Chapter 21
Mason crouched behind a tree at the back of Hutton’s property. The probe team advanced on the house. Now the rest waited for confirmation of whether or not the intel was good. Once they had all the information, they could move in.
Rescue Jess. Kill the terrorists.
There was no other plan, as far as he was concerned.
“We have movement,” Ben said over comms. “Two tangos inside the house.”
“Any sign of the friendlies?” Lance asked. They stayed clear of using the term hostages during an op. Sometimes words could be mistaken over comms. Hostage may come out hostile and put men into action. Usually someone ended up injured or dead, and no one wanted to be responsible for killing a hostage.
“Negative. Whereabouts of friendlies are unknown.”
Mason glanced over at Lance. He knew there was a basement, and had a strong feeling Jess and her mother were being held there. But doubt filtered through his mind. Under any other circumstances the lack of hostages sitting in the great room in full view of the windows wouldn’t have been questioned. But they were in the middle of BFE, where the closest neighbor was over two miles away without a line of sight into the house.
What if they were wrong? What if Jess and her mother weren’t here?
The answer sent a chill through Mason. He locked down any thoughts of her being killed in some other part of the world, while he sat, safe, in upper Maine.
“Be advised we have a barn on the northwest corner of the house, approximately two hundred feet from the west entrance. Maybe thirty by thirty. One point of entry on the south side.”
“Fuck,” Mason said. “How did we miss that?”
“It’s under the trees,” Lucas piped in. “Satellite imaging wouldn’t have picked it up. And they may not have filed the proper permits to build it.”
“Six,” Lance said, using Lucas’s code name for the mission. “Can either you or Seven see inside the structure?”
“Negative, Three—” Jake said. “Hold the phone, we have a new tango exiting the house and carrying something large into the barn. Something big…can’t quite make it out.”
Mason’s heart thrashed in his chest. His breathing hitched. Was it Jess? Was she already dead and they were disposing of the body?
“Tango A and B are still in the house,” Ben said. “I didn’t see where our barn Tango came from inside the house.”
Two minutes later, groans came from Jake and Lucas. “Tango C in the barn set up a light,” Jake said.
“Fucking bright light,” Lucas added. The men were wearing NVG’s—night vision googles—which picked up scant bits of light and amplified it. Bright lights would blind the men.
“Tango C is leaving the barn and reentering the house.”
“Can you get inside the barn?” Riley chimed in over comms.
“Not at this time, Lilypad. Tango C is returning with what appears to be another light,” Jake said.
Ben broke in over comms. “Be advised, Tango C came from the basement.”
“Tango C is leaving barn and closing the door. He has reentered the house.”
“We have eyes on Tangos A and B and a friendly leaving the house via the south sliding door from the great room,” Gabe whispered. “Friendly has her hands bound and is not dressed for the cold weather.”
“Two, you and Four fall back to the woods and keep eyes on them,” Riley instructed. “Do we have an ID on the friendly?”
“Older female,” Gabe said.
Mason wasn’t sure how he felt. On the one hand, Jess’s mother was still alive—for the time being—but was being led to her death. But it wasn’t Jess.
Was she still alive?
Guilt swamped him. Sweat rolled down his back between his shoulder blades. If Jess was already dead, was it wrong that he felt some relief in not having witnessed her death like he might be witnessing her mother’s?
“Tangos A and B and Friendly A are on a direct course to your position, Three,” Ben said.
“Copy, Two. Stay back. We don’t need to tip them off to our presence and send word back to the house.”
Mason, Lance, Mick, and Colt fanned out. They walked through the forest without a sound. Ghosts under the cover of darkness.
“Gents, Apollo and I have done a quick recon on the barn. He signaled explosives inside the premises. I can confirm C4 and charges in the southeast corner of the structure,” Sean said.
“Enough to bring down the building?” Jake asked.
“Affirmative,” Sean replied. “And probably the house, as well.”
“Good to know,” Lucas said.
“Tangos have halted,” Ben said. “Tango A is talking, but not sure what he’s saying—shit!”
A shot cracked through the air not far from Mason. The sound reverberated through the trees.
“Go, go, go,” Lance said into comms. The group moved swiftly toward the area of the gunshot. Lance was in the lead position. He stopped behind a tree, his arm straight out behind him with his hand up. Mason, Mick, and Colt halted.
Mason peered cautiously into a small clearing. A man Mason didn’t recognize watched the events in front of him. He pointed the barrel of his rifle at the ground. “What are you waiting for? Finish the job.”
A woman writhed in pain on the ground.
“Oh, no, I’m not going to kill her. No, I will let nature take care of Mrs. Baylor.” A man stood over her. He leaned closer to the woman. “I shot you in the shoulder on purpose. You will bleed out slowly. Your scent will attract the wildlife. Pray you die before they find you. Being ripped apart by a bear or wolf will be a slow and painful death. I will hear your screams, though. I will hear your screams, and it will make me very happy knowing you will soon be with your murdering cunt of a daughter. She’s also going to die slowly, painfully. Think of that while the life drains from your body.”
Mason wanted to charge the man. Rip him limb from limb. Beat him to a bloody pulp. But he couldn’t chance taking the two terrorists out now. As far as the team knew, there were only three tangos. If these two didn’t return, the remaining tango would kill Jess before looking for his comrades.
The only thing that gave Mason any comfort was the knowledge that Jess was still alive. So was her mother. If they played this the right way, both women might survive.
The Russians left. Ben informed the team when they passed he and Gabe and made their way back to the house.
Mason darted from his cover and dropped to the ground next to the woman. Blood seeped from her shoulder. The snow under her was bright red.
“Are you Alicia Baylor?” Mason asked, slicing the zip-tie from around her wrists and carefully rolling her onto her back.
“Yes,” she answered, her voice rough.
“Is Jess Baylor inside the house?”
She nodded. “In the basement.”
Mason took a deep breath and steadied his emotions. “Is she…is she alive?”
“When they took me away, she was.” She opened her eyes and stared at him. “Are you Mason?”
He stilled. How the hell does she know my name? “Yes, ma’am.”
“She said you would come. She said you would save us.” Her fingers curled around his upper arms and she tried to pull him closer to her. “You have to save Jess,” she whispered.
A large lump lodged in Mason’s throat. “I will,” he choked out. “I promise.”
The comms crackled.
“We have eyes on all three Tangos,” Jake said. “They’re heading into the barn with the other friendly in tow.”
Jess.
Mick and Colt were busy attending to Jess’s mother. “We need to get her back to the forward,” Mick said to Lance.
Lance nodded. “You and Colt take care of her.” He looked at Mason. “You ready?”
Mason nodded. Rage fueled him. Relief swam through his veins. He had one more chance to save Jess.
To save them both. And start a future.
* * *
A man shoved Jess into the barn. She stumbled and fell to the ground. Dirt choked her. Her hands were still secured behind her back. Yanked her up by her arm, she was forced to kneel. Jess slid her gaze around.
Lights were secured to the tops of poles. The sheer brightness of them burned into her eyes. In between the stands, she could barely discern a video camera on a tripod.
“Do you know who I am, Ms. Baylor?” the man asked. He had a thick Russian accent.
“No.”
“My name is Yurik Stepanov. You knew my son, rather briefly, before you killed him.”
Jess’s blood ran cold, and fear swept over her. “It was self-defense.”
His heavy open hand hit her face and knocked her to the ground. Pain ripped through her cheek and stabbed straight through her eyes to the back of her head.
“You murdered him.”
“He attacked me because I turned down his advances.” The pounding in her head, the fact that this man was responsible for the deaths of so many people she loved, spurred some kind of courage in her.
She knew she was going to die soon. And there was no longer any reason to hold back in the hopes Stepanov would change his mind. If she had something to say—and boy did she ever—the time to speak her mind was now.
Her time was short. And this was her last chance.
“Your son was an arrogant prick with obvious low self-esteem. His narcissism is the reason for his death. God forbid a woman not be interested in him. If a woman said no, he just took what he wanted. How many other women did he attack? Force to have sex with him?”
“Shut up, bitch! You will not talk of my son that way.” The backside of his hand hit her left cheek.
She spit blood, and glared at him under her eyelashes. “What’s the matter, Mr. Stepanov? Does the truth hit a little too close to home? Does the apple not fall far from the tree? It doesn’t take much to figure out that Daniel learned how to treat women from his stellar example of a father.”
Stepanov fisted the front of Jess’s shirt and lifted her off the ground. His face was a couple inches from hers. She could smell his putrid breath. His nostrils flared. Eyes were dark and wild with rage. “You are correct, Ms. Baylor—I taught my son that women are whores and are only good for fucking and producing offspring. Most aren’t even good at those things. I see what my son saw in you…you’re very beautiful. And that mouth…”
Yurik licked his lips. A jolt of revulsion ripped through Jess’s stomach. “Those lips should be around a cock. But my son did have one failing…he didn’t realize that no woman was worth chasing.”
The two other men returned to the barn. Yurik glanced over his shoulder at them, his firm grip still suspending Jess. “Is it done?”
The men gave each other side-eyes. “Yes,” Alexei said while the other man dropped his gaze to the ground.
Jess’s heart ripped to shreds. Her mother was dead. They had not been close, but she was her mother. And the ability to make up for all the time they had lost was gone.
Another regret Jess could add to her growing list. She was almost welcoming death to rid herself of the immense guilt that swamped her.
Yurik dropped Jess, and she sprawled across the hard ground.
“Get her up,” he directed to the two men. They each took a hold of her arms, and forced her to kneel in front of the camera.
Peripherally, Jess watched Yurik unsheathe a knife. He pointed the tip towards the camera. Alexei stepped closer to the tri-pod, hit a button, and stepped away. A small red light flashed, indicating the camera was recording.
“Now, Ms. Baylor, you will atone for your sins. You will admit to killing my son, and you will accept your punishment of death.”
Jess clamped her mouth shut. Fuck you! No way was she saying anything. This asshole was going to kill her no matter what. She would not give him the satisfaction of making her say anything.
Fingers slid through her head. The vision of Laura rolled through her memory. She knew what was coming next.
She had one chance to leave Mason a message. Looking straight into the camera, she mouthed, “I love you, Mason.”
She prayed he saw it.
Her head snapped back.