Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
GAMBIT
M y phone rings as we are circling the campus one more time. He has to be watching from here. He knows she wasn’t in the warehouse loft where everyone else was. I haven’t taken her out to my place until last night, but then a thought occurs to me as my cell phone rings.
“He’s got her, Prez. She ran to an Uber, and it was him. He took off with her. She was trying to go to the hospital.”
“Fuck,” I growl as I throw my phone, and it shatters on the pavement. Striker hands me his, and I dial Browser. “Get me a location,” I order him. He doesn’t have to ask. He sends the coordinates to Striker’s phone. “Don’t tell Rogue. She has enough to worry about.”
We all know Leif’s life hinges on whether he survives the two surgeries. I can’t worry her with the news that Franci is now missing. Well, she’s not entirely missing. I follow as the car she’s in heads further away from Eastport, into the middle of Rhode Island and the woods.
“Get the guys mobilized and ready to go.”
I’m going to blister her ass for taking off. I knew I shouldn’t have left her until we knew where Crank was. I also just figured it out. He must have followed me at some point. It pisses me off that I led him to where I had her hidden.
A couple of hours later, we pull up to a dirt road that leads into the woods. We’ve been lucky that the snow melted recently, and we haven’t had any more, but it’s bitterly cold right now. I park my bike and pull my balaclava down so I can talk to Striker.
“We are going to need to hump it from here.”
“Yeah, Commander is on his way with Rio to help.”
“I’m heading out in about thirty, so they better be ready.”
“He’ll be here. Don’t risk her life because you are anxious.”
I take his advice and wait. When everyone is finally here, I give Commander control and let him lead us. He has a good plan, and it allows me to do what I’ve wanted to do.
We sneak through the woods and head straight for an old farmhouse. This all started in a farmhouse, and it’s going to end in one. Commander informed us that Leif was heading back into surgery, and that Thant was captured while his other guy was killed. Crank is the only one left, and I’m ready to end this.
I move to the back of the farmhouse and wait for the count to burst inside. When I hear my woman scream, I can’t wait any longer. I kick the door so hard, it blows off its hinges. I find my woman tied down to a table and Crank playing with a knife over her body.
“Stay right there, or I’ll stab her,” he threatens, and I don’t give him a chance.
I raise my gun and shoot him between the eyes. The knife clatters to the floor, barely missing her body. I watched and waited until the knife was away from her to fire. I throw my jacket over her naked body and pull my own knife to cut the bindings and take her in my arms.
“I knew you’d come.”
“I put a tracker in your thigh last night after you fell asleep. I wasn’t going to lose you ever again,” I confess as I kiss her and hold her against my body.
The rest of the team turn their heads away as I strip off my T-shirt and place it over her head. Her clothes are shredded on the ground. I kick Crank’s lifeless body as I carry her out to Commander’s SUV, where I let her ride with him while I take my bike and follow them back to the compound.
Hours later, I’m lying in bed with her in my arms. I fucked her senseless after I spanked her. She is cuddled against me, snoring softly. We’ll go to the hospital tomorrow. We got word that Leif survived the second surgery, and Rogue killed Thant. They are both finally free. No one can come after them again.