But as he found the stairs, and was about to descend, the world suddenly went eerily silent.
Quiet enough that he froze, looked over at the bank, and saw a couple of shadowy figures moving.
“Might want to rethink that plan,” someone yelled from the shore. “Wouldn't want anything to happen to the pretty little woman now, would we?”
“Don’t stop, Voodoo,” Indigo shouted. “Find him. Kill him. Saving me isn’t worth letting Dr. Gardner go free.”
Damn.
She’d been caught. If one of his teammates hadn't already taken out whoever had her, it was because they didn't think they had a clear shot that wouldn't endanger her life. No matter how badly they all wanted Dr. Gardner dead, not a single one of them would risk Indigo’s life to achieve that goal.
If they did, they’d be proving they were the monsters Dr. Gardner wanted to create. The monsters they thought they were for the last ten years. It had taken Steel falling for Rose, Dragon for Cassandra, and Blade for Whitney to help them all see that while their emotions otherthan anger had been dulled, those emotions were still there. They had consciences, they could fall in love, they could experience the whole gamut of emotions, same as everybody else could.
They weren't monsters, and they had proved it over and over again.
Would prove it once again right now.
“Get off the boat if you don’t want me to blow her pretty brains out,” the man ordered.
“You kill me, then they kill you,” Indigo said, and he loved the fire in her voice. The determination. His crazy girl was going to get herself killed, but she was finding her voice, her power, taking control of her life.
“Not going to kill you until I'm out of the line of fire,” the man shot back, and Indigo laughed.
Hell, she was actually laughing at the man who was threatening to keep her as a hostage and use her to escape.
“You really have no idea what they can do, do you? There is no escaping them. They’ll find you, and they’ll make you wish they had given you the same death you have planned for me. I can assure you a bullet to the brain will be a blessing you’ll be praying for, but they’ll never give you,” Indigo continued to taunt the man.
“Shut up,” the man snarled. “Get off that boat now, and let it leave, or I’ll start putting bullet holes in her. Maybe she doesn’t feel pain, but I can still cause some damage. Damage she won't survive.”
Knowing only one move he could make would keep his girl safe, Voodoo was about to concede temporary defeat, when suddenly, he heard Indigo’s panicked voice shouting a warning.
“Voodoo, look out,” she screamed.
Trusting his girl as deeply as he trusted his team, Voodoo didn't hesitate to fling himself sideways a split second before a bullet plowed into the spot where he’d just been standing.
January 25th
3:08 A.M.
Her grand escape plan didn't work out the way she’d hoped.
Pretty much the opposite. Indigo had made it no more than a dozen or so yards from the back of the truck when she was caught.
Of course, it had to be the man who had carried her into the truck in the first place, the one who had thought it was fun to stick a knife in her leg and twist it around just to see once again that she wasn't going to scream in agony, that was the one to catch her.
As soon as she was yanked up against that big body, Indigo knew she was in trouble. She just hadn't realized she was going to be used as bait until she was dragged down to the river’s edge, the cold metal of the gun pressed against her temple, making her already icy cold naked body that much colder.
But one thing she was certain of was that she wasn't going to go passively toward whatever fate awaited her. Didn't matter if that fate was death, capture, or freedom, whatever it was, she was embracing it and running toward it rather than cowering in fear, hanging back, being passive.
Voodoo had come.
The whole team had come.
For her.
They’d held off on going after their revenge, something that had been the focus of their lives for the last decade, all because they decided she was worth more than that.
Nobody had ever thought she was worth anything, so knowing what these men were willing to give up for her when they didn't even know her made her feel like she was worth a billion dollars.
