“And the rest of you feel the same?” Command Jones asked, looking at each team member. Liam wasn’t asking the others to risk their careers for him. He hoped it didn’t come to that.
“We do.” They all said as one. Liam was floored by the show of brotherhood. Never would he have expected them to risk so much for him or Cora, but he was grateful. Now the decision was up to Commander Jones.
“What’s it to be, Sir?”
“You boys aren’t making my job easy.” Commander Jones shook his head in disbelief.
“If it were easy sir they’d let women do it.” Mike quipped. The guys chuckled, but the tension remained high in the room. Commander Jones could still say no and ruin everything.
“Then you boys leave me no choice.” Commander Jones stood up from his chair and straightened his jacket. His service medals gleamed from the overhead light. “Wheels up in ten. I suggest you get geared up.” Liam and his team just stared at the Commander stupefied, not comprehending what the commander just said. Did he just say wheels up in ten? “Nine minutes and fifty seconds, gentleman. Hanger 2. I suggest you don’t be late.” With that Commander Jones stepped out of his office.
“You heard the man,” Liam said before they raced to their lockers to collect their gear. It would be a long flight in and would be dark by the time they arrived. Liam could only hope and pray Cora would still be alive when he arrived. Liam shouldered his MK18 and checked his M9 before holstering it to his leg holster. They ran out to the hanger with only thirty seconds to spare. They pulled up, when they saw Commander Jones standing in front of the ramp of a C-17 wearing a flight suit and aviator shades.
“Sir?” Liam asked in question.
“I was looking for an excuse to get out of the office.” Commander Jones chuckled to himself. His hair blew in the breeze, but the Commander pulled out a foldable side cap and placed it on his head to keep it in place. “You don't think I earned my wings by sitting behind a desk my whole career, did you? I've flown over 70 missions and have countless hours of flight time. Let’s go boys.” The Commander waved them onto the ramp.
Liam didn’t waste another second. He ran into the cargo hold and took a seat with his teammates beside him. All to soon the cargo doors closed and the plane pulled back and took off. “Hang on baby. I’m coming.” Liam whispered, hoping he wouldn’t be too late.
Chapter Twenty-One
If Cora thought she hurt before, it in no way compared to how much pain she was in now. Alejandro’s men had most likely broken a few ribs using her as a punching bag. It hurt to breathe. Cora was petrified after Alejandro’s announcement that he was going to pimp her out to his men even though he had told her before she wasn’t going to be. Leave it to a criminal to lie. She could hardly fight them all off. It would be a fate worse than death. Cora thought about what Hannah might have gone through at the hands of this man. No one knowing where she was, and being at the hands of this man for weeks, and that was before the other places she had been held. It was a daunting thought. She refused to face the same fate if she could help it. She hoped they were still in California. Hearing the water told her she was on the coast, but the ocean stretched several hundred miles. After the video ended Alejandro turned his beady little eyes on her. She tried to shrink back from him, but his goons and the chains kept her in place. She had kept quiet for Liam’s sake, wanting to be strong for him, but now her confidence was shaking. The cold dead look in Alejandro’s eyes frightened her. And to think she had worked for him. Defended him to Liam. She was such a fool.
“I’m sorry our time together is going to have to be cut short, mi querido. Such a waste.” He stepped back and looked at his men. “Bring her outside. Soon all will get the message of what happens when you cross me.”
Cora tried to fight them as her shackled hands were being lowered. Her arms protested her movements as pinpricks of pain shot through her arms when blood started flowing back into them. She was easily subdued. One goon held her upper body, while the other held her legs. They walked towards the end of the tunnel. Cora had a fear of all the men who would be standing there waiting to take a turn at her. She kept trying to struggle, then stopped when they reached the end of the tunnel, that opened for a few feet before it hit the water. Lots and lots of water. She wasn’t on the coast at all. She couldn’t even see the coast. Where the hell was she? She looked around, and saw ocean all around her. The rock she was on was only 50 feet wide. An island? Where was there an island near Fort Irwin? Alcatraz was the only island she could think of, and it was a lot larger than this and you could still see land from it. It also had a structure on it not just a rock structure.
“Did you think we were still in your precious California?” Alejandro chuckled at her confused and shocked face. “We are at my home, mi querido.”
Holy shit. She was in Panama? She was in Panama. Oh, she was so dead. How would help get to her? Did anyone even know where she was? “Where’s Liam?” Cora had to know where he was. Since he wasn’t in the cave and they were on an island she knew he
