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“I see a hangar. There’s only one. Nothing on the tarmac. If they’re still here, they have to be inside the hangar, waiting out the storm,” Burke said. “We’re going to have to walk. ”
They couldn’t take the chance of tipping off Delgado. The element of surprise might be their only possible advantage. They didn’t even know how many men were in the hangar, between them and Jessa. Everyone would be armed, for sure. They didn’t know exactly where Jessa was being held. Inside the plane? Deep in the hangar? Did she have a gun to her head? Was she tied up? Had Delgado already assaulted her?
Every one of those thoughts terrified him, but he couldn’t give in to panic. Rushing in wouldn’t save Jessa, just get them all killed. And Burke didn’t have his head on straight.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Cole assured him. “We don’t have time to go into freaking therapy over this, but you have to know that. Hilary was living out some fantasy in her head. That is not your fault. ”
Burke’s face turned down. “I knew she thought of me as more than a boss. I should have found some way to gently squelch her feelings long ago. ”
Cole groaned. He knew what his brother was thinking, but Burke had to let it go. “I knew she had a crush on you, too. But neither of us ever imagined she would go to such lengths. You can’t go after Jessa with your head all fucked up. Put the guilt and shit out of your mind for now. You have to go in there confident in one thing. ”
His brother finally looked at him. Cole could see the guilt weighing him down. “What is that?”
“That we have the right to protect her, to love her. She belongs to us, and we’re going to save her. No more mistakes. No more letting things come between us. ” Cole had been right where Burke was. In many ways, he still struggled not to fall into that dark place in his soul. But he refused to let guilt and doubt cost him another minute with Jessa. She might never forgive them, but by god she would have to deal with them. She would have to see them because he wasn’t going to let his son grow up without a father. And he wasn’t going to let her be alone again. Even if he had to protect her from afar, he would.
Burke took a deep breath. “I love her. ”
“And she loves us. We just have to remind her. ”
Cole felt a deep sense of relief as Burke’s eyes hardened and his hand curled around the Glock on his lap. “We’re going to kill him. ”
Cole understood what his brother meant. No matter what happened, Marco Delgado was going to die. They wouldn’t hold him for the police. They wouldn’t make a case against him and hope that the justice system worked. Marco Delgado’s trial was over. He was guilty, and his punishment would be swift.
“We’re going to kill him,” Cole agreed.
They took a moment to discuss strategy, making a few assumptions based on what they knew of Delgado, combining tactical experience. They threw in a few prayers for good measure.
“Then let’s go. ” Burke tucked his gun under his coat and took off in the pouring rain.
Cole followed. There was no other person he would want watching his back than the man who shared half of his soul. And he knew one thing for sure. Somehow, someway, they would win.
* * * *
Jessa shivered. She tried to hold it in, but she’d gotten drenched in the rain, and now the cool air of the hangar in which Delgado held her prisoner mingled in her blood with shock. She couldn’t stop shaking.
“There’s no use pretending, Miss Wade. I know you’re awake. ”
His voice filled her with dread. She’d come back to consciousness as they were carting her into the hangar. She’d listened to him scream about the weather and threaten to kill the pilot, who had simply told him that taking a small plane into straight-line winds was the same thing as putting a bullet in his brain, and the bullet was faster.
Marco had backed off, but he hadn’t been happy about it.
There was a long sigh. “Keeping your eyes closed will not solve the problem, Miss Wade. And you’ll continue to be cold. If you give up the game, you’ll find I’ve provided you with a blanket. ”
There was a tense atmosphere pervading the hangar, but Delgado seemed to have calmed down. Having little choice, Jessa opened her eyes. She would have preferred to play possum for a while longer, but she was freezing. And the drugs they had given her made her head ache.
She sat up, a dizzy feeling taking over. She was inside the plane, but she could see the lights in the hangar from the small windows. Delgado sat across from her, a glass of amber liquid in his hand. He seemed perfectly comfortable. Just a businessman about to go on a trip in style.
God, if she didn’t do something, this was the end. She wouldn’t see her baby again. He would grow up, and he would forget her face. She would be a ghostly vision in photographs, a simple image who wouldn’t mean anything to him. He would have another mother figure. Tears squeezed from her eyes. Her baby. She would give anything to hold him one last time, to feel his hands patting her cheeks, to rub her nose against his.
She had to trust and pray that if Cole and Burke were still alive, they’d take care of her son. Oh, she wasn’t giving up. Jessa intended to fight until the bitter end. But at the moment, the odds for an escape tonight weren’t looking good. And if Cole and Burke weren’t alive… God, that thought was too painful.
“Are they alive?” She had to ask.
The last thing she could remember was the world lighting up around her and thunder cracking through the room. Cole and Burke had tried to get to her, protect her. She’d reached for them, but her ears had been ringing and her vision had been blurred. And then she’d felt the sharp stab of the needle entering her flesh. Nothing after that.
Delgado took a long sip of his drink. “Yes. Though I doubt they’re happy about it right now. I can only imagine the terror they feel. It is horrible to know that your loved one is in danger when you know where to find them. I imagine the terror is a million times worse when you do not know where your loved one is. ”
He smiled, seemingly satisfied with the pain he was causing. Jessa breathed a sigh of relief. Burke and Cole weren’t dead. They would look for her. She might not trust them with her heart, but they wouldn’t let her down in this. They were heroes. They would never stop until they found her.
Delgado’s plan chilled her to the bone. She’d heard him talking to his guards while she’d pretended unconsciousness. She would be sold, used. Something she’d only done in a loving fashion would be forced on her by men she didn’t know. After hearing what Alea had gone through, terror filled her. But she would survive somehow. She vowed to stay alive until they found her.
Then she’d see her son again. No matter how long it took. No matter what she had to endure.
And she wasn’t taking shit from this asshole.
“You know a lot about causing pain. The women you sell into slavery have families, you know. ”
He stopped in the act of drinking, his hand freezing in midair. It tightened around the glass, and then he set it back down. “You have a very narrow view of the world, Miss Wade. This is the way it works. The strong use the weak. You can be a predator or you can become prey. My father taught me that. You are a lovely woman. Your only mistake was choosing weaker men. The Lennox brothers think they can change the world, but I’m going to show them that the world does not wish to change. The world has worked as I have explained it since man first walked upright. It will work this way long after I am gone. ”
Delgado clearly believed it. It made her sick. “I’m not interested in your lecture. I’m sure you have a hundred intellectual reasons to excuse your bad behavior, but I don’t care. I’m not buying your crap. The world isn’t always that way. There are some people who genuinely care and want to help others. Those people would be appalled and horrified by you. ”
“They are nothing to me. I don’t care. ” His perfectly coiffed head shook. “You are so naïve. No one cares. ”
“Burke and Cole
do. ” They had fought against this man. The fight might have taken them away from her, but they had saved women and put families back together. They had done good. How much more could they have done if they’d had more help? A whole team and a huge pool of resources? What could a foundation do? They were soldiers. They wouldn’t think about things like that. But Jessa had grown up in a world where money made a difference.
What if her money, her connections, could help bring women out of their dark prison and back home?
“I’m going to take you down, you know. ” Tears blurred her eyes, making the world seem watery, but she found an odd strength. She was here. The worst was yet to come, and yet she felt strong, powerful. He could do what he liked to her, and she would still fight. Her cause was just, and she wasn’t some woman who lightly accepted what fate handed down. She rolled with life, made changes as necessary. She had walked away from wealth because the cost was too high. She’d given birth to a son alone. Some people in her life loved her. She was worthy, and no one could convince her otherwise. And she wasn’t going down without a fight.
Delgado threw back his head and laughed. “I love the spirited ones. You’re like beautiful horses, you know. I love to ride. My father spent many hours teaching me. He believed that the stubborn horses made for the best ride. I will teach you, too. I will break you. ”
“You will try. ” It wouldn’t work. She would close her eyes and dream of Burke and Cole. She vowed it. When someone touched her, she would divorce from her body and reach for them in her mind. She would shut out the pain and be with them. She would survive.
He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. “I will win. ”
She pulled the blanket around her and glanced around the plane. It was small, with only six seats in the body. Gavin James’s plane had been larger, but the layout similar. The door at the back was open. An armed man, leaning against the wall with eyes half closed, blocked the staircase leading down. She could see the inside of the hangar by looking out of the three small windows. They made a mural of the world outside, but not a whole picture. How many men lay between her and freedom?
Delgado sat across the aisle, beside her. She could see the gun on his belt. Besides the guard at the door, she could also see two others walking outside the plane and the pilot in a folding chair, reading a magazine. The guards patrolled the area, but there was a relaxed feel to the operation. One sort of shuffled along, and the other stood just inside the hangar door, smoking a cigarette. They believed they’d already won.
She watched, wondering if they would all be on the plane when it took off or if some would stay behind. She hoped for the latter. She was studying the man smoking just inside the hangar when the door opened slightly, just a foot or so, and the smoking man disappeared into the night.
Not as if he’d walked into it, but like he’d been taken.
She sat up straight, felt her eyes going wide. What had just happened? The man had disappeared…and no one seemed to notice. The pilot appeared absorbed by the magazine in his hands. The man in the doorway of the plane stared at his feet and yawned as though the sound of the rain was making him sleepy. No one seemed to have noticed that one of the guards had just—poof!—disappeared.
“What?” Delgado asked, turning and looking out the window.
Jessa scrambled. “I was just wondering where we’re going. The pilot doesn’t seem very friendly. Does he have any experience? I don’t like to fly. ”
Anything to turn his attention away from that window.
Delgado turned back, taking another sip of his drink. “Wilcox? He’s been in my family’s employ for years. It’s the only reason he isn’t dead now. ”
But he was dead. Jessa watched as Burke stalked the man, coming from behind. In one swift move, he grasped the man’s head and twisted. The pilot’s neck turned far past the point where he could live. Burke let the man slip out of his grasp and caught his magazine. The pilot slumped over in his chair, and Burke set the magazine on the concrete as Cole stalked into the hangar, sans the smoking guard.
They were here. They’d come for her.
“I don’t like to fly. I don’t want to fly. ” Jessa let her voice rise high, putting a little hysteria behind it. Any distraction could give Burke and Cole the advantage they needed.
The guard hovering at the plane’s stairway came awake, but he fixed his stare firmly on her. His eyes rolled as though he’d expected her to be difficult.
Oh, she could absolutely be difficult.
Delgado laughed. “I’m taking her to a brothel where she will be raped multiple times a day in ways she can’t even conceive of, and the stupid bitch is complaining about the flight?”
He and the guard exchanged a look. Jessa took those seconds to watch as Cole, his hair plastered to his face, soaked to the skin, moved like a wraith toward the guard pacing the hangar. He moved so fast for a big man, his feet lighter than she could imagine. The guard didn’t stand a chance. Cole had an arm around his neck before he could move.