“I have eyes on her. And the situation is not good.”
“Kidnappers?”
“Two tangos confirmed, but there may be more.”
Her phone in one hand, her pistol in the other, and leveled at Crane, Devlin gritted her teeth at the man while weighing her options. Crane’s offer, Once I’m in the air, I’ll tell them to release her, collided with Randall’s Intel. Two tangos confirmed, but there may be more.
“Say the word, Jessica, and I’ll kick down the doors.”
Crane spread his arms further apart while turning palms skyward. “Just so you know...my men have orders to kill her if they don’t hear from me in a timely manner.”
Her heart thumping in her chest, her phone sticking to her perspiring skin, Devlin studied the man. My men have orders to kill her. She envisioned Randall breaking down a door. Two tangos confirmed, but there may be more.
Crane shook his head. “She doesn’t have much time left.”
Randall: “I need an order, Jessica.”
Her nose wrinkling, Devlin breathed deeply before exhaling. “Stand down. He’s promised to let her go.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“No.” A tense moment passed. “But what choice do I have? They could kill her the second you go in.” She lowered her gun. “Stand down, Randall. That’s an order.”
Crane grabbed the staircase handrail and took a couple steps.
“And just so you know, Crane...”
He stopped and looked back at her.
“...if Faith is harmed in any way...I’ll go to the ends of the earth to hunt you down.”
“Of that,” he smiled, “I have no doubt.”
“And when I find you,” she paused, “I won’t be bringing you back to stand trial.”
He caught her underlying message, and his gleeful countenance faded away. In the next moment, he touched fingertips to his right temple and rolled them her way, “I bid you farewell, Marshal Devlin,” before disappearing into the cabin.
It’s staircase retracting, the Bombardier Global Express’s Rolls-Royce engines revving, the jet taxied toward the runway.
Crane dropped into a seat and took out his cell phone. While the call connected, he reclined, crossed his legs, and half smiled at the ceiling. “I’m almost in the air.” He glanced out his window and saw his tenacious nemesis staring back at him. “Do what you want with the broad.”
∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞
.
Chapter 14
You Should’ve Fought Harder
11:47 A.M. (LOCAL TIME)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Stepping sideways, getting further behind the backhoe to shield his eyes from the sun that had peeked out from a dark cloud, Randall squinted at the scene playing out inside the home.
The tall man ended a call, slid the phone into a pocket, and shoved Faith.
She tripped and landed face first on a couch.
Devlin: “Talk to me, Randall. What’s happening?”
The shorter, stockier man approached Faith from behind.
“Are they letting her go?”
The man curled fingers into the waistband of her shorts and wrenched the loose-fitting garment off her body.
“I don’t...” Randall drew his Walther, “think...” He set his jaw. They’re going to rape her. “I have to go.”
“Rand—”
He clicked off and raced to the back of the house, his mind formulating a hasty plan that involved a surprise attack through the back door.
*******
Staring at her firm butt, Linebacker balled up her shorts and tossed them aside.
Completely nude, Faith flopped onto her back, brought knees to her chest, and thrust her heels into Linebacker’s groin.
Bowing, covering himself with both hands, he backpedaled before rearing up and reversing course. “You,” he cursed. “I’ll—”
Mason planted a hand on the other man’s chest, stopping him. “I told you. You get what’s left over...after I’m done with her.”
The men exchanged heated glances before Mason jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Go bring the car around. I want to be gone as soon as we’re done here.”
Still holding his smarting testicles, Linebacker glowered at Faith and stormed out of the room a beat later.
Alone with his prey, Mason drew closer to Faith.
She kicked out her legs.
He redirected them and pounced onto the sofa, landing on her and pinning her to the furniture.
Her hands still tied behind her back, her long frame curled up into a ball underneath him, she fought back.
He gained the upper hand, bent the bound woman over an arm of the couch, and stood behind her.
Panting, near exhaustion, her energy reserves drained from lack of nourishment, she heard a zipping noise come from her six o’clock. I can’t believe this. She let her body go limp.
“That’s right. Don’t fight it.”
How could you let this, her inner voice trailed off.
“Just relax, Ms. Mahoney.”
This is all your fault, Faith. Bracing for the inevitable, her right cheek laying on the seat cushion, she shut her eyes. You should’ve fought harder.
*******
The hairs on the back of his neck rising at the sight of a wide-open back door, Randall inspected the thick woods behind the house before creeping through the doorway.
Once inside, he noted steps to his left, steps leading to a basement. No time to clear it. He faced forward. Faith needs you.
Fearing a surprise assault from behind, his stomach muscles contracting, he advanced through a vacant mudroom and dining room before stopping at an archway. Glancing up a flight of carpeted stairs on his port side, he listened before squinting down a darkened hallway on his three o’clock and spying closed doors on both sides.
“Who knows?”
Randall whipped his head toward his twelve o’clock, toward a man’s voice.
“You might even enjoy this.”
Recalling what he had witnessed from the front yard, that Faith was moments away from being violated, he gripped his gun tighter, crossed the hallway, zigzagged through an empty room, and crept down another hallway.
“I know I will definitely enjoy it.”
Coming to a wide entrance on his right, Randall slowed. His mind making calculations, he estimated this was the room he had been peering into from outside—the living room—the location where the assault was taking place. His gun up and close
