Sydney Ortez had been the one to tell him about this sweet spot. Before Drew had gone in undercover, Sydney had used her satellites and her computer magic to try to find him a safe contact zone.
Safe, but not one hundred percent secure. Because in a situation such as this one, you never knew when the enemy might decide to take a stroll and blow your plans to hell.
Drew fired a quick glance over his shoulder. The phone was clutched tightly to his ear. One ring...
“I know about your problem,” the voice on the other end of the line said. No identification was necessary. Drew instantly recognized the voice of his team leader, Dylan Foxx. The former SEAL had been the one to convince Drew to join the EOD in the first place. The two men had become old friends on the battlefield, on missions that they’d never discuss. So many years—so many missions. Through them all, Dylan always had Drew’s back.
“Yeah?” Drew surveyed the area around him, trying to make sure no one was close enough to hear him. “So what the hell are we going to do?”
“Keep her alive,” Dylan responded instantly. “Mercer knows what’s happening. He says that Dr. Jamison’s survival is priority.”
Mercer knew. Right. The guy had eyes and ears everywhere.
I’m a set of eyes and ears for him now. “Does he realize I’m the one undercover here?”
“He does, and he said that you should make certain you stick to the doctor.”
“They think she’s his daughter,” Drew stressed. How long would they keep working under that wrong assumption? How long until someone figured out they’d screwed up?
There was silence from Dylan, then he asked, “Is she?”
No. But Drew didn’t give that immediate response. He trusted Dylan, of course he did, but there were some secrets he couldn’t share.
Drew was one of the few people in the world who knew that, yes, Bruce Mercer actually did have a daughter. But that daughter wasn’t Tina. “Hell if I know,” he said.
It was a good thing Dylan wasn’t there to see him. The guy had always said that he could read any lie on Drew’s face. Lucky for Drew, the bad guys didn’t have such an easy time of seeing past his deception.
“Tina Jamison wasn’t supposed to be involved in this case,” Drew growled. “No way. Who messed up? How did this happen?” Tina wasn’t the bait for the trap they needed.
“I don’t know.” He could hear the frustration in Dylan’s voice. “That’s why I asked if she actually is his daughter, because that’s the only thing making sense on my end. We gave Devast’s men the false trail. They were supposed to follow it to our operative, not to Dr. Jamison.”
Something had gone wrong. Very wrong. Now Drew had to stop the train wreck before Tina was killed.
There was a murmur in the background then Dylan said, “Get back to her. Word just came down that someone is about to send proof of life to the EOD.”
Drew ended the call and started back toward the main house. Proof of life could be anything. Providing proof was the standard deal in an abduction case. That proof could be a video of the prisoner. A phone call from the captive.
It could be a severed finger. An ear that had been sliced off. That kind of physical evidence was actually often needed. High-profile prisoners were valuable and, before they were ransomed, their DNA had to be confirmed.
He couldn’t let anyone cut into Tina.
He checked his weapon. Fully loaded.
Then he kicked up his speed and raced frantically back to Tina.
* * *
THE REDHEAD WAS BACK. Tina stared up at him—no, she stared into the guy’s phone. He’d turned the phone sideways; he was video-taping her.
“This is what we call proof of life,” he murmured. “We need you to prove to your dear old dad that you’re still alive.”
They weren’t proving anything to her father. Her father was dead. So was her mother. They’d both died shortly after Tina’s eighteenth birthday.
Their blood had soaked her fingers. She hadn’t known how to save them.
I do now.
“Look into the camera,” he ordered her. “Say your name.”
The door opened behind him. Drew. Drew was back.
It got easier for her to breathe then.
She stared toward the redhead and his phone. “My name is Tina Jamison.”
“Good girl,” the redhead murmured. Lee. That was his name. She’d heard one of the other men call him that earlier. “Now tell us the date.”
She did. Her voice didn’t tremble. Tina was proud of that fact.
“Bruce Mercer, we have your daughter,” the redhead said. His voice was cold and flat. “She’s alive right now, but, if you don’t follow our orders exactly, she won’t be alive for long.”
Tina kept staring at him.
“We want an exchange,” Lee continued. “Her life for yours.”
That wasn’t going to happen. Not ever. Mercer was too important. He had ties to too many governments, too many agents, too many secrets.
She was just the doctor who patched up the team members.
I’m expendable.
Bruce Mercer wasn’t.
“For every day that you delay, we will hurt her.”
Oh, wait. What?
“We gave you proof of life,” he continued. Her eyes narrowed. Was he recording these images of her? Or streaming them live to Mercer? If the fool was streaming them, the EOD would be on top of this group in hours. Sydney would trace the signal back to this location.
His hold tightened on the phone. “Now it’s time for proof of pain.”
He’d barely even got the words out before the other guy—the blond who’d kept her terrified for the past hour—came at her with his knife.
Tina tensed, but the knife just went to the ropes that bound her. Carl cut through the ropes that circled her right hand.
“What the hell...” Drew began.
“Slice off her finger,” was the order that followed.
Carl smiled.
Tina tried to jerk her hand back.
She couldn’t. He was too strong.
“Stop!” Drew bellowed.
He wasn’t stopping. The knife pressed toward her hand.
Tina looked away.
But the blade didn’t slice her skin. Instead she heard the brutal thud of two bodies colliding. Her head whipped back toward that sound. Drew had just slammed into Carl. He’d tackled him, and both men had hit the floor. The knife clattered away.
“What are you doin’, Stone?” Finally, Lee had dropped his phone. The video show seemed over.
Drew pounded Carl’s head into the floor. Then he leaped to his feet. “You aren’t cutting her, Lee.”
“I’ll do anything I want!” His chin jutted out, and Lee motioned to the other two men who stood against the back wall. “Take that fool down.”
They ran toward Drew.
But they were the ones that hit the floor.
As he fought, Tina began to yank at the ropes still around her. Now that her right hand was free, she could escape. Her fingers were shaking as she undid the knots on her left hand. Then she started jerking at the ropes that tied her feet to the legs of the chair.
Grunts filled the room. The crunch of bones. The fight was brutal and—
More men were rushing inside.
Drew put his body in front of hers.
She untied the last knot and jumped to her feet.
“You aren’t hurting her!” Drew shouted.
Then she heard a new sound. A very, very loud boom. A gunshot.
Drew’s body jerked at the impact, but he didn’t stop fighting the men who came at him. Of course, he didn’t stop.
A killing machine.
He took down another man. Broke the nose of the fourth guy who rushed at him.
Hard hands grabbed Tina. A gun was shoved against her temple. Then Lee ordered, “Stop!”
Drew whirled. His gaze dipped to Tina’s face, then back to the face of the gunman—Lee. “You a
ren’t killing her,” Drew said. His lips twisted into a humorless grin, one that was ice-cold. “She’s no good to you dead.”
“True.” The gun lifted away from her. “Though it seems that you are no good to me alive.”
He was going to shoot Drew again. Kill him while she watched. “No!” Tina yanked free of Lee’s arms with a wild burst of strength. She put her body in front of Drew’s. “Don’t!”
Lee hesitated. His gaze went from her face back to Drew. “Interesting.”
“I’ll cooperate,” she said, desperate because more men had run into the room. Alerted by the sounds of battle, they’d rushed inside. Now she and Drew were surrounded by guns and by men who looked as though they were ready to fire those guns at any moment. “I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll get my...father to meet your demands.” Such a lie. “But, please, don’t hurt him.”
Carl had dragged himself off the ground. Blood dripped from his busted lower lip. “T-told you,” he stuttered to Lee. “Stone here got sweet on the girl during his night duty.”
“I think it’s more than that,” Lee said. A shrewd understanding filled his eyes. “Get some cuffs. Snap ’em on him.” His head cocked to the right. “Cuffs will hold him better than rope.” Then his lips lifted into a cold grin. “Even better, cuff him to her.”
* * *
SO MUCH FOR keeping his cover in place. He’d sure blown that fast enough.
As soon as that knife had come close to her fingers, he’d attacked.
Where was the ice? When the knife had hovered over her delicate hand, rage had ignited within him, driving right past his control.
The cuffs bit into his wrists. He wasn’t surprised they’d used cuffs on him instead of rope. But when it came to thinking that the cuffs would be more secure than the rope, Lee was dead wrong.
They’d taken him and Tina into another room, a smaller room, with no window and sealed with a heavy, metal door. They’d cuffed one of his hands to hers, and his other hand—they’d cuffed it to a metal pole that came straight out of the floor.
Carl smirked at him. “That will hold you until it’s time for us to play.”
Play. Right. Wonderful.
Lee stood in the doorway behind Carl. “You know, Stone, there was something about you that I never liked.”
Carl drove his fist into Drew’s gut. He grunted. The jerk sure knew how to deliver some pain with a hard punch.
Lee sauntered into the room. He pushed Carl back and glared at Drew. They’d taken Drew’s weapons. They’d also given him plenty of punches in the other room, despite Tina’s pleas for them to stop.
They weren’t exactly the type to show mercy. He didn’t expect any.
“You’ve got secrets, don’t you, Stone?” Lee said. His left brow rose. “If that’s even your name.”
Drew smiled. “You know you’re a dead man.”
Lee’s lashes flickered. The flash of fear was obvious as the guy stepped back.
“I’m sending the video to Mercer. The video of his daughter...and the video of you, getting your butt beat.”
Drew shrugged. “I don’t think Mercer will care that some jerk he doesn’t know was attacked.”
“Maybe. Or maybe...just maybe...he does know you.” Lee’s gaze cut to Tina. “You made a mistake.”
Saving her? No, it hadn’t been a mistake. Saving her had been worth every second of pain.
“You looked at her with a lover’s eyes, and you’ve never looked at anyone like that before.”
Every muscle in Drew’s body stiffened. Lee wasn’t as dumb as he looked. He’s too observant.
“I’ve seen you with plenty of women. You play around, you drink, and you don’t care what they do when you’re done.” Half of Lee’s mouth hitched up in a taunting smile. “But when you looked at her, when you burst into that room and saw me cutting her, your eyes were different. I saw you.”
This was bad.
“And you went crazy when I let old Carl loose on her.”
He forced his back teeth to unclench. “Carl shouldn’t be turned loose on any woman.”
“She’s not just any woman, is she? You know her.”
Tina wasn’t speaking beside him. But he could hear the sounds of her breaths, coming far too fast.
Then Lee advanced toward her. He grabbed Tina’s chin. “And you know him, don’t you?”
“No!” Tina cried.
Drew could almost believe her denial.
Almost.
“Well, I’ll find out. I’ll send this message to Mercer, and then I’ll be back to see just what secrets you have...you and Stone here. When I let Carl begin to cut him, I’m betting either he’ll talk—” Lee’s fingers tightened on her chin “—or you will.”
“Leave her alone,” Drew ordered.
Lee shook his head. “See, that’s what I’m sayin’. You get too protective for a man who doesn’t know her, and that makes me wonder... Just how do you know her? How would a man like you know Bruce Mercer’s daughter?” Menace layered his voice. “Want to know what I’m suspecting?”
“Not really. I don’t give a damn,” Drew retorted. He just needed Lee and Carl to get out of there so he could escape and get Tina to safety.
“I think one of Mercer’s agents would know her. I think you’re a man with a certain set of skills, skills a guy like Bruce Mercer would appreciate.”
“You’re thinking way too hard,” Drew told him. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
Lee’s eyelids flickered. “Getting an agent in here, monitoring us...that would be a Mercer move,” Lee continued as he stepped away from Tina. With a nod, he said, “Maybe you are the killer I thought you were—only you’re killing for the U.S. government. Not for HAVOC.”
Drew made himself smile. The bullet was still in his shoulder, and it hurt, throbbing and burning constantly. But he was used to ignoring pain, so he shoved that burn deep into the back of his mind. “If I am EOD, then you need to be watching your back. ’Cause maybe—” he deliberately tossed the word back at Lee “—I got a team here, backing me up. Maybe this little place of yours is about to explode around you.”
No, it wasn’t. Drew’s team wasn’t close enough for that fast of an attack. They wouldn’t even realize he’d been compromised at this point.
But Lee didn’t know he was bluffing. And all of a sudden the guy started to sweat as worry sank in deep. “We need to sweep the perimeter!” Lee said as he spun toward Carl. “I have to make sure the place is secure.”
With the big boss coming in, the guy wouldn’t want any screw-ups.
Lee grabbed Carl’s shirt. “You get outside that door. You make sure that no one enters and no one leaves until I get back.” His hold tightened on Carl. “I trust you. You came up with me through the ranks.”
How wonderful for them. Drew’s eyes narrowed as he filed that little piece of information away for later.
“In case this jerk has any other teammates here undercover, I want you securing him. No one but me comes in here, got it?” Lee demanded.
Carl nodded. “Got it.”
After firing one last fuming glare at Drew, the two men marched from the room. The door slammed and Drew heard the distinct sound of the lock setting into place.
“I’m sorry.” Tina’s voice was hoarse.
He grunted and yanked against the pole. He didn’t have anything with him that he could use to pick the lock on the cuffs, so he had to find another means of escape. Yanking down the pole seemed like a fairly good option number two.
“The bullet is still in you, isn’t it?”
“That’s the least of our trouble.” As soon as Lee realized that EOD agents weren’t about to swarm the place, the guy would be back. He’d torture Drew then kill him, and Tina would get an up-close seat for that bloody show.
The pipe began to groan.
“What are you doing?”
Drew figured there was no point in sugarcoating things with her. “You know this is a torture room, right?”
/> Her breath rushed out.
“See the drain over there? It’s so they can hose the place down when they’re done and just wash the blood right away. Fast and easy cleanup.” Lee had transferred them into that room so that he could fully take advantage of the facilities.
Lee had plans.
Drew was ready to destroy those plans.
“He should’ve checked the equipment,” Drew said softly. “Sloppy mistake.” Lee had probably cuffed other prisoners to this pole before to hold them in place.
But one thing Lee seemed to have missed...desperate prisoners struggled. The men and women that Lee had hurt in the past would have struggled desperately to escape from the pole—and the pain.
And their struggles had loosened the pole. It wasn’t fully embedded in the hard floor any longer.
Perfect.
“Drop with me,” Drew ordered in a low whisper. He didn’t want Carl hearing them.
Without a word, Tina dropped with him. The floor was cold and hard, and it smelled of blood. Hell, he wanted her out of that place. No way did Tina belong in a room like this. He yanked again against the pole and then...then Tina was there, adding her strength to his. She’d positioned her body closer to his, and she was jerking on the pole with him.
It groaned again, and Drew stilled. “Wait.” Because he didn’t want to alert Carl, not yet.
But Carl didn’t come rushing into the room.
“Again,” Drew whispered.
They yanked again, and the pole lifted off the floor, just a few centimeters, but that was all Drew needed. He slid his cuff under the pole and his left wrist was free.
Hell, yes.
He jumped to his feet and Tina rushed up with him. “What about this one?” she said, tugging on the cuff that connected their wrists.
“That one’s going to have to stay.” Until he could find something to pick the lock or find a saw to cut the cuffs off. And if she was going to stay cuffed to him, then Tina needed to realize... “We’re going to be targets.”
Her eyes were wide. Stark.
No glasses.
He swore. “Just how much can you see?”
“I’m fine. I’m near-sighted, so I can see up close pretty much perfectly.”
Which should work, since she had to stay up-close with him.