Chapter Twenty-Five #3
Relief swept through her. Thank God. Now maybe she could free herself and escape.
All she needed was a short period of time and a distraction to pull some men away from the house.
Although she was trained to take on more than one opponent at a time, she didn’t have a chance against six men.
Slowly, carefully, Rayne maneuvered her knife into a better position so she wouldn’t slice her palm to pieces and got to work.
“Look,” Gino said, “Grant’s woman is right. You have the same training as the rest of us. You’ll know the signs if he and his teammates are lying.”
Rayne wanted to laugh. Really? If Donovan Vance was supposed to be as highly trained as the rest of the soldiers, why didn’t he realize Gino and his crew were lying through their teeth? Those boys were up to their necks in lies.
The tape loosened a fraction, and Rayne shifted the knife to take advantage of the widening gap.
Donovan rubbed the back of his neck, frowning. “I don’t know who to believe anymore. I don’t want to miss the crew who’s responsible for Hal’s death.”
Rayne continued to work slowly on the tape as she listened to the argument rage on. A thought struck her. Hal died on the battlefield during Red Dawn. Beau and the other remaining survivors lived for twelve more years. Why had Donovan waited so long to start his campaign of terror? “Donovan.”
The sniper swung toward her. “What?”
“Your brother died twelve years ago. Why did you wait so long to go after the other members of Red Dawn?”
“I was on active duty as a SEAL. I couldn’t ask for permission to pause my military service to kill the men responsible for my brother’s death.
Although I could have requested a month’s leave of absence and taken out some targets, when the month was up I would have to return to duty and the other culprits would have gone into hiding.
I didn’t want to give them time to scatter and make my job harder. ”
“You just retired, didn’t you?”
“Very good, Rayne. I waited until I retired so I could finish the job as fast as possible.”
“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” she murmured.
“Exactly. Twelve years seemed cold enough. I like you, honey. Too bad you belong to Bowen. I don’t touch tainted goods.”
Tainted goods? “You don’t know what you’re missing.
” Her watch vibrated twice, a silent signal that help was coming.
The tension in her body dissipated. All she had to do was survive until Fortress arrived.
But how long would that take? She didn’t know where Gino and his pals had taken her, much less how far away she was from the fishing camp.
She couldn’t be that far. The GPS tracker near her shoulder blade was still warm, which meant her tracker was still active.
“How long do you think it will take Bowen to come after his woman?” Barry asked.
“He’s already on the road,” Gino said. “Didn’t you see the way he looked at her? Bowen is gone over her.” He turned to Rayne. “Isn’t he?”
She remained silent.
He chuckled. “That’s what I expected from the girlfriend of our EOD man. She’d have to have nerves of steel. You do, don’t you, Rayne?”
Again, she said nothing.
“Her silence is telling,” Chase muttered. “What will we do with her? She’ll have served her purpose within a few hours.”
Ellis grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back. “She comes with me.”
The men froze.
“What do you mean she’s coming with you?” Gino demanded. “We talked about this when Donovan told us what he used as leverage. Leverage serves a purpose. A hostage with no value doesn’t.”
Ellis trailed a finger down her neck. “I see plenty of value in beautiful Rayne. She’ll be my guest for the foreseeable future or at least until I tire of her.”
Rex cursed viciously. “You plan to keep her prisoner? You saw what she did a few minutes ago. Do you want to take a chance of her escaping and talking to the cops?”
“We’ve been living off the grid for weeks.” Barry shoved a hand through his hair, leaving rumpled locks behind. “Your plan will bring us all to the attention of the authorities.”
“We can’t afford that,” Gino said.
“Too bad,” Ellis snapped. “She’s mine, and I won’t let her go. Bowen doesn’t deserve her. She should know how a real man treats his woman.”
Chase laughed. “And you think you’re the man to teach her? Man, you are so messed up about women, you should live in the Stone Age.”
Ellis glowered at his teammate. “Shut up, Chase. This isn’t your decision.
It’s mine. I want her. I’m taking her. The rest of you can get your own women.
” A haughty smile curved his mouth. “Maybe you can take the women involved with Echo unit. Talk about poetic justice.” He laughed. “Oh yeah, I like that idea.”
Rayne laughed. She couldn’t hold back the laughter. Seriously? These soldiers planned to kill the members of Echo unit and take members of Artemis prisoner? The idea was absurd.
Ellis and his buddies stared. “What’s so funny?” Ellis demanded.
“You don’t know who we are, do you?”
Gino folded his arms across his chest. “Guess not. Care to inform us?”
“We’re members of Artemis, a black ops team. We have as much training as Echo unit.”
Barry snorted. “No way.”
She shrugged. “Believe me or don’t. I’m just warning you now. If you take us prisoner, you better have your affairs in order because you’ll wake up to a knife in your gut and another at your throat one day.”
Ellis yanked her head back even farther and pressed a knife to her throat. “Not if I take you out first. Is that what you want, Rayne? Do you want to die?”