Chapter 25
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A VERY AWOKE, CONFUSED and disoriented. Her stomach roiled, and she felt an unsettling wave of nausea washing over her. She was both hot and cold, breaking out in a cold sweat, and she suspected it was whatever Walters had drugged her with causing her body to react strangely. She was jostled as she lay there, restrained, but no one was nearby, and confusion filled her.
Wait. Was she...moving? The ground beneath her rumbled, and she realized she was actually in the back of a truck.
Blinking, she looked around.
It was dim, but there were shapes coming into focus. Sounds. Conversations.
Horror swept through her as she realized she was off to the side in the back of a truck but not actually alone. Several men were talking quietly in Spanish, and she quaked in fear. She was tied up. Gagged. Maybe Walters hadn’t actually assaulted her, but this was far worse. He’d given her to these men.
She strained to understand their words, to make sense of what they were saying.
Words like “buyer” and “price” bled through her confusion.
Were these men selling her?
One of them chuckled, kicking a box at his feet. “This will keep her drugged up for a month. She’ll do anything he wants. Everything. The buyer will be very, very happy.”
“Let’s hope he gives us a turn with her, too.”
Avery tried to choke back her cry of fear.
“Si, senorita!” one of the men taunted, looking at her. “You American women fetch a nice price for us. Very, very nice,” he said, chuckling.
“She’s awake. We should sedate her,” another voice said in Spanish.
“No,” Avery whimpered.
It was bad enough when Walters had drugged her, but these men likely had no medical skills or training. They could shoot her up with something using a dirty needle, and God only knew what infections she’d get. Even the back of this truck they were riding in was filthy.
A low moan drew her attention, and Avery realized that she wasn’t the only one tied up. As her eyes grew accustomed to the dark, she realized the person lying across from her had long, dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail. And she had a head wound.
Luciana.
“Both bitches will bring in some good money. Walters is a prick demanding more cash for his services, but he does supply us with good sedatives.”
“Si. Women that out of it will let you do anything to them,” another man said with a low chuckle. “They’ll beg for dick.”
She inadvertently made a small sound of fear, and three pairs of eyes turned toward her. One man reached into the box, grabbing a syringe and vial. His boots thumped on the floor as he walked toward her, and he swayed slightly with the movement of the truck.
“You’ll feel better after I give you this,” he said, chuckling. “Your new owner will like it, too. He can’t wait to get his hands on you—or his dick inside your pussy,” the man added, causing the others to howl with laughter.
He grabbed her upper arm and stuck her with the needle before she could even attempt to resist, injecting the drug into her muscle.
As she once again was pulled under, a brief flash of panic filled her mind.
She was now in the hands of a ruthless cartel.
***
R YAN QUICKLY STRODE onto base, dressed in his camo gear and boots, duffel bag slung over his shoulder. They weren’t sanctioned to deploy on an op to Panama, but he didn’t give a shit. The team was going wheels up in one hour, and he didn’t want to know what lines Commander Madden had crossed to allow it.
Their CO had said he’d take the heat for this, and if Ryan was ruining his career, so be it. Nothing mattered more than his girl.
They were flying directly into Panama City and hopefully would have definitive coordinates as to Avery’s whereabouts by the time they arrived. Somehow luck had been on their side, and Walters had been brought in by local police for questioning. He wasn’t talking, but that didn’t matter. Ryan would make him talk if it was the last thing he ever did.
“Renegade,” Hudson called out, jogging up behind him. His own bag was slung over his shoulder, and he looked ready to roll out as well.
“Is everyone else here?” Ryan asked.
“Just about. Sawyer’s outside but on his way in. The CO wants to brief in the bullpen.”
“Roger that.”
Nothing about this mission followed normal protocol. His teammates were also risking their careers, but he knew he couldn’t stop them. They looked out for their own, and Avery was damn well his.
Sawyer came hustling up behind them, and the men headed straight to the bullpen, where the others were already seated. Ryan dropped his gear on the ground, rushing to the table. Their CO was at a laptop, pulling up slides. How they’d gotten so much intel in mere hours was a damn miracle, and Ryan was glad he’d contacted his team leader immediately when he’d realized something was wrong and Avery had gone missing.
Commander Madden moved to the front of the room with the laptop, clicking a button as a map of the Darien Gap and surrounding area appeared on the massive screen. A star indicated the village where Avery had last been seen, and Ryan’s fist clenched.
She was out there somewhere, scared and possibly hurt. And he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t get to her in time.
“As everyone is aware, two nurses have gone missing from the Doctors Without Borders team in Bajo Chiquito, including Avery Nielsen,” their CO said. “The second nurse, Luciana Rodriguez, is believed to be with her. Blood and other signs of a struggle were found in the storage room in their building. Dr. Brandon Walters, the assigned physician on their medical team, was brought in by the Panama police earlier, with Walters suspected of being directly involved in their disappearance.”
The CO clicked to the next slide, and Walters’ face flashed on the screen.
“Fuck,” Sawyer muttered. “He looks like a prick.”
Ryan smirked. Sawyer wasn’t wrong. The man had pale skin and icy blue eyes, with a pompous, arrogant look about him. Ryan would love to punch that smug expression right off his face.
“Walters was caught with a large amount of cash and boxes of sedatives on him,” their commander said. “He had an entire dossier of women on his person, including names, prices, and dates of transactions. It’s believed that Walters was selling women to the Gulf Clan, the prominent cartel in the Darien Gap. It was born of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombias after it dissolved at the start of the century. Walters had a squeaky-clean reputation, but analysts dug deeper.”
“What’d they find?” Ryan asked as their CO changed slides.
“He’s deep in debt from bad investments. He’s underwater on his mortgages and luxury car payments.”
“Mortgages as in plural?” Sawyer asked.
“Affirmative. He’s also got a sex addiction. He’s spent large amounts of cash on porn sites.”
“Aw hell. I thought doctors were supposed to be smart,” Sawyer quipped.
Ryan shot him a look.
“Quiet down,” their commander reprimanded Sawyer. “His stupidity has paid off. When he delivered Avery, Luciana, and the sedatives to the Gulf Clan, he accidentally left his cell phone in the box of merchandise.”
Ryan’s eyes shot to his commander, and the man nodded. “We’re tracking them as we speak.”