Wanted (Hostage Rescue Team Series Book 8) (14 page)

“Zo,
talk
to me.”

She swallowed, hard.
Stay calm. You have to stay calm
. “I need you to listen to me very carefully, okay?”

“Tell me where you are.” The command held a ragged, pleading note, tearing at her heart.

She drew a deep breath, prayed she would be able to figure out a way out of this without leading him into a trap. For right now though, she had no option but to comply. “A woman is taking me to the address I’m going to give you, and I need you to meet us there right away.”

****

More than her words, the tremor in Zoe’s voice scared the hell out of Clay. She was terrified, must be at gunpoint or something. The image of her being held hostage again made him see red.

He kept his foot on the accelerator, aware of Tuck staring intently at him as they waited for her to continue. He made sure his voice was calm, as soothing as he could muster at the moment. “I’m listening, raven.”

She gave him an address, which he immediately recited to Tuck, who looked it up on his phone. “I’ve got Tuck with me,” he said to reassure her. They both knew it was a trap but there was no way he wasn’t going to her.

“She said if you don’t come alone…she’ll kill me.”

Clay’s hand clenched around the steering wheel.
Not fucking happening
. “I’ll drop Tuck off and come alone. Tell her that.”

There was no way in hell he was dropping Tuck anywhere. No fucking way he’d walk into this without backup. He trusted Tuck to keep out of sight.

Zoe did as he said. When she was finished, a terrible silence filled the line.

“I’m coming for you, Zo, right now. I promise, baby, everything’s gonna be okay.”

“Okay,” she whispered back, her fear slicing through him.

God dammit, she’d been taken hostage by an armed woman posing as a
cop
. The woman had to be working with the Fuentes enforcer. Celida was trying to get the plate number now using security camera footage in the area, but by the time they traced it and verified whether it was at the drop-off location or not, it might be too late.

He’d just have to go to the address Zoe had given him, and hope she’d be there waiting.

Tuck held his phone out to show Clay the map he’d pulled up, pointed at the address they needed to get to. “Ten minutes,” he murmured.

Clay nodded to let him know he’d heard. “I’ll be there to get you in ten minutes.” More like eight, at this speed. Tuck began calling someone else.

She drew in a shuddering breath. “I love you.”

His stomach clenched hard at the finality in her words. She believed she was saying goodbye.

He refused to accept it. She had too much to live for. They had a baby on the way. He fucking needed her, couldn’t live without her.

Guilt was a crushing weight on his sternum. She’d doubted him and what she meant to him, because he hadn’t shown it the way she needed him to. Hadn’t
proved
it to her in a way she would never question. He’d give anything for the chance to get her back safely, make things right between them.

Struggling to keep the panic eating at him out of his voice, he answered her. “I love you too, and it’s gonna be all right. You just hang on and stay strong for me, you hear me? You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known, Zo, I know you can do this.”

Before she could answer the line went dead.

“Fucking
hell
,” he snarled, slamming a fist down onto the dashboard. He could hear Tuck speaking urgently to someone, only half-listened, too lost in his fear for Zoe.

Up ahead there was too much traffic.

He jerked the wheel, sped down a side street and blew through a red light to reach the old highway that would take him where he needed to go. The tires squealed as he made the sharp turn and cut across two lanes of traffic to hit the onramp. He and Tuck had their go bags in the backseat.

The woman who’d dared to take Zoe would be down ten seconds after they showed up.

“That was Evers,” Tuck said, calm but alert as he reached back and dug out two Glocks, ready to do whatever was necessary to save Zoe. “The other girls are all home safe, so the boys are bringing us backup.”

Hell yeah, Clay thought with savage satisfaction. This bitch was going to find out firsthand the world of pain she’d brought down on herself when she’d made the mistake of targeting the HRT family.

****

Zoe’s muscles were tight as wires by the time her kidnapper slowed and turned into an empty warehouse parking lot. They were in an industrial area on the outskirts of downtown. But why? There had to be some kind of trap set here for when Clay and Tuck showed up.

She didn’t see any other cars parked behind any of the buildings, and there were no lights here in this section of the lot. Only minutes had passed since she’d talked to Clay, but it felt like hours.

Her skin was cold, her hands clammy and her breathing shallow. The clock in the dash told her Clay would be here within the next few minutes.

Be careful
, she silently begged him.

No. Clay was smart and he’d take precautions. He wouldn’t knowingly walk into a trap without having a plan, and he’d have Tuck with him. There was no way Clay would come without some kind of backup, wherever Tuck would be hiding.

A former SEAL and a former Delta operator, both coming to save her. She just had to stay alive until they got here.

Except she was starting to get the sickening feeling that
they
were this psycho’s real target. Zoe was just a pawn in whatever game this deranged woman had initiated.

The woman tapped her earpiece again. “Where are you?” she demanded angrily. “I’m already here.” She kept glancing around every couple seconds, and there was a sheen of sweat on her upper lip.

Zoe risked a glance down at the weapon shoved against her left ribcage, then back up at her captor’s face. Her side throbbed from the repeated jabs of the pistol muzzle, but she barely noticed it under the haze of fear.

She knew time was running out. The woman was cagey now; Zoe could all but smell her desperation and fear as she scanned the parking lot.

“He’ll be here in the next few minutes. You need to be set up and ready!”

Cold washed through Zoe. Clay and Tuck were her true targets, and her accomplice was on the way.

She forced the fear aside, focused on what she needed to do. She trusted Clay and Tuck, knew they had the best training in the world. All she had to do was stay alive until they got here.

But there was no way for Zoe to warn them. And if things kept escalating, she might be dead before they even arrived.

Amanda could barely keep the fear slicing through her at bay. Her heart pounded so hard she felt sick. She was panting, an invisible fist squeezing around her throat. This wasn’t part of the plan. She couldn’t take out Bauer alone with her two pistols.

“What do you mean, stall him?” she screeched at Dominic. “What do you expect me to do?” They were stopped in the parking lot, as planned, facing the brick warehouse in the center of the row.

“I only need a few more minutes,” he replied, that calm tone scraping over her nerves like razor blades. “Use the woman.”

“I’m
going
to.” But she had to time this right. Shoot Zoe right as Bauer arrived, dump her, so he saw what she’d done.

She’d heard him say Tucker was with him and even though he’d told Zoe he would drop him off before showing up, she knew in her gut Tucker would be somewhere close by when Bauer arrived.

Somewhere within shooting range.

She swallowed hard. There was no way she could hold her own against two armed HRT members—a former SEAL, with the HRT team leader at that.

She pushed out a shaky breath. “How long?”

Dom didn’t answer.

Headlights flashed in her rearview mirror. She stiffened, her hand clenching around the phone. “He’s here.”

Still no response. Beside her, Zoe tensed and turned her head to see behind them.

“Face forward,” Amanda snapped, jamming the pistol into her side.

Stupid bitch. She curled her finger around the trigger. She wanted to shoot her so badly, but couldn’t yet. To make killing him easier, Bauer had to see it happen, focus on Zoe rather than himself. And Amanda wasn’t willing to die for this.

“
Dom
,” she said.

No answer.

In that moment, the awful truth hit her.

He wasn’t coming. He’d abandoned her to her fate, was even now running to save his own neck. Amanda was alone, facing Bauer and probably Tucker, and whoever else was coming without backup.

No
, she ordered herself as panic choked her. She could still do this.

Carlos would want this bitch to suffer for what she’d done to him. And Amanda had no intention of losing this now. Not when she was on the verge of getting her revenge and her money. A picture of her Caribbean dream house formed in her mind. So clear she could almost feel the warm breeze on her face.

She needed it. She fucking
deserved
it.

The truck was getting closer now.

She was out of time.

Amanda did the only thing she could. She cranked the wheel hard to the right, then gunned it out of the parking lot.

****

“Hell no,” Clay snarled, and tore after the vehicle. He could hear Tuck relaying what was happening to someone over the phone, but his sole focus was keeping that car in sight.

The truck’s tires squealed as he peeled across the parking lot and jerked it onto the street in time to see the car veer hard to the left down a side street. The driver had turned the lights off, making it hard to see it.

A mixture of fear and rage tearing through him, Clay used every trick he knew to follow. Up ahead the car veered right around the corner. Clay chased after it, tires squealing as he made the turn, the back end of the truck fishtailing slightly.

Another truck veered out in front of them. Immediately he hit the brakes. The pickup plunged to a sudden stop, the cab rocking.

“Fuck,” Clay barked, frustration pulsing through him. The goddamn truck was blocking him from moving around it and Zoe was already a set of lights ahead of them and zigzagging through traffic, gaining distance with every heartbeat.

“Local PD are on it,” Tuck told him, phone to his ear. “They’ve got the plate number and have an APB out. Don’t lose them, man.” His voice was clipped, urgent.

“I’m fucking trying not to,” Clay growled, finally getting enough room to squeeze between the other truck and a small sedan waiting at the light. He edged out into the intersection, ignoring the red light.

Cars squealed to a stop and a cacophony of horns shattered the quiet. He kept his gaze pinned on the car Zoe was in, saw it turn right at the corner two lights up. The engine roared as he pressed down harder on the accelerator, determined not to lose them.

But when he turned the same corner to give chase, the car was nowhere to be seen. “Do you see it?” he demanded.

“No. Fuck,” Tuck muttered, looking all around.

A queasy sensation gripped Clay’s stomach. No. She couldn’t be gone. He wouldn’t accept it.

He sped to the next street, scanned right and left. “See it?”

“No.”

Dammit!
He roared up to the next one. Still didn’t see it.

His entire body was drawn tight, ready to snap. He pushed the fear aside. Fear wouldn’t help find Zoe. He had to calm down, stay focused.

Tuck’s phone rang. He answered immediately, listened for a moment, then relayed to Clay, “Locals just spotted the car six blocks northeast of us. It’s heading west right now.”

Back toward the freeway.

Mouth pressed into a thin line, Clay hit the brakes and pulled a U-turn amidst more horns and pissed-off drivers, then sped back the way he’d come and took the first right. Whoever had dared to take Zoe was going to pay dearly for it when he got there.

****

Shaking inside, Amanda sped along the darkened road, looking for another place to lure Bauer to her. Driving without headlights at night was plain dangerous but she couldn’t think of another way to buy herself more lead time.

The new location had to be quiet, somewhere out of the way, yet close enough to a major road that she wouldn’t be trapped if she decided to run again. The panic tearing through her made it hard to think, let alone plan something like this on the fly. Damn Dominic for doing this to her!

She tried calling him on her phone, but it just rang and rang. Out of desperation she tried the earpiece one last time, though she was almost certainly out of range.

No answer.

She slammed a hand onto the steering wheel. “Damn you to hell,” she muttered.

Her hands were clammy, her armpits and upper lip damp with cold sweat. Frantically she tried to think of another location. During her initial scouting efforts she’d found another industrial area in a run-down part of town, mostly abandoned.

She swung the car hard to the left, gunned the engine and headed north toward the freeway. Zoe was silent beside her, but Amanda could feel the fear and tension pouring off her. Good. She wanted the bitch to suffer before she died.

Narrowly avoiding two collisions as she merged onto the freeway, she zipped into the fast lane and darted around slower moving cars. Just another three miles to her exit. If she could avoid the cops until then, she might still have a chance at pulling this off.

At her exit she turned off the freeway, toward the run-down section of town. A few blocks down the neighborhood shifted from dilapidated housing to more industrial-type buildings. She turned left, then right, and up ahead the shadowy outlines of the buildings she remembered came into view.

Her heart rate slowed a bit as she gained confidence. She circled the block twice, didn’t see any cops or anyone on the sidewalks.

Grabbing her cell phone, she pulled up the number Zoe had given her and shoved the phone back against the bitch’s ear. “Give him this address. He’s got ten more minutes to find us, or you die.”