Chapter Nine
LINC
“Hey boss, is there any way I can get Darcy back? I think this guy’s even worse,” Clara says from my office door. She points a thumb over her shoulder toward Nick, the new kid I hired to take Darcy’s place.
“He said he had two years experience.”
She snorts, the small ring in her nose flaring. “As what? Never mind. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate. I’ll train him, but I want a raise.” Clara doesn’t wait for an answer, just sashays back behind the counter, gives Nick a big smile.
I make a note to give Clara a raise. The woman’s earned it. As I write, another shadow darkens my door. I look up to see Derek. He gives me a chin lift in greeting and strolls in, dropping into a seat on the opposite side of my desk.
“Mason with your family?” he asks.
I check my watch. “He and Darcy should be getting Gracie. Keane’s at my place with my ma until they get back.”
“Good.” He laces his tattooed fingers behind his head and props his boots up on my desk. “Got an update?”
“Yeah. Found the man you described at the grocery store yesterday through my contacts. Name’s Gutiérrez. He’s second in command of Los Cazadores.”
“Fuck. We gotta get more men out to help Mason. If they found my family at the fucking grocery store, they know a hell of a lot more about me than I want. We’ve got to shut them down now, before someone we love gets hurt.”
“Already on it. I’ve called in all the resources I know. Caleb and Everett are even coming in from Montana.”
“Good. I’ll lock down my family until they’re here.
No one is—” My cell phone rings. I see Mason’s name flash on the screen, and it cuts off my train of thought.
Every muscle in my body draws tight and the hair on the back of my neck rises.
Derek must feel it too because his boots drop to the floor, and he sits forward.
“Mason? You’ve got me and Derek.”
I hear him panting for air and a low moan. “Gone,” he says, the word almost unintelligible over the sirens and shouts in the background. “They’re gone.”
I shoot to my feet. “Say it again, Mason.”
I hear him shifting and a muffled curse. “No,” he snaps. “I don’t need an ambulance.” Then, “Fuck, Wolf. I—I’m sorry. They’re both gone.”
Static fills my brain, whiting out everything for a split second. Then my training kicks in. Thank fuck Derek is there; he’s already getting intel from Mason.
“Four plus a driver,” Mason replies. “White van. No tags. Tinted windows. I thought I saw a sedan following us, so I was on alert for it. I missed the van.” His last words are laced with shame.
“What happened?” My voice is broken; my movements aren’t. I remove two Glocks from the safe, plus extra magazines.
“The van drove up, jumped the curb, and four assailants hopped out. Two came for me, while the other two went for the girls. One hit Darcy. She went down hard and didn’t move.
They scooped both up and put them in the van.
I disabled the two that came at me, and ran after the girls, but the driver opened fire. ”
No. NO! Not my girls.
Blood pounds in my ears as my heart shatters. If either one of my girls are hurt… if these traffickers even think… I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all.
“You’re wounded,” Derek says to Mason.
“Tagged in the shoulder,” Mason grumbles. “They went west on Magazine Street. I should have been expecting it. I should have seen them. Fuck!” he roars into the phone.
“Mason, get some medical attention,” Derek commands. “We’re on our way.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to find them. You know that, right, Wolf? I’ll hunt these bastards down,” Mason says.
“It’s not your fault,” I mutter. It isn’t. He was out-manned from the start. It was stupid of me to only have one guard on them when I fucking knew the Cazadores had found my girls yesterday.
“Yes, it is. I’m… I’m so sorry.”
“Hold tight, Mason. We’ll see you in a few.” Derek disconnects the call and hands me my phone. He’s quiet for a moment. “They’ll ask for ransom. Maybe not money, but something.”
“That might buy us more time.” I don’t care what the fuck they ask for, I’m bringing them hell.
Derek nods. “Just be prepared. You good?”
I nod, so tight I can barely manage the movement.
Derek scans me, then nods. “Let’s grab some gear. You drive. After I alert the rest of the guys, we’ll gather intel as we go. We know they’re headed west. No reason to sit on our asses while they get further away.”
His no nonsense approach is what always made him a good leader.
That and his ability to screw our heads on straight for us when we were too lost in our own emotions.
I’m glad to have him at my back. But even if I didn’t, I’d bring my girls back solo and not one motherfucker who touched them would live.
An hour later, we’re at an abandoned gas station twenty miles outside of town.
Derek called in some favors and had someone track the van using traffic cameras to this intersection.
The van turned left toward the river and a gravel road running alongside it.
Satellite photos show only a handful of buildings there, and we’ve narrowed it down to the one closest to the small dock on the Mississippi.
We won’t know for sure until we’re close, but I know in my gut that’s where my girls are.
Mason is sitting on the stool in front of me, even quieter than normal.
He won’t meet my gaze. I wrap the gauze around his shoulder and tape it off.
“There. Should hold for a day or so.” The bullet went clean through his left shoulder and into the side of a school bus.
Fortunately, no one else was injured in the kidnapping.
The bear of a man grunts and walks away. He’s torturing himself with guilt. Nothing I say is going to change that. It’s not the first time someone’s been taken on his watch. The first time damaged him. This time, it might break him permanently. The next hours will be crucial. For all of us.
Gideon and Sol, two other members of Citadel joined us, while Keane stayed with my mother. Five of us against an unknown number of traffickers. The assholes won’t know what hit them.
My phone rings on the countertop beside me. Everyone falls quiet. I let it ring twice more, then answer it on speaker.
“We have your woman and your child,” a man with a thick Spanish accent says. “If you want them returned alive, you will bring all information your organization has on ours, the two men in police custody, and Derek Fletcher.”
Derek’s eyebrows shoot up, but he remains quiet.
“When and where?” I growl.
“Two hours. The church on Riverview.”
“It’ll take longer than that to get the men out of police custody. Four hours.” We have no intention of meeting their demands. The extra time gives us the cover of darkness.
The man is silent a moment. “Four hours,” he agrees and disconnects the call.
I glance at Gideon.
“It’s the warehouse,” he confirms. “We tracked him on the cell tower just north of it.”
“Good.” I look at Fletcher. “They know you, Derek. This is personal.”
He grunts, looking thoughtful. “The meeting is at 8 p.m.,” Derek says. “Since they’re close, they’ll move the women either before, maybe by half an hour, or right when the meeting starts to avoid us taking early advantage.”
“Then we go in at seven. It will be dark, they won’t see us coming,” I reply.
Derek smiles, and it’s lethal. “I wouldn’t want to keep an admirer waiting.”
The plan is simple, which is often most effective.
We’ll go in through multiple entries, confusing the enemy with flash-bangs, and drawing fire in several directions while I slip past and free my girls.
We’ve done similar extractions dozens of times.
Every movement is practiced and calculated, and every contingent accounted for. The one thing we can’t control is time.
I pack up the first aid kit and try not to look at my watch.
My thoughts automatically turn to Darcy and Gracie.
My daughter will be scared to death. I’ve seen Darcy under pressure twice now.
She’ll be scared, but I think she’ll keep it together enough to comfort Grace.
My woman is smart. She’ll know I’m coming for her, and I have to believe that if she can find a way to protect herself and Grace until we get there, she will.
The thought of losing either of them shreds my heart.
I love Gracie as if she were my own. Being a father has made me grow as a man.
I didn’t realize it until she was mine, but I was meant to be a dad.
I thought that was enough. I put Gracie ahead of everyone, even myself.
Somehow, I forgot that we both needed more. We needed Darcy.
She makes us both whole. I didn’t see it until I held her in my arms last night. It felt right to have her there, at my side and in my bed. I love her. Now that I found her, no way I’ll lose her or Gracie to the lowest form of humanity. Their mine.
Hold on, girls. I’m coming.