Devon called his contact and explained the change, adding that he’d send them the location as soon as he got there. They confirmed that they were about forty minutes from his location and had local police and state backup if he felt it necessary. He didn’t, but he’d reach Antonio and his men first and reevaluate if necessary.
He slowed his speed and felt much calmer. Now his frustration stemmed from the fact that he hadn’t grabbed his surveillance equipment before rushing after them. If they were settling into a new location, he’d have the CIA ops wait and watch while he went back for his gear. It wouldn’t be nearly so easy or convenient to watch them from his vehicle without the nice resort room, a shower, room service, and most importantly Iris, but he’d experienced worse.
There was only one knot in his gut now: his idyllic time with Iris would have to halt for a while. It would be awful not to see her for a little bit, but he’d take down Antonio, and then he’d come for her. It would all work out. It had to. He needed to be with Iris more than he needed his pistol and knife with him at all times.
Chapter Fifteen
Iris woke to the world bouncing underneath her. She was facedown on a thin, hard carpet. Everything was foggy and her head hurt, but she was lucid enough to figure that she was in a vehicle. They hit a bump, and her body lifted and then slammed down again. She tried to move her hands to brace herself from knocking against the floor again before realizing they were tied behind her. She cried out in surprise and heard a feminine voice, maybe Cat’s voice, say, “Shh, I’m here, shh.”
Prying her gritty eyelids open, Iris rotated her head toward the voice. It was Cat, bound and lying on her stomach too. No! “Cat!” she tried to keep her voice down, but the panic was too strong. “Where are we? Are you okay?”
Cat gestured her head toward the front of the large van. Two men sat up front—she could only see the backs of their heads—while a burly guy with a large gun sat in the back with them. The guy with the gun simply watched them, not caring that they were awake or talking. That didn’t bode well for them, right?
“Antonio,” Cat whispered.
“No,” she squeaked out. Iris couldn’t believe this. She could remember running in the dark, seeing that van, and hearing Cat screaming. Antonio was behind this? She blinked, and her vision cleared enough to let her see Antonio’s profile as he sat up front in the passenger seat.
As if he sensed her gaze, he glanced back. When he saw her eyes were open, he gave her a silky-smooth smile and a wink. “Ah, bellissima. Buongiorno.”
“‘Good morning’?” Iris’s voice came out as an almost shriek. “It is not a good morning. Why did you kidnap us? What are you doing?”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry, carina. I will treat you special.”
“You won’t touch my cousin!” Cat yelled at him.
Antonio laughed, and his men laughed with him. “Ah, amore mio, I’ll do much more than ‘touch’ her.”
“You’re disgusting!” Cat screamed. “Weak, lame, vile, filthy men! You try to touch either of us and I’ll cut your fingers off!”
Only laughter met her insults and threats.
Iris’s stomach churned and she swallowed down vomit, hoping she could keep it inside until the right moment to puke all over the disgusting Antonio. She’d been nice to this scum, and he was kidnapping her and Cat. To traffic them? Devon had said that the person he was after was a drug dealer and a trafficker.
Devon! He would be watching Antonio. She hoped he would come for them. Would he get to them before Antonio did … revolting things she couldn’t let herself think about? The panic started pressing in, and she felt even more nauseated as her palms got slick and her vision narrowed.
A movement from her other side snapped her out of her panic attack for a second. She turned her head to see who was lying there. Her nausea worsened, but the darkness abated and she was seeing clearly. Worry for the other women in the van helped her stave off the attack.
Meredith Francis lay there with horror in her large, dark eyes; her smooth, dark skin looked almost sallow. She was still one of the most beautiful people Iris had ever seen. Meredith was a few years older than Cat and Iris, a sweetheart who owned the ice cream shop in town. Her granny was best friends with Grams, and Cat and Iris had always believed she was the love of Cruz’s life, though Cruz always said they were “only best friends.”
Nervously, Iris asked, “Are you okay?”
“As okay as I can be,” Meredith murmured.
Iris guessed that was about as good of an answer as she could expect. What a lame question. Of course she wasn’t okay. None of them were.
They bounced around for a few more minutes, and then the van came to an abrupt stop. Iris felt relief for a second that they weren’t bouncing anymore, but the relief vanished as she realized that if they were stopped, these awful men could do all manner of horrible things to them.
The driver and Antonio climbed out as the man with the large gun stood and shoved both of the side doors open. The man shifted his gun to his left hand and grabbed Meredith’s bound hands with his right, yanking her onto her feet. She cried out in surprise and pain.
“Careful,” Antonio cautioned from outside the doors. “We don’t want them damaged.”
The guy bowed his head in submission, set his gun down, and lifted Meredith off her feet and down into the other guard’s waiting arms. Meredith screamed for help, but from what Iris could see, they were in the middle of the forest. No help was coming. Where was Devon? Did he know Antonio had them? She couldn’t imagine how. There was no service this high in the mountains, making it impossible to follow a tracking device, she thought.
She prayed hard for some kind of miracle as the man lifted her into the air and down into Antonio’s arms. She squirmed to get away and kicked at his legs, but with her arms bound and him being much larger and stronger, she didn’t have much hope.
The man in the van came down the stairs, holding a writhing, screaming Cat slung over his shoulder. Antonio led the way into a small cabin. Iris tried to fight him, horrified of what might happen once they got inside. Antonio shoved through the door and strode through an open kitchen and living area with her in his arms. When he walked through the open door to a bedroom, she kicked and flailed and was about to sink her teeth into his shoulder when he tossed her on the large bed and said with a sneering smile, “Calm down. Our time isn’t yet.”
Iris stared in surprise. He wasn’t going to hurt her … for now.
The other two men followed with Cat and Meredith in their arms, each tossing them on the bed, and then the men stormed out and shut the bedroom door behind them. Iris was tempted to dissolve into a puddle of tears, but just like when that man had taken her on that motorbike at sixteen, she knew she’d jump off a two-hundred-foot cliff before she let some jerk take advantage of her. She’d overcome the horror of almost dying at sixteen, and she was stronger and braver now. She would go down fighting; that was for certain.
Pushing to her feet, she turned her bound hands to Cat. “You want to pick mine off first, then we’ll get out of here?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Cat stood awkwardly and turned her back as well, blindly reaching for Iris’s ropes and trying to unknot them.
Meredith scooted over on the bed and started guiding Cat through which way to push or tug on the rope. Iris was terrified, sick to her stomach, and praying someone would come rescue them, but with her cousin and friend working with her, maybe they could rescue themselves.
As time wore on, the knots didn’t budge and Devon didn’t appear. The looks on Cat’s and Meredith’s faces matched the desperation Iris felt. Her despondent hope that they wouldn’t be violated and trafficked flickered and died. Escaping this situation by leaping off a cliff required being close enough to jump. What could they do?
They heard the front door open and close, and Antonio growled at somebody, “You’re late.” Multiple male voices started discussing something vehemently and she only caught snatches of
the conversation, but it was pretty obvious from those snatches that whoever the newcomer was, he wasn’t happy, and they were fighting over who got the “merchandise.”
The fear increased until she could hardly catch a breath. When the door to the bedroom was flung open and Antonio stood there with a leering grin, she felt her vision darkening. She prayed hard and fought to stay present.
“It is time to decide your fates, le mie belle signore,” he told all of the women, but then he focused on Iris. “I hope for both of our sakes you leave here with me.”
Devon followed the tracker off the main road through the overpass, but then he lost the signal. He wasn’t too concerned, as this seemed like a dead-end road. He called his contact with the CIA before he lost cell coverage as well.
“Jones here.”
“Wilson,” Devon said, using his pseudo last name. “They turned off the main road, but I lost their signal. Cell service must be sketchy. I’ll send you my location, and you can follow me from the turnoff. Hopefully, it’s a dead-end road.”
“Wait for us at the turnoff.”
Devon shook his head. “No. I’ll go scout the area. I don’t want to risk them getting away somehow.”
The guy answered with disapproving silence, but he wasn’t Devon’s superior. What could he say?
“I’ll see you soon.” Devon hung up and slowed his speed as he followed the dirt road. He didn’t want to round a corner and just stumble upon them, ruining the entire op. He hated being blind like this, but this was how it was done back in the day. He’d just pretend he was Sean Connery as James Bond, not Daniel Craig.
He smiled to himself, remembering how Iris had compared him to James Bond. He wished he could call her, just hear her voice and know her day was starting off well. He looked at the dash. It was almost six-thirty. Would she be done with her run and heading into work soon? Maybe she was getting ready or having breakfast with Grams. Would she make cute symbols and signs for the security cameras, not knowing he wasn’t there to see them? He wished he could be with her.
Tightening his grip on the steering wheel, he focused on the present. Whatever Antonio was up to, taking this detour could bode well for Devon. Maybe he was finally meeting with his contact. It was well after five-forty-five, but Devon still felt optimistic. His CIA buddies weren’t too far behind him. He’d find the place Antonio was meeting, they’d catch them doing something illegal, and then the CIA could work their magic and bring down this operation. It would all be over soon, and he’d be back with Iris.
The road was rough, pitted-out gravel, and his Atlas bounced all over the place. He rounded a corner and immediately slowed to a crawl. Up ahead, there was a large Chester van and a Lexus sport utility both parked in front of a modest cabin. He slowly reversed and found a spot in the trees to hide his vehicle, then grabbed a few extra weapons, strapping a Remington 9mm on his thigh, shoving a Ruger EC9 in his front pocket with his knife, slipping his usual Glock in his rear waist band, and grasping a semiautomatic Troy Defense tactical rifle. Thankfully, he had a few surveillance toys stashed in the suitcase as well. He tried to send his location to the CIA again, but there was zero coverage here. They should easily find this place. As long as they didn’t come in guns a-blazing, everything would work out fine.
He eased his way through the trees and to the side of the cabin. As he approached, he heard raised voices. He eased in under a window and pulled a video snake out. Sliding it up to the window, he flipped open the small video screen so he could survey the room. Five men and three women, he counted quickly. But no … a flash of blond curls caught his eye, and he dropped the camera in horrified shock.
“Iris,” he whispered, feeling the blood drain from his face. “No, no, no, please Lord, no,” he begged.
He scrambled in the grass for the camera with sweat-slicked fingers, grappling for the camera and then pushing it back in place. He’d never felt so out of sorts or fumbling on a job, but this was Iris—his Iris—in that criminal’s grasp. He should’ve known Antonio wouldn’t just leave. Iris and the other women were what he was supposed to grab before he left.
Devon got the camera back into position and scanned the room again, trying to catalogue the innocents and his biggest threats and how to isolate the situation for the best outcome. The problem was that he knew he’d do everything in his power to keep Iris safe. He shook his head. He couldn’t risk the other women either. There had to be a way to free all of them. He glanced over his shoulder quickly. Where were the CIA? If ever he’d needed backup, this was that day.
Besides Iris, there was her cousin Cat and a beautiful dark-skinned lady he’d never seen before. All three women stood pressed against the backside of a sofa in front of the men as the men discussed something closer to the dining room table. They were gesturing to the women, and it looked like Cat was feistily throwing insults back at them. At least they weren’t touching them. If one of those slime made a move toward Iris, Devon would give the term guns a-blazing new meaning.
Horrifically, the thing he feared happened. Antonio flounced over to Iris and wrapped his arm around her waist, his large, disgusting paw dangerously close to her bra line. The possessive look on Antonio’s face made Devon’s stomach churn, but his grip on his rifle was strong. His mind cleared, and he knew exactly what he had to do.
Chapter Sixteen
Iris felt herself sway as the fear and the horror of their situation almost overwhelmed her. She, Cat, and Meredith stood with their hands tied, their legs pressed against the back of a sofa as they instinctively tried to get as far away from the men as possible. They faced five men, two of whom were vehemently discussing which of the women they got to take with them. The other three seemed to be guards or henchmen.
The two newcomers were obviously American. The tall, blond man looked them each over coolly, then said to Antonio, “You owe me, and you know it. This valley was a failure for an exchange spot. You know I loathe anyone wasting my time. To make it up to me, you give me all three of the women.”
“You can’t have any of us,” Cat spat at him.
The man arched a pale eyebrow, a sickening look in his blue eyes as his gaze raked over Cat. He turned back to Antonio. “I especially want that feisty Spanish beauty.”
“I only want the blonde,” Antonio said. “I’ll make it up to you when I find an even better spot for our future exchanges.”
Iris’s stomach dropped, and her palms were so sweaty she thought they’d start dripping on the wood floor soon.
“You listen to me, and you listen good,” Cat hurled at them. “We are not property, and if you dare kidnap us, you’re going to have some ticked-off brothers after you. Famous, wealthy ticked-off brothers at that.”
The men ignored her. “Okay,” the blond guy acquiesced, “take the blonde, but I get the other two.” He smiled at them. “Beautiful. Perfect for using and then selling.”
“No!” Cat hollered at him. If her hands were free, she probably would’ve tried to scratch his eyes out.
Antonio sidled close to Iris, displacing Meredith from her side. He wrapped his arm around her waist, his fingers wandering higher than they had any right to. He had no right to touch her at all. The men’s voices and Cat’s protests seemed to be coming from far away. Iris said a prayer for help and forced herself to stay in the present.
Antonio looked her way with a leering grin. “You’re all mine now, il mio amante.”
Iris glared back at him and then slammed her forehead into his temple as hard as she could. He howled with pain and released her to grab his head. One of his men whipped his weapon up to point at her just as the front door sprang open.
Iris’s head was a little dizzy from hitting Antonio’s so hard, but it appeared he’d taken the worst of it as he staggered away from her, clutching the side of his face. She turned to see who had come now, praying this couldn’t get any worse.
Her jaw dropped and her heart raced as hope filled her. “Devon?” she squeaked out.
&n
bsp; He stood in the doorway with a large machine gun thing in his hand, another gun strapped to his thigh, and a dangerous look on his face. His eyes flickered to hers briefly, and she nodded to reassure him that she was okay. Of course she was okay; he was here. Yet five awful men against one? What if Devon was shot and killed trying to protect her?
Devon’s eyes continued to the blond man, and he held up his free hand. “My friend. You started negotiating without me?”
“Who are you?” the blond man demanded.
“Chris Wilson,” Devon said. “Pleasure to meet you. I’ve come to offer for the women.”
“How much?”
“A million each.”
The blond man’s eyebrows went up. “I’ll deal.”
“He’s here for the blonde!” Antonio screeched, pulling his hand from the red mark on his face. “Iris is mine!”
“What do we care who we sell them to?” the blond man asked. “A million each? Much better than the lame amount of money you’ve secured me over the past week.”
“He’s lying. He’s not here to buy. He thinks he’s her boyfriend!”
“Down!” Devon roared, gesturing toward the couch behind them.
Iris leapt into Cat and Meredith, sending them both sprawling over the back of the couch. She thudded on top of Cat as guns started firing. Rolling onto the floor, Iris heard screams and yelps, but luckily, Cat and Meredith got the idea and rolled off the couch and onto the floor with her. Iris closed her eyes, buried her head into the hardwood floor, and prayed desperately for Devon to somehow survive this. Five men against one.
She felt like she couldn’t stand to look, but when a body thumped onto the floor next to them, she risked a glance, then screamed when she saw one of Antonio’s men with his eyes closed and blood seeping from his shoulder and head. Was he dead?
Only Her Undercover Spy Page 10