Isaac waited impatiently, cloaked in darkness outside the heavily fortified old factory that looked as though it had been renovated on the inside while keeping the run-down vacant look on the exterior. He and the others were waiting for Shadow to do what he did best and do recon so they could see exactly what they were up against and hopefully get a bead on Jenna’s exact location.
From the moment Ramie had roused enough to give them more specific information, Isaac had been paralyzed with fear. The fucking bastard who’d purchased Jenna from the cult had quite the history of buying and selling things. Namely drugs. He’d eluded conviction for years because anyone agreeing to testify against him mysteriously disappeared or turned up murdered in a gruesome manner, a clear message to anyone else who thought to try to take down the vicious drug lord.
He’d nicknamed himself Jesus, spouting that he was the son of God. How appropriate that he’d gone shopping at a fucking cult for immortality and lucked on to the real thing. Someone who could keep him alive indefinitely. Until the day Jenna died. Knowing that only heartened Isaac a little. Jesus, or Jaysus as he was called by law enforcement and the numerous special tasks forces that had spent years trying to put him behind bars, would protect Jenna as fiercely as he would kill anyone who tried to take her away from him. Because if Jenna died—or managed to escape—then Jaysus was well and truly fucked, and right now Isaac was in a mood to fuck up every single man who had anything to do with his angel’s capture.
Unfortunately, DSS didn’t have the time or the manpower to mount a full assault on the factory and finally mete out the justice Jaysus deserved. A mission like that would take days—not hours—to plan, not to mention they’d need to pull in a fuck of a lot more manpower and coordinate with local law enforcement. Hell, bringing in the military wouldn’t be uncalled for because the drug lord ruled over an army of insanely loyal men all willing to die for their leader.
So this had to be a mission of stealth, and no one could know they’d even been there until they were long gone with Jenna. Standing here waiting for the go signal was eating a hole in Isaac’s gut the size of the Grand Canyon.
Every single man employed by DSS had volunteered for the mission, even those who hadn’t even met Jenna and didn’t know anything about her circumstances. Isaac was damn grateful for the loyalty and sense of honor ingrained in every single one of his teammates, because even with every agent moving silently into position, they were still outnumbered at least four to one. And while Isaac stood here with his thumb up his ass, God only knew what Jenna was enduring. No, Jaysus wouldn’t kill her, but he’d make her life a living hell to ensure her absolute obedience. Just like the fucking cult all over again—a different name and a different agenda, but crazy as fuck just the same.
For a brief moment, Isaac allowed himself to stop obsessing over the single most important thing in his life, and he turned his head upward, closing his eyes in prayer.
I know you and I haven’t really had much of a relationship, God. I haven’t spoken to you since I was a kid and I was angry—so very bitter—because you didn’t answer my prayer to save my family and you left me alone for so very long. But Jenna hasn’t lost her faith in you despite being shown a twisted, perverted representation of you. She humbles me and if she can still find belief and trust in you in her heart, then how can I do any less? She’s teaching me. By seeing you through her eyes, I’m learning and I’m trying to be a better man. I’m starting to understand that everything happens for a reason, even if those reasons are not understood at the time, and that prayers aren’t always answered the way you want, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t one day answered. Please keep her safe for me. She’s all that’s good in this world, God. She’s truly one of yours and I vow to you that I’ll protect her with my life and that I’ll never do anything to cast doubt in her belief in you and your mercy and grace. I’m not worthy, but she is, and it’s for her I ask that she be spared, not for me, even though I’m selfish and want her with my every breath, with all my heart and all my soul. I don’t know if you can hear me or if you stopped listening when I turned my back on you so many years ago, but I’m begging you to save one of your angels and I ask only one more thing. That you trust her to me, that you save me by saving her, because without her I am lost. And I finally realize that you did hear my plea not to be left alone and with no one who loved me, because you gave me Jenna. I’m trying to learn patience, God, and it’s hard, but if Jenna is my reward for that patience then I’ll never ask for another single thing of you. Only her.
Isaac lowered his head, shocked at the dampness on his face and the heavy ache in his heart. But he was suddenly buoyed by a ray of hope shining down on him and warming him as surely as if the sun’s rays were beaming down on him in mid-afternoon.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
It was all he could manage through shaking lips and a heart suddenly full of so much love and relief that he was dizzy with it. They were going to pull this off. He knew it as surely as he knew that Jenna was the only woman he’d ever love. He’d have her back in his arms where she belonged before the night was over, and if he had to make good on his promise to tie her to his bed, he’d feel no guilt whatsoever, because she was never getting away from him again.
Life, a sense of purpose, sizzled through him, replacing his earlier fear and dread and the horrible sense of doom that had settled into his very bones as he’d stared bleakly at Jenna’s prison. Now he waited with anticipation for Shadow to give the all clear so his men could converge, slip in and out undetected with Jenna, and then haul ass to a safe, private place where he could make a few things clear to her, such as his insistence that she never come up with another harebrained scheme designed to protect him and the others.
He nearly snorted over that notion and he knew his men would love to have a few words with his angel as well, but they’d just have to wait until he let her out of his bed, and well, they might be waiting a damn long time.
Though they hadn’t had the time to plan a full-scale assault, what they did have were some of the most brilliant minds and strategists, not to mention Quinn Devereaux, the youngest Devereaux brother and resident tech geek extraordinaire, who’d been able to access the schematics of the factory and even provide infrared satellite imagery that gave them an inside look at the renovated skeleton so they knew exactly how many rooms, escape routes and, most importantly, the most likely area where Jenna was being held.
They had it planned down to the nth degree. A cargo van large enough to hold them all and provide swift getaway was parked in a holding area a mile away, with Brent, a former race car driver who’d worked for DSS since its inception, waiting to either move to a closer spot or sit tight and be ready to haul ass.
Isaac allowed smugness to grip him when before he hadn’t dared allowed himself even hope that they might succeed, because the possibility of failure had been so crushing that it had damn near brought him to his knees.
The warrior and protector in him chafed at the idea of not immediately taking apart the son of a bitch who’d hurt Jenna, but he’d wait, because her safety was paramount. And he’d get another opportunity. Oh yes, and he looked forward to it. He knew the crazy bastard wasn’t simply going to give up his obsession with Jenna just because of one failed attempt to have her completely under his control. Then Isaac would avenge what was his and he’d make the drug lord sorry he’d ever so much asthoughtJenna’s name, much less the abuse he’d meted out on her.
A click sounded in his earpiece, the arranged signal that Shadow was in. More clicks sounded in rapid succession as one by one, the men moved into position, trusting Shadow not to lead them right into trouble. Isaac shook his head as he slipped through the piece of the fence Shadow had cut out. When the new recruits had signed on, they’d chuckled at Shadow’s chosen nickname, but the man had quickly silenced them all with his eerie ability to move at will, invisible to anyone he didn’t wish to be seen by.
Dane and Capshaw joined Isaac at one of the back entrances that they knew led into what had formerly been the kitchen area. The old laundry facility was adjacent to the kitchen, but it had no exit to the outside, and they needed inside that room. Dex had grinned when Quinn came through with the original blueprints in addition to the updated schematics, and when he’d pointed out multiple laundry chutes, all originating from upstairs rooms, the others had realized the reason for his smile.
The rest of Isaac’s teammates converged from different directions, but their common goal was to access the room with the laundry chutes. Quinn had deduced that the only possible rooms Jenna would be held that had one of the old chutes were two windowless chambers right smack in the middle of the rectangular shaped factory building.
Isaac, Dane and Capshaw were the last to arrive at the rendezvous point and Knight sent them a look of relief.
“We need to move out fast,” Zeke whispered. “Got three guards moving in our direction at a rapid clip.”
Dane turned to Eric. “Radio Brent and have him bring the van to the south quadrant where we cut into the fence. There’s enough cover that he won’t be seen if he stays to the trees and shadows, but there’s a drivable road that leads out to the highway from there and we can save a hell of a lot of time once we grab Jenna.”
The others nodded their agreement and then quickly arranged their weapons so they wouldn’t make noise as they climbed into the two chutes, but they left them within easy reach in case they chose wrong and surprised an unsuspecting victim.
Isaac used the palms of his hands to reach upward and provide traction against the narrow walls of the chute and heaved himself up, repeating the process until he reached the hatch that led into the room. He held up his hand for the men behind him to halt and then signaled them to be ready on his go. He counted down by folding one finger at a time and when he got to three, he busted out the boards closing up the entrance to the hatch and dove through, rolling even as he brought his gun up, his gaze scanning the room for a target.
When his stare finally lighted on the huddled form in a fetal position on the floor several feet away, his heart nearly exploded out of his chest.
Jenna!
“Cover me,” he whispered to the others as he scrambled to his feet and dove toward her, reaching immediately for his knife to cut the ropes at her hands and feet.
Anger boiled in his veins as he unwrapped the tightly bound rope to reveal raw, bloody circles around each of her wrists and ankles. He yanked her up and into his arms, holding her tightly enough that he could feel her heart racing wildly against his chest. Then he pulled her away to inspect her for injuries, ignoring the fact that she was staring agape at him, eyes wide with shock.
Her blond hair was disheveled and as he took in the dark bruise to her cheek and the dried blood where her skin had been split, his nostrils flared in fury. But oh God, she was breathing. She was here. She was alive and he’d held her in his arms. For the first time since waking up alone, knowing she was gone, he felt himself relaxing and he could finally, finally breathe without Herculean effort.
