Mick just laughed. “I think I like my odds—even witha broken wrist.” He held up an impressive-looking gun, which he’d pulled from his waist, and pressed it to her temple.
But her terror turned outward when she heard a voice on a radio. “He’s here.”
Mick radioed back. “Is he alone?”
A pause. “Looks that way.”
“Make sure. Then bring him over. Search him first. Search him well.”
Mick’s men were watching the warehouse from the ship, ready to unload if John attempted a rescue. But he’d come alone. Exactly as she’d warned him not to.
She prayed Mac had gotten her message and was listening. But she dared not check the phone in her pocket.
God, what if she’d accidentally turned it off with the moving around?
As much as she didn’t want to see him, Brittany couldn’t prevent her heart from leaping to her throat when John was led into the room. He still managed to look intimidating, even with his hands zip-tied behind his back and being led in at gunpoint by one of the men who’d been in the room earlier.
None of the other men had spoken to her directly, but from what she’d heard, they spoke English as well as Russian. With the tattoos and leather, they looked more like Russian Mafia than soldiers, but from what she knew of the Russian Mafia, that might not be a good thing.
John didn’t even glance in her direction. He kept his eyes fixed on Mick.
He must be furious with her for getting him into this. She wanted to apologize. Wanted to tell him she was sorry for not listening to him. Sorry for writing that stupid article in the first place. She’d never meant for anything like this to happen.
“I’m here,” John said calmly. “Now let her go.”
Mick laughed. “Right. You didn’t really think that was going to happen?”
John held his stare. “No.”
“And still you came alone?”
“What choice did I have?”
“You could have left her to her fate. It’s what you should have done.”
There was a softthudoutside the door. Mick’s head turned at the same time as the door opened.
“And you should have brought more men,” John said as the room exploded in gunfire. Brittany was pushed from the chair to the ground as John launched himself between her and Mick.
•••
Two SEALs—one with his hands tied and no weapons—against five armed guys wasn’t exactly best-case-scenario territory, but it was a damned lot better than the worst-case scenario John had been facing before he’d received the call from Brittany’s mysterious friend, who’d only identified herself as Mac.
Mac had been the one to give Brittany that tracking program attached to the photo.
She’d also—thank God—given Brittany a burner phone that Brittany had managed to access. It not only pinpointed where she was being held, but it had also given Mac an inside voice into what was happening on the ship. Brittany’s voice.
Mac had been feeding him information, but John realized that she’d been keeping information from him. Like Brittany getting the crap beaten out of her.
John hadn’t trusted himself to look at her, but even out of the corner of his eye he’d seen her bloodied cheek and bruised face.
He was relieved when he heard the body drop outsideand knew that the LC had successfully snuck onboard—for a SEAL there wasn’t a better place to rescue a hostage than a ship—as he was having a hard time not launching himself at the bastard who’d hurt her.
He hoped Buddha and his crew weren’t far behind, but for now it was just John and the LC.
They had the advantage of surprise. Mick and his crew had anticipated a rescue attempt at the warehouse, not on board the ship, as they didn’t realize John knew where Brittany was actually being held.
With his hands tied behind his back, John used his body like a battering ram, knocking the bastard off his feet and into the wall. He followed with a kick to the head that landed with a satisfying crunch.
