“Yes, sir,” Viking said. As their team leader, he was the one who spoke for them all. Probably a good thing since Neo’s gut roiled with impotent anger. No telling what he’d say if he were the one giving the briefing.
Mendez picked up his phone and casually scrolled through it, and Neo wanted to explode.
“Hmm, that’s interesting. Looks like you boys have a team bonding day Wednesday. Not sure what Ghost has in mind for you, but I don’t expect to see you around HQ.”
Neo’s heart soared. Fuck yeah.
Viking didn’t miss a beat. He shot Neo a grin before answering. “That’s right, sir. We’re bonding.”
“Make sure you don’t use my equipment to do it,” Mendez added as he stood. Before they could join him, he made a hand signal to keep them in their seats.
“No, sir, not part of the plan.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to call Mr. Black and discuss our training methods with him.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Mendez strolled over to Neo’s chair and stuck out his hand. Neo jumped to his feet and shook hands with the general.
“Congratulations, Neo. I hope you’ll have a long and happy—and mostly uneventful—marriage to Kayla.”
“Thank you, sir. Me too, sir.”
The phone on the conference table blared to life. Viking picked it up.
“Lieutenant Commander Erikson,” he said in cool tones. He frowned. “What? Okay, yeah, put her through.”
He dropped the phone in the cradle and gave them a hard look. Neo’s gut twisted. He didn’t like that expression on his team leader’s face. He didn’t have his cell phone because of where they were in the facility, but he had a powerful urge to drop everything and retrieve it from his locker so he could call Kayla. The back of his neck started to itch like crazy as his stomach bottomed out.
“Chloe and Kayla didn’t show up at Ella’s,” he said. “They aren’t at work either. Ella called there when they didn’t arrive with Ana.”
The phone rang again. “That’ll be your wife, Money. Talk to her and calm her down.”
Money snatched up the phone and Neo stood there blinking in disbelief, his guts turning to ice.
“The Kings took them. But why?” he growled. “It’s not Wednesday yet. What the fuck,” he exploded. “We still had two days!”
His gaze met Dirty’s. His teammate’s face had gone white. He suspected his was the same. Kayla and Chloe and Ana. Missing. He loved all three of them. He’d kill for them, sacrifice himself—whatever it took. The look on Dirty’s face told him that Dirty would do the same.
And Camel’s. Camel had that dark cool look that meant he’d gone deep inside himself to a place of stillness. That place he used whenever he called on his skills to hit targets from afar. If they could get him a clear shot within a mile of the Kings, he’d take them out with deadly precision.
Mendez clapped a hand on Neo’s shoulder and he started. He’d forgotten the man was there. “Easy, son. We got this.” He headed for the door. “I’m calling Ian now. You boys get ready to roll. HOT equipment authorized for a joint exercise.”
Neo and his teammates ran for their gear. They were grabbing pistols and dragging on assault suits when Ghost appeared in the entry. Motion ceased as they waited for whatever he was about to tell them.
“James Dunn is dead. Hanged himself in his prison cell this morning.”
“Shit,” Camel swore. “That means Gentry’s in charge—and rewriting the rules.”
That was exactly what it meant. But what did the fucker want? Revenge? More money?
It hit him in dark place that Kayla could already be dead. And Chloe. Maybe not Ana. Probably not Ana if Gentry intended to sell her to the adoption agency.
Neo’s heart was a dead weight in his chest as his mind raced through all the possibilities. He wanted to scream. Cry.
Kill.
He couldn’t do any of it though. Not yet. He had to keep it together and operate on the assumption they were still alive. That he could rescue them.
Ghost’s secure phone pinged. “Viper says Black’s expecting you. Get moving, sailors. Find our family and bring them home.”
Neo’s eyes pricked with tears. He slammed his weapons in their holsters and headed toward the exit. Last thing he did was stop and grab his phone on the way out of the building. Two missed texts.
He opened them as the booted feet of his teammates echoed around him. He crashed to a halt and everyone else did too.
“What is it?” Dirty demanded, shoving his way to Neo’s side. “Is it Kayla?”
“They’ve got her phone,” Neo said as a tendril of cautious elation began to unwind itself inside him.
He didn’t have to tell his teammates what that meant. They all knew that a cell phone meant tracking. Especially for people with the kind of access they had. He turned the phone so they could see the picture of Kayla holding Ana with Chloe sitting beside them. Dirty growled.
“What do they want?” Camel asked, sounding a million miles away. In his head, he probably was. Envisioning his shots. Watching biker heads explode as his rounds connected.
“The price has gone up,” Neo gritted. “One million dollars by sundown.”
Kayla, Chloe, and Ana huddled together on a nasty bed in a nasty room in a nasty building, and Ana was crying. Kayla tried to soothe her, but Ana was hungry and Dal Gentry wouldn’t let Kayla have the diaper bag that contained Ana’s snacks.
“Shh, baby, shhh,” Kayla crooned. Ana was having none of it. She wailed and threw her arms up and down and Kayla’s heart was breaking.
“Let me take her for a second,” Chloe said softly. “You need a break.”
Kayla let Chloe pull Ana onto her lap and then scrubbed her eyes. She’d been crying too, out of anger and fear for her baby mostly, though also for them, and her eyes were swollen.
“I’m sorry,” she said to Chloe again.
Chloe bounced Ana, who still cried, and looked over at Kayla. “It’s not your fault, Kayla.”
“It is. If you hadn’t been with me, you wouldn’t be here.”
“I’m glad I’m with you,” Chloe said fiercely, and Kayla believed she meant it. Her heart swelled with gratitude and love for her friend. “I’ve been through this shit before, and I know we’re going to be fine. Ryan and Zach will find us, Kayla. They will. I have faith.”
“I hope you’re right.”
She didn’t have Chloe’s faith, though she wanted it. But life was always a shit sandwich for her, at some point, and she’d been overdue. When the passenger window had busted in on her, she hadn’t realized what was happening. But then she’d looked up and found herself staring at the barrel of a pistol. That was when the rumble of motorcycles finally registered in her brain. She’d heard them before Chloe’d slammed on the brakes, but she hadn’t been on her guard like she should have been. She’d assumed it was a plane flying overhead and hadn’t bothered to look.
She hadn’t been diligent, and for that she couldn’t forgive herself.
Come on, Kay-Kay! What could you have done even if you’d managed to figure out the sound was motorcycles? They already had you.
Her face stung with the cuts she’d gotten from flying glass, and the dried blood was beginning to itch. Chloe had ripped off one of her sleeves and dabbed at the cuts as best she could once they’d gotten thrown in here. None were deep, thankfully. Both Chloe and Ana were unhurt.
Kayla shot to her feet and paced back and forth, fear churning inside. The room was small and dingy and there was nothing they could use for a weapon. She’d looked. Chloe had looked. There was a dirty bed with nothing but a mattress, a table with a chair—they’d considered the chair, but it was too unwieldy—and one window high up on the wall. Chloe had already pushed the table over and stood on it to look outside.
“Woods,” she’d said. “Nothing but woods.”
The Kings had caught them on an isolated stretch of road where they usually took a short
cut to the highway that would take them to Ella’s place. They’d been surrounded, and someone had bashed in her window. Another of the brothers stood beside Chloe’s door and motioned at her to open it. When she did, he’d yanked her out and shoved her into the backseat. Then he’d taken over the driving.
They hadn’t cared that she and Chloe saw where they were going. A bad sign to her way of thinking. When they’d made it to this weathered building in the back of beyond, Dal Gentry parked his black and chrome Harley Fat Boy and swaggered over to yank her from the car.
“Hello, bitch,” he’d growled in her ear. “Have a nice ride?”
“I said I’d get the money,” she’d growled back because she knew better than to show fear in front of these men. “You’re making a mistake.”
He’d barked a laugh. “No mistake, bitch. The terms have changed.”
Kayla rubbed her hands up and down her arms, shivering. She didn’t know what the terms were because he hadn’t told her, but he’d taken her phone away and forced her to give him the code. She’d debated lying about it, but he’d nudged his chin at one of the other men—yet another one she didn’t remember—and said, “Gimme the brat.”
Chloe started singing to Ana, but it didn’t really help. Her little sobs were weaker now, but she still cried and slapped her hands at Chloe. She’d done the same to Kayla.
“Za!” Ana wailed anew, and Kayla’s skin prickled with fresh heat as anger roared to life inside.
She stormed over to the door and started banging on it. “Gentry!” she screamed. “Bring me that fucking diaper bag you asshole! If I can’t take care of Ana, then you won’t get any money out of her at all! No rich bitch is going to pay top dollar for a damaged kid.”
She was breathing heavy, ready to sink to the floor and sob, when the door jerked open. It wasn’t Gentry who stood there with the bag though.
“Steve?”
He sneered. “Yeah, it’s me. Shut that fucking kid up, Kayla,” he said as he threw the bag at her.
He slammed the door and Kayla snatched up the bag, hurrying over to the bed to dig out one of the prepared bottles of formula. Thankfully she’d made a couple up so that Ella would have them ready to go. There were some snacks and pureed vegetables as well, though nothing that was going to get them through more than a day.
Kayla growled in frustration as she fumbled for the correct bottle since she’d included a couple of empties with powder so Ella could mix them if necessary. She still hated James for the fact she had to bottle feed and being imprisoned by his club only made her resentment worse.
“Slow down, honey,” Chloe said softly. “Here, give it to me. You take Ana and I’ll get it for you.”
Kayla took Ana in her arms and Chloe got the bottle, shook it up, and handed it over. Ana took it greedily and the wailing ceased. Chloe and Kayla looked at each other, breathing easier for a minute.
“Thank God,” Kayla said.
“Who was that guy? You knew his name.”
Kayla snorted bitterly. “He’s Ana’s uncle. Not that you’d know it from the way he behaved, right?”
“Oh dear.”
“Yeah, those Dunn men are real sentimental about their own flesh and blood. Asshole.” Kayla rocked Ana while she ate. Her eyes were still swollen and her face was red, but at least she was quiet now. Maybe she’d have tired herself out enough to take a nap.
Kayla sniffed and wiped her nose on her shoulder. She stuffed her tears down deep, determined to stay strong for Ana. And Chloe, though Chloe didn’t seem to need any help in that quarter. Her friend was so stoic. It amazed her.
“These guys are definitely assholes, I’ll grant you that,” Chloe said. “But they aren’t as bad as Travis and his militia. They’re downright welcoming compared to that group. Travis beat me within an inch of my life when he captured me. He’d planned to kill Ryan when he came to get me, and then he was going to rape me before killing me. Oh, and he threatened to let his militia have a go at me too.”
“How did you survive it?” Kayla asked, horrified.
“Well, I was scared, I won’t lie. But then I realized that I loved Ryan and he loved me and no way in hell was I letting him die because of me. I was going to fight and give him a chance to get to me.” She smiled. “It wasn’t easy, but that’s what happened. I escaped but Travis caught me. Then I stabbed him. But Ryan was there before Travis could shoot me. He took Travis’s gun away, and I got it. I was going to kill him, but Ryan talked me out of it. I wanted to kill him so bad, but Ryan was right that it would haunt me if I did. So I didn’t. Then Travis pulled a pistol he’d kept hidden—and Ryan shot him before he could shoot me.”
“Wow.”
Chloe shrugged as if it was nothing, though Kayla could tell she was still emotional about the incident. “So you see, it’ll work out. Ryan found me before. He’ll find me again. He’s searching for me, same as Zach is searching for you. They’re pissed as hell, Kayla. They’re pissed and they’re coming. These guys should really be thinking about that. But they probably aren’t based on the fact we’re parked in a room with an outer wall and there’s nobody in here with a gun to our heads just in case—and I’m not telling them.”
Kayla hugged her baby a little tighter. Not so tightly she set off any fussing. “I wish I had your faith, Chloe. I really do. But it never works that way for me.”
“It will this time.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Love. Love moves mountains. And when your man is a lethal killing machine trained and sanctioned by the US Navy? Honey, nothing can stop him. Just do what it takes to stay alive until he gets here. Because he will be here.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
They didn’t have the luxury of waiting until nightfall to raid the building where the Kings of Doom were keeping Kayla, Chloe, and Ana. The SEALs rendezvoused with Ian Black’s security forces, otherwise known as the Bandits, and piled into a couple of high tech SUVs owned by Black Defense International. Jace Kaiser and Brett Wheeler were in one vehicle with half the SEALs while Colt Duchaine and Jared Fraser were in another.
HOT was liaising, which was permitted by the Congressional Act that prevented them from participating in law enforcement operations—even if this wasn’t technically a law enforcement operation—and Ian and Ghost were sharing information on locations and cell phone tracking data.
Neo sat with his head back and his eyes closed, listening to the conversation around him but thinking about Kayla and Ana. Kayla, with her beautiful smiles and the underlying fear in her eyes that something would always go wrong, and Ana with her chubby cheeks and her enthusiasm for saying “Za!” at the drop of a hat.
If anything happened to either one of them, he’d go insane. He wanted to fix this for Kayla. To prove to her that it didn’t always go wrong. That she could depend on him to be there every time she needed him.
I’m coming, beautiful. Hang in there.
His heart hurt and his brain whirled with hot anger. Dirty was in much the same boat over Chloe, and Camel wasn’t far behind. The damage to Bailey if Kayla and Ana were killed would be irreparable, and Camel would have a long road to travel with her as he tried to pick up the pieces and keep her together.
Neo had texted Gentry back and agreed to meet him later. He wasn’t going to keep that meeting because he and his team were blowing in like a fucking typhoon and taking Gentry down before it happened.
“Cell tower data indicates the women are in the same location,” Jace Kaiser said. “We’ve got the coordinates. Heading there now.”
Neo opened his eyes. They were gritty and he blinked a few times to clear them.
“You with us, Neo?” Shade asked, and Neo blinked at his teammate.
“Yep. Ready to kick some biker ass.”
“If Chloe has one scratch—one,” Dirty growled.
“Somebody please tell me the assholes are sitting in the open,” Camel added. “I’ll pick every single one of them off before they even hear the fir
st shot.”
“Calm down,” Remy “Cage” Marchand said. He was their team’s second in command and he glared at them all now with steely eyes. “You assholes know that failure is not an option here. Concentrate on the task and worry about killing the fuckers after we have our objective.”
“We aren’t killing anyone,” Brett Wheeler said. “If we don’t have to. That’s not the mission. Rescue the hostages. Capture the bikers and turn them over to law enforcement.”
“You don’t really think those assholes are going to surrender without a fight?” Neo said. “They demanded one million fucking dollars by sundown. Does that sound like a group of jerks that aren’t looking for trouble?”
Brett grinned at him in the rearview. “Nope, but I gotta say what I gotta say.”
“Okay, listen up,” Jace Kaiser said, turning in his seat to look at them. He was holding an iPad and had a Google Earth map on the screen. Or what was probably a classified version of Google Earth. HOT had those too. “The terrain is wooded. There’s one road in and it’s probably being watched. The building they’re in is an old tobacco barn that’s been out of use for years and been converted into a storage facility at one point and a flea market at another. Most recently it was a garage. It’s fallen into disrepair and hasn’t been used in about ten years, but it has recently been leased to King Makers, LLC, which is supposed to be an auto repair and painting facility.”
“Yeah, right,” Dirty muttered.
“Hey, just telling you what it says,” Jace replied. “We’ll insert via the woods. Once we’ve got a visual on the place, and the heat map data, we’ll proceed.”
“No wonder there was no sign of those assholes,” Camel said as he looked over Jace’s shoulder. “That place is way out in the boonies.”
“Yeah, but that’s a good thing for us,” Neo said. “It means nobody’s gonna hear it when we start shooting.”
“If there’s a well, we can drop the bodies down it,” Dirty said. “Toss some quicklime in after.”
HOT SEAL Devotion Page 21
