It was dark and smelled horrific, worse than any bomb Mr. Darcy let loose. Where the hell was she? She tried to move but she was tied or chained to something. There was no moving anything but her fingers, and she was blindfolded. Just great. It made it impossible to tell where she was or if she was alone.

“Ari?” It was barely a breath of sound, but she’d recognize that voice anywhere.

“Shira?”

“Shhh. Don’t move. They think you’re still out. Move your finger if you understand.”

Ari moved the fingers of both hands; not sure which side Shira was on. At least she had confirmation that she was still alive.

“They took everything you were carrying, and then when they searched you they found your phone. They weren’t gentle when they did it either. One of the guys was pretty pissed for some reason.”

“Great.”

“Shh, what did I say?”

If things weren’t so dire, she’d probably laugh. Typical Shira tossing out all kinds of comments and questions and not letting her answer. It sucked that they found her phone, but she wasn’t sure how much longer the battery would have lasted anyway. Hopefully it worked, and John would find them before it was too late. If only her luck would hold.

“The bitch is awake.” Okay, so much for luck. Time for Plan B, only problem, she didn’t have a Plan B, at least not yet.

“Good.” That was the voice of doom from the phone. She decided it couldn’t hurt to make a case for releasing them.

“I think you should let us go. You have my purse, which means you have the SD card you wanted. We are nothing to you. I’m blindfolded I can’t even identify you.” A sudden burst of bright light blinded her temporarily. So much for not being able to identify them. As her vision refocused, she noted that they were in a big open loft, still under construction. Shira was sitting next to her, her face bruised and swollen, with blood running down her cheek.

“I’m sorry.”

“Shut up, you twat, did anyone tell you to speak?” Asshole. Yup he needed to be kicked in the balls and hard. That’s when she realized she wasn’t scared, just pissed off. She’d finally gotten past all the crap to the anger phase. They had roped her into this, it was all out of her control—just like Wolf and John had said. Now she would make them sorry.

“What are you going to do, kill me?” Maybe that wasn’t the best question.

“It would be my pleasure, bitch.” Dirtbag number one made a fist then slammed it into her right cheek. Pain, stars, then lights out.

Iced water made for a rude awakening. This time when she opened her eyes, she was face-to-face with the dirtbag asshole who’d punched her. Too bad she couldn’t move her feet, she’d have kicked him in the balls so hard he’d have to get them surgically removed from his windpipe. Thinking about it made her smile, which on second thought, might not have been the best idea. He was getting ready to punch her again when the other man, who seemed to be in charge, stopped him.

“No. I need her alive for now.” Saved by the Chinese voice of doom from the phone. Wonderful.

“You son of a bitch,” Shira yelled as dirtbag asshole number one kicked over her chair and she landed on her side on the floor with a loud thud.

“Ariana, do you really want to be the reason your friend dies today?” the voice of doom asked.

No, she didn’t, but she had to find a way to stall for as long as possible to give John a chance to get there. She could see five dirtbags but there might be more. Would John have help? She hoped so, or it might be close. Even so, her money was still on John.

“I told you, the micro SD card is in my purse. You don’t have to hurt her, I brought what you asked for.”

“You mean this one?” He held a small memory card in front of her face.

“Maybe? They all look the same and I didn’t see where you got that one.” Her answer earned her another slap from the voice of doom, and dirtbag one used a bat on Shira’s left leg. Her screams echoed throughout the loft. Ari wanted to throw up. She didn’t know what to do, or how to get out of this. How would she ever make it up to her?

“I got this from your purse. It’s not right. It has pictures of a dog.”

“Oops. My bad.” That earned her a punch in the stomach from dirtbag asshole one. She couldn’t breathe it hurt so bad, but at least they hadn’t touched Shira that time. Silently she prayed for John to get there soon. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold out.

“I don’t think you understand the severity of your situation, Ms. Nelson. No one knows where you are, and they’ll never find you unless you give me what I asked for.”

“And then what? You’ll kill me quick?”

“Yes. And leave your body in one piece so they can find you.” Oh man, that didn’t sound good at all. The other option scared the crap out of her.

Shira was still on the floor and whimpering. Ari had no idea what to do. She didn’t have the damn micro SD card, and had no idea where it was. “Are you going to cooperate?”

“I don’t have the card, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Paul never gave me anything. If I knew where it was or what it was I’d give it to you. I sure as shit don’t want it.”

“That’s not good enough.” Voice of doom said in a voice dripping with ice. She knew it was coming this time, but it didn’t make it any better. Harder even than the last punch it knocked her chair backwards and she hit her head on the concrete floor and blackness swallowed her up.

More ice water revived her. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out. What was it with these guys? Did they really think she was holding back when they had her tied to a chair lying on the cement and shivering?

“I don’t have it,” Ari said through chattering teeth. Shock was setting in. She’d read about it; her body couldn’t deal with much more. From where she was she couldn’t see Shira any longer, but a low whimpering told her she was still alive at least.

The longer this went on, the more she wondered if her phone had died before Tex had a chance to locate her. Maybe John wasn’t coming. There was a good chance she was going to die on that floor and never see him or Mr. Darcy again. A tear mingled with the remnants of the water they’d poured over her and dripped down her face. But she wasn’t crying for her, it was for John, Mr. Darcy, and Shira. The people she’d hurt all because of her involvement with Paul. Thinking about him gave her the energy to fight a little longer, and maybe her knight would appear.

***

Colin arrived as John along with Wolf’s team figured out how they were going to breech the building. The other SEALs had brought their full gear, although if anyone learned they were operating on American soil there would be hell to pay, but John didn’t care.

Cookie, Abe and Dude were going to get up to the roof from the building next door and go in through windows on the top floor. Since they didn’t have any idea where they were holding Ariana they figured it was best to go top and bottom. But Colin had information from an infrared scan of the building.

“This is what we know for sure. There are two hostages located on the third floor back right quadrant,” Colin said as he read the information from his phone.

“Two? Who’s the other one?”

“We think it might be Ari’s friend, Shira. No one has seen her since yesterday. But we don’t have confirmation.”

“Fuck. That’s it. That’s what I couldn’t figure out. It’s how he got her to come. She’d never let Shira suffer for what she believed was her mistake.”

“That’s a good woman you have there,” Abe said to John.

“I know. I just hope we’re not too late to save her.”

“How many targets?”

“There are five with the hostages, two on the first floor and two on the second.”

“Okay, we change the plan,” Wolf said. “Abe, Cookie, and Dude you clear the first floor. Me, Riot, and Mozart will take the second floor and rendezvous in the landing. Go in quiet and no guns. We don’t want to tip them off we’re coming.”

“Ten four.”

“Benny, you stay with the Marshall and send status as the latest intel comes in.”

“Will do.”

“Everyone good? Questions? Concerns?” Wolf asked.

“I want them alive if possible. We need to find proof of the mole in the FBI,” Colin requested. It was the last thing John cared about, but he understood Colin was doing his job. The last time he’d gone off book he’d lost a witness, Tex had filled him in on that earlier. His actions made more sense to John now, but he still wasn’t putting anyone or anything before his woman.

John handed Mr. Darcy’s leash to Colin. “We’ll do our best, but I’m not making any promises. The hostages come first.” They stared each other down but finally Colin nodded slightly. “Mr. Darcy, you stay here. I’ll bring our girl back soon.”

Except Mr. Darcy wasn’t going to stay put. He pulled his leash out of Colin’s hand and ran after John and the SEALs. “Fine, you can come, but you need to listen, and be quiet, no woofing and definitely no stink bombs, got it?”

“You know you’re talking to a dog like it’s human?” Mozart asked John.

“I know, and half the time I think he is a human in dog form.”

They cleaned out the targets and neutralized the bombs without any issues, and met in the stairwell to the third floor. “All clear?” Wolf asked.

“All clear,” they repeated back.

“Boss, we have some movement on three. Two of the targets are coming your way.”

“Ten-four. Dude, you and Abe take them down. Riot and Mozart watch their six.”

Two minutes later, they reported all clear. “Okay, this should be easier now. Three targets, two hostages. Watch out for booby traps.”

As they stealthily climbed the steps, John prayed she was still alive and not badly hurt. Mr. Darcy was at his side the entire flight and he prayed that he wouldn’t give them away if he saw Ariana. But the dog obeyed, and as they passed through the doorway they were able to pull off the surprise attack.

Mr. Darcy made a beeline for Ariana as soon as John said go. The SEALs took out the three remaining targets, with ease. They even kept one of them alive. John hoped it was enough for Colin, because he was lucky he got that. As soon as they saw them coming, they’d opened fire with machine guns. Lucky for the SEALs they were terrible shots. As soon as the situation was stable, Wolf advised Benny.

As John approached Ariana his heart almost stopped. Mr. Darcy was lying on the floor licking her face and whimpering. Covered with blood, her face bruised and swelling, he didn’t know if she wasn’t moving because she was tied to the chair or if they were too late.

Kneeling, John checked for a pulse. It was there, faint, but there. She was still alive, barely. “I need a knife over here and we need a medic. Both of the women have been badly beaten.”

“Shit.”

John looked up from tending to Ariana to see Colin kneeling next to Shira. He looked shell shocked, and he felt for the man. His assignments were usually blood and injury free, unlike most of the SEAL missions.

“Shira? Can you tell me where you’re injured? I want to move you.”

The voice from the woman on the floor was nowhere near the one he’d met only yesterday. She’d been full of life and now she sounded like a lost child. “My leg is definitely broken, not sure what else. They hit me in the head a couple of times.”

“She’s probably got a concussion,” Wolf said as he came to stand by the two women. He handed John his knife to cut Ariana loose. Then John gave it to Colin to release Shira.

“Ariana, baby, can you hear me?” At first there was no answer, no movement, she was so still it terrified him. Mr. Darcy was still whimpering, and he nudged her head with this nose. The second time he did it, she opened her eyes.

“Welcome back, baby.”

Mr. Darcy licked her face and she smiled. He had to lean down close to her mouth to hear her whispered, “I knew you’d come. My white knights...”