“Shit,” Ryker said, his eyes widening as Hunter clicked on the message. “They’re auctioning off women?”
“That’s why so many women in Colombia have gone missing,” Hunter confirmed. “They sell them off to whoever can pay the price. It looks like this was a special event though.”
“Fucking hell,” Colton spat out. “A special event to auction off a person?”
“Easy,” Hunter said. “I just mean it’s not their usual method of delivery. They can traffic more women by just selling them off to the first buyer available. The auction was for Camila.”
“Method of delivery,” Colton muttered. “We’re talking about people. A woman!”
“It was supposed to be tonight,” Hunter said, scrolling to the bottom. “Whatever this is, we’ve got an entire list of contacts that the email was sent to. Let’s upload the info and send it back to Little Creek. We’ll turn over the laptop to the Colombian military, but we’ll have a copy of all of the data on it. Names, emails, records—everything.”
“Roger that,” Noah said, plugging an external hard drive into the laptop. “I can copy everything in minutes. I’ll upload the files and keep the backup myself.”
Hunter met Colton’s gaze. “This was supposed to go down tonight. That may have been shot to hell by them taking out Miguel, but there’s a chance we can find your woman.”
Colton nodded, his mouth pressed together in a thin line. Adrenaline raced through him, and he had the urge to beat the hell out of the first cartel member he spotted. To pound to a pulp any man who had done Camila harm.
And as to what, if anything, had happened while she’d been taken?
They’d deal with that when the time came.
“Let’s do it,” he said. “We’ll show up to the site of the auction and see if anyone else does. Not everyone will know that Miguel was killed tonight. If this goes like we want it to, they’ll bring Camila right to us.”
“Hell,” Noah said, eyeing him with interest. “What’s she going to think when you come in gun’s blazing? Did you tell her what you do?”
“Negative,” Colton said. “I’ll worry about that once we have her. Until then? Rescuing her is my only concern.”
Hunter spoke into his mouthpiece, connecting with their CO back in Little Creek. “We’ve looked over the data we found on the laptop and are copying the files. There’s a chance we can rescue Camila Rodriguez. We’re going after her,” Hunter said.
“Negative. Stand down,” their CO commanded.
“She might have information on her father,” Hunter said, eyeing Colton. “On the entire operation. If another cartel took her, she’s seen some of their operations from the inside, too. Since grabbing Miguel is out of the question now that he’s been killed, and we don’t have names yet for the rest of his inner circle, this is our shot. Grabbing her is just the tip of the iceberg.”
“Damn it,” their CO muttered. “This wasn’t part of the assignment.”
“Gathering intel on the Rodriguez cartel was though. Now that he’s gone, she might be able to give us names of who else to look at. Not only can she potentially tell us about her father’s cartel, but she’ll hopefully also have descriptions of the other cartel’s members. Whoever grabbed her was in competition with her father.”
Their CO cursed through the headsets. “Fine. Move forward. Bring her in and get the hell out. I’ll attempt to smooth things over with the Colombians. We can’t just go around taking civilians without going through the proper diplomatic channels.”
“Taking her?” Hunter chuckled. “We’re rescuing her.”
“Affirmative,” their CO growled. “Move in.”
“Yes, sir,” Hunter said. “We’ll be moving out immediately. Over and out.”
Colton let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. He paced the room, his mind spinning with scenarios of how this could play out. Grab her before she was brought in to the auction? Bust in and take down everyone there?
Show up and find the entire plan was for naught?
“You got the specs?” Jacob asked, crossing his arms as he looked over to where Hunter and Noah were still working at the laptop.
“Yep. The address was in the email,” Hunter confirmed. “They might as well have sent us an engraved invitation.”
Jacob grinned. “Let’s go pay them a visit then, and get Colton back his girl.”
Hunter closed the laptop, carrying it in one large hand to the Colombian military members hovering by the front door. “We’re headed back out,” he said, handing over the laptop. “We’ve got one more stop to make before we go wheels-up.”
The men nodded as Hunter and his team cleared the room. Colton clenched his assault rifle, moving back into the darkness and hopping into the Humvee.
He had a woman to rescue.
***
Ryker pulled up the specs on the handheld GPS device, navigating from the back of the Humvee. “ETA is fifteen minutes from now. No telling if the auction is still on for later though. We might arrive and find nothing.”
“Let’s hope you’re wrong,” Colton murmured from the front.
“Yep. I hope to hell that I am,” Ryker said. “If we don’t grab her tonight she might be gone. Permanently.”
“What the hell is that?” Colton asked, watching as a van swerved down the highway in front of them.
“A couple of drunks?” Jacob guessed, easing up on the gas.
“Hell. We don’t have time for this shit,” Colton muttered. “Pull to the right so they can get by.”
The van straightened out and sped past them, and Colton scanned the road around them with his night-vision goggles. Some of the fields to the right side of the road looked like they’d been recently trampled on. “Slow down,” he said, glancing out the window. “It looks like they may have been over there.” He pointed as Jacob pulled to a stop on the side of the highway.
All three of them exited the Humvee, notifying Hunter over their headsets.
“Roger that,” Hunter said. “We’ll continue to the original rendezvous point. Investigate whatever you spotted and meet us there ASAP.”
“You think they dumped another body?” Ryker asked, looking around in the dark. “Why the hell else would they be out in the fields in the middle of the night?”
Colton clenched his jaw, scanning the surrounding terrain. Ryker and Jacob moved forward to investigate further, when his stomach suddenly lurched.
“Wait!” Colton yelled, rushing forward. His eyes scanned the recently disturbed earth near some of the crops.
“What do you see?” Ryker asked. “You think they rigged explosives in a damn coco field?” He grabbed his canteen and took a swig of water as he stopped.
Colton nodded. “Yep. That’s exactly what I think. The farmers don’t want the government eradication teams tearing out their crops,” he said, kneeling down. He picked up a small pinch of dirt, rubbing it between his gloved fingertips. “This soil is really dry. They wouldn’t be able to dig very deep to conceal any fresh IEDs.”
“Tearing out their crops?” Jacob asked. “What the hell happened to spraying the illegal crops? That sure as hell would be a lot quicker. No wonder cocaine production is back up.”
Ryker stood facing the coco fields, legs spread wide, hands on his hips. “They plant explosives to keep them from destroying the crops? Damn.”
“IEDs,” Colton confirmed. “It thwarts anyone attempting to remove the caco fields. It also prevents other cartels from moving in. Look over there though,” he said, pointing. “You can see someone recently walked this way. Either they knew exactly where the explosives were planted or they were pretty damn lucky.”
“You think it was whoever was driving that van?” Jacob asked. “Hell.”
“I don’t know what to think. We found that other body. I’m guessing this is another one.”
Hunter’s voice came over their headsets. “We’ve arrived at the outskirts of the warehouse where the auction was supposed
to be held. Don’t see a damn person here. No cars, no people, nothing. Either we’re really fucking early, or the whole damn thing was called off.”
“Shit,” Colton muttered, anger piercing through him. Their one lead seemed to be evaporating right before their eyes. Nothing like finding out exactly where Camila was supposed to be and then having the entire operation turn to dust.
His gaze swept into the distance, where the sky still glowed orange from the SUV explosion. The helicopters had already left the area, but the remains of the blaze and whatever lights emergency crews had put up gave an eerie glow off in the distance.
A woman’s scream suddenly pierced the air, and Colton’s blood ran cold.
“Hell,” Ryker said, taking a step forward.
“Wait,” Colton said, grabbing his arm. “The IEDs. Don’t go running in there.”
“Hello!” Colton called out. “Is anyone there?”
“I doubt they’ll answer in English,” Jacob said dryly, turning around in a full circle as he scanned the surrounding area.
A woman called out in Spanish, her words much too rapid for Colton to understand a single thing. Her voice sounded weak. Tired. A brief twist of grief in his gut had something in his brain flickering in recognition and adrenaline suddenly rushing through his veins. He took a breath of the cool, crisp air. Gazed directly into the dark fields. “Camila!” he shouted.
“You think that’s her?” Ryker asked in disbelief.
“Don’t go in there,” Jacob warned. “You said yourself IEDs were planted all over it.”
“Then who better to find her than a damn explosives expert,” Colton muttered. “The trampled path might have fresh IEDs that they buried on the way out. Or they might have been in too much of a rush to do anything. But if I avoid the rest of the rows of caco, I should be able to see any threats.”
“Hell of a way to harvest their crops,” Ryker muttered. “I never heard of blowing up your own damn fields.”
“Camila!” Colton shouted again, warmth rushing through his chest. He waited impatiently, silent enough to hear a pin drop. The second she answered he was moving in. Finding her. Consequences be damned.
“Help me,” a thin voice called out.
“Cover me,” Colton said, eyeing his other teammates. “I’m gonna go get my girl.”
Chapter 14
Camila shivered in the night air, curled into a ball on the cold earth. Her wrists ached from where they were bound together, and her muscles were stiff from lying on the ground for so long. She had to be dreaming. Because somewhere in the distance, she could have sworn she’d heard Colton calling out her name.
Colton.
The man she’d slept with in Miami. The man who’d had her begging and pleading and then left the next morning as they’d each taken a different flight.
They’d parted ways sated and satisfied. Content to never see one another again.
Except she’d thought of him every day since.
Maybe she was hallucinating. When she hadn’t been aware, her kidnappers had probably slipped her some other type of drug to make her complacent. To make sure she didn’t wander off before their return.
Because there was no way on earth the man she’d had a one-night-stand with a few weeks ago was down here in Colombia, searching for her in a dark caco field.
There was no way someone like him would be looking for her.
“Camila,” that deep voice said again. “Where are you, kitten?”
Tears pricked her eyes, and her heart begin to flutter. What an unfair dream to have, when she knew in reality her kidnappers would be back. That she’d never be free again. She whimpered on the ground, shivering. Closed her eyes tightly and willed this all to be over soon. Begged God that she’d somehow be free.
A dark silhouette suddenly loomed over her, and she was too scared to even scream. Too disoriented to understand.
A man knelt down beside her dressed in camo fatigues, helmet, and some sort of night-vision goggles. A weapon was clutched tightly in his gloved hands. Large combat boots covered his feet.
Before she could even scream he was soothing her, collecting her into his muscular arms. A familiar scent washed over her, and she began sobbing, knowing now that it really was just a dream.
Gently he stood, cradling her to him. Breathing a sigh of relief.
“I’m here, kitten,” Colton said. “I’m taking you home with me.”
Chapter 15
Colton’s gaze swept over the woman sleeping beside him. She’d been so out of it when they found her, he wasn’t even sure if she realized this was all real. Her dark hair cascaded over the seats across from him where she lay curled up, a Navy-issued blanket draped over her. Although she had some scrapes and bruises, he wasn’t sure what, if any, other injuries she’d sustained. She’d go straight to the hospital when they landed; ambulances were already on standby.
And hell if he wouldn’t have a lot of explaining to do.
Hunter walked over to him, eyeing him carefully. “I just spoke with the CO. We can get her a refugee visa to temporarily stay in the U.S. If she agrees to cooperate with the authorities and provide whatever intel she can, that’ll make the process much smoother.”
“Hell,” Colton said, scrubbing a hand over his face. “This is a damn lot to take in. I was so focused on rescuing her, I didn’t even think about the loopholes we’d have to jump through when he got home.”
“It was easier for Emma,” Hunter said. “With her background in archeology, it was no problem getting her a work visa and green card to stay here in the U.S.”
“Yeah,” Colton said bitterly. “I guess it’s not exactly the same when your father is head of a notorious drug cartel.”
“Nope,” Hunter agreed. “It doesn’t mean something can’t be worked out though if she wants to stay.”
Colton chuffed out a laugh. “If? Hell, she was kidnapped by her own bodyguards. You think she’d want to go back to that life?”
“Don’t know. But I’m guessing you’ll have a lot of explaining to do when she wakes up.”
Colton’s gaze slid back to Camila. “Ain’t that the truth. Hopefully she won’t be pissed as hell at me for not telling her who I was back in Miami. Rescuing her has to count for something, right?”
Hunter looked over to Camila’s sleeping form. “One thing I know? Don’t count on anything for sure with women. She may think you’re her savior, or she may be mad as hell.”
“Wonderful,” Colton quipped.
Ryker strode down the middle of the aisle of the C-17. “Did you see that message from the CO? Analysts are already going over the data we collected from the laptop. The operation may have gone to hell with Miguel being taken out, but we retrieved a hell of a lot of information.”
Colton’s gaze slid over the pale features on Camila’s normally caramel-colored skin. She had dark circles under her eyes, and her face was wan. She looked so damn innocent sleeping across from him. He’d helped her into a spare pair of fatigues before they’d gotten onto the plane. The large clothing had swallowed her much smaller, curvy frame, and she’d been so disoriented, he wasn’t sure she even realized who he was or what had happened.
He’d do damn near everything in his power to make it right though. Explain to her about Miami. Tell her who he was and what he did. Not every career involved flying off to foreign countries and tracking down armed men. She had to realize he was U.S. military.
That didn’t mean she’d be happy about it though.
An hour into their flight she stirred, crying out as she awoke from her sleep. Colton was at her side in an instant, crouching down beside her. “Shhh, kitten,” he whispered. “I’m here.”
Ryker snickered from a few seats over, and Colton shot him a look that could kill.
Chocolate brown eyes opened to meet his concerned gaze. “Colton?” she asked, her voice weak. “What’s going on?”
He cleared his throat. “You’re on a flight back to the U.S. We’ll get you to a
hospital to get checked out as soon as you arrive. I know you’re dehydrated and may have other injuries.” His chest tightened as his eyes ran over her. Camila was here. Alive. Whatever she’d dealt with he’d help her to face. If she wanted him.
“Are you hurt anywhere, kitten?” he asked softly.
“Just some scrapes and bruises,” she said.
“They didn’t—hurt you?” He didn’t move a muscle, eyeing her carefully. Not knowing what had happened to her was almost worse than knowing the truth. Worst-case scenarios were tumbling through his mind. She hadn’t been missing for long, but any number of men could have taken advantage of her. Hurt her.
“They were planning to sell me at an auction,” she whispered. “Some type of sex-trafficking ring like the type my father was involved in.” Her voice became choked, and tears started running down her cheeks. Her body trembled, and without thinking, Colton moved closer, pulling her into his arms.
She shuddered against him, quietly sobbing, and Colton felt his chest tighten in anguish. His arms tightened around her.
“You’re U.S. military,” she whispered after a few minutes.
“That’s right,” he agreed, wiping a tear from her cheek as she pulled away and straightened. Her tearful gaze slid around the plane.
“What are you? Some type of military commandos?”
“Navy SEALs,” he confirmed. “We were sent down to Colombia to track down your father.”
Camila gasped, pulling away from him. “You knew who I was,” she accused. “When we were in Miami, you knew exactly who I was.”
Colton eyed her with a level gaze, deciding the truth was the only thing worth saying at this point. “That’s right. We knew you were Miguel Rodriguez’s daughter.”
“So you what?” she asked, a hurt look on her face. “Targeted me? Came after me? I didn’t have any information on my father—I still don’t.”
“We know,” he said gently. “You’re not in any sort of trouble.”
“But you used me!” she said, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. “You found me in the airport and took me to bed. What did you do? Go through all of my belongings when I was finally asleep?”
Seduced by a SEAL (Alpha SEALs Book 10) Page 9