by Lea Hart
His worst fear had just come true. Dean had gotten a hold of Rachel, and this time it wasn’t about intimidating her. This time he planned much worse. Dean had help, because there was no way that he had the brain power to come up with something like this.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Rachel tried to move and realized she couldn’t. Her hands and feet were bound. She lay back down against the cold floor and took a few calming breaths. The blackness was starting to lift, and she attempted to figure out where she was. Slowly she opened one eye and discovered that she was unable to make out anything in the room. She opened the other eye, and the results were no better. A wave of nausea rolled over her, and she took small breaths and willed it away. It didn’t seem as though there was anyone else in the room. She lay quietly and tried to let her body relax so she could get her mind functioning. Please, Lord have mercy and let me make it out of this.
Dean was involved in this somehow. She didn’t recognize anything about the men who’d taken her off the street. But in her heart, she knew this was the inevitable end to what had started a year ago. The time with Chris was somehow just a small moment away from the reality of her life. Her thoughts were starting to slip away, and she figured they must have given her something, because she couldn’t hold on long enough to come up with a plan. The blackness rolled over her again, and she didn’t know if that was good or bad.
Dean slammed through the back doors of the gym and shouted for his brother. “What the hell did you do? Did you hurt Rachel?”
His brother came out of the office, locked the main door behind Dean, and reset the alarm. “I took care of business. Just like we discussed.”
“We didn’t discuss anything. You lost your mind and came up with a plan all on your own. Where in the hell is she?”
“Relax, little bro. Everything is under control.” Mick smirked.
Dean grabbed his brother’s T-shirt. “No, it isn’t. You just fucked up so badly that we are going to jail or we’re dead. Kidnapping is a federal offense. You stopped taking your meds, didn’t you?” he asked.
Mick straightened his enormous shoulders and stared down at his little brother. “I did this for you. She made you hide. We don’t live like that.”
“You just signed our death certificate. Her fucking boyfriend is retired Special Forces. They work for that firm SAI. You just woke up the fucking beast. I don’t know how we’re going to survive this.” Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he tried to think of a way out of the mess.
“No problem. We have the girl, so we have the power.”
“We don’t have shit. Except the wrath of the most feared men on earth. Why did you do it, Mick?”
“Because they made you hide up at Uncle Stan’s. We have fights coming up. We’re going to become champions and take our rightful place in the family.”
“We’re going to become dead. It’s the police or the damn SEALs. Why couldn’t you leave this alone?”
“Nobody pisses on our family. I had to show them that.”
“You just showed them that we piss on theirs.”
“When did this become not important to you? I was trying to help you.” Moving his hands to his hips, he leaned forward and stared at his brother.
“I’ve been taking my meds, and I quit the steroids. I was in a manic cycle when I broke into her condo. I did a lot of damage, and that’s not something she’s going to get over. I love her, but she doesn’t love me, and I can’t make her.”
“Yes, you can.”
“I don’t want to anymore.”
“That might’ve been helpful to know before I had her snatched today.”
“You should’ve called before you did it and not after. You have to take your meds. Your treatment doesn’t work if you don’t take the pills.”
“I can say the same thing to you, little brother.”
“Show me where Rachel is, and let’s see how bad it is,” Dean said.
***
Derick stood at the center of the room and was running tactics for the operation. He had an initial squad of three ready to go out the doors and investigate the warehouse, which was the last known location of Rachel’s phone. Travis was driving his truck because it was already fairly well stocked with supplies. Ed and Frank were riding with him, suited up with bags ready to go, and they were waiting for the earbuds to sync. Derick had his in, and he waited for the men to sync the coms and make sure that everything was working. “Frank, you lead. Travis is on breach, and Ed, you’re point. If there is a shot, it’s yours.” They nodded and hustled out of the office and down to the truck. Twenty minutes had passed since they discovered that Rachel was missing. “We’ll feed you info as it comes in,” Derick said.
Laird sat at the keyboard. He had several programs running and was disseminating the information as fast as he could. “I have the background information for the brothers going to your cells, along with the information on the employees from the gym. I’m trying to match the faces from the camera feeds on the front of the buildings to any matches from the employee files.” Alex slid into a chair next to Laird and started going through the images from the two-hour time frame when she was taken. “Thanks for coming in,” Laird said.
“No problem. I was getting out of the shower when I heard my phone buzz. It took me a little longer to get my leg on today.”
Laird glanced down at Alex in his jeans. “Which one did you choose? The bionic one?”
Alex laughed as he let his fingers fly over the keyboard. “How did you know?”
“It seems like a day for a bionic leg.”
“You got that right,” Alex responded. “Where’s Chris?”
“He’s getting suited up and putting his gear together. He looked through the first forty minutes of tape. So just start where he marked it. His gut is telling him that they have her at the gym. We had Tracy call and ask about classes, and she got a message that they were closed for the day. The gym is never closed, and it’s busiest at night.”
“So it’s true what they say about Iceman’s gut?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, it is. He’s never been wrong. His Spidey senses saved my life twice when we were on our last rotation.”
Laird noticed that he lost Alex’s attention as the man focused in on the images on the monitor. He wanted to locate some faces and a tag on the car if he got really lucky.
Chris, Sean, and David were geared up and ready to go. They had mics and transmitters in place and were syncing to the main system. Derick ran a quick check, and they adjusted their receivers. “David is tactics, Chris is breach, and I want Sean on point. I will follow you guys as soon as Max gets here. Laird is running down the plans of the building, and he’s trying to get the last known location of Dean and Mick. The phone records are coming up slowly. It seems like Dean was back in communication, so let’s hope for some intel that will help us out today.”
Chris stood as still as a tree as he listened to Derick. This was the most difficult thing he’d ever experienced, and he needed to shut down all of the fear so he could use his skills and training to save the love of his life.
Derick studied Chris and nodded. “We’re going to bring her home safe.” Chris tipped his head in response. They left the office and got into Sean’s truck and made the short trip to Undisputed.
***
Travis circled the warehouse to see if there was any activity. There were no cars, and the gates were closed. The place appeared abandoned. He drove slowly as they passed the front doors. He continued down the block and turned the corner. The guys jumped out, went to the back, and grabbed their packs.
Frank glanced down the street and then at his phone. Laird had sent him the plan for the warehouse as well as the info on the owner. The place had been vacant for a year. Checking the plans, he decided to go in through the front and then clear the rooms from there. He doubted they were going to find anything, but any intel was good intel. His best guess was that Rachel’s phone was thrown there as the vehicle passe
d by.
The three men moved down the street and hit the front door in less than a minute. Travis stood at the door and put up his RANGE-R radar device against the wall in an attempt to determine if there were any people inside. While the range was great on these, it didn’t always work in such large spaces. Once the reading came back as negative, he quickly disengaged the lock, and the men moved inside.
Ed scanned for a security system and discovered one inside the hall. He took a second to study it and then disarmed it in less than a minute. They were lucky the building had such a rudimentary system. They didn’t have to waste time disarming one that actually worked.
Travis pulled out his thermal imager and set it as they walked down the hall toward the rear of the structure. It was one long, flat building, so it was easy to clear. Once they went into the warehouse, Travis held up his thermal imager and scanned the building. There were no heat signatures from anything larger than a rat. He also didn’t pick up any objects that were not part of the structure. They stood in their Y formation and determined that the structure was uninhabited. Travis turned and spoke. “I think the phone must have been dumped outside. Let’s have Robert at SDPD scan the images for the traffic cameras down here and see if anything pops.”
Frank spoke into his mic. “Derick, we’re clear at the warehouse. Only junk and rats down here.”
Derick responded, “Thanks, head on over to Undisputed. The guys are there, and they have three people inside. They could use your help.”
“Affirmative,” Frank responded.
The men hustled to the truck and made their way over to the gym. “That asshole better not have laid a finger on Rachel. I’m not going to hold Chris back if we find her harmed in any way,” Travis said.
***
Rachel’s head pounded. Her body felt heavy and sore in places that she didn’t recognize. Memories started seeping in. She recalled the face of the man who’d thrown her into the van. He’d yelled at her to shut up and hit her across the face before covering her mouth with a cloth. Then she remembered the blackness that took over. She realized that she would need a miracle to get out of here. Dean and his brother must have orchestrated the events today. It seemed they were willing to involve other people as well, because she didn’t recognize the faces of the men who’d taken her.
Being scared for a year had prepared her for this moment in some way. It had also left her with little hope. She’d always known that it would end in violence. She just hadn’t expected this. Dean was crazy, but this seemed beyond his capability. A tear slid down her face as she thought about Chris. This was going to mark him for the rest of his life. The loss of the person one loved was something that few people recovered from. In some ways, it was going to be easier for her. She was going to die and not live with the loss of her beloved. I wish I hadn’t told him I loved him this morning. It will only make it harder for him.
She heard something and figured the end was coming. Closing her eyes, she recited the prayers that she learned as a child. Maybe that could be her last thought and not the overwhelming feeling of loss that was enveloping her. Chris’s face popped into her head, and she hoped that maybe he was wishing her strength or courage. She realized that she must be worse off than she initially thought, because she swore she felt his strength in her bones. The door scraped open, and she prepared herself for the worst.
Chris stood in the parking lot of Undisputed with the guys as they studied the floor plans for the gym. They had three heat signatures in the building. If he remembered the building correctly, two people were in the rear toward the offices. There was only one in the front. He didn’t remember anything other than the open gym, but perhaps there was another room. He had a sinking feeling that’s where Rachel was kept. He closed his eyes for a moment as the Team put together a plan. He prayed and placed her face in the front of his mind. He sent her his prayer of strength and courage. I’m coming to get you, honey. You just hold on until I get there.
Sean and David were coming up with a plan for their entry as they heard a truck pull into the lot. The men all went to their weapons until they confirmed it was Travis and his squad. The men jumped out, went to the back of the truck, and started pulling out their bags. Travis walked up to the group and checked the floor plans on David’s iPad. “I have enough C4 in the truck to blow the door. I also have some flash bangs we can use once we get inside.”
“You can never have enough C4. I have some as well,” Sean responded. “We need to get eyes inside before we go in. The only windows are in the front, and we’ll be spotted right away if they move to the front.”
“I’ll go up on the roof, put the camera over the top, and get some visuals that way,” Frank said. “I have the new camera that I got from a Team guy on the East Coast. It’s supposed to have a better range, and it has some thermal capability. We might be able to pick up something, even if we cut the electricity.”
“Have we gotten the alarm system information yet?” Frank asked. “No need to announce our arrival.”
David glanced up from his iPad and shook his head. “Laird is working on it but doesn’t have anything yet.”
Chris stood at the back of the group and realized that he’d seen a pad where the offices were. “There’s a small pad right next to the door. It didn’t seem like a sophisticated system. So it should take less than a minute to disarm. This place has long hours and not a lot of valuable equipment, so they probably never invested in a decent system.”
The Team nodded in his direction. No one knew how he was feeling, but they could imagine. As far as an op went, this was a cakewalk. But having one of their own inside made it less so. They also had to consider the ex-boyfriend’s crazy factor and Rachel’s lack of skills. The brother was also an unknown that they had to keep in mind.
“Has anyone located the father?” David asked. “He may have some insight into his son’s motivation.”
Travis checked his phone. “No, Laird hasn’t had contact with him yet.”
Sean and David went over the plan one final time as they waited to get a report from Frank. He was almost in position, and they wanted that before they breached the door and went in.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Rachel watched the door open and was instantly blinded by the light. She noted two large figures enter the room and knew it was Dean and probably his brother. She lay quietly and awaited her fate. It wasn’t up to her how this ended, and she was at their mercy. What a lousy way to end a Monday.
Dean walked over to her and pulled her up. She winced as he touched her and realized that her ribs were either broken or bruised. The pain that radiated through her body made the breath leave her as she almost passed out. She finally was able to hiss, “Stop.” She felt his hands fall away immediately.
Dean turned to his brother and yelled, “What the hell did those guys do to her? Did they hit her?”
Mick stood there defiantly with his hands on his hips. “I don’t know how much trouble she gave them. They might have had to subdue her.”
“What could she have done? She’s one hundred twenty pounds on a good day. Those guys weigh twice as much as she does. She’s a fucking butterfly. Why did they hurt her so badly?”
Rachel was finally able to get enough breath to respond. “Why did you try to break me, Dean? What did I ever do to you? I didn’t deserve what you’ve done to me this last year.”
“I wanted to keep seeing you. You kept trying to get away from me, and I didn’t want that.”
“Have you been taking your meds?”
“Yeah, I started taking them again. Can you tell?”
“I can. Why did it take you so long?”
“Because it makes me feel like half of who I’m supposed to be.”
“You’re a manic-depressive. You don’t have a choice about it. Those stupid steroids you’ve taken made you more crazy.”
“I know, Rachel. Maybe once we get this settled and I prove to you that I’m taking my meds, we can date again.
”
“Dean, you destroyed my condo and you kidnapped me. I don’t think that’s a good foundation for a relationship.”
He looked down at her sadly. “So there’s no coming back from this?”
“I don’t think so. Why don’t you let me leave and talk to the cops? I can tell them that you didn’t mean it.”
Mick watched the whole exchange and lost his temper. “Don’t listen to her, Dean. If we let her go, we are going to jail. Or worse, those fucking SEALs will kill us.”
Dean turned toward her. “I forgot about your new boyfriend. He isn’t going to let me live once he sees how badly you’re hurt. I can’t let you go.”
“What are you going to do? Keep us inside the gym forever?”
“Mick and I are going to talk about it and come up with a plan. Let me untie your hands and feet.”
“Don’t untie anything. What if she tries to escape?” Mick asked.
“She’s injured. Where is she going to go?”
“Leave her here, and let’s go figure out what we’re going to do.”
“Stay here, Rachel, and we’ll be back in a little while.”
The brothers strode out and locked the door, and she was left in the dark room again. Those two were stupid enough to kill her and themselves. This wasn’t going to end well. She lay down, and the pain shot through her body again, leaving her breathless and in agony. The man who had kicked her repeatedly had probably done some damage.
This was the last straw for her. She had kept herself together for a year, and this was the moment she physically and mentally gave in. She wished they would just get it over with. No one was going to save her, and she didn’t really care anymore. The pain that washed over was perhaps more emotional than physical, but she couldn’t be sure. She was having the worst menstrual cramps of her life, which made the rib situation worse. She closed her eyes and hoped she wouldn’t have to open them again. Dean finally got his wish and destroyed her.
***