Torn in Half: A Trident Security Novella: Book 8.5

by Samantha A. Cole

  “How can we trust you’ll keep your word? There’s nothing stopping you from killing us both when it’s all over.”

  He frowned at her. “I’ll keep my word, Dr. Sawyer, as long as you don’t give me a reason not to. Now, Antonio will return you to your room, and I’ll have some food prepared for you. Then I suggest you relax and get a good night’s sleep. You’ll want to be at your best tomorrow. Both your lives depend on it.”

  Antonio, the tall man who’d led them downstairs, gestured toward the doorway. “Let’s go.”

  Standing, Marie didn’t let go of Jocelyn’s hand. The younger woman was barely holding it together. As they followed their escort back upstairs, Marie wondered how long it had taken her husband to contact their sons to say she was missing. Knowing Chuck, it hadn’t been long. Which meant Ian, Devon, Nick, her son-in-law Jake, and the rest of the Trident Security teams would be on their way to the Philippines. Glancing at her watch, she calculated the time. She just had to do everything she could to keep herself and Jocelyn alive until they got onto the island. Her boys would find them; she just hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

  3

  Angie was trying to be brave, but it was so hard. Ian had cut back his workload a few days ago to ensure he wouldn’t be far from her when she went into labor. Now he was going to be halfway around the world, and there was no way she could ask him not to go. Marie and Chuck Sawyer were the closest thing she’d had to parents these past few years. She’d been born to her own mother and father when they’d been older and not expecting any more children. Angie’s brother, Sam, had been nine years older than her and had been killed in a car accident with several friends his senior year in high school. Her parents had then both died eighteen months apart in their late fifties of natural causes—at least that’s what their death certificates said. Angie believed they’d both died of broken hearts, never fully recovering from the loss of their only son.

  When Angie first met her future in-laws on a trip she’d taken with Ian, the older couple had been in the Philippines then too. Marie and Chuck had welcomed her to the family with open arms. Although, Angie and Ian hadn’t been engaged at the time, Marie had told her that even though her eldest son was gun-shy about marriage, after a bad breakup with his former fiancée years before, she was certain he would come around. Angie hadn’t been too sure, but the woman had been right. Seven days later, less than two hours after they’d landed at Tampa’s International airport, Ian had proposed to her. She still wasn’t certain which one of them had been more shocked at the time. It’d seemed like he’d experienced an epiphany at the time and blurted it out. But then he’d gotten all romantic and she knew the proposal had been real and honest. Not once since had she ever regretted becoming Mrs. Ian Sawyer. Her Dom and husband owned her heart, body, and soul, and she wouldn’t want it any other way.

  Sitting in the conference room in the Trident Security offices, with her swollen feet up on another chair, Angie wished there was something more she could do to help, other than the few phone calls she’d made. Ian was in the war-room with Brody “Egghead” Evans, Ben “Boomer” Michaelson, and Nathan “Cookie” Cook doing whatever it is they needed to do before heading to the local private airport where the TS jet was stored. Their pilot, CC Chapman, and occasional co-pilot, Clinton Howe, were already on their way there and would have everything ready in time to go wheels up. Since it was such a long flight, they needed the two onboard, as per regulations, so one could rest while the other flew the jet or monitored the autopilot.

  Dev was in his office on the phone with Chase Dixon at Blackhawk Security, giving him the details of cases that couldn’t be put on hold. BHS and Trident often backed each other up and shared resources when needed. Marco “Polo” DeAngelis, Nick, Jake and the Omega team operatives, were over in the next building gathering all the equipment, weapons, and ammo they might need. Since they had no idea what the mission would call for, they were preparing for the worst and praying for the best. With the hidden storage compartments on the jet, they’d be able to sneak their weapons into the Philippines.

  Meanwhile, Kristen and Kat, Boomer’s wife, were in the office break room with Jenn, filling up two coolers with sandwiches, drinks, and snacks for the two teams to fuel up on during the trans-Pacific flight to the Philippines. When Angie had called the Omega Team members, she’d asked Logan “Cowboy” Reese, who lived closest to the compound, to swing by a Publix that was open twenty-four hours a day for some rolls and lunchmeat. Between everything he’d brought, Kristen’s and Angie’s refrigerators, and the company’s stock room, they’d be able to pack up enough food for everyone for the long trip.

  The only member of either team that wasn’t there was Darius “Batman” Knight who was on his honeymoon in Tahiti. After everything he and his new bride, Princess Tahira of Timasur, had gone through to get to the altar, Ian had refused to call and ask Darius to cut his vacation short and meet them in the Philippines. Knowing Darius, he would’ve dropped everything and done just that. Instead, Ian was calling a few contacts that might be able to get boots on the ground in the province of Davao del Norte quickly and start gathering intel, so it was available when the Trident jet landed. Every second counted at times like this.

  Whenever they traveled, Chuck and Marie made certain their sons had their full itinerary, in case anything happened. According to the latest one they’d sent, the couple was in San Isidro, a fifth-class municipality, in other words, one of the poorer areas in Davao del Norte. Tomorrow was supposed to be the last day of their twenty-day trip before flying back to the States. Marie had apparently done several reconstructive surgeries on children with birth defects or devastating injuries, whose parents could barely put food on the table, much less pay for medical care.

  Everyone was busy doing something except for Angie, Beau, who was at her feet, and JD, who was sound asleep in the portable crib they’d moved into the conference room from Devon’s office so she could watch him. Aware of the fact she wouldn’t be able to do much hadn’t stopped her from waddling over to the office with Kristen earlier. Her back and feet hurt, and Little Bit was kicking up a storm, but she wasn’t about to tell Ian or anyone else that. They had plenty to do and worry about, and she didn’t want to add to the long list.

  “Hey, Ang,” Marco said as he strode in with two boxes and sat down next to her. “Can you do me a favor and check these comm units with me really quick? We used them all in yesterday’s training session with TPD and Blackhawk, and I need to swap out the batteries for fresh ones and make sure they’re all working properly.”

  Surprised but happy to have something else to do than just sit there, she reached for the closest box and opened it. After replacing three or four batteries, she realized Marco hadn’t needed her help. He could have done this on the eighteen- to nineteen-hour flight, including one stopover for refueling. The reason he’d asked her was to give her something to take her mind off the fact her mother-in-law was missing. Like her husband, Marco had been a Dom in the lifestyle for a long time. Taking care of a submissive’s needs, mentally, emotionally, or physically, was second nature to them. It didn’t matter if a sub was unattached or had been collared by someone else; most Doms took their roles seriously and cared for all of them. “Thank you, Marco.”

  He shrugged his shoulders as he continued to make sure the tiny earpieces were receiving and the attached microphones were transmitting. “No problem. We’ll be ready to hit the road in about ten minutes, so try to get some sleep after we leave. There’s no point staying awake the rest of the night when we’ll just be in the air. Harper said to text her in the morning, and she’ll head over with Mara.”

  “I will. Fancy texted me and asked if she should take the day off. I basically told her what you just told me. There’s no point, since you won’t be landing until late afternoon our time.” Brody’s wife, Fancy, owned a bakery, and she was usually there by 6:00 a.m. and would open an hour later. She also had a wonderful staff who could fill in for
her at any time, which would come in handy when she had her own baby in a few months. “Logan said Dakota was working early too, but she would check in with us when she could.” Cowboy’s fiancée was an undercover police officer with the Tampa PD.

  When she’d first agreed to marry Ian, Angie hadn’t realized how close she would become to the men and women of Trident Security. At the time, Devon had been the only married teammate. But as each of the “Sexy Six-Pack,” as Kristen had dubbed them, had fallen for their soulmates, and another team and other employees had been added to the mix, they’d become an extended family. As with every family, they had their ups and downs, but when one of them needed help, there was never any question of loyalty or sacrifice. Every single one of them would drop everything to support the others, no matter what needed to be done. And Angie knew they would do everything they could to find Marie and make sure Ian got back in time to see her give birth to their first child. She’d just have to pray it was enough.

  Pacing back and forth in the war-room, Ian impatiently waited for the international call to Scotland to go through. They needed to get to the airport soon, but the teams were still loading up all the equipment and weapons while CC was with the jet doing his pre-flight checklist. Everyone knew what they were supposed to be doing—it was a tremendous help to have employees who worked together like a well-oiled machine. Ian trusted them to do their jobs and not to leave anything to chance.

  “Come on, come on,” he murmured as he pivoted to head back in the other direction. “Pick up the fucking—”

  “Hello, Tampa!” The friendly American voice came over the room’s speakers so Ian, Brody, Nathan, and Boomer could all hear it. Meanwhile, its owner’s face appeared on a screen on the wall. It didn’t surprise Ian that the man was wide awake and at his computer console at 5:45 a.m. BST—British Summer Time. “It’s the middle of the night over there. What can I do you for?”

  “Jones, I need Mic on the line on the double,” Ian barked. There was no time for pleasantries or explanations, nor were they necessary.

  “On it.” Samuel Jones disappeared from the screen as he ran to gather up the Steel Corps team and its leader, Bea “Mic” Michaels, one of the most kickass women Ian had ever met in his life. The original TS Alpha Team went way back with Mic, since they’d all been in Iraq together—the men on SEAL Team Four and Mic with Army Intelligence. After seeing her in action, interrogating a terrorist while using forms of torture, Ian had never wanted to be on the other side of her in battle. However, she’d softened some since becoming a mother to an adorable baby girl.

  Less than two minutes later, the rest of the Steel Corps team rushed in behind Jones, all having obviously been roused from their beds—Chris Jordon, Matthew “Rook” Riley, Ed Pierce, Jerimiah Flynn, Mary “Red” Bickle, and finally, Mic. Jones held out his chair for her to take, and her concerned face filled most of the screen. “What’s wrong, Sawyer?”

  “I know you’re all packing to return to the States, but I need boots on the ground in the Philippines, ASAP. My parents are on one of their charity trips, and, from the sound of it, Mom and another woman were abducted not far from the clinic they were working in.”

  “Shit. Details?” That was Mic—short and to the point.

  “Very few, which is why I need your help. A lot of shit can happen in the eighteen or so hours it’s going to take us to get there.” Wasn’t that the truth? Right now, Ian would give anything to have teleportation be a real thing. Since it wasn’t, he’d have to rely on people who could get to the Philippines much faster than him and his operatives.

  She glanced over her shoulder at her team, and, without hesitation, every single one of them volunteered to go. Ian had expected nothing less, and he knew Mic had too. Turning back, she said, “Chris, Rook, Pierce, Red, and Flynn can be wheels up in thirty. Jones and I can gather intel from here. Call us from the jet and give us what you’ve got.” She paused. “I wish I could go and be there for you too.”

  Ian’s expression softened. “I know you do. Give PJ a kiss for me. Tell her she’ll have a new cousin soon.”

  “Holy shit! I forgot Angie’s due in a few days.”

  “Yup. Life loves to throw fucking curveballs, doesn’t it?” Without waiting for a response, he added, “Jones, I’ll call you from the jet. In the meantime, connect with Cookie over whatever secure link you two use, so we can have a three-way conversation later.” Nathan Cook was a former NSA computer hacker Trident had hired a while back. It had been a great deal for the company since it gave them access to the National Security Agency’s database. “Mic . . . thanks. I owe you.”

  “Bullshit.” She pressed a button, and the screen went dark.

  Dev stuck his head into the room. “We’re ready.”

  As Brody gathered up the two laptops and their accessories that he was bringing with him to work on, Ian and Boomer strode out of the room. They followed Devon into the conference room where the women had gathered. After kissing Jenn on the forehead, and promising he’d bring the woman she considered to be her grandmother home, safe and sound, he wrapped his arms around Angie as far as he could with her baby belly between them. He lowered his mouth to hers. When he ended the kiss, there were tears rolling down her cheeks. “Oh, Angel. You’re killing me here.”

  Swallowing hard, she shook her head and wiped the wetness from her face. “I—I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to cry, but these damn hormones—”

  “Shh. I’ll be back in time. Somehow, I’ll make it.”

  Whether she believed him or not, she nodded. “We’ll be waiting for you.”

  He kissed her one more time, as Boomer and Devon did the same to their wives, then the three men hightailed it out to the parking lot and loaded into the idling vehicles filled with their teammates and equipment. As the caravan headed for the compound’s gate, Ian’s gaze remained on Angie, where she stood just outside the door to the offices with Kristen, Jenn, and Kat, until she was out of sight. Sending up a silent prayer, he asked God, and any other powers that might exist, to get him home in time, with his parents and the teams in tow, in time to see Little Bit enter the world, kicking and screaming.

  4

  After making certain JD was all set in his baby swing, Kristen sat at her computer desk in the studio that housed her and Angie’s workspaces. It’d been her sister-in-law’s idea to have the structure built on the compound’s property so they had a place where they could both be comfortable to work and hang out together, instead of in either one’s apartment. The large, 800-square-foot, well-lit room had been broken up into five areas. In addition to Kristen’s desk, where she could write and edit her books, there was another section where Angie could explore her various artistic talents, a small kitchen, and a sitting area. Finally, there was a play area for JD, the soon-to-arrive Little Bit, and any visiting little ones. They’d also installed a full bath in case any kids ever got too messy.

  It was a little after 10:00 a.m., still hours before the TS jet would land in the Philippines, so the women and their friends were trying to get some work done—as hard as it was—to take their minds off Marie. Angie was designing a new romance novel cover for Kristen’s publisher, Red Rose Books. Marco’s wife, Harper, a lawyer, was curled up on the couch, preparing a court brief, while her toddler, Mara, played with some colorful blocks nearby. Kat was outside with fellow K9 trainer Tori Frejya, who was engaged to Mitch Sawyer and his ménage partner Tyler Ellis. They were putting Bravo and Delta through tactical obedience exercises with their K9 handlers, operatives from the new Personal Protection Division at Trident. Fancy should be arriving soon—she’d stayed at the bakery through the morning rush. And, last but not least, Shelby Christiansen was sitting in a recliner, Beta reading for an indie author Kristen had introduced her to. She’d been a reader for Kristen for several years now, even before they’d ever met in person. While Shelby was there supporting her friends, the petite woman’s two adopted sons, Franco and Victor, were with her husband, Parker, a construction
company owner, touring his work sites for a few hours and probably loving every minute.

  The only other person not there, besides Logan’s fiancée, Dakota Swift, who knew what was going on and they trusted not to leak the information anywhere, was Kristen’s cousin Will Anders. The only reason he wasn’t there was because the museum where he worked had received a new exhibit that morning, and he had to catalog over two hundred artifacts and compare the list to the manifest. It was an all-day job, but he was checking in every hour or so.

  After going through her latest emails, Kristen signed into Facebook to check her notifications and private messages. She started with the latter and had responded to several of them before she got to the one from a reader, Rhonda, who was a big fan and very active in the Kristen Anders’ Amazing Angels reader group.

  Hi Kristen! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I came across a book by a new “author,” and I hate to say it, but it looks like she plagiarized your Hearts Ablaze. You might want to take a look at it. The names have been changed but almost everything else is word for word! She has three other books out, all rapidly released. I checked the sample chapters of the other two. One sounds really familiar and I’m trying to remember which author might have written it. The other isn’t one of yours either. Sorry!

  “Shit,” she murmured, clicking on the link that’d been provided. Of course, it would be one of her indie books, instead of the others she had with her traditional publisher. Red Rose Books had a large legal department that handled stuff like this, but if Hearts Ablaze had, indeed, been plagiarized, Kristen would need to retain her own lawyer.