Briggs pulls up just as I reach the building, the engine vibrating the ground beneath my feet. Wasting no time, I storm the building, preparing for war. Rubbing my hand across my left peck, I mentally recite the words permanently marking my skin.
Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum
If You Want Peace, Prepare for War.
Those words have never meant more to me than they do in this moment. My thoughts are swimming with endless scenarios. How is Teagan reacting? Is she cowering? Fighting back? Has she buried her fear? Or given into the exhaustion of the chase? The final thought has me flexing my fists. No way. My sunshine? She’s a fighter and I can’t forget that.
Heading straight toward the gun cage, Briggs grabs my shoulder, the force of my steps nearly knocking me over.
“Ramos first,” he says, his tone leaving no room for argument. He must see the turmoil in my eyes. I don’t have time for this. “Trust me.”
He isn’t going to let this go until I talk to him. I committed a felony by harboring a fugitive. I’m fucking fired anyway, probably going to jail.
“Fine,” I say, turning on the balls of my feet, heading the opposite direction. My entire life is about to fall apart, and he is the only person who can help me hold it together. I’ve never had to hand this kind of control over to someone… There is still a chance he will refuse and have me arrested. Fuck, why is everything so convoluted?
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The wooden door rattles beneath my fist.
“Sergeant Ramos, we need to talk.”
“I’m busy,” he shouts, his voice grumpy, making his accent heavy.
“I’m wasting my fucking time!” I snap at Briggs as I turn to stalk away. I don’t have time for this shit.
Briggs snags my arm before I’ve taken two steps. “It’s time sensitive, sir. Someone could die.” He speaks to the closed mahogany door.
“Fine,” he huffs from the other side of the door. “Come in and close the door behind you.”
Refusing to waste any more time, I bust through the door quickly, earning an irritated glare from Ramos. His office is very much a reflection of his outward personality. Everything is stark. All clean lines and minimal décor. Everything screams former military. Except his desk. Stacks of documents, maps, and empty coffee cups litter his desk. Annoyance masks his features, but his eyes tell me something haunts him. But I don’t have time to think about his odd behavior. Every second counts. Fear settles in my throat as I take a seat, but I push it down.
“Sergeant, what I’m about to tell you could send me to jail, but I need help. An innocent woman is going to pay the ultimate price if I don’t hurry.” His hardened face falters momentarily but he quickly recovers.
“Damn it O’Connor, your ballsy ass better start talking.”
The moment of truth.
“Teagan Langford is an abused wife, not a cold-blooded murderer.”
“Goddamn it!” He slams his open palms against the loose papers on his desk. “You assholes brought that media shitstorm to my front door?”
“We have proof. Mark Langford kidnapped her from Blind Luck, half an hour ago. He’s been sending her threatening messages.” I pause, knowing it’s going to take more than that to get his attention. “She shot him trying to save herself.”
Briggs pulls out a bag I didn’t realize he had and proceeds to spread photos over the debris on the desk. There are mugshots of a beaten Teagan, crime scene photos from her house, and the photos he took from the recent threats. Finally, he pulls out a copy of the first police report Teagan filed. The one that highlighted the path Mark was on. The one that everyone ignored.
Looking up at Briggs, I can’t seem to find the words to thank him. The brother I never had. Feeling my stare, he nods curtly before turning his attention back to Ramos, who is eyeing the evidence intently. His face morphs into stone before he speaks.
“What is it that you need from me?”
“An army, sir.”
“This is strictly off the books. Any man willing to take this mission does so of his own volition. Make sure they know exactly what they are walking into, because O’Connor, the state government will do whatever they want. And I have no doubts that the governor will do whatever it takes to protect his image.”
“Yes, sir.” I stand in a hurry to get this ball rolling.
Briggs follows me down the long hallway, the sound of our feet echoes through the empty space. We stop at the training room, a massive gym housing everything we need to train new recruits and keep ourselves in shape.
Letting out a loud whistle, I gain everyone’s attention and wave my arm, requesting them to come closer. Every face in the room looks at me with question, but every foot steps closer.
“I have a favor to ask. A big one. An innocent woman was taken today, and the clock is ticking. I need all the assistance I can get to locate her. Once I find her, I do not know what I will encounter.” I glance at every man in the room as I speak. “But you should know, this mission is not sanctioned by this agency. We would be going at this on our own with limited use of the agency’s resources.” Crossing my arms over my chest, I get to the point. “You have all seen the story on the news. The DA’s wife attempted to kill him then goes missing before charges are filed. The governor is doing everything he can to have this woman burned at the stake. But things aren’t always as they seem. Teagan Langford is an abused woman who did what she had to do to survive. She has been receiving threats over the last few weeks and now that he has her, it’s only a matter of time before he kills her. The governor is going to do whatever it takes to protect his image, including that of his son. So, if you can’t put yourself in that position, I understand. But at this point, I have no leads. I need my team.”
For a long moment, no one speaks, clearly processing the information.
“I’m in.” Turning to look over my shoulder, Sergeant Ramos nods at me. “I can’t let my team go in alone.”
“Me too,” Erin, the head of our intelligence department, chimes from the opposite doorway. “And I have an idea.”
“Fuck it, I’m in.”
“Let’s do this.”
I can’t help but smile, realizing the lengths we would all go to, to help each other out.
“But I do have one question,” Erin asserts, a sly grin on her pink lips. “Why do you care what happens to this woman?”
Something squeezes in my chest as I consider her question. My thoughts fill with visions of Teagan in a white dress, flowers all around. Her smile while she hangs pictures on the walls, making our house a home. Her silky auburn hair spread out on my pillow. Breathing becomes more and more difficult as thoughts swirl in my mind. I can’t imagine a future without her.
“Because I love her.”
As the rest of the room erupts into laughs and cat calls, Erin’s smile grows into a full-blown grin. “That’s what I thought. I just wanted to hear you say it. Now, come on.” She says, waving her arm. “I think I know where to start.”
“Go ahead man, the team and I will work out the logistics,” Briggs says from behind me.
Twenty minutes later, Erin has helped me narrow down a possible location. Erin has a history, much like Teagan. I haven’t asked for details, but I’ve heard she was abducted as a teenager. That is why she is so good at her job—she puts everything she has into it.
“Bam bitches!” Her blonde hair swings as she claps her hands together and turns toward me, her words flying out a mile a minute. “I did some digging and found out that the wonderful District Attorney has been MIA for a couple of weeks. A fact that dear ol’ dad has kept out of the press. Knowing that, I figured he wouldn’t risk taking her too far, so I did a search for possible property owned by the Langfords in the Miami area. Nothing came up but, I did discover two properties, both of which the annual taxes were paid for by none other than Governor Langford himself. One is a shipping business near the dock you guys raided recently and the other is an abandoned factory on the other side of the port.”
Submission.
It takes everything inside of me to let go of my pride and survive. To play his game. In the position I’m in, I know fighting is useless. I need to be complacent long enough for him to get sloppy. What’s that saying? Work smarter not harder? Right now, that’s the only option I have.
“I’m sorry,” I say, spitting blood from my mouth. His sickening smile appears, and I know I have him. He thinks he has me exactly where he wants me. Mark has always gotten off on this. Kneeling the perfectly pressed knee of his suit onto the ground, he runs his fingers up my back until his fingers grasp my hair, pulling my head back sharply. Pain radiates from my scalp, making my eyes water. Clenching my teeth, I fight back the urge to cry out. He runs his nose over my collarbone up to my ear, followed by his tongue. Bile bubbles up my throat and I swallow hard, forcing it back down.
How could I have ever loved you?
“You still smell just as sweet. I bet that pussy of yours missed me,” he growls in my ear while he rubs his erection into me. He pulls back long enough for me to see his eyes, too close to mine. The man staring back at me is someone I don’t know. The boy I met at a college party is long gone. I just wonder when he left and why I didn’t see it.
Sitting up, Mark moves to release the rope from my ankles. Crawling between my now open legs, he starts to unbutton his slacks.
“I’m going to fuck you so hard, you’ll never think of him again,” he sneers, then laughs maniacally. “Fuck, after I’m done with you, you’ll never think again.”
Mark grabs his dick, stroking it roughly, getting off on his power over me. I was hoping my compliance would convince him to untie me completely. I guess even high Mark is smarter than I gave him credit for.
Guess it’s on to plan B.
He reaches for my panties and I brace myself, ready to pull my leg back and kick. A sudden crashing sound reverberates through the building before he has a chance to touch me again.
“What the hell?!” he exclaims, scrambling to his feet. It’s as if he’s forgotten completely about me, as he grabs his jacket and exits the room. I’m terrified the door will lock again when he closes it but the tail end of his suit jacket catches, blocking the latch.
Yes!
Climbing to my feet is harder than I expected. My muscles are limp, and it takes me a few seconds to stop walking like a newborn deer. My head is swimming and I’m scared I might have a concussion. I can feel the warm blood slowly trickling down the side of my face, the sensation reminding me that I have only a small window of time to try and get out of here.
Twisting and tugging my hands does nothing but make the rope dig deeper. Frantically looking around the room, I search for something, anything, that I could use to cut the rope. Shit! There is nothing here but the chair and that fucking desk.
The desk!
Running over to the desk, I drop to my knees, looking for the leg that is about to break off. On the corner, I can see a rusted dent in the bent metal leg. It looks just weak enough. I pick up the side with the weak leg and rest the old desk against my thigh. Gripping the leg with all I have, I force it to bend back and forth repeatedly.
After six or seven tries, the leg snaps off, but I have to leap to catch the desk before it crashes roughly to the ground. I lean the desk down slower and virtually without sound, except for the rusted bolts creaking under the pressure.
Sitting back on my ass, I pull my knees up, holding the broken leg between them. Using the sharp end, I rub the rope against it forcefully until the rope loosens.
Jumping to my feet with more control than I had before, I grip the desk leg tightly and peek into the hallway. The coast looks clear, so I take a tentative step out, deciding to go left. Tiptoeing to the end of the hall, I stop at the corner and take a moment to catch my breath.
You can do this, Teagan.
My lungs burn with every breath. I have to get out of here. Panic spreads, my veins carrying it to every cell of my body. Get it together. I will not die today. With my back to the wall, I turn my head to peek around the corner.
Nothing.
Exhaling all the nervous energy I can, I step down the corridor. Voices are wafting through the space and I pause, frozen and unable to tell where they are coming from.
From behind, a dirty, calloused hand grips my throat and slams my body back, into a wall. I don’t even register the pain because of the panic.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The thick stench of the stranger’s breath triggers my gag reflex causing him to squeeze tighter. “Boss isn’t going to be pleased.”
I pull my knee back as far as I can and launch it forward, hitting him square in the balls. His hand immediately releases my throat and I choke, sucking in as much oxygen as I can. Before he has a chance to recover from the nut shot, I swing back and hit him over the head with the broken desk leg. His body falls limply to the floor and momentarily I worry that I’ve killed him. No time to think about that now. It’s not like he would have spared my life.
The voices continue and as I get closer, they start coming into focus.
No, no, no!
Rushing the corner, I come to a metal industrial sort of deck—one a factory foreman might use to oversee his employees. Below me on the factory floor, Mark and Declan are in a standoff. Both refusing to lower their guns. How did he know where to find me? It doesn’t matter. My eyes well with tears as the realization sets in.
He came for me.
“Come to watch the show, sweetheart?” a gruff voice says from behind me. “You get front row seats.” He chuckles at himself as he grabs both of my arms. I don’t even bother to fight him. My mind is still reeling and all I can focus on is getting Declan out of this building—alive.
“Darling, how nice of you to join us. You have fantastic timing.” Mark’s condescending tone echoes through the open space.
I don’t care what Mark has to say. All I can focus on are the deep green eyes burning into mine. The tears I had been holding back now flow freely. The light Declan brought back into my life is deeming with each passing second. His eyes reflect strength and courage, a bravery I can’t fathom. But he doesn’t know what I know. Mark is ruthless. He never loses. He won’t stop until he has exactly what he wants.
My past is about to take away my future.
Mark’s soft hands—hands that have never seen a hard day’s work—take hold of my arm, and situate me directly in front of him. The cold steel of his gun pressing into my temple cuts through the fog of despair and the gravity of the situation weighs heavily upon me.
Declan adjusts his grip on the gun, unadulterated rage burning in his eyes.
“Langford, don’t you realize the game is over? You lost. Daddy isn’t here to bail you out. Money doesn’t buy everything.” Declan’s voice is eerily calm.
“Mark just let him leave. I’ll come home, I swear. I’ll be the wife you needed me to be!” I plead. “I’m the one that hurt you. I’m the one you’re angry at.” Anything to get Declan out of here, away from the darkness of my past. My pleas fall on deaf ears and the temperature drops ten degrees as the two men stare each other down.
“Maybe not, Casanova, but power and control can get me anything I want. Just ask the girls you pulled out of my cargo ship.” Pulling as hard as I can to face Mark, his eyes appear black as his soul and a sly grin pulls at his face. It reminds me of the Joker from the Batman comics I read as a kid.
Declan’s only giveaway is the muscle flexing in his jaw. Something he does when he feels any emotion too strongly. Right now, it’s working overtime.
“Don’t give me another reason to kill you.”
“I could kill her right now and no one would know or care. She’s a whore with no family to miss her. But, since my goal was to punish the little cunt, I’m going to hit her where I know it will hurt.” Mark sneers. “Her heart.”
Declan sees it before I do. Mark pulls his gun from my head and fires a round at Declan. Declan never fired in return and I know why.
He was afraid of hitting me.
Anger burns through me as Declan’s body falls to the ground in slow motion. My entire life plays out in that moment and I see red. I see nothing, I hear nothing. Rage strikes a flint in my heart and a fire built of my past sins engulfs me.
A shot comes from some unknown location, striking Mark in the shoulder. His body jerks slightly and it’s all I need for my brain to spring into action.
Slamming my heel down onto Marks foot, he bends instinctively, and I swing my elbow into his nose. Blood sprays from his nose, splattering my face, and I scramble for his gun. A barrage of gunfire explodes around me, men I hadn’t previously seen storm in from all directions. Suddenly, the entire factory floor is flooded with men in black tactical gear and thugs brandishing automatic weapons. Voices thunder through the large room, their demands blatantly ignored. These men are going to war.
And I’m Helen of Troy.
When my hand encompasses the heavy metal, Mark finally gets to his feet, slowly backing away. He realizes I have the upper hand. For the first time, I see fear in Mark’s eyes.
Fear of me.
“Teagan, put the gun down.” He tries taking control of me once again. His words are useless. I am riding the high vengeance, and nothing stands in my way.
It’s my turn to laugh maniacally.
“What’s the matter, Mark? You don’t like it when the weak become the strong? The scared become the feared?” Every inch he retreats, I follow until he backs himself against a window. “You took everything from me,” I seethe through clinched teeth.
“I—…”
“No! You’ve had your turn! You don’t get to speak!” Tears carry mascara in rivers down my face and in this moment, I feel just as unhinged as I know he is.
“You took my child!” I scream firing a single round into his leg. He screams, his pain echoing through the cavernous room. But I ignore it.
“You took my life!” I fire another round and it hits him in the arm. He staggers a bit, struggling to hold himself up but the weight of his injuries is too much to bare. His body crumbles and he falls to his knees. Taking a step closer, I see tears stream from his eyes. I didn’t think he was capable of crying.
“You took my love.”
This time, I look him dead in the eye as I fire a final round into his chest.