He won’t meet my eyes, looking everywhere around the room except at me. Fucking coward.
Was this all planned? My brain can’t comprehend how anyone could possibly do this to another human being.
Vander lowers the gun as the chastised man storms from the room. Once he’s gone, Anton turns to follow him.
“Keep him out of here or you’ll both regret it,” Vander says to Anton, who pauses but doesn’t respond before following the other man through the doorway.
Vander walks toward me slowly, tucking the gun out of sight behind him. “There are plenty of men who will pay more for the privilege of breaking a headstrong woman. You do not want me to sell you to one of them.”
How could I ever have thought this man was remotely charming? Every word out of his mouth scares the living hell out of me.
My voice shakes when I speak. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why do you think?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Money, Katerina. That’s the best reason to do anything.”
“Why me?”
He crouches beside the bed and lifts a chunk of my tangled hair out of my face.
“Ah . . . haven’t you ever heard the phrase curiosity killed the cat? I feel like it applies here, Katerina. How much do you really know about your husband?”
Chapter 30
Dane
“Who the fuck took your wife?” Rome Hennessy asks. His real name is Romeo, but I’ve seen him pull a gun on a man for using it.
“Some asshole named Vander Iman and his bitch of a sidekick, Anya. I don’t have anything else to go on. They separated us and tried to take me to the port in Belize City. I gotta get to Kat. I need the cavalry, man. I wouldn’t ask if—”
“You don’t need to explain. We’re wrapping up down south of you. Got the bird. Could take me a few hours to get your way, though.”
By down south, I hope to hell he means Guatemala or Honduras, because I don’t have a fuck of a lot of time.
“As fast as you can, man. As fast as you can.”
“Do you know what we’re up against?”
“Not really. She said something about a genie-in-a-bottle island. I don’t know where the fuck that is or if that’s what it’s really called.”
“Fuck.”
“Then they’re moving her to a boat. Don’t know where, but apparently it’s late. She mentioned the guys on Plan B needing a Plan C. Can you run that?”
“Sure thing. Let me round up the crew and get shit wrapped up, and then we’re on it. This a good number for you?”
“Only one I’ve got right now.”
“I’ll try to pull coordinates from the call and find you. Your vacation details in the system?”
“Yeah. Everything’s there.”
“We’ll find you, man. We’ll get her back. Don’t do anything stupid that could fuck this up worse.” He pauses. “Not that you’re going to listen to me, since you never fucking do.”
“I don’t have a choice. I’m not waiting. Would you if it was your woman?”
“There’s a reason I don’t have a woman. Too many fucking enemies. There any chance this is coming out of the past, man?”
“Maybe.”
“Think that shit through while you’re at it so we know who we’re up against. I’ll pull up my handy list of human traffickers and try to narrow it down on my end. Hold tight, DC. We’re coming for you.”
Rome hangs up and I’m left in the same situation I was before—in a boat in the middle of a dark ocean with no fucking clue where my wife is. Except now my team, the one I walked away from, is coming.
This time, there’s no way in hell I’ll sit back and watch.
*
One year ago
“He’s gone.”
Kat’s voice came over the line in a broken sob, and instantly I was on edge. She had never called me crying before, and certainly not on my emergency number.
“Who’s gone, baby?”
“Benjie. He’s . . . dead.” Through hiccups and sobs, she told me what happened. He didn’t want anyone to know he was sick.
If he were here right now, I’d kill him for hurting her like this.
Rome jerked his chin, calling me over to the screen where the faces of three American tourists stared back at me. The rest of the team was ready to get final orders so we could move out.
Except I knew there was no fucking way I could do anything but get my ass to the States and Kat. I have to be there for her.
I thought back to when Benjie tracked me down in the bar a couple of months back. Fucker was trying to warn me. It all made sense.
“I’ll be there in five hours, baby. I’m so fucking sorry. I wish I was already there.”
“Are you sure? I know you’re busy.”
“Five hours. I’ll be there.”
“Okay.” She sniffled before she hung up.
I shoved the phone back into my pocket and crossed the room to Rome. With one more look at the husband, wife, and six-year-old boy on the screen being held for ransom by the cartel, I shook my head.
“I’m so fucking sorry, but I gotta go. Kat’s best friend is dead. He was like a brother. She’s shattered, man.”
Rome nodded. “Family comes first. At least, yours does. Go.”
“You sure you got this?”
He crossed his arms. “Of course we do.” He turned and looked at a dark-haired man sitting at a computer in this shitty borrowed office space in Mexico City. “Luis will take your spot, won’t you, Luis?”
Luis had been begging to get into the field for months. Maybe it would be okay. He would hang back and let the guys do the job, and provide backup if needed.
Luis shot out of his chair. “Hell yeah, I will. I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
“See,” Rome said. “We got it covered. Get your ass home to your wife.”
Forty-five minutes later, I arrived at the gate where my flight would board. Ten minutes to go. I pulled out my iPad, connected to my encrypted network so I could watch the feeds from the headsets the guys wore, and plugged in my earbuds to hear the comm chatter.
But when I pulled up the screen, instead of seeing a smooth extraction, all hell was breaking loose.
“Taking fire!”
“Get the fuck out!”