Chapter 9
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HARRISON KEPT LUCIANA close to him as they hustled out the front door into the darkness of night.
He’d wanted to shield her from the dead bodies, from the blood and gruesome scene around them, but he’d been telling the truth.
They needed to move out ASAP, and his priority at the moment could only be ensuring she was physically safe.
Her mental state would have to be handled later. She was holding up remarkably well, but he feared once the adrenaline wore off, she’d crash.
Hudson “Torpedo” Brown and Austin “Storm” Eckhart were in front of them, clearing the way in case they came across any armed insurgents.
Ryan brought up the rear, no doubt feeling as responsible as Harrison did for leaving Luciana a hostage in Panama all this time.
She wasn’t their responsibility, yet she was.
They protected their own. Luciana and Avery were close friends, roommates, which made it their duty to keep her safe.
Both women had suffered at the hands of a ruthless cartel, and Harrison wished the men they’d taken out tonight had been forced to suffer as much as the women they held captive.
It burned him up that the two women—nurses—who’d dedicated their lives to the care of others were treated like mere objects whose only purpose was to service men.
Luciana trembled at his side as Harrison hurried her along, and he bit back a curse. He couldn’t see her expression in the darkness, but he knew she was scared. He kept a steady hand on her upper back, making sure she stayed with him, and felt a stirring inside his chest as she pressed closer.
She trusted him, and that thought alone was humbling.
“SITREP!” he said into this mic.
His headset crackled, and Wyatt’s voice was in his ear.
“We’ve got two incoming vehicles on the highway.
Saint and I are keeping watch in case they head this way,” he said, referring to Sawyer “Saint” Collins.
“They look to be armed. Given there’s not much else around here, it’s likely that we’re the target. ”
“Copy that. Make sure they’re not in our way as we deliver the package to the airstrip.”
“Roger that, sir. They won’t be a problem.”
Another update came over his headset, this time from his military counterparts. “Multiple armed men rushed to their vehicles at Santiago Garcia’s second property moments ago. We took them out before they could cause any issues and impede the mission.”
Wyatt responded, and Harrison helped Luciana into the waiting Humvee.
He gripped her hips and physically lifted her inside, jumping in beside her but ensuring he was at the window to shield her with his body if need be.
Ryan climbed in next, flanking Luciana’s other side, followed by the other men.
The engine was already rumbling, the driver and rest of the team ready to roll out.
“We’re a go,” the driver said after communicating with the others. Two other Humvees pulled alongside them.
“Move out!” Harrison ordered.
Luciana let out a sigh of relief as they began pulling away from the home, and Harrison glanced toward her in the dark, not missing the way she shook, wrapping her arms around herself. “You’re safe now,” he promised in a low voice. “Nothing will happen to you.”
“I won’t believe that until we’re completely off the property,” she admitted.
Harrison didn’t respond. He was a man of his word, but she didn’t know that.
Luciana didn’t know the first thing about him, and until about twenty minutes ago, she’d been a prisoner.
He was actually surprised she was in as good of condition as she was when they’d found her.
She appeared to be healthy, given the circumstances.
She wasn’t too sickly or thin. She’d remained calm as they made their exit, holding her own despite the harrowing circumstances.
It was about the best they could hope for in the situation, but he knew it would likely be a long time before she fully healed—both physically and mentally.
“Two tangoes incoming,” Saint said over the headsets. “Renegade and I are taking them out. Over.”
Gunshots sounded in the distance, followed by an explosion, and Luciana jumped, crying out in surprise.
“Those are the good guys,” Harrison promised, trying to soothe her. “My team is up ahead, making sure we have a clear path. They had to eliminate several cartel vehicles headed toward us.”
“Okay.” But she shrunk into herself even more.
Harrison shifted in his seat, noting how he towered above her even while sitting down.
Luciana was so much smaller than him, he couldn’t help but want to protect her from harm.
Aside from that, she was young. Maybe not as young as the teenage victims, but he knew her to be thirty-one.
Harrison was forty-four. He felt responsible for her.
Protective. Neither of them were in their own country, Luciana being Colombian, but he had the distinct advantage of having his team and the U.S.
military at his back. She was sitting here with nothing but the clothes on her back, and he hated how vulnerable and scared she seemed.
“We’re heading to an airfield outside Panama City,” he told her. “The cartel will be looking for us,” he added darkly. “It isn’t safe to stick around, so we’re going straight to the plane.”
“What’s going to happen after that?” she finally asked, her voice soft.
The Humvees had exited the fenced-in, secluded property, and the caravan of vehicles was rolling out together along the road, picking up speed.
The crackle of Harrison’s headset briefly interrupted his line of thoughts as Wyatt gave another update, and then they reached Wyatt and Sawyer, the SEAL team passing the vehicles of the cartel members they’d taken out, before racing to the highway and toward the airfield.
“Oh my gosh,” Luciana gasped, staring at the destruction, both cartel vehicles now in flames. “They really were coming for us.”
Harrison clenched his jaw. “Yes, but those particular men won’t be a concern any longer.” He didn’t say anything else. There was no need. Luciana could clearly see the latest men after them would no longer be a problem. He exchanged a glance with Ryan in the dimly lit vehicle.
“Luciana, I haven’t gotten a chance to properly introduce myself, but I’m Ryan Pierce. Avery’s boyfriend,” Ryan added, looking toward Luciana.
“Si. I knew it! I’ve seen your photograph,” she told him, growing more excited the further they got from her captor’s home.
“Avery is really okay, yes? We were kidnapped together. I only awoke once when we were being transported in the same vehicle, and when I was fully cognizant again, she was gone.”
Ryan cleared his throat, studying her for a moment.
“Yes, she’s okay. We were able to rescue her not long after the kidnapping.
We tracked a cell phone to her location and were able to successfully locate her.
You weren’t there,” he added, his voice tinged with regret.
“We had no idea where they’d taken you. Avery was sold, and we had reason to believe you’d been sold as well and were no longer in the hands of the Gulf Clan. ”
“Si. I was not there with her. They took her away—sold her off, as you said. Avery is blonde and beautiful. She was nothing but a rare commodity to them,” she spat out. “I hate that anything bad happened to her.”
“She was heavily drugged but otherwise unharmed,” Ryan told her. “They had ill-intentions, but we were fortunate to get to her so quickly. I’m sorry for everything you endured. No one should have to go through that.”
“It is not your fault,” Luciana told him. “If you hadn’t come for me tonight, I would still be there in that bedroom, probably a captive forever. I didn’t think anyone was looking for me,” she added, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks.
Harrison’s throat closed. He was a gruff, no-nonsense man, but the sight of her in tears gutted him.
Luciana would likely need medical attention sooner rather than later.
Just because she appeared fine didn’t mean she was.
He had no idea what she’d endured over the past month.
She was alive though because of Harrison and his team—living and breathing and sitting right beside him.
Maybe he hadn’t saved that young woman held hostage long ago, but he’d saved Luciana.
She’d be able to live her life now. She’d have to recover, but she’d be free.
Resolve bloomed within him—determination to cripple the Gulf Clan so they couldn’t continue taking women hostage and selling them off like property.
Harrison’s team had quickly searched the home tonight, and while there’d been staff there, they hadn’t found other captive women.
Harrison eyed Luciana. “There were two teenagers kidnapped the other evening in Panama City, but we didn’t find them in Santiago Garcia’s home tonight. ”
Luciana stiffened. “No. They are not there. I heard them their first night—their cries and screams. I believe they were quickly sold and moved off his property to new locations.”
“Damn it,” Sawyer muttered from across the vehicle, having been listening to their conversation.
Luciana eyed him warily.
“There is nothing you could have done to help them,” Harrison assured her. “You were a prisoner, too. You survived. The authorities are searching for the girls, but they haven’t been successful.”
“They’re probably long gone,” she said, looking pale.
The vehicle was quiet for a moment. She was right.
The fact of the matter was, if they’d already been moved out of the country, it would be exceedingly difficult to track the girls’ location.
While there was always a possibility they’d be sighted somewhere, most victims weren’t paraded around in public like Luciana had been.
Harrison worked that thought over in his mind.
“Paraded” wasn’t exactly the right word, but had the cartel brought her out in public because they wanted her to be seen?
Her appearance in the alley was one thing, with a woman happening to notice her.
Taking Luciana to a crowded nightclub with security cameras and multiple witnesses was another thing entirely.
Was the cartel really that bold? Did they assume no one would question them, or was something else going on?
He frowned.
“Avery will be thrilled to learn that you’re okay,” Ryan told her. “She’s been worried sick given that no one had any idea where you were or if you were still alive.”
“Does she know you’re here?” Luciana asked. “I’ve been so worried about her, too. Thinking about Avery was what kept me going some days. Even though they separated us, it felt like we were going through it together, in a sense. Does she know you came to save me?”
“Negative,” Ryan told her, looking slightly regretful.
“We can’t share details of our missions with anyone.
I wish I could’ve told Avery that you were alive, but OPSEC—operational security—is for her safety, too.
If the bad guys, so to speak, knew our friends and families had details about our missions, they’d be in danger. Avery doesn’t even know I’m in Panama.”
“Oh. That makes sense,” she told him.
Luciana clutched her hands together in her lap, suddenly looking sad, and Harrison reached out and gave her a quick squeeze.
He didn’t have any right to touch her, but he hated to see her looking so upset.
“Renegade’s right. Avery will be extremely happy to learn that you’re alive and well.
I’m sure she’ll be eager to talk to you. ”
“Renegade?” she asked in confusion.
“That’s Ryan’s nickname,” Harrison explained, and he didn’t miss the fact that she relaxed a little. He wanted to do what he could to make her feel more comfortable.
“Oh. Do you all have nicknames?”
“Affirmative, ma’am.”
She seemed surprised by the way he addressed her, but Harrison needed to keep things professional.
He might have been drawn to her from the moment he saw her photograph, but Luciana wasn’t his.
He’d felt a deep-seated need to make sure she was safe, to finish the mission his men had started, but that was the extent of it.
Harrison commanded a SEAL team and had a life and career to return to in Hawaii.
Luciana was a kidnaping victim who’d have to learn how to live free once again.
She certainly didn’t need him standing in her way.
“You’ll have to give me Avery’s phone number,” she said. “I don’t have my cell phone, which had all of my contacts stored. I’ll have to get a new phone, new ID, everything....” Her voice trailed off.
Before he could respond, static crackled over his headset. He lifted a hand to his ear, listening in to the urgent update. “Hold up!” Harrison yelled, clicking his mic so the men in the other vehicles could hear as well. “Abort plans. We have a problem at the airstrip.”