by Dawson, Zoe
* * *
Being drenched to the bone, trembling from exhaustion and lack of food and water was taking its toll on Willow and Emma. They had nowhere to go. The dogs were closing in, and they were backed up against the bank of a river with thrashing caiman, already watching for their foolish move into the water. Willow looked at Emma’s sweat-slicked face. She had fallen and twisted her ankle. There was no way they could run anyway. Three dogs broke from the trees and barked at them, surrounding them and keeping them in place, their teeth bared and jaws snapping. Willow’s grip on the gun was slick, and she raised it.
It wouldn’t matter. They were trapped. Did she want to die here?
Suddenly rifles were trained on them as men came out of the jungle into the small clearing. Willow’s stomach flipped and churned when Eze sauntered out from between two tall men. The guard she’d kicked looked at her with hatred, and she shivered.
“Drop the weapons,” Eze said. “There is no need for you to die here.”
She took a breath and trained the weapon on him. He didn’t move a muscle, and she met his eyes, vowing not to show her fear. “Let us go.”
“No. I have plans that include you, and my revenge will be sweet once they are fulfilled. Put down the weapon, or Emma will die.”
Her bravado fading, even as she realized that’s all it was, she dropped the gun. A man came forward, fed the dogs treats and leashed them. He pulled them away from her and Emma.
Eze’s smile was wide and oily as he approached them. He was a horrible man, his eyes a soulless black. He grabbed her arm in a vise grip, dragging her close, his face in hers. His breath was hot and foul. “Your life is in my hands.”
“Not by my choice,” she spat, and he backhanded her hard across the face. Her eye exploded in pain as she listed to the side, her cheek stinging, seeing stars. Emma caught Willow and held her upright as Willow brought her hand up to her cheek.
“Defy me again, and I’ll kill Emma. It’s as simple as that.” He strode off, and the guard from the cell grabbed her arm while another pulled Emma, who cried out from the pain and almost collapsed. “Bring them.”
“She hurt her ankle, you ape,” Willow shouted.
The cell guard squeezed hard when Willow tried to help Emma, but another guard just bent down and picked Emma up. The cell guard shoved her in front of him and kept shoving her all the way back to the compound. Behind her was the man she’d kneed in the groin and knocked unconscious. He was going to be guarding them again. The jungle thinned, sunlight covering the grounds as they neared the mansion.
As they broke from the trees, a heavy push knocked her to the ground. She turned to give him a nasty look.
When he raised his foot to kick her, Eze’s soft, modulated voice interrupted. “That is enough. Bring them here. All of you assemble.”
He dragged Willow up and pulled her toward Eze, who stood in front of the jail with his back to the jungle. The guard who carried Emma set her down. They stood together with the full complement of guards behind her and the cell guard just to Willow’s right.
“These women are off limits. Apparently, they are resourceful with enough courage to get them into trouble. Is that clear?”
Men nodded and answered in the affirmative.
Eze pulled out his phone and smiled. He turned around so Emma and Willow could see the screen then he dialed.
“Jude,” Emma cried as he answered the phone, the background looking like he was at a hotel.
“Emma! Willow!” His eyes went over them, and his face tightened, his expression hard. They must look awful, and he was reacting to their mistreatment. Willow was sure they looked the part of kidnap victims. Willow’s face was bruised and her lip cut. They were covered in dirt and muck, their clothes wet and muddy, and Emma was clearly leaning heavily on Willow.
Their eyes clashed and held, and Willow was caught in the beam of that intense gaze, held captive by it. Hollywood looked dangerous and angry, his eyes hard with promise. He was coming for her. She drew a deep breath, trying to stem the rising tide of fear for him with hope. He looked at his sister, the same promise there for her, and she saw his love for Emma briefly before he was back to that hard-assed warrior.
“Tell me where you are,” Hollywood said, breaking eye contact with her.
Eze rattled off the coordinates. Then he pulled out his gun and leveled it at them. Emma clutched Willow with a cry.
“No!” Hollywood gasped, his tone agonized.
Eze handed the phone to the guard and racked the slide.
“Eze, no, you fucking bastard!”
Every muscle in Willow’s body locked. Sweat blistered her upper lip, and the only sound was her heart pounding as her life flashed like a fast-moving movie.
“One other thing, Jude Lock. One of these women won’t be alive when you get here. Her death will be on your conscience.” His gaze moved to the phone at Hollywood’s low hoarse cry.
“I’ll do anything! Please, Eze!”
“Disconnect the call.”
The guard smiled and pushed the button, and Willow closed her eyes.
* * *
Hollywood stood in the small clearing they had retreated to, after witnessing Willow and Emma being forced back out of the jungle, his relief at seeing them alive short-lived when he realized how much danger they were still in. They couldn’t attack. There were too many men surrounding them. They could be caught in a crossfire.
The shock of Eze’s statement rippled through him, freezing him in place with sheer terror. The area was close and dark in the forest, and his heart was being crushed. Next to him, Will and Dozer were breathing hard, their jaws locked, eyes showing their shared anguish, their faces contorted with grief.
Then a shot echoed across the trees.
The booming startled birds into flight, and the monkey’s chatter increased as they warned of danger. Hollywood fell to his knees, his gut churning, pain taking over as the numbness of the shock receded until he was gasping with it. He’d lost one of them, and the feeling was nothing but sheer torment.
The image of Emma, her eyes dead and staring, then Willow’s reached out and grabbed him by the throat. Even as Dozer’s anguished cry and Will’s choked gasp mingled with his own pain, his love for his sister was a constant unending emotion. But he realized how much he cared for Willow, how much he’d fallen for her—all the fucking way.
No! he shouted in his mind to keep from giving their position away as he bowed his head.
15
Dragon’s tech knowledge came in handy, as the background he’d been able to use during the phone call had fooled Eze into thinking they were still in Panama City. But with the death of one of the women, they were still too late.
He stood there and watched the three men get lost in their grief. He knew what it was like to lose a sibling, and the memory rolled over him like thunder. He also knew what it was like to lose a woman he cared about—although not to death, just to circumstances. Now he wondered if he’d been stupid to leave her behind, leave before it could get complicated and screw with his plans to get out of New York City, away from gangs and drugs and violence.
The Navy had been his ticket out of a life that would have ended his way too soon like it had his brother’s. He leaned heavily against a tree, watching the grief roll through the three of them and realized how short life can be, especially in his chosen field of work. His thoughts about Jo had only compounded the last few weeks. Especially with the nightmares with no one to wake up to, no family here. He was homesick.
Dragon crouched down to Hollywood. “What do you need, man?”
Hollywood swallowed hard and got control of his emotions. Dragon expected nothing less. Someone was still alive, Eze was going to pay, and they were going to make sure to bring whoever he had killed home so loved ones could mourn. Hollywood looked up, his face hardening into determination, masking his grief like it had never been.
“We have an advantage. Eze doesn’t know we’re here. We wait u
ntil nightfall, and we assault. Get the survivor out.” He swallowed hard. “And…the body of the deceased, capture Eze and get the triggers if we can find them. Then exfil out of here.” Hollywood started to rise, but when it looked like he was having a hard time, Dragon reached out and helped him up. Hollywood acknowledged his condolences, his support and his brotherhood.
Getting this close to Ruckus’s team made Dragon want to foster the relationships in his own team. He wanted what they had, what his own team had before Speed had been killed and fractured their team beyond repair. They had lost good members who couldn’t handle the guilt and the rifts over what led to Speed’s death. Together and separately, they felt responsible, and until they came together and acknowledged it, agreed to work together to mend it, it would sit between them and fester. Embracing their new teammates would help with the animosity between them, like Mad Max and Dodger. The standoffish distance of 2-Stroke and Saint.
They retreated to the Rover to get some food and sleep before they assaulted. He wasn’t sure what the night would bring, but he was prepared to give everything to get Hollywood’s loved ones back home.
When they reached the Rover, Dozer said, “I’ll take the first watch.”
Hollywood glanced over at him and shook his head.
Dozer’s expression went hard. “I’ll take it. I don’t think I can sleep.”
“No, Dozer. Dragon will take the first watch, and I’ll take the second. We can’t compromise…” His voice broke. “Whoever is still alive. We have to be cautious.”
“It’s killing me,” Dozer growled.
Dragon was ready to intervene, as Dozer was a little too adamant about taking the first watch, and Dragon had a feeling he was going to go to the compound. But Hollywood was a consummate leader and warrior. He never flinched as Dozer got in his face. His calm, quiet courage and albeit wounded demeanor served him so well. Dragon was honored to know him.
Hollywood grabbed the back of Dozer’s neck and dragged him into a hug. “We will do what needs to be done. We know who we are and how to get justice. We must stick together now, Joe, whatever happens. I want Eze dead with every fiber of my being. But we will capture him for intel, and he will stand trial for the crimes he’s committed. National security is on the line, and we must put country first. Hoo-yah.”
“Hoo-yah,” Joe whispered, and with the reminder, he sagged, his shoulders dropping and the crisis was over.
Dozer went to the Rover and slid inside.
Dragon looked at Will, who hadn’t said a word, although grief was etched across his face at the thought of his daughter’s death. It was as if the light had dimmed. Dragon walked over and handed him a power bar, as with his other teammates. Will was the kind of instructor that was grounded, a wise teacher beyond his years.
“Fall down seven times…” Dragon started.
“Stand up eight,” Will said, knowing the meaning immediately because he was the one who had said it to Dragon when he was a hairsbreadth away from ringing out of BUD/S. To this day, it was the hardest test in his life and the challenge he had wanted the minute he’d become aware of Navy SEALs and what they had to do to become the elite of the elite. Will knew Dragon almost better than he knew himself. It was his gift.
“I squandered my time with my daughter this last six months,” Will said. “I’m ashamed that I put her through so much pain and worry. So damned ashamed. I was selfish, lost in my own grief for men that I loved like my brothers. But they were gone, and she was here, supporting me and so determined to help me.” He bowed his head, looking over at Hollywood. “I think he’s in love with my daughter, and whatever outcome we find tonight it’s going to kill him. I didn’t know his sister, but if she’s anything like him, it is a great loss. My daughter couldn’t have done better in a choice of a man. He is a born leader, and I’m proud to have a hand in making him into the SEAL he is today.”
“I lost a teammate a while back, and now I have just started to allow it to surface. I’m having nightmares,” Dragon said, both of them breaking the SEAL code of not talking about what was going on inside their heads, but Dragon felt the kind of spiral that could lead him down as dark a path Will was only now finding his way out.
“Talk about it, Ryuu. Keep talking about it. That was my downfall. Bottling my feelings up inside got me nowhere. All I did was chase my tail.”
“Wake from death and turn to life,” Dragon said, knowing that it felt terrible to be in a bad situation, but insight or hindsight, whatever helped move the person forward. Will, not even knowing if his daughter had been the one chosen to die, was already understanding himself even better, and that…that was the sign of a true leader.
Hollywood turned toward their conversation. He’d overheard what Will had said. “Two bodies, one heart.”
Dragon realized that Hollywood had layers even he hadn’t known about. Harmony of mind between two people was the message, but in this case, it was three. And in the case of the SEALs, it was a much larger number.
Hollywood said, “Will, you want to make a difference? Think about becoming a SEAL mentor and put all that experience to use instead of looking at the bottom of a bottle. Do it for Willow and for yourself, no matter what we find tonight.”
Will nodded and looked away, his eyes glistening. “I will think about it. I truly will.”
* * *
As the bright day ended, Hollywood shook Dragon awake. His eyes were red-rimmed, and he looked haggard. Dragon wasn’t sure whether he’d slept or not.
“Time to rock and roll,” Hollywood said.
Dragon nodded. “Overwatch?”
“Yes, kill anything that moves. Unless it’s us,” he said with a wry smile.
“Copy that.”
Dragon grabbed his sniper rifle and headed out into the thickening darkness, his purpose set. They were going to rain havoc and death on that compound, not only for the loss of a loved one, but whoever waged war on America would die from the business end of his rifle. Cold zero. Dead center. One shot, one kill.
* * *
Willow roused with a start, something—she didn’t know what—woke her. She opened her eyes and immediately saw where she was, and her heart cracked even more. Her body ached like hell, her face swollen from Eze and his backhands. She’d never hated a human being more.
What he had done would forever change her, make her realize that monsters did exist, maybe not under her bed, but they were real. She’d never contemplated murder in her life, but that was one more thing she would understand. She was capable of cold-blooded murder and defending herself—and others.
She pushed up, the constant thirst gnawing at her, her stomach hollow, cramping a little.
Experiencing a strange quivery feeling, Willow huddled into herself, drawing her legs up and hooking her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees as she looked over at Emma sleeping in the straw next to her. The woman’s presence was warm and reassuring, as they bolstered each other through this terrible ordeal.
When that gun was pointed at them, Willow was certain one of them wouldn’t survive, but he’d shot the guard who had allowed them to escape because of his bestial urges. She couldn’t even imagine what Hollywood was going through thinking that one of them had been killed.
His anguished shout would live with her forever. There was still no guarantee that Eze wouldn’t kill one of them by the time Hollywood got here.
The new guard was alert, his eyes glittering in the light from the small lamp on the desk. He glanced over at her as she moved.
She asked softly, “Water, please?”
He looked away then got up and moved outside, and she was thankful for the respite. The anticipation of the cool, clear water making her salivate. She looked out the small window at the barely-there moon, guessing it was most likely going on midnight.
Her body tensed at the softest muffle and minute sounds of a short-lived struggle.
Willow straightened when a broad-shouldered figure ghosted into the room,
staying to the shadows. She gasped when his face came into the dim light.
“Joe,” she said, her voice low, filled with relief and gratitude. She gently shook Emma. “He’s here,” she whispered.
Emma’s eyes popped open, and the same relief was etched in the brown depths of her eyes. They raced to the bars. The last hours had taken a toll on him. The relief on his face made tears clutch at her, but she pushed them away.
One hand covered hers, and the other one covered his love’s. “Emma. I thought…”
“I know. The bastard let you. He shot the guard who was responsible for us escaping. He knew what you’d think.”
“He’s a monster,” Willow said.
He nodded. “I’ve got them. Yes, them. They’re both alive. Eze gaslighted us, the fucker,” he said low and with the promise of retribution in his tone. He listened and nodded. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“Yes, let’s,” Emma said, never taking her eyes off Dozer. He unlocked the doors, and she threw herself at him, her arms tight around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, and they shared a kiss full of meaning, even if it was brief. He turned to Willow and pulled her into the three-way embrace with one arm. “Hollywood is going to be very happy to see you.”
“The feeling is mutual. Thank you so much for coming for us.”
“There was never a question,” he said.
“Where is Hollywood?”
“He went for that bastard and the nuclear triggers.”
“A small metal box?”
“Yeah, that’s what he carries them around in.”
“That’s why he always has it with him. We wondered what was inside.”
Joe nodded. “Stay behind me, and when I say move, you both move.”
“Yes, sir,” Emma said, cupping his face as they kissed again. He gave her a loving look, then turned and led the way to the front door.