20. CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 20
GRANT
She’s been missing for almost half an hour now.
The worst thirty minutes of my life.
Of all the terrible things I’ve been through—missions gone horribly sideways, moments when death was a distinct possibility, seeing my teammate wounded and suffering—none of them compared to this.
Zack would understand. He’d say, she’s the one, G. Your soulmate. The most important person in the world. Nothing matters more than protecting her.
He’d be right.
This fear is like nothing I’ve felt before.
My Scarlett, the woman I love more than anything, was taken when I should have been keeping her safe.
Fuck.
Despite all the reassurances from Cole, Leo, and Zane, I can’t stop imagining the worst.
We don’t know who took her. But it has to have something to do with Cunningham. Even though Oliver swears Richard Cunningham hasn’t made contact with anyone, that the attorney has a good reputation and wouldn’t be involved with anything illegal—like helping hire another hitman—it’s not enough to convince me.
Shortly after we got on the road, Zane threw out the suggestion that it could be unrelated. That it’s not always the most obvious suspect.
I’m not sure if that was supposed to be comforting.
It wasn’t.
Nervous energy is building inside me—this desperate need to be doing something other than just sitting in the backseat of the B and A SUV, watching Scarlett’s little blinking red dot slowly inching across Leo’s laptop screen.
In another window, he’s searching for any clue to Scarlett’s abductor’s identity, his fingers almost a blur as he types.
“We’re gaining on them,” Cole announces. “Only eight minutes behind, now.”
“That doesn’t help if we don’t know where he’s taking her,” I snap. “Or what he plans to do when he gets there.” Frustration bubbles over as my voice rises. “We don’t even know if she’s still—”
Zane clamps his hand on my arm. “Don’t think like that. She was alive when he took her from the backyard. There’s no reason—”
Leo breaks in. “I know who he is.” Before I can say anything, he continues briskly, “I’ve been searching traffic camera footage, security cameras, video doorbells, looking for a car that would have approached your property and left around the time of Scarlett’s abduction. I found one—a black Honda Civic—and ran the plates. It seems like this could be the one.”
“Who?” My voice vibrates with tension. “Who took her?”
The pause before Leo answers makes my heart sink.
“His name is Derek Morrison. Served time for some drug charges, an assault that stemmed from a bar brawl, and—Leo’s jaw sets—Morrison is a suspected hitman.”
“Fuck!” Fear comes at me in punishing waves, stealing my breath, making my heart stutter.
“He’s never been caught,” Leo adds grimly. “There’s never been enough to press charges. But he was a person of interest in—”
“Leo.” Cole interjects, his voice tight. “We don’t need to go into that now.” His gaze flickers to the rear-view mirror, no doubt checking on me. “Do we know where he could be headed?”
More tapping and clicking ensues, while I do everything in my power not to completely lose it. After what seems an interminable wait, Leo says, “Morrison has a house outside of Lewisboro. Near Lake Kitchawan.”
“So we’re less than thirty minutes out from there.” Cole glances at the laptop screen again. “It’s a heavily wooded area, so that will help us on approach.”
Leo nods. “I’m pulling up the last real estate listing. Looks like it’s a small cottage, about nine-hundred square feet. One bedroom, one bath. Two entrances, one in the front, one in the rear. The driveway is about a quarter of a mile long and it’s surrounded by trees.”
“That’s good, then.” Zane turns to me. “We can stage a stealth approach. Park on the road, come in through the trees.”
Rationally, I know this information is helpful, but the incessant fear just keeps working at me. All the tactics I used to use to force my emotions back aren’t working right now. All I can think about is my Scarlett, dangling limply in that man’s arms. How terrified she must have been. How I should have been there to stop it.
But rampant fear and panic isn’t going to help Scarlett, and I know better than to let my emotions take precedence. Never in battle, and not in this.
So I grit my teeth, molars grinding painfully, and lean forward to look at the layout of the house for myself. “We can split up. Two of us come around the east side of the house and to the back porch. The other two can use the front porch for cover, then circle back to the front door.”
Zane lifts his chin at me. “Right. And depending on where they are, we can breach at the same time or separately.”
“I’m going to update Oliver,” Cole says. “He should be about twenty minutes behind us.”
“We’re not waiting for him,” I growl. Jolts of pain shoot through my jaw. “As soon as we get there, we’re going after Scarlett.”
This time when Cole looks in the rear-view mirror, his dark eyes meet mine in complete understanding. “We’re not waiting. We can use certain… tactics they aren’t legally allowed to. As much as I respect Oliver, I believe we can get Scarlett more effectively ourselves. But I want Oliver and Kane ready to arrest this piece of shit when we have him.”
I give Cole a quick chin lift. “Okay. But I’m going in with you guys. I know you’re a team and all, but there’s no way I’m staying out of it.”
“Of course not,” he replies. “There’s no question. We’re going in together.”
The closer we get to the house, the harder it is to keep everything locked down. As we keep gaining on Morrison—seven minutes behind, then six, and now five—I’m biting back the urge to tell Cole to drive even faster. Even though I know he can’t; we’re already ten miles over the speed limit and we can’t risk being pulled over. But it’s like I’m a magnet and Scarlett is drawing me to her. Every muscle, every bone, every cell in my body is desperate to reach her.
The dashboard display clicks over to nine-twenty-five when Leo announces, “They just stopped. Looks like they’re at his house.”
There’s a breathless moment as Leo, Zane, and I all stare at the screen, waiting to see if Scarlett’s dot moves again. Or—oh, please, no—if she stays stationary, still in the car, which would be the worst kind of sign…
“There.” Leo jabs the screen. “Moving again. Slowly, this time. He must be bringing her inside the house. ”
Fuck . I wish I could see more than a satellite map with tiny outlines of buildings. I wish I could see into Morrison’s house, find out if Scarlett’s alive, if she’s hurt, if she’s—
“Less than five minutes out.” Cole’s hands tighten on the wheel. “We’ll go over the plan one more time now, so we’re ready to roll out as soon as we get there.”
As we turn down a tree-lined rural road, Cole continues, “So we’ll park on the road, just east of the house. The trees are thick enough that Morrison won’t spot us even if he has security cameras on his property.”
“I’ll hack into whatever security system he has in place,” Leo adds. “Depending on what it is, I’ll either bypass it, or run a video on a loop, so he doesn’t see us approaching.”
Cole jumps back in. “We’ll move along the east side of the property until we’re flanking the house. Zane and Leo, you’ll head to the front, get in position just to the left of the front door. Grant, you and I will head to the back. Depending on the locations of Morrison and Scarlett, we’ll decide who enters first.”
“Sounds good,” Zane replies. “This guy, he’s not going to be expecting anyone this soon, or at all. My guess is he doesn’t even have good security. Thinks he doesn’t need it.”
“We’ll see,” Leo answers confidently. “But it doesn’t matter what he has. We’ll get in there.”
But it’s easy for him to be confident. It’s not his woman inside. Leo’s not the one imagining terrible things—Scarlett already hurt and bleeding, hyperventilating in the midst of a panic attack, or entering the house to find her already gone.
Oh, please. Let her be okay. Or at least still alive. If she’s hurt, traumatized, I’ll be there for her. Counseling, a hospital stay, physical therapy… just not…
I can’t lose her. Already on the cusp of a major decision, this has thrown everything into stark clarity.
I want to spend the rest of my life with Scarlett. Not just live together, but marry her. Have children, if that’s what she wants. Grow old together.
For a few seconds, I let my mind wander to something not horrible and terrifying. Instead, I let myself imagine Scarlett, in a white dress, so beautiful, her eyes sparkling with joy and a hint of tears as she walks down the aisle towards me. I let myself imagine her standing in front of me, holding my hand and agreeing to become my wife.
Please .
“Okay, it’s just up ahead.” Cole slows the SUV and gently veers to the side of the road. He parks on a smallish patch of sand—it looks like a snowplow may have scraped all the wildlife clear—surrounded by a thick brush of trees. There’s no evidence of Morrison’s house from here, even though I know it’s only a few hundred feet ahead, which makes it the perfect spot to start our approach.
Once we’re parked, Leo gets to work. After only a minute or so, he nods in satisfaction at his laptop screen. “All set. Only a basic security system. One camera at the end of the driveway, one at the front door, and another at the back. All of them are running on a loop. Even if he watches all of them, he’ll never suspect a thing.”
“Great, Leo.” Cole swivels in the front seat to look at us, his gaze moving from Leo, to Zane, and then me. “So we’re ready to go. Once we get into the woods, we’ll head back until we’re alongside the house. Zane will use the thermal camera from there.” He pauses. “Are we ready to move out?”
A series of brief nods and quiet yeses follow, and Cole jerks his head in acknowledgement. “Okay.” His hand raises, and he scans the road to make sure no cars have suddenly appeared on the quiet country road. After a moment, he lifts his chin. “Let’s get Scarlett out of there.”
On his gesture, we exit the car and slip quickly into the woods. All of us former Special Forces, we move silently through the trees. The ground is covered with a carpet of leaves and branches, but we’ve all been trained to avoid making noise when we move, no matter the circumstances.
In the minute it takes us to reach the side of the house, I’m taken right back to my time as a SEAL. Stealth operations with my team, moving in tandem without speaking, all of us completely focused on our mission. We didn’t allow ourselves to doubt back then. We had to be completely confident to have the best chance of succeeding.
That’s what I need to do now. Push down all the fear and worry and tell myself, I will get Scarlett out of there. She’s going to be okay .
And after all this, I’ll ask her to marry me.
We all come to a stop; the house peeking through the trees just to the west of us. Zane pulls out the thermal camera and scans the building, then murmurs, “Two heat signatures. Both in the front of the house. Living room, I’d say.”
Two heat signatures. Relief makes my legs weak. She’s still alive.
“Okay,” Cole says quietly, “Plan still stands. Grant and I will go in first, through the back. We’ll engage Morrison. Zane, Leo”—he touches the tiny comm attached to his shirt—“I’ll signal when to come inside.”
We all nod at him, and he continues, “Non-lethal if possible. But if it comes to Scarlett’s safety, use any methods necessary.”
My hand tightens on my Sig. I won’t hesitate to shoot Morrison if I need to.
“Ready?” Cole asks.
I take a deep breath. Hold it in. Exhale slowly.
All the years of training and experience culminate in this moment.
Once again, Cole’s hand comes down in a silent gesture to move.
With Cole right ahead of me, we emerge from the trees and dart across the small yard to the side of the house. Crouching as we run, staying below window level, we make our way along the side wall and around to the back.
There’s a rickety back porch that leads to the back door, and we carefully make our way onto it, not wanting to give ourselves away with an accidental creak of wood as we walk on it. At the door—which I know leads to the kitchen—Cole pauses and pulls out a small lockpick set.
One of the tactics Blade and Arrow uses that the police wouldn’t approve of. But I’m more than okay with it.
After less than a minute, he puts the lock picks away and looks at me. Leaning close, so low it’s almost inaudible, he says, “I’ll go for Morrison. You focus on Scarlett.”
As much as I want to take all my anger out on the man who took Scarlett, I nod immediately. Scarlett matters more than anything else.
Cole lifts his chin, and I return the motion. It’s an unspoken signal. We’re a go.
On a silent prayer, we move forward. Into the kitchen—clean, basic, nothing overtly threatening in it—and on to the attached dining room. It’s not a large space, and with each step, a male voice coming from the front of the house grows clearer.
Instead of the threatening tone I’m expecting, it’s softer. Almost gentle. “You’ll see, Scarlett. It’s not so bad here. I haven’t done much to it since I bought it, but there wasn’t a need before. But with some paint, some new furniture, maybe some new appliances… I think you’ll like it here.”
There’s a silence after he speaks, and then his voice gets sterner. “Scarlett. When I talk to you, I expect an answer. I’m allowing you to stay in the living room right now instead of locking you in the bedroom. I thought it might make you more comfortable talking out here in the beginning, but if you’re going to ignore me—”
“No, I’m sorry.” Scarlett. Sounding scared, but not obviously in pain. “You’re right. It does sound nice. I… I like to cook. So that… sounds nice.”
Fuck. Anger and relief come at me from both sides. She’s healthy enough to talk. To placate him, from how it sounds. But then the rage. This piece of shit Morrison taking her. Frightening her. Adding more trauma to what she’s already experienced.
Does he want to kill her, though?
Cole inches closer to the doorway to the living room while I follow closely behind him.
“See,” Morrison continues, now sounding pleased. “It’s all going to work out. Once you prove you can be trusted, you’ll have full run of the house. Well.” He stops. “Not full run. You won’t have access to the security system. That would just be foolish.”
There’s another pause, like he’s waiting for her to reply, and after a few seconds, she replies, “Oh. Yes. Of course.”
“And eventually, we can get you a dog. I’m sorry we couldn’t take the one you have now, but logistically, I couldn’t get you and the dog to my car. And I doubt I’ll be able to get to him now. But we can get you another one.”
Scarlett sniffles, and my heart cracks. Shatters.
She shouldn’t be going through this.
Cole turns to me, his eyes dark with anger and determination. He lifts his gun .
It’s time.
Nothing I’ve done is as important as this.
And we move.
Cole steps into the living room, turning abruptly and aiming his gun. In a harsh, commanding voice, he says, “Step away from her. Now. And don’t try anything.”
As soon as I enter the living room, my gaze flies to Scarlett.
She’s sitting on a worn couch, her ankles and knees zip tied together, her arms pulled behind her back. Her face is pale, features tight and lips trembling, and the scared look in her eyes is something I’ll never forget.
But there’s no blood, at least none I can see. No life-threatening injuries.
Then Scarlett sees me, and her fearful expression shifts to relief.
“No!” Morrison snaps. His mouth twists into a scowl. “She’s mine!” Glancing at me, he adds, “ You weren’t watching her. Not like I would. Not like I will.”
Ouch. There’s too much truth in it.
Scarlett gasps. “No. It’s not true.”
Morrison reaches behind him, his hand going to the back of his waistband.
“ Don’t ,” Cole snarls. “Just because I’d prefer not to doesn’t mean I won’t shoot you.”
I’m watching everything, but still moving closer to Scarlett. Once I’m near her, I can shield her from everything. Get her to safety .
But Morrison has the same idea, because he takes a step towards her. His eyes flicker between Cole and Scarlett, on the verge of a decision.
He’s going to try to grab her. Use her as a shield.
I won’t let it happen.
Cole still has his gun trained on him, but Morrison is only a few feet from Scarlett. Close enough to lunge for her. Close enough to possibly grab her before a shot goes off.
“I’ll shoot her!” Morrison suddenly cries, and he yanks a gun from behind him and points it at Scarlett. “If you don’t leave, I’ll shoot her.”
Cole casts a quick glance at me. But it’s not just a glance. We both know what to do.
“No, you won’t,” Cole replies calmly. “Because you brought her here for a reason, and it’s not to kill her.” As he talks, he draws Morrison’s attention to him, leaving me a small opening.
“Yes, I will,” retorts Morrison. “I can find someone else. Someone who’s less trouble.”
“I don’t think so.” Cole’s gun doesn’t waver from its target. “I think you went through a lot of effort to take Scarlett. I don’t think you want to hurt her.”
I’m even closer now, not to Scarlett now, but the man holding a gun on her.
“I will. I’ll kill her!”
Morrison is completely focused on Cole, which means it’s time to make my move .
No second-guessing, no hesitation; I leap at Morrison, attacking him with moves I’ve kept practicing even though there seemed no reason to anymore. Arm chop. Palm strike. Jab punch. Leg sweep.
The gun goes clattering to the floor. Morrison drops right after it.
Cole flies across the room, helping me pin the other man to the ground.
Zane and Leo rush into the house, their guns drawn, and quickly move to Cole’s side, assisting with Morrison.
Zane asks Cole with a note of irritation, “Why did you make us wait outside so long?”
Cole scowls at him. “Because we had it handled. And I had him focused on me, which gave Grant the opening. If you guys came in, this piece of shit could have panicked. Hurt Scarlett.”
But I don’t care why. Or how. All I care about is Scarlett.
I’m at her side in an instant, gathering her into my arms. “Baby, I’m so sorry,” I groan. “Are you hurt? I’ll get these off you. I’m so sorry. I should have been there.”
Scarlett lets out a shaky sob and buries her face in my neck. Hot tears dampen my skin. Her voice is muffled as she says, “It’s not your fault. I’m okay.”
Leo comes over and says gently, “Scarlett, hun, I’m just going to cut these ties off you. Okay? It might hurt at first, but it’ll go away quickly.”
I almost growl at Leo when Scarlett lets out a muffled cry of pain .
“Are you hurt anywhere else?” I ask, still scared there could be an injury I can’t see. Or if Morrison touched her… “Did he—”
“No.” She wraps her arms around my neck, clinging to me. “He didn’t hurt me. Or touch me. Other than carrying me. I’m okay.”
Oh. The relief is tremendous. Tears burn behind my eyes. I can’t speak past the lump in my throat.
Morrison is shouting, “She’s supposed to be mine! Mine! Not yours!”
Scarlett tenses in my arms.
“It’s okay, baby,” I croon, and I lift her into my arms. She curls into my chest, and I’ve never felt more thankful. As I carry her outside, I tell her softly, “It’s all over. We’ll go home, you can see the dogs—”
She lifts her head from my shoulder. “They’re okay? Not hurt?”
“They’re fine. Oliver got them and put them inside the house.”
Speaking of Oliver, a faint sound of sirens approaches in the distance.
We step outside, into the fresh air and away from the trauma Scarlett had to endure. Gazing up at me with glassy blue eyes, she says, “I remembered the earrings. And I knew you’d come for me. I just needed to stay strong until you got here.”
My heart .
Pressing a kiss to her salty lips, I take a moment to collect myself. My voice is thick when I finally speak. “You did, baby. And I’m so proud of you.”