“Oh, you can, brother. Trust me. Just think about how good it's going to feel to put a bullet in Mr. J's skull. If it hadn't been for Mr. J, Shane might still be alive, and ISA sure as shit wouldn't have had the resources to attack us on our own soil.”
ISA made the Taliban look like amateurs. They had ambushed Task Force Scorpion's headquarters, nearly killing the entire team and their families. They'd turned Shane Carter, TF-S's first sniper, against his own team, resulting in Merc having to put a bullet in his teammate.
All that, and now Senator Cotter's daughter. “This is going to sound corny, but my instincts are telling me he's up to something else, something so twisted, we can’t even imagine it, but, dammit, I don't know if that's really my instincts or the fact that I'm scared to death he's going to hurt Celine.”
Ethan went silent. Finally, he took a step back and gave Aaron a look of dawning horror. “That’s it. This was not a random kidnapping – Caroline Cotter's father is head of Joint Special Operations Command, JSOC. The general she was supposed to marry was in charge of the Special Forces. If Mr. J can get control of those men, he'll be able to manipulate United States SF to do his bidding and the forces would think they were just following orders.”
Aaron froze, the truth of Ethan's words way too possible. “If Senator Cotter puts in orders to deploy an attack and the general signs off, it will look totally legit.”
Ethan nodded, “He could order the takeover of a small country and make it look like it happened with the blessing of the United States.”
The words sunk deep and heavy in Aaron's gut, pulling the plug on his fury as a heavy dread settled over him. “If Cotter really worships his daughter above all else, he'll do whateverMr. J demands to ensure her safety.”
Aaron, on the other hand, was the only one who worshipped Celine Latimer. Unfortunately for her, the desires of an expendable Special Forces agent didn’t bear a whole lotta weight when it came to striking a deal with the devil.
Chapter 2
Celine Latimer huggedher bare knees to her chest, shivering despite the desert heat. She'd lost count of how many days she'd been shackled in this prison of hard adobe walls and cold packed dirt floors, succumbing inch by inch to slow starvation.
A soft sob escaped her and she reached out in the darkness, finding Caroline on her right and put an arm around her friend's shoulders. “Hold on a little bit longer. Your dad will send someone to rescue us. We just gotta stay strong.”
“Don’t know…” Caroline’s words chattered with her teeth, clacking throughout their tiny cell, “…how much longer I can.”
Celine felt her own tremor work down her battered body in response to the hopelessness in her friend’s voice. They’d been in here who knew how long? With no sunlight to track the time, she had no real clue. Days? Weeks? Her stomach twisted with a now familiar pain, like she’d swallowed a string of razor blades, and let out a loud growl. Celine instinctively wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them to her chest, but no position could help her hunger. The light pangs from early on in their captivity had seemed so brutal at first, but now she knew they’d simply been the opening act to the full-blown agony that came from starvation.
“I promise you, we will survive this. You’re worth too muchmoney and your father is too powerful. These guys won’t hurt you.”But that doesn’t mean they won’t hurt me.
A small-time hair and makeup stylist from Mercy, Mississippi without a family. Her eyelids shut under the weight of hopelessness.
Caroline gripped Celine’s forearm; her ragged and torn nails digging into Celine’s flesh. “You either. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I bet my father sent Aaron and his whole team after us.”
Celine’s heart throbbed once. “Aaron? Why would he come?”
“Um…let’s see. Because he looks at you like he could eat you for his last meal.”
A harsh laugh ripped from her. “Yeah, maybe at first. But not anymore.” Not after he’d basically dumped her at Caroline’s wedding.
“What do you mean? He couldn’t keep his eyes off you,” Caroline said.
“Until we hooked up.” The most soul scorching, life changing night of her entire life. The curtains had been drawn, his arms around her, holding her tight. His lips…
Caroline gasped, “You two hooked up? As in fooling around or all the way? At my wedding party?”
Her throat closed down on her vocal cords. Could she admit the truth? Why not? She and Caroline might die any second – or at least Celine might – why should she hold back?Because you were stupid enough to fall for a man who only wanted sex.
Another pang and she closed her eyes. “All the way.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because he dumped me right after that.”
“Why would he do that?! Did something happen?”
“Are we playing twenty-one questions?” Celine asked.
“Got some important party you’re late for?” Carolinecountered.
Celine held silent, holding the hurt close to her chest. She didn’t want to revisit the memory. She could barely face the facts herself, let alone say them out loud.
