by Anna Blakely
I need to tell her.
Pulling back, Zade framed her face and stared into her gorgeous green eyes. “I love you, too, baby.”
Her eyes widened, the greens in them magnified by a well of unshed tears. “Y-you do?”
“More than anything, which is why I need you to go. Now.”
Bringing her mouth up to his, Gabby kissed him once more before breaking away quickly. “Okay.” She blew out a breath. “I’m ready.”
Jesus, she was amazing.
“Stay with Kole. Right by his side, no matter what.”
“No matter what.”
Gabby spun around on her heels and they both rushed to the closest window. Zade reached up and flipped the two locks before shoving it open. Not wanting to draw attention to the guard he assumed was still around the corner and, with any luck busy with Kole, he grabbed ahold of the screen’s tabs and slid it up silently, rather than pushing it out like he wanted.
Once there was enough clearance for Gabby to pass through, Zade helped her climb through the opening. She swung her legs around and hopped down, facing him for one, final glance.
“Please be careful.”
“Cross my heart.” He drew an X across his chest. “Now, go.”
Tapping his ear, he turned his coms back on as he watched her disappear around the corner. “Gabby’s on her way to you, Kole.”
“I heard,” he sounded amused.
“We all heard,” Matt joined in.
For a second, Zade couldn’t figure out how the hell they knew. Then he remembered the ring.
Sonofabitch. When she’d told him she loved him, Zade had forgotten all about the mic in her ring. He’d uncovered it when he grabbed her face and kissed her. Which means they also heard…
“I love you, too, by the way,” Nate decided to join in the fun. “We all do.”
Gabe’s comment wasn’t quite as sweet or loving.
“What the fuck are you doing, King? I told you to wait there until we breached.”
Zade winced. “Sorry, Dawson. But something’s way the fuck off, here. Andino still hasn’t come back, and the prick guarding the door wouldn’t let Kole back in, even though I heard him give the order on our way into this office.”
“What do you think he’s up to?”
“I don’t know, but my gut’s screaming somethin’ fierce. So I made the call to send Gabby out the window and around the corner to Kole so he could get her into the SUV.”
“Smart,” Nate commented. “It’d take a lot of fire power to pierce through that thing.”
“Exactly.” Speaking of… “Jameson, you got eyes on Gabby?”
“She just walked up.”
“I’m good, Zade,” she told him herself. “Go. Do what you’ve got to do, but make sure you don’t die. You do, I’m going to be seriously pissed off.”
He chuckled. “Copy that, sweetheart. Jameson, let me know when you’re inside the car.”
“What are you going to do?”
Zade turned and looked at the door Andino went through. “I’m going hunting.”
Chapter 16
“What do we do, now?” Gabby asked Kole as they moved across the expansive home’s walkway.
“We get our asses to the SUV and wait for reinforcements.”
She worked double-time to try and keep up with Kole as they speed-walked to where the SUV was still parked. Not the easiest thing in the world to do in heels and an evening gown, but she wasn’t about to stop for any reason.
Not even for the sake of her screaming feet.
Thankfully the first part of the plan had gone off without a hitch. To the guard who’d been posted at the door where Kole had been waiting, Gabby had made it sound as if she’d gone out the front entrance, where they’d first entered the house, and then walked all the way around to the other side in search of Kole.
Kole had played along perfectly, even cowering down and giving the guard a chagrined shrug when Gabby had admonished him for not being where she’d told him to be. They’d continued arguing until they were out of earshot of the asshole with the gun.
They turned the corner and immediately began to walk slower since there were more guards there, and this was where the SUV was parked.
The only problem? She’d talked to Zade when she and Kole had first met up, but after that…nothing. Kole assured her Zade was fine and probably within earshot of someone he couldn’t talk in front of. No big deal, he’d said.
Gabby wasn’t so sure.
Several cars were already gone, one man she’d seen carrying a bidder card earlier was walking to his car. A young woman was by his side, the look on her face breaking Gabby’s heart in two.
“Kole.” She motioned in the young woman’s direction.
“The others will stop him,” he assured her.
God, please let him be right.
From the looks of the other empty parking spaces, several of the night’s previous bidders had already left with their winnings, as well.
Don’t think about it.
“What about Zade? And Sam?”
“Zade said he’d handle himself and your sister.” Kole pulled his keys from his pocket and unlocked the vehicle they’d arrived in.
“He shouldn’t be in there alone.”
“Not my call.”
“Zade? Can you hear me?”
Complete radio silence.
“Kole, wait.” Gabby grabbed Kole’s arm and spun him around. “He’s not responding. I have a really bad feeling about this. We have to go back for him. Please.”
“We can’t go back, Gabby.” Kole got really serious, really fast. “I fucking hate that my friend is in there by himself with no coms and zero backup, but I promised Zade I would keep you safe, so that’s what I’m going to do.” He took a deep breath and opened the door for her. With a much softer voice, Kole pleaded, “Now will you please get in the damn car?”
Seeing the struggle Kole was facing, knowing his teammate was in that house, alone, made Gabby feel like a total jerk. She’d been yelling at him as if he didn’t realize the danger Zade was in.
Of course he knew. His whole team knew.
Zade had put himself at risk in order to protect her.
They also knew about the not-so-private conversation they’d had right before she’d gone out that window. Gabby didn’t care.
Her chest tightened with worry for the man she loved, but she climbed into the vehicle like a good girl. Even put her seatbelt on and everything.
When Kole got behind the wheel, Gabby turned to him and said, “I’m sorry. I know you’re as worried about Zade as I am.”
“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m just…”
“Scared for him. I get it.”
Kole studied her a moment before asking, “You really love him?”
“Yes.” She didn’t hesitate.
He looked at her a few second longer. “Dawson, what’s your location?”
Gabe answered immediately. “Guards by the gate are down, as are the men Andino had stationed in the trees between the gate and the house. Coming up on the northern tree line now.”
“There are five tangos along the east wall,” Kole gave his team a heads up.
“Copy. Matt and I will take them out while Ghost and his team spread out and clear the home’s remaining perimeter.”
“Carter, you still on?” Kole asked Nate.
“Loud and clear, brother. What’s up?”
“You see any tangos along the tree line?”
“Negative. All of Andino’s manpower was either at the gate, spread out in the immediate area following, or in and around the house.”
“That’s good, right?” Gabby asked, hating that she couldn’t do anything but sit and wait.
“Yeah, honey.” Kole offered her a kind smile. “That’s good.”
“Clearing the tree line, now,” Gabe announced.
She could almost hear Matt smiling through the coms when he added, “Get ready to party,
boys. This is where the fun really starts.”
With her head on a constant swivel, Gabby looked out both her window and the windshield. She searched for Zade’s teammates and Ghost and his men.
It was dark and each of the men was dressed in black tactical clothing, so it was no surprise she couldn’t see them.
What did surprise Gabby was when the man guarding the door closest to the tree line dropped on the ground and didn’t get back up. The other four followed immediately after.
Ohmygod! “Are they…”
“Dead?” Kole nodded. “As a doornail.”
“East wall secured.” Gabe’s deep voice was calm and certain.
Exactly how she’d imagined the military leaders she read about in her romance novels sounding.
Ghost sounded the same. “West side clear.”
One of the other men, Gabby thought maybe it was Hollywood, added, “South clear.”
Just like that, in a matter of two minutes…probably less…nine men had been killed. Gabby wondered if she was a horrible person, because she didn’t feel bad for them.
She wasn’t sad or regretful. Those men had chosen to lead a horrible life of crime and devastating violence. Not only with the drugs Andino’s cartel spread around the world, but also by aiding in something as unthinkable and horrifying as human trafficking.
They’d helped to bring Sam to this place.
That was a decision they made, and that choice—their choice—ultimately got them killed.
“Preparing to breach the residence.”
“Find our boy, Dawson,” Kole told his team leader. “Find him, and then get the hell out of there.”
Gabby’s heart rate spiked, and her palms began to sweat. Working to keep her breathing steady, she tried not to think about Sam being in that house. Tried not to think about Zade.
She’d heard what he’d said to Kole about hunting. He was going after Hector Andino by himself, and God that thought made her feel physically ill.
“He’s going to be okay, Gabs.”
Facing Kole, she asked, “How do you know?”
He raised a cocky brow. “Because he’s Bravo.”
Gabby chuckled. “Right. And you all are invincible, right?”
“Not invincible.” He got serious. “Just damn good at what we do.”
“You’re right. He’s going to be fine.” She tried hard to convince herself of that as she looked back at the house. “They all will.”
“Of course I’m—”
Several loud pops struck Gabby’s ears to the point of pain. She winced, her hands pressing against them on reflex to try and drown out the piercing noise.
Gabe’s growling voice came through above the screams and hollers. “Drop your weapon!”
More pops.
Not pops. Gunshots.
Her eyes flew to Kole who was listening intently to the scene unfolding inside Andino’s house.
“Don’t do it, man!” Matt’s warning was answered with more gunfire. He let out a string of curses right before there was another shot.
More yelling by the two Bravo man. Ghost’s team joined in on the fight.
More screams.
More gunfire.
Out of the corner of her eye, Gabby saw a crowd of people stampeding through every doorway on this side of the house. Some came running around from the same corner she and Kole had traveled past on their way back to the car.
A few of the men had their own weapons out, but most were moving through the night as if their feet were on fire. Running for their lives, fearful of either being shot or captured and sent to prison.
“Damn, it’s like watching a bunch of cockroaches scatter when a light gets flipped on,” Nate commented from wherever he was parked.
The guy had been relatively quiet, and Gabby guessed he’d been busy helping the other Homeland team round up Andino’s customers and the girls.
“What do we do?” Gabby swung her head back around. She prayed Kole had a plan in mind.
He did, it just wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“We sit tight and wait.”
Panic settling in, Gabby shot him an incredulous look. “That’s your plan? To sit tight? Kole, they’re in there right now fighting Andino and his men! Maybe you can wait until it’s all over with to find out if they’re okay, but I can’t.”
She reached for the door and pushed it open.
More gunfire and yelling ensued. Gravel spewed into the air as cars flew from the large parking area and away from the violence and certain bloodshed inside.
“What are you—” Kole reached for her. “Gabby, shut the fucking door!”
Ignoring him, Gabby hopped down and spun back around. “Maybe you can sit here and wait, but I can’t, Kole. Sam’s in there, somewhere. I know she is. And Zade’s in there, but he won’t answer me. He could be hurt, or if Andino found him he could be…” Her voice cracked, and Kole jumped at the chance to say his peace.
“And what are you going to do if you do go back in there? You have no gun. Hell, you have no weapon of any kind. You think you’re gonna go in there, and what…walk right up to Andino in the middle of a goddamn gunfight? You gonna ask him nicely to order his men to stop shooting at Gabe and the others and to let your sister go?”
Okay, so he had a point. A really, really good point.
Gabby knew she was acting like one of the heroines in some of the books she’d read. The ones who pull a too-stupid-to-live move that makes her want to throw her damn tablet across the room and scream.
But if Sam died…if she lost Zade…what would be the point? The only life she ever wanted would be gone already, anyway. Plus, waiting had never been her strong suit, so…
“I can’t sit around and wait for it all to end, Kole. We have to do something. I have to—”
“I’ll tell you exactly what you’re going to do.”
Gabby felt something cold and hard pressing against her temple. At the same time, Kole’s door flew open. A man she recognized—the one who’d been staring her down from the stage earlier—was there. His weapon was pointed straight at Kole’s head.
She froze mid-sentence, her widened gaze matching Kole’s as he stared back at her with shock and dismay. His gun was on the console, but he couldn’t reach for it. If he did, if Kole even moved a centimeter, the other man would kill him instantly.
Shit, shit, shit!
This was all her fault. If she’d stayed put like Kole had said, this wouldn’t be happening. Instead, they’d both been so focused on each other and trying to prove their opposite points, neither had noticed the two men walking toward them until it was too late.
Hector Andino kept his gun steady. “You’re going to get behind the wheel of this car, and you’re going to drive us both out of here.”
Oh, God!
“Sonofabitch!” Gabe’s voice came through the coms. “Jameson tell me that’s not who I think it is.”
“H-Hector,” Gabby’s voice trembled with fear as she did her best to relay information back to Gabe and the others. “W-what are doing? And why are you and that other man pointing your guns at us?”
“Andino and one tango. Got it.” Gabe responded calmly. “I’m sending Matt your way. Ghost you got a couple guys freed up to assist?”
“Already on it.”
“What does it look like I’m doing, mi amor ?” Hector answered her question.
Man, it was confusing having all these voices in her head at one time. Gabby didn’t know how Zade and the others did this on a regular basis.
Focus, Gabby. Focus!
With her heart in her throat, her mind raced to try to come up with an explanation. Something that would appease the angry man with the gun.
“I-I don’t know what you think is going on, but I was just telling Kole how worried I was about you.”
“So worried you snuck out of my office window to come out here?” The metal dug into her skin as he pushed it even harder against her head. “Quite a coincidence tha
t you and your boyfriend vanish from my office right before my home is raided by men carrying guns and killing my men.”
“I didn’t know this was going to happen. I swear, I know nothing about—”
Gabby cried as Andino used his other hand to fist the hair on the back of her head.
“Leave her alone!” Kole shouted.
Gabby could tell he wanted to grab his gun and take both men out, but he couldn’t. Not without risking certain death in the process.
“We’re coming, Gabby,” Matt promised in her ear. “Just hold on a little longer, honey.”
She heard him curse under his breath, saying something about the place being too fucking big and being too far out. She could tell those last words hadn’t been meant for her, and from the jostling in his voice, he was running hard and fast.
Keeping the gun in place, Andino leaned down to whisper in her ear. “I can tolerate a lot of things, Gabriella. But lying is not one of them.”
“Hector, please. If you’ll just—”
He pulled harder, making her wince. “Choose your next words very carefully, Gabriella. The next lie to come out of that sinful mouth of yours will be the last thing your friend hears.”
Gabby closed her eyes, sending a tear down across her cheek.
“Let her go, man,” Kole continued to try and reason with the maniac. “This wasn’t her idea. She’s a civilian. She’s not—”
“I know who and what she is,” Andino’s voice remained steady. Deadly. “I have since the moment we shared our first drink together this evening.”
Her eyes opened and Gabby thought back to earlier in the night. She remembered Hector snapping for the waiter. Toasting to the evening, and then…
The assistant.
The shorter, older man who’d approached him. He’d whispered something into Andino’s ear, and Gabby thought she’d imagined the harsh look on Hector’s face. That she was being paranoid.
No point in lying now.
“I just want my sister,” Gabby admitted.
“Ah, yes. Samantha. Such a beautiful girl. All that long, flowing blonde hair, and those crystal blue eyes.”
Her heart pounded against her ribs. “So she is here.”