“Fuck you, son of a bitch. Tell me where she is and I’ll make your death quick and painless.”
“You can’t possibly think that’s how things will go down, do you?”
“You’re a lunatic. I don’t think you have a clue what the hell comes next. But I assure you that soon we’ll be face-to-face.”
“Yes…oh yes. I look forward to it. Now be a good policeman and do your job.” The phone clicked off.
“Fuck!” Gray threw his phone.
Turning the Jeep into a turn off, he fished for his cell, glad he didn’t it in his temper. For the first time he was grateful that his dad had a tracking device on all their vehicles. What Gray used to think was overkill was now the very thing that would help him find where Stormy was.
23
STORMY HUDDLED IN the corner of the cell, a chill in her bones. Colette was curled up close. She’d fallen asleep some time ago while Stormy stayed awake listening for any sounds in the eerily quiet house. On occasion there would be a pop or crack in the structure and she’d jump each time. Her fear was the old house would fall around their ears.
A flash of light feathered through the window, but her hopes were dashed as the low hum of the car’s engine faded into the dark. Tears came to her eyes because there was still no sign of Gray. Maybe he wasn’t coming. If morning came without anyone coming to save her and her sister, Stormy would have no choice but to figure out a way to save Colette.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Stormy imagined she was with Gray, in his arms and listening to his heart beat. Her feelings for him were deep, but she wasn’t ready to fall again. How could she ever trust her instincts when she’d fallen into the web of a murderer like Duncan? She couldn’t compare him and Gray. They were worlds apart. Yet, she was the reason why they were in this mess. How had she not see Duncan’s true colors? He’d told her he’d been shot in the war. Liar!
She allowed Tiffany to hand her the key to the cabin and then Stormy had waltzed right into Duncan’s sinister plan. Then again, if she’d turned away Tiffany’s offer Stormy wouldn’t have met Gray and if she hadn’t come to the house to search for Lola’s owner it was likely she wouldn’t have found Colette. Stormy was certain Duncan would have killed her sister.
It was time Stormy cleaned up the mess and stopped acting like a naïve woman and instead be a princess warrior.
She wanted her relationship with Gray to continue after the snow melted, but she also wasn’t sure he felt the same, especially after finding out Duncan was her ex. However, if they parted at least she had the memory of his kindness, strength and how making love with him opened her to a new world.
Carefully moving so she didn’t disturb Colette, Stormy crawled across the short space. Although she’d already investigated the cage a dozen times or more, she couldn’t discard the chance that she could find a lose spot.
Running her fingers along the rusted bars, her fingers scraped across sharp metal, slicing her skin. She could feel the warm moisture of blood, but she couldn’t allow that to stop her.
There must be a way out!
Hearing the door rattle, she felt acid boil up inside her throat and crawled back into the corner, into the shadows. She could hear Duncan’s heavy footsteps move across the cement as he approached the cage. A light came on, shining in her eyes and she lifted her hands to try and block some of the brightness.
Colette stirred and came up with a squeal. “Wh-what’s happening?”
“It’s okay,” Stormy consoled her, placing an arm around her sister’s slender shoulders.
Keys jostled and clanked. Is he letting us out? Stormy held her breath, listening to the key slide into the lock and a dull click then squeaking as the rusty door opened.
She wasn’t sure where her thoughts were, but she decided if she was going to make a move it was now or never.
Lifting herself on her knees, she crouched down, waiting…
The flashlight shone in her eyes again and without knowing how it would turn out, she jumped at Duncan’s waist and he lost his balance, his shoulder striking the bars behind him. “Run, Colette,” Stormy screamed.
Focused on holding his legs so he couldn’t move, she felt his hand in her hair, tugging as roots popped. The pain made her squint, but she refused to let go, not until she knew her sister was safe.
Her heart pounded hard and she was losing her grip. He was much stronger than her.
A hard hit to the back of her head sent her flat onto the floor, in a daze. The light of the flashlight turned fuzzy before she closed her eyes against the ache in her skull. Was she dying?
Everything faded…
*
Suited with night vision goggles, bullet proof vests and guns drawn, Gray and Cade moved toward the dark house. The GPS tracker had led Gray here although he didn’t see the SUV close.
Once he got to the address, he’d called Cade, knowing his friend wouldn’t say anything to the rest of the team members about this assignment. Gray wouldn’t ask the Hawks to come in and clean up a mess he’d made.
In retrospect, he’d missed clue after clue and let Phantom slip through his fingers like water. And yet, Gray didn’t regret the choices he’d made. He would still protect Stormy above anything and anyone, which led him to the decision that he’d have to resign from the elite force team. Some men could balance, like Cade and Jamison, but Gray realized his time had come to hand in his badge and settle down. His knee reminded him every day that his biological clock was ticking. Running was harder, and the team needed a man who was one hundred percent.
He loved Stormy.
His heart flipped. What a wonderful feeling.
They’d get her out alive. This was what the Hawks were good at, trained for.
“See anything?” Cade asked through the closed-circuit radio.
“Not a damn thing,” Gray answered, frustrated. Although he liked moving in at night because it lowered the risk of anyone getting hurt, he also hated that he couldn’t see anything—couldn’t see Stormy.
“No hard feelings, you know, about what happened back at the office.”
“It wasn’t you, Cade.” Gray huddled down in the dark. “I need to ask, how are you able to balance the team and your family?”
There was a short hesitation and a long sigh. “Melly swore she’d never date a man who wore a badge, but then she realized this is who I am and who she fell in love with. But I’ve had to make safer choices, bro. Not take unnecessary chances like I used to. That’s a promise I made to her.” They were leaning against a fence.
“Does she know you’re here today? Taking an unnecessary chance?” Gray asked.
“Hell, man. This ain’t an unnecessary mission. We’re saving your woman. Remember how you and the team helped when it was Melly’s life on the line? I owe each of you a huge favor.”
“Are you ready to do this?”
“I was born ready.”
24
STORMY WOKE WITH a jolt and swung her arms around against the awful smell under her nostrils. Once she had her eyes completely open, she saw what it was. Smelling salts.
“It’s about time you woke up.”
She looked up from her position on the floor into Duncan’s scowling face. She jerked upward and threw a punch at his face, but his strong arms out-powered her.
“Where’s my sister? What have you done with her?” She hoped Colette had gotten away.
He laughed. “Sisterly love. How sweet.” He gave her a push and she fell to the cement. She was no longer in the cage, but he’d moved her into an empty room with graffiti covered walls. The strong smell of mold and body odor almost suffocated her.
“Fuck you!” she seethed.
Duncan reached out, grabbed one of her wrists and crouched down. “Listen, you shouldn’t worry about your sister now. I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with you and that bitch. If it wasn’t that you’re worth something in this plan, you’d be worm bait by now,” he pushed through clenched teeth.
Jerking
her arm, she fought against his tight hold which was useless. She could barely catch her breath because the smells assaulted her nostrils.
“That was real heroic what you did, Stormy. You know, attacking me so your sister could get away. It’s okay though because she’s worthless to me. No, it’s you that’s worth something.”
“Let go of me, you bastard!” she whimpered and tugged, feeling his fingers press harder into her skin.
“Wow, you weren’t this feisty in bed. Too bad.” He grinned.
“Go to hell!”
“Oh, I will, and I plan on taking that son-of-a-bitch lawman with me.” He stood, dragging her with him. “Now, am I going to have to tie you up, or are you going to be a good little girl?”
She turned her cheek.
His laughter echoed off the walls. “Behave yourself. You won’t get away.”
“Gray will come,” she mumbled.
“Do you really think you can fuck some guy and in a week he’d want to marry you? Any man would fuck a woman if given a chance, but don’t take that as emotions, sweetheart,” he said coldly.
She felt vomit rising in the back of her throat. What could she say?
“Just think, darling, because of you he will walk right into my web. Good pussy leaves a man worthless.” He shook his head. “Come on, time’s a ticking.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Really?” He threaded his fingers in her hair and dragged her across the floor. He stopped at the doorway. “Would you rather walk?”
Biting back a sob, she stood, wobbly, but quickly gained her equilibrium. She looked Duncan in the eye. “Leave Gray alone. Do what you want with me but leave others alone.”
His brows scrunched. “I never knew you were a fucking martyr.”
Dizziness washed over her, but she refused to pass out. “This isn’t going to end well.”
“For you, no, it won’t.”
Stormy had nothing to lose as far as she saw things. She chomped down on his arm, sinking her teeth deep into his skin, tasting blood.
She held on until something hard came down on top of her head, and again she fell into darkness.
*
She looked a lot like Stormy, Gray thought as he stared at the crying woman who said her name was Colette. When he’d first seen the woman running from the house, he’d thought it was Stormy.
“So, let me get this straight, he has Stormy inside imprisoned in a cage?” Gray asked. He had taken the woman to safety while Cade stayed hunkered down close to the house.
“Y-yes. He’s going to hurt her. I know he will. You have to save her.” She was trembling.
“We will. I promise.”
“Are you Gray?” She looked up at him, some of the tears had finally dried.
“I am.”
“She mentioned you. She said you’d come save us. You must go get her. My sister is relying on you. Be careful though. I heard him say that he has explosives surrounding the house.”
He nodded and stood from where he was kneeling next to her. Although he didn’t want to call in his buddies, Gray realized he needed each of their expertise for this mission. Stormy was too precious to not ask for their help.
Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he dialed a familiar number. He typed in coordinates and an encrypted message, then dropped his phone back into place.
“You’re safe now. Just stay here. Okay?”
With a jerky nod, she lowered her chin back down.
Within twenty minutes—the longest twenty of Gray’s life—he heard the helicopter in the sky. He waited in the clearing, watching the bird close in and finally land.
Gray stood back watching as Jamison, Cowboy, and Abel all exited the helicopter, dressed in fatigues and fitted with equipment and night goggles. Black paint was smeared across their faces and they each carried a high-powered rifle.
Jamison made a whirling motion with his finger and the helicopter pilot gave a salute then lifted the bird off the ground, heading back to the secret location.
“I’m glad you’re here.” Gray shook Jamison’s hand.
“Where else would we be, buddy? Cowboy, you debrief the woman. She might know something that we need to know. Abel, you’ll be with us.” Jamison turned back to Gray. “Is there a problem with that, Gray?”
“Not a damn one, at least in my book.”
Abel nodded.
“The woman said he has explosives set up around the perimeter?” Jamison asked.
Nodding, Gray swiped a hand down his jaw. “She said she heard him say he did. I think he was blowing smoke because he wouldn’t have had the time. I have a plan. It’ll take all hands-on deck.”
25
PROCEEDING ACROSS THE stretch of land to the house on the abandoned street, they made their way under the cover of the darkness without anyone the wiser.
Gray’s knee ached, but he moved with speed and agility, his weapons harnessed and located all over his body. His rifle was clutched against his chest.
He was hidden behind the house, waiting as Abel cleared the area which was a tediously long process, but worth it. So far, no explosives had been found with the radar that could detect an explosive from a mile away, just as Gray had suspected. The device used spinach leaves embedded with carbon nanotubes to sense chemical compounds. When a bomb was present a signal would be picked up by an infrared camera. It was worth a pretty penny and had saved many lives.
With Jamison on Gray’s six, they dropped to the grass and took a low position, waiting for the most opportune time.
Although the location was pitch black, the night goggles helped. What seemed like an easy mission was no doubt a very complicated one. Phantom was dangerous and wouldn’t make this simple.
Several windows were broken Gray noticed as he moved on the ground for the corner of the house. Slowly standing, he peered inside, seeing the empty kitchen. In the next window, he could see into the sitting area, also empty. The next window made Gray’s heart almost leap out of his chest. Through his goggles he could see a woman’s silhouette. She appeared to be tied to a chair, her head lowered as if she were sleeping.
Although he wanted to race inside and grab her, he stilled against the siding of the house, catching his breath. Phantom expected Gray to act impulsively, but now was not the time for Gray to lose his cool.
He concentrated on the inside of the room, looking for any evidence that she wasn’t alone. He saw a suspicious box connected to wires sitting a few feet from her feet. His chest tightened.
Giving Jamison a hand signal, the man approached with caution.
Gray bent close to Jamison’s ear and said, “She’s in there. Tied to a chair.”
“A hundred bucks says he has the window wired.”
“Not the window. He has a bomb attached to her.” It hurt his throat to say the words. “If we try and move her, the bomb will detonate.”
“I’ll call Cade in.”
Giving a quick shake of his head, Gray said, “No. I want to do this. You, Cade, and Abel find him. I’m going to her.”
“You’re not geared up for this.”
“Neither is she.”
“Are you sure about this, man?”
“Not a sliver of doubt.”
After a long hesitation, Jamison scooted backward and disappeared into the night as if he vanished into thin air.
Gray turned back to the window, scraping to the bottom of his nerves. One wrong move and Stormy would die. He couldn’t let that happen.
*
Stormy lifted her head, hearing a noise in the dark room. Her mouth was covered in a rough cloth and her hands and ankles were tied to the chair. She stiffened a second before a small light came on and she recognized the beautiful eyes looking at her.
Gray! He’d come. She tried to move, but he laid a hand on her knee. “Listen carefully, Stormy. Don’t move, okay?”
She nodded.
He reached up and tugged the cloth from her mouth and tears flooded her cheeks.
“Gray. I knew you’d come.”
“I’m here, sweetheart. I’m here.” His voice comforted her.
“Please. Get me out of here,” she pleaded, not sure why he wasn’t in more of a rush.
She saw something in his gaze that targeted every molecule of her body.
“I want to, and I will. I promise. We have to do things…well, differently.”
“What’s happening, Gray?”
“Phantom has attached a wire to you. It’s connected to a pressure sensitive mechanism on the chair. If you move it will trigger an explosive.”
Fear scurried through her and she felt sick. “A bomb? He hooked a bomb up to me?” Her lips trembled.
Gray had now laid both his hands on her thighs. “Stay as calm as possible and listen to what I say. It’s important. Okay?”
“Okay.” She tried to breath, in and out, but her insides shook. Having him close soothed her, but the danger was like a heavy cloak.
“I’m going to look it over closely. Hang tight for me.”
She watched him pull back and use his flashlight to examine the mechanism.
A buzzing sound made her jump and they made eye contact. He lifted his radio from his belt. “Any sign of him?” Gray asked.
“There was a trap door underneath the house. Looks like a tunnel that leads outside of the compound. We’re following.”
“Copy that.”
“You didn’t think it would be that easy to get rid of me, did you, Gray?” The overhead light popped on.
Stormy stiffened, staring at Duncan who was in the doorway. His gun was aimed directly at Gray who was standing, his hands held up in defense mode.
“Well, well…it’s about time we came face to face. Looks like those gunshot wounds have healed,” Gray said.
Stormy respected the fact that he didn’t show a flicker of fear.
Duncan’s lips thinned, but then he grinned. “For a sharp shooter you certainly are a lousy shot.”
SEAL by Fate (Ghost Hawk Ops Book 1) Page 19