“And let’s talk about Lisa. All this...” Trevor gestured to Lexi, hating the fear and panic in her eyes. “All this is to avenge a woman who’d left you.”
“That...doesn’t matter.” Young stumbled over his own words. “She...I...we were meant to be together.”
“Really?” Trevor forced his body to relax and his voice to sound casual. “Funny. Lisa told me she wanted nothing to do with you.”
Rage began to build in Young’s eyes. “Shut up! She never said that. Lisa loved me! We were going to get married.”
Keeping a close eye on the blade near Lexi’s throat, Trevor pushed on. Chuckling, he said, “She flew half way across the globe to get away from you. She left you, then she was killed, and you somehow managed to convince yourself that she still loved you.”
“Shut up,” Young warned.
Another quick glance at the trembling knife told Trevor he was on the right track. Taking a step closer, he said, “She didn’t love you, Tony. She didn’t love you, and this newest fiancée of yours didn’t love you anymore, either.”
“Shut. Up.” Young clenched his teeth together.
“Is that why you went after Hadim? You couldn’t handle another woman leaving your crazy ass? Or was it the thought of going to prison and becoming someone’s bitch that drove you to find Hadim and torture him to death?”
“I killed Hadim because that bastard lied to Lisa!Hetrickedher. She liked him. Told me about him even before she left for Syria. Said he was kind and wanted to help Americans. He was lying to her the entire time, so yeah, I fucking tortured him. You know what he told me just before he died?”
Trevor shook his head, his eyes bouncing back and forth between Young’s and that knife.
“I asked why he did it. You know what his answer was? Money.” Young laughed almost hysterically. “Money! He helped kidnap and torture Lisa forfucking money! The whole thing was this long, elaborate con. Get an American agent to trust him. Help that agent gain some wins and then bring her in. They used her as a fucking example, and he got paid for it!”
Using his free-hand, Young wiped some sweat from his brow. “Hadim told me everything. He confessed to it all...and then I slit his throat.” He took a deep breath and then said, “You and Hadim...the others. You all took the woman I loved away from me. My life was never the same after that. Now, I have nothing. Nothing to look forward to...nothing left to lose. You do, though. Don’t you, Soldier Boy? It’s time you finally learned what it feels like to lose everything that matters to you.”
Trevor saw it in his eyes, then. His heart pounded against his ribs with the force of a kick drum because he knew what was coming next. A loud roar filled the room as he leapt forward, unaware that he was the one yelling.
“No!”
His entire body shot forward just as the blade began to slice into Lexi’s skin. In one fluid motion, Trevor pushed his left hand against Young’s chest and used his right to grab the hand that held the knife. He pulled it away from Lexi’s throat, careful not to let the sharp edge cut her any more than it already had.
With a loud growl, Young twisted the blade toward Trevor. The tip sliced Trevor’s forearm, but there was too much adrenaline running through his veins to feel it.
He let go of Young’s wrist just long enough to wrap his arm under and around Young’s forearm. As hard as he could, Trevor then slammed the heel of his hand against the outside of Young’s bicep, pushing the upper portion of the man’s arm forward. At the same time, Trevor pulled the lower half of Young’s arm back towards him, in the opposite direction. The man’s ulna and radius bones snapped instantly.
Young howled, his cry of pain echoing off the concrete walls. On reflex, his hand opened and the knife started to fall. Trevor caught it before it could hit the ground.
Moving with unexpected speed, Young swung his left hand up and around in an attempt to take the knife from Trevor’s hand. The two men struggled, Trevor using his entire body to push Young back against the wall—away from Lexi.
Young pushed against Trevor’s wrist with surprising strength. The man had clearly been trained in hand-to-hand, but thankfully, Trevor was better.
The door to the room burst open, and the rest of the team entered the room at the same time he drove the blade of the knife straight into Anthony Young’s heart. Trevor looked into the set of wide eyes looking back at him.
“Lisa...was...m-mine,” the dying man sputtered out. Blood spewed from his lips. Some began to trickle down over his chin.
“No, she wasn’t,” Trevor groused. “She wasn’t mine, either. But Alexis?” He had to swallow because even though she was lying right behind him, he had no idea if she was even still alive. “She is mine. And you never should have touched what’s mine.”
“G-go to...h-hell,” Young barely managed to say.
Staring back into the eyes of a madman, Trevor snarled, “You first.”
He twisted the knife before yanking it free from Young’s chest. He didn’t wait for the bastard’s dead body to hit the floor before spinning around and taking in the scene before him.
Mac had already freed her wrists from the restraints, and Coop had taken off his shirt and was using it to put pressure on the wound at her side. Derek and Grant stood on the other side of the table between it and the wall and Jake had his hand on Lexi’s throat.
Ah, God.“Lexi?” he said her name hesitantly as he walked stiffly to Jake’s side.
Assuming Jake was checking for a pulse, Trevor wasn’t sure what he’d do if his friend gave him that ominous shake of his head like he’d seen on countless ops. But as he got closer, he saw the most beautiful, half-lidded eyes staring back up at him. She was alive.
