Still, Neo wanted to go after Gentry and the Kings with all the considerable skill at his disposal and take them the fuck down. He didn’t need military equipment to do it. Just his bare fucking hands.
Mendez rubbed his forehead as if he too felt the tension. “So what I’m hearing is these fuckers are extorting Kayla Jones—excuse me, Kayla Anderson—and threatening her child’s life and well-being. They’ve given her until Wednesday to get the money. Correct?”
“Yes, sir,” Viking said. As their team leader, he was the one who spoke for them all. Probably a good thing since Neo’s gut roiled with impotent anger. No telling what he’d say if he were the one giving the briefing.
Mendez picked up his phone and casually scrolled through it, and Neo wanted to explode.
“Hmm, that’s interesting. Looks like you boys have a team bonding day Wednesday. Not sure what Ghost has in mind for you, but I don’t expect to see you around HQ.”
Neo’s heart soared. Fuck yeah.
Viking didn’t miss a beat. He shot Neo a grin before answering. “That’s right, sir. We’re bonding.”
“Make sure you don’t use my equipment to do it,” Mendez added as he stood. Before they could join him, he made a hand signal to keep them in their seats.
“No, sir, not part of the plan.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to call Mr. Black and discuss our training methods with him.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Mendez strolled over to Neo’s chair and stuck out his hand. Neo jumped to his feet and shook hands with the general.
“Congratulations, Neo. I hope you’ll have a long and happy—and mostly uneventful—marriage to Kayla.”
“Thank you, sir. Me too, sir.”
The phone on the conference table blared to life. Viking picked it up.
“Lieutenant Commander Erikson,” he said in cool tones. He frowned. “What? Okay, yeah, put her through.”
He dropped the phone in the cradle and gave them a hard look. Neo’s gut twisted. He didn’t like that expression on his team leader’s face. He didn’t have his cell phone because of where they were in the facility, but he had a powerful urge to drop everything and retrieve it from his locker so he could call Kayla. The back of his neck started to itch like crazy as his stomach bottomed out.
“Chloe and Kayla didn’t show up at Ella’s,” he said. “They aren’t at work either. Ella called there when they didn’t arrive with Ana.”
The phone rang again. “That’ll be your wife, Money. Talk to her and calm her down.”
Money snatched up the phone and Neo stood there blinking in disbelief, his guts turning to ice.
“The Kings took them. But why?” he growled. “It’s not Wednesday yet. What the fuck,” he exploded. “We still had two days!”
His gaze met Dirty’s. His teammate’s face had gone white. He suspected his was the same. Kayla and Chloe and Ana. Missing. He loved all three of them. He’d kill for them, sacrifice himself—whatever it took. The look on Dirty’s face told him that Dirty would do the same.
And Camel’s. Camel had that dark cool look that meant he’d gone deep inside himself to a place of stillness. That place he used whenever he called on his skills to hit targets from afar. If they could get him a clear shot within a mile of the Kings, he’d take them out with deadly precision.
Mendez clapped a hand on Neo’s shoulder and he started. He’d forgotten the man was there. “Easy, son. We got this.” He headed for the door. “I’m calling Ian now. You boys get ready to roll. HOT equipment authorized for a joint exercise.”
Neo and his teammates ran for their gear. They were grabbing pistols and dragging on assault suits when Ghost appeared in the entry. Motion ceased as they waited for whatever he was about to tell them.
“James Dunn is dead. Hanged himself in his prison cell this morning.”
“Shit,” Camel swore. “That means Gentry’s in charge—and rewriting the rules.”
That was exactly what it meant. But what did the fucker want? Revenge? More money?
It hit him in dark place that Kayla could already be dead. And Chloe. Maybe not Ana. Probably not Ana if Gentry intended to sell her to the adoption agency.
Neo’s heart was a dead weight in his chest as his mind raced through all the possibilities. He wanted to scream. Cry.
Kill.
He couldn’t do any of it though. Not yet. He had to keep it together and operate on the assumption they were still alive. That he could rescue them.
Ghost’s secure phone pinged. “Viper says Black’s expecting you. Get moving, sailors. Find our family and bring them home.”
Neo’s eyes pricked with tears. He slammed his weapons in their holsters and headed toward the exit. Last thing he did was stop and grab his phone on the way out of the building. Two missed texts.
He opened them as the booted feet of his teammates echoed around him. He crashed to a halt and everyone else did too.
“What is it?” Dirty demanded, shoving his way to Neo’s side. “Is it Kayla?”
“They’ve got her phone,” Neo said as a tendril of cautious elation began to unwind itself inside him.
He didn’t have to tell his teammates what that meant. They all knew that a cell phone meant tracking. Especially for people with the kind of access they had. He turned the phone so they could see the picture of Kayla holding Ana with Chloe sitting beside them. Dirty growled.
“What do they want?” Camel asked, sounding a million miles away. In his head, he probably was. Envisioning his shots. Watching biker heads explode as his rounds connected.
“The price has gone up,” Neo gritted. “One million dollars by sundown.”
Kayla, Chloe, and Ana huddled together on a nasty bed in a nasty room in a nasty building, and Ana was crying. Kayla tried to soothe her, but
