“Doesn’t matter,” he mumbled as he typed in something again. “I saw the way he looked at you. You can’t fake that kind of emotion.”
“Are you really that stupid? The guy was special ops. He and his team at R.I.S.C. do all sorts of secret, black-ops-type jobs.” Lexi grimaced as she coughed a couple times, her body weakening from all it’d been put through. “He could convince you to believe anything he wanted you to. You wouldn’t...even know if he...was lying.”
Her words were starting to slur, and she’d begun to feel lightheaded.Because you’re losing blood.Oh, yeah. That.
Lexi blinked quickly against the sudden exhaustion threatening to take over. She had a feeling if she fell asleep now, she’d never wake up again.
“I was CIA, you stupid bitch. I could tell if that man was lying.”
“So, was he lying...when he said...he didn’t love me?”
She wasn’t sure if she was just trying to goad him, or if she truly wanted to know the answer.Probably both,she thought sleepily.
“Oh, he was lying,” Young said as he bent over the keyboard and continued to try to connect with Trevor. “That man loves you. That’s how I know he’d never walk away from his only means of communication with you, now.”
When he tried again—and failed—to get a response from Trevor, Lexi said, “T-told you he didn’t really...l-love me.”
Young faced her, his anger and frustration a living breathing thing. “I wasn’t wrong. I couldn’t have been wrong. Hehasto love you! Otherwise this was all for nothing!”
The man was losing it, which made Lexi smile. It was odd that she could do so at a time like this...maybeshewas the one who was losing it.
With her thoughts scattered and the light around her fading, Lexi almost missed it. There was a small sound, like a door creaking. It was there, and then it was gone. Just like that.
At first, she thought she’d imagined it, but then Young’s head swung toward the room’s closed door. No, she hadn’t imagined it. He’d heard it, too.
Lexi smiled again. “They’re coming...for you,” she said softly.
“Impossible,” the man said, even though he didn’t take his eyes from the door.
“N-nothing’s impo...impossible...with those guys.”
Admittedly, Lexi hadn’t met the entire team yet. Other than Derek, she hadn’t gotten to know the ones shehadmet. That didn’t matter. She knew Trevor.
Even if he wasn’t in love with her, she knew he’d do whatever he could to save an innocent life. It was just one of the many reasons she’d fallen so hard and fast for him.
“Shut up!” Young ordered, his crazed eyes on hers. He pointed the bloody knife toward her. “You make one more sound, and I’ll slit your throat ear to ear.”
Laughing silently, Lexi moaned against the pain the movement had caused. “You’re going to kill me...anyway. M-might as well d-do it...n-now.”
“I said shut up!” he yelled even louder.
Good. Lexi had wanted him to be loud. She was too weak to yell for help and had been hoping to rile him up enough for Trevor and the others to hear.
Because she had no doubt they were here. They’d finally found her. She glanced down at her side and the growing pool of blood on the floor. Trevor and his team had found her...she just prayed they weren’t too late.
****
“Damn it, D, watch thedoors,” Trevor whispered angrily from behind him as the team made their way into another part of the building.
“Sorry,” he whispered back, still moving forward. “My ass bumped the damn thing.”
“Shh,” Mac ordered them both to get quiet as she stepped into the open area and stood next to Trevor.
As promised, Ryker had hauled ass and gotten them to the location where Lexi was being held in record time. The team was just about to breach a door on the side of the abandoned factory when they’d pulled up.
With their plan already in place, Trevor hadn’t wasted time Lexi didn’t have arguing about not getting to go in first. After Grant checked the door for any explosives Young may have put into place and declared the entry safe, Jake led the team into the large, open space. Trevor only just stepped inside the building himself when they heard Lexi’s blood-curdling scream.
Trevor nearly lost it, then. He tried barreling his way to her, but thankfully Coop grabbed his arm from behind, and Derek turned and pushed against his chest to keep him in place.
