Grace sat stiffly in her captor’s lap all the way through the city, scared as much by the knife at her throat as by the DC traffic and her lack of a seat belt. Darkened windows kept anyone from seeing her inside during snarled traffic. There was no way she could signal someone for help.
She braced a hand on the dash and prayed they didn’t hit anyone in front of them or were hit from behind, thus throwing her through the windshield.
Eventually, they broke out of DC proper and headed toward the warehouses and docks near Baltimore, MD.
All the while, Grace prayed Declan and his guys would catch up and do something to help her out of the situation.
At the very least, she hoped the police would stop them for having two people in the passenger seat, neither in a seat belt—if they could see in. What happened to stopping people for not wearing seat belts? Why did stuff like that never happen when you needed it to?
Neither Declan nor the police caught up to them. And if they had, Grace was sure the driver would have made a run for it, thus initiating a high-speed chase that would have ended badly for more than just the people in the car she was in. Others on the highways would have suffered. Her only saving grace was that they hadn’t found the cell phone she’d tucked into her jacket pocket.
She waited patiently for the car to stop and her captor to get tired of holding her and put down his knife.
When they’d come to a long line of container yards at a shipping port, her captor finally lowered his knife.
Grace inched her hand toward the door handle, waited until they slowed at a corner and then yanked, shoved the door open with her foot and tried to dive out.
The arm around her middle caught her before she could clear the door, and dragged her back inside the vehicle.
After bringing the car to a screeching halt, the driver grabbed her hair and pulled hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. He held her by her hair until her abductor could close the door again.
The man holding her around her waist shifted her around, settling her back in his lap. In the process, he must have felt the phone in her pocket. He swore and dug it out. He rolled the window down, cocked his arm and almost threw it out. But he must have thought better of it, pulled the back off and removed the battery instead. He dropped it into his pocket and retrieved his knife, pressing it to her throat again.
The driver released her hair, returning his hands to the steering wheel.
Grace’s heart sank to her knees. She’d hoped Declan could track her phone, but with the battery removed, he wouldn’t be able to.
Resuming his course, the driver continued past several yards before he pulled into one. He weaved his way through to a small office nestled in the middle of rows and rows of stacked containers in all colors and markings.
Once the vehicle stopped, several men in dark clothes stepped out of the little office building, carrying semiautomatic weapons or handguns.
One of them approached the passenger door and opened it.
Her captor shoved her off his lap and into the arms of the man who’d opened the door.
Grace ducked her head and plowed into the man’s belly, hitting him as hard as she could.
He grunted and doubled over.
Grace used that opportunity to slip past him.
She didn’t get far before he snatched her wrist and yanked her backward. He spun her around, twisted her arm up behind her back and applied enough pressure that Grace was forced to stand on her toes to keep the pain at bay.
The man who’d kidnapped her got out of the vehicle and stretched.
Grace still held the envelope she’d retrieved from the bank. She tried to slip it beneath her shirt, but her captor caught her wrist before she could and ripped it from her fingers.
“The boss has been waiting for this.” He turned and walked toward the office building.
“What do you want me to do with her?” the man holding her arm up between her shoulder blades asked.
“Throw her in one of the containers or kill her,” her captor said. “I don’t care.”
Grace’s heart leaped into her throat and her pulse hammered against her eardrums. She couldn’t let them kill her. She had too much to live for. Riley would be beside herself, and Declan...
Grace wanted to get to know the marine better. She knew in her bones the man was special and that he would be worth the effort to live, if only to see him once again. He’d given her hope that not all men were like her ex-husband.
Her original captor paused in front of the structure. “No, wait. Don’t kill her. We might need her again. But go ahead and lock her in one of the containers.”
The man holding her grunted his acknowledgment and shoved her toward a row of the long, rectangular boxes.
He opened one with his free hand and swung the door just wide enough for a person to fit through. Then he ratcheted her arm up a little higher in the middle of her back.
Grace couldn’t get any higher on her toes to relieve the pressure. Tears burned the backs of her eyelids. She bit down hard on her tongue to keep from crying out or showing any fear.
The man shoved her hard from behind, sending her flying into the container.
She fell, landing on her hands and knees. Before she could scramble to her feet, the door slammed shut behind her, leaving her in the dark, dank, steel space.
She felt her way along the sides to the door and ran her hand all along the interior, searching for a lever or latch that would allow her to open her cell. She couldn’t find one.
Knowing the containers sometimes had doors on both ends, she felt her way along the side to the other end and again searched for a handle, lever or latch.
Hope leached from her system when she realized she was trapped inside the metal box, with no way to get herself out. She leaned against a wall and slid down until she sat. She couldn’t lose her confidence now. Declan would find her. She had to believe that. He’d promised she’d be all right. All she had to do was wait and reflect on all that had happened in the past forty-eight hours.
She’d gone from worrying about finding a full-time job to worrying about living to see another day.
If she lived, she hoped and prayed her roommate was alive and well and found a way out of the danger she was in. On a more selfish note, Grace hoped she’d get to spend more time with the hunky marine. He was a man worth getting to know. A man a girl could count on when times were tough. A man of integrity and honor.
What couldn’t have been fifteen minutes later, the metal-on-metal sound of the latch being moved on the door made Grace lurch to her feet. The door to the container swung open.
Her captor stood outside with a gun pointed at her chest. “Come with me.”
Unless she wanted to risk having a massive hole blown through her, Grace had no other choice. She marched at gunpoint into the little office a few yards away, grateful to be out of the metal box.
Inside the office, several men gathered around a computer monitor. One sat in a dilapidated office chair, his fingers flying feverishly over the computer keyboard. He cursed and slammed his hand on the metal desk. “She’s got it encrypted and password protected. It could take me days to hack in.”
“We don’t have days. We have to know that we can access the data. The boss is already angry he doesn’t have the correct information. He will not be pleased if we leave here without what we promised. We might not live long enough to hack in.” The man who was speaking turned to Grace.
She studied his face with all the intention of picking him out of a lineup, if the need arose.
He had short, dark hair and brown-black eyes. Thick eyebrows practically grew together over the bridge of his nose. He wore black trousers and a black jacket. His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “You will enter the password for this memory card.”
Grace shook her head. “I don’t know it.”
He pressed a handgun to her temple. “Enter the password or die.”
Grace had been through a lot that day. Having another weapon pointed at her should have made her shake in fear, but somehow she was beginning to get used to it, or she was numbing to the danger. She shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to shoot me. The only person who knows how to get into that memory card isn’t in this room.” She lifted her chin and focused on not flinching if the man pulled the trigger. If she was going to die, she’d die fearless. On the outside, if not inside.
She waited, fully expecting the gun to go off and her life to end.
When it didn’t, she flashed a glance at the man. He lowered his handgun and turned to the man who’d disguised himself as the bank manager. “You said she had a cell phone. Give it to me.” He held out his hand.
Grace’s original captor dug the phone from his pocket and handed it to the dark-haired, dark-eyed man, who quickly reassembled the battery and replaced the back. When the phone had booted, he handed it to Grace. “Call Miss Riley Lansing.”
Grace shook her head. “You won’t get the code to get in. I know my roommate. She would never betray her country by selling secrets.”
The man snorted. “Let’s test that theory. Call her.”
“No,” Grace said.
Red flooded the man’s ruddy cheeks and his eyes narrowed even more to a squint. He grabbed Grace’s hand and bent her thumb back so hard, she was convinced it would break. The pain had her twisting and writhing.
“Are you going to call your roommate? Or am I going to break each of your fingers, one at a time?”
Grace gasped. “I’ll do it.” Feeling as if she was failing her friend, she placed the call, praying Declan and his buddies had some way of finding her soon. She didn’t want to put her friend in danger, but calling her might buy Grace time for the men to get to her first.
She pressed the last number with which she’d had contact with her roommate.
I’m sorry, Riley.
* * *
AS THEY NEARED the location where the cell phone had stopped moving, Riley’s burner phone rang.
Declan nearly drove off the road in an attempt to reach for it. He righted the vehicle and focused on staying between the ditches.
Riley punched the button and held the phone to her ear, her gaze on Declan’s. She listened for a moment and nodded. “Don’t hurt my friend. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt her.”
Declan’s chest tightened. He wanted to reach through Riley’s phone and choke the person on the other end of the conversation. If anything happened to Grace, he’d personally hunt down anyone who harmed her, and kill them with his bare hands.
Riley’s frown deepened. “If you hurt her in any way, you can forget about getting into that data. I’m the only one who knows the password for that file. Look, I’ll make a deal with you. You trade her, unharmed, for me. When I see she’s well away and safe, I’ll give you the password and you can have it all. Just tell me where to meet you.” She paused. “I’ll arrive unarmed and alone.” She paused again and then continued, “How do I know you’ll release my friend? I’m not just going to walk into a trap and give you all the cards to hold.”
It was making Declan crazy to hear only one side of the conversation. Sitting back and listening wasn’t the action he needed to unleash his pent-up energy.
When Riley ended the call, she stared down at the handheld device. “At least they’re willing to make a trade.” She sighed. “I knew I shouldn’t have agreed to work with the FBI. None of this would be happening. I’d be blissfully ignorant that I was aiding the sale of secrets to foreign spies. And Grace wouldn’t be held hostage by ruthless thugs.”
“You did what you thought was right,” Declan said softly. Doing the right thing didn’t always work out well in the end. Much like what had happened to himself and his team. The corners of his lips twitched. “No good deed goes unpunished. We will get Grace out of this alive, if it’s the last thing I do.”
“We might get that opportunity to rescue her. Only I have to go in alone.” Riley’s lips thinned and she stared at the road ahead. “Though I have to go in alone, it doesn’t mean you and your men have to wait for Grace to come out. You can be infiltrating the area all around our rendezvous site. You just can’t let them see you.” She turned to face him. “We need to nail these bastards. Not only are they threatening my best friend, they’re stealing secrets from our country.”
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as he pictured Grace being led off by the man with the knife to her throat. She had to still be alive. He wanted so much more time with the woman, having only scratched the surface of her personality and desires. “Grace was willing to do anything to find you. She’s amazingly loyal and determined.”
Riley’s brow dented in the middle as she studied him. “You like her, don’t you?”
Heat rose in his cheeks. “She’s an amazing woman,” he said, refusing to look toward his passenger lest she see how deeply his feelings were entangled in the pretty blonde’s life.
Riley’s brows rose. “Oh my God, you two had sex?”
His foot jerked off the accelerator for a moment. “Who said we had sex?” Making love to Grace after such a short amount of time together sounded insane. But they had. And it had been incredible, soul-lifting, life-affirming and Declan wanted to do it again. But he didn’t want the world to know. Not yet. He didn’t want anything or anyone intruding on his campaign to win over the sexy divorcee.
Riley frowned. “You didn’t take advantage of her, did you?”
“No. I would never take advantage of Grace. She deserves nothing but happiness.”
“I agree. But what are your intentions toward her?” Riley insisted.
“I have to state them now, even though we only met a little over a day ago?”
“Hell, yeah. Grace is my best friend. We look out for each other.”
“Even though you keep secrets from her?” Declan asked.
“You know the government rules,” Riley said. “Top secret means you don’t even tell the ones you love. I love Grace like the sister I never had. She is my sister in my heart. She deserves to live and be happy.”
Declan didn’t know what the secrets were that Riley couldn’t reveal, but he knew enough about Grace to know she could be the one for him. He needed more time with her. Maybe the remainder of his life. In the few hours he’d known her, he’d come to care for the woman. He’d wade through a field full of enemy snipers to free her from the bad guys.
“I agree. Grace deserves to be happy and live a long life.”
“I’m glad you feel that way.” Riley gave him a lopsided smile. “Her ex-husband didn’t give a damn if Grace was happy as long as she made his life more comfortable and entertained his guests exactly the way he liked.”
Declan’s jaw hardened. “Sounds like a winner.”
“He’s a real jerk, and he did a number on my friend. I’m glad Grace got away from him. She’s come a long way in regaining her confidence.” Riley poked a finger at Declan. “Don’t screw it up.”
Raising his right hand, Declan nodded solemnly. “I’ll do my best to make it right for Grace.”
“Good. Because if you don’t, you’ll have to contend with me.”
He nodded. “Understood.” Hauling in a deep breath, he let it out slowly and then clapped his hands. “Let’s go get Grace,” Declan said. “But first we need a plan.” He motioned for his team to pull into an empty parking lot. They all exited their vehicles and gathered around their team leader.
Declan briefed them on how they would let Riley drive into the meeting alone, but not until the team had infiltrated the location and were ready to take action.
“We have only a few minutes’ lead on Riley’s expected arrival. We have to make good use of that time.” Declan went to the rear of one of the Escalades and opened the back. Inside was a large plastic box containing military-grade rifles with high-powered scopes.
“It’s a shame Charlie’s husband is dead.” Mack lifted one of the rifles out of the box and held it in his hands. “I think I would have liked him.”
“He had good taste in weaponry.” Gus selected an AR-15 rifle with a scope and grabbed a magazine full of rounds. He slammed the magazine into the weapon and slipped the strap over his shoulder.
Cole did the same and selected a nine-millimeter handgun, as well.
While his men armed themselves, Declan looked up the meeting location on a map application on his smartphone. They were less than a mile away. After each of Declan’s team members secured a weapon and loaded it with ammunition, they synchronized their watches and took off on foot to the site. Riley would wait for fifteen minutes and then take Grace’s SUV to the rendezvous location.
By the time she arrived, Declan would have his men in place.
As they reached the edge of the container yard, clouds moved in, darkening the sky and signaling a storm. Declan had the men fan out and move in, keeping a close watch out for Tangos in sniper positions atop the containers. They moved from shadow to shadow on silent feet, their urban-operations training coming back to them.
Though they didn’t have the high-tech communication devices they were used to as Force Recon marines, they had their cell phones and Bluetooth earbuds to keep in touch while moving through the container yard. Before they’d entered the yard, Declan set up a conference call with all of his team, Riley included. They left the call up as they moved in.
When he and Charlie had time, he’d make sure his team had the best communications equipment and weapons. If they were going to take on tasks like the one that had presented itself in Grace and Riley, he would make sure they had the tools to be successful no matter what the assignment.
“I’m headed your way,” Riley said into his earbud at the fifteen-minute mark. “ETA three minutes.”
“We’ll be ready,” he said softly.
Mustang had point, moving through the containers ahead of the rest of the team. “I see a small office building in the middle of these building blocks,” he reported.
“Any Tangos?” Declan asked.
“None so far.” Mustang paused. “No, wait. I see one on top of a container near the office structure.”
“Don’t take him out until the rest of us get in place. We can’t spook them until the exchange of hostages is underway.”
“Roger,” Mustang said. “I’ll be ready. In the meantime, you can move forward. The other guards are on foot on the ground, near the office. I count five.” He gave their locations. “Going silent. Getting too close for chatter.”
Declan and the other four members of his team slipped between containers, hugging the shadows.
Gus, Cole and Snow circled around to where Mustang had indicated three of the guards were standing at the corners of the metal shipping containers.
“Bear in mind, if bullets start flying, it’s possible some will ricochet off the metal,” Mack warned.
Declan heard the words, but his attention was now on the office building he was almost certain held the woman he’d come to save.
No sooner did he have it in sight than Grace’s SUV appeared from around a corner of containers stacked three-deep.
“Everyone in place?” Declan asked.
One by one his men checked in, careful to be quiet and not walk on each other’s transmissions.
When all had reported in, Declan slipped through the increasing darkness of the murky sky, edging toward the office.
Riley pulled in, stopping short fifty yards away from the building. She sat in the SUV for a long time without opening the door.
Declan could imagine the woman working up the nerve to get out and expose herself to being shot at or nabbed before they let Grace go free.
The office door opened and four men surrounded a tall man with black hair and dark eyes. He held Grace in front of him with a handgun pressed to her temple.
His rifle tucked into his shoulder, Declan stared through the scope at the men surrounding Grace. He didn’t have a clear shot yet. They were standing too close to her.
He turned his scope to Grace and his heart skipped several beats.
She walked with her shoulders back and her chin held high. The woman was not going to show those men fear.
Declan’s chest swelled with pride at the same time as fear squeezed his gut. Anything could go sideways. Grace was in grave danger.
“Should I get out now?” Riley asked, pulling Declan back to the task at hand.
“No,” he said. “Stay until they get far enough away from the building that they can’t run back in.”
“Did you forget?” Snow mentioned. “I have a grenade launcher. All I need is a clear shot.”
“Hold on to that thought,” Declan said. “Hopefully we won’t need to destroy the office and everyone in it.”
“But if we do, I’m your man,” Snow said. “I have the most recent experience with this weapon.”
Declan chuckled. “Okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Just a reminder, our goal here isn’t to blow up buildings. We’re here to rescue two women. We are not in the Middle East, and explaining a grenade launcher to local authorities could get sticky.”
“Roger,” Snow responded. “Although I do miss blowing up stuff. Do you think we’ll ever get the chance to level any buildings ever again?”
“Not anytime soon,” Declan said.
Snow sighed. “Then I’ll just have to make do with my rifle.”
“Are you with us, Mustang?” Declan asked into his mic.
“Raring to go,” Mustang responded. “What’s the first order of business?”
“Be ready to take out the sniper up top,” Declan answered. “Make it as quiet as you can.”
“I have him in my scope,” Mustang whispered.
“Okay, Riley,” Declan said. “You can open your door and lean out. Tell them to let Grace go and you’ll come to them.”
Riley did as Declan said. She opened her door and leaned out. “Let Grace go, and I’ll come willingly.”
“Get out of the SUV now, or we will shoot your friend.”
“If you shoot my friend, I’ll run you over with my car. And don’t think shooting me will help you. You still need me to open that memory card. So let her go.” Riley spoke with iron-hard firmness.
“I think I’m in love,” Mack said.
Declan ignored his assistant team leader’s comment, his focus on the men standing near Grace. One of them led her forward and slightly in front of him, a handgun pressed to her temple, her arm twisted up behind her back. He stopped in front of the SUV where Riley sat. “Get out of the car,” he said. “You won’t run me over as long as I have your friend. And if you don’t get out, I’ll shoot her.”
“What do I do?” Riley asked quietly.
“Again, tell them to let her go.” Declan couldn’t quite get the shot on the man holding Grace close to his chest. “Whatever you do, don’t get out of the vehicle.”
The man holding Grace moved the gun away from her head and fired a round into the ground. “Get out, now! Or she dies.”
Declan jumped. Grace’s captor appeared to be losing his patience. If he’d just move an inch more to his left...
Declan controlled his breathing though his heart raced. He didn’t dare open fire until he had a very clear shot. One that didn’t involve shooting Grace in the process.