Finding the one thing people dreamed of finding and having it so viciously taken away—ripped away from her by both Collins and Fuentes—was inhumanely cruel. With Rachel, they’d taken her family, and now they’d taken her heart.
A rush of anger yanked Penny’s arms toward the large shadow sitting behind the helicopter controls, but the handcuffs anchoring her to the chopper door kept her from throttling Collins in the seat next to her.
A moment after he navigated the helicopter to the ground, the agent slid her a knowing smile. “Sorry about sending you to dreamland, but it’s the nature of the business.”
“If you’re so sorry, how about you take these off?” She jiggled the cuffs. “I mean, plastic ties and handcuffs? Isn’t that a little overboard?”
“My sources tell me you have quite the lively spirit, and I couldn’t take any chances. It’s the same reason I had to leave your friend behind.”
Logan. “I swear to God if you hurt him, you haven’t even begun to see lively.”
“Lucky for him, I didn’t have time to inflict too much damage—just enough to make sure he’s incapable of following us.”
“Why?” She choked on her words. “Why are you helping a man like Fuentes? He’s hurt so many, and if Freedom gets out to the general public, he’s going to hurt so many more.”
“Money. It can buy a man anything. A tropical island. A new life. I can buy myself a high-end whore instead of one of Fuentes’s fucked-up space cadets. Maybe I’ll have Fuentes make you part of my payment, huh?” Collins scraped the back of his hand down her cheek. “Just you, me, and a little bit of Freedom to make sure you don’t try swimming away with the dolphins. What do you think of that?”
When his hand neared her mouth, Penny bit into the fleshy part of his hand, a brassy move that earned her a stinging slap across the face. It was worth seeing the bastard bleed as he exited the chopper and came around to the other side. Still anchored to the grip bar, she spilled onto the ground when he flung open her door.
“Get the fuck up.” Collins uncuffed her, but the plastic ties still cut off the circulation to her fingers. He fisted her hair and yanked her back to her feet before giving her a hard shove forward. “Now move it.”
Penny locked her jaw against the sting of tears. No way in hell was she giving him the satisfaction of knowing that anything he did to her hurt.
A warehouse structure loomed in front of them, half-hidden by the surrounding wildlife. It looked eerily like the building Rafe and the team had entered, but this one wasn’t spewing flames and ash.
Collins pushed her into a stumble. Just when she would’ve face-planted to the jungle floor, a set of arms caught her midfall. Relief her head had been spared another blow disintegrated the second she looked into Marco Fuentes’s eyes.
“Hello again, Se?orita Hanlan. I believe I told you that we’d be running into each other again.” Marco’s smile left Penny cold.
“Why the hell are you here?” Collins demanded. “And where the fuck is Fuentes?”
“I’m afraid Diego won’t be able to make it to the meeting. There’s been a slight shift in family dynamics.”
“He didn’t tell me about any changes.”
“And he won’t either—because he’s dead.”
Collins looked taken back for about five whole seconds. “This better not interfere with my payout. I performed a service that doesn’t come cheap.”
“And your brand of services is no longer required. Consider this your termination letter.” A single gunshot reverberated off the tree line, and Collins dropped to the ground less than three inches from Penny’s feet. Once again, she found herself in the sights of a gun, this time Marco’s. “Now that I’ve dealt with that unpleasant business…with me, mi bonita.”
“Is this the part where you tell me if I come willingly, things will go much easier?” Penny asked brazenly. What the hell did she have to lose? Her only chance of getting out of this alive was if she pissed him off enough that he made a mistake.
“I wish I could tell you that you’ll enjoy your stay with us, but I’d hate to lie.”
Marco grabbed her restraints and tugged her into the warehouse. Every few yards, he placed his finger on another electrical scanning pad. They went deeper and deeper into the building. Each hall looked the same, some leading to dead ends while others led to another set of long corridors. It was the jungle version of Fort Knox, far beyond the warehouse it looked to be from the outside.
“What makes you think you can get away with this?” Penny asked.
“Because I already have…with a shit-ton of explosives. Poof! No more Alpha Security. Beautiful, wasn’t it? The explosion? So much destruction, so many bodies.” He turned, catching her look of horror. “Ah. Don’t worry, mi bonita. I assure you that your mourning for your Rafael has an expiration date. Once you’ve had your first few tastes of Freedom, you won’t feel a thing. You’ll be blessedly…empty.”