“We’ll take the helicopter to get her. She’s not far from here.”
He left me alone and suddenly I was restless. I was going to see my daughter. After all this time, I was finally going to have her in my arms. Once she was with me, I would find a way to escape. We would run and hide, living off cash only jobs in a trailer if we had to. I wouldn’t stay here and be a prisoner for this man. I wouldn’t let my daughter see the kind of man he could be. It would be best if he never actually met her.
I was a nervous wreck the rest of the day. I couldn’t stop moving and fidgeting. What if she didn’t remember me? It had been a year and a half. Or maybe she would blame me or think that I had abandoned her. I knew I could handle anything as long as I had her back, but I was so scared for how she would react to seeing me.
At dinner, I could hardly eat. My stomach was in knots and I could tell Wes was irritated with me for not being able to control myself. When I started tapping the plate with my fork, Wes put his hand over mine and squeezed to let me know to stop. I gave a quick smile and forced myself to sit still.
“Dushenka, I have a way to unwind you. Let’s go upstairs.”
I wanted to spit in his face, but then I wouldn’t be seeing Payton. I took his hand and let him lead me upstairs. When we reached the bedroom, he was trying to be sweet, kissing me like he loved me and moving his hands all over my body like I was something to be worshipped. He could still make me want sex with him, but this time, I knew that it wasn’t real. He would never have me again. Not the way he once did.
I think he realized that he had fucked up with me that night when he pulled me into his arms and I didn’t snuggle into him the way I used to. He let out an audible sigh and stared at the ceiling for much of the night. I knew because I was awake also. There was no way I would be able to sleep tonight.
✯✯✯✯✯
“When we arrive, the helicopter will circle the island to make sure it’s safe to land. Once we’re positive that it is, my bodyguards will take it from there. I know you want to see Payton, but if anything isn’t right, we’ll leave without her. Do you understand?”
I nodded, praying like crazy that nothing went wrong. We got into the helicopter and Wes strapped me in, then took my hand in his. I allowed it because I was nervous about flying, but also because I needed his strength right now. His touch calmed me on the flight just enough that I didn’t feel like I was going to jump out of my skin, and when we circled the island, I almost broke into tears. She had been so close this whole time.
The helicopter touched down and Wes’s bodyguards got out first, making sure it was safe to proceed. When Wes helped me down and I stepped foot on the ground where Payton was, I knew that she was here. It was strange, but it was like everything inside me had finally settled in a way that I hadn’t felt since Payton first disappeared.
Wes took my hand and led me to the front doors. When they opened, I took a deep breath and smiled. I was about to get my little girl back.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Chance
Banging on my cell wall woke me up. I had drifted off to sleep sometime in the middle of the night. No matter how much planning I did, I kept going over everything in my mind. I would only get one chance at this. The banging was coming from the corner like Mark and I had talked about. I waited with my hands and feet still in the cuffs and chains. I wouldn’t be able to do anything unless Mark let me out of here, and then I would only have minutes to get out. I just had to trust that I wasn’t being played. I had to believe that Mark would come through for me.
Minutes went by and I still didn’t hear anyone outside my cell. It was too soon for us to move. We had talked about this happening in two weeks, so what the hell was going on? Finally, the door opened and Mark stepped through, quickly rushing over to me with keys, pants, and shoes.
“I didn’t have time to get you a lot. We have to move now. The Broker is on his way now with Morgan.”
“Are you fucking serious?”
He released the cuffs from my wrists and ankles and then pulled the cuff from around my neck. There were raw cuts on my skin from the jagged edges of the metal and I could feel blood trickling down my neck. I pulled on the pants quickly and then slid my feet into the shoes. I would probably end up with blisters all over my feet, but better that than running through the jungle with nothing.
“Yeah, one of his men called and asked us to prepare for their arrival. He said they were bringing the girl home with them.”
“Fuck, this better go as planned or we’re screwed. Wait, what about my team?”
“They’ve been in Honduras hiding out for almost a month now. When I told them your plan, they agreed that they should be closer in case a better opportunity came up. I called your boss right away. I just hope they can make it in time.”
“We’ll just stick to the plan. I’ll get Payton as fast as I can. Where will they land?”
“Helipad is on the other side of the building. I figure you have just about ten minutes.”
When I stood, he handed me a gun with an extra clip. “This was all I could get on short notice. I have the cameras on a loop for five minutes. After that, I can’t do anything to save your ass. Payton’s on the third floor, second door on the right.”
“Aren’t you coming with me?”
“I can’t. If I go now, I’m a dead man.”
“You’re dead if you stay. Do you think your boss is going to keep you alive after I escape?”
“I sure hope so. He’s my father.”
That dropped like a ton of bricks, but I didn’t have time to think about it right now. I had to get Payton and get out of here. I slipped into the hallway and made my way up the stairs to the third floor. I did my best to remember everything about the layout from when Mark helped me escape and check around the building.
I slipped through the shadows of the hallway. It was still early, so not everyone was up yet. There was a desk further down the hall with a small lamp on. I could partially see the guard sitting on duty, but he didn’t seem like he was all that worried about being ambushed right now. Jiggling the handle on Payton’s door, I was shocked to find it unlocked. I would have thought that all the children on the island would be locked in their rooms.
As I stepped inside, Payton rolled over in bed but didn’t wake up. I went to her side, covering her mouth so she didn’t scream when she saw me. Her eyes flew open, terror filling her body. I placed my finger over my lips to tell her to be quiet. When she nodded, I slowly removed my hand, ready to slap it back over her mouth if she tried to scream. I knelt down so I was on the same level with her and tried not to look intimidating.
“Hi, Payton. I’m Chance. I’m a friend of your mom.”
She looked at me funny, almost like she was searching for a memory.
“Do you remember your mom? Morgan?”
Something clicked and a smile lit her face. She nodded vigorously and opened her mouth to speak, but I put my finger in front of my mouth again.
“I told your mom that I would help get you back to her. She misses you so much and wants you back. I’m going to take you to her.”
“I get to go home?”
“Yes, but we have to be really quiet when we leave, okay?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s too dangerous for us to make noise.”
She looked at me funny again and I scrambled through my brain to come up with something that she would understand. “Let’s play a game. We’re going to leave here and we have to stay quiet until we get to the end of the game.”
“What do I get if I win?”
“Anything you want, kiddo.”
She smiled at me again and I lifted her out of bed. I didn’t have time to get her dressed or even put shoes on her. We had to book it. I opened the door and slipped back into the hallway. I figured I had about a minute left to get out of the building. Mark had said that Wes would come from the East side of the building. He would most likely have guards on him and my b
est bet would be to get to them from inside the building. The guards would most likely be posted outside.
As I was walking down the stairs, I heard the faint sound of helicopter blades whirring. I took off, getting to the first floor as fast as possible. People were up and moving around, getting the kitchen going and staff was moving around the building, preparing for the day. I didn’t bother to walk normally. I was half naked and carrying a little girl. No one would believe that I belonged here.
A few people stared at me, but most just kept to themselves. That was probably what people were told to do. I was almost to the East side of the building when I saw Wes in the distance walking with Morgan flanked by two guards. There was a reception desk off to the right up ahead. I slipped behind the counter and punched the man when he started to protest me being there.
“Go hide under the desk,” I said to Payton.
I whirled around and grabbed the stapler off the desk, then grabbed the man by the tie and stapled his tie to the desk multiple times. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay here and keep your mouth shut.”
I grabbed the security badge from his pocket and shoved it in my pants pocket. Kneeling down by Payton, I smiled and showed her once again to stay quiet. I felt along the bottom of the desk, but there were no guns hidden. The whoosh of the doors had me searching faster for something to defend myself with, but all I found were pens, scissors, a picture frame, and papers. And a paperweight. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Snatching up everything I could, I shoved paper and pens in my pockets and held the scissors in my other hand. I didn’t want to use my gun yet. I had a feeling I would need it later.
I hid on the side of the desk until the guards were just getting to me. I stuck out my foot, tripping the first guard. I grabbed him by the shirt and flung him into the wall and threw the paperweight as hard as I could at Wes’s head. He collapsed immediately and Morgan scrambled backwards to get out of the way. I ran toward the second guard, not stopping when he shot at me. His aim was off and he only nicked my arm. I shoved him back into the wall, slamming his hands repeatedly into the wall until he dropped the gun and then kneed him in the groin.
“Look out!” Morgan shouted.
I spun and ducked just as the first guard threw a punch. Spinning low, I shoved the scissors into his leg, tearing through the muscle and lodging the blades into the meat and bones. He fell to the ground, trying to hold his hand over the wound in his leg. Arms came around from behind me, locking me into a chokehold. I could feel the man’s breath against my ear, so he was about the same height as me.
I dropped my body to the right and then flung the guard over my shoulder. I dropped down on top of him, yanking his face up to the right and brought the pen down on his carotid artery. Blood sprayed everywhere as the man bled out on the floor beneath me.
Taking a deep breath, I turned to Morgan who was watching in stunned silence. Her eyes flitted over my body, taking in all the blood that was now smeared on my chest and hands. The first guard was sliding backward down the hallway, trying to get away from me. I didn’t have time to worry about him. I had to get Payton and Morgan out of here.
I ran to the desk and ducked down, holding out my hand for Payton. She stared at the blood, but slid her hand into mine. I pulled her out, but came to a stop when I stood. Morgan was standing in front of me with a gun to her head. Wes was using her as a shield, just barely able to stand on his own two feet. He pulled out his phone and wrapped his arm around her chest. He barked orders into the phone, telling his guards where we were and to send as much help as possible.
“Mommy?” Payton moved to get in front of me, but I placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her right away.
“If you don’t want Morgan to die, you’re going to have Payton walk over to me right now, and we’re going to walk out of here.”
He was unsteady and there was nothing worse than a man with a gun that couldn’t shoot straight. It was a gamble no matter what happened. I kept my hand on Payton’s shoulder, not letting her go toward her mom. Morgan was fiddling with something on the desk, but I kept my eyes up on Wes. I didn’t want to give away that she was trying to do something.
“Just let Morgan go. She doesn’t want to be with you.”
“You’re wrong,” he grinned. “Over the past year, Morgan and I have come to an understanding. She wants to be with me, so just hand over Payton before I decide that she’s not worth the trouble.”
“You don’t want to do that.” I held up my hands, showing him I had nothing else to defend myself with. I saw Morgan’s eyes flick down to the desk and then she slipped the letter opener into her hands, holding it tight to the front of her. I took a step forward and he took a step back. “If you say Morgan loves you, then I would say you’re a liar. There’s no way she could love a scumbag like you. You would sell out anyone you loved for the right price. I’m guessing that you had to threaten her to keep her with you.”
A flicker of rage twinkled in his eye, but he held steady. I took another step forward.
“Is that how you keep women? They’re so disgusted by you that you have to threaten them?”
I took another step forward and he took one more back. The only thing left was the picture frame and my gun. But with Morgan so close to Wes with a gun to her head, I knew that I didn’t have enough time to draw my weapon before he shot her.
“What’d you do? Did you threaten Payton? Hold her over Morgan’s head until she gave you what you wanted?”
“I didn’t have to do very much to get her into bed with me,” he smirked. Rage filled my whole body at the thought of Morgan so much as kissing this asshole. But to sleep with him…I took a deep breath, clenching my jaw to stay in control. I wouldn’t let him get to me.
“She was amazing. Every. Single. Hole.”
I lunged just as he moved to point the gun in my direction. Morgan shoved his hand up to the ceiling, moving it a second before he fired at me. Wes lost his hold on Morgan and she spun around, slamming the letter opener into his chest with more force than I imagined she had. Yanking it out, I spun around him as he fell to his knees, moving out of the way before he could fire at me. His head fell forward and I thrust the letter opener into the base of his skull, severing his spinal cord and killing him instantly.
Before he had a chance to fall to the ground, I had Morgan’s hand in mine and I was scooping up Payton. Wes’s men were just outside the door, about to storm the building. We ran down a hall on the opposite side of the reception desk and headed for the West end of the building. Zigzagging down different hallways, I found a door and pulled the keycard from my pocket. As soon as we were through, we took off through the trees.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Cap
The ringing of my phone woke me from the dead of the night. Groggily, I reached for my cell, knowing that it had to be important. We were in Honduras and the only people that would be calling at bum fuck o’clock would be someone with an urgent message.
“Hello?”
“Sebastian, this is Mark at the compound. I just got a call from the Broker. He’s coming this morning and he’s bringing Morgan. They’re taking the girl. You have to get your asses over here now if you want to get them back. I figure you have a half hour tops.”
“That’s not enough time,” I growled into the phone.
“That’s all you have. I’m on my way to Chance now. He’ll get Payton and hopefully Morgan. Then he’ll be headed to the extraction point. I don’t have the resources here to fight back, so this is all on you.”
“Fuck, we’ll be out in twenty.”
I hung up and ran down the hall, pounding on doors and yelling at everyone to get their asses out of bed. Everyone was down here because we needed all the fire power we had to pull this off. It had been hard as hell to get all the weapons we needed, not to mention the helicopters. I still had an ace up my sleeve though. Back when Maggie was pregnant with Caitlin, Knight had been hired by an arms dealer named R
einer to take Maggie hostage to gain control over me. Of course, we had flipped Knight and then made a deal with Mikhail Davidoff to supply weapons to us in exchange for him taking over Reiner’s territory. Even though I hadn’t wanted to deal with Davidoff ever again, we needed his weapons and air transport to get Chance back and fight off the Broker. The price was that Davidoff would take over the Broker’s men and his estate, essentially gaining all his contacts and the information, he held ransom over very powerful men. I was making Davidoff stronger, with more power than any man should have.
When I first contacted him, he hadn’t been interested at all, but then I told him about what I knew and that I had the location of the Broker’s house, thanks to Mark. It was an enticing offer, one that he still wasn’t sure about. It wasn’t until I formed an alliance with him that he finally agreed. Reed Security would have to essentially work for Davidoff if the need should ever arise, and I knew he would collect on that debt. I had discussed it with everyone and we all agreed that the price was worth it to get Chance and Payton back. But now we would get Morgan back also, and that made the deal all the more worth it.
Everyone was dressed in their tactical gear and in the helicopters in just under fifteen minutes. As soon as I had the men woken up, I placed the call to Davidoff so he could get his men in position. They were going to meet us there and distract the Broker’s men while we got the rest of the kids off the compound.
We were circling the island when we saw chaos breaking out below. It was time to get in and take back what was ours. These assholes were going to pay and we were going to take them down and make them wish they had never messed with Reed Security.
“Chopper Two, circle around to the extraction point. Chopper Three, you’re with me. Shoot to kill. Find the kids and haul ass out of here.”
The helicopter lowered and I looked back at my men. I had Teams one, two, and three, while Teams four and five headed for the extraction point. As soon as we touched down, I was first out, my boots hitting the ground, bringing me back to my days in the military. Dust kicked up around us, but I didn’t wait for it to clear. With my weapon drawn, I pushed forward, taking out the first asshole that ran out of the building. Men in black gear poured out from the compound and from other areas of the island, converging on our choppers. It was all out war. Bullets flew, blood splattered. Every time they came for us, we took them down. They had more men than us, but we didn’t back down.
Chance Page 13