began to lau
gh, a harsh sound in the silence of the night. “You don’t even know what you’ve gotten yourselves into. You’re all walking dead men. Once you’re found, you’ll be painfully destroyed.”

  “Found by whom? Tell us more and I won’t have to shoot you again.”

  “You asked about Jonas. He’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Puppet Master is everywhere and is involved in everything. You will never be safe again.”

  “Is the Puppet Master a person or a group of people?” Buzz demanded.

  The guard chuckled and shook his head. “You really are clueless.”

  “Where is Jonas?” Phantom asked, realizing they weren’t going to get far with the guard. Not at the moment, at least. Once they had the chance to spend more time questioning him, they could get more answers.

  “He’s gone. You won’t get any answers from him. He’s outlived his usefulness to the Puppet Master.”

  Phantom’s temper flared, but he knew how to control his expressions so no one would know what ran through his mind at the guard’s comment. “Where is he hiding? We know what a coward he is. It makes sense he would go into hiding.”

  “I don’t know. He told us to guard the house and the barn, and to kill any intruders. I suppose I need to go into hiding now too.” The guard’s grin slipped, and his eyes darted between Phantom and Buzz. “If I give you information, will you be able to provide me with protection?”

  “Shut up, you fucking moron!” the other guard growled. “You’ll be found, no matter how much protection they give you! If you say anything more, they’ll destroy you and anyone you care about.”

  They. Phantom filed the word away to come back to later. Obviously, they were dealing with a group of individuals who could cause harm to a lot of different people. They held power over these guards and, more than likely, over Jonas as well.

  “I’ll ask you one last time. Where is Jonas?”

  “We don’t know,” the other guard said. “He gave us specific instructions to guard the house and the barn. That’s it. He had already vanished by the time we arrived.”

  * * *

  Elena couldn’t sleep. Knowing that Phantom and the team were in the process of trying to bring down Jonas’s operation had her imagination in overdrive. What if Phantom got hurt? What if she hadn’t given them the best information for them to attack the ranch?

  Phantom had insisted that his room was her room and had told her that when he came home from Jonas’s ranch, nothing would make him happier than to find her asleep in his bed. Around one in the morning, she and Anya had decided to try to get some sleep. Lying in his bed, his scent surrounded her, and it only made her miss him that much more.

  Tossing and turning in bed for over an hour, she finally got up and stood at the window, looking out at the ranch and wondering how soon the team would get back. She pictured how Phantom had looked in his full tactical gear as he had given her a kiss before he left. She refused to believe it would be the last time they ever kissed. She gnawed nervously on her thumbnail. She refused to believe it, but she trembled with fear and anxiety.

  She began to pace his room, thinking about every detail she had shared with the team about the layout of Jonas’s ranch. Had she remembered everything? Had she given them the necessary information for them to be successful? Or had she forgotten an important detail that could have put them all in harm’s way?

  Feeling like a caged animal, she slid out of his room and padded barefoot across the hardwood floors toward the front of the house. She wandered down the long hallway, her mind spinning. She had grown accustomed to the sound of the men’s voices whenever she visited the ranch home, and the silence surrounding her seemed unnatural.

  She ran her hands along the smooth granite counter of the island in the kitchen, looking over the area that usually flourished with food and hummed with the men’s laughter and good-natured ribbing. She craved the feeling of Phantom’s arms around her, holding her, reassuring her, bringing her a strength she’d never thought she would long for from a man. She walked slowly toward the dining room, fighting the tears that burned the backs of her eyes. She couldn’t wait to see the table full of the people she had grown close to over the last couple of months.

  Somehow when it’s right, you just know.

  Anya’s words entered her mind and she wrapped her arms around herself, standing in the dining room, leaning against the chair where Phantom usually sat. Anya’s logic hadn’t made sense to her a couple of months ago. The idea of falling in love with a man so completely and so quickly seemed unrealistic. Or, so she had thought until she had kissed Phantom.

  Their wild race to the back forty acres seemed to have been ages ago. Her fingers lightly traced her lips as she remembered the spontaneous kiss. She had known then that a relationship with Phantom would be unlike anything she had ever imagined. Now, the idea of not having him in her life seemed unfathomable.

  “I couldn’t sleep either.” Anya spoke softly from the direction of the living room, and Elena jumped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Anya’s eyes were large in her pale face, and Elena knew Anya had to be just as terrified as she was.

  She walked over to her best friend and wrapped her arms around her. Anya buried her face at Elena’s shoulder. “This is what they do, you know? They’re the best of the best. I still can’t help but feel lost when he’s gone. I can’t help but feel anxious, and nervous, and…” Anya choked back a sob.

  Elena ran a hand through Anya’s smooth hair. “I know. I know. But it’s like you said. They are the best of the best. If anyone can go into this situation and bring down the bad guys, it’s our men.”

  Anya pulled back slightly and looked at Elena closely. “You love him, don’t you? You’ve fallen in love with Phantom.”

  Elena fought back her own sob. “Yes. More than I ever thought possible. It’s just like you described it. And I’m so incredibly proud of him. Do you realize we’re in love with two incredible men? Who would have ever thought?”

  Anya chuckled lightly, sniffing. “Just wait until Evie finds out. She’s going to think we’ve both lost our minds.”

  Elena smiled and wiped at a tear that had escaped and trickled down her cheek. “I didn’t think they would be gone this long. What do you think is happening?”

  Anya shook her head. “I have no idea. Stryker doesn’t fill me in on mission details. He just tells me he’s got an assignment, and then he’s gone. We’d both have to be cleared at a much higher level to know exactly what is going on.”

  “Phantom asked me to give him a complete overview of Jonas’s ranch. I know they are hoping to save the hostages, but other than that, I don’t know what else they have planned.”

  “It all depends on what they walk into. A part of me hopes that Jonas has fled and they’ll find the ranch quiet. Another part of me hopes they catch Jonas and all the other traffickers and destroy them.” The expression on Anya’s face had become fierce.

  “There’s just so much we don’t know. I had no idea Jonas was involved in something so terrible, and coming across it…” Elena’s voice trailed off and her eyes squinted as she looked out the dining room window. “Did you see headlights?”

  Anya turned, her hand clutching Elena’s. They stared out the window for several long moments before it became obvious that there were headlights bobbing along the rough dirt road leading up to the ranch. “They’re back!” Anya said, her excitement bubbling to the surface.

  Elena’s hand tightened on her friend’s before she could race to the front door. “How do we know it’s them?”

  Anya turned to look at her with wide eyes. “Who else could it be? They would have to know the gate code to get access in here.”

  Elena shook her head. “I won’t trust anyone until I see one of our guys standing in the foyer, alive and safe. I’m not willing to take any chances. We’ll watch them as they approach the house.
We should be able to tell who it is since we have the lights on outside waiting for the guys.”

  Anya swallowed hard and nodded. “You’re right. We have to think like they would, and they certainly wouldn’t blindly trust anyone coming up to the house. Come with me.”

  Racing through the house, Anya pulled Elena over to the foyer and faced the large gun rack. “If they aren’t here for the right reason, we need to be armed. I know it’s been a while since you’ve used a rifle…”

  Elena grabbed a rifle off the gun rack and a handful of bullets she stuffed into the pockets of her pajama pants. “It’s like riding a bike. I’ll remember quickly.”

  Anya nodded and grabbed another rifle, flipping off the safety. “I’ll stand at the stairs. Whoever tries to come in won’t see me from there and I’ll have a clear shot.”

  Elena also flipped off the safety on the rifle she held. “I’ll stand just inside the dining room facing the foyer. Between the two of us, whoever it is won’t get far.” She hesitated, then rushed forward and embraced Anya. “I love you. We’re going to be fine.”

  “I love you too,” Anya whispered.

  They crouched together at the dining room window, staring at the person walking up to the house. Just like one of their men, he was dressed in full black military gear, but he kept looking away from the house, so they couldn’t get a clear view of his face. They had to be prepared for anyone.

  They moved into position and waited. Elena’s mind raced with possible scenarios of who could be coming through the door any moment. Only one set of headlights had come into view, which meant it couldn’t be the entire team, because they had taken three trucks out to Jonas’s ranch.

  Hope blossomed in Elena’s chest as she heard a key being inserted into the dead bolt. She didn’t want to think about the possibility that Jonas could have taken the keys off one of their men. She had to be prepared for any scenario, though, and leveled the rifle, aiming toward the foyer.