Chapter Twenty-Six
CAM TURNED AND started running down the hall toward the back door. His hand grasped the knob. Through his earpiece, Sedona’s next words made him freeze.
“Don’t open any door or window. They’re all rigged to explode.” A slight pause, then, “Mr. Simpson has a remote detonator that he will hand to one of his people before he takes me away.”
Cam’s hand gripped the knob tighter when her voice broke. He’d messed up this op from the beginning. He should have stepped down as mission leader. His only focus from the beginning had been Sedona, and now his entire team could die because of it, as well as the M Team.
He carefully released the knob and took a step back.
“Understood,” he said, voice flat. If he showed Sedona anything other than total confidence in her ability to handle this situation until he found her again, and he would find her, she would falter.
That might get her killed. “Ask Simpson what he wants. Whatever it is, I’ll get it for him as long as he doesn’t hurt you. ”
Silence greeted his statement, then an unknown male voice came over the comm system. “You have nothing to offer me, Cameron Sims. Besides, you’re not my target.”
His hand gripped the phone tighter, thinking about the young boy in the room down the hall. “Julio is just a kid. What danger could he possibly be to you?”
Simpson laughed. “You’re right, of course. Besides, I have some morals and a code I live by. One of those codes is that I don’t harm children.”
“Yet you’ve rigged every exit in this building to explode with a child trapped inside. How is that not harming a child?”
“Simple. To protect the child, you wait. When my business is finished, the remote detonator will be turned off.”
“Why should I believe you? How do I know that you’re telling the truth?”
“You don’t have a choice but to trust me, Officer Sims. I do not wish to harm the boy, and I haven’t to this point. I could have killed him hours ago, but I didn’t. That should be enough proof for you.”
“I also heard you don’t hurt innocents.”
“Correct.”
“Then leave Sedona here. If you need a high-value hostage, take me.”
Simpson chuckled again. “A very generous offer, indeed. However, you don’t serve my purpose, Officer Sims, nor are you as beautiful.
I prefer the finer, refined things in life.
That is not you. Now, I’ve just placed the remote detonator into the hand of my associate. Your lovely Sedona can confirm that.”
“He’s telling the truth, Cam. Please, you must let me go with him. Caleb needs help quickly, or he’ll die.”
“I understand. Forgive me for failing you.”
“You didn’t. I love you.”
“I love you, too. Do everything necessary to survive. Everything. We have a bright future together when this is over. I want you to focus on that, all right?”
“I will.”
“How touching and sappy,” Simpson drawled.
“I have to admit, you surprise me, Officer Sims. I didn’t think you were capable of that much powerful sentiment.
Now, before you waste the time of your friend, Rhys, I’m leaving Sedona’s phone with my associate, so don’t bother doing a trace.
The phones I use are untraceable. Use your time planning where you will take this lovely young lady when my mission is complete.
As long as you don’t interfere, she’ll be fine,” the assassin reiterated.
“If you don’t cooperate, Officer Sims, Sedona will make funeral arrangements instead of wedding plans.
Of course, she’ll need comforting after her devastating loss, and I’m excellent at offering comfort. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
His grip tightened further. The jerk. He planned to keep Sedona with him if Cam died. He wouldn’t let that happen. “Understood.”
“Good. Relax, and this will be over soon.”
Yeah, but could he trust the word of an assassin? That was the question. Who was he kidding? Of course he couldn’t trust the word of The Collector. Cam knew from his own research that Simpson hadn’t lied about not harming children. The assassin also didn’t leave witnesses behind.
His gut twisted into a knot. This could go bad in more ways than he cared to think about.
“Remember, Officer Sims, my associates will watch you. Step out of line even once, and you will never get to say goodbye to your girlfriend.” He ended the call without waiting for Cam’s reply.
David tapped his comm device. “Elliot.”
“On it. You take care of things in there. I’ll take care of them out here.”
“Watch your six.”
“Copy that.”
David turned. “Who’s The Thunderhawks’ EOD man?”
“That would be me, sir,” Dario said.
“Get us out of here, fast. Elliot will need a hand transporting Caleb to the vehicle.”
“Copy that, sir.”
David continued to dole out assignments to each member of their team until he turned to Cam. “Get out of your head, Sims.”
“With respect, sir, you wouldn’t be handling things much better if Emma was in the hands of The Collector.”
“He was pitiful when she was in WITSEC,” Levi said.
David slid a glance in his direction. “Thanks a lot, bro.”
“Just telling it like it was. You got the job done, but it took every ounce of discipline you had to focus on the job during your shifts. Once the shift ended, you went back to your brooding and surly self. If you had been a drinker, you would have drowned your liver in those days.”
Owen chuckled. “He’s got you there, David.”
“What, you too? I won’t forget this when it’s time to figure out the personnel for shifts. I foresee many night shifts for the Montgomery brothers.” David glanced at his tactical watch and tapped his earpiece. “Sedona, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
“We know who and what you are, Simpson. You’re a coward who is a bully, beating up on kids and women.” He waited for a heated response.
Silence.
“I think we’re clear. Elliot, how is he?”
“Bad. I called in reinforcements. We need the chopper.”
“How far out are they?” Owen asked.
“Five minutes.”
“Will he make it?” David asked.
“It’s going to be close, so quit playing in there and come help me. I need help to get Caleb to the SUV.”
“Copy that.”
Cam looked at Dario and gave a slight nod of permission. “Make it fast, D.”
“I’ll try. Too fast means dead.”
“Let’s not do that,” Owen said. “I didn’t bring a body bag.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Dario said wryly. He slung his Go bag over his shoulder and set off for the opposite end of the building.
A glance at Rhys had him scooping his laptop and bag from the floor and trailing behind his teammate.
“Lights off,” Cam instructed and set off to do a room by room check. Once all the lights were out, the guards left outside couldn’t see what was happening inside the building without night-vision goggles. At last check, none of the guards were wearing them.
Chalk one up for the good guys. At least something was going their way. With luck, none of the guards would grab a pair of NVGs and peek at the building where Julio was sleeping. Spencer had determined Julio’s sleep wasn’t natural. Sedona was right. Julio had been drugged.
Since the boy was breathing normally, had normal skin color, had a steady pulse, wasn’t showing signs of airway obstruction, and wasn’t choking, the medic had made the call to let the kid sleep as much as possible.
Longing and regret filled Cam. He literally felt as though someone had cut a hole in his heart. Cam needed to be with Sedona. He was missing the best part of himself without her.
When the last light was turned off, Cam settled in to watch the guards who watched them.
What was wrong with this picture? Oh, yeah.
Elite Special Forces soldiers were caught like rats in traps.
He shook his head, disgusted with himself.
Made him wonder just how ready he and his team were.
Once upon a time, they never would have fallen into a trap like this.
And that forced him to accept the fact that he had made too many decisions with blinders on. Maybe he should step down as team lead of The Thunderhawks.
That thought twisted the invisible knife in his heart. He loved Sedona with every breath in his body, but if there was anyone else he loved almost as much, it would be his teammates. Would they ever forgive him for endangering their lives?
“Knock it off, sir.”
Cam blinked and turned away from the window. “What are you talking about, and who’s watching the kid?”
Spencer stood a few feet away with his arms folded. “Blaming yourself for everything that’s gone wrong on this op.”
His laugh held an edge of bitterness. “Who else is there to blame, Spence? The decisions that led us to this place were mine. I didn’t feel good about bringing Sedona here. I should have found a safe place to leave her.”
“You couldn’t leave her at the police station. You don’t know if the traitor is working alone. You made the call to leave her hidden in the woods. She should have been safe and would have been safe, except she refused to stand by and let a friend die. So, what else could you have done?”
Cam glared at his teammate. “I can’t think of anything, but that could only mean I was too focused on my woman to come up with another solution.”
“Or you couldn’t come up with anything new because there wasn’t anything else to try under the circumstances.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute. There’s always another way.”
The medic snorted. “Just because the drill sergeant swore that was true doesn’t mean he was right. How many things did old Sergeant Powell say that we determined were outright lies meant to make us work harder during training?”
“More than I can count,” Cam admitted. Still, there ought to be something he could have done to keep Sedona out of the clutches of The Collector.
He gritted his teeth. Maybe Spencer was right. However, that didn’t bring Sedona back to him.