“I didn’t get the time I wanted with Lazar. He’s here with Nic and we’ll be heading to the compound within the hour. We’ll talk to him after it plays out Abby. We’ll take Macek the fuck down and then all this shit will be over.” There was no way in hell I was telling Abby what Lazar intended for her. There was no need to. It wasn’t going to fucking happen his way.
She was watching me with an expression I’d never seen on her face.
“Dane…it’s not going to work, is it?” she asked softly. “There’s too much going on. He doesn’t have time for this, for me.” She looked hard into my eyes. “I’ve seen too many of his people, I know too much and he doesn’t want witnesses, does he?”
“Abby.” I held her face in my hands. My beautiful smart girl. “Leave Lazar to me. He needs me and I’m going to keep you. He’ll understand. He’s a good man. He’s going to understand.”
“But he doesn’t want me around Dane. I can see it in your eyes. Does he want me dead? Or would he give me back to Macek or Cutter and let them use me as a…”
“Stop it Abby. There’s no fucking way I’d let that happen...”
“God Dane, you’ve taken so many risks protecting me and now you’re going to risk your relationship with Lazar for me? How can you fight to save your family when you’re trying to protect me from them as well? I’ve been nothing but trouble to you Dane and I don’t want you to die fighting for me.” Tears started to run down her cheeks and I crushed her to me.
21
Abby
There was nothing I had wanted nothing more than to wake up naked in Dane’s strong arms, to feel his hard chest against my breasts. But when I saw his face, I knew things hadn’t gone as he planned. I’d never seen such tension in his face before.
He was trying to protect his family and his job. He was in organized crime, but wouldn’t hurt innocent women or allow others to victimize them. He was fighting to save women from being used as sex slaves, just like he’d saved me.
I hated the idea that he might be risking everything to continue protecting me. That he might jeopardize his relationship with Lazar because of me. I wanted him safe. What if something happened to him because I was a distraction?
There was a jolting knock at the bedroom door.
“What?” His voice was loud, irritable. He was still holding me in his arms.
“It’s Nic. It’s time. We need to head the fuck out.” I saw Dane hesitate. “It’s okay, Dane. I’m alone.”
Dane opened the door. Nic caught my glance, his eyes surprisingly gentle, then he turned to Dane.
“Dad and I are heading out in the chopper with Kozlov. We’re giving the men on the road a head start. They need to get into position ahead of us.” He handed Dane a cell phone. “We’ll give instructions as we move in. The fucking timing is going to be critical. Dad wants you in the Rover. We’ve got a shitload of weapons already loaded in the back.” He turned toward the door. “Good luck Dane.”
“She’s coming with me,” Dane said taking my hand, his face dark and intense.
“I know,” said Nic simply. He paused for a moment and disappeared.
Dane turned to me. “I have some shit to organize… I need some time.” His eyes were hooded, dark. “Stay here with the door locked. If I’m not back for you in twenty minutes, move fast, get to the Rover. It’s parked in the front. Lock yourself in and keep out of sight. I’ll be there. Wait for me.” He kissed me hard, his big hands spanning my back. I felt safe in those hands a moment longer and then he was gone.
I turned the lock and went to sit on the edge of the bed. I could hear heavy footsteps outside, orders being shouted and engines starting up. It was the sound of soldiers before a battle. I knew Dane would be back and that he wasn’t far off, but I was still uneasy being alone. He hadn’t told me what Lazar’s intentions were towards me, but I could tell from Dane’s face that I didn’t yet have his protection. Dane had told me to keep the door locked against the men outside, men in his own organization. As I sat waiting and minutes ticked by, I became even more certain that only Dane was keeping me safe. And in return, I was nothing but a dangerous liability. I knew he wanted to keep me safe but what if it was only a sense of responsibility he felt?
I paced the room until the twenty minutes were nearly up. I’d have to unlock the door and go to the Rover on my own. Things were quieting down out there. I unlocked the door and headed out to the drive. I opened the car door and started to climb in when I heard steps behind me and started to turn, expecting to see Dane…
I was stunned by a blow to the back of my head. I was falling and then lifted off my feet. By the time the dizziness subsided I was bound and lying across the backseat of a moving car, in darkness from the covering over my head.
It was like Arseny all over again.
I didn’t know who was driving, no one had spoken to me. My blood was pumping and my brain was working overtime. This had to be one of Macek’s men, maybe even Cutter if that blow to his head hadn’t killed him. They both wanted me, not just to sell my body but to get even with Dane for killing Arseny. They might even use me as a lure. I knew Cutter would like to see Dane dead...
The car was moving fast. I could hear the roar of the road rushing under me. We might have travelled for a few hours, but there was no way to be sure and I had no idea what direction we were headed. The road had gotten noticeably rougher for some time before we finally slowed and stopped. This man could be taking me anywhere. My faith that Dane would find me was giving way to the sickening reality that he’d couldn’t possibly know where to begin looking. He would only know I wasn’t in the Rover like he’d expected. The fight against Macek was moving ahead. It could be days or even longer before he could even begin trying to find me. If he was still alive to look.
I heard the driver’s door open and the soft crunch of footsteps. The door by my feet opened and I felt rough hands, grabbing my ankles and starting to pull.
I was tied too tightly to kick, but I wasn’t gagged. “Please…let me go! Please just let me go … I haven’t seen anything. You can just leave me here if you want. I don’t know anything…just please let…”
I stopped short as my ass hit the ground and I gasped in pain. He’d pulled me from the car by the ankles and was dragging me. I smelled wet earth and felt slippery leaves beneath me. He dropped my feet and there was a slight click, then a soft groan like the hinges of a heavy door. A few more pulls and the air was suddenly colder, the air dank with the odor of decay. I knew I was inside something…somewhere. The back of my head where I’d been hit felt sticky and terrifying images filled me as I was leaned helplessly up against a cold damp wall. This felt like a place where no one could ever be found…
I felt my kidnapper crouch down beside me and through my hood I smelled something warm and sour.
“Hot fuckin’ pussy…”
I heard the words and I knew.
“I gotta go kill your fucking boyfriend, you little cunt. Then you an’ me are gonna get our second chance after all,” Cutter breathed into my face.
22
Dane
I put over fifty men into a dozen SUVs and vans along with well over a hundred weapons and enough ammunition to blow fucking Macek and his loyals out of the state. The timing was set, the vehicles spaced out and on the move. I kept Sull, Ender and a couple of their men close behind me, to keep an eye out. Nic and Macek were by the helicopter pad. They’d be the last out, arriving as hell broke loose at the compound.
Fuck. I knew it’d taken longer than the twenty minutes I’d told Abby to wait. I looked at my watch. She’d be waiting in the Rover by now and locked in. At least she was safe. I looked around as the last van pulled out. Sully waited behind the wheel of a Camaro with his brother riding shotgun and Chips in the back. Conspicuous as shit. I sighed and headed for the helipad.
“We’re the last Lazar,” I shouted over the roar of rotating blades. “The Cuza brothers are moving with me and we’ll be gone in less than ten.�
�
“Good,” Lazar was in the chopper, leaning out toward me. “I’ll meet you in the middle Dane. When it’s all over I’ll meet you in my office, right? We’ll have a drink over Macek’s body.” I nodded and started to turn away as his voice was lost in the deafening engine.
“Dane, Dane,” Lazar shouted over the roar, “…problem…….solved…”
I held up a hand as I turned to head back to the Rover. Whatever he’d wanted to tell me would fucking have to wait. I needed to get back to Abby.
In minutes I was in the front drive. I gave a thumbs up to the brothers, unlocked the Rover and my gut hit the floor. Where the fuck was she? She was supposed to be waiting for me.
“Abby…goddamn it Abby, where the fuck are you?” I headed back to the house and walked into the living room. There was some shit strewn around from the guys who’d come in to strip the kitchen. I looked at the chair Abby had slept in, naked under the towel and my cock jerked and hardened as I remembered the feel of her body in my hands. Where the fuck was she? I looked in the kitchen and laundry. Fuck, maybe she was still waiting in the bedroom.
I headed down the short hall to find the bedroom door wide open, the room empty. Nothing was out of place, I checked the bathroom. The whole house was locked up tight except for the bedroom and the front door. That was the only path she could have taken out of the house, but she’d clearly never made it to the Rover.
Abby was fucking gone. I’d been organizing the men and I’d left her alone. She was gone and I had no goddamn idea what the fuck had happened to her.
“Did you see a girl, a blonde girl?” I yelled out the front door at Sully as he waited in his car.
“What fuckin’ girl? We got girls out here?”
“Shit shit SHIT!” Anyone else who might have seen what happened was long gone, heading for the compound. I took off toward the Rover. Had she made it that far? I remembered what she’d told me before I’d left her. She had felt like a burden, that I was risking too much by protecting her. I leaned against the Rover and my guts turned over. Abby hadn’t wanted me to die fighting for her, or for me to lose my family by being loyal to her instead of them. And she’d suspected Lazar might be her enemy rather than her protector.
“God, no Abby. God no.” Could she have done it...would she have left? To protect me, to protect herself from Macek or even Lazar?
Or maybe she simply left me. I closed my eyes, dragging my hands through my hair and took a lungful of air.
She’d either left of her own accord, or she’d been taken. She either didn’t want to be found or desperately needed finding. Either fucking way I was getting her back. I thought of how she’d responded in my hands, how she’d come on my cock as I’d fucked her. I remembered how she’d wrapped her legs around me as I’d thrusted so deep inside her again and again. I remembered how she couldn’t take her eyes from me and how her small hand felt in mine.
I couldn’t believe that she’d left on her own. Someone had fucking taken her. I opened the passenger door looking for some sign she’d made it that far. There needed to be some fucking clue as to what had happened. Whether she’d been taken alive or she was already dead.
It was the marks in the gravel drive I saw first. Not much, but enough. Shallow drag marks in the white gravel. I leaned down, a cold hollow space in my chest where my heart used to beat.
The white stones of the drive showed a fine spattering of blood.
23
Dane
Abby had enemies on every side and one of them fucking had her. She hadn’t been killed in the driveway, I realized with sick relief. There wasn’t enough blood. But my girl had been taken.
I knew Macek wanted her as a sex slave. Cutter would use her himself until she was all but dead. But both of them would keep her alive, at least for a while. I remembered how he’d looked at her in the hotel room, how his eyes had lingered on her breasts as her robe had started to open and my blood boiled. I wanted that bastard dead. If he’d lived through the fucking concussion I’d given him and I got my hands on him again…I was going to make Arseny’s death look merciful...
Either man could have put out an order for her to be taken. They both wanted her. Yet neither of them should have known this safe house even existed. At least that’s what Nic had said.
I took off for the Rover and was headed out with Sully hot and eager on my tail. Everyone who could be holding Abby was either headed for the compound or were already there. So my best chance of finding her had to be there too. I pounded on the gas and the engine whined in complaint.
I didn’t know what I’d be facing when I got there, or which fucking bastard was responsible. I did know the back of the Rover held more semi automatics and ammo than Chips, the brothers and I would need. Then I remembered what Lazar had said, something about Ender having skills. I grabbed my cell.
“Sull, fuck. Just keep the hell up and put Ender on the goddamn phone.” Thank fuck Nic had put them on speed dial too.
“Ender. Tell me if you brought anything the fuck with you other than firearms. I need to know just what the fuck you can do.”
The last hour on the road took a fucking eternity. Everyone was to meet in a clearing off the main road, about five minutes from the compound. We were the last two vehicles in. Men were out of their cars, milling impatiently. I knew Lazar’s helicopter was near and he’d be calling in last minute instructions. I opened the back of the Rover and Sully came over to distribute weaponry.
My cell began to buzz. I stepped away from the men to answer. It was Nic.
“Dad’s pissed Dane. You took your fucking time getting out.”
“Nic, they’ve got her. Macek, or maybe Cutter. They took Abby.”
“Shit Dane. Are you sure? Could she have…”
“There was blood by the Rover. One of those fuckers has her and I’m guessing they’re holding her somewhere near the compound. They’ve got plans for her Nic, and they’ll try to use her to get to me.” I could hear Nic suck in a breath. Then I heard Lazar in the background.
“The Dalca’s are going in first…no…then Kozlov’s men on the ground. Go, go…now…”
Nic’s voice came back. “It’s going down Dane. I’m sorry. I could see how you looked at her.” He paused. “Like how I look at Hope,” he said quietly. He and Hope had been married for four years and had twin daughters.
“Yeah, Nic. It’s the fuck like that.” The breath in my lungs echoed, my chest hollow. “I’m there for you and Lazar, Nic, but I’m going to find her. I have to find her.”
“I’ll do what I can to help. Just get me and Dad to the office. The plan is to catch Macek off guard, dick deep in one of Arseny’s whores…if they timed it right. Just get us in Dane,” Nic said, the engine noise beginning to drown him out. “I’ll do what I fucking can…sorry…we’re taking off…” The phone went dead in my hand.
The air was thick with dust as the cars headed out of the clearing and back on the main road. Lazar would have the men on the inside in place and ready. Our people would move into position surrounding the compound and firing would take place simultaneously from inside and out on Lazar’s order from the air. Once the path in was cleared, I would get Lazar and his son to Macek. Then they were on their own and I’d kill every bastard who stood between me and finding Abby.
I pulled the Rover into position, behind a thicket of trees just beyond the main entrance. There were two armed guards outside. I knew there were two more just inside and half a dozen between there and the office. I tucked a gun into the back of my waistband in addition to the one in my shoulder holster. I picked up the tac rifle in seat beside me and waited for the signal to come. Sull had pulled in behind me. Ender slipped out and walked up, leaning his back against my door and looking toward the drive.
“You’re set?” I asked him.
“Hhmmph,” he answered.
My phone lit up on the dash. “Are we go?” I asked, my body tensing, ready for the fight ahead. Ender waited quietly, watching m
e from the corner of his eye.
“In sixty seconds Dane.” It was Nic. His voice was quiet, strained. Something was wrong.
“You needed to know Dane. I saw something from the air as we came in. It was Cutter. He was leaving the old pump house. There was no good reason for him to be there…”
“I’m sending the Cuzas in Nic. I’ll meet you inside but I’m going to go fucking find her.” Every lost minute was one she might not live through. “I’m right behind you, but I’m going in for her.”
I shoved the phone in a pocket. “Give it to me.”
Ender shoved a small package into my hand.
“You and Sull are going in ahead of me. Just clear the path for Nic and the boss. Get them to the office and I’ll see you there. Thirty fucking seconds and then go.” I shoved my rifle into Ender’s hands and took off, dodging through the trees toward the lake.
I was there in minutes that lasted a lifetime. I ran with my head on a swivel, taking in everything that might give me a clue, answer the question. Was Abby there and was she still alive? I was winded when I reached the metal door of the pump house. I saw the leaves had already been disturbed and there was fresh mud smeared on the bottom of the door.
“Abby…fuck…Abby, are you there? It’s Dane, Abby!” I pounded on the door praying for an answer. She had to be here. She fucking had to be alive. I couldn’t imagine a life where I couldn’t take her in my arms…
“Dane, oh god Dane, get me out of here!” I could hear a scraping noise at the door and felt sick at the thought of my beautiful girl, alone and afraid in the dark.
“Are you hurt, baby? Can you move?” I shouted through the metal between us.
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