Shadows and Silk (25 page)
She moved toward the kitchen since he was slowly circling the room, trying to trap
her. Another glass left her hand, and she noticed the small trickle of blood running
down the side of his face. Good, it served him right. The look in his eyes was dangerous,
but she wasn’t finished yet.
“And I’m going to tell every one of my brothers the things you’ve done to me,” she
said, throwing down her trump card. “There won’t be a place in this universe where
you can run and hide. I hope they cut your privates off and shove them down your throat.”
He
rushed
her
and she threw the final glass in her hand, but he swatted it away so it bounced against
the soft rug
and rolled under the coffee table
.
Darcy
turned to run through the kitchen
and
out
the front door, but he leaped over the bar that separated them and she knew she’d
never make it.
There was no escape.
He swiped at the blood on his face, and she
tried not to flinch
as he backed her into a corner.
Her back hit the wall, and she had nowhere else to run, so she stuck out her chin
and glared at him defiantly. She
had nothing to lose.
This was the end, and by God, she’d rather go out fighting than for him to remember
the tears she’d shed at dinner.
“So you’ve always belonged to me?” he asked, his voice dark and dangerous. “It should
have been you I married?”
He stood directly in front of her now, so close that every breath she took made their
bodies touch. She tilted her chin even higher, the dare in her eyes, when she answered
. “Yes.
”
“
Maybe you’re right. And i
f you were always mine, t
hen I guess it’s my right to take what belongs to me.”
His mouth slammed down on hers in a kiss that was more anger and pain than lust, and
she struggled against him, trying to hurt him as much as he’d hurt her.
Teeth and tongues collided, and she tasted the coppery tang of blood
in her mouth
.
She pulled at his hair and
clawed at his face and neck
, but he held her arms immobile even as
his body slammed her against the wall
.
Their breaths came in
short pants, and Dar
cy felt the moisture pooling between her thighs.
He could always make her want. That had never been the problem.
He lifted her arms above her head and anchored them with one hand, and she gasped
as he pulled the top of her dress down, tearing it as he exposed her breasts.
“This won’t solve anything,” she cried out as his mouth fastened over her nipple.
Fire shot straight to her pussy and she arched away from the wall and toward him,
seeking
desperately
what she’d decided to walk away from.
“Then think of it as a going away present. Because I swear to God you’ll never feel
what you have with me wit
h any other man. Remember this wa
s your choice to walk away.
Not mine.
”
The anger and hurt in his voice were like la
shes whipping against her skin, and he was right. No other man would ever make her
feel this way.
“I won’t settle for anything less than what I deserve from you. So take what you want
and then leave me in peace.”
He growled low in his
throat, a primal, angry sound
that had her flesh pebbling.
His hand skimmed up her thigh, raising the ruined dress so it hung at her hips, and
she gasped when he ripped the panties she wore and plunged his fingers inside of her.
“Ahh,” she cried out, clenching around him and drenching his fingers with
a hard, fast orgasm that left her limp and breathless.
Her head dropped and rested on his chest, and she was barely aware he’d released her
arms. His fingers dug into her hips and he jerked her against him, so she could feel
the hard ridge of his cock straining against his slacks. Her legs lifted and wrapped
around him, and Brant worked at his zipper and let his pants fall to his hips. And
then he was inside her, rocking high into her
, and she forgot everything except how right he always felt.
It was a fast and frantic race to the end. No finesse or soft words. Just the slap
of flesh hitting flesh and the groans and grunts of good, sweaty sex.
Her nails dug into his shoulders and her head flung back as she felt him swell inside
of her. He thrust one final time and her world exploded.
teen
Brant pulled out of her and let her legs fall to the ground, but he didn’t let her
move away as she started to straighten her clothes. He picked her up and carried her
over the broken glass into the
bedroom, and he sat her down next to the bed.
They were both subdued, and she didn’t look at him as she removed the tatters of her
dress. He looked at the clock and then began removing his own clothes
, their time before they had to leave dwindling.
“We’ve got to meet the others soon,” he finally said.
He sat on the edge
of the
bed,
suddenly exhausted and wishing he could just hold her for one more night. No sex.
Just the feel of her in his arms.
“You should
go ahead and get dressed
.”
She nodde
d and then went to the closet, and h
e watched
her closely every step of the way
.
She looked as defeated as he felt. Darcy
startled in surprise when she opened the closet door, and h
e
saw why when she pulled out a
neoprene suit in her size and the black waterproof pack that matched his own.
“They’d have dropped it off while we were at dinner,” he said, answering her silent
question.
“You’ll need to go in like the rest of us.
Have you ever worn a suit like that before?”
“I’ve done some diving,” she said.
She moved around the room silently, gathering a bathing suit and then grabbing the
powder from the bathroom so she could put on the diving suit. She seemed completely
unselfconscious about her nudity, as if she’d stripped everything bare and had nothing
to hide from him.
Brant knew what he needed to do to fix the mess he’d caused. Darcy had been right—he
was a coward. He loved her with every breath in his body, and he wasn’t going to be
able to let her walk away. He’d let his experience with Vivian destroy what could
have been made between him and Darcy, and it was no one’s fault but his own. She was
no longer a child, and he was no longer the man who’d try to escape her hold. But
would she believe him if he told her how he felt now? Or would she just think he was
trying to hold on a little longer?
Darcy pulled on another of those tiny bikinis she seemed to have in spades—
this one in bright red—and she did a quick check through her emergency pack to make
sure she had everything she needed.
He was just about to tell her
the words she longed
to hear when his phone started buzzing and the panic alarm on his
watch
shrilled.
“Get down, get down!” he yelled, reaching for his gun and rolling towards Darcy.
The windows
blew in and shards of glass rai
ned down on top of them
, and he shielded her to keep her from being cut
.
He felt the small slices of several shards against his own nakedness
, and he hit the switch on his watch to silence the alarm.
His ears were deafened by the concussion of whatever had blown the
windows
in, and he knew
without looking
the same thing had happened to the windows in the other rooms of the villa.
They were surrounded.
The lights went out, and he
kept Darcy beneath him. I
f the backup SEAL team didn’t get to them within another couple of minutes
they were going to be in big trouble
. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and he could see the outline of
men as they searched the villa, weapons in their hand. Darcy lay still beneath him,
but he could feel the panicked breaths she was taking. He squeezed her hand, trying
to comfort her, and she squeezed it back to let him know she was okay.
They were hidden partially behind the bed, and they’d only have a few seconds before
they were found.
Boots crunched over glass and
several men stood
only a few feet from where they lay. He held his gun up at the ready, knowing if
he took a shot they’d see their hiding place and likely return fire. And with Darcy
only shielded by his body, he couldn’t let that happen.
He
lowered his weapon, and the lights flashed on as suddenly as they’d gone off.
In the split second it took for his eyes to adjust, men grabbed his arms and lifted
him off of Darcy. He struggled against them, bringing one of the men to his knees,
and he fought harder as more men grabbed Darcy and
pulled her away
.
She struggled against them, digging in her heels and clawing at their eyes, and he
roared as one of them struck her in the face.
He had no way to
overpower them all. They came at him from all directions, and he fought furiously
as he tried to keep his eyes on Darcy. The snaps of broken bones and the grunts of
those on the re
ceiving end of his fists didn’t
slow them down. When he took
one to the ground there was another
ready
to take his place.
One of them had a knife, and he felt the sharp sting of a blade cut his arm before
he broke the soldier’s wrist and dropped him to his knees.
Darcy lay limp against one of the soldiers, her eyes dazed and a bruise already forming
on her cheek. The soldier picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder, and her
head jerked up so he could see the final look of fear in her eyes before she was taken
away.
He was losing too much blood and his left arm was all but useless, so when a fresh
group of soldiers came to restrain him, he didn’t have the strength to fight back.
“Darcy!” he yelled, still struggling as they brought him to his knees. “
I’ll come for you.
”
He could only thank God
she
wouldn’t be able to see them kill him.
Enrique Luna’s evil
black
eyes
met his and he laughed. He
heard
Darcy’
s scream as they took her away, a
nd then it was lights out
. T
his time there was no seeing through the darkness.
***
Brant woke with a start, a dull ache roaring through his head and a pair of furious
grey eyes staring at him from above. Nausea rolled through his stomach and
he
rolled to his hands and knees
while sucking in deep breaths. He tried to stand and
Declan grabbed him
under the arms
and pulled him to a standing position.
“Darcy?” Brant said, his mouth dry
and his vision blurry
.
He couldn’t have been out long, but he had to pull it together. Only one thing mattered
now. Getting Darcy back.
To hell with the rest of the mission.
“Gone, but we’ve got eyes on her.”
“Where the
fuck
was backup?” he demanded.
“Dead,” Declan said.
“
All of them. SEAL Team 2 was completely obliterated.
Someone fed Ramos their location.
”
“We’ve got a mole?” Brant asked, his voice quiet and deadly. He
could see the fine tremors of rage coursing through Declan’s body, and it wasn’t all
because of Darcy.
“I’ll take care of it. He’s a dead man.”
“
They were on us too fast, and there were too many of them
. I couldn’t stop them from taking her.”
Declan looked at the bodies that littered the floor of the bedroom, and Brant followed
suit. He hadn’t realized he’d taken out so many before they’d gotten her. The fact
that they’d left him alive was a miracle.
“You’re not Superman.
Though you’d probably be dead right now if we hadn’t shown up when we did. They scattered
like rabbits. Some of Max’s agents were able to pin a couple down.
Can you hang or do we leave you behind?”
“Like hell you’ll leave me behind,” he said, getting in Declan’s face. “She’s mine.
And I’ll bring her back.”
Dec nodded sharply. “Let’s go then. I’ll sew you up once we’re in the air.”
Brant looked down at the cut on his arm that was slowly oozing blood. Damn, Dec was
right. A
band aid
wasn’t going to be enough.
Declan tossed him some clothes and he dressed quickly, lacing his combat boots in
record time and checking his weapons as they crunched over glass and through what
was left of the villa.
He saw Max and Jade
, as well as a few other agents he recognized from DHS and the DEA
,
looking for survivors to interrogate or clues that would give them identities
.
Smith and Huxley
were
doing a perimeter check
of the house, and
Shane’s S
EAL Team was also present. Though t
hey’d have widened the safety
net
to keep the curious at bay until they could leave. The last thing any of them wanted
to do was deal with local law enforcement. And if they didn’t get out of here soon,
that’s exactly what they’d be doing.
This
group of men and one woman was the team
Declan trusted the most, and it was up to them to bring Darcy back.
There was no need to protect their cover any longer, and
two black helicopters sat on opposite ends of their private beach.
Declan tossed him an earpiece and he slipped it in while they ran out the back door.
“Pull out,” Dec said.
Shadows moved from the trees around him and Shane and the rest of his team appeared
out of nowhere, heading for the chopper on the right side of the beach. Max, Jade,
Smith and Huxley ran behind Brant and Declan to the one on the left. Brant had purposefully
left his shirt off until he could be stitched back together, and he was glad he did
once he’d settled in his seat because his arm was bleeding freely again.
Jade tossed him a bottle of water and he caught it with his good hand, taking off
the cap and drink greedily before pouring the rest over his wound.
He stared straight ahead as Dec sat beside him and pulled out the first aid kit, and
he didn’t even flinch as the sharp bite of the numbing antiseptic or the needle as
it pierced his skin. The pain meant he was alive, and being alive meant he could save
Darcy. He
had
to save her.
“Shane,” Dec said. “Do you copy?
I’d prefer to brief everyone at the same time.
”
Brant knew the SEALS would be on a different frequency. Their
orders were given by their own commander
, and sometimes their plans strayed from t
he norm if things went to shit.
“Copy,” Shane said. “We’re switching over now.”
“Ramos knows we’re all here,” Dec said. “He knows your name, Brant.
The reason h
e left you alive
was
so you’d have to search for her. It’s the same as his other games. Our only hope is
that he doesn’t know we’ve found him yet.
They left glyphs drawn on your shower door.
”
“How the hell did he find out Brant’s name?” Shane asked furiously. “He’s an undercover
agent
. That cover should have been protected.”
Declan finished stitching up his arm, and he covered it with gauze before wrapping
a bandage around it. Brant put on his shirt
and caught the dark green tube of paint Dec handed him to camouflage his face.
“Ramos found the girl we questioned in the alley,” Declan said. “Elena
Nayal
.
They tortured her severely until she told them about the American soldiers.”
“Son of a bitch,” Shane said softly.
While they tortured her, they showed her pictures of Brant and Darcy when they went
to the ruins the first day. The ruins were closed because Ramos had set a trap, waiting
to see if anyone might be interested in the glyphs besides his men. He had cameras
everywhere. Elena recognized Brant from the photos because he was with us when we
questioned her that night.
From the things they did to her, there’s no way she would have kept the information
to herself.
”
“No one blames her for that,” Brant said. Even the strongest agents could break under
the right torture.
“Did they kill her?” Shane asked.
“They tried,” Dec answered. “She was beaten severely and raped repeatedly. And then
they left her in the middle of the street in front of her home. She was awake and
able to speak when I saw her at the hospital
—barely
. She’s a fighter. But it’s going to take her some time to heal.”
“I saw Enrique Luna right before they knocked me out,” Brant said.
Dec nodded
.
“That’s where our
intel
failed us. We were looking at Marco as being the one Ramos was training to step in
as his second in command. The Luna money would have been a big help. But it was Enrique
who’d become the protégé. He’s barely eighteen years old, and his pockets are deep
thanks to his trust fund. But his father has the other accounts blocked until he reaches
a certain age.
”
Declan pulled out what Brant knew was one of the latest technology gadgets only a
few agents and military commanders with high enough clearance had access to at the
moment. It was a tablet a little larger than an
iPad
, but when Declan turned it on there was a complete 3D rendering of the ruin location.
It gathered all information—topographical maps and satellite images—and meshed them
together for a complete picture.
At least as complete as they could get without seeing it in person.
Brant knew Shane and his
team were
looking at an identical screen in the chopper in front of them.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Declan said.
