Chapter 13
Celine was literally falling apart right before his eyes and he didn’t have a damn clue what to say or do to stop it. She’d gone completely white when she looked under the sheet. Was he supposed to hold her? Or would having a man touch her make it worse? Did he need to call the Sister back in here?
She shuddered and silent tears flowed from her closed eyes. Fuck, she might as well have stuck a blade in his chest and left it there to rust. He’d never been so helpless. What was going through her mind? If only he could ask her without invoking more nightmares.
She moaned and bent forward, the first sob breaking free and suddenly he knew what he had to do. His arms went around her, as natural as if they’d been molded for her, and he held her against his chest. Bleeding and sobbing with only a stained sheet between them, he held her.
He’d never let her go.
Her knees gave out, Aaron scooped her fluidly, sensing when she no longer had the strength to stand on her own. He didn’t care about anything or anyone else right now except the woman in his arms.
Celine finally let herself cry and her sobs filled the room, each one ripping a little piece from his heart.
He’d handle whatever she’d been through and he’d be here for her; hold her up so she wouldn’t fall to her demons. He had no clue about recovering from rape or captivity, but he’d do his damn best to be there for her and right now he did what his instincts were screaming at him to do. He held her.
Sister Mary Catherine eased open the door, saw them together and slowly closed it.
Celine clutched his shirt, holding onto him like a lifeline. He embraced the fierce surge of protectiveness and eased onto the bed, settling her in his lap. Eventually, her sobs turned to sniffles and then to even softer pants as she strove for control.
He remained silent, letting her figure her own way through. When she was ready, he’d be there.
At least for now. The need for vengeance took a back seat to Celine’s anguish. He would avenge her. He had to.
But that couldn’t begin until Celine started her recovery.
As gently as he could manage, he eased her from him and brushed back the hair that had stuck to her wet cheeks. He pulled the sheet tighter around her chest, making sure she was fully covered. Her arm had quit bleeding and now curled up around his neck, stained with dry red blood. “Talk to me.”
He knew he couldn’t fix her problems for her, but he could listen, even if he was terrified of what she would say.
She'd been held in captivity for weeks, there was no telling what type of nightmare she'd lived through. Sister Mary Catherine had seen no recent trauma with her exam, but that didn't mean she hadn't suffered in the beginning.
“I don't know what to say.”
He threaded his fingers through her left hand and eased her head down to rest on his shoulder. “You can say anything you want.”
Her breath caught again as she fought for control, twisting his heart into all kinds of knots he didn't know if he could ever untangle.
His job demanded he go to the worst places in the world to deal with the scum that infested humanity.
He'd seen women beaten worse than Celine, got up close and personal with all kinds of scary shit, but he'd never had it hit so close to home.
God help him if she had been violated – he honestly wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep his shit under wraps.
Celine drew in a ragged breath and Aaron squeezed her to him, trying to make her feel how he was there for her.
“It's okay, sweetheart. You don't have to talk about anything.
I'm just gonna sit here and hold you for a little bit and if you want to talk you go right ahead, but if you don't want to, that's okay, too.”
“I need to know.”
“Know what?” He asked gently.
“I need to know what happened,” she whispered, leaving him straining to hear her.
“You don't remember anything?” Aaron couldn't keep the incredulous tone out of his voice. Had they kept her drugged the whole time?
“No, I remember being taken from the wedding. I…”
When she paused for so long he wasn’t sure what she’d say, he prompted, “Why don’t you start from there?”
She sucked in a breath and shot upright, her wild gaze scaring the crap out of him. “Caroline! Where is she?”
Aaron’s heart squeezed. “I don’t know. We haven’t found her yet, but the rest of the team’s still looking.”
“I-I have to go find her. I can’t leave her.” Celine shoved weakly against his chest. Aaron locked his arms in a gentle but firm grip.
“Sweetheart, the entire Team is looking, along with the CIA and the DOJ. You have to rest and get better.”
She struggled another second and then collapsed, panting for breath. “What about Kate – Did you find Kate? We never saw her, not after we woke. Is she okay? Did they get her, too?”
“No. We were able to rescue Kate during the wedding. They’d drugged her, but left her behind when we caught up with them. Kate is safe and back home in the States, worrying about you.” And Caroline, but no need to bring her up again.
Celine collapsed against him once more. “Thank God.”
“We thought she might be…dead.”
Aaron captured her hand in his. “Not a chance of that.”
His guilt hit full-force and he leaned his head back to stare up at the cracked ceiling of the little hospital.
“Do you think Caroline’s okay?” She started plucking at his shirt and Aaron lowered his chin to rest on top of her head.
“I don’t know. I think so. She has value to the man who took you.”
“But he doesn’t have her any more. Mr. Mankel rescued us from him.”
“What do you mean? Who rescued you?” Maybe the drugs were still in her system. They’d only narrowly rescued Celine before she was sold into sexual slavery.
“Mr. Mankel. He said he’d been sent by Caroline’s father, Senator Cotter.
He took us from that…that god awful prison in the dessert.
” She shuddered and her nails dug into his chest with sharp little pricks of pain.
Aaron barely registered them. Something else was going on here, he felt like they were talking in circles.
“What man in the desert? And who is Mr. Mankel?”
Her nails dug deeper. “There was a nasty man, he was Arabic or something, he kept us locked up in a tiny cell without food or water for what seemed like forever. He – he –” she stuttered.
His whole body constricted with realization. “He’s the one who gave you the bruises?”
She nodded against his chest, her breath hitched on a fresh sob that ripped another chunk out of his soul. “What’s his name?”
He would hunt the bastard down and rip his fucking balls from his body and feed them to him. And then Aaron would kill him. Slowly. He’d learned all sorts of ways to make a man suffer before death.
“I don’t know. He didn’t speak English. He just kept us locked up most of the time.” Her voice trailed off at the end so that he had to bend down to catch her words.
Shit. He didn’t know if he could hear this now. Or ever. She needed a counselor. She needed a woman like his Noni to talk to. Not some ill-equipped soldier whose trained himself to dial his emotional capacity down to zero.
His fault.
“Tell me about the other guy.” He knew he was a coward for changing the direction of her conversation and he accepted that fact. He sure as hell couldn’t sit here calmly and listen to her tell him how some filthy hired assassin had used her body.
“Mr. Mankel. He showed up after a couple of weeks, at least I think it was a couple of weeks. We weren’t ever allowed out so I’m not sure exactly. But Mr. Mankel negotiated our release from the Arab and took us to his palace.”
“Can you describe Mr. Mankel?” No one else had been sent to rescue the girls other than TF-Scorpion and Delta Force that he was aware of.
“He was tall and had a big chest, like really big and tall. He always wore a suit, but it was like he shouldn’t wear a suit, you know? He had black hair with silver at the temples. He was some sort of an ambassador.”
Aaron stopped breathing. She’d just described Mr. J to the letter. He managed to croak out, “Go on.”
“He had a doctor check out me and Caroline. But as safe and comfortable as they tried to make me, I wasn’t allowed to see Caroline after we were brought to the palace.
Mr. Mankel said she was too sick and weak for company.
But he kept us safe. He asked me all about my home, my family, my education.
Gave me clothes and food and a beautiful room. ”
He’d pumped her for information to sell her to Dmitri. Dammit.
“Ow, Aaron you’re hurting me,” Celine said.
He took a breath and forced his arms to relax. “Did he tell you his full name?”
“Jack Mankel.”
Jesus Christ. He had to call Colonel Grey and tell him Mr. J’s alias. They could track him with that. “Do you know where he took you? What town? Any land marks?”
“No, I passed out on the ride to his palace. His place was surrounded by desert, but inside the walls was heaven. Green grass. Bright flowers and fountains. My room was so luxurious… he had all kinds of guards. And a daughter. She – she…”
“She what?”
Celine shook her head. “I don’t know. My memory is kind of a fog. I keep remembering her in that blue burka and for some reason I want to think she looked like Caroline, but I never saw her face.”
Her voice filled with worry and confusion and Aaron immediately sought to comfort her. “It’s okay. They gave you a pretty strong cocktail to knock you out. It would be weird if you did remember everything clearly.”
“Anyway, the last thing I remember is going to sleep the night before and waking up here.”
Aaron hugged her to him tight as he processed her words.
She’d basically just told him Mr. J had left them in captivity for two weeks with the man hired to kidnap them.
Then he’d sold Celine to a slaver and kept Caroline for whatever plan he’d concocted.
But now they had intel Mr. J had never planned on them finding.
“Do you think he’s already sent Caroline home?” Celine’s wobbly voice penetrated his thoughts.
“I don’t think so, honey.” No need to tell her exactly who Jack Mankel was or that he was responsible for her kidnapping and near rape.
Or an attempt to sell her into slavery. She still had to believe there was some good left in the world.
He wasn’t fully convinced that he’d be able to prove that to her, himself.
He’d let her down enough already to have lost any credibility.
Celine gripped his hand, her fingers convulsively clenching around his. Aaron gently rubbed his thumb back and forth across her palm.
Celine relaxed into his arms, her fingers opening wider as he traced larger and larger patterns over her palm.
The urge to care for her held command and he leaned down to press a kiss to her temple.
He would avenge her. He would kill the man who’d hurt her and then he’d wipe Jack Mankel and all his evil from the face of the earth.