Nico's Heart (RARE Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter 10

Angel felt Lily waking up as she slipped into her mind.  Lily slowly blinked her eyes open and whispered,
You’re back. 
As Angel started to respond, there was a noise outside the door.  Lily froze, and Angel gently stroked her hand through the terrified child’s hair. 
It’s ok, sweetheart.  I’m right here.  I promise to stay as long as I can. 
Lily whimpered as she crowded up against the cold cement wall shaking.

They could hear voices on the other side of the door, and then it was yanked open.  Bright light came into the room and Lily squeezed her eyes shut against the shock and pain.  She had been in the dark for so long that the light was blinding. 

The huge man that moved to stand in the middle of the doorway blocked some of the light and allowed Lily to adjust to it easier.  Still squinting, she tried to make out the form in front of her, but she could not.  Angel said,
Calm down, Lily.  Try and get a good look at him and anyone else you see.  Be strong.  We are on our way. 

The man came in and roughly grabbed her by the arm, pulling her out of the dark room and into another much brighter one.  As she looked up into his cold dark eyes, one with a scar over the top of it, she felt something warm and wet slide down her legs.  Terror gripped her and she screamed.  She remembered this man from the plane.

At the harsh laughter that filled the room, Lily tore her gaze away from the scary man holding her and looked at the other smaller, but no less scary one.  “So you finally found Walker’s kid.” The smaller man said. 

“Yes, General,” the other man replied.  “She was living in a wolf compound with her mother in Colorado.  We stole her right out from under them.  Told some stupid bitch we would give her $100,000 in cash to help us and promised her we wouldn’t hurt the girl.  Obviously no money was sent and the wolves will find out and kill her themselves.”

The General smiled cruelly, “Good work.  Were you followed?  Do they have any idea where we are?”

“Nope.  Last time our informant checked in, they did
n’t have a clue.  That dumbass Alpha was running in circles.  They won’t find us.  Hell, most people probably never heard of Hartford, and we are so far out in the boonies that there is no way they can find us,” the man said confidently.

“Good, that is
good,” the General said.  “I’m going to head out now.  Bring her to me tomorrow night.  For now, throw her back in her room, but give her some food.  I would hate for her to starve to death before we get her to her new home.”  As the General walked away he turned back to the other man, “Oh, and Jasper, do not touch her,” he said as an afterthought.

Jasper threw Lily back in the room slamming the door shut, and she scampered quickly over to the back wall.  Angel sat on the ground beside her, and in her mind she gently pulled Lily onto her lap, cuddling her close and stroking her hair.  Lily snuggled closer to her and cried softly. 

He’s really scary
, Lily said. 
He wants to do things to me.  He wants to hurt me. 
Angel held her tighter and said,
He won’t get the chance, baby girl.  Your Daddy is coming for you.  And once we find you, he won’t let anyone hurt you ever again. 

The door opened and Jasper threw a sack at her.  “Eat that,” he snarled.  As he was leaving Lily whispered, “I want my daddy.”  Jasper turned around and laughed at her.  “Your daddy?  Well that ain’t gonna happen, girly.  I killed that son of a bitch myself.  Put a bullet right between his eyes.  That’s what happens when you cross the General.”  With that, he turned around, walked out and slammed the door.

You lied to me!
Lily cried as she scrambled away from the wall. 
He’s dead!  My daddy is dead! 
As Lily sobbed, Angel gently put her arms around her again in her mind and firmly said,
Listen to me.  Listen! 
Lily slowly raised her head, but continued to cry. 
Your daddy is with me.  He is sitting next to me holding Shadow.  The man that Jasper killed is not the same man that you know as Daddy.  I promise you, Lily.

Lily sat crying
, little hiccups escaping as she tried to get herself under control.  She lightly reached out and touched Angel’s mind this time, instead of Angel being inside of hers.  As she did, she saw her daddy sitting in a seat holding Shadow as he looked out the window of a plane.  There was so much pain and sadness in his gaze.  But it was her daddy, she knew it.  She knew him.  She pulled back out of Angel’s mind and once again moved up against the wall clutching the sack of food.

Lily opened up the sack and felt inside.  There was a sandwich and what felt like an apple.  She was so hungry that she inhaled the sandwich in no time and then started on the apple.  After she had eaten everything, Angel said,
I have to go now, Lily.  I need to get back to everyone so that we can come and find you. 

My Daddy is coming
, Lily said. 
Yes, he is, honey.  We will be there to get you just as soon as we can. 
Lily curled back up on the floor to rest.  She was so cold. 
Can you shift, Lily?  It would keep you warmer
, Angel said. 
I can’t.  I tried but I just can’t
, Lily responded.  Angel nodded her head in understanding.  As tired, weak and upset as Lily was, even if she could shift she probably would not be able to hold her wolf form for very long.  The bastards could at least have given her a blanket. 
I will be back,
Angel promised, gently stroking her hair. 
Rest now and your daddy and I will be there soon. 
Angel waited a few minutes making sure Lily was asleep before leaving her.

Chapter 11

The plane was already making its descent when Angel came back to them.  Nico was going crazy wondering how his little girl was.  Angel was gone too long this time.  She would be weaker, and they needed her strong to get through this.  But, if Angel was gone that long, there was a reason.  Which just pissed him off because that meant something had happened with Lily.

“What happened?” he asked.  “Give me a few minutes, Nico,” Angel responded.  She sat there with her eyes closed as the plane landed and taxied to Hangar 10, where Jaxson had set it up with a contact he had in the area to have the plane refueled and ready for takeoff. 

Once the plane was at a full stop, the team came back and surrounded Angel.  She weakly opened her eyes and
whispered, “Sorry guys.  You are on your own checking out the other plane.  I need to rest.  Listen up, before I pass out.  They have her in a basement.  It’s an all cement basement.  She is locked in a freezing cold dark room like a cellar, but she is too weak and scared to shift to get warm.  I saw the General.  Freaky little fuck with bug eyes and wrap around glasses.  He is very powerful though, I can tell.  I will have Phoenix do a sketch later.  There is a guard with her named Jasper.  We need to take that bastard out.  He wants to hurt Lily, and not in an ‘I want to smack her around’ way.  More of an ‘I’m a sick fucking pig that likes little girls and needs my dick cut off and stuffed down my throat’ way.”  Nico went crazy at that.  “They are in some place called Hartford.  That’s all I got.  Go get whatever you can from their plane and get back here.”  With that, she was out cold. 

“I’ll stay here with Angel
,” Trace said.  “Go get what you need and get back.  I will spot you as much as I can from here.”  With that he took out his sniper case and started putting the rifle together.

The rest of the team jumped out of the plane and took off towards Hangar 12, hiding in the shadows so no one could see what they were up to.  Weapons drawn and ready, they quietly entered the building and surrounded the small plane.  They got the plane door open, and Rikki and Nico went inside
.  Jaxson and Phoenix stood guard outside, one at the door of the hangar and one by the plane.

Nico did a quick sweep through
the back of the plane while Rikki checked the cockpit.  Once the plane was cleared, Rikki walked back towards the seats taking off her gloves.  Rikki’s gift was sometimes a huge pain in the ass.  She could touch an object and see who had touched it before and even catch their thoughts.  That was why she always wore light weight gloves.  It was a pain in the ass in the summer, but better than seeing a bunch of sporadic visions from anything and everything she came in contact with. 

Unfortunately, her gift wasn’t always reliable.  Sometimes it took her a lot further back then she needed to go.  Sometimes the reading was so loud it was hard for her to get back to the present.  Sometimes she didn’t get jack shit
.  She had been practicing extensively the past couple of years that she had been on Angel’s team, though, and was getting a lot better at controlling it.  And she would control it now, she vowed.  For Nico, she would.  He was like a brother to her.  Her team was the only family she had, and she would do anything for them.

There was a newspaper sitting on one of the seats.  Rikki reached out and touched it.  Nothing.  Dammit, she would NOT let Nico down.  She grabbed a small pillow on another seat.  Still nothing.

There was an empty pop can sitting in a holder on one of the chairs on the other side of the aisle.  Taking a deep breath, Rikki reached out and lightly touched it.  The vision came swift and hard this time.  A guy with cold dark eyes and black hair with a scar running up over one eye was taking a swig out of the can as he watched a little girl with long black hair curled up in the corner on the floor.  She was watching him, her eyes never leaving his face.  He laughed at her loudly.  “You want some of this, girly,” he said grabbing his crotch with one hand.  The little girl’s eyes widened and she pushed herself further into the corner.  He just laughed again, taking another pull on his soda.  He pulled the food tray down in front of him and placed a map on it.  There was a place circled on the map.  “No one will find us where I am taking you,” he told the little girl.  “It’s so far out in the sticks, I don’t even know if I can find it.”  As Rikki watched, the man took out a piece of paper and started writing down directions.  Holy shit, Rikki thought.  This was what she needed.  The vision started to fade, but she forced it back.  South on 38W, left onto East 2
nd
street.  She committed it all to memory as he wrote it down.  Times like this it came in handy to have a photographic memory.  When she was sure she got everything she needed, she let the vision slip away. 

Nico watched Rikki as she stood there in a trance.  He was going to give it two more minutes and then try and pull her out, but all of the sudden she shook herself and focused her gaze on him. 

“Let’s go get your little girl, my brother,” she said throwing a fist pump in the air. 

Chapter 12

A
ngel was still out when the team showed back up at the plane.  As they grabbed their gear, Trace lifted Angel up in his arms and they moved towards the SUV on the side of the hangar that Jaxson had waiting for them.  He had contacts everywhere.  There wasn’t anything he couldn’t get if he needed it.   

Once they were in the vehicle and on their way, Rikki gave directions to Nico who was driving this time.  “A dirt road?  Where the hell do they have her?” he growled.  Jaxson was looking something up on his phone and he glanced up and said, “Less than half an hour away.  Before the dirt road, we need to find a place to stash the SUV and go in on foot.  It will be
about three miles out, but it is safer that way.  Otherwise they might see us coming. Looks like an old farmhouse, probably abandoned.”  Nico floored it, praying there were no cops around that he would have to deal with.  At least the roads had been cleared of all the snow that had been dumped recently.

When they were close, Nico backed the SUV off the road and into a clump of trees, praying they didn’t get stuck in the snow.  They would have to worry about that later, though.  Right now all that mattered w
as getting to Lily.  As the team geared up, Nico woke up Angel.  She sat up, shook the cobwebs out of her head, and geared up with the rest of them. 

Angel loved her throwing stars.  She put them in the side zippers on her pants and a couple up her sleeves and in her coat pockets. 

Phoenix liked anything that went boom.  He shoved some grenades in his pockets, and put some other goodies in a backpack that would make the place explode when they were done.

Rikki was partial to her knives.  She had a special set that the team had made for her.  She strapped them to the chest harness she put on, two handles up and two down. 

Trace’s baby was his sniper rifle, but he loved all kinds of guns.  He strapped on a Glock to go with the knives and two guns he already had on him.

Nico and Jaxson didn’t really have any favorites.  They liked it all.  Anything
that helped kick ass was alright with them. 

They all put on some night vision goggles and took off towards the old farm house as quickly as possible through the snow.  They trained daily for shit like this and could run for miles at this pace.  Which was good, because they estimated
the old farm house was about three and a half miles away. 

When they were about a half a mile out, the
team slowed up and stopped. 
Ok, let’s get a little bit closer so we can get the layout of the place
, Angel ordered.  They crept up and fanned out around the house. 

One guy inside
, Angel said. 
It’s that sick bastard, Jasper.  We will take him out. Two guys on the South side and two on the North.  That’s it.  They really think they are safe and no one is going to find them out here.  Let’s prove them wrong.  Trace, get on the south side and take out those guards.  Rikki, you go to the North side and take out the others.  Let us know as soon as it’s done.  Then you stand guard out here, while Nico, Jaxson and I go in.  Phoenix, set the place to blow while we get Lily out.  Let’s do this. In and out.  Now!

Trace took off in one direction while Rikki went in the other.  There was complete silence for a full two minutes and then Rikki said,
Clear
!  Five seconds later, Trace said the same.  Quickly, Nico and Angel moved up towards the front of the house while Jaxson moved around to the back. 
I see a window open back here.  No wires.  I’m going in,
Jaxson said.  Nico finished picking the lock on the door and eased it open silently. 
We’re in,
he said.

Jasper was watching TV in the living room. 
He’s yours, Jaxson,
Angel said.  Nico stopped.  Jaxson’s?  That bastard was his! 
Lily needs you, Nico.  We need to get to her.

I will do this for you, Nico,
Jaxson promised him. 
I will take him out painfully and not too quickly. 
Nico growled lowly, and then he nodded towards Jaxson.  He watched while Jaxson crept into the living room and slipped out a couple of knives.  He watched the first slice into the sick bastard and then turned and took off to find the stairs that would take him to his Lily.

Lily heard the screams up above and huddled in a ball in the corner of the room shaking. 
Suddenly, she heard a noise at her door.  There was a loud bang, and then the door slowly opened.  As the light shone in on her, she watched the figure of the person that filled the doorway.  He opened the door wider and then knelt down.  “Lily, come here sweet girl.  Come here, my princess.  Let’s get you home to Mommy.”

As her vision adjusted to the light, she saw him for the first time in person.  He looked so strong and fierce.  It was her daddy.  He was alive and real and he had come for her.  She tried to jump up to go to him, but her legs didn’t want to work right.  So she started crawling.  “Daddy, it’s really you.  You came for me,” she cried, sobs racking her body. 

He stood up when he saw her crawling, running to her and pulling her off the ground and into his arms.  “I’m right here, my little princess.  I’ve got you,” he crooned as he snuggled her close.

“Let’s go, Nico,” Lily heard a voice say.  “We need to get out of here now.”

“Angel,” she said.  “You came, too.  Just like you said you would.”

“You better believe it, sweetheart,” Angel said.  “Now, let’s blow this popsicle stand!”   Lily let out a small giggle as they took off across the room and up the stairs. 

Jaxson met them at the top of the stairs and said, “It’s done.  Let’s get the hell out of here.” 

They heard the first explosion as they hit the tree line a mile away from the house.  Nico pushed Lily’s head into his chest and
ran as fast as he could to where they had left the SUV.  Once the team all made it back to the vehicle, they piled in and took off back toward the airport, Jaxson driving this time. 

Once there, they didn’t waste any time getting back up into the air and on their way back to Colorado.  Nico held Lily on his lap as she snuggled Shadow and her special blanket.  She was now dressed in clean pink fuzz
y feety jammies and she would not leave his side, no matter what.  That was ok, though.  His team would pick up his slack because he was family, and Lily was his little girl now.  That made her family.