Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
On point, George was first into the building, barely waiting for the dust to settle. If anything, it concealed his entry as he stepped past the door that had been reduced to rubble by Reid’s expert skills at demolition. The man’s BUD/S training was handy when it came to blowing shit up.
Fortunately, the explosion at the front of the compound hadn’t impacted the electrical system in other areas. The lights still worked, allowing George to move quickly from one section to the next.
The team spread out, checking each room for more mercenaries.
George went right. When he came to a corner in the corridor, he poked the tip of his rifle around it first.
Gunfire made him draw back. He lay on the floor with his rifle in front of him, then rolled into the corridor and fired, hitting his target in the knee.
The man went down, firing as he went, the bullets peppering the ceiling. When he hit the ground, he swung his weapon toward George.
Before the man could pull the trigger, George fired again.
The mercenary lay still.
George leaped to his feet and moved on to clear more rooms. He’d studied the drawing Sachie, the hypnotherapist, had made from Emi’s description of the corridors in the compound. When he found the corridor he suspected was the one that contained the room Emi and Sara had shared, he counted doors as he cleared each room until he arrived at the one he’d calculated was hers.
The door stood open.
Inside was a single metal-framed bed pushed into the corner. A cardboard box turned on its side served as a bookshelf with a few worn copies of children’s books. Crinkled sheets of paper were stacked on top of the box with pencil drawings of stick figures—a little person and a bigger one, both with long hair.
Another cardboard box contained what looked like children’s clothing, worn and stained, having seen better days. Another box contained a few T-shirts and frayed jeans.
This was it? These few items collected in cardboard boxes were the sum total of Emi and Sara’s belongings?
Anger surged in George.
Emi had said she’d left Sara with the cleaning woman, Maria. Neither Maria nor Sara was in the room. Which meant either Maria had escaped with Sara or Warren had taken Sara to another part of the compound.
George moved on. Sporadic sounds of gunfire became fewer until there were no more shots fired.
He found the courtyard Emi had spoken of. Hawk entered it from another direction.
“The front corridors are secure. We found half a dozen men and women who don’t speak English locked in different rooms. We think Warren used them as slave labor to maintain the premises. Dev and Teller escorted them into Warren’s private quarters to keep them together and out of range of the mercenaries’ bullets.” Hawk looked beyond George. “No sign of the little girl?”
George shook his head. “Not yet.”
“I tried to check in with Kalea and Emi,” Hawk said, “but the radio signals are blocked by the thick concrete walls.”
“I have one more hallway to check,” George said.
“Same,” Hawk said.
“Sara has to be here somewhere,” George said. “I can’t go back to Emi without her.”
“We’ll find her,” Hawk said and left the courtyard from the direction he’d entered.
George reentered the hallway and moved on to the next door and the next with no sign of the little girl. When he came to another turn in the corridor, he eased around it, finding it empty.
A door stood open at the end.
As he approached, the room beyond wasn’t like the others. In fact, it wasn’t a room at all. It was a tunnel carved out of the mountain.
Emi had said something about seeing a corridor where the walls were darker, like stone.
So far, the front of the bunker compound had been the only entry they’d found. Could this tunnel into the mountain lead to another way out?
His gut told him yes. It also told him Warren had escaped through it when they’d blown up the front entrance.
If he had Sara, he couldn’t be moving very fast.
Unlike the bunker’s corridors, the tunnel wasn’t wired for lights.
George patted the armor-plated vest. Hadn’t he seen a miniature flashlight clipped to one of its straps?
His fingers closed around the little flashlight, and he unclipped it and pressed the button on the end.
The beam barely lit four feet in front of him, but it was better than no light at all.
Holding the light in front of him, George ran into the tunnel, picking up speed, his pulse racing. This had to be it. It had to be where Warren had gone. And he had to have Sara.
The tunnel curved to the left, widening at one point to a large room filled with wooden crates.
“Sara?” George called out. He checked between and behind the crates, finding nothing.
Afraid Warren was putting too much distance between them, George continued into the tunnel. He noticed that the path was sloping gently downward.
Something moved along the floor ahead of him. Because he didn’t see it soon enough, he nearly tripped over it.
A moan sounded from the object.
George squatted beside it and shined the little light on a woman with dark hair, dark skin and a gash across her brow. Her eyes blinked up at him, and she whispered, “ Ayuda por favor .”
George frowned, wishing he’d studied Spanish instead of Arabic. “Are you Maria?”
“ Si. Yo soy Maria .” She reached up and grabbed his arm. “ La ni?a, él tiene a la ni?a.”
“Sara? He took Sara?” George asked.
“ Si. Sara .” She pointed down the tunnel. “ Sara. Ve rápido .” Maria sat up and pushed him in that direction. “ Ayuda Sara , por favor .”
George didn’t like leaving the injured woman, but she seemed to be recovering while Warren was getting away with Sara.
“I’ll be back,” he said and took off down the tunnel, running as fast as he could, praying he would catch up with Warren before he hurt Sara or disappeared with the child.
Emi’s feet slowed the further she moved away from where she’d promised George she’d stay. Not only was she breaking her promise, but she was also leaving Kalea alone. What if one of the mercenaries got past Hawk’s team and took Kalea hostage?
Like Kalea had said, the Brotherhood Protectors were trained and experienced in extraction operations. They would find and free Sara. Emi would only get in the way and possibly jeopardize the mission.
Just as she turned to retrace her steps, Kalea’s voice sounded in her ear.
“Oh, sweet Geezus,” Kalea exclaimed. “You’re him. The one who’s been getting away with murder. Vincent Warren. Or should I call you by your other name, Fallon Vance?”
Emi froze. Warren was with Kalea? How?
“So, holding a woman hostage and abusing her for eight years wasn’t vile enough for you, you’re now resorting to terrorizing small children?”
“Oh my God. No.” Emi started running back down the road. Warren had Sara and was threatening the child and Kalea.
“ No .” the word came from deep in her gut. Emi couldn’t let him hurt either one of them. He’d hurt so many and gotten away with it for too long.
“No more,” she said beneath her breath, her thoughts narrowing to a laser focus. She had to stop him, once and for all. Barreling down the hill and charging him like an indiscriminate bull wasn’t the way to do it. He could hurt Sara or Kalea.
She had to sneak up on him and catch him by surprise.
Emi slipped into the shadows of the trees overhanging the road, moving swiftly but silently back the way she’d come. As she closed the distance between her and where she’d left Kalea, she looked for something she could use as a weapon.
She found a piece of a fallen limb the thickness of her arm and slightly longer. When she lifted it from the ground, she tested the weight in her hand.
“You know your time playing God is up, don’t you?” Kalea was saying. “Too many people know about what you’ve been doing here in your sick little playhouse in the mountain.”
Emi couldn’t make out Warren’s response, but his words were heated. She knew from experience that when he got angry, he lost control. Those were the times when he’d beaten her so badly she’d thought she was going to die.
Kalea didn’t seem to care that she was poking the bear. “You can’t hide it anymore from your wife. While she and her father have been donating money to help the poor and stop human trafficking, you’ve been perpetuating the very crimes they’ve worked so hard to stop.”
“Shut up, bitch.”
Emi was now either close enough to make out Warren’s words, or he had raised his voice. Probably the latter. It wouldn’t be long before his control snapped, and anyone in his way would suffer the consequences.
As Emi approached the bend in the road around which she’d find Kalea, Warren and Sara, she eased forward, clinging to the shadows.
She had to get close without alerting Warren to her presence.
With the tree limb clutched in her hands, she inched around the bend in the road, her heart seizing in her chest when she spotted Sara.
Warren held her little arm with one hand and pointed a pistol at her head with the other.
“Let the child go, Vincent,” Kalea said, her tone softening. “Turn yourself in. Maybe the judge will go easy on you.”
“You think I’m stupid?” Warren snorted. “No way I’m letting her go. I’m getting out of here, and this brat is my get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Emi pushed back the rage building at Warren’s words and moved closer. Three more feet, and she’d be close enough to make her move.
She could tell the moment when Kalea spotted her moving in the shadows.
The other woman’s eyes briefly flared before she locked down her expressions behind a poker face.
“I need the kid,” Warren was saying. “But I don’t need you.” He shifted his aim from Sara’s temple to point the gun at Kalea’s chest.
When a twig snapped beneath Emi’s foot, she froze for a second.
Then Sara turned and sank her teeth into the hand holding her arm.
Warren shrieked and lost his grip on Sara.
As she darted away, Emi sprang out of the shadows and swung the tree limb like a baseball bat, channeling eight years of pent-up hatred into it, aiming for the bastard’s head.
Warren shifted at the last minute. Instead of hitting him square in the back of the head, she landed a glancing blow off the side of his head.
Warren staggered forward and fell to his knees.
Kalea kicked the gun out of his hand and then kicked him in the face. “That’s for threatening a child.”
The man dropped to the ground and lay still.
Emi dropped the heavy limb and looked around, searching for her daughter. Just like she’d taught her from a very young age, she’d hidden when the bad man had come near. “Sara. Sara, baby. It’s okay. He can’t hurt you. You can come out now.” Her breath caught and held as she waited for Sara to come out of hiding.
A movement in the shadows to her left caught Emi’s attention.
Sara eased out of the darkness, her gaze going to the man on the ground. When he didn’t move to grab her, she ran, flinging herself into Emi’s arms.
Emi hugged her daughter close, tears streaming down her face. Her baby was alive and in her arms. And they were free.
The tears flowed as she realized she never had to go back to that horrible cell. She never had to live in fear of a monster beating her or forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do.
She and Sara would be free to walk in the sunshine, run across vast fields or lie in the grass and stare up at the clear blue sky. She couldn’t wait for Sara to meet George. Emi wanted her to know there were good men in the world, and George was one of them. He could teach her how to laugh and play in the water and take her for rides on ATVs.
Emi buried her face in her daughter’s silky hair. “Oh, baby, I love you so much.”
So caught up in holding her child and dreaming of the beautiful future they’d have now that they were free of Fallon Vance, Emi didn’t hear the footsteps pounding toward her on the gravel road. She didn’t know she and Sara were in any kind of danger until she heard, “Emi! Look out!”
She looked up to see that while she’d been loving on her daughter, Vincent Warren had crawled over to where his handgun had landed. He grabbed it, rolled onto his back and aimed toward Emi and Sara.
At the moment he pulled the trigger, someone dove between Warren and Emi.
Fully expecting to feel the pain of a bullet ripping through her, Emi sat in shock, her hands patting her chest and abdomen, looking for the bullet hole and blood.
When her gaze connected with the body that had passed between her and Warren, Emi gasped. “George!”
He lay so still that movement beyond him drew her attention.
Warren was aiming his handgun at her again.
“Emi!” Kalea yelled. “Look out!”
Emi shoved Sara to the ground and flung her body over her child.
When no shot rang out, she raised her head and looked toward Warren.
He struggled with the handgun, slapped the magazine and cursed.
Rage ripped through Emi. “Sara, stay down,” she ordered. Then, she leaped to her feet and dove for the tree limb.
Warren sat up, released the magazine from the grip and pulled back the bolt, ejecting the jammed bullet. He slammed the magazine back into the handle.
Before he could raise the barrel to point it at Emi, she swung the limb at him with all her might, hitting him square in the face.
Warren fell backward, blood pouring from his nose.
Still holding the limb, Emi stood over him, prepared to hit him again.
Kalea rushed over to her. “I think he’s dead.” She bent and felt for a pulse. After a few moments, she nodded. “He’s not going to hurt anyone ever again.”
Emi dropped the branch and hurried toward George.
He lay on his side, blood seeping from a wound to his abdomen.
Her heart in her throat, Emi ripped off the jersey she’d worn to the luau, glad she’d worn a tank top underneath. She quickly folded the jersey into a pad and laid it across the wound, applying pressure.
“George,” she said. “George.” With her free hand, she touched her fingers to the base of his throat, holding her breath, praying... A faint pulse tapped against her fingertips.
She let go of the breath she’d been holding and looked up. “We need an ambulance. Now.”
Kalea had her cell phone out already, making that call.
Sara raised her head. “Mommy?”
“Oh, sweetie. Come to Mommy. Everything is going to be all right.” Emi knew she and Sara were going to be all right. She wasn’t so sure about George. His face was pale, and he’d lost a lot of blood. How long could he hold out before an ambulance arrived?
Emi leaned close to his ear and whispered. “Hey, big guy. Are you still with me?”
His eyelids twitched and opened.
When he saw her there, his mouth curved into a smile. “Still with the living,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“Please stay that way,” Emi said, tears welling in her eyes. “There’s someone I want you to meet.”
Sara came to stand beside Emi and stared down at George.
“George,” Emi said. “This is my daughter, Sara. Sara, honey,” Emi had to swallow hard on the lump in her throat before she could continue. “This is George Ingram. A very good man who saved your Mommy’s life two times. That makes him my hero.”
George held out his hand to Sara. “Nice to meet you, Sara,” he said.
When Sara wrapped her little hand around two of his fingers, he gave it a light shake.
Kalea knelt on the other side of Sara. “Hi, Sara. My name is Kalea. I want to thank you so very much. If you hadn’t bit that mean man’s hand, he would’ve shot me. You saved my life. That makes you my hero. May I hug you?”
Though Sara’s eyes were wide, she nodded.
Kalea wrapped her arms around the little girl and hugged her gently. “You’re a very brave girl.”
“Can I get in on the hug fest?” Hawk called out as he approached. He dropped to his haunches and cocked an eyebrow at George. “Lying down on the job?”
George’s lips twitched. “Took one for my team.” His brow furrowed. “There’s a woman named Maria in the tunnel...”
“We found her and moved her to where we’re holding the others. She was up and moving around, but we’ll have the emergency medical technicians check her out when they arrive.”
“Thanks,” George said. “I really need to learn Spanish.”
Emi’s lips twitched.
Hawk’s brow wrinkled, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he turned to Emi. “Want me to take over?”
“Not unless it will make a difference,” she said.
“You’re doing all the right things. Keep pressure on the wound.” He straightened and pulled Kalea up into his arms. “Hey, beautiful, I heard what you said about nearly being shot. I’m glad you had a real hero in Sara to save you.” He kissed her soundly, then pulled out his cell phone and stepped away to make a call.
When Hawk returned, he squatted down to address George. “The ambulance will be here in five minutes. The EMTs will get you stabilized for air transport to Oahu. Think you can hold out that long?”
“I have all the right reasons to hang on,” George said. “And they’re right here in front of me.” He winked at Sara. “Now that you’re free, what do you want most? A pretty dress, a doll or a puppy?”
Sara’s brow creased as she thought about it. “My mommy said she had a daddy who loved her very much. He took her for walks, told her stories and sometimes sang to her. Since I already have a Mommy, I want a Daddy. If I can’t have a Daddy, I want a puppy instead.”
George laughed and immediately winced. “I’m hoping we can work on both of those if you can wait long enough for me to get better.”
“I can wait,” Sara said.
Emi’s heart swelled. For a three-year-old, her daughter had an old soul. She couldn’t wait to show her how much fun it could be to be a child, to play and have friends.
“The future is going to be amazing,” Emi met George’s gaze. “We just need you to be in it.”
“I’ll work on that,” he said.
“In the meantime…” She leaned forward and pressed her lips briefly to his.
He frowned. “Is that a tease?”
She gave him a saucy smile. “That was an incentive. There’s more where that came from when you’re well enough to handle it.”
“Hold my beer, woman; I’m getting up.”
“The hell you are.” Emi laughed, her heart full to overflowing with joy. Free at last.