Six hours later…

---

“Jesus, is there no end to the sheer amount of contraband this man was involved in shifting around?” Ghost stood there, looking over Hacker’s shoulder, scanning the files that seemed endless.

“It was quite the operation, sir. For someone who only worked at Black Eagle for a little under a year, Lloyd built a network of customers unsurpassed by anything I’ve seen. He sold a lot of weapons.”

“Not an easy thing to do,” Ghost grumbled.

Cade paced, his mind on Brooke and what she was very likely going through right now. She had just broken through her fear and managed to share what had happened to her two years ago. Then she’d crossed another barrier when she’d been intimate with him. If anyone touched her this time, he would kill them with his bare hands and deal with the consequences in whatever court he had to. He just prayed that not only did she not suffer abuse but that she also came out of this with her mental health intact.

Though he wasn’t sure how that was going to happen. She was still suffering from PTSD over the event two years ago. He hadn’t said those words to her, because she’d agreed she needed to go to counseling and that was all he wanted. But now? He truly had no idea what was going to happen to the strides she’d made.

There were other words he hadn’t said to her. Important words. Right now it was killing him to think he might never get the chance. Because, damn, he’d fallen for the girl. Hook, line, and sinker. She was unlike anyone he’d ever met. She did things to him that he still didn’t understand.

And when he was inside her, rocking into her and hearing her sweet little moans and sighs, there was no other feeling like it in the world. Yeah, he’d fucked his share of women. Had one-night stands, had relationships that went a little longer, relationships that fizzled out after the first hot burst of sexual contact wore off.

But Brooke? No, he wasn’t anywhere near done with her. He wasn’t sure he ever would be.

He was pissed at her, no doubt about that, because she’d left Grace’s house after he’d told her not to, but all he wanted right now was to get her back safe and whole. He’d deal with her inability to follow orders later. After he kissed her a million times or so.

She’d tried to call him, but his phone hadn’t been with him because he couldn’t bring it into the secure areas of HOT. He’d discovered her message when he’d taken a break and checked it a few hours ago. Hearing her voice had been both painful and breathtaking at once. Painful because it was too late. Breathtaking because it was Brooke.

Now he paced and growled and lashed out from time to time. His teammates kept a wide berth, but they didn’t seem to hold it against him.

“Fucking hell,” Hacker said excitedly. “I think this is it right here.”

Ghost went and stood behind him again. Cade strode to them and peered over Hacker’s other shoulder. There were manifests of weapons displayed on the screen.

“Manufacture date,” Hacker said, pointing. “Two months ago. Ten thousand, all shipped to… Yes! They’re sitting in a container in Panama.”

“You’re sure those are the guns the cartel wants?” Cade demanded.

“Yep. There’s nothing else that matches. Other shipments have been delivered. Others are in the pipeline.” He peered a bit closer at the screen. “Looks like there was a dispute over prices. The cartel agreed to one price and then tried to renegotiate when the shipment was delayed. Looks like Lloyd shopped it elsewhere… He had another buyer willing to pay more.”

“Holy shit,” Cade said. “Dude sold guns to the Espinozas and then sold the guns to someone else? No wonder they killed him.”

“Delta Squad is currently in the Central American theater. I’m sending them to seize control of the shipment,” Ghost said. “At least we’ll have something to negotiate with when Lopez finally gets in touch.”

As if on cue, Viking’s phone rang. Considering the speed with which he answered, it had to be his wife. A chill slid down Cade’s spine. Standing there as if his life wasn’t breaking apart while waiting for any news about Brooke was the hardest thing he’d ever done. And he’d done some hard shit over the years.

By the time Viking was finished on the phone, Cade knew it was bad. The SEAL looked grim. “Lopez called Bert again,” he said. “He has Brooke and Amy—and they’re on the way to Columbia.”

Cade’s heart dropped. “He’s taking them to the Espinoza stronghold.”

“Seems so, yes. He has your number, Saint. He wants to deal with you.”

Cade didn’t have to ask why. If the cartel had been watching Brooke’s building, then they’d seen him. And she had his number. He didn’t blame her for giving it to them. What choice did she have?

He turned to Hacker. “Can you—”

“On it, boss,” Hacker interrupted before he could finish. “Forwarding your calls to the secure line in here.”

“Thanks.” It wasn’t easy trying to separate out duty from love, but he was working on it. He loved Brooke and would do anything it took to get her back. But he had a duty to perform and that came first. Saving her life depended on how he reacted under pressure—and he wasn’t reacting unless he absolutely had to. This was not a job for anyone who couldn’t shut off the emotions when necessary.

Even if those emotions beat like hell against the lid he’d slammed down on top of them.

Ghost strode from the conference room out onto the command post floor. He left the door open and they could see him go over to coordinate with Major Kennedy, the controller who had responsibility for the teams on the giant map tonight. It was kind of like a game of Battleship, but with dots on a globe instead of ships. The dots weren’t trying to sink each other. Rather, they were trying to sink the bad guys wherever they existed.

“Why don’t you sit down,” Viking said, and Cade blinked. He’d been so intent on Ghost that he hadn’t noticed everyone taking a seat.

Cade dragged out a chair and sank into it. It might be hours before Lopez called. Or it might be minutes. And Cade would spend every single moment of it wondering if Brooke was okay or if this was the thing that sent her spinning so hard over the edge that she never came back again.

He prayed it didn’t happen that way. That he could get to her and help her before it did.

It was half an hour of hell before the special phone in their secure room rang. Everyone jolted upright. Cade reached for the receiver and then hesitated, exchanging a glance with Hacker, who nodded slowly, verifying that the call was coming from Columbia.

“Hello?” Cade said, though he knew who it was. Best not to seem like he knew too much though. He didn’t want Lopez getting suspicious about what was going on at this end of the conversation. Namely, tracking his ass to a location.

“Ah, Mr. Military Man. It is nice to speak with you.”

“Can’t say as I feel the same about you, Lopez.”

Lopez laughed. “It is going to be like that? Well, never mind. We will get right down to business then. All I want from you is this: my guns. Miss Sullivan says that you have Scott Lloyd’s computer files, so you will know where they are by now. Give those to me and you may have Miss Sullivan, as well as Mr. Lewis’s delightful little daughter, back again.”

Cade burned inside, but he kept the emotion under wraps. “How do I know they’re alive and unhurt?”

There was a long pause, and then Brooke’s voice came on the line. “Hi, Cade.”

The phone was on speaker so everyone could hear it. It killed him that it had to be that way, that everyone would hear her fear and doubt, but it couldn’t be helped. A swell of emotion choked him.

“Angel,” he said as coolly as he could manage. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Amy is fine too, though she’s scared.”

“I’m going to get you out of there, angel. I swear it.”

“I know that, Cade. I really do.”

Her faith in him rocked him to his core. “Brooke, I—”

“That’s enough,” Andreas Lopez said. He must have snatched the phone from Brooke and walked away because Cade couldn’t hear her at all. His heart thumped and his brain pulsed with fury. “My guns, Cade Rodgers. I want them.”

“I don’t have them.”

Lopez snorted. “Yet. But you will. And when you get them, you will arrange transport to my warehouse in Columbia. If you do not, then I will grind Miss Sullivan and Miss Lewis into little chunks of shark bait. You have two days to make it happen.”

“Those guns could be anywhere. How the hell am I supposed to get them to Columbia in two days when I don’t even know where they are yet?”

“You will find a way. Or the females will die.”

The line went dead. Cade slammed his palm into the table and swore. A hand closed over his shoulder and squeezed.

“We’ll get them out,” Ghost said. “Hacker, you got a pin on that call yet?”

“I have him. He’s in a house in the jungle… Deep in the jungle, near the Brazilian border.”

“Good fucking job, soldier. Now let’s get to work and start planning our assault.”

---

They were being held in a stone house that sat in a clearing surrounded by a dense, wet jungle. The house had shutters from floor to ceiling that opened to let in air, and there were fans whirring overhead. It was hot, oppressively so. Sweat trickled between Brooke’s breasts.

She and Amy had been shoved into a small room with the shutters open and the fans limping along. There was a small bed pushed against one wall, and a bathroom with warm, rusty running water and a stained tub.

Brooke strode to the shutters and stepped out onto the balcony. They were on the second floor, but she could immediately see that escape was not possible. Yes, there were trees that grew right up to the balcony she stood upon, but there was nowhere to go. Plus there were men in dark green fatigues, sweat streaking the fabric beneath their arms and over their chests, who paced back and forth while hugging automatic rifles.

Not the kind of place one escaped from unnoticed. Brooke turned with a growl and headed back inside. Amy lay on the bed, curled into a ball, and quietly sobbed. Brooke went over and sat beside her, rubbing her back as soothingly as possible.

“It’ll be okay, honey,” she said, though she wasn’t sure she believed it. “We’ll be okay.”

“I want to go home,” Amy wailed. “I miss my mommy.”

“I know, sweetheart. Soon. I know it will be soon. You’ll see your mommy again. Tell me about the last thing you did with her.”

Amy sniffed. Brooke wasn’t sure her tears were abating, but the kid was thinking and that had to be good.

“We went to see a movie,” Amy said. “We had popcorn and hot dogs. It was fun.”

“What did you see, honey?”

“Mary Poppins.”

Okay, that was not at all the answer Brooke had expected. But there were theaters that sometimes showed old classic movies, which had to be how Amy and Shelly had gone to see it together. Because Mary Poppins was ancient. So ancient that Brooke remembered going to see it during a matinee with a friend and her mom. Brooke had fallen asleep. It was all she remembered.

“Did you enjoy it?”

“Yes. Mary flew with an umbrella. And she sang so pretty.”

Brooke wished they had that magic umbrella right about now. “What else?”

“There was a man who swept chimneys. He danced and sang.”

“What’s your favorite movie?”

Amy screwed up her face for a second as she thought about it. “Frozen.”

“Why is that?”

“Because Elsa and Anna are brave and strong. Especially Anna. She makes Elsa see that she doesn’t have to be afraid.”

“Well then, you and I are like Elsa and Anna, right? Because we are brave and strong and we aren’t going to be afraid.”

Amy smiled, her little tear-streaked face lighting up with hope. “Do you think so?”

Brooke nodded hard. Maybe if she convinced the kid, she’d believe it too. “I absolutely do. We are two princesses trapped by an evil king—but we won’t be scared because we’re going to win and we’re going to get out of here.”

“Can I be Elsa?”

“Sure you can.”

Amy's face fell. “I wish I had my Elsa costume.”

“I wish you did too. But we’ll just have to pretend, okay? You are wearing a lovely silver-and-blue gown, and there’s a crown on your head.”

Amy pretended to straighten the crown. “I should turn those bad men into ice. But my powers aren’t working right now.”

“They will get what’s coming to them, Your Majesty. We just have to be patient. And we mustn’t let on that we’re royalty when they look at us, okay? That’s between us.”

“I understand,” Amy said, her expression very serious.

The door opened and a woman came inside. She was carrying a tray, and she set it down on a small table before she hurried away again. The scents of meat and onions wafted from the tray. Brooke went over and uncovered the dishes. It wasn’t anything fancy, just some soup and bread, but they hadn’t eaten in hours now and it was welcome.

Amy came over and stood close by, waiting for Brooke to tell her it was okay to eat. Brooke considered that the food might be drugged but then decided that made little sense when they were already captives. She picked up one bowl and set it near the edge of the table, then did the same with the other. She put the bread between them. There were two bottles of water and they were unopened.

“Let’s eat, Your Majesty.”

They dragged two chairs over and sat down. Amy took a careful taste of soup. The kid had manners, that’s for sure. Brooke was so hungry she wanted to slurp the stuff up. But she followed Amy's lead and spooned her soup methodically. Even doing that, it didn’t take long to eat it all.

They divided the bread and ate all that too. It was basic food but good and filling. Brooke let out a sigh and turned to gaze out the window at the rain that had started to fall. It didn’t help the heat. If anything, it made it muggier.

The pat-pat-pat of rain on the leaves was soothing in a way. The scents of earth and flowers permeated the air. Birds called through the trees, and something else chattered from time to time.

“Miss Brooke, there’s a monkey!” Amy stood excitedly and ran onto the balcony. Brooke joined her. A gray-and-orange monkey with a long tail and a white face jumped from tree to tree. Another monkey appeared soon after.

Amy laughed. Brooke was glad for that even if it couldn’t last. For now they were fed, dry, and they’d been left alone. On the plane, no one had touched either of them. Brooke had started that journey with her stress levels skyrocketing because she’d kept looking at the men on the plane and thinking they were going to abuse her and Amy. She’d even made a plan that if they tried to take her and Amy both, she’d submit voluntarily if they’d leave Amy alone.

But it hadn’t happened, and for that she was grateful. She didn’t know how she would have gotten through it, but for this child she would have sacrificed herself. Still would if it came down to it.

She desperately hoped it did not because she knew it would break her beyond repair.

The monkeys played and chattered a bit before one of the guards threw something at them. They scampered away, the trees swaying from their passage. Amy stopped laughing and drew in a deep breath. Brooke put her arm around the child and squeezed her shoulder.

“Courage, Elsa.”

She could feel the stiffening of the little body beside her. “I’m brave and strong.”

“Yes, you are. And so am I,” Brooke said. She hoped it was true.

Night fell on the jungle. They curled up on the bed, cocooned within the mosquito netting, and tried to fall asleep. Amy succeeded within minutes. But Brooke lingered, thinking of Cade, thinking of their last moments together and all the things she hadn’t said. Hearing his voice on the phone earlier—that had killed her. She’d wanted to tell him she loved him, just in case, but she hadn’t wanted to give Lopez that kind of leverage. He already figured they were romantically involved based on the fact Cade had spent the night at her house, but he didn’t know more than that.

And she wasn’t going to give it to him. Cade was hers alone.

Eventually she dozed to the sound of a million frogs and other creatures singing their arias into the night. It was, in its own way, peaceful. She could almost think she was on a tropical vacation.

But a few hours later an explosion woke her from a dead sleep and shattered all illusions of peace. Brooke’s heart crashed into her ribs as a fireball shot into the sky and automatic gunfire sprayed the air.

Someone was coming. But who?