“You’ll find out when we get going,” he replied. I narrowed my eyes on him for a second. Andy had a way of making himself appear to be a light-hearted party boy. He joked around and backed away from a fight if there seemed to be one brewing.
But I knew that wasn’t the case. I knew he had a history that dug deep into places he didn’t talk about out loud. It was probably what drew us together. We had issues. Although my demons lived on the surface. His had roots that delved deep.
“I need her back,” I said. The words barely touched the surface of the emotions they represented. Terror for the woman I loved. Rage at the animals who’d taken her from me. There were no actual words that could describe that…or what I would do to them if I could get my hands on them now. I’d tear them limb from limb and bathe in their blood if I could.
He nodded. “If there’s a way to get that right, these are the men to do it,” he said.
His words weren’t completely reassuring, but there was a pragmatism to them that I appreciated. We were facing an impossible situation.
Sasha had been taken.
We didn’t know where she was.
We had no bargaining power.
I would sell my soul to bring her home.
All in a day’s work for Andy’s boys…or so he’d assured me.
“When do we go in?” I asked. I’d be ready at the drop of a hat.
“Tonight,” he said, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d been anticipating days of delay. But this team didn’t work that way. It had cost me a million dollars to get them on board. Another hundred thousand had bought me into the team. Andy had been clear when I told him I was going along on the trip. These boys weren’t interested in lugging along dead weight. If I was on board, I was going to have to make myself useful.
We had no idea where Razortip was holed up, but I planned to be right there when the team went in. If anyone was going to take that piece of shit off the planet, it was going to be me.
“Are you sure you’re up for this, my friend?” he asked, his eyes intense.
I stared back at him and then nodded. “I’m not leaving her safety in someone else’s hands,” I said firmly. “I’m bringing her home myself.”
He inclined his head, not fighting me. It would have been pointless, anyhow. “I have some calls to make,” he said. “Get some rest. You’re going to need it.”
I settled back onto the sofa I’d been perched on. Sleep would be impossible, but he was right. I needed to get my head clear.
A couple of hours later, a knock at the door drew both our attention.
“Yes?” Andy said. I’d gained a new respect for my friend in these past hours. We’d shared a lot in our decades of friendship, but this was different. He’d slipped into a role I barely recognized. We’d partied hard growing up; maintained the façade of jetsetters over the years. In the boardroom, he could be as much of a killer as I was, pulling deals together that most would have balked at. Now, in his dark combat fatigues, I saw a completely different side to him. A hardness that was unfamiliar; a firmness to his jaw, a steeliness to his eyes.
I knew there were more layers to my old friend than I’d delved into. During my years of study, Andy had taken a harder path in the military. I hadn’t questioned it; I’d been busy with my own education and my path into the company business. He hadn’t come from a family with money, so I realized he’d taken unusual measures to cover the costs of his law qualifications. It had left him indebted to a government that had demanded a lot of him during his early years of manhood, but he’d come back stronger. I appreciated that now. I needed strong men on my team.
“We’re ready,” a voice replied, echoing in the hallway. Andy stared at me. I nodded and rose. My bag was packed, and leaning beside the door. A backpack that held a change of clothes and some identity documents. Anything else could be resolved on the trip. I knew how to travel light.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” said Andy, and we moved to the door.
Chapter 6
Sasha Ramirez
“Itrust you are feeling well-rested, my dear?” Razortip asked with uncharacteristic benevolence when he came to my room that evening. I frowned at him and folded my hands on my lap. I’d spent the afternoon being thoroughly examined by a small, wizened man who’d been introduced as a doctor. Though I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d also been a vet.
Swarthy and seamed, the little man’s eyes had darted about me in a way that made me feel like a lab specimen. He’d done blood tests, weighed me, taken my blood pressure, and performed a string of examinations that, to me, seemed wholly unnecessary. I was prepared to die, and I’d do it any way that I could.
Finally satisfied that he’d seen enough, he’d left without a word to me. It had been clear from the start that there’d be no point in asking him for help to escape. He was one of them, answering to my abductors. There were no allies here.
“You will eat,” Razortip continued. I set my jaw but didn’t raise my eyes to meet his. I knew he had ways to compel me, but I wasn’t going to make his task any easier. “You know I can force you.”
I nodded.
“But you will cooperate,” he said. There was a quiet confidence to his words that made me glance up at him cautiously. Why would he feel he could change my mind about this? I wasn’t going to give him any further hold over Prince.
