Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
“You know you can pull out at any time. Change your mind, and no one is going to think any less of you,” Thunder told Maya, trying to keep the thread of desperation out of his voice and failing miserably.
“ I would think less of myself,” she countered.
“I'm not pretending that I'm not scared, Thunder, because I am absolutely terrified. The thought of seeing that man again, of knowing what he’ll do to me if he gets a chance, makes me so scared that I want to run back into that little world I created for myself inside my mind and stay there. But I still want to do this.”
“Not going to let anything happen to you, babydoll,” he soothed, his need to reassure her stronger than his own fear.
There wasn't a single part of him that wanted to do this, but Maya was determined to assert control over her life again. His team thought it was a viable option to get their hands on Dr. Gardner, and he felt backed into a corner.
All everyone else could see was possibilities.
All he could see was how badly things had gone wrong every time they interacted with the crazed scientist. Rose had been snatched by her brother before they got to her and almost killed in a car crash.
The lab had blown up with all of them, and Rose and Cassandra inside.
Whitney was taken by her old handler before they could get to her.
Indigo was used as bait and almost killed right when they had Dr. Gardner almost in their clutches.
Why should he believe this time was going to be any different?
Yet as he pulled his girl into his arms, tucked her close against his chest, and cocooned her in an embrace, Thunder knew he had to make sure this time was different.
If he didn't, he could lose Maya forever.
Not just to Dr. Gardner but to her own terror.
That little world she had created still had a strong hold on her, and he was guessing that it tugged at her more often than she admitted.
So far, she was battling against that urge to retreat and hide inside her head, but if something went wrong, she could so easily slip away from him, too far away for him to be able to reach.
“I know, I trust you, and I believe in you,” she said as she snuggled closer, and his chest felt like it puffed out with pride.
Trust and belief weren't easy gifts for Maya to offer. Not when the entire foundation for her world had been so viciously and cruelly ripped out from underneath her at an age where she was supposed to be navigating the transition from childhood to adulthood.
That she could give them to him meant more than she would ever understand. Which was why he was so afraid. If he failed, then he would let Maya down. That was the last thing in the world he wanted to ever do.
If only there was something he could do to nudge the odds in their favor. All of what they had planned was just one big, long line of guesswork, and he hated that they didn't have more absolutes to build this plan on.
It felt so flimsy, so easily breakable.
Offering up the address of the mansion was off the table, there was no way they could risk that intel being leaked on the dark web, which is what would likely happen since they knew Dr. Gardner was a regular on there looking for mercenaries to do his dirty work for him.
So they had to find a place where they could pretend they’d been holed up in for years, at incredibly short notice, and then hope that Dr. Gardner would take that bait without realizing it was a setup. The last thing they needed was the crazy scientist to come blasting his way in with a small army.
When they’d set their first trap using Rose as bait, they’d chosen an area a couple of states away from where they lived, and Rose pretended that she’d escaped from them. Her brother knew it had been a trap, but they were hoping he might still believe they were in that general vicinity.
Then they’d put out a few feelers on the dark web themselves.
Pretending they were looking for help finding the man who had put out the bounties on Rose, Cassandra, Whitney, and Indigo’s heads, on his head, and the heads of his teammates.
At least there was no bounty out for Maya.
It seemed that Dr. Gardner had pretty much reached the end of his resources, and he was no longer able to buy himself an army.
At least they hoped so.
But again, everything was up in the air. This plan was more a whole lot of hopeful prayers than anything concrete.
According to the little information Maya had, they knew Dr. Gardner was running out of cash and had been at risk of losing his island.
The dead man in the scientist’s bed was a doctor who had been treating him for the gunshot wound Voodoo had inflicted on a boat when they rescued Indigo.
Apparently, his health had been shaky those last few weeks, to the point where it impacted how he was able to interact with her, playing with her less, and causing her less pain.
While the lack of resources and bad health in theory made Dr. Gardner an easier target, one thing Thunder knew for certain was that someone backed into a corner, who felt like they had nothing left to lose, could be the most dangerous.
Over the past several months, bit by bit, they had begun to dismantle everything Dr. Gardner had been working on for most of his life.
They gained his sister’s loyalty, took his drug’s creator, killed his head of security, rescued his only other surviving experiment, shut down his labs, and killed most of his guards and the mercenaries he’d bought, effectively cutting off most of his finances.
Now they’d also taken his home and his slave.
What else did he have left?
Nothing, and Thunder couldn’t help but feel as though that meant the doctor was going to come at them, guns blazing. Even if he didn't have many physical guns.
This house, about a hundred miles away from where they’d tried to lure Dr. Gardner into a trap with Rose as bait, was one that he and his team might have chosen for themselves if they hadn't approached Eagle Oswald and joined Prey.
It was remote, located on the top of a mountain, difficult to get to, but with the ability to land a helo.
After Prey had found it for them, he and his team had flown there and quickly outfitted the place with a security system.
Not much, since with their combined skills they didn't really need it, but it was the kind of thing the doctor would expect to find if he found the trail they'd left for him on the dark web and made his way there.
It seemed too much to hope for, and as desperate as he was to get rid of the millstone that seemed to hang around his neck and the necks of his teammates and their partners, Thunder also couldn’t help but hope this failed.
There had to be another way, a way that didn't include putting Maya in danger.
And she was in more danger than ever.
They’d dangled her out there on the dark web, putting out feelers to find the man who had bought her.
When that got back to Dr. Gardner, and he was sure at some point it would, there was no way the man would be able to resist coming to try to get his favorite toy back.
The combination of getting Maya back and getting his hands on Delta Team would be too much for the egomaniac of a scientist to resist.
Much as he wished it wasn't true, it was only a matter of time.
Time that flicked by quicker than he would have liked.
Five days since they came up with this plan, threw it together in a rush that he couldn’t help but feel left more room for error than he was comfortable with, and that was all the time he had.
An alarm triggered. Someone who wasn't supposed to be there had just stepped foot on the property. It was just him and Maya there, the others were out somewhere in the vast forest surrounding the house, watching, waiting, ready to make their move when the time was perfect.
But if Dr. Gardner wasn't physically present, there was no other choice.
He and Maya would have to let themselves be kidnapped and allow his team to follow the tracking devices they were wearing.
“Last chance to back out, babydoll,” he said, pulling back enough to look down at Maya’s face.
“They’re here?”
“Alarm was triggered. But I can still grab you and get you out of here before they can get to us.” No one there would be any match for his enhanced speed, especially with the dense forest that would make driving a vehicle next to impossible.
“I'm not backing down, Thunder,” she said, determination etched into every one of her features, making him simultaneously terrified because she wasn't backing down, and so proud of her for taking back her control.
“Then we’re really doing this.”
March 10 th
7:12 P.M.
They really were doing this.
It was surreal, and yet as terrified as Maya was, she wasn't going to back down from this, just like she’d told Thunder.
This felt vital to rebuilding her life. She needed to know that she wasn't just an object anymore.
She was a living, breathing human being who got to make her own decisions about her life and what happened to her.
She was fully informed of the risks—they’d gone over them a thousand times along with every possible scenario Thunder could think of—and she had made the choice that this was worth it.
“Go upstairs,” Thunder ordered her.
The plan was for her to go upstairs to one of the bedrooms, lie in the bed, and pretend that she was as trapped inside her head as she’d been when Thunder first found her. That was her role, to lull Dr. Gardner into a false sense of security if he was there.
If he wasn't there, then she had to allow herself to be abducted.
There were no words to describe how much that idea terrified her, but regardless of her fear, she was committed to this.
After all, she wasn't going to be alone.
Thunder was with her, and they were both wearing trackers so that the rest of Delta Team could follow their every move.