An impossible choice.
Me or Zach.
That was no choice.
Forest would save Zach. He would do whatever it took to save Skye’s son.
Snowden got it wrong. I meant nothing to Forest. To him, I was an object, which made me disposable. If Snowden thought keeping me around gave him any leverage over Forest, he was wrong. It would be easier to kill me.
But he knew Forest would do anything to save Zach. That icy chill in my veins ran arctic cold, and I shivered despite the lingering heat.
Odd how thinking about my impending death did nothing inside. I felt empty, devoid of emotion; it was as if something inside of me let go.
This was not how I wanted my life to end, but I wasn’t going to fight it. Snowden couldn’t have Skye’s son. We would all do what was necessary to protect him.
Whatever was necessary.
The man to my left suddenly let go. I reeled, off balanced by the sudden change. He ripped Zach out of my arms and dangled him over the edge.
I screamed and reached for Zach. The knife dragged over my throat and split the skin. The other men yanked me back, and the man behind me grabbed my hair. He forced my head back. The sharp steel pressed against my throat again.
My attention shifted to Forest, and I saw the horrifying moment when he caved. His shoulders slumped, and the barrel of his gun dropped.
“Now, this is a beautiful moment.” Snowden preened. “It’s so good to welcome you home.”
The pain in Forest’s expression ripped a hole in my heart. His agony stretched across the distance as he faced an impossible choice.
“You and I have a lot to catch up on.” Snowden puffed out his chest and practically crowed with his victory. “You have a lot to atone for, pain you will bear, and you will kneel at my feet, begging me to make you mine. And I’ll enjoy every moment. Never think you can beat me, boy. I’m your better…I’m your Master. I own you.”
Agony rippled across Forest’s face as he looked up at me. Only his eyes weren’t on me. They focused on little Zach and his screams.
Chapter Thirteen
Forest
Snowden was insane.
Choose? He wanted me to choose?
And why did his men throw down their weapons?
Everything was falling apart.
“Cuff them.” I barked an order to Ben, who stood beside me.
Ben lowered his weapon then gave a curt nod to his team. Bay, Chad, and Mel lowered their weapons and reached into their pockets to pull out zip-ties.
While Chad circled the crowd, kicking the dropped weapons outward, Ben, Bay, and Mel went to the kneeling men and lashed their hands behind their backs.
Snowden still had plenty of men with guns pointed at us.
Our standoff remained.
“And your other men?” My attention shifted to the walls. I made a concerted effort not to look toward Sara.
My gut churned, and my heart banged inside my chest. He dared to touch my angel? The sweetest woman in the world did not deserve to be here.
What had I missed? Where had everything broken down? How had Snowden known? How did he get to Sara?
Too many questions filled my head. They crowded my thoughts and made it difficult to think.
Zach gave another ear-piercing shriek.
My mind raced as I tried to figure out how to handle this shitshow. I needed to give Snowden what he wanted while my team figured out an exit plan.
“You want to play this game?” I shifted my attention from Sara back to Snowden. “My shoulder blades are itching from the guns at my back. You think having those men drop their weapons does anything?”
“It’s a measure of my goodwill.” Snowden crowed.
“Fuck that.” I lifted the barrel of my rifle and set the laser sight back on Snowden’s chest.
Rage consumed me, and it would be too easy to end this right now. There would be casualties. My only question was whether I could live with the fallout.
Would Skye ever forgive me for sacrificing her son?
No reason to think too hard about that. I would never forgive myself.
Sara’s shriek had me turning.
Two of the men ripped her shirt. Another one cut away her skirt.
“Your girlfriend is rather pretty. I wonder how long her screams will amuse my men?” Snowden appeared unconcerned by the red dots lighting up his torso. “You can stop that from happening, my boy. All you have to do is—”
“—kill you.” I turned my attention back to Snowden.
“I don’t think so.” Snowden tapped his ear. “I’m going to help you out. Call your team. Tell them to send a helicopter. I want Elsbeth on it. All my men will leave. Well,” he gestured toward Sara, “all but the ones holding your girl and the screaming brat. My men leave. Your men leave. You and I stay. I only want you.”
He wants me.
Disgust rippled through my body with thoughts of what this man had once done to me.
What were the odds my team could take out the men holding Sara?
Zach’s cry rattled my teeth.
The answer to my question was not good enough.
Snowden had me right where he wanted me.
We couldn’t take out the man holding Zach without him dropping the kid. A fall from that height would be deadly. Anything I did risked Zach’s life.
Sara’s fear reached out to me as one of her tormentors took a knife and cut away one of the straps of her bra. I couldn’t allow Snowden to degrade her like that.
But how did I save them both?
Think, goddammit! Think!
Ben returned to my side. “Forest…”
“Stop,” I said with a hiss.
I was considering the impossible. What if I gave in to Snowden’s demands?
Knowing what I had to do, I stopped worrying about what I couldn’t change. I would accept what happened, and I would endure. I’d done it before. I would do it again.
It was time to save those I could. I firmed my voice and accepted the inevitability of my situation.
“Tell the rest of your men to drop their weapons. I want them off this island.”
Snowden snorted. “I’m not doing that. Do you think I’m stupid?”
“If you want me, you’ll do it.”
Snowden’s eyes widened, then that creepy smile of his split his face when he realized he’d won. “You’ll kneel to me?”
I wasn’t going to answer that, at least not out loud. The sad truth was yes, I would. I would do whatever it took.
“Tell your men to leave. The women stay. They leave with my men.”
“You don’t know how a standoff works. You’re going to send your men away, then get on your knees.”
Snowden would push, but if this was happening, it would happen on my terms. At least as long as I had terms I could negotiate with.
I didn’t know if I had the strength for what came next, but there was no choice about what I would do to save Sara. I couldn’t let this monster get his hands on her.
I’d survived Snowden before. I could do it again.
Xavier would find a way to get to me. Faith was not my strong suit, but I had to believe in my friends.
I activated my comm-link and spoke so Snowden could clearly understand. “Viking One to Overlord.”
Mitzy: Overlord here. What the fuck is happening, Forest?
“The situation has changed.”
Mitzy: Forest!
“Cut the chatter and listen.”
Copy. Mitzy’s mollified voice returned through my earbud.
With my eyes locked on Snowden, I took a step I never thought I’d ever make.
“Send a helicopter. Skye needs to be on board. You’ll land in the garden.”
What the hell, Forest? That voice belonged to Skye, not Mitzy.
This was a fucking disaster.
I spoke to Ben, and he updated Xavier, Skye, Mitzy, and the rest of the team. Turning my attention to Snowden, I made my demands.
<
br /> “If you want me, all your men leave the island. Sara and Zach will go with Skye.”
“My men will leave, except for those guarding your girl and the brat. I need some form of insurance.”
Ben notified me a helicopter was inbound and would be there in ten minutes. I had ten minutes to figure this shit out.
From the expression on Ben’s face, he didn’t like my plan. I didn’t blame him. A bullet between Snowden’s eyes seemed like the perfect solution, but I couldn’t risk Zach’s life, and I couldn’t let those men paw at Sara like that.
“Tell your men to take their hands off Sara.”
“And here I was beginning to think you didn’t care about the girl.”
“I’m warning you.”
“Fine.” Snowden gave a huff. He snapped his fingers, and the men holding Sara released her. She immediately sprang at the man holding Zach over the edge.
“Give him to me!” She reached for Zach.
“Give her the kid.” My words cut across the distance.
Snowden turned his feral stare toward me. There was nothing human in those eyes.
“On your knees.”
Fire burned in my gut, and bile rose in my throat. If I went to my knees…
“Give Zach to Sara. You get nothing until they’re safe.”
“Nothing? Oh, I think you’re going to give me a whole lot of something.” He reached down and grabbed at his crotch. “I’m already hard thinking about all the things you’re going to give me.” His cackle ricocheted through the courtyard and lifted the fine hairs on my arms.
I struggled to push back a flood of memories. I didn’t have the strength to face them. Ignoring the sudden sinking sensation in my gut proved impossible.
Bowing to Snowden meant only one thing. I didn’t know if I would have the strength to endure it, but I would.
I would do anything to keep Sara safe.
“I want all your men to drop their weapons and leave.” He needed to know I was aware of where his men were.
“What keeps you from shooting me?”
My gaze cut to Sara.
Tears streamed down her face as she reached for Zach. The tattered remnants of her shirt hung from her body. Her skirt had been ripped from her leaving her exposed to Snowden’s depraved gaze. But Zach still dangled over the edge.
Ben spoke to Mitzy. I half followed their conversation as she identified the location of Snowden’s men. They had closed in on us and gathered outside the walls. It wouldn’t take much for them to overpower us.
I had to save my team. Save Zach. Save Sara.
But I knew Snowden.
He wouldn’t let me save them all, and I would pay. In blood, sweat, and yes, even tears, he would make me pay.
I could do this.
I had to do this.
“Have your men head to the dock. I want them on that boat and headed out to sea in the next five minutes.”
“Bossy, aren’t we, my boy?”
My shoulders lifted each time he used that name, and a shudder ripped through me. The bastard knew it. He used it against me, but I would stand tall.
I would stand until I had to fall.
Snowden regarded me for a moment. We were locked in a battle of wills, determining which of us would cave first. It wouldn’t be me. I lifted my weapon and looked through the sight.
If I killed Snowden, I would lose Zach.
With the men in the crowd subdued, my team turned their weapons on the men holding Sara and Zach. They could take out all five men. Sara might survive, but Zach would fall.
Snowden could be a brilliant fucker. He had all the insurance in the world as long as Skye’s son dangled over the edge.
Alpha team moved through the crowd separating the women. They corralled the girls in one corner while forcing the men to the front of the house.
Bravo kept their weapons trained on the men holding Sara. Ben, Mel, Bay, and Chad kept a steady bead on Snowden, lighting up his chest with four red dots.
Mitzy’s voice crackled in my ear. Men moving to the docks.
When had Snowden ordered his men to move? I missed that. Were they still armed?
Snowden tapped his ear. “Your little bird is correct, my boy. My men are moving. See how nice I can be? How generous? All my men will leave. You understand how this works, don’t you? Mine leave. Yours follow. We’re going to make this an intimate event when you bow to me, aren’t we?”
Ben and I exchanged glances.
Snowden had been listening the entire time.
What fools we had been.
I ground my teeth and seethed as the seconds ticked by. We were at a standoff, but Snowden moved his men. Knowing our communications had been compromised, we limited what we said to only the essentials.
Far above us, our drones followed the progress of Snowden’s men. They boarded the boats. Alpha team ushered the men from the courtyard to the docks and watched them climb on board with weapons raised.
Snowden refused to allow my team back inside. I grudgingly acquiesced. Alpha team returned to the beach at the back of the estate. Their exit would be via the water. Our second helicopter would pick them up a mile offshore.
Mitzy tracked the progress of the boat carrying Snowden’s men as they pulled away and headed to the mainland.
Snowden and I glared at each other until the chop, chop, chop of an inbound helicopter filled the night air. A feral grin spread across Snowden’s face as the helicopter landed in the clearing of the garden, then he rubbed his hands together.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing Elsbeth again.”
“You say one word to her and I put a bullet between your eyes.” I cocked my head toward the front wall where Sara and Zach waited.
Snowden lifted his arm and gave a flick of his hand. The men with Sara backed her away from the edge. Zach was finally pulled back from where he dangled, and I breathed out my first solid breath since this nightmare began.
They moved Sara from the wall and descended the stairs. A movement to my right caught my eye. Skye had arrived bracketed by Ryker Lyons and Tia Meyers. Their mandatory lifejackets flapped around them as they jogged into the courtyard.
I held my hand up, telling them to maintain their position. I didn’t trust Snowden.
With a flick of my hand, I had Bravo team split up. Half of them guarded the women huddled in the corner. Chances were one of them, or more, worked for Snowden. I couldn’t risk one of them doing something at the last minute.
At the front of the courtyard, three men appeared with little Zach. No Sara.
What the fuck?
My throat burned. My pulse thundered past my ears. I didn’t know how to get us all out of this hell.
The men with Zach marched to the center of the courtyard. Snowden presided over us all from his vantage point on the wall. His gaze swept to Skye, and his dark eyes glittered.
Skye refused to meet his gaze. Her full attention locked on her son.
“It’s time.” The words fell from my lips with a sense of finality. I knew what awaited me, but at least Sara and Zach would be free.
Snowden made a gesture, and the man holding Zach placed my nephew on the ground. The three of them backed off, holding their hands in the air.
I still had ten armed men in the compound. We had the upper hand, but Snowden held Sara, and I didn’t know where.
With a nod to Skye, my sister rushed forward. Ryker and Tia advanced with her. They kept their weapons levied on the men backing away. Skye swept Zach into her arms and buried his head beneath her chin with a sob.
Her wide, frightened eyes took me in. We exchanged much in that moment. She knew what I sacrificed.
Hope, fear, anger, frustration.
Desperate emotions reverberated in the space between us.
I wanted to go to her, but I refused to lower my weapon. My arms were tiring, but I kept that damn dot dancing between Snowden’s eyes.
Skye retreated with Ryker and Tia guarding their exit.
“Now, Sara.” I ground out the words and turned my attention to Snowden. “Where is she?”
“Now, I told you that you could only save one. It’s time for your men to leave. They can take the slaves.”
“Sara and Zach. That was the deal.”
My attention shifted to the score of women huddled in the corner. I needed to save them too.
“I think you got that wrong.” His dark gaze cut to the gates where Skye hurried her son to the safety of the helicopter. “There’s one more boat. You can take the slaves. I can always get more. But your men need to leave.”
“Where’s Sara?” It was hard to keep the emotion out of my voice.
“Forest.” Ben bumped my arm. “We can take him.”
“He still has Sara.”
I needed to know she would be safe.
“What are you waiting for, boy?” Snowden’s sneer made me want to throat punch him.
“Where is she?” I ground out the words.
“Safe… for the moment. You got the brat. You have the slaves. It’s time for your men to leave.” He gestured toward the dock. “There’s a boat waiting for them.”
My attention shifted to the leader of Bravo team, and I gave a sharp nod. I would still have my nannies. But then what?
Bravo team escorted the girls out.
Xavier’s men surrounded me.
Mitzy confirmed there were no more men on the island. Her infrared sensors showed my team of five, Snowden, his two bodyguards, and Sara.
Skye made it to the helicopter.
The confirmation came in, but I had them wait. I needed Sara on that helicopter. My nannies would go with her, protecting her instead of me.
I would remain and pay whatever price Snowden demanded. My life meant nothing, and I gave it freely if it saved Sara.
We waited for the second boat to load. Bravo team departed with the rescued slaves, leaving me and my nannies with our weapons pointed at Snowden.
It was a precarious position. Snowden could duck and dodge. We could lose our advantage.
But then Sara appeared behind him. She struggled in the grip of the men holding her as they brought her to Snowden.
Ignoring the targets we had on him, he yanked Sara to him, putting her between him and the bullets I desperately wanted to plant in his chest.
Forest's Fall (Captive Hearts Book 3) Page 11