A Force of Three [Elite Dragons 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (14 page)

Please, please, please, let that be where Jones is taking me!

Friday, 6:00 a.m.

Linton pulled the truck into the yard of the warehouse, lowered his mental shields, and scanned as he got out. He hoped to feel that Nyssa was close by, but he could pick up no trace of her presence.
Dammit.
It was probably for the best, though. If he felt Nyssa, he’d go in guns blazing no matter the consequences. The doors to the warehouse building were wide open, and as he walked toward them, two men met him.

“I’m Linton Wade, and you are?”

“David Jones, this is Douglas Smith.” Jones offered his hand.

Couldn’t they think of better names? Why use the surnames Smith and Jones more than once?
These assholes didn’t look like doctors. Maybe they were using their real names. They were probably just lackeys hired by Marcus Keaton and John Golding, aliases Dr. Jones and Dr. Smith.
Didn’t criminals have an imagination?
Hmm, and they’re both nervous. I wonder why?

“Do you have the package?”

“Yeah, it’s a biggun’. You’d better back your truck up to the doors so we can load it up.”

Linton did as told and then watched as “Smith” and “Jones” loaded a large metal box. It was welded shut as well as padlocked on both ends and one side but it had breathing holes in one end. He could feel the fear emanating from inside the box and wanted to kill these two bastards where they stood, but he couldn’t. It would jeopardize the whole mission if he did, and even though he felt bad at having to leave the two women inside, he would do what he had to. Linton made a show of examining the padlocks. “Won’t they want me to open this up when I get to the border?”

“We were told you can get anything across,” Smith said.

“There’s no need for you to open it either.” Jones narrowed his eyes.

Linton shrugged as if this wasn’t suspicious. “Okay, I’d better get going if I’m to get to Canada by the deadline.”

He had arrived at the warehouse early in case his cargo was the two missing women. He had hoped to be able to release them from whatever prison they had been stashed in, but it seemed that wasn’t meant to be. But he would make damn sure they were as comfortable as possible on the long trip to his destination.

“Safe trip.” Jones smirked.

Linton got into the truck and drove away. As soon as he was out of sight of the warehouse, he called the sheriff.

Once he asked the sheriff to arrest the two men at the warehouse, he pulled up to a gas station and bought two large bottles of water and grabbed a handful of straws. When he was clear of town he pulled into a rest area where he was to meet Codi, Stedman, Ward, and Bronsin and climbed into the back of the truck with the bottles. He glanced at his comrades-in-arms but ignored them. He wasn’t about to blow their cover because he might need them as backup. He saw their grim expressions when he climbed into the bed of the truck.

“Are you all right, ladies?” Linton asked, but there was no answer. “Okay, I’m going to presume you’ve been drugged. My name is Linton. I’d let you out if I could, but there is another woman missing, and if we are going to get to her safely, I have to leave you where you are. I’m sorry.

“If I break the weld on the seals the people on the other end will see and start shooting. I’m not sure what would happen to you if they see that the box has been tampered with. It would take too much time to let you out, weigh the box down, and weld it shut again. I don’t have an arc welder handy, and to be honest it would take too long to bring someone with those skills to us. I have a deadline to meet and the life of another woman to save.

“Try not to worry. As soon as everything goes down we will let you out, but for now we have a long trip ahead of us. I have to drive you across the border into Canada and meet with the leaders of this ring. Please don’t be scared. I’m part of an elite black operatives group, and we will get you out of this safely.

“I’m going to push a straw through the holes. I have water for you, but don’t drink too much. I don’t want you getting sick. I’ll stop regularly and give you more. Okay?”

Linton sighed. He wished they could answer him. He wanted to know that they were all right. After pushing four straws together to make one long one, he inserted it into one bottle and threaded it through the hole. He only hoped it was long enough. Watching the bottle he saw the water level drop.
Thank you, God.
When he thought it was enough for now, he withdrew the straw and moved across to another hole. Again the water level dropped. He looked at his comrades-in-arms and saw the fury and helplessness on their faces.

“Okay, ladies. Just try and get some rest. The weather is cool and staying that way today, so you shouldn’t dehydrate too much. I’ll stop again in a couple of hours.”

Linton got back in the driver’s seat and headed for Creston. Codi, Stedman, Ward, and Bronsin followed behind but kept at a distance, so they wouldn’t be seen as traveling together. He didn’t think they were being followed, but he wasn’t about to risk the lives of the women he was transporting or Nyssa’s life.

* * * *

Bryden, Seton, Wolf, and Lander had traveled through the night hoping to get close enough to the vehicle Nyssa was in so they could follow it, but as the hours passed, the emotions Bryden had been reading got fainter and fainter. He’d lost her. Pain sliced through his chest at letting her down, but the effects of keeping his shields down had left him exhausted.

“Don’t give up, Bryden. We’ll get her out.” Seton looked at him in the rearview mirror.

“We just have to be patient, man.” Wolf gripped his shoulder. “We’ll meet up with Coulter, Trace, and Corbin, and when the call comes in from Linton we’ll be the first ones in.”

“That fucker shouldn’t have been able to take her in the first place. I thought by setting her up with the tracking and communication device that she would be safe.”

“You couldn’t have predicted that he’d accidentally rip the device from her ear. It’s not your fault, Bryden. From what you said, he planned to take her from the start.”

“We should never have asked her to do this.”

“It wouldn’t have made any difference, bro. Nyssa was going to be abducted no matter what. At least we’ll be able to get her out faster than the other two missing women. God knows what they’ve been through.” Lander sighed.

* * * *

Bryden glanced at his cell when it rang. Finally Linton was calling after he and the rest of the team had been waiting on pins for hours on end. He and the others had met up with his team leaders thirty minutes previously, and they were all now sitting in their hotel room in Creston, Canada. “Do you have the location?”

“Yeah,” Linton replied and gave him the address. “I have the two missing women.”

“Hang on and I’ll put you on speakerphone. Coulter, Trace, and Corbin and the rest of the team will want to hear this.”

Fury began to boil in Bryden’s gut as Linton described how he’d had to transport the two missing women.
Is that how Nyssa has been transported?

“I should be on location within forty minutes. I put the pedal to the metal a few times, but I made sure the women were okay.”

“Just give us time to reconnoiter and set up. Call back when you’re close,” Coulter ordered.

“Will do.” Linton disconnected the call.

“Lock ’em and load ’em, boys. We’re heading out.”

Bryden led the way to the truck. He was going to rescue the love of his life, and if he had to give his own to keep her safe…so be it!

* * * *

Linton flashed his badge at the border patrol officers and was waved through. As soon as he was clear of the traffic, he pulled onto the side of the road. It was time to give the women another drink.

He climbed into the back of the truck. “Can you move or talk yet?”

“Yes,” came a faint reply.

“Are you all right?”

“We’ll be okay,” the other woman said. “We’ve lasted for weeks with those assholes. We can endure a few more hours.”

“Good. Okay, I’m going to give you some more water.” Linton poked the straw through a hole and explained things as the women drank. “You probably heard me talking to the border patrol. We are approximately ten minutes out of Creston, so it won’t be long before you’re out of there. I have to deliver you to a warehouse not far from the town center.” A whimper of fear made him pause. “Please don’t be scared. I have team members already surrounding the place, and as soon as I have handed you over, we will be storming in and taking these fuckers down.

“Sorry about the language. We are going to leave you in the box until we’ve arrested everyone and, as I said, they’ll see if the welds are broken. Plus I don’t want you getting in the line of fire. I’ll make sure the box is out of the way. Just try and stay calm and remember we will get you out as soon as we can. There will be paramedics on standby, too.”

“Thank you,” a woman sobbed out.

“Okay, let’s get this over and done with. The sooner I hand you over the sooner this will end.”

“God bless you and keep you safe.”

Linton felt a knot of emotion form in his throat. He was trained to do this and would be fine. He was wearing a Kevlar vest beneath his shirt and had concealed weapons. What worried him most was Nyssa. Would she get caught in the crossfire?
Not if I can help it.

* * * *

The drug was wearing off, and she was so scared and cold that her whole body was shaking. Nyssa heard the drone of the engine slow once more and then the vehicle stopped. A car door slammed and then she heard the sound of doors close to her opening.

“Dr. Jones. You have the package I see.”

“Yes. She was very easy to take, didn’t give me any trouble at all.”

“Good. You’ll need to give her another dose. I don’t want her yelling or making any noise overnight.”

Nyssa whimpered when she heard that other voice and shuddered with revulsion. Whoever it was sounded so polite and cultured, but she knew they were anything but. She remembered hearing that voice from the recording on Bryden’s laptop. The sound of his voice made her feel sick. She was terrified at the idea of being drugged again and wanted to put up a fight, but whatever they had given her was wearing off only slowly, and she could barely move her arms and legs. There was nothing she could do.

Metal scraped against metal, and she bumped against the side of her tomb. She was being moved. Tears leaked from her eyes and trickled down her temples to her ears. Trying to stave off the tears was hard, but in the end she managed it. She licked her dry, cracked lips, trying to get a small amount of moisture on them, but she was so thirsty even her tongue felt swollen.

How much longer before her men came and got her out? It had to be close to midnight if not after.
Are they going to leave me in the box all night?
Is it even still nighttime?
She had no concept of time at all.

The box was dropped with a resounding crash onto the floor. Nyssa felt the bone-jarring impact through her whole body. Her head bounced, and pain shot through her skull. The lid was lifted, and before her eyesight adjusted, someone stabbed a needle into the side of her neck.

“Give her something to drink. We don’t want her dying too early.”

Nyssa looked up at the man standing beside Dr. Jones. His blank stare would have made her shiver, but the drug was already doing its job. She was once more paralyzed. Another man walked forward and then another. They all stood around her open tomb staring at her. She memorized their faces because if she was eventually rescued and any of them managed to escape the net her men had set up, she was going to make sure the fuckers went down. Anger began to replace the fear and she glared at each and every one of them.

Her men
were
on the way and they
would
rescue her.
Think about those two other women and what they’ve been through. Embrace the anger, girl, because you may need to use it.

Nyssa was given a few sips of water, but nowhere near enough to quench her thirst. When she was lifted from her metal tomb she sighed with relief, but that relief was short lived. She watched as Dr. Jones set up chains and metal bars with handcuffs attached. Dread filled her gut as she was carried over to the contraption. Her arms were lifted and the cuffs locked around her wrists. Then she was lowered slowly until her feet touched the floor, but because she was paralyzed she couldn’t stand up. Pain screamed through her shoulders, arms, and wrists. Her flesh tore as the metal cuffs dug into her skin and she could feel blood trickling down her arms. Tears flowed from her eyes again and this time she let them.

Please let them find me and the other women soon, God, but keep my men safe, too.

The drugs in her system were making her feel lightheaded, or was that the pain? It didn’t matter. Nyssa let herself sink into the darkness for the blessed relief of not having to feel.

“Is everyone in position?” Linton asked through his cell.