My eyes followed Erin as I placed the phone to my ear, damn she was cute. Declan’s words barely registered when I saw what she was going for. A soccer ball. A ball that hadn’t been there yesterday.

“Stop!” I shouted.

At the same time Declan barked, “They’re there! Go! Go! Go!”

I dropped the phone and hopped the railing. My body collided with Erin’s, we hit the ground with a thud, and I rolled her under me. First the innocent looking soccer ball had detonated then the unmistakable whistling of a rocket-propelled grenade flew over us and hit Abe’s cabin. The world around us exploded. We needed to get the fuck out of here.

“Stay behind me, we’re going for the car.” I yanked my Sig out of my holster and quickly pulled Erin to her feet. Our backs hit the driver’s side door and I pushed her to her ass on the ground.

“Don’t move.”

I felt her hand around my ankle, and she pulled my backup Glock free.

“Where are they?” Erin’s words barely registered over the ringing in my ears.

I scanned the area, not seeing anyone through the thick smoke bellowing from the cabin. The shrill of an RPG sounded before a second one hit the house.

“Jesus Christ!”

Abe’s cabin was demolished. Debris flew, and the fire from the house was quickly spreading to the pine trees surrounding the property.

“What’s that?” Erin looked up at the whooshing sound above us and pointed the gun in her hand toward the sound.

The smoke was too thick to see the exact location of the distinctive sound of helicopter rotor blades. However, I knew it was hovering above us.

“We’re gonna have to make a run for it into the woods. You ready?”

I held my hand out and hoisted her up when she shook her head. “Are you sure this isn’t your team?”

“Very. Sunshine, you need to shoot anyone that comes into view. Can you do that?”

“Yeah.”

Her hand holding the Glock trembled, and I reached out to steady it. “Just like at the range. You can do it.”

“Yeah. Just like at the range. I can do that.”

“Damn proud of you. You go first. I’ll be right behind you. Straight into the woods.”

She took off in a full sprint to where I’d pointed just as the first boots hit the ground. Two men in all black with two more fast roping down from the still invisible helicopter. She pointed and shot, hitting the first man in the chest. He stumbled but recovered. I hadn’t had time to tell her not to aim for the chest. Their body armor would stop the 9mm round with ease.

I sent a head shot to the second man, and he crumpled to the ground, leaving three advancing and more coming down the ropes.

“Just shoot!” I yelled to Erin as we continued to run.

There was no hope of us making it to the woods. There were too many of them and we were out gunned. I had one fifteen round magazine and would be out of ammo before this was over.

“Fuck!” I roared when I saw a black rifle pointed directly at Erin.

There was no time to think, no time to try and disarm the shooter or take him out. I did the only thing I could do I grabbed Erin halting her progress and threw us to the ground, covering her body the best I could. With no body armor any of the rounds fired in our direction would easily penetrate, going through me before hitting her.

“I’m—” My words were cut off by a searing pain. Erin wiggled under me freeing her hand holding the Glock and shot.

My vision blurred and the last thing I heard before my world went dark were Erin’s screams.

Mission failed.

My stomach roiled, and my head pounded. Erin’s angry voice and pleas for help echoed in the room as I slowly came to. How the fuck was I not dead? I’d felt the bullet hit my back and a second one to the side of my neck. I took stock of my wounds and realized they had to have used non-lethal rounds to subdue me. The way my stomach was revolting and my mind was still fuzzy there had to have been a tranquilizer used as well. Where the hell was I? But more importantly, where was Erin?

“Oh, good, you’re awake. Just in time to join the party.” I vaguely recognized the man’s voice but in my current state I couldn’t place it. “Erin here was about to ask daddy dearest for help.”

I opened my eyes to find Erin sitting in a chair, her arms tied to the sides. But that wasn’t what had my attention. The blood trickling down the side of her face had me seeing red.

“I will kill you for this,” I spit out. “Each and every one of you will die.”

“You always were a cocky son of a bitch. I think Zane teaches you all to be arrogant, self-righteous pricks. If you haven’t noticed, you’re not in the position to be making any kind of threats.” The man laughed as did several of the other men in the room. None had removed their balaclavas, keeping their identities concealed.

“If you know Zane, then you know this is not going to end well for you or your band of pussies. He will rain hellfire down on you. There will be no place you’ll be able to hide. Your only option is to let us go.”

The man lifted his chin to the men standing next to me and with no way to protect myself from the onslaught of blows, my head snapped to the side as one man punched me in the face and a second used my ribs as a punching bag. Goddamn, that hurt. I gritted my teeth against the pain that spread over my body.

“Fuck you!” one of the men shouted in my ear.

“Enough!” The men stepped away, and the man who seemed to be in charge spoke again. “I’ve heard that speech before. I believe your boss has already used that threat. But you know, the funny thing is, I’m still breathing. I believe her daddy even threatened rendition. Yet, here I am.” He stretched his arms out wide and turned to Erin. “Remember what you’re going to say?”

“I’m not saying anything,” Erin said in defiance. I would’ve been proud of her for being so brave if the slap the man had delivered hadn’t rang out loudly, followed by her scream.

“This will go so much easier for you if you just cooperate. All you have to do is tell your dad to sign one simple document. That’s all, Erin, and you go home.”

“And Colin?” she asked.

“He’s as good as dead. I have unsettled business with him. But you can save yourself and walk out of here in a few hours. As soon as your dad signs the papers, you leave.”

I was getting ready to tell her to save herself and ask her dad to sign the papers. It wouldn’t take Zane long to put the pieces together and undo what it was this man wanted. However, she spoke too soon.

“No deal. You’ll have to kill me, too.”

“Erin!” I shouted.

“Shut him up,” the man said.

I closed my lips tightly as one man tried to insert a piece of fabric into my mouth. The second man’s punch to my solar plexus had me involuntarily gasping for air. I was fucked. My hands were chained above my head, and there were four men in the room. If Erin wasn’t in there with me, I’d have a better chance, but as soon as I made a move they’d use Erin against me. She had no way of protecting herself tied to a chair, sitting in front of a table with an open laptop pointed at her.

“Suit yourself. Don’t ask. Your dad will sign those documents one way or another. The easy way or the hard way.”

“Fuck you!” she yelled. “He won’t sign them. You know he won’t. He doesn’t give into men like you. Not even for me. So kill me now. Get it over with.”

Fuck. I knew what she was doing. Her biggest fear had become her reality. We’d been taken. She’d told me more than once she’d rather be killed than held against her will. She was so frightened of being tortured she was goading them into killing her right there, right then. I had no way to tell her to stop.

The only saving grace was the man holding us was not stupid. He was far from it. He wouldn’t kill her. It had taken me a few minutes to place the man, but I knew exactly who he was and why he wanted me dead.

“Oh, no, princess, you have some work to do first.”

The former CIA director, Charles Warren, stepped aside, allowing one of his men to take over. Smart. If the president or anyone else heard the man’s voice, they’d immediately know who he was. I was surprised it had taken me as long as it had to figure it out. But when Warren mentioned Zane and the threats he’d made, it was easy to put two and two together.

We had an issue with Warren. He’d withheld information about the kidnapping of the deputy director of the CIA. His extreme dislike of Zane Lewis had put our mission in jeopardy and had caused my teammate Lincoln Parker to be held hostage longer than he should’ve been. The president had been outraged at Warren’s stupidity. He’d indeed threatened to place him in rendition until he’d cooperate. In the end, he’d caved and given us the intel we needed but still landed himself in a world of shit and Tom had fired him as Director of the CIA.

A red light flashed on the small camera connected to the top of the computer screen, and I could see the angle showed both her and me.

Fuckers!

The image on the screen was replaced by Tom Anderson’s angry face.

“Jesus Christ, Erin! Are you okay?” His voice was unusually gruff.

“I’m fine.” I couldn’t see her face but I knew she was choking back tears. “Don’t do anything they say, Daddy. Don’t—”

“You have twenty-four hours to reinstate Angel or you’ll never see your daughter again.” The man to Erin’s side yanked her head back and she yelped in pain. “The sooner you sign, the less your daughter suffers.”

What the fuck? There was that goddamn program again. What the hell was so important about Angel that the men in this room were willing to die to have it up and running? And how in the fuck did the disgraced ex-director of the CIA get involved in an NSA counter-intelligence program?

“Don’t do it, Dad. They’re going to kill us either way.”

“Erin. Listen to me, sweetheart. You’re going to be okay. I’m going to get you out of there soon.”

“Just kill me!” Erin screamed and spit at the man next to her. “Do it. Dad, don’t sign anything. I’m not walking out of here without Colin.”

I jerked the chains and tried to spit the cloth they’d shoved in my mouth out. She needed to stop antagonizing them. They were not secret service agents she could push around and who would eventually give in. These men would slit her throat without thought or remorse. She was nothing to them, a means to an end. Nothing more.

“You’ll have my signature in less than twenty-four hours. There better not be one more mark on my daughter or so help me God I will burn down this country looking for you.” There was no mistaking the look of rage on the president’s face.

The feed disconnected, and Warren closed the lid to the laptop.

“There. That wasn’t too difficult, was it?”

“Fuck off!”

“Such a filthy mouth. What would your mother think?”

“My mother would be proud. She taught me not to ever give in to bullies.”

Warren untied her hands and yanked her up, face to face with him. “Is that what you think I am, a bully? Princess, I’m your worst fucking nightmare. And if you don’t start behaving, I will slice you up bit by bit while Colin over there is forced to watch. Is that what you want? The last thing he sees before he dies will be the woman he swore to protect mutilated. Because I can arrange that. He knows he failed. He knows he’s going to die. But most of all, he hopes you get out of this alive so there will be some honor in his death.”

Erin’s gaze swung to mine, and she flinched at the sight of me. I pleaded with every fiber of my soul for her to stop taunting them. All I needed was time to figure out how to get us out of this mess. Time I wouldn’t have if she continued to push.

“Fine.”

Thank God!

“Let’s go, princess. Time to get you settled.”

Warren dragged Erin away, her eyes not leaving mine until she disappeared from the room. I wasn’t happy she was out of my sight but pleased she wouldn’t witness the beating I knew was coming. It didn’t take but a second after the door clicked shut behind her for the wailing to start. I swallowed my agony, not wanting her to hear. She was scared enough as it was. Anything I could do to save her anymore fear, I would. I could take anything for her.