Chapter 9 #2
The men were much stronger than she was. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t work herself free. They only tightened their hold on her until she was certain they would break her arms. She’d have bruises where they’d held her.
One man lifted a metal latch, opened the door, and together, the two men shoved her inside.
As soon as she got her feet beneath her, she scrambled toward the door and pushed against it.
She was too late. The door closed, the latch slid into place and she was trapped in a dark, cool cell beneath a killer’s lair.
“Where’s my daughter?” Dwayne Neal asked as soon as Chase, Trevor and Carson entered the hotel room without Alana.
“Have a seat, Mr. Neal,” Chase said.
“I will not sit. I demand to know what you’ve done with Alana.” He stood his ground, his face a mottled red, his brow deeply furrowed. “Where’s my daughter?”
“Oh, my God.” Gina’s eyes filled with tears, and she walked into Carson’s arms. “He got her, didn’t he?”
Chase nodded. “The cab driver took off with Alana before any of us could get into the vehicle with her.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, preparing to dial the only man he could think of who could help.
“What are you talking about?” Mr. Neal asked. “Why did the cab driver take off with her? Where did he take her? Who has my daughter?” He stalked across the room, grabbed Chase by the collar and got in his face. “I want answers. Now!”
Chase held stock-still. He understood the man’s rage. He deserved it. “Mr. Neal, your daughter has most likely been taken by Raul Delgado, the leader of the Jalisco cartel here in Cabo.”
“The leader of a cartel has my daughter?” Mr. Neal’s face grew redder. “You said you’d protect my daughter. How’s that working out for you? My daughter could be killed because of your incompetence.”
Chase couldn’t refute the man’s accusation.
He felt the same way. If he’d gotten in first, he wouldn’t have been hit by the taser, and he’d at least have had a chance of saving Alana.
Now, he had no idea where they were taking her or what they’d do to her.
His chest was so tight, it hurt. “Excuse me, sir,” He pushed past Mr. Neal and hurried to the bedroom where Alana had slept, closing the door behind him.
He hit the phone number for Hank Patterson, praying he’d already come up with a solution to his problem.
Hank’s phone rang and rang. He didn’t answer. Chase stared at the phone.
Out of options and with no help coming, Chase couldn’t stand around and feel sorry for himself. It wasn’t his way. He had to take action. If they had only three Navy SEALs, they had to come up with a solution involving just the three of them.
A knock on the door made him stop in the middle of pacing the floor.
Gina pushed the door open and stuck her head inside. “We need a plan.”
“I know,” Chase said.
“Any ideas?” she asked.
He nodded, a plan starting to form, but it depended on information they didn’t have. “We need to find where Delgado lives. I bet that’s where he’s taken Alana. If we can find him quickly, we take the fight to him.”
“I’m in,” Gina said. “I can fire an AR-15. I qualified on an M4A1 rifle in Army Basic Combat Training. I shot expert every time we qualified. That brings our number up to four.”
“Against potentially one hundred cartel members?” He shook his head. “It’s a suicide mission.”
“Yeah, but you can’t go it alone,” she said.
“No,” Trevor pushed through the door, “you can’t go it alone. So, you’ll have to take us along with you. Carson left a few minutes ago.”
A stab of disappointment ripped through Chase. He’d thought the Navy SEAL would stand with them.
Trevor grinned. “Carson went to check with his contacts. They should have a good idea of where to find Delgado. As soon as he gets the information we need, he’ll be back to take us to his place to pick up the contraband weapons he’s stockpiled.”
A wave of hope washed over Chase. Since seeing the cab drive off with Alana inside, he hadn’t been sure he’d ever see her again.
But with the help of his fellow SEALs, he began to think it might be possible.
“Whatever we do, it has to be at Delgado’s place, not at La Casa Loca.
I can’t imagine he’s taking Alana to the bar.
He probably has her locked up at his place.
We have the rest of the day and into the evening to make this mission happen. ”
“God, I hope Alana is all right,” Gina said. “I can’t imagine how she felt being kidnapped and driven away by one of Delgado’s thugs. She has to be terrified.”
Chase knew how it felt to lie in the street, helplessly watching the woman he’d married on a whim being driven away to God knew where.
It felt like crap. He’d failed her completely.
All his focus now was on getting her back.
Whatever he had to do, even if it meant giving himself into the hands of a murderous cartel leader, so be it.
Dwayne Neal pushed through the door into Alana’s room. He poked a finger into Chase’s chest. “This is all your fault. What the hell did you do to piss off the leader of a god damn cartel?”
“I defended her when Delgado tried to leave the bar with her.”
“Defended her?” Mr. Neal’s anger was plain to see in the ruddy red his face had turned. “How did you defend her?”
“I threw a few punches. Apparently, I humiliated him in front of his men, and if I don’t show up at La Casa Loca at midnight, he’ll kill Alana.”
Neal’s brow dipped low, his eyes narrowing. “If he tried to leave the bar with her before, what makes you think he’ll let her go if you show up?” Neal asked.
“That’s just it,” Chase said. “We don’t think he’ll release her.”
“Mr. Neal, if Chase meets with Delgado, the cartel leader will have all his gang members there,” Gina said.
“They’ll kill him,” Alana’s father said. “Not that I’m against that. However, will that get Alana back?”
“It won’t,” Chase said. “That’s why we have to come up with a better plan.”
“And what is that plan?” Mr. Neal demanded.
“We go to Delgado’s compound and get Alana before the midnight deadline.”
“And how do you propose to do that?” Neal asked.
Chase lifted his chin toward the door. “First, we have to find out where he lives. Carson just left to tap into his contacts for information on the location of Delgado’s compound. We’ll form a plan once we know more.”
“If they know Alana is my daughter,” Mr. Neal said, “perhaps they’ll negotiate a ransom for her.”
“I’m not sure they know she’s the daughter of a wealthy man,” Chase said.
Mr. Neal pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “I’m willing to pay a ransom to get my daughter back safely.”
Chase held up his hand. “If they don’t know she’s worth a huge ransom, let’s not complicate the situation by giving them that information. Delgado is known for human trafficking. If he kills me, he won’t kill Alana.”
“He’ll do much worse,” Gina said, her voice flat, her face strained. “We have to get to her first.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Mr. Neal asked.
“Like I said—information. As soon as Carson gets back to us, we’ll make a plan and implement.”
Mr. Neal snorted. “I’m not a patient man.”
“Yes, sir,” Chase said. “But we can’t rescue her until we know where she is. Until then, we wait.”
Mr. Neal’s eyes narrowed. “Understand this,” he said. “My daughter and I don’t always see eye to eye. But she’s all the family I have. I love her and will do anything in my power to get her back. Alive.”
“Understood,” Chase said. “And you should know that even though we haven’t known each other long, I have great respect and feelings for Alana. I will move heaven and earth to bring her back alive.”
Chase held Mr. Neal’s gaze for several long seconds before the old man nodded.
Her father lifted his chin. “Once we get her back, I’m taking her home to Maui.”
“I won’t stand in your way,” Chase said. “If that’s what she wants.”
Mr. Neal opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more. Instead, he closed his mouth and returned to the sitting room.
Waiting, for Carson, proved to be painfully tense.
Mr. Neal paced the sitting room of the suite alongside Chase.
Alana’s father called every one of his own contacts in Mexico, searching for someone who could help.
No one offered assistance against the Jalisco cartel.
The US State Department offered to look into the matter if Mr. Neal would go to the consular agent in San José del Cabo and file an official request. Mr. Neal told them what they could do with their request, hung up and resumed pacing.
On a couple of occasions, Mr. Neal and Chase almost ran into each other. When that happened, Alana’s father would glare and mutter something to the effect of Chase having failed his daughter, and what was she thinking getting involved with a washed-up SEAL?
Chase held his tongue, determined to conserve energy for the fight ahead. If Delgado had an army of cartel supporters behind him, it could be a bloody battle in which he and his friends might end up dead. And if that happened, what would Delgado do with Alana?
Chase refused to consider that as an option.
Whatever he and his friends did, they had to get Alana out of Delgado’s hands and back to her father.
Until he had her somewhere safe, Chase couldn’t leave Mexico for the wilds of Montana.
Hank would wait for him to come to work for the Brotherhood Protectors.
He was a reasonable man with a wife and children.
He’d understand Chase’s desire to protect his own wife and bring her back to a safe and secure location.
If it meant taking on an entire army of cartel members, Hank would do it for his family. Chase would do no less for his wife.
Despite the fact he’d only just met the woman he’d married, he liked her. Hell, he’d broken all his self-imposed rules about never marrying for this woman after just a few hours with her. He would never consider leaving her at the mercy of a dangerous man like Raul Delgado.
In the meantime, he waited for Carson to return with word on where to find Delgado and, hopefully, Alana.
Minutes later, a knock at the suite door heralded the return of Carson with the news he’d been waiting for. Alana’s father stood beside Chase as Carson, the resident former SEAL of Cabo San Lucas, shared what little information he’d been able to attain.
“Delgado lives in a compound west of town,” Carson said. He pulled a piece of notebook paper from his back pocket, unfolded it and spread it out on a table. Someone had drawn an image of Cabo with the main roads noted and an arrow pointing to a location northeast of town.
Carson pointed to the location. “Delgado has a compound with walls seven feet high. The guy I spoke with has been inside the compound. He helped to build it and knows all the places Delgado could have stashed Alana. He thinks Delgado will have incarcerated her in the wine cellar. There’s a small storage closet at the back of the cellar with a lock on the outside of the door. ”
Chase’s fist clenched. The only reason to have a lock on the outside of a door was to imprison whoever was on the inside. When he got hold of Delgado, he’d make him pay for taking Alana and subjecting her to being imprisoned in some dark, dank cellar.
“Okay.” Chase drew in a deep breath and looked up into Carson’s eyes. “Now that we know where Delgado’s compound is, we’ll need your stash of weapons.”
Carson met his gaze. “You know, going up against the cartel is suicide, don’t you?”
Chase nodded. “I can’t leave her there, and we can’t shoot up a bar full of innocent people.”
A slow grin spread across Carson’s face. “I was beginning to go crazy here with so much sun, sand and relaxation.” He clapped his hands together. “I’m ready for action.”
Chase’s heart skipped several beats and then thrummed a steady, strong tattoo. Calm determination spread through him like it had with every mission he’d undertaken as a Navy SEAL. “Let’s do this.”