Chapter Twenty-Six #2
Barry gripped Grant’s upper arm and propelled him toward the back door. “Let’s get this over with,” he muttered. “I don’t trust Ellis.”
“Why not?” Gino asked.
“Do you need to ask me that? He’s clearly off his rocker, G. I always knew he had a thing for BDSM with the women, but his plans for Rayne and her teammates are sick. Keeping them prisoner, raping and torturing them daily? Come on. No sane man does that.”
In Grant’s ear, Seth growled. “If you don’t take down Ellis, I will.”
He agreed wholeheartedly. Jail or the grave. Either was fine with Grant. Ellis couldn’t be allowed to escape justice. Women weren’t safe with him in the world.
Grant stumbled over an exposed rock and would have gone down if not for Barry’s hold on him.
He hissed as pain shot through his aching side.
He’d be glad when this op ended and he could take pain meds and lie down for a few hours at the hospital.
The constant ache in his side was ramping up to excruciating.
Gino stepped ahead of them and knocked on the back door. “It’s Gino. We have Grant.”
“Come.”
One word but Grant recognized the deep, raspy voice. Donovan Vance.
“Watch yourself,” Seth murmured. “Don’t antagonize him. We’re almost in position.”
Gino threw open the door and stepped inside, motioning for Barry and Grant to follow.
Grant scanned the room, memorizing the layout and the position of everyone present. His gaze settled on Rayne and Ellis. The soldier had one hand wrapped around Rayne’s hair and had pulled her head back so her neck was exposed to the blade of a Ka-Bar pressed against her throat.
“Nice of you to join us, Bowen.” Ellis moved the blade, and a stream of red trickled down her throat to the collar of her black t-shirt. “Look what I found. A lovely fairy princess who admits she belongs to you. Is that true?”
Was he serious right now? He sounded as though he’d lost touch with reality. “She’s mine. Don’t hurt her, Ellis. You and your buddy Donovan wanted me. You’ve got me. Leave her alone.”
“Aww. Listen to the pathetic EOD man. He’s willing to sacrifice himself for his woman.”
“Ellis,” Chase snapped. “Rein it in, man. You sound crazy.”
The other soldier’s eyes glittered. “I’m not crazy. Donovan needs to know whether Rayne is telling the truth.” His gaze swung back to her as he tugged her head back even farther. “Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”
She nodded slightly.
“If you want the truth, Donovan, you’ll have to interrogate Bowen. Hard. He might not have been a Navy SEAL like you, but he went through extensive training along with his teammates. He’ll be hard to crack. With the right incentive, though, I’m sure he’ll cooperate. Won’t you, Bowen?”
He said nothing. Didn’t matter what he admitted or didn’t. Donovan and Ellis both planned to kill him. The truth was plain on their faces.
“Place a second chair facing Rayne,” Donovan said, his hand gripping the hilt of his Sig. When Chase did as asked, the sniper glanced at Ellis and tipped his chin.
Ellis grinned and shifted the blade of the Ka-Bar to rest against Rayne’s jugular.
“Cut his zip ties. If you move, Bowen, your woman will pay the price.”
One slip of the knife and he could lose Rayne in minutes. He gave a slight nod. Man, what was taking Seth and the others so long to get into place?
Chase freed his own Ka-Bar from the scabbard and circled around to stand behind Grant.
The passionless kiss of steel sparked the nerves in Grant’s wrists and forearms. With a hard jerk, Grant’s arms were free. He shook them to restore circulation.
Chase propelled him toward the chair facing Rayne and shoved him into the seat. “Hands behind your back.”
Grant complied. All the while, his gaze remained locked with the woman he loved.
Chase caught the duct tape tossed to him and secured Grant’s wrists to the slats at the back of the chair, then taped his booted ankles to the chair legs. “He’s not going anywhere. Start your interrogation, Donovan. We’ll have company soon. I can feel it.”
“Why are you doing this, Donovan?” Grant asked, voice soft.
“My brother Hal is dead because of you.”
“Hal and I were friends. We respected each other. I had no reason to hurt him, so explain what you mean.”
He scowled. “I’m the one in charge, not you. I’ll ask the questions.”
“So ask.”
“What do you know about antiquities going missing on missions before Red Dawn?”
Grant stilled. “Antiquities? That’s what this is about?”
“Answer my question. If you don’t, your woman will bleed.”
His blood ran cold. That wasn’t what he’d expected at all. It was one thing for him to be the target of torture. He couldn’t allow them to hurt Rayne. “I heard about it after the fact. I didn’t know about the missing antiquities before or during Red Dawn.”
“What about your teammates?”
“Same for them.”
“Were you with them every minute during Red Dawn?”
He started to say yes, then paused. Grant thought through the mission and their roles in the operation. “No.”
Donovan stepped closer. “How long were you separated from the others?”
“About an hour.”
A frown. “Why?”
“I had to place several bombs in strategic locations and needed to slip past the enemy to do it.”
“Were the rest of your teammates together?”
“I don’t know, Donovan. I assume so. That was Seth’s plan.”
“Did you notice if they were protective of their packs?”
“No more than normal. We carried a lot of gear with us, just like you do when you’re on a mission.”
“You and your teammates left the military soon after Red Dawn.”
Not a question, but it was true. “Yes, we did.”
“Why?”
“The ineptness of our commanders and the inaccurate data for our missions. Plus, we’d had more than our share of injuries over the years, and our bodies were slowing down.
None of us wanted to end up being sent home in a casket.
” He shrugged. “We’d had enough of the Sand Box, injuries, and the deaths of good men who were gone too young. ”
“Why did you become a cop?” Gino asked.
“We wanted to help people and to work within the law to take criminals off the streets of Ardmore. We wanted to make our community a safe place to raise a family.”
“Then why did you leave law enforcement?” Donovan glared at him.
“Seth and Noah were framed for murder, so Echo unit went undercover together to clear their names and to stop a conspiracy.”
The SEAL’s expression morphed from suspicion to astonishment. “Your team saved the president?”
He inclined his head, glad that Donovan had figured out the truth for himself so fast. Maybe, just maybe, he and Rayne could escape this situation alive.
“Are you talking about The Brotherhood?” Gino asked.
“Yes.”
“I heard about that convoluted plot. You couldn’t have handled all the work yourselves. Too many players were involved.”
“Rayne and her teammates partnered with us as well as two other black ops teams from Fortress. Federal law enforcement also helped.”
“Are we going to believe what Bowen has to say without verifying the facts with the rest of his team?” Lawson demanded. “He might be twisting the truth with lies.”
“He’s right,” Chase murmured. “Grant would say anything to save his woman’s life. What if he’s mixing truths with lies so you can’t hear the difference, Donovan?”
“There’s a sure way to find out if he’s telling the truth,” Ellis said. He smiled down at Rayne. “Let me do a little work on our hostage. Nothing too dangerous, just enough to bring beautiful screams of pain.”
Grant clenched his hands. No way. He wasn’t letting these jerks torture Rayne.
Finally, Seth said, “We’re in position. On three, dive to the floor, Grant. Same for Rayne if you can signal her.”
“Not happening,” he said in answer to Seth and Ellis.
“I don’t see how you can stop me.” Ellis laughed as Seth’s verbal count hit three.
One of the kitchen windows exploded inward, and a side of Ellis’s head disappeared in a pink mist.
Donovan Vance dove to the floor, grabbed his Sig and aimed the muzzle toward Grant.
“Grant, look out,” Rayne yelled and yanked her hands free. She bent to slice through the tape at her ankles as the sniper pulled the trigger.
Grant felt the burn of a bullet slicing across his biceps as he threw himself to the floor. Unlike Rayne, he didn’t have a knife in his hand. In fact, he was defenseless.
A split second later, Rayne flung herself over Grant’s torso, protecting him from the bullets flying around the room while she used her knife to slice the tape holding him immobile.
Seth kicked in the back door, dove to the floor, and rolled, firing twice at Donovan, who went down and didn’t move again. He shot Gino twice as Teagan took out Chase with a bullet to the head.
Andre shot Barry, once in the chest and once in the head.
And then everything was silent.