by Lexi Blake
“And I think I’ll keep my mouth shut for the time being. You know it’s been a long time since I was tortured for information. I wonder how long I’ll last.” He couldn’t give them intel he didn’t have. This was all a play for time. Someone would look for him. Even if Nell didn’t think to call Taggart in, Seth would.
God, he hoped Seth would think to call Ian. He was afraid this was the kind of thing only Ian or Ten or Kayla could help him with.
It struck him that if he hadn’t been forced to reconnect with his old friends, they wouldn’t be able to try to save him. If all of this had gone down the way Henry had hoped—Nell never knowing about his past—he wouldn’t be able to pray someone had called Tag. Tag wouldn’t have known he was alive. Tag and Ten would have gone on with their lives believing John Bishop was a dead man.
Perhaps his wife was right and things always happened for a reason. No one on the planet was better at handling a curve ball than his wife. She might not like the circumstances she found herself in, but she always made it work.
If he died, she would find a way to raise their daughter, to make her strong and loving. She would stay in Bliss and…god, he hoped she found someone who could love her. It was odd because he was a possessive man, but in that moment she was all that mattered. Nell and her beautiful soul, the one who had sat with him in the courtyard of a nudist resort with the snow falling on her hair as she’d shown him there was another way to live. He could still picture her sitting there, her head tilted up and snow on her cheeks as she stared at the stars above and found meaning in them.
And he remembered the look on her face when all her plans had been wrecked and Caleb told her she needed a surgery she’d been desperate to avoid. She’d held his hand and told him everything would be fine. There had been such strength in her.
He wanted her happy, even if he couldn’t be the one to make her happy. But she better pick right the second time around. She better pick a real Bliss man because he would be waiting to share her in the afterlife.
He heard someone coming up from behind and braced himself. The whack to the back of his head actually helped clear it a bit more. He wasn’t a fan of pain, but it had its uses.
“Pay attention, Bishop. I’m going to show you how a real man gets information,” the burly guy said.
The key would be picking his time. He had to wait until the time was right. Some of these guys would get bored and leave. When he was down to two or three, he would attempt to bust out.
Hopefully he would have enough energy to do what he needed to do. Then he would face something worse. He would face the jungle, and he didn’t have any supplies. He didn’t even have a passport or cash.
All that mattered was getting home to his girls.
“This is my friend,” the boss said. “He’s my go-to guy when I need some information. Do you know what it feels like to have your balls tased?”
Ah, they were going straight to the good stuff. “It’s one of my favorite things in life.”
“I was hoping you would say that. It’s so easy to torture a man. Though I’ve found oftentimes a man like you doesn’t respond to pain.” The boss began to pace and the go-to torturer moved to the side where he’d helpfully gathered all his supplies in one place, a wheeled tray. It was good to know he was organized.
“Oh, I assure you, I’ll respond.” He couldn’t not respond. At least he’d given Nell their daughter. He might not be able to manage a sibling after this.
The boss studied him. “I have no doubt we can make you cry like a baby, but that’s not the response I need.”
The more the guy talked, the longer Henry’s balls stayed intact. “I might prove harder, although I am out of practice. Have you ever thought about starting smaller than the balls? You know sometimes it helps to warm a guy up before you go for the big stuff.”
The boss stared at him for a moment as though trying to figure him out. It was easy to see this guy thought he was an expert. He was playing the big guy for the rest of his crew. Henry could work with that.
It was important to figure out what a man wanted in these situations and then to decide whether to give it to him or hold back.
He would howl. He wouldn’t hold back. He would let this guy think he was going to break, that he was weak. Then he would let the “pain” take him out for a while. He would do it over and over again. He was excellent at pretending to be unconscious. He would lay in wait and when it was right, he would pounce.
“I don’t like to waste my time.” The boss paced in front of him. “I know other men would try to see if they could get you to talk by beating on you or pulling out some fingernails. I think you’re stronger than that. I was joking about your balls. I actually don’t think that would break you at all. I’ve decided to go another way.”
Henry went still. “And what way is that?”
A chill went up his spine at the man’s smile. It was genuine pleasure. That man was enjoying himself and truly believed he had the upper hand. That smile meant trouble.
“You have a wife, Mr. Bishop. A pretty thing. Younger than you. Dark hair.”
He could taste bile in the back of his throat. There was no way. “Try again. You can’t get to her. She’s protected.”
No one in Bliss would have taken their eyes off Nell. She wouldn’t have gone back to their cabin alone. She would have stayed with Stef, or perhaps allowed Seth to fly her out to New York and hide there. Nell would protect their daughter.
“Not as much as you think,” the man said with a laugh. “She’s a moron. She actually found the mercenaries and paid them to take her to where you are. Such a sweet thing. I can understand why you chose her. If you hadn’t taken my money, you could have had a life with her.”
He snapped his fingers and that was when Henry heard a woman crying.
Oh, god. He was going to be sick. What had she done? Had she thought she could talk to these men? He had to find a way to get her out of here. She wouldn’t last. He wouldn’t be able to watch her being tortured.
“I’ll get you the money.” He had no idea how much they were talking about, but he had to say something.
The boss’s smile got deeper. “Yes, I think you will.”
The doors came open and he could see a petite woman being dragged into the room. There was a bag over her head and her hands were tied in front of her. They’d taken her shoes, but he recognized that cotton skirt of hers. It was one of her favorites.
“Please don’t hurt her.” He started to move the chair and quickly felt big hands on his shoulders. “I’ll get you whatever you want.”
The boss pulled her against his body. “I bet you will. But first you’ll watch me play with your bitch for a while. Here, honey. Why don’t you go give your husband a kiss and remind him what’s at stake.”
“Please,” she said, her body shaking.
Henry stopped. Something was wrong. And then he knew what it was. The bag came off her head and midnight hair spilled out.
“I just want to see my husband,” the woman said, her voice quaking.
Kayla Summers.
Kayla was good. Like Hollywood actress good. She always had been, but getting married to a top-paid actor seemed to have refined her talent because she had tears running down her face.
“John.” She stumbled toward him but he could see she was still in complete control. “John, I told them we would give back the money.”
So they hadn’t even bothered to get a real look at his Nell. He’d always said the cartels didn’t do enough reconnaissance. They tended to fly by the seat of their pants when it came to these things, and it was about to bite them in the ass.
Kay wouldn’t be alone.
Kayla hit her knees and made a spectacular show of fear. “I was so worried for you.”
He needed to know what the play was. “How could you do this? How could you walk into their hands? You have to know it was foolish to come here.”
She sniffled. “I thought about ten different plan
s, but this was the only one that could have worked. I had to talk to them, had to make them see they didn’t need to kill you.”
So Ten was somewhere around. “This isn’t a game. You’re not some fish they’re going to tag and release, Nell.”
She nodded, telling him Tag was here, too. “I know that now. We have to give them the money. It was a mistake to take it. If only we’d thought for five minutes, we would have known we wouldn’t get away with it.”
Five minutes and then Tag and Ten would do whatever they were going to do. Her hands were on his lap as she looked up at him, and he could see she was practically holding those bindings together. She’d already worked her way out of them and was trying her hardest to not let the bad guys know.
“This has been a bomb waiting to go off in our lives forever,” Kay cried.
So he was waiting for a big boom.
The boss hauled Kayla up by her hair. “You were never going to get away with anything, bitch.”
“Please don’t hurt me,” Kayla begged. She managed to cradle her hands to her chest as the boss held her against him.
“Your husband there was talking about how he thought we should go slow in the beginning.” There was a cruel look in the man’s eyes as he crushed Kay close to his body. “I think I’ll honor his request. I wasn’t willing to go slow with him, but maybe I will with you, sweetheart.”
Henry had to stop himself from snorting. Yeah, try that, buddy. Kay knew exactly what to do with a rapey son of a bitch. He was sure this asshole had done shitty things to many women who hadn’t had the means to fight back.
He was about to find out he was dealing with one who could.
“Please don’t hurt me.” Kay was gasping, her voice filled with fear.
He should probably try to make it look good. Although he had to say his first instinct was to simply watch her. She was spectacular, and as a teacher, he truly enjoyed his students doing well in the real world. Seeing them all grown up and able to emasculate a bad guy…it did something for his soul.
“Oh, I think you’ll like the way I hurt you. What do you say, Bishop? You want to watch me do your wife?” the boss asked.
It was time for a little confusion.
“Do I have to? I think it’s going to bore her. Kay, do we need to wait? Josh will kick my ass if I let that man even start to molest you,” he said with a sigh because he’d already seen her move to get the gun.
She wasn’t waiting.
That was the moment the ground shook and a loud boom went off in the distance.
Taggart really did like to blow shit up. He’d always been overly invested in explosives.
“What the hell was that?” The boss had dropped his hands from Kayla’s body and turned toward the sound of some building blowing up. Likely his house. The man reached for his gun and came up empty.
“Looking for this?” Kay had her perkiest smile on. “Thanks. I couldn’t bring a gun with me. I thought I’d just take yours.”
Kay turned and immediately fired off three quick shots.
“Don’t forget behind you, dear.” Henry was perfectly calm now. He trusted his former protégés. “He might not have a gun, but he’s still bigger than you.”
Kayla’s eyes rolled. “Like that matters.” Without looking, she kicked back and caught the jerk right in the balls. She turned and faced him down. “We’re going to have a long talk about treating women like pawns, asshole. I don’t simply exist so you can rape me and make my fake husband tell you something he doesn’t even know. Also, eww, he’s like another dad to me.”
“Older brother, please.” He wasn’t that old. “And thank you for believing me about the money and the drugs.”
Kayla gave him a bright smile. “Never doubted it. You did it all for love. It’s so romantic.”
Then she turned and fired two bullets into the man on the ground.
“I thought you were teaching him a lesson.” He could breathe again.
Kayla shrugged. “He wasn’t smart enough to learn.”
Another explosion rocked the ground.
“You should probably let me out,” Henry said. “More could be on their way.”
She shook her head. “We’re good now. The boys will take care of everyone else. Ten’s having so much fun. He found a flamethrower. Tag’s blowing shit up all over the place. They’ll be here soon. Oh, your little girl is divine, John…Henry. She’s the sweetest thing ever. I swear if we had my phone I would FaceTime her right now. I promised Nell I would keep her up to date, and the last time I was able to DM her was right before I let the mercenaries take me. They wouldn’t even let me keep my phone. Assholes. It’s okay. Ten promised he would get it back after he killed all of them. The case is Chanel. Josh got it for my birthday, so I don’t want to lose it.”
Kayla could talk a mile a minute.
“I don’t think we should call Nell until we get clear of the compound.”
“I know what it’s like to have to sit and wait to find out if the person you love is okay.” Kayla frowned down at the restraints. “They also didn’t let me bring in a knife.” She gasped and then Henry jumped at the sound of a shot so close to him. “Dude, stay dead. I hate it when I only halfway kill them. Eww, I also hate having to search dead bodies for the things I need. Do you think there’s a kitchen nearby? Or did Tag already blow that up?”
“Kayla, focus.” He so wanted out of those restraints.
“What the hell?” a deeply Southern accent said. Ten Smith strode through the door wearing all black, and he’d obviously ditched the flamethrower for an AR-15. “You’re out of practice, man. I remember a time when you would have smashed that chair and gotten yourself on your feet in no time at all.”
“Well, I’m a lot older now, and it hurts to break a chair around your body. I leave that to you youngsters. Although I would again point out that I’m not that much older than you.” Henry felt that way sometimes.
Tag jogged in, a huge grin on his face. “Hey, Henry. Smart of you to wait until someone showed up with a knife. Breaking a chair hurts. Damn, this was fun. I would stay away from the heavy white cloud that is currently hovering over the warehouse. I think it’s cocaine. It’s pretty when it explodes.”
“Yeah, I gotta admit. I missed this,” Ten said with wistful grin.
“You know what I miss? My wife.” If he let them, his former students would likely start a new team and tour the world blowing things up. “I thank you so much. Can I go home now?”
Ian pulled out a really big knife. “Sure thing. But my services come at a price. You’re going to have to find me a cabin. Charlie likes Bliss. She wants a summer place. I like the crazy shit that happens there, and I’m trying to raise free-range kids, so it all works out.”
Henry frowned. “They don’t like it when Texans buy up all the land and turn the whole place into a vacation…” Having Tag around might be fun. It would be good to see him handle Marie when she got in a bad mood. “Sure. Why not. The more the merrier.”
The smile was back on Ian’s face. “Cool. Hey, maybe we can do this more often. Like a reunion.” Another boom went off. “Sorry. There’s probably a couple more where that came from. We should leave. Someone’s going to show up soon.”
He started to work on Henry’s restraints.
“I thought we killed them all,” Ten replied.
“There’s always more.” Kayla took the super sparkly phone Ten held out. “Oh, I missed you so much. Smile, Henry.”
She knelt down beside him and took a quick shot and started typing.
“Are you seriously doing a social media post?” Ten complained.
Henry’s hand came free, and then the other. “She’s sending Nell an update. Tell her I love her. Tell her I’m coming home.”
“I will,” Kay agreed and then frowned. “Nell’s happy you’re coming back but she wants to know if those are reusable restraints.”
He turned to her.
Kay smiled. “She didn’t say that. She sen
t me prayer hands and the crying emoji and a heart. I think that’s for you. When we’re safely away, you can call her.”
She was only a phone call away. She was safe. Their baby was safe. Henry stood up and stretched his back. “Let’s go home. As for the reunions, they better be somewhere nice. I am too old for this.”
Another boom went off.
Ten frowned Tag’s way. “Did you have to use all the C-4?”
Tag shrugged. “Didn’t want to waste it.”
Henry followed them out, happy to be going home.
* * * *
Patience sucked.
“I don’t understand why I couldn’t go.” Nell rocked in the nursing chair Stef had brought in when Nell had tried the one his wife, Jen, used. She’d learned quickly that Stef overcompensated for feeling helpless. He’d stuffed his kitchen with an overabundance of ingredients he thought she might use. He would be drinking almond milk for a long time.
It was his love language, and she’d stopped trying to tell him she didn’t need anything. Besides, she loved the rocker. It was soothing, and she spent a lot of time in it. She wasn’t even going to ask where it had been made or about the company’s protocols concerning the environment. It wasn’t that she was giving up on making the world a better place. That was more important than ever, but she was giving herself a break. The chair worked, and it would be an indulgence that got her through the day.
Like Rachel had said, anything that worked was okay.
“Because you’ve got a massive list of things you can’t do for the foreseeable future, and sitting in a car for an hour there and an hour back is definitely one of them,” Holly said. She stared out the window of the room Nell and Poppy had been given.
It was a full-on suite because the Talbots didn’t do tiny guest rooms. Michael had been staying on the couch in the living area despite the fact that there were other rooms available. He’d taken his job very seriously. Either Holly or Laura had stayed with Nell, helping her out in the first full week of being a new mom. It had been exhausting because even when she should have been able to sleep, she would sit there in the dark and think about what was happening to Henry, wondering if he was even alive.