“Come on, John.” Webb finally took a few steps forward. “If you’re going to kill her, just do it so we can get the hell out of here before someone sees us.”
“No one knows we’re here.” The vice president brushed away Webb’s concern. “Besides, this is private property. Belonged to Felix’s grandparents. Didn’t it, Felix?”
“Sure did.” Felix grinned as he pointed to an area across the abandoned home’s backyard. “I used to play ball under those trees, right over there.”
Dear God.
“I’ll ask you again, Miss Dawari…” McDowell turned her way once more. “What did Farzad Akimi say to you right before he died?”
The pain in Kam’s head was already blinding, and her face throbbed with every beat of her frantic heart. But despite her fear and the dread she felt for what was about to come, she couldn’t give them even a piece of what she knew…even though it wasn’t much.
Not yet. Not this soon. She needed to buy herself a little more time. Van and the others needed time to figure out what was really going on. They needed time to find out Van was right, and Webb was up to his neck in…whatever the hell this was.
So Kam pulled in a long, deep breath before releasing it in a slow and steady stream. She looked into Vice President McDowell’s beady little eyes and then she said, “Go to hell.”
Felix didn’t just hit her the one time that round. He punched her over and over and over again. She didn’t even feel the last of his vicious blows. Because she was already on the ground—hands and ankles still tied to the chair—and the world around her had once again gone completely dark.
“You sure this is the place?”Van stared at the rural property through his binoculars, watching from where his team had parked.
They’d purposely kept themselves a safe distance away to keep from being detected by anyone who might be there.
“Yeah, I’m with Van,” Chance piped up before Lucky had the opportunity to answer. Looking through his own set of binocs, he gave a slow shake of his head. “I’m not seeing any movement whatsoever.”
“Oh, ye of little faith.” Lucky shifted around in the front passenger seat. “You don’t see them, because they don’t want to be seen. And because, unlike me, you don’t have access to satellite imagery.”
Looking like a cheshire cat that had just made a fresh kill, the smartass held up his tablet for the rest of them to see.
“We’ve got two blacked-out SUVs parked between the house and the outbuilding. And see that right there?” Lucky used his thumb and forefinger to enlarge a specific portion of the frame.
Van’s heart kicked into high gear when he saw Webb, who was standing just inside the three-sided outbuilding. There were two other men in there with him, but they were turned in a way that concealed both their faces.
“There!” He pointed to Kam, who appeared to be tied to a chair.
She was hunched over, her head lying limp against her chest. Her hair was covering her face, and she…
“She’s not moving.”
“She’s still alive,” Lucky assured him.
Before Van could ask how he could be sure, the other man tapped something on his screen.
The entire image changed to black and gray. All except for the red and orange smudges where the people they’d just been watching used to be.
Heat signatures.
Webb’s, the other two men’s…and Kam’s. Lucky was right. She was still very much alive. But for how much longer, they had no way to predict.
“Who’s that?” Chase pointed to two more red smudges as Lucky returned the blackened image to its original size.
“Looks like we’ve got two more tangos hanging out between the SUVs.” Lucky glanced over at Van. “Probably your friends from the marina, if I had to venture a guess.”
They’d worry about making positive IDs after the assholes were either tied up or dead. As long as Kam made it out of this thing alive…
“She’s alive, and we’re here.” Logan glanced back at him from the rearview mirror. “Whatever we have to do, she’s going to be okay.”
He’d been damn near silent as he’d driven them there, no doubt lost in his thoughts about his real-life fallen hero. That alone was enough to make Van want Webb’s head on a fucking platter.
“How do you know?” Van had to ask.
