Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
The second the door opened, Smiley pushed his way inside and grabbed the man on the other side around the throat, pushing him backward into the hut.
“Easy, Smiley,” Kevlar warned. He’d been concerned about his friend for a while now.
The whole thing with the missing Bree Haynes, and Smiley not being able to find her, was pushing the man to the edge.
It was frustrating for all of them, knowing the woman was close yet not being able to locate her. But Smiley was taking it personally.
They’d found Errol Brown, however. It wasn’t hard.
They simply went to the address the tubing company manager had provided and knocked on the door.
The man lived in a very poor neighborhood.
People were cooking over open fires outside their front doors.
The neighbors had watched without much expression as the minivan the SEAL team was using pulled up.
Kevlar couldn’t decide if they were used to strangers approaching Errol’s house, or if they just didn’t care .
Kevlar shut the door behind them and watched as Smiley pushed the man into a chair.
“Errol Brown?” Kevlar asked.
“Yes? Who are you? What do you want?”
“We want our friend back,” MacGyver said in a low, pissed-off voice.
At his words, Errol tensed. The man knew something. He was the key to finding Flash. Kevlar had no doubt.
He grabbed the only other chair in the room. It was made out of wood, and when he turned it around and plopped it down in front of Errol, Kevlar wondered if it would even hold his weight. Mentally holding his breath, he straddled it and crossed his arms on the back, staring at their “host.”
Several tense moments went by, and Kevlar purposely didn’t speak. He and his team had discussed strategy on the way here, and they’d all agreed to let Kevlar take the lead.
Safe, Blink, Preacher, MacGyver, and Smiley all stood around Kevlar with their arms crossed and scowls on their faces. They were an intimidating bunch, which was their intention.
“So…Errol. Here’s the thing,” Kevlar said.
“There we were, minding our own business back home, when we find out someone had kidnapped our friend while he was on vacation here in Jamaica. They had the balls to call our commanding officer and demand fifty thousand bucks to get him back. That wasn’t cool. Not at all. So you know what we did?”
Errol glanced away from Kevlar, up at the other men standing around him, and then the door, then he met Kevlar’s gaze once more. He visibly swallowed and shook his head.
“We got on the first plane to the island and our investigation immediately led us here. To you. What do you think of that?”
“I don’t know nothin’,” Errol said.
“You see, I just don’t think that’s true.
Your buddies at the place where you work—the same place where you didn’t show up today—said you were the last person to see Flash and his friend.
That you picked them up from the river and were supposed to take them back to their resort.
But surprisingly, they never arrived. You want to explain that? ”
Errol pressed his lips together.
Kevlar sighed. He was tired of this already. Didn’t have the patience to drag this out. He needed answers, and he felt in his gut that this man had them.
He stood up suddenly and kicked the chair he’d been sitting in. It went flying sideways, breaking into several pieces from his vicious kick alone.
He stepped up to Errol and pulled out the KA-BAR knife that never left his side. Visions of Remi being tortured by his former teammate swam in his mind. Her scared eyes as she floated next to him in the ocean in Hawaii…
How Josie had looked when they’d broken her and Blink out of that Iranian prison cell…
Wren, Maggie, and even MacGyver’s kids, Ellory and Yana…
He was sick and tired of men praying on women and children who they believed were somehow lesser than them. Of course, he had no way of knowing what Errol’s motivation was for kidnapping this Kelli person along with Flash, but he was done.
D. O. N. E. Done .
The tip of his knife pressed against Errol’s throat as the man wrenched his head backward, trying to get away from the deadly weapon.
Preacher and Blink had already stepped behind him, and they grabbed his arms, holding him still in the chair.
Kevlar was in complete control. He wasn’t going to kill this asshole. He just wanted information. Now. And he’d do whatever was necessary in order to get it.
“Talk to me, Errol. It’s obvious you aren’t living the high life here.
I don’t see a woman around, no luxuries…
few belongings at all. That tells me you’re probably sick of scraping by every day.
Is your belly growling with hunger? It sucks, I know.
Maybe you were offered money you couldn’t turn down.
Is that it? Or maybe you’re the one who came up with the plan to kidnap and ransom who you thought were a couple of rich Americans.
At this point, I don’t care what your role was. I just want to find my friend.”
Every muscle in Errol’s body was tense as he stared up at Kevlar. The urge to plunge the knife through his throat was strong. But Kevlar wasn’t that kind of man. The kind who killed out of frustration.
“I don’t think you understand,” Blink murmured, leaning into Errol as he held him. He was almost whispering into his ear as if they were lovers. But his words were anything but loving.
“You have no idea who you kidnapped. If you did, you would’ve chosen one of the other pansies who were on the river that day.
See…our friend, Flash? He’s a Navy SEAL.
Ju st like us. You kidnapped one of the most highly trained men the United States government has to offer—and you pissed off his teammates. ”
Blink’s tone became almost conversational. “Do you know we’ve been taught ten ways to kill a man and make him bleed out in seconds? The jugular is such a cliché vein to sever. Too easy. Myself? I like the femoral artery.”
The snick of his own KA-BAR knife being flicked open was loud in the suddenly quiet room. Blink held it against Errol’s inner thigh.
“Personally, I like to distract my target by cutting off their dick, and while they’re screaming and crying about that, they don’t even notice the pain from me slicing their thigh open and severing their artery. It makes a bloody mess, but it’s very effective.”
“Please, man! Don’t! I’ll tell you what I know. We didn’t know he was in the Navy! It wasn’t until we took their wallets and found his military ID that Brant came up with the idea to find his commander and call him for the ransom.”
Blink straightened, and the knife he’d been holding disappeared back into a pocket.
Kevlar smirked with satisfaction. They were finally getting what they came for. “Brant who?”
“Williams. He’s the one who came up with the plan! Said we could get easy money from the tourists. I thought he meant robbing them. I didn’t know nothin’ about any kidnappings until the day before. I swear!”
“Where are they? Flash and the woman?” Safe asked.
Kevlar hadn’t moved. He still had the tip of his knife against Errol’s throat.
“He’ll kill me, man!” Errol whined .
Kevlar didn’t feel the least bit sorry for him. “You should be worried about me killing you,” he bit out, pressing his knife a bit harder against the man’s skin. A bead of blood welled up and dripped down his neck.
“Stop!” Errol cried.
Kevlar held onto his patience by a thread.
Taking a deep breath, he straightened, taking his knife with him.
He made a big show out of putting it back into the hidden sheath at his waist. Then he leaned over, getting right in Errol’s face.
It was difficult, as the man smelled horrible.
Body odor like onions, and his breath could kill. But he didn’t let his disgust show.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to tell us everything about the plan. About Brant Williams. His family, where he lives, about this bank account he told our commander to deposit the money into…and we’ll think about letting you live.”
Errol swallowed hard and nodded.
“If you lie to us…I’ll let Blink have his fun with you.”
Errol’s gaze whipped up to his teammate, still holding one of his arms, then back to Kevlar’s. He nodded again.
“Good. We’re on the same page. Let him go,” Kevlar said, nodding at Blink and Preacher.
They did, stepping back but staying close to Errol. The terrified man rubbed his upper arms where he’d been held down, then brought a hand up to his neck. He wiped away the blood, stared at his hand for a moment, released a shuddering sigh…then began to talk.
Twenty minutes later, Kevlar and the rest of the team knew everything about the plan to kidnap clueless Americans through the tubing company.
Flash and Kelli had been their first attempt, and even though Errol was an asshole, he wasn’t dumb.
When his accomplice began talking about getting the Navy to pay the ransom, Errol had allegedly tried to convince him the plan wouldn’t work.
Errol admitted that he’d been the one to figure out where Flash was stationed, and he’d found Kelli Colbert’s Facebook account and deduced that she wouldn’t make a good target.
With her job at a small travel agency—and a somewhat recent hire, at that—he figured Flash was the one who made more money, the one they should concentrate on.
He also swore that he’d walked away from the entire fucked-up plan. That he’d left Brant on his own.
When he’d reluctantly admitted that this Brant character had buried a stripped-out bus in the middle of the jungle, one that he’d had altered by fitting a cast-iron manhole cover into the roof—and that they’d left Kelli and Flash inside—Kevlar saw red.