“What’s going on, Jones? Glad to see that you’re still alive,” Rogers said to him.
Jeremy held his gaze and pretended to be unaware of this rat bastard’s true intentions. He couldn’t help but think about the agents Rogers had helped Clover kill. Rogers deserved to die.
“Not as glad as I am. Do you have a plan and a safe house for us to go to?” Jeremy asked as he looked over at the other two agents.
“Sure do. If you want to follow me outside, we’ll head out now. Don’t want to be in one place too long,” Rogers said.
Jeremy walked along with the other agents, his hand on his gun, prepared to fire, but they had a sniper on the roof and one in the woods in front. They would have a clear shot if Clover was there.
As they exited the building, they heard the shot. The sniper fell from the roof, and Jeremy and the others jumped to the protection of the car. More shots rang out, and Jeremy saw where they were coming from. As he looked at Rogers, he saw that Rogers was pointing a gun at him. The shot rang out, hitting Rogers in the chest. Another agent had killed him. Jeremy ran toward the safety of the warehouse, figuring he could run around back and come up to Clover from behind. More gunfire rang out, and he hurried, chest pounding, gun drawn as he ran across the clearing to the woods. He saw the flashes of light as Clover shot up the car and anyone near it.
“Put down your gun,” he yelled to Clover. Clover turned and shot. Jeremy fired his weapon, shooting Clover between the eyes.
“It’s over asshole, and your boss is next.”
* * * *
Catalina was glad she was working the night shift. It had given her all day to rest up after the long run. She couldn’t help but to smile. Everyone was coming in congratulating her and praising her win, but her heart was heavy. She got Cody to explain a little about Jeremy’s absence. It was obvious that he was in danger. He was trying to protect her and his brothers and pull any potential danger away from them. As Cody explained, giving only some details of the case, she realized the seriousness of it and the fact that agents were being killed and Jeremy was being hunted. That explained why Lew and the deputies were continuously around the ER and why her men were being overprotective and not allowing her to go anywhere without them and protection.
Now she worried even more about Jeremy. What if he got hurt or was killed? What if she never saw him again? She felt the tears reach her eyes, and then took a deep breath and released it. She remembered Cody’s words, and Cooper and Don’s encouragement.
“You’re a strong woman,” Cody had told her. “You know right from wrong and about justice needing to be served. We’re your men, and Jeremy and I have jobs that are dangerous where we deal with very evil people. You need to be strong and to know that we will always protect you and keep you out of harm’s way. Jeremy is doing that now, Catalina, and you need to be aware and diligent as you live your life here. I don’t want to scare you, but these men are resourceful. If you see anything suspicious or feel like something isn’t right, just text or call us, and we’ll come check it out. We don’t care if it’s nothing. You’re a fighter and you’re strong. You’re made for us and us for you. Jeremy will be back, and we can move on with our future together.”
She felt that inner need to be strong and be the woman they needed her to be.
Catalina looked at the clock. It was three a.m., and the ER was pretty quiet. There were three patients inside, one with chest pains, one who’d broke his arm in a drunken stupor as he tripped over a curb outside a bar in town, and the other was having abdominal pains and the doctor had determined it could be his appendix. They were bringing him up to X-rays when Catalina noticed the deputy wasn’t sitting in his chair. Catalina walked into the hallway to see where he was, and he wasn’t there, nor was the head nurse at the front desk. The doors to the ER room opened, which led from the main hallway into the hospital. It was an entrance doctors and nurses used. She saw a man coming inside, his head hung down, and he was moaning.
Without a second thought, she went to him.
“Do you need help, sir?” she asked.
He looked up, his eyes dark and his expression evil as he looked at her and smiled like he had succeeded in tricking her. Her gut clenched and she instantly felt the need to run, and to get away from him and call one of her men. She went to step back, but he grabbed her arm and pressed the gun to her side.
“Make any noise, and I’ll kill you right here where your boyfriend can find you.”
She knew right away he was talking about Jeremy, and she gasped, the fear hitting her belly.
She looked around frantically and then right at the camera. “Jeremy, help me,” she lipped to it, and he pulled her from the ER out the emergency entrance and into the night.
She struggled once they were outside, thinking no one could get hurt but her at this point, but then came the prick to her neck. She gasped as he shoved her into the van.
“I heard about your spunk. I came prepared, Catalina. Your boyfriend took away everything that means anything to me. He took it all, and I have nothing. I’m a wanted man. Now I’m going to take everything from him.”
She felt her head begin to ache, and her vision blurred just as she hit the metal floor of the van. She heard the door close, and then another door open and close, and then the engine start. She rolled as the van took off, and then she passed out completely.
* * * *
The sirens blared, putting the whole hospital on high alert as police and federal agents swarmed the building, trying to locate Frederick Price and Catalina.
Don looked at Cody and Cooper as information came flooding in. Deputy Davie Lee had been shot and was in critical condition. The head nurse had suffered a concussion. They now stood by the nurses’ station looking at the surveillance video. Apparently the security guards had been in their office when it all went down and they were locked in, the door secured from the outside. Their quick thinking sent calls into the sheriff’s department fast, but not fast enough to catch the van before it headed out of town.
They had helicopters in the air, and the agents were giving Cody and the sheriff updates on Jeremy and the team.
“They took out Clover two hours ago. Frederick must have found out and set this plan in motion. He’s desperate, and he wants revenge. Jeremy uncovered the snitch in the agency. He’s dead now, too.”
“Jesus, this is a fucking mess,” Lew said to them.
“We have to find that van and get to Catalina before this asshole kills her,” Don stated.
Cody’s phone rang.
“It’s Jeremy,” he said and answered it.
“The setup worked. We know where Frederick is, and we’re headed there. This will be over soon.”
“He’s got Catalina,” Cody told his brother.
“What? How the fuck did that happen? What do you mean?” he carried on, and Cody explained. He heard his brother yelling, and then he clamed down.
“I’m going to kill this fucking guy. How long ago did this happen?”
“Thirty minutes.”
“Fuck. He must be heading to Pennsylvania. Are their eyes in the sky?”
“Yes, and I’ve got my guys in motion to use their special skills. I hope to have a location on that van any minute.”
“Okay, we’re headed that way. Let me know the moment you get a location.”
“You got it, Jeremy.” Cody rubbed his hand along his jaw. “We have to find that van and fast. He’s going to kill her.”
“We’ve got men tracking the phone calls, and we’ve come up with three separate locations where he could be headed,” the federal agent told them.
“Then we need to plan a simultaneous raid on all three locations once we ensure Catalina is safe and we can go in. If we hit the wrong place, he’ll know and he’ll kill her. We have to do this right. He’s a fucking psycho, and this is definitely his line of thinking,” Cody told them.
“Let’s do it,” Lew said, and they all started organizing their teams as they
waited on confirmation of the three locations and the appearance of that van.
* * * *
Jeremy gripped the steering wheel so tightly. He wanted to kill Frederick. How the fuck had that asshole gotten to Catalina? He’d been so close to catching him and taking him out just like they had Clover and the snitch Rogers. That asshole Rogers had sold out his own men, his country, to the corrupt, murdering trash that Frederick was. How many agents had died, how many families left without a father, a husband a boyfriend, a son? Men like this needed to be eliminated and destroyed.
He was tired of this shit, tired of placing his life on the line and now sacrificing his own family because of this job. This shit had to stop. God, what if Catalina died? It would be all his fault. He should have stayed and protected his family and let the other agents take down Rogers and Clover. She wouldn’t be in danger, and both men would be dead because the other agents were more than capable of doing the job. They’d lost their friends, their fellow agents, too.
He exhaled and felt his heart ache. Please keep Catalina alive and let us get to her in time. I’m done with this life, this job. I need to focus on my family. Nothing else is more important. Nothing.
* * * *
Catalina shivered. She blinked her eyes open and saw a man standing by a table. A bright light blinded her for a moment. Her head was pounding and her vision blurry, but she could see the metal devices, knives and other tools on a table, and a round container of fire. He was running the instruments across it. She shook, her body seemingly in shock from whatever he had injected into her skin.
She was slowly becoming more aware of the situation and the fact that she was lying on the floor in her panties and bra. Her lips felt sore, her cheekbone, too, and she wondered if he’d hit her. She started to move, but her limbs were weak, and she fell back down.
He turned to look at her.
“Good, you’re awake. I was thinking I would have to do the rest while you were unconscious. That wouldn’t be as much fun. I want to hear you scream for mercy, beg to be saved, and we’re running out of time.”
“Who are you, and why are you doing this to me?”
He picked up the knife and ran it over the flame, heating it.
“It doesn’t matter who I am. Just know that the pain I’m going to cause you is because of your boyfriend, Agent Jones.”
She felt the tears reach her eyes, and her heart pounded. She knew he was going to cut her, burn her flesh as he stabbed her or something. She lifted up, determined to fight her way out of this or die. Jeremy would eventually find him and kill him. She was on her own. She had to fight for her life.
He lowered to a squatting position over her legs.
“It will only hurt for a little while, and then the pain will be so bad you’ll pass out, but then I’ll wake you, and we’ll start again.” His eyes were so evil she felt he wasn’t human at all, but some monster. This was the kind of man Jeremy had to hunt down in his career as an agent. No wonder he didn’t want to quit. He probably feared more men like this would exist if he weren’t there to kill them.
But where was he? Did he even know she’d been taken? Where the hell were they, anyway?
She took a few unsteady breaths and panicked as his hand came down on her thigh.
“You’re very beautiful, but you won’t be once I’m finished with you.”
She struck him across the mouth, and he staggered back. She pulled herself up to her knees, fighting the weakness and the dull pounding in her head as he swung the knife at her chest. She fell back, causing him to miss, but then he grabbed her leg, pulled her forward, and stabbed down at her shoulder. She cried out as the pain radiated through her body, suddenly awakening her entirely, erasing the fog and replacing it with pure adrenaline.
She shoved at him, sending him flying into the table, knocking over the container of fire and some kind of liquid. It caught fire, quickly spreading around them.
She grabbed for whatever weapon she could as he came at her again like some raving lunatic.
She swung the metal with the sharp, hook-like edge and cut his chest, slicing through his shirt smooth and quick. His arm made contact with her face, and she fell back. The pain hit her face then her shoulder and back as she landed on the concrete flooring. The fire was spreading fast, and she jumped up and ran.
“You won’t get away from me. No one can find you. You’ll die out there.”
He threw something at her, and it hit her arm, cut her skin, and made her stumble on the stairs.
“Get away from me!” she screamed and kicked at him, knocking him down a few steps.
She shoved open the door at the top of the stairs. The place was in complete darkness, the only light coming from the moon outside. She felt around the wall, then heard the door slam open and him yelling.
“I’ll find you. I’ll kill you, bitch. I’ll cut you to fucking pieces and leave you here for all those fucking agents to see. They’ll never catch me and kill me.”
She was crying, but trying to be quiet. Where’s the door? Oh God, please let me get out of here. She felt the pain radiate against her shoulder. She was bleeding so much. She knew she needed to get a move on it and get out of here. She could go into shock from the stab wound. She eased slowly down the wall. He was banging open doors and heading the opposite way. She was barefoot, wearing only panties and a bra, but she had to run. She needed to get out of the house and run.
She saw him, the shadow of a man, and he had a gun. She was going to die. It was run and take the chance to live and escape, or stay here and suffer a horrible death.
She was shaking harder, and she knew it was bad. She could go into shock, and then she wouldn’t be able to move at all. She looked around frantically and saw the doorway. She made her way toward it and began to open the door.
She screamed as the shot rang out, hitting the wood by her head. She pulled the door open and slammed it behind her as she headed to the right, ducking and weaving. It was complete darkness out there, like they were in the woods somewhere. She ran toward the trees, her feet aching and broken branches, rocks, and sharp sticks cutting into her skin painfully.
More shots rang out, just missing her, and she tried not to scream and hoped he was just taking potshots and couldn’t see her, but she heard his boots crushing the branches on the ground. She looked over her shoulder as she continued to run and her chest slammed into a tree, scraping her breasts and her arm. She gasped and fell to her knees, then hurried to get up.
“Oh God, please. Please, someone help me.”
Another shot rang out. “I’m getting closer, bitch. You’re gonna die,” he yelled, and she saw a flash of light to the right and then heard the roar of vehicles. Was that a chopper in the distance?
Strong arms grabbed her around her midsection, pulling her toward a thick, hard chest.
She screamed.
“Catalina, it’s me. It’s Cody.”
She hugged him tightly and heard the grunts and the yelling, and then shots fired. She shook as Cody held her tightly. He was dressed in black, a mask hiding half his face, and she felt the utility belt against her hips. His arm and gun pointed toward the darkness.
She was hysterically crying against his shoulder, trying to be quiet, but the adrenaline rush was dissipating and she was going into shock.
“He’s dead. I got him,” she heard Jeremy yell, and then the place illuminated with lights from Jeeps and trucks as well as the helicopter from above. The sound of the rotors had her heart pounding.
“Oh God, baby, you’re okay. My God, are you all right?”
“Shock…shhhhock.” Her voice quivered.
“Fuck, I need help here. She’s going into shock,” Cody yelled.
“Lay her down on this blanket,” Lew said, appearing with other men, who were all dressed in black, holding guns and looking like some special operations unit.
She blinked her eyes opened and closed.
“Pressure to the knife wound,” she said, breat
hing heavily.
“Knife wound?” Jeremy asked as he knelt down and caressed her cheek.
“She’s cut on the shoulder. It’s deep. I need something to stop the bleeding,” Cody stated.
“Pressure, Cody. Hold it tight. I can take it.” She swallowed hard.
“Get me something to cover her up. She’ll freeze out here, and she’s in shock. We need to keep her warm,” Cody said, and then someone brought over a federal agent jacket they’d taken off to give to her.
“The chopper can land in the clearing and take her to the ER. We need to pick her up,” Lew told Cody and Jeremy.
“All right. Nice and easy. Baby, we have to pick you up,” Cody told her.
“Just do it,” she stated firmly, and Lew chuckled.
Catalina felt her vision begin to blur again. “I’m going to pass out, Cody. Keep the pressure on and keep me warm,” she said, slurring her words.
“Yes, ma’am,” Cody stated, and she closed her eyes as she felt herself being lifted into the helicopter, the sound of the rotors so loud yet relaxing as she focused on the sound.
She could hear the radio echo in the background and then felt the hands holding hers, and she knew Cody and Jeremy were with her. She smelled fire in the distance, smoke in the air, and heard sirens blaring, and then there was silence.
* * * *
Jeremy sat in the chair next to Catalina’s bed in the hospital. She was all bruised up from head to toe from fighting for her life. He almost hadn’t made it to her in time. It had been too close and too upsetting to think about. He thought about the way they got to her and how she’d been running through the woods as Frederick took shots at her. She had a stab wound that required surgery and a lot of stitches, bruising and cuts to her face, her chest, and her feet, and she had gone into shock on the helicopter. It had been so frightening, too frightening to think about what life would be without her.
Hearts on Fire 7: Claiming Catalina (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 12