Rules in Rescue

by Nichole Severn

  There was no other way. At least, not one that would get Hunter home tonight. And as for Anthony... Glennon tossed the weapon she’d lifted off the soldier into the snow. She wouldn’t lose him again. Not like this. “You’ve done the job I hired you for, sweetheart, but I’m assigning you a new one.” A faint smile curled her lips. When would be the next time he called her that? Her throat threatened to close as she raised her hands over her head in surrender to Jamie Mascaro.

  “Take care of our son.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  She was tearing him apart.

  “You’re not doing this.” Anthony wrapped his hand around her arm, jerking her into him. Like hell his job was finished. Did she honestly think he’d let her walk away again? After everything they’d been through? They had a son together. His muscles ached from tension, every cell in his body ready to rip these bastards apart with his bare hands. Only he couldn’t. Not with a chance of Hunter getting caught in the crosshairs. He unclenched his jaw. “I won’t lose you again.”

  “You’re running out of time, Sergeant Chase,” Jamie Mascaro said.

  Four operatives left, each armed with an M4 assault rifle. Plus Jamie Mascaro and her Ruger. Any one of those bullets could rip apart his life. Anthony tightened his grip on the gun he’d taken from the bastard who’d dared put his hands on Glennon. The knife wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. Six rounds. Five targets. His attention slid to Hunter. One innocent, perfect, four-year-old boy. Didn’t leave a whole lot of room for error.

  “You’re not losing me.” She framed his jawline with her hands, brilliant green eyes locked on him. A rush of her rosy scent drove straight into his lungs. “Besides, you’re not the only one trained in combat, Ranger. I know how to take care of myself.”

  Yet she’d offered herself up as the perfect hostage.

  Rage rode him hard, but he tried to hold it back. For her. For Hunter. “I can do this. Say the word and I’ll—”

  Glennon fastened her hands behind his neck and pulled him against her. His mouth crashed onto hers. Ferocious desire exploded through him, igniting his strongest protective instincts. Having her to himself these last three days... It wasn’t enough. It would never be enough. She had worked herself under his skin, and he had no idea how to get her out. Didn’t want to know how. Her hands slid against his cheek. So soft. So...final.

  Pulling away from him, Glennon set her forehead against his. “Protect Hunter. No matter what.”

  “Enough.” Jamie Mascaro’s voice penetrated the haze clouding his mind. Two soldiers came forward and ripped Glennon out of his hold. “I’m running out of patience.”

  His fingers burned against the dropping temperatures and the freezing steel of the rifle in his hand. Anthony took a single step forward, fire raging in his veins, but two more assault rifle barrels promised to cut him down if given the chance. He couldn’t help her. Couldn’t save her. But he could save their son. “This isn’t over, Mascaro. Doesn’t matter where you hide, I’m coming for you.”

  “I look forward to it, Ranger. But remember. I saved your life today. I could’ve killed you anytime and you wouldn’t have seen it coming.” Jamie Mascaro turned her back on him with a nod to the operative holding onto his son. “Shoot Sergeant Major Harris if he moves an inch.” She paused. “Better yet. Shoot her if he moves an inch.”

  “Mommy!” Hunter ran through the snow, wrapping his arms around his mother’s legs, and Anthony’s gut clenched. “Where are you going?”

  “Stay with Anthony, baby.” Glennon didn’t have the chance to stop as the two operatives at her side pulled her toward the waiting vehicles, leaving Hunter in the snow. Alone.

  Anthony fanned his grip over the gun in his hand. He couldn’t take a step. Not without igniting an all-out war. Her footsteps wavered as they led her to one of the SUVs. December flakes disrupted the blinding light coming from the headlights, but the heartbreak in her last words was clear. She didn’t believe she was coming home. Her voice strained as she looked back over her shoulder. “He’s going to watch over you until I can come home, okay?”

  Another soldier wrenched Bennett to his feet and hurled him back inside one of the waiting vehicles. Separate from his partner.

  Anthony tried to get his control back, but Glennon had been the only one who could talk him down from the brink of rage. Always had been. His heart beat too loud, the rush of adrenaline too strong. He gripped the gun hard. He had to focus. Breathe. But every breath pressurized in his lungs.

  He had to get her back. He would get her back. But not right now.

  He watched as Glennon ripped herself out of the soldiers’ holds, determined to walk on her own. She’d let this play out, but on her terms. Despite the fact she was walking away from him—again—Anthony had to respect her for that. Two gunmen collected their unconscious soldiers from the snow a few feet away, loading them into one of the SUVs.

  Engines growled to life as Glennon paused, her gaze locking on his. A single nod was all she gave him before ducking inside the waiting vehicle, Jamie Mascaro close behind. In thirty seconds, the road was clear, snowflakes dimming distant taillights.

  She was gone.

  “Hunter.” Anthony dropped the rifle and rushed forward, sliding onto his knees as he wrapped his arms around the boy. Cold worked through his clothing and deep into his bones. He lifted Hunter against him. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

  His son shook in his arms. “Where’s Mommy going?”

  “She’ll be right back.” Anthony stared after the disappearing convoy. Spinning back toward his SUV, he hung on to Hunter with everything he had. “I promise.”

  He wrenched the back door open, tossing the remains of the flash grenade into the snow. After securing his son in the seat, he pulled his emergency kit from the hidden compartment in the floor.

  Anthony exhaled hard. His son. Hell, he had a son. He still couldn’t believe Glennon had kept Hunter from him.

  He wrapped his son in the blanket from his kit, pure green eyes—the same shade as Glennon’s—staring up at him. Running his hand through the boy’s short blond hair, he curled his hand around the back of Hunter’s neck. No more mistakes. No distractions. Glennon was coming home. But first he had to get Hunter to safety. He extracted the burner phone stashed under the extra ammunition and hit the speed dial for Blackhawk Security.

  The line rang only once.

  “Oh, good. You’re alive.” Sullivan Bishop’s voice pulled the logistical side of his mind onto the next operation: recovering Glennon Chase. “I was beginning to wonder.”

  “Glennon’s been taken,” he said.

  “Give me the details.” Two snapping sounds crossed the line. Sullivan most likely trying to get the team’s attention. “Location?”

  “Five operators, plus the leader, all armed with M4s. All military. I’m one mile southwest outside Far North Bicentennial Park. Track my vehicle’s GPS for an exact location.” He checked his watch. Anthony studied the small shed off the side of the road. “Bogies on the move two minutes and counting, headed north. One civilian left behind.” His gaze cut to Hunter huddled in the blanket, drifting off to sleep. His son was safe. That was all that mattered. His jaw hung open, heart rate dropping as adrenaline drained from his veins. “Send whoever you’ve got. Now.”

  “We have your location. Elizabeth, Vincent and Elliot are wheels-up in two,” Sullivan said. “ETA fifteen minutes.”

  His grip tightened around the phone, the plastic protesting. Fifteen minutes. Too long. Every minute he wasted waiting around for backup, the greater the chance he’d lose the convoy’s tracks. Anthony forced his tongue from the top of his mouth. But he wasn’t about to put Hunter in danger. The boy had been through enough. First being taken from his grandmother by force, then losing his mother.

  He didn’t have a choice. He had to wait.

  “Hold on a se
cond.” Sullivan’s end of the line went silent. Two seconds. Three. In less than two minutes, Glennon could be anywhere in Anchorage. Jamie Mascaro had the resources and the contacts to get a private plane out of the state in under an hour. They had to make a move. Now. “Vincent had his contact in Anchorage PD forward the forensics report from the scene at Helen Chase’s home.”

  Anticipation flooded through him. “And?”

  “The shooter’s boots had a specific gravel stuck in the treads, and we were able to track it to a stretch of warehouses near Tina Lake. The system matched it instantly to the manufacturer, thanks to an unsolved robbery from last year. Could be a lead on your girl,” Sullivan said. “And don’t think we aren’t going to talk about the bullet in that guy’s leg. It’s only a matter of time before Anchorage PD gets a hit on the ballistics.”

  The bastard was lucky one bullet was all Glennon had had the stomach for, considering he’d helped Jamie Mascaro kidnap her son.

  “Is the shooter talking?” The warehouse theory was all they had, but he wasn’t about to go in blind. Too many risks. Too many ways the entire operation could go sideways. Too many ways he could lose Glennon for good. “Anything I can use?”

  “No.” Sullivan lowered his voice. “Listen, Anchorage PD is collecting a lot of bodies linked to this investigation. They can’t charge you with anything yet, but, Anthony, I’ve been there. I know exactly what you’re thinking.”

  Sullivan had been there. One month ago when his own brother had come back from the dead to target Captain Jane Reise, Sullivan’s then-client and now the love of his life. The former SEAL had shot his own flesh and blood to save the woman he loved. Something Anthony was more than prepared to do for Glennon. “So promise me whatever happens when the Grim Reaper comes calling, it’ll be clean. For your own good and mine.”

  Anthony stared into the fresh tracks at his feet. If it hadn’t been for Sullivan, he would’ve been left for dead in Afghanistan during his last mission for the Rangers. He owed the former SEAL his life. But no matter how much he wanted to give his word, to promise this wouldn’t come back onto Blackhawk Security and his team, he couldn’t. Jamie Mascaro was about to find out exactly what kind of monster Anthony had caged all these years.

  “Redirect the team. Have them meet me at Tina Lake.” He hung up then dropped the phone into the snow, crushing it under his boot. Wrenching open the driver’s-side door, he hurried in behind the wheel. The engine growled to life and he shoved the SUV into Drive. He hiked himself higher in the seat to get a better view of the back seat, of his son. The boy stared sleepily back at him. Anthony took a deep breath. No question. Just as Sullivan had been given the choice, he’d do whatever it took to recover the love of his life. Forget duty. Forget why she’d hired him in the first place. He wasn’t going anywhere. Not without Glennon.

  “Let’s go get your mom, buddy.”

  * * *

  GLENNON OPENED HER EYES, gasping. Clarity came in a sudden, sharp rush. Ice squeezed her body as she fought against the zip ties at her wrists and ankles. Her head pounded. What the hell had Mascaro drugged her with? She brought her bound hands to her neck, wincing, cold seeping into her clothing. The injection site burned. The convoy had gone maybe a mile from the abandoned water shed when she’d been drugged. She could be anywhere right now. Shaking off the gripping effects of the drug, she focused on the only source of warmth pressed against one side of her.

  Bennett?

  His shoulders rose and fell in even currents. He was alive—breathing—but had most likely been drugged with the same cocktail. She blinked against the pain tightening the muscles down the back of her neck. She had to focus. Make a plan. Because she wasn’t dying today. Not when she’d gotten her son back. Not when she’d gotten Anthony back. She shifted on the cold cement floor. They had to get out of here. Glennon studied the massive empty space. Wherever here was. “Bennett, wake up.”

  Shoving against her partner, she sat up. A wave of dizziness closed in fast, but she kept her balance. Barely. She uncurled her stiff fingers. Had Jamie Mascaro really stripped them of their coats? Reaching for her boots, she untied her shoelaces then tied them together through the ties at her wrists. She’d never had to saw her way through zip ties before, but there was a first time for everything. Seesawing her feet back and forth, she worked through the plastic. The muscles down her thighs burned, her body heavy.

  Movement registered to her left. Lights flared from around a closed door. Someone was coming. She worked faster, harder. Mascaro had made her intentions perfectly clear. She and Bennett were to be interrogated then dealt with. Killed.

  The ties at her wrists snapped, but she still had to deal with her ankles. And her partner. “Bennett.”

  A deep groan reached her ears. “Why does it feel like someone hit me over the head?”

  “If you don’t get yourself out of those zip ties, you’re going to have a much bigger headache when Jamie Mascaro puts a bullet between your eyes.” She inhaled long and deep, forcing her heart rate to slow. Concentrate.

  “Why, Glennon, is that you?” Pain roughened his voice. Bennett struggled to sit up, his boots scraping against the cold cement floor. The light from around the door reflected off the whites of his eyes, but it was still too dark to make out anything other than a few old haul trucks. “Last thing I remember is someone sticking a needle in my neck while I was scouting out the location. Did we win?”

  “Not yet.” Her hands shook. She balled them into fists and stretched her knees out to opposite sides. With one strong push on either knee, the zip tie around her ankles snapped. She bit back a moan as the plastic cut into her briefly, then pushed to her feet. “Mascaro changed the rules. She exchanged Hunter for you. Then Anthony’s life for mine.”

  A laugh rumbled from Bennett’s chest as she crouched beside him to help him sit straight. “And here I thought the woman who wants me dead would stick to her word. Shame on me.”

  “And here I thought I could trust my partner. Shame on me.” The words left her mouth much sharper than she’d intended. But there were some sins that couldn’t be wiped clean with a joint abduction.

  Glennon unlaced his boots and retied them as she’d done with hers. The ties snapped after a full minute of silence. He could take care of his ankles himself. Standing, she surveyed the space. A warehouse of some kind. Moisture clung to the air, dampening her clothing more than the sweat working down her collarbone. A warehouse near water. Lake or Pacific Ocean? Only one way to find out.

  “Glennon, wait.” Bennett straightened, his dark outline wobbling toward her before his strength returned. The dizziness. Whatever Jamie Mascaro had drugged them with clung tight to their nervous systems. Who knew how long it would pull them down? “I need you to know why I did it. Why I joined Nicholas Mascaro’s crew. It wasn’t for the money, although it was a nice perk.”

  “I don’t think now is a good time.” She ran her sweaty palms down her jeans, searching for another door in the barren space. Too dark. They’d have to spread out. Fast. Before the guys with guns came back.

  “We’re not being shot at yet,” Bennett said. “I think now is the perfect time.”

  Something in her snapped. What was it with the men in her life determined to talk things through at the most inconvenient times? He wanted to talk about this now? With Jamie Mascaro and her traitorous soldiers right outside the door? Fine. Her face heated then went ice-cold. “It doesn’t matter why you did it, Bennett. You lied to me. You betrayed me and this country. I let you into my life, into my son’s life. I trusted you and you threw it in my face—”

  “Nicholas Mascaro was a witness in my sister’s disappearance.” Bennett ran a shadowed hand over his face. “He saw the suspect two minutes before she vanished off base.”

  What? Her stomach sank. The American flag pin. She’d known it had belonged to his sister, but the reason he’d held on to it... Damn. Losing som
eone that close, someone you loved more than anything, would change anyone. For better or for worse. Anthony’s pale features as he lost blood due to his wounds in the parking garage flashed across her mind. She couldn’t imagine that pain. Didn’t want to imagine it.

  Glennon swallowed hard, her throat closing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t... You never said anything.”

  “Well, it’s not exactly something I advertise, seeing as how she’s the reason I chose to betray my country. And my partner.” He tapped his knuckles into her arm. “Nicholas brought me into the operation to help find her abductor. Made me a lieutenant to gain the trust of his contacts and use them to track down the man who...” A shaky inhale reached her ears through the darkness. “The guy might’ve been the head of a criminal organization, but he was the only lead I had. In return, I got him access to the big guns on base. Before I knew it, I was embedded deeper than I intended. Guess his wife doesn’t like that.”

  “Did you find him? The man who took your sister?” Glennon ran her hands along the nearest wall, searching for anything that could get them outside. Ten seconds passed. Twenty. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Every cell in her body waited in anticipation as Bennett searched the other side of the room.

  “No, I never found him.” His voice lightened as he maneuvered past her toward another wall. “And I never will if we don’t get the hell out of here.”

  Right. Glennon shook off the tightness in her chest, staring after his retreating form. Jamie Mascaro wasn’t going to wait around for them to make up before she put a bullet in their heads. But one thing was clear. “I would’ve done the same thing, you know.”

  Bennett froze mid-escape. “Done what, exactly?”

  “If I’d lost the one person I loved more than anyone in the world like that, I would’ve done whatever I had to, to find whoever had taken them from me.” She took a step forward. The image of Anthony rushing toward her son out the back window of the SUV—their son—after she’d surrendered herself had burned itself into her mind. It was that exact moment when she’d realized what she was losing by getting into the back seat of the SUV with Jamie Mascaro: her family.