The team had congregated into a meeting room at the hotel. Eddy had arranged it and Greg was glad. At least they had room to move around while they waited and planned.
The phone in the middle of the table rang and Robot leaned over and hit the speaker button. “That you, Tex?”
They hadn’t waited for Eddy to come back and tell them Faith wasn’t anywhere to be seen, he’d already known that. Robot had placed a call to Tex and gave him a rundown of the situation.
“Yeah, it’s me. Sorry it’s taken me awhile to call you back. When I got back, shit hit the fan with another team. That’s sorted now. What ya got for me?”
The other man had been at an event being held at his oldest daughter’s school. He’d informed Robot that when he was back in his office, he’d contact them. Greg had wanted to yell into the phone that his woman was missing, and they needed Tex’s help immediately, but he hadn’t because Tex’s help was a privilege, not a given.
All the men in the room understood his frustration. Apart from Red, they’d all experienced a situation where their woman’s life was in danger.
While they waited for Tex’s call, Robot had him relate everything he’d seen. Every person he’d talked to. Every event that had involved Faith. His team lead had written them all down and they’d all been discussing the connections.
Eddy had also provided further information about the horse smuggling ring case he and Faith were working on. He’d relayed Faith’s observation that only the horses belonging to the top competitors were taken.
“Cowboy?” Robot’s voice blew into his brain like a jet fighter.
“What?”
“You ready?”
He nodded, drawing on his SEAL training to blank out his thoughts and emotions. To save Faith he had to be focused, he couldn’t let any worry or fear creep into him. If he did he could place not only his team, but also the woman he loved in danger. “I’m good.”
“Don’t worry, Cowboy, we’ll get your girl.” Tex’s voice sounded loud and confident in the room.
“I know.” Greg responded.
“Right, what’s the sit-rep?” Tex asked.
Over the next ten minutes they relayed everything they’d talked about to Tex.
“The last sighting anyone had of her was as she left the training center but her car is at the hotel. Is that correct?” Tex said, and Greg could hear him tapping away on his computer.
“Affirmative. She’s been missing about five hours.” Greg interjected. The longest five hours of his life.
“Okay, I’m accessing the security footage of the hotel, mainly the outside and parking lot cameras. You said nothing looked out of place in her room so it’s not likely she came in and then was taken from her room?”
“Negative. The room was as I left it this morning. Housekeeping haven’t touched it either. I requested it not be cleaned.” Greg assured the man. “If she was taken, she was taken from the parking lot.”
If, what the fuck am I thinking. Of course she got taken.
“Okay, I’ve got her, she was in a silver Tahoe, correct?”
Greg’s heart rate increased and his palms grew sweaty. “Yes.” How he managed to get that three letter word out was amazing.
He found himself being pushed down into a chair and he looked up to see Italy standing beside him. “You looked like you were about to collapse. I get ya, Cowboy. I’ve been there. But we’ve got your six like always and we’ve got Faith’s.”
Greg drew comfort from his teammate’s words. It wasn’t long ago he was the one providing support to those who needed it, now they were doing the same for him. He couldn’t deny he was close to his family, but his teammates and he shared a unique bond. A bond that couldn’t be broken even if they left the team.
“It looks like she got out and then she was met by another woman. Someone with long blonde hair. Can’t see her face because it’s covered with a cowboy hat. Any idea who it might be?”
“Fuck, it could be any of her fellow competitors. It’s the rodeo. Everyone’s wearing a cowboy hat around the area,” Greg said, his frustration level rising. But getting frustrated wouldn’t help Faith. He needed to control it. Call on his SEAL training to keep a cool head in situations where shit hit the fan on a regular basis.
“Well while you think on that, it looks like the girl had an accomplice, because a car pulled up and they bundled Faith in. The way her body is slumping it looks like they gave her something to knock her out. Whoever it was angled their body so it’s hard to tell exactly what happened after she greeted Faith at her car.”
As Tex relayed the information, Greg went through possible suspects. Sadie had been the first person he’d thought of, but she had dark hair. But that could be disguised by a wig. Tiffany had blonde hair, but she was Faith’s friend, had been when they’d all been teenagers.
It couldn’t be her.
“Did you see who was driving the car, Tex?” Robot asked.
“Negative, whoever they are did a good job of keeping their faces away from the cameras, but they didn’t think about disguising their license plates. I’m running them through the data base now.”
“Which direction did they head in?” asked Greg. Even though he’d discounted her, now he couldn’t get Tiffany as being a possible suspect out of his mind. Over the time of his career, most kidnappers had been people the victim had been familiar with. People no one ever suspected of doing such a heinous act.
“They headed north east. While I’m waiting for the information to come back on the plates I’m tapping into the traffic cameras and am able to pick them up.”
“Let’s hope they stayed in the metro area,” mumbled Red. “Make life a lot easier.”
“Or messier,” commented T-Rex. “The less people who know we’re here and what we’re doing the better it is.”
“Right, I’ve got the info back on the plates. The car is registered to a Randy Williamson.”
“Fuck, why didn’t I think of him,” muttered Greg.
“Who is he?” asked Robot, pulling the pad closer to him to take notes.
“I competed against him as a teenager, I whooped his ass all the time. Although now he’s the top bronc rider. He was hanging around the stables when Ginger was taken. Said he was there to check his horses.”
“He didn’t have any horses at that facility. Bronc horses are supplied by the stock contractors. You should know that, Robertson.” Eddy piped up. The other man was correct and at the time Greg had been so worried about Faith and trying to make sure no one knew her true occupation or his, that he hadn’t given it much thought.
“Yeah, I missed that point.” Great, admitting it out loud in front of his team was sure to garner a few eyerolls. Surprisingly, he didn’t get any.
“Doesn’t matter. Whatever happens now his career is over because of his involvement in Faith’s kidnapping.” Tex’s voice crackled over the speaker phone. “I’ve got lock on their final location. I’m about to text Robot the details. It doesn’t look like there’s a lot of people around the area. So they may not be involved in the horse smuggling case. Could be more of a kidnapping to get rid of a fellow competitor.”
“Somehow I don’t think so. The two are connected, I feel it.” Greg asserted.
“I think you’re right, Greg,” Eddy added. “Randy has been sniffing around Faith every chance he could get at various events. And the moment Tiffany saw Faith again she glommed onto her like a prickle on a blanket. Whether they picked up on her being an agent early on, I’m not sure. Faith is damn good at her job and doesn’t let anything distract her from her work.” Except now.
The words were unspoken but Greg heard them and he was pretty sure every other man in the room heard them too.
“Well let’s assume that there could be more people on the way, that kidnapping Faith was just the start of the plan and now that they have her they’ve notified the other parties,” Robot said. “Eddy, do you want to connect with the local law enforcement here and let the
m know what’s going on? Tex will be able to be a liaison between us and the Feds, right Tex?”
“Affirmative, Robot, I’m on it now.”
Italy thumped the table. “Right, let’s get Cowboy’s girl.”
An hour later the team was split up into teams of two and surrounded the perimeter of the small house on the property. Normally Greg was paired with T-Rex, but this time, he was paired with Italy. No doubt, Robot wanted to make sure he wouldn’t go into the structure guns blazing.
While the urge to do just that was strong, Greg was well aware that doing so would only put Faith in danger. And that was the last thing he wanted to do to her. He loved her. No way would he hurt her.
“You doing okay, Cowboy?” Italy asked, his voice low.
Greg nodded. While they’d been preparing various plans, Tex had informed them that more people had turned up at the location. Seemed Eddy was correct, Faith’s kidnapping was connected to the horse smuggling ring.
They were to maintain their position until the Feds turned up. The team hadn’t wanted to wait. They all knew that they would get in and out and disable all the occupants of the building quicker than a fire ant’s bite.
“Feds on site,” Robot stated through their comms. “I’m gonna go talk to them. Hopefully Eddy will have laid the groundwork for us to take the lead on getting into the building.”
A round of Roger echoed through Greg’s earpiece. His heart rate increased as adrenaline flowed through his bloodstream.
He bounced on the balls of his feet ready to spring into action the second they got the all clear.
“Easy, Cowboy. We’ve got this.” Italy laid a hand on his arm. “I know exactly what you’re going through. Don’t worry, no one here is going to harm a single hair on Faith’s head. Trust me.”
“I do.” Greg didn’t need to say anything else. They were teammates. They were brothers. They would do anything for each other and had. It was what made them the elite squad that they were.
“We’ve got the go ahead. Feds are going to take the back of the building. T-Rex and I will take the front. Red and Joker take the left side. Italy and Cowboy you take the right. When I give the signal breach the castle.”
Greg checked his equipment and the safety was off his rifle. He wanted to breach the front door, that way he could see for himself that Faith was okay, but he understood why it wasn’t him.
“Go.”
Robot’s command sounded and Greg and Italy moved silently from their position. “Hang on Faith, we’re coming.”
No matter how many times she twisted her hands, she couldn’t loosen the rope around her wrists. Damn, Randy was good at tying knots, then again she shouldn’t be surprised considering he had to secure his hand to ensure he didn’t get bucked off when he was riding his bronc.
The room had filled about thirty minutes after Tiffany and Randy had bundled her inside and tied her up.
So many times she wanted to tell them that they were making a huge mistake and that they’d all get caught soon. She didn’t though, because no matter how much she hoped Greg and his team would come in and rescue her, the likelihood of that happening was zero. If anyone was going to mount a rescue attempt it would be the Agency. Eddy would’ve informed them and they would’ve got onto their various contacts and traced her.
How many times had they found drug labs and other nefarious activities through hacking the roads’ camera system. Not to mention taking over satellites to follow criminals as they traversed cross country in an attempt to get away.
“You’re being awfully quiet, Faith. I’m sure that will change in a few minutes, when Hector starts his interrogation process.” Tiffany sounded like she was a having a simple conversation with her. As if they were discussing the weather not imminent torture.
“He can try, but I’ve got nothing to say to him.”
Tiffany laughed. “Oh it’s going to be fucking fantastic to see you pulled down a peg or two. I can’t wait.”
Faith studied the other woman, seeing her for the first time and wondering what the hell had led Tiffany into this sordid world she now resided in. “Why are you doing it, Tiffany? You’ve probably made some good money with sponsorship and prize winnings. Why go into something so terrible as horse smuggling. Don’t you feel anything at all for the people whose horses you’ve taken? You would know them all too. They’re your friends.”
“No one is my friend,” she sneered, flicking Faith in the face with her finger. “Do you know how much money a good horse costs? I don’t want to be riding horses all my life and see my money go to my sick father’s care rather than to me. I earned every damn dime and my mother took three quarters of it all the time. I’m not ashamed to admit that I want to live well and when Randy approached me about it, I jumped at the chance to be rewarded handsomely. I never actually took the horse, Randy did and then we split the profits. I just made sure the owners were otherwise occupied at the time. When it came to Ginger? Well, my job was easy, Greg kept you occupied.”
And here she thought Tiffany was being a good daughter by giving her winnings to help pay for her father’s medical expenses. How could she have been sucked in by Tiffany’s sweet charms? At the first mention of the medical bills, Tiffany should’ve gone to the top of the suspect list. Faith guessed she’d just been hoping that not everyone was corrupt.
Faith also ignored Tiffany’s comment about Greg. Sure, she’d fallen in love with him, but she had continued to do her job. Maybe she could’ve been a little more aware, and she would take the consequences when she got out of there. But finding Greg again was a price she was willing to pay.
“You have no guilt at all do you? Even though everything you did was illegal.”
“Nope. You think I’m going to get caught?” She pointed to the other men in the room. “These guys don’t play nice. If the Feds turn up, they’re going to come out the losers and we’re all going to get away and no one will know it was us here.”
The more Tiffany talked the more Faith could see that she lived in a fool’s paradise. If she even thought that the men in the room would beat her fellow agents, she had another think coming.
Of course, if Greg’s SEAL team were here, it would all be over so fast they wouldn’t have a chance to pull their guns from their holsters.
“You keep thinking that, Tiff—” Glass shattered and cannisters leaking gas were tossed into the room. A second later the familiar sound of stun grenades filled the room.
Tiffany screamed and ran into where Faith was sitting, knocking the chair over. Faith screwed her eyes shut against the burn of the tear gas. Not that it did any good, she’d need a mask to make sure she didn’t feel the full effect of the smoke.
Shouts and the pop of gunfire filled the air. Faith couldn’t make out anything or anyone. She prayed that she wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Hands landed on her shoulder and she squirmed the best she could strapped to a chair to get away from whoever was touching her.
“It’s okay Faith, it’s T-Rex. I’ve got you.”
A second later her hands and feet were free from the bindings. Her mind reeled at hearing T-Rex’s name. Was he the T-Rex from Greg’s SEAL team? But that wasn’t possible, they were all otherwise occupied on honeymoons and vacations, not here in Houston saving her.
Could there be an FBI agent nicknamed T-Rex? She didn’t think so, but then again he could be a local agent so anything was possible.
“Follow me, Robot and I will take you out, while the others deal with the clean-up.”
Slowly she became aware that the noise had died down. Her vision was blurred from the gas, but she could make out the familiar face of Greg’s team lead.
His team was here.
“What? Why are you guys here?” she asked as she clutched T-Rex’s side, wishing it was Greg leading her out. “Is Greg okay?”
“Cowboy’s fine. And we’re here because he needed us.” Robot’s reply was simple and straight to the point. She’d known the
team was close but this right here, was the proof that no matter what, when one of them needed help, the others would drop everything.
“Thank you for coming.”
“You’re one of us now. There was no way we were going to let Cowboy go this alone.” T-Rex said once he got her outside.
The sunlight stung her eyes and she resisted the urge to rub them, knowing it would only make the situation worse. She slapped her hand across her face, sure that Robot and T-Rex would get her to safety.
Behind her closed eyes the brightness faded a bit and she chanced lifting her lids. It still burned but wasn’t as bad as before.
“I’m going to put some drops in your eyes to try and reduce the effects of the gas. Are you ready? T-Rex will keep you steady, okay?”
As much as she wanted clearer vision so she could survey all that happened around her, her biggest need was to touch and hear Greg. To know that he was safe and unharmed.
“Where’s Greg.”
With her eyes partially closed she could still see the way Robot and T-Rex looked at each other. Her stomach dropped and her knees buckled. T-Rex propped her up.
“Tell me what happened?”
The silence stretched and she was convinced they weren’t going to say anything. “We should get you looked over,” T-Rex commented.
Her vision may be compromised and her head a little hazy from the after effects of the drugs that knocked her out, but she had her other senses and they were screaming at her. “What the hell has happened to Greg? If you don’t tell me now I’m going to try and find someone who can.”
Someone sighed and she figured it may have been Robot. “He got caught in the crossfire and took a shot to his upper arm. He’s going need surgery to remove the bullet.”
That didn’t sound as bad as it could’ve been. So why did they seem reluctant to tell her about it? And why did she sense there was still more to his injury than she’d been told? “What else aren’t you telling me? Because being shot in the arm doesn’t seem that bad, yet you’re giving off vibes that something bad has happened.”
Guarding Faith Page 14