Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
Emi sat behind Kalea in the small plane, the roar of the engine muffled by the headphones over her ears. They were headed for Kauai. If all went well, she’d be holding her little girl in her arms soon.
And it would go well. There was no other option. Sara was her life. Her reason for living. Without her, what did she have left?
George reached out a hand.
Emi placed hers in his.
What would she have done without him? She’d have died, and Sara would have been left to Fallon Vance—make that Vincent Warren and his twisted mind.
She prayed she was right in assuming Warren hadn’t been back to the compound since dumping her in the ocean. And hopefully, he hadn’t sent word to get rid of the little girl. He was a businessman who was used to trading in human assets. Surely, he would have kept her for the potential of selling her at a later date.
The thought of her little girl being auctioned or sold to some sick bastards made Emi’s stomach roil.
It wouldn’t happen. The cavalry was on the way. An entire team of special forces operators would get her out of the compound alive.
They still didn’t know exactly where the compound was on Kauai. George hadn’t been able to tag Warren himself with the tracking device, only his yacht.
Once Warren reached the island, they wouldn’t be able to track him to the compound.
Thus, the reason for arriving before the yacht and having boots on the ground to follow him from the moment he left the yacht.
With the additional information they’d uncovered about the Hollingsworth subsidiary Warren was in charge of, they had identified five properties on the Kauai owned by the corporation.
With the help of Hawk’s friend and his team of drones and drone operators, they hoped to narrow down the five options to one.
If they found it soon enough, the team could potentially reach the compound well before Warren.
Emi squeezed George’s hand, glad he was with her.
When he’d left her at the marina to plant the tracker on Warren’s yacht, the ten minutes he’d actually been gone had seemed like hours.
His voice had carried over the water back to her as he’d sung that silly song at the top of his lungs. She could just imagine how ridiculous he’d looked. And how brave and selfless.
He’d told her he’d pretended to fall onto the yacht and stuck around long enough to arouse Warren’s curiosity and ire. Once he’d confirmed Warren was on the vessel, he’d planted the tracker.
He’d come back to her in a little less than ten minutes, and she’d been able to breathe again. She didn’t know what she would’ve done if he hadn’t come back. Her initial instinct would’ve been to go after him and kick whoever’s ass had dared to hurt him.
Which would have been suicide, or at the least, walking back into the lion’s den. She had no desire to be trapped in a prison for another eight years.
No, she’d have done as he’d instructed and had Hawk help her find George and then get on to the task of saving her daughter.
Kalea landed the plane at the little airport. Not long after they’d taxied to a stop, the second aircraft, piloted by her friend, landed and came to a stop beside Kalea’s.
Everyone climbed out of the planes and converged on the tarmac. Two SUVs waited nearby. Kalea had called ahead to the FBO, asking for the vehicles to be ready and waiting for them when they arrived.
Kalea climbed into the driver’s seat of one, and Devlin Mulhaney took the lead on the other.
Hawk and Emi compared their handheld tracking devices.
“He should be arriving at the island in the next few moments,” Hawk said. “It appears as though he’s not going to one of the marinas.”
“I remember them taking me out to the yacht on a smaller boat,” Emi said.
“A dingy?” Kalea asked.
Emi nodded.
“Which means he could get off anywhere along the coastline, and we might lose him trying to find where that was by land.” As Hawk shook his head and studied the tracking device for answers, his cell phone chirped.
“Great,” Hawk said. “Did you give the coordinates to the drone team? I’ll contact them and see if they’ve decided. Thanks, Swede. You and Kyla are the best.” When he ended the call, he said, “Swede narrowed the properties down to two. The other three are commercial buildings along the coastline. The two we’re most interested in are tucked into the mountains. He gave the drone team the coordinates of both about the time we left Oahu.”
Emi’s heart leaped. They were getting closer.
Hawk called the man in charge of the drones. “Hey, Sean, what do you have?” Hawk’s face brightened. “You did?” He grinned. As quickly as he smiled, a frown took its place. “What’s wrong? Seriously?” His head shook back in forth, his lips pressing into a tight line.
Emi didn’t like the grim set of Hawk’s face. Something was wrong. A chill rippled across her skin in the warm, balmy night. She leaned into George, her body trembling.
He slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her even closer. The warmth of his body against hers chased away the chill.
Hawk gave a final nod to the man on the other end of the call, even though he couldn’t see it. “Shoot me the coordinates. We’re on our way. It should only take us twenty minutes. No, don’t do anything. You’re drone operators. Unless you have rockets attached to the drones, you’re not equipped to handle the situation. Those men your infrared cameras picked up are armed and dangerous mercenaries. They probably have orders to shoot first and hide the bodies in a very deep hole. I’ll be in touch. Thank you for coming on short notice and staying as long as you did.”
Hawk ended the call and looked around at his team. “Warren didn’t need a marina or a dingy to get him to shore. He had a helicopter pick him up and fly him to the location Sean and his team finally identified as the compound. I have the coordinates. Let’s roll.”
Emi pressed a hand to her chest. No amount of pressure eased the ache growing inside.
So, Warren would arrive before them. It wasn’t the end of the world. She just had to get there before he did anything stupid and irreversible to Sara.
She climbed into the middle seat of the SUV Kalea would drive and prayed she’d bend the rules enough to blow past the established speed limits.
Emi wasn’t disappointed.
Kalea drove fast but in full control of the vehicle.
Hawk navigated with his phone’s GPS, telling her where to turn. The island didn’t have so many roads that they would be confused.
It did have lush mountains that made it difficult to find a bunker sunk deep into its side.
But they had coordinates and a GPS map that would get them there.
The big question was whether they would be there on time. Would Warren go directly to Sara? If so, would he hurt her or use her as a human shield or bargaining chip to buy him time to get off the island?
Emi wrung her hands in her lap, counting the minutes it would take to reach the coordinates the drone team had confirmed was the correct place.
Hawk had brought weapons for the team. Rifles, handguns and armor-plated vests to protect them. They still had their communications devices and had worked as a team on a number of occasions.
Now that they had found the bunker and were within minutes of arriving there, Emi remembered the thick walls of the bunker. They had seemed impenetrable. How would they get inside to rescue Sara?
Among the weapons Hawk had loaded into the plane and then transferred into the back of the SUVs, he’d included C4 explosives and detonators.
Emi wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Could they contain the explosives enough that they wouldn’t blow the entire complex to hell along with her sweet daughter?
They had to get past the exterior guards before they could get close enough to set explosives in the door or walls.
Kalea turned off the main road onto a gravel road. She turned off the headlights and proceeded forward, using only fog lights to navigate. Heavy vegetation shrouded the road, making it nearly impossible to see the tracks. They had to slow to a veritable crawl to keep from running into tree trunks or falling off cliffs.
“Stop here,” Hawk told Kalea.
She pulled to the side as much as she could and shifted into park.
“We go on foot from here,” Hawk said.
The vehicle behind them rolled to a stop, and the men piled out. They each slipped into the armor-plated vests, grabbed rifles and handguns and strapped knives to their belts or ankles. The last items they pulled over their heads were night vision goggles that would allow them to pick up the heat signatures of the mercenaries standing guard outside the compound.
After spending eight years in what was basically a cell with little stimulation, all the moving parts of this operation overwhelmed Emi.
She stood to the side with Kalea as the men geared up for the battle ahead.
“I need to do something,” Emi said. “I should be the one going into the compound. That’s my child in there. I know my way around some of the corridors.”
Kalea shook her head. “You don’t have the training the Brotherhood Protectors have, nor the experience. You might get between them and the mercenaries.”
Emi wrapped her arms around her middle. “We’re so close and yet so far. I want to hold my little girl in my arms and know she’s safe.”
“They’ll get her out,” Kalea said.
When the men were ready, George came to Emi. “A kiss for good luck?” he said quietly.
She stepped into his arms, linked her hands behind his neck and rose onto her tiptoes. “Be careful,” she said. “I kind of like kissing you.”
He chuckled. “Is that all you like about me?”
“Mmm.” She tilted her head, studying his face in the starlight. “I like how strong you are and how you still like to play in the water. I like how you make me laugh and want to please me above yourself.” She pulled him closer. “I especially like it when you kiss me and make me feel like the most important person in your world.”
He cupped her cheeks in his hands. “Hold all those thoughts,” he said. “I’ll be back before you know it.” He pressed his lips to hers briefly. “With Sara. Please, stay here with Kalea, where we won’t have to worry about you.”
Emi nodded. “Hurry back.”
The men fit their night vision goggles over their eyes and slipped away into the night.
Kalea and Emi still had the radio earbuds they’d worn at the luau. They stood at the edge of the road in the shadows of the trees and listened in as the team approached the compound built into the side of the mountain.
For the first minutes, the silence was excruciating.
Then Hawk’s voice sounded in Emi’s ears. “Bogey in the woods ten yards from me, moving in.”
“Got one in my sights leaning against a tree,” George whispered.
“I’ve got the guy standing against the rock cliff on the left,” one of the other men said.
Emi guessed it was Rex.
“Devlin, Teller, take the guy on the right side of the building,” Hawk said. “Reid, stand by with the charges. Ready...go.”
Emi held her breath, awaiting an indication of how it was going. She got it when the sound of gunfire echoed against the mountainsides.
She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out.
“Guards neutralized,” Hawk said. “You’re up, Reid.”
A few moments later, Reid’s voice called out, “Fire in the hole!”
An explosion rocked the ground beneath Emi’s feet. She reached for Kalea’s hand.
The other woman gripped hers tightly.
“George, take point,” Hawk said. “Going in.”
Emi held her breath, waiting to hear more.
Silence stretched Emi’s nerves to the breaking point.
“I can’t,” Emi said and released Kalea’s hand. “I can’t just stand here and do nothing. Why aren’t they talking?”
“Their radio signals could be blocked by the concrete walls or the mountain,” Kalea said.
“What if they’re hurt?” Emi said. “I need to know.” She started walking up the road toward the compound.
“Wait,” Kalea said. “Give me a minute. I have a taser in my purse. I’ll go with you.”
Sara was in there. And now George was, too. She had to get close enough to at least see what was going on and help if she could.
Emi didn’t wait for Kalea but kept walking with the overwhelming feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.