Chapter One
Benjamin “Midas” Grant sat in the back of the C-17 flying into Panama in the dead of night. Earlier that day he and his team had been given a mission to rescue hostageswho werein the custody of a human trafficker. His team’s mission was to get the hostages out, and download information from the dealer’s computer, and highjack a shipment of drugs before being flown out tonight atCalzada Larga Airport.A secondary Delta Force team from Texas was there for support.Ben had worked with Bulldog’s team several times over his seven years being a Delta Force. Ben looked over at his teammate, Hound, who had contacted his FBI contact a week ago to find a kidnapper in Portland to help his friend find a missing woman. Hound was their computer genius and would be downloading the data from the computer. Ben could get by on a computer but nowhere near Hound’s level of skill.
Ben went over what he needed to do one more time in his head. This was the stuff he lived for. Not settling down. There was no room in his life for a woman unless it was just for a romp in the sheets. His mom thought at thirty-three he should be looking to settle down, but Ben lived to stop terrorist and rescue hostages he didn’t think he could ever give this lifeupuntil he couldn’t do it anymore. Only one woman had ever made him contemplate that once. Hannah O’Connell. She was everything a high society miss should be. Fashionable, well taught and for some unfathomable reason, she had wanted him. Her parents, of course,didn’t approve but they didn’t stop them from hanging out during the summer. It was the only time Hannah could escape her mother’s scheming to turn her only daughter into the toast of Portland. Her Father, Charles ran a shipping empire and wanted only the top of the line for his family. Both sons had gone into business and Hannah was expected to becomesomecorporate tycoon’s arm trophy. Hannah wanted nothing to do with that lifestyle. She used to make upall kinds of storieswhere he would ride in on a horse and rescue her like she wassome kind ofprincess and he, the knight. He may be a farm boy from Texas, but he wasn’t stupid. There was no way he could steal Hannah from the O’Connell’s, and there was no way he would ever get their blessing. He could still remember when they first met. His family used to travel out to Portland every summer and one summer he met Adam who had taken Hannah under his wing because even her brothers couldn’t be bothered by her. She had done nothing wrong except be born a girl. Ben and Adam had taught her to fish and hunt. Ben told her he wanted to be a soldier when he got older and would make up missions to go on and to see if he could avoid the enemy. Hannah hated always being the enemy, and she always gave them hell when she finally found them or when he finally gave up on hiding because it was taking her to long. His calling came into question the last summer before he left for boot camp. All thoughts he engrained in his head about friend only Hannah O’Connell died and turned into a new direction. He couldn’t surrender his dream now. She was too far out of his league. A woman like Hannah would never understand his drive or passion and try to force him to leave the Army. Not a chance.
Ben shut down his thoughts of Hannah. It was time to go to work.
Ben checked his weapons one more time and did a mental mapping of Alejandro’s mansion and grounds. He and his team were to HALO, High altitude low opening jump to the west end of the property and make their way to a warehouse near the beach and rescue the hostages being held under the warehouse and find the officethat wasdown there. Bulldog’s team would secure the shipment. The light at the end of the C-17 turned from red to green and blared an annoying alarm before a crew chief member pressed a button that opened the rear door. Ben stood up and led the way. Time to save the day.
Ben eased onto his stomach and looked through his NVD’s to check the perimeter. It looked like Bulldog and his team was already taking down their targets and securing the shipment. Well damn, he thought. They were good, he’d give them that, but so was his team.
“One to six,” Ben whispered into his mic.
“Six to one go.” Came a static reply.
“One moving in.”
“Ten-Four.”
Ben checked his surroundings once more before moving out of the cover of the trees towards the building. The grounds were relatively quiet, and Ben easily navigated around the security. Unease crept up his spine, but Ben kept going. This was what he was trained for.Alejandro didn’t have many security cameras set up or guards patrolling the fence. This was almost too easy. This guy was a renowned trafficker and was selling weapons to ISIS. You would think he would have more security on his property to protect his investments.
He hustled across a clearing, feeling exposed until he came up to the west side of the building. He pressed himself against wall blending into the shadows. He listened to hear if someone had spotted him, but there was no cry of alarm. He signaled his team to move up watching their surroundings. The team quickly emerged from the foliage and raced to the building. They slid along the building until they saw a window above them. Ben nodded to Doc and pointed up. Doc glanced up at the window and nodded. It was fifteen feet above the ground. Well overhead but with a boost Ben could help him clear it. Bending his knees and cupping his hands Ben gave Doc a boost up.
Doc grabbed the windowsill and peaked inside. “Clear,” he whispered and pulled out a knife and pried the window open. He hoisted himself up and dropped down inside silently.
The rest of the team quickly followed. The height was too tall for him to jump by himself, but he had to try. He took a few steps back and took a deep breath. He could have asked for a rope and hoisted himself up but where would the fun be in that? Besides, he saw Jackie Chan do it in a movie once, so he could do it too, right? He was named Midas for a reason.
Ben ran to the wall and jumped at the last second and dug his boot into the concrete and pushed up. He reached out and grabbed the window sill. He was barely hanging on by his fingertips. Not quite a Jackie Chan move. Ben felt his grip slipping. He was exposed just dangling from the window. A rookie could take him out without even trying. The toes of his boots crapped along the concrete making more noise than he would have liked. His hands were sweating, loosening his grip even more. Just as he would have fallen Doc’s head popped out of the window and grabbed Ben’s arms and pulled him up. Once he was inside he sighed in relief and thanked Doc.
“Not so golden after all.” Doc smacked him on the back and moved through the room.
Ben scowled at him, but Doc’s back was already to him, so it was a waste. It was the first time he had ever tried doing that. Give him a break. Ben lifted his weapon at the ready and the team swept the area.
It only took a few minutes to do a sweep of the warehouse, but hedidn’t see anythingthat would indicate a door leading under the warehouse. Ben was about to call it quits and meet up with Team Two to formulate a new plan when Hound, their youngest teammate held up a hand to stop them. Ben wasn’t one to question Hound. If he picked up on something, they all paid attention.
“What have you got?” Ben asked crouching down next to him.
Hound pointed at the floor behind two crates. A small crease in the floor was covered in dust. There was the trap door and the crates were the camouflage in front. They jogged to the trap door and it tooka bit ofmuscle from threeof themto move the crates and lift the door. It was pitch black below them.
“Switch off NVD,” Ben ordered, and they flipped up the night vision goggles. Weapon ready Ben peaked down into the hole and made sure it was clear before jumping down. He carefully made his way down the hallway until he came to a heavy metal door with a latch. The door appeared to lock from the outside. Strange. There was no time to ponder the mystery though. They had an office to locate and hostages to save.
Ben quietly turned the hatch and eased the door open. There was only one hallway to go down. He moved along the wall, they checked two roomsthat wereempty except for a metal lab table. He turned the knob to the next one, but it was locked. Locked meant something important was behind it. Good thing therewasn’t a lock that could keephis team out.
“Sunshine, lock,” he called back.
Sunshine, the pretty boy of their team, kneeled in front of the door and pulled out several tools from his kit and smiled in triumph after a few moments when he heard the click of the door unlock. “There isn’t a door out there that I cannot unlock,” he said proudly before pocketing his tools.
Ben smiled; sometimesit wasthe little thingsthatgave one the most joy. He pushed open the door and rushed in weapons aimed but stopped short at the sight before him. “Holy shit,” he said in disbelief.
Chapter Two
Hannah sat on her cot in the back of the room. She lost count how many weeks she had been here. Hell, she forgot how long she had been held captive, period. Days had quickly bled into months, and after a while, she stopped counting. She lost hope of anyone finding her. Her family probably hadalreadyforgotten about her. Written her off as a stupid girl hitting her thirty-life crisis. She had been nervous about turning thirty and not having anything in her life to show for it. So, her best friend had suggested a trip to Paris as a cheer up for her. Her parents protested saying there had been many riots in Paris and it wasn’t safe for her, but she had written them off as overprotective parents. How wrong she had been.
On her second night in Paris, she and her friend were partying and foundsomecute guys. Hannah had a few too many drinks, and before she knew it invited the guys back to their flat they had rented. As soon as the door closed behind them, the men attacked them and drugged them. Hannah woke up in a dingy room and her best friend dead in the bed next to her with needle marks on her arm and vomit covering her chest. Most of her clothes were missing too. She had screamed her head off until some had come and shut her up, in a not so pleasant way. They had warned her afterwards if she screamed like that again they would give her something to scream about. Hannah had learned to stay quiet after that.
Not much hadchanged for Hannah since that fateful day. She had been drugged several times and had been sold to different buyers in different parts of the world. She was waiting to be put on a shipment for the next auction tonight. She didn’t know where she would be sold to this time. Or if she was even being sold. She was past the average age of mostthegirls brought in. Buyers wanted younger and virgin. Hannah was neither. It didn’t matter though, because she wasn’t going to make it to a buyer this time. This would be the time she finally got away.
She had tried escaping somany timesshe lost count. Tonight, would be different though. She had everything mapped out in her head. She would wait until they were being lifted into the truck and she would strike down the guard and race to the ocean. She knew it was close because she could hear the waves. It was somewhere behind these thick walls she just had to reach it and swim out to sea. She’d be picked up by a fisherman or find the shore and send for help. She hated leaving the other women behind but knew if she could escape she could find them help. Hannah was a good swimmer. She would rather take her chances with the sharks then live in this existence one more day.
