“Yes, sir,” Chase said.“But we can’t rescue her until we know where she is.Until then, we wait.”
Mr.Neal’s eyes narrowed.“Understand this,” he said.“My daughter and I don’t always see eye to eye.But she’s all the family I have.I love her and will do anything in my power to get her back.Alive.”
“Understood,” Chase said.“And you should know that even though we haven’t known each other long, I have great respect and feelings for Alana.I will move heaven and earth to bring her back alive.”
Chase held Mr.Neal’s gaze for several long seconds before the old man nodded.
Her father lifted his chin.“Once we get her back, I’m taking her home to Maui.”
“I won’t stand in your way,” Chase said.“If that’s what she wants.”
Mr.Neal opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more.Instead, he closed his mouth and returned to the sitting room.
Waiting, for Carson, proved to be painfully tense.
Mr.Neal paced the sitting room of the suite alongside Chase.Alana’s father called every one of his own contacts in Mexico, searching for someone who could help.No one offered assistance against the Jalisco cartel.The US State Department offered to look into the matter if Mr.Neal would go to the consular agent in San José del Cabo and file an official request.Mr.Neal told them what they could do with their request, hung up and resumed pacing.
On a couple of occasions, Mr.Neal and Chase almost ran into each other.When that happened, Alana’s father would glare and mutter something to the effect of Chase having failed his daughter, and what was she thinking getting involved with a washed-up SEAL?
Chase held his tongue, determined to conserve energy for the fight ahead.If Delgado had an army of cartel supporters behind him, it could be a bloody battle in which he and his friends might end up dead.And if that happened, what would Delgado do with Alana?
Chase refused to consider that as an option.Whatever he and his friends did, they had to get Alana out of Delgado’s hands and back to her father.Until he had her somewhere safe, Chase couldn’t leave Mexico for the wilds of Montana.Hank would wait for him to come to work for the Brotherhood Protectors.He was a reasonable man with a wife and children.He’d understand Chase’s desire to protect his own wife and bring her back to a safe and secure location.If it meant taking on an entire army of cartel members, Hank would do it for his family.Chase would do no less for his wife.
Despite the fact he’d only just met the woman he’d married, he liked her.Hell, he’d broken all his self-imposed rules about never marrying for this woman after just a few hours with her.He would never consider leaving her at the mercy of a dangerous man like Raul Delgado.
In the meantime, he waited for Carson to return with word on where to find Delgado and, hopefully, Alana.
Minutes later, a knock at the suite door heralded the return of Carson with the news he’d been waiting for.Alana’s father stood beside Chase as Carson, the resident former SEAL of Cabo San Lucas, shared what little information he’d been able to attain.
“Delgado lives in a compound west of town,” Carson said.He pulled a piece of notebook paper from his back pocket, unfolded it and spread it out on a table.Someone had drawn an image of Cabo with the main roads noted and an arrow pointing to a location northeast of town.
Carson pointed to the location.“Delgado has a compound with walls seven feet high.The guy I spoke with has been inside the compound.He helped to build it and knows all the places Delgado could have stashed Alana.He thinks Delgado will have incarcerated her in the wine cellar.There’s a small storage closet at the back of the cellar with a lock on the outside of the door.”
Chase’s fist clenched.The only reason to have a lock on the outside of a door was to imprison whoever was on the inside.When he got hold of Delgado, he’d make him pay for taking Alana and subjecting her to being imprisoned in some dark, dank cellar.
“Okay.”Chase drew in a deep breath and looked up into Carson’s eyes.“Now that we know where Delgado’s compound is, we’ll need your stash of weapons.”
Carson met his gaze.“You know, going up against the cartel is suicide, don’t you?”
Chase nodded.“I can’t leave her there, and we can’t shoot up a bar full of innocent people.”
A slow grin spread across Carson’s face.“I was beginning to go crazy here with so much sun, sand and relaxation.”He clapped his hands together.“I’m ready for action.”
Chase’s heart skipped several beats and then thrummed a steady, strong tattoo.Calm determination spread through him like it had with every mission he’d undertaken as a Navy SEAL.“Let’s do this.”
Chapter10
Alana stood in the dark,praying her eyes would adjust to the limited lighting.However, the lighting wasn’t just limited; it was nonexistent.Once she came to that conclusion, she felt her way around her prison, seeing with her hands everything in the room besides herself, and hoping the cell didn’t contain any other living creatures.The possibility of finding spiders, rats and mice made her shiver.But if the cell contained rats or mice, it might have a gap or hole, something she could widen and dig out enough to fit through.She refused to give up hope of escaping.
The cell contained a pail and nothing else.But the floor was made of dirt like the rest of the wine cellar.She supposed the pail was for relieving herself.But she refused to believe she’d be in the cell long enough to need it.If anything, she’d use the pail to dig into the dirt floor.Maybe she could tunnel beneath the wall back into the wine cellar.
Since no one knew where Delgado had taken her, she was on her own.She couldn’t sit around and wait for anyone to rescue her.She had to do something to get herself out of her current situation.
Using the bucket, she dug into the hard-packed earth and scraped away a thin layer of dirt.She felt the ground, despair threatening to overwhelm her.She’d barely made a dent in the earthen floor.
Now wasn’t the time to give up.Alana stiffened her resolve and dug in.A little at a time, she expanded the impression until it was as deep as her fist.Her hands hurt, and her arms and back began to ache.But, she couldn’t stop now.The longer she took, the closer the hour drew to Chase’s meeting with Delgado at La Casa Loca.She had to find a way out and get to Chase before he walked into certain death with Delgado and his armed-to-the-teeth cartel thugs.
She didn’t know how long she’d been trapped in the cell.With no light from the sun to gauge the time of day, she could only guess at the number of hours that had passed.It felt like forever, but she supposed it was getting to be late afternoon.Evening would be upon them soon, and so far, no one had come down to check on her, nor had they offered her water or food.Why should they?And if anyone did come down, what would she do?The potential scenarios made her shiver in the cool dampness of the cellar prison.
