The younger man walked toward us. “Harry Bauman. Everyone calls me Bowzer. Rory is a friend of a friend.”
“How so?” I frowned at Bowzer, I didn’t doubt what he was saying, but I was confused as to how he knew about her.
Bowzer shook all our hands. “Long story. Let’s get her back and then we can talk.”
It was a smart plan, except I didn’t like the idea of anyone connected to her former life knowing where she was.
Abe started barking orders, his SEAL training coming into play. “Rafe and Calvin, will drive to the rendezvous spot. How long will that take?”
“Not more than forty-five minutes.” Yeah, we would be less cautious than usual, but I knew the area. “If we left now, we could still be there before his proposed time.”
Abe nodded and looked back at Calvin. “Then send me a text when you’re about five minutes away. Once you have Rory, you leave the rest to us. Get her out of there. If the man has a weapon, you don’t want her in the line of fire. Have you signed the deed and the contract.”
“No.” There was no way I was entertaining that idea. “Whatever you’re thinking, rethink it. Rory will fucking kill me if I do that. I will spend the rest of my life hearing about what could have happened if things went wrong.”
Calvin raised a brow. “The rest of your life?”
“Yes.”
Daniel let out a chuckle. “He is not wrong.” When Hope shoved her shoulder into his arm, he only shook his head. “Hey, you still remind me about how I got us trapped in a cave.”
The drive to Cypress Cabin was silent. Calvin didn’t argue about letting me drive. I had the unsigned contract with me. As we took a sharp turn, Calvin sent the text to let the others know we were about five minutes away from the cabin.
It didn’t take long for us to reach the cabin after that. When I stepped out of the truck. Vance walked out of the door, waving a gun. “Where is the contract and deed?”
“Where is Rory?” I knew what I needed to do. “Unless I see her, none of this happens.”
Once again he waved his handgun. “You don’t make the rules, I do. Now, handover the deed.”
Just then Calvin stepped out of the truck, holding my shotgun. He wasn’t aiming, just loosely holding it to his side. “What? You going to shoot me, too?”
Vance swung the gun between Calvin and me. “You don’t understand. You have no idea what they will do to me if I don’t get that deed.”
But I did understand. Rory was on the run because of Argent’s ruthlessness. And that was just the tip.
The sound of the helicopter approaching drew Vance’s attention.
“What about them?” I pointed at the sky. “Are you going to shoot at some Navy SEALs, a rescue pilot, and other well trained men?”
Vance watched as the chopper came closer. “Who are you people?”
I took advantage of the distraction and rushed him to the ground. My first thought was that I needed to get rid of the gun before he did something stupid. I twisted his wrist hard and continued to hold him down until screamed in pain and his hand loosened.
Calvin grabbed Vance from me before I could lay a single punch. “Go get Rory.”
I stepped into the cabin and found her on the bed. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. She was gagged and bound. I went straight for her and pulled the rag from her mouth. “Fuck, City.” I pulled her up, and held her to me.
“Rafe.” Her voice was groggy.
“Sshh, sweetheart. Don’t talk.”
As quickly as I could, I pulled my Swiss knife from my pocket and cut off the zip ties. Then I picked her up and automatically her arms went around my neck and her legs around my waist.
I carried her out as a bound Vance was being led to the helicopter.
Daniel Salinger stepped up to us. “I’m going to interrogate him. I’ll get as much information as I can.”
The word interrogate had my attention. “What do you mean? Like torture?”
