Delta Salvation (Phantom Force, Book 1) (16 page)

On wobbly legs she stepped out of the room, the bright lights hurt her eyes. It took precious seconds to get her bearings, before she could make out what looked like another hunting cabin. Hope fluttered that she wasn’t too far away from Kai and the others, then she remembered he hadn’t answered her question about their health.

She wanted to ask again, yet feared what they’d do to her. She was such a loser. The man behind her gave a hard shove to her shoulder, making her stumble further into the room. Inside the small half bath there was a tiny window where she could see more trees, similar to what was outside Rowan Shade’s place. Still she didn’t let it mean she was close.

“Two minutes and then I’m coming in to get ya,” the man snarled.

The last thing she wanted was him coming in while she was using the facility. Quickly she got up and flushed, washing her hands she stared at her reflection. She would have laughed if it wasn’t so remarkably stupid. She’d survived how many times when she should’ve been dead, only to now be in the hands of a foreigner who thought she was a pawn in some game. A tear fell down her cheek before she wiped it away. Alexa knew she would be killed as soon as the one named Pascal realized he had the wrong woman. She wasn’t this Alexia he thought she was. She was plain old boring Alexa.

She reached for the door at the same time as it opened. The gleam in the short, muscular man’s eyes let her know he’d wished she was still indisposed.

“Let’s go.” He waved his hand.

Alexa sucked in her breath, squeezing past him without touching.

“Basile, bring Alexia here.”

“Come.” Basile’s fingers dug into her arm.

Pascal sat at a small table. His head lifted as they approached. He really was attractive, if you discounted the evil.

He pointed at the computer in front of him. “See, I told you.” Pascal turned the screen toward her. “You see those two figures. Those, my dear, are your parents.” He sat back with a contented sigh.

“How do you know? I mean how do you know they’ll come for...me?” She stared at the grainy image. The couple looked like two well-dressed older people. Not some international spies, or whatever he thought they were.

Pascal laughed. “Because, Alexia. Your parents were sent footage to a place I knew they checked. Footage of you tied up and unconscious. They can’t deny their own flesh and blood. Just as they knew of your attack a few months back, and had set up your secure transfer. I of course set up your little diversion. None of us planned that little pit stop you made in between, which threw us all off, but it’s been rectified. Had you not had that little mishap in Chicago, all three of you would have stayed off the radar, possibly your entire life.” He shrugged his shoulders.

She stared at his arrogant face and wanted to claw his eyes out. The way he spoke of her past, like being beaten within an inch of her life, then stalked across a few states was nothing. Instead she stayed mute.

“Would you like a drink?” He kicked out a chair with his boot. “Sit.”

Alexa hesitated, unsure what his agenda was.

“The boss says sit, you sit.” Basile lifted her roughly, then dropped her like a sack of potatoes into the hard wooden chair, making her cry out with the pain.

“Basile doesn’t like it when people are not quick with the compliance.”

These men were not only well organized, they were crazy. Pascal snapped his fingers, making another man jump up and grab two bottles from the fridge.

“As you can see, they are sealed so you need not worry I’ve drugged you. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.” His words held no inflection. Like killing someone was an everyday occurrence, which she assumed it was.

“What do you plan to do with me once you have the couple you think are my parents?” She was proud her voice came our steady, uncapping the water to hide the fact her lips were trembling.

“Alexander and Katalinia Smirnov are your parents, and I plan to kill them, and then you of course.”

Alexa choked on the water. “I see.”

“Yes, it is best to be honest. I could have given you false hope, but that is not the way I operate. You will live only as long as you are needed. Then,” he flashed a grin that sent chills down her spine. “I will make sure it is quick and painless.”

“Why can’t you just let me go? I don’t know those people, and you can disappear with nobody the wiser.” Setting the bottle back on the table she leaned forward, hoping he would agree with her.

“You think I am a fool?” He stood abruptly.

Shaking her head, Alexa kept quiet.

“You were with SEALs, you little bitch. That means they could and would trace me. I bet you’re sitting there now thinking you could help them and memorizing every detail. The dead don’t tell tales. I haven’t survived this long by being stupid enough to leave loose ends, and you’d be one. Don’t mistake my kindness for ignorance.”

“I promise, I won’t tell a soul. If you let me go I’d swear I was blindfolded and unconscious the entire time,” she pleaded.

Pascal bent down, his nose brushed the side of her face. “And when you were fucking that SEAL again, would you lie to his face?” His hand gripped her by the throat and lifted her off her feet. “Didn’t know we’d seen that, huh? Technology is a beautiful thing, my dear.”

Alexa felt the blood drain from her face, the air being cut off as he held her suspended up by the throat. She wrapped both hands around his arm, scratching at his cloth covered forearm to no avail. Dots covered her vision.

“I will not kill you, yet.”

When he tossed her aside, her legs hit the chair, making her fall onto the floor. The corner of a table hit the side of her head near her eye. Alexa kept the yell of pain inside. She raised her hand to her face, feeling the wetness, she brought her hand in front of her. Blood. God, she was tired of all the blood and death.

Laying on the floor, not wanting to draw attention to herself she curled up into a ball and used her palm to put pressure on the wound. She was going to die soon. It didn’t matter if she bled out now, or later.

“Can we play with her before we kill her, Pascal?”

She heard a few minutes later from a new voice.

A whimper escaped her closed lips. She would die fighting before she allowed any of them to touch her. Looking around she spied what looked like a hunting knife beneath the sofa. Moving in small increments, she stretched until finally her fingers latched onto the weapon. Lying on her side, she waited to see if Pascal agreed to let the men have her. Alexa planned to kill the first man to try it, and then she’d kill herself.

****

“W
e’ve got a trace on a satellite that was zeroed in on my property. Motherfucker was hacked into our government. This looks like it goes all the way up.” Rowan punched in codes on one of his computers.

Kai didn’t give two shits how far it went, he wanted to get Alexa back. “Can you trace it back to where it came from? I didn’t see any helos going in or out, nor hear any, so I’m assuming they were on the ground.” His phone beeped.

Looking down he recognized Coyle’s number. “What the hell you doing calling me?”

“Sully and I are enroute back to you. What the
hell
were you thinking having us transported out? We were lying down on the job is all.” Coyle’s deep rumble sounded strained.

He shook his head. “You both need to stay where you are and make sure that shits out of your system. That is an order.”

“Too late, Cap. We are about ten minutes out.”

Kai raked his hand through his hair. “You are going to give me grey hair.”

Coyle snorted. “Love you too. See you in nine.”

Rowan turned in the chair. “He’s on his way back I presume.”

Nodding, he took a seat. “Find anything useful? I’m not kidding man, I can’t...” Kai looked away.

“This woman means more to you than just an assignment?” Rowan’s blue eyes assessed him.

Standing back up, Kai paced the room again. “I don’t know how she did it, but she got under my skin. It’s not gonna work. I mean as soon as this mission is over, I’ll be on another, then another, while she goes on with her life. She deserves better than I can give her.”

“Yeah, she does. I mean imagine her sitting at home and you off fighting for our country. Every woman deserves better than that, asshole.”

“I could die any day, man,” Kai snarled.

“So could I. So could she. Hell, she’s in the hands of a crazy dude right now. She’s been in the hands of some asshats how many times. Does that mean she’s not worthy of love because she might have died, how many times now? Get your head out of your ass, Kai.” Rowan spun back toward his monitors.

Rowan’s words sunk in, but Kai couldn’t let himself believe them. His life was not meant for the picket fence and bullshit like that. An incoming text kept him from responding. JoJo had been keeping him up-to-date on Blake. Luckily, the other man was already bitching to get out.

“Is that the team that had the traitor in it?” Rowan asked without turning.

Kai wasn’t sure if the other man had eyes in the back of his head or what, but decided to answer him. “Yeah. He’s going to be fine.”

“Figured as much. How about the other ones. Any leads on them?”

“Tay was working on it. I’m sure you can see what he found.” Kai tilted his head toward the computers.

Rowan sighed. “You’re lucky I like Tay.”

Yeah, both Rowan and Tay were geniuses when it came to electronics.

“Ah hah. Bingo. He made contact with a Hailey. I think we need to send a team to check on the girl. From the looks of it, she might be in trouble.”

He didn’t need another damsel in distress, but the woman was a SEAL. If Tay thought she was truly in trouble, he’d have said something. “What makes you think that?”

“Tay started digging and from what I can tell, she’s in way over her head, and trying to get out. A man named Dex is the one who shot at you she says here,” he pointed at the screen. “She and her partner Mad are tracking him, but again, she isn’t sure if she can trust this Mad because he’s best friends with Dex.”

Fuck, what a god damn fucknut. “I only trust you and my team right now, Ro. If I call this in, I’m worried it’ll go to someone who could alert whoever has Alexa. That same person could clearly be the one who hired Dex. This is huge, brother.”

“Let’s not forget about our friend Tyler. He’s still out there as well.”

Anger burned in his gut, but he didn’t think the two cases were connected. However, he had to assume the worst at all times. “I don’t think Alexa’s latest kidnapping has anything to do with Tyler, but I do believe his escape from a federal prison was orchestrated by someone high up. We’ve got two separate entities who just happened upon us at the same time. Hoorah motherfucker.”

“I’ll send a couple of the Iron Wolves over to scout out the area. Believe me, they know how to be discreet.”

Kai thought of the tattooed bikers, and the word discreet didn’t come to mind. However, he did trust Rowan’s opinion, and knew if he was willing to send a group of the guys out on a mission, then they were good enough for Kai as well.

“Thanks,” Kai said.

Rowan’s head lifted and then an image of a vehicle pulling into the front of the cabin came into view. “Your boys are back,” Rowan said unnecessarily.

The pair getting out of the truck looked beyond pissed. Coyle and Sully climbed the steps, and waited. Kai shook his head before heading to the front door.

“You realize you’re both stubborn sons of bitches, right?” He didn’t wait for an answer, pulling first Coyle in for a back slap and hug, then doing the same to Sully. Although he was giving them grief, he was relieved they were relatively unharmed, unlike Tay and Oz who were still being treated for the injuries.

“Love you too, Cap,” Sully said.

Coyle grunted as he brushed passed Kai, heading for the room Rowan was in.

“Tay and Oz are both in recovery and madder than a hornets nest that was dropped and then kicked,” Sully muttered, following in Coyle’s wake.

He looked at his phone and wondered why he hadn’t been apprised of his teams’ prognosis. “How did you find out about them?” Kai shut the door, resetting the alarm.

“Commander Lee set a guard at each of their rooms. Said he didn’t trust anyone but ones he selected personally.” Coyle looked up, his eyes alert.

Kai punched in the Commander’s number, walking out of the room in case he became insubordinate.

“Lee here. Find anything, Swift?”

“Why wasn’t I informed my guys made it out of surgery and were now under protection?” Kai couldn’t keep the accusation out of his tone.

“Boy, you questioning my integrity?”

“Commander, at this point I’m questioning everything, and the lives of my men are my priority.” He couldn’t let the man’s authority scare him.

“You’re a good soldier. Don’t push it though. I have put men I trust with my life on duty guarding both Couper and Rouland. I’m not leaving their protection up in the air, but I need your focus on the matter at hand. I give you my word on that. Now, go find the girl and the traitor, Swift.”

The line went dead before he could ask more, making Kai curse.

He relayed what Lee said to Rowan, Coyle and Sully, watching the shock register on all three men’s faces. He knew his own face showed the same. “I hate the unknown.”

Sully snorted. “Dude, we go into the unknown all the damn time. That’s our jobs.”

“Check it out. I found a ping,” Rowan announced.

Kai forgot his misgivings about Alexa and him. He’d cross that bridge when they came to it. “Whatcha got?”

After Rowan described the location where the satellite was picking up the pings, Kai was ready to mount a rescue. Only Rowan’s hand on his arm stopped him from jumping up and doing just that. “Let’s do this right. We’ve got four of us, up against who knows how many. Let me see if I can get satellite surveillance to see what they’ve got there.”

Damn it! He knew Rowan was right, but thinking of what they could be doing to his Alexa...he stopped the train of thought.

Within a half hour, they knew more men were needed. They were SEALs, but four against twenty odds was a suicide mission. “Men, I know it’s dangerous, but hey, that’s what we do. If you want to stay back I understand.” Kai looked at his team.