“Yeah, those Dunn men are real sentimental about their own flesh and blood. Asshole.” Kayla rocked Ana while she ate. Her eyes were still swollen and her face was red, but at least she was quiet now. Maybe she’d have tired herself out enough to take a nap.
Kayla sniffed and wiped her nose on her shoulder. She stuffed her tears down deep, determined to stay strong for Ana. And Chloe, though Chloe didn’t seem to need any help in that quarter. Her friend was so stoic. It amazed her.
“These guys are definitely assholes, I’ll grant you that,” Chloe said. “But they aren’t as bad as Travis and his militia. They’re downright welcoming compared to that group. Travis beat me within an inch of my life when he captured me. He’d planned to kill Ryan when he came to get me, and then he was going to rape me before killing me. Oh, and he threatened to let his militia have a go at me too.”
“How did you survive it?” Kayla asked, horrified.
“Well, I was scared, I won’t lie. But then I realized that I loved Ryan and he loved me and no way in hell was I letting him die because of me. I was going to fight and give him a chance to get to me.” She smiled. “It wasn’t easy, but that’s what happened. I escaped but Travis caught me. Then I stabbed him. But Ryan was there before Travis could shoot me. He took Travis’s gun away, and I got it. I was going to kill him, but Ryan talked me out of it. I wanted to kill him so bad, but Ryan was right that it would haunt me if I did. So I didn’t. Then Travis pulled a pistol he’d kept hidden—and Ryan shot him before he could shoot me.”
“Wow.”
Chloe shrugged as if it was nothing, though Kayla could tell she was still emotional about the incident. “So you see, it’ll work out. Ryan found me before. He’ll find me again. He’s searching for me, same as Zach is searching for you. They’re pissed as hell, Kayla. They’re pissed and they’re coming. These guys should really be thinking about that. But they probably aren’t based on the fact we’re parked in a room with an outer wall and there’s nobody in here with a gun to our heads just in case—and I’m not telling them.”
Kayla hugged her baby a little tighter. Not so tightly she set off any fussing. “I wish I had your faith, Chloe. I really do. But it never works that way for me.”
“It will this time.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Love. Love moves mountains. And when your man is a lethal killing machine trained and sanctioned by the US Navy? Honey, nothing can stop him. Just do what it takes to stay alive until he gets here. Because he will be here.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
They didn’t have the luxury of waiting until nightfall to raid the building where the Kings of Doom were keeping Kayla, Chloe, and Ana. The SEALs rendezvoused with Ian Black’s security forces, otherwise known as the Bandits, and piled into a couple of high tech SUVs owned by Black Defense International. Jace Kaiser and Brett Wheeler were in one vehicle with half the SEALs while Colt Duchaine and Jared Fraser were in another.
HOT was liaising, which was permitted by the Congressional Act that prevented them from participating in law enforcement operations—even if this wasn’t technically a law enforcement operation—and Ian and Ghost were sharing information on locations and cell phone tracking data.
Neo sat with his head back and his eyes closed, listening to the conversation around him but thinking about Kayla and Ana. Kayla, with her beautiful smiles and the underlying fear in her eyes that something would always go wrong, and Ana with her chubby cheeks and her enthusiasm for saying “Za!” at the drop of a hat.
If anything happened to either one of them, he’d go insane. He wanted to fix this for Kayla. To prove to her that it didn’t always go wrong. That she could depend on him to be there every time she needed him.
I’m coming, beautiful. Hang in there.
His heart hurt and his brain whirled with hot anger. Dirty was in much the same boat over Chloe, and Camel wasn’t far behind. The damage to Bailey if Kayla and Ana were killed would be irreparable, and Camel would have a long road to travel with her as he tried to pick up the pieces and keep her together.
Neo had texted Gentry back and agreed to meet him later. He wasn’t going to keep that meeting because he and his team were blowing in like a fucking typhoon and taking Gentry down before it happened.
“Cell tower data indicates the women are in the same location,” Jace Kaiser said. “We’ve got the coordinates. Heading there now.”
Neo opened his eyes. They were gritty and he blinked a few times to clear them.
“You with us, Neo?” Shade asked, and Neo blinked at his teammate.
“Yep. Ready to kick some biker ass.”
“If Chloe has one scratch—one,” Dirty growled.
“Somebody please tell me the assholes are sitting in the open,” Camel added. “I’ll pick every single one of them off before they even hear the first shot.”
“Calm down,” Remy “Cage” Marchand said. He was their team’s second in command and he glared at them all now with steely eyes. “You assholes know that failure is not an option here. Concentrate on the task and worry about killing the fuckers after we have our objective.”
“We aren’t killing anyone,” Brett Wheeler said. “If we don’t have to. That’s not the mission. Rescue the hostages. Capture the bikers and turn them over to law enforcement.”
“You don’t really think those assholes are going to surrender without a fight?” Neo said. “They demanded one million fucking dollars by sundown. Does that sound like a group of jerks that aren’t looking for trouble?”
Brett grinned at him in the rearview. “Nope, but I gotta say what I
