Hell Bent (23 page)

“I’ve been with Allison since she became a senator, so I know all of those buttheads at the statehouse.  I’ll make some calls to see if I can get that vote delayed, or tabled, until the next session.  That will buy you some time.”

“Great idea, and yeah that would be helpful,” Cade replied, pulling out his cell phone.  Cecelia was surprised when he turned and went back out the front door to make the call, which meant there was something he probably wasn’t telling her too.

“Have you come up with anything?” Cade growled when Dex answered, as he paced along the sidewalk in front of the shelter.

“I was just about to call you, because I do have information for you.  I compiled a pretty comprehensive list of players all over Texas from comparing the calls on the two phones, and I think I know where their compound is located.  Because I didn’t have the physical phone for the one you picked up at the party, I—ah—accessed the carrier network and tied them to several family plans too.  These guys must be pretty dense because it was very easy to connect the dots to locate them all
and
the mothership because they were all tied together on the family tracking feature in the accounts.  How funny is that?”

“Hilarious—and yeah, I wouldn’t credit them with much sense either, not with kidnapping a damned state senator, and the way they did.  Thanks, Dex, can you send that information to Carlos Ramos and ask him to get search warrants—for the mothership first?” 

If Carlos could manage that quickly enough, then maybe the feds could take the job of finding Allison Rooks off of his plate.

“Sure thing.  Mac and I are also going to do a little recon with my drone out by that compound to see what we find—I’ll keep you apprised.”

Cade hung up smiling.  That guy
was
a Super-Nerd and to him it sounded like Dexter relished the chance to break out his super-spy techno-gadgets and play with them.  He was damned glad they had them, because maybe now they could find Allison without much effort.

That was a huge relief and some of the guilt he felt at having to choose locating the other abducted women over her eased.  The front door of the clinic pushed outward and Cecelia stormed out, her eyes landed on him and she stomped over to him to put her hands on her hips.

“What aren’t you telling me, Cade? I feel like a mushroom right now and I’m sick of the bullshit.”  Her chest heaved with her breaths as she folded her arms. “I’m with Lou Ellen—you better start talking, mister.  What are you doing to find those women?  What plan have you cooked up that you’re not including me in?”

“Can’t a man catch a breath?  I just got here, Brat,” Cade said walking around her toward the front door.  He grabbed the handle and pulled, but it didn’t open and he cursed.

“Yeah, you’re not getting back in there until I give Lou Ellen the signal,” she said, and a tight smile stretched her lips.  “Start talking.”

“I found the women in Mexico.  Logan, Slade, Jaxson and I are flying in tonight to rescue them—or try to rescue them.” 

He sure wished he had a drone to do some pre-op surveillance there, because Cade had no idea what they’d be flying into or the fortification at that compound.  The one thing he knew for sure was that Cecelia was
not
going with them, and he knew that’s what she was gearing up for when her eyes lit up. 

“
No
, you’re not going,” he said, jerking the door handle again and getting a rattle but no entry.  “Tell her to open the damned door, Brat!”

“Nope,” Cecelia said, tightening her arms around her.

“Logan won’t let you go,” Cade said, his shoulders slumping.  He knew that as an absolute fact, because that was the first thing out of his mouth when Cade mentioned the mission.

She lowered her arms and walked to stand very close to him.  “Logan passed the stage of being able to tell me where I can and can’t go a long time ago, and so did you.  I’d think you’d skip the sexism because you need all the
personnel
you can get to help tonight.”

“That’s true, but he said you’re not going and he owns the helicopter, so he makes the rules,” Cade shot back. 
So what if he had to throw Logan under the bus.  He’d been run over enough times by this woman already.

“Is Dexter going with you then to handle outfitting you with com?  I’m sure you’ll need it, because with only four men going, five with the pilot, and who knows how many tangos in that compound—you’ll have to spread out.  Take me, Cade—I can at least shoot.”

Cade grabbed her shoulders, and she looked up. 

“Stop being a brat for a minute and think, Cecelia.  This isn’t about you getting shot.  We’re going into a place that traffics women to work in the sex trade—to
rescue
women abducted for that purpose.  What if the mission goes bad and you’re captured?  They won’t kill you, they’ll just make you
wish
you were dead.” 

There—that was as blunt as he could be with her, and he saw he’d struck a nerve when her cheek twitched, but her eyes were still determined and he huffed a breath.

“You’re not going, Brat—that’s it,” Cade said firmly. “Now let me into the damned shelter, I have more calls to make before I leave.”

Cecelia walked in front of the door and waved her hand and it clicked open.

“Well, I have to go buy some supplies for the baby, so I may not be here when you leave,” she said. 

Cade held the door but turned back to stare at her, beautiful stubborn face.  She was going to let him leave without even being here to say goodbye?   Was that his punishment then?  All his hopes that she had actually grown up fled.  This was never going to work out between them—not in a million years.

“Fine, I’ll see you when I get back then, I guess,” he said as he shoved open the door and walked inside.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Cecelia gritted her teeth as she slowly bumped down the rutted access road into the woods looking for the overgrown trail head in the tree line she remembered from her run down this road once when she stayed at her brother’s compound.  That was the spot that came to mind when she thought about where she could hide her truck for this mission. 

They could’ve already left for all she knew, since Cade hadn’t mentioned a time.

She was later than she expected, because the taxi driver who picked her up at the shelter evidently took the longest route he could to her apartment downtown for maximum fare. Because it was Sunday, the drive should’ve only taken thirty minutes from the shelter, but he took nearly an hour.  Getting dressed and loading her weapons and rucksack had taken another thirty minutes, then another thirty to pick up the com equipment they probably wouldn’t have remembered to bring from Dexter’s evil workroom at the office, put her here at nearly dark.  Cecelia needed to get to that helipad before dusk so she could find the perfect place to stowaway so they didn’t notice her before they lifted off.  If they hadn’t already left.

Cade didn’t want her to go, he thought she was being hardheaded, but that wasn’t her purpose for wanting to go.  It had nothing to do with stubborn, and if he’d have let her talk to him she would’ve explained. She’d tried to. 

Cecelia could not stomach the thought of him going into what could be a very bad situation with so few men, she’d seen the consequences of that with the spec ops guys she worked with who often went out in very small groups and paid the ultimate price.  That old adage was true—there
was
safety in numbers, especially with an unknown situation like this one.  Her being with them would improve the odds of them all coming back alive.

What if the mission goes bad? 
Yes, Cade, what if it does?  Who will be there to watch your six? To help you get out too?
Me, that’s who
. 

If that means being killed, so be it.  It’s the risk they agreed to take by joining the military.  What made this civilian mission any riskier?

Huffing a breath, she killed the truck and hopped out then reached behind the seat to pull out her body armor and slip it over her head.  She was willing to take risks, but she wasn’t stupid, she thought, as she velcroed it on.  Her rucksack and AR were on the passenger-side floorboard, so she shut her door and went around the truck to get them then started what she estimated to be a five-mile hike to the pad.

It was dusk by the time she reached the tree line and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the helicopter sitting on the pad and the rotors not running.  She hurried into the clearing and walked swiftly around the tail of the bird, but stopped as did her heart when she saw a black Hummer parked nearby.  Crouching down she surveyed the Humvee, but didn’t see a soul inside. 

Was that Hawk here doing a pre-flight check?  Or was it Logan, Slade, Jaxson and Cade loading up for their mission?  When Taylor came from behind the vehicle carrying a knapsack and several bags she breathed, and stood.

“What are you doing?” she asked, walking across the pad to meet her.

“Delivering food, medical supplies and bottled water,” she replied.  “They think those women are going to be in bad shape when they find them.”

She set the bags and supplies inside the door of the helicopter, then huffed a breath.  “What are you doing here?  They didn’t tell me you were going with them. I wanted to go, but was told no by Slade and Logan.”

“They told me no too, but I’m going.  I just have to find a place to hide until after takeoff,” she replied walking to the door of the helicopter.

“Good luck with that,” Taylor said with a laugh, as she turned back toward the Hummer.  “The cabinets are full now with supplies, not that they have many in there to begin with.  The hatch underneath is too, but I wouldn’t have suggested hiding in there unless you want to kill yourself.  There’s really nowhere to hide in there.”

Cecelia watched her friend walk back to the Hummer then turned to set her rucksack in the opening of the chopper too.  Leaning inside, she saw Taylor hadn’t been lying.  A row of three seats and a lot of bags and boxes filled the interior of the chopper.  She spotted the space behind that row of seats, which was maybe six inches wide and thought since she was small, she might be able to squeeze herself in there.  Climbing inside, she hefted her rucksack and tossed it onto the pile in front of the seats, then carefully laid her rifle with the others on the floor.

She raised up, then moved to the outside of the armrest on the last seat and crawled over the stack of bags to drop down into the space behind the seats.  Her hips wedged between the seat and the wall, leaving her toes dangling.  She squirmed, trying to push herself down, but the more she moved, the more firmly wedged she became. 

That’s what she got for not doing PT for the last month, she thought angrily, as she wiggled and fought to force them deeper into the space.  She was sure the pizza she’d had to eat at the shelter and the mansion hadn’t helped.  She tried turning sideways, but that made it worse, her ass was wider than her hips evidently and frustration built.

With the heat inside the cabin, Cecelia’s efforts worked up a sweat under the body armor and the heavy camo clothing she wore.  It slicked her armpits to soak into her shirt, trickled between her breasts, streaked down her forehead into her eyes to burn as she continued to fight to get herself loose.  She shoved her fingers between her hip and the seat and tried to pry herself loose, but her hand got stuck too.

“
Fuck
,” she hissed, yanking her hand harder.

“Need some help,
Brat
?” Cade asked and her eyes flew to meet his very angry blue gaze where he leaned into the doorway.  “Or maybe you just need a damned spanking for not listening,” he growled, crawling into the cabin.  He sat in the middle seat and put his hands on her waist and her flesh scraped the metal bar when he yanked her up.  It took two more yanks, but  she finally came free and he lifted her over the seat into his lap.  She wasn’t free for long though, because he pushed her down over his knees and held her there with an arm in the middle of her back while she kicked and flailed.

Cecelia screamed and tensed when his hand connected with her ass and a stinging pain rocked her.  “Cade, are you in
sa
—” she started, breathlessly, but that turned to a long wail when his big palm landed again. “Stop it!” she screamed as she tried to squirm out of his hold, but he held her firm.  “Let me
gooo
—” she growled, kicking her legs.  “Or my brother is going to kick—”

“Your brother thinks this is the best damned thing to happen to you in twenty-eight years,” Dave finished, as he climbed into the helicopter and she saw the toes of his combat boots. “I’ve wanted to do it more than once myself in that number of years.”

Heat scorched her face as Cade’s arms loosened and she dropped to her knees on the floor.  She eased up a bit, clasped her hands together then forced her elbow into Cade Winter’s crotch, hard.  He squealed and she darted to the bulkhead to avoid his hands, which reached for her, and he glared at her as he grabbed his nuts.

“You’re going to pay for that one,” he said hoarsely, his pain-filled eyes narrowed.  “Get your things and get out!”

“I think this is yours,” Dave said, handing the rucksack with the pink ribbon tied to the handle to her, which she’d only put there so she could quickly find it in the heaps of others on military transports.  He scanned the rifles on the floor, and found hers which was a smaller profile than the rest.  He took both and tossed them out the door of the helicopter.

“You want the honor, or shall I?” Logan asked, glancing at Cade then eyeballing her.

“I’ll get out on my
own
,” she growled, moving to the door.  She sat down then hopped out and put her shoulder into Slade as he tried to get into the helicopter.

Hawk appeared in his olive drab flight suit with his helmet under his arm and grinned.

“Want me to throw them out at five thousand feet, darlin?”  I’ll do it—just say the word.”  When he winked, Cecelia wanted to kick him in the balls too, but she didn’t waste the time. 

She walked toward the woods and knew right where she was headed.  To tell Susan what these sexist-pig men had just done to her.  When they got back, they would be the ones getting
their
asses spanked.

With the steam of her anger, and the throbbing in her stinging ass urging her onward, Cecelia got back to her truck quicker than she’d gotten to the helipad.  She tossed her bag into the bed and threw her rifle on the floor with disgust.  Cranking the truck, she peeled out and the jarring bounce was therapeutic now as she kept her foot on the gas and endured the teeth-breaking ride to the end of the trail.  When she whipped a left onto the smooth pavement her teeth were still clamped together as she zoomed down the road toward the Deep Six compound.

At the gate, she quickly punched in the code and could barely stand the wait for it to open.  She slammed the pedal to the floor and fishtailed up the driveway to the office building.  When she stopped and flew out of the truck, the door opened and Taylor stood there grinning.

“They kicked you out, huh?  I told Susan you’d probably be over here shortly.”

“They didn’t just kick me out,” Cecelia growled, her fists at her side.  “Cade had the fucking audacity to
spank
me!”

Taylor’s eyes darkened and her eyebrows drew together. “Was he intending to hurt or pleasure you?” she asked.

“He was intending to
punish
me for defying him!”

“You still didn’t answer my question,” Taylor said.  Her eyes tracked down Cecelia’s body to her toes.  “You don’t look any worse for wear, so you can talk to him about it when they get back and find out.”

“He
spanked
me,” she repeated, as if talking to an idiot.  She knew she wasn’t. Taylor was one of the most intelligent women she’d ever met, but Cecelia was sure they weren’t having the same thought process here or something.  “Why in the hell would I want to talk to him again?”

“Come on in and have a glass of wine to calm down,” she invited, opening the door wider. “Susan just got in the tub, so she’ll probably be a while.”

Cee Cee huffed out a breath and climbed the stairs. A glass of wine did sound good, but she needed to get back to the shelter soon, because in all likelihood Domingo was out of diapers.  She walked inside, and Taylor shut the door then went to the kitchen where the petite brunette pulled down two wine glasses and filled them with deep red wine.  She handed one to Cee Cee and walked into the living room to the huge sectional and sat down on the end.  Swirling her glass of wine, tension built in Cee Cee’s chest as she followed her and sat down beside her. 

“They’re going to
Mexico
did you know that?” Cecelia asked, before lifting the glass to her lips to take a long bittersweet sip.  “To a drug cartel stronghold—that’s where those women are being held.”  She took another long sip, then popped her numb lips.  “And they could get k-k-illed because they’re too st-tupid to bring enough people to fight them.” She swiped her arm over her mouth, then took another drink and when she finished she met Taylor’s eyes. “There could be a hundred men there with a lot more firepower than they have with them.”

“It’s what we signed on for when we got involved with them. It’s their jobs, Ceese,” Taylor replied, patting her knee.

“It’s my job too, so that’s why I can’t understand why they wouldn’t take me with them. I have the skills, and the com equipment they forgot.”

“I think Cade loves you and I know Dave does.  That’s why they didn’t want you with them, and that’s why Slade didn’t want me to go.  Worrying about you there would be a distraction that
would
get them hurt.”  She shrugged and a soft smile played on her lips.  “I agreed to stay home because I certainly don’t want to be the cause of that even though I have skills that could probably help too.”

Those softly spoken words took all the wind out of Cecelia’s sails, and the steam out of her head, because Taylor was right.  Cee Cee looked down when Taylor’s big goofy yellow lab Buddy laid his head on her other knee. 

“I’m sorry I got so worked up,” she said, as she scratched between Buddy’s ears.  “Thanks for talking me off the ledge.”

“My pleasure,” Taylor replied, rubbing Lola’s ear when she nudged her knee.  “I’ve been on that ledge many times and the fall is not pretty.”

“Where’s Dexter, Gray and Mac?  Oh, and Caleb?” Cecelia asked, suddenly realizing it was too damned quiet, considering the men had just left on a mission.  When missions went down everyone at Deep Six was expected to be on deck whether they were needed or not.

Taylor looked surprised.  “Didn’t Cade tell you that Dexter thinks he located where Allison Rooks is being held?” she asked.  “He and Mac took his drone out to Hill Country to check it out.  Caleb is over in the barracks, because Logan put him on reserve until the stitches come out of his shoulder.”

“No, he
didn’t
tell me that—and he didn’t tell Lou Ellen either.”  Her anger resurfaced as Cecelia set her wine glass on the coffee table and stood.