Heart of Danger (Special Ops) Read online

  Valdez was a bastard jerk who massacred an entire family to make a point to the one who betrayed him, and then he had killed the traitor and made an entire village watch. There had been some rumors that he might expand his reach, but nothing was concrete. “They killed ten people and took one,” Micah had told him.

  “That’s not really his style. Valdez would kill everybody. Plus, from what I hear he is still in Colombia…wait a sec,” he paused and Micah could hear the printer spitting out paper. It was one of those old Okidata printers, he could tell from the sound of the beast. Hector wasn’t going willingly in to the present technology. He preferred old school ways, and he lived by that.

  “Wait a minute. He might be on his way to Australia. Actually, he might be there already. I just got a printout that his private plane departed Colombia thirty-six hours ago. You say ten were killed and one taken?”

  “That’s what I said,” he bit out, not out of anger, but out of frustration.

  “Was it a woman?”

  “That he took? Yeah.”

  “White or black?”

  “She’s black Irish,” he said. “Very milk chocolate though. Why does it matter?”

  “Because Valdez likes the dark chocolate, the milk chocolate and any other kind of chocolate except white chocolate. He hate’s white people man because he says they remind him of the Americans. He hates Americans too in case you didn’t notice. Hell, that woman doesn’t stand a chance. I’ve heard what he does to the ladies. He takes what he wants when he wants and then he gives them to his guards as a reward. Shit, whoever she is, she’s screwed to hell man.”

  Micah growled. Those were not the words he needed to hear. “It’s Natalia,” he finally said.

  “What?”

  “It’s Natalia.”

  He heard Hector sigh and then growl out several expletives. “Man, I hate to tell you this but you might as well forget it. He’s going to take her apart, man. He’s going to hurt her so bad—”

  “I got it!” He slammed his hand down on the table. “We are not leaving her there.”

  “Then I’d suggest you figure out where they’re holding her because once he gets her back to his home she’s as good as dead; or at least she’ll wish she was dead by the time he gets through with her.”

  Micah could feel the anger rising from within him. She had to be okay; she had to survive this.

  “I’m sorry, man, but that is how it is. There was some chatter about a compound deep in the outback, I’ll get you a spec for the area, but I can’t guarantee the thing is there. Are you near a fax?”

  “Always,” he quipped. “Shoot it over to me—quickly.”

  “Yeah, I just have to get over to the other room, that’s where the modern stuff is. I’ll send it in five,” he assured him before signing off the call.

  Micah took a series of deep breaths trying to calm himself.

  “What did he say?” Alex poked his head into the office while trying to stay securely on the other side of the solid divider.

  “That she’s fucked to hell,” he growled. “Did you get everything?”

  “Yeah, I got it.” His voice was low, angry, and the hint of fear wasn’t lacking. They were all afraid for her, but that phone call, listening to Hector describe what Valdez did to people, what he would do to Natalia, it made him more afraid than he had been of anything in his life.

  “We have to get her back.”

  “We will,” Preston motioned for them to start locking up so they could get moving as soon as the fax came through. “Let’s go get our girl.”

  Chapter Five

  “Hello, sweet baby.” Natalia struggled to move away as Senior Valdez ran the pads of his fingers along her cheek. The move angered him and he grabbed hold of her chin and squeezed hard as he brought her face back toward him. “You don’t move unless I say you can, you got me? You do and I’ll make it harder for you than I’m already planning to.”

  He released hold of her while the lackey who killed Kelly kept her pulled tight against his body to hold her in place. “She pleases you, Senior Valdez?”

  “Si,” his eyes roved over her body and in that one look Natalia could see the promise of pain. He was calculating just what he could do to her—what he would do to her. God, she had to get away. She needed to think; there had to be something she could do to get out of this. “You’ve done well with this one.”

  “We thought you might like her. It’s why we didn’t kill her like the others.”

  “There were more like her?”

  “No. None like her. This one was a diamond hidden by the coal.”

  Senior Valdez grinned. “Hmm…I can’t wait to break my diamond,” he chuckled. “My name is Diego, sweet baby. You remember that so you can scream it out while I take every part of you.”

  “Pig,” the words were out of her mouth before she even could think to stop them. His hand went across her cheek so swiftly that she didn’t have time to prepare herself. She took a deep breath trying to will herself not to shed a tear from the biting sting of pain in her cheek.

  “You speak when I tell you to. And you never,” he stepped closer to her, so close she could feel his body pressed against hers. The smooth caramel color of his skin looked flawless and had he not been such an evil man one might have been able to say he was moderately attractive. “Never call me out my name again or I will hurt you bad. Qué comprender?”

  She said nothing and that got her another hand across her face.

  “Speak!”

  “Go to hell.”

  She prepared herself for another hard hit, but instead he threw his head back and laughed. “This one has spirit and spunk. It will be very pleasurable to break it.” And this time he did hit her, only this time instead of backhanding her in the face, he punched her in the gut and it knocked the wind out of her. “Tie her up and put her in the jeep.”

  They took her hands in front of her body. “Behind,” he motioned. “Must I tell you how to do everything?”

  Clearly he did have to tell them because if he hadn’t dictated how to bind her they would have tied her hands in front and she might have had a chance to get away. Now, with her hands secured behind her back she didn’t know if she could. She wouldn’t be able to open the door and throw herself out. She could run as they tried to take her to the jeep, but the gates of the compound were closed so even if she could get the lead in running she wouldn’t get far.

  “Now, let’s finish our business, si? You have money for me.” If they didn’t, Natalia was sure they would soon be dead.

  “Yes sir. We have it all in here.”

  A few of Valdez’s men went with him. She assumed that was for his protection, although looking at the look of hatred and sheer evil in his eyes she would say Valdez didn’t need protection at all. He was probably the kind of man to do his own kills, and take great pleasure in them.

  The composure of the man, at first glance, didn’t match the depth of viciousness she saw in his eyes. If she had passed him on the street she would say the five-eight, smooth dark caramel skinned man would probably look harmless. He was thin, but not overtly so. He had a few muscles that seemed to stick out even beneath the tailored white silk shirt he wore. He had style, and the clothes were definitely tailored to fit him. God help the tailor who had to fit the man because she was sure one mistake and the tailor would be killed. That’s the kind of evil she saw in his eyes, the kind of evil that nearly jumped off his lips when he parted them for a lopsided smile, and the kind of evil she heard in his laugh.

  She sat in the back of the jeep, flanked on both sides by the men who put her there. They didn’t speak, they didn’t touch her either. She was sure that was because they knew if they touched what Valdez had declared as his they would soon be dead. Bloody hell, she needed help and she needed help fast. She needed a hero right now. Forget the feminist view of saving herself, she needed some serious help. She needed a hero.

  Sure, she wanted to be Superwoman, knock these guys
out and take off in the jeep, but her hands were tied behind her back, both men still had their guns in their shooting hands and those guns were subtlety aimed at her. One false move on her part and they could easily pull the trigger. She didn’t know how to get out of this. She didn’t know if she would survive. She just knew she had to fight like hell not to get taken back to Colombia. Once she ended up in his home she was sure what she thought was hell already would explode into a deeper level of it. Being here, held prisoner was like the first circle of Dante’s hell. Being at Valdez’s place…good gracious she wasn’t sure what level that would be, but she was sure it would kill her. Maybe it wouldn’t physically kill her, but emotionally, mentally…no, she couldn’t let him take her there. They would have to get on a plane to fly out of Australia. He most likely had something private, which meant a smaller airstrip. She would have to try to get away then. But how? Knee to the groin could work, but there were two men guarding her now, then there were five that went inside the smaller house with Valdez, and then there was Valdez himself. Okay, so she was outnumbered, outgunned and out powered, but she wasn’t outsmarted. She would think of something—preferably sooner rather than later.

  As they drove through the desolate places of the outback she still hadn’t thought of anything. Wouldn’t it be nice if they hit a rock and the jeep rolled over; she thought. If that happened, since they hadn’t bothered to put a seatbelt on her then she would probably be dead instead of in a position for escape, but given her other alternative, being dead wasn’t sounding so bad right now.

  The tour company would know by now that something was wrong since they hadn’t returned. Surely they would call emergency contacts for the people on the tour. Alex was her emergency contact which meant he would know by now too. The problem was that it wasn’t helping her now. They were on their way to an airplane that was going to take them back to Colombia while forcing her to go with them. By the time Alex got here she would already be gone. How would they find her?

  “I know what you’re thinking,” the deep heavy accent of Diego Valdez interrupted the silence in the vehicle. She opted to keep her mouth shut this time instead of saying the first sardonic remark that came into her mind. “You are thinking of escape.”

  “Way to go genius,” she mumbled before she could stop herself. Unfortunately, he had traded places with one of the guards and he was sitting right next to her. If he wanted to hit her again he was well within reach to do it.

  He leaned in close to her and she tried to move away, but the big body on the other side of her didn’t leave room for movement. Diego wrapped his hand around her upper arm and yanked her closer to him until she was nearly sitting on his lap. He pushed his lips close to her ear. His hot breath fanned against her already warm skin. She felt sick, physically sick. She didn’t know if it was because of the stress of events, or if the man himself made her ill, but she could throw up right now if she didn’t get her stomach under control.

  “You will never escape me,” he whispered before sliding his tongue over the curve of her ear. “Only in death,” he whispered and then licked her earlobe before catching it with his teeth and gently nipping it. “You are mine now.” He released her arm and sat back in his seat as if he had accomplished some victory.

  “I will never be yours.” Her defiance was evident in her tone. She would never belong to him.

  “How unfortunate for you,” he glared at her. “Because it will make things much more difficult for you once I get you home.” He reached his hand up and wrapped his fingers around the ponytail holder in her hair before yanking it out and sending her softened tresses onto her back. Then he slipped his fingers into her hair and yanked her head back so hard she couldn’t contain the sharp cry that escaped her lips. She didn’t want to let him know when he hurt her, or frightened her, but she had done just that. He chuckled before releasing her and settling himself in his seat again.

  “When you are in my presence you will wear your hair as I want it. You will wear the clothes I want you to wear. I would like to see your legs, not the fabric of these ugly pants.”

  They weren’t ugly pants. They were cargo pants made for hiking in the outback, which was why she had bought them when she and Kelly went shopping. The thought of Kelly sent sorrow cascading through her heart. She felt the tears stinging her eyes, but she wouldn’t cry, not here, not now. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of even thinking he had done this to her.

  “I’m going to ask you one last time,” Micah put the gun straight down against the man’s crotch. “Where is she?”

  The man in front of him grinned baring his gold capped tooth and several yellow stained ones in the front row. “Gone,” he chuckled.

  Micah pulled the trigger and the man howled. “So you won’t be using that again,” he watched the man wither in pain. “I blew off a nut.” He didn’t care if he killed this man. This man was the enemy. “Talk or I’ll pick another spot. Like maybe your hand,” he placed the gun against the back of the man’s hand that had been bound at the wrist to the chair.

  “Valdez took her an hour ago. They go to the deserted airfield” He whined.

  “An hour,” Alex’s concern was evident. “We have to move.”

  They couldn’t stick around for the authorities. They left the men tied up, and he left Mr. Gold Tooth just sitting there. “He wasn’t talking fast enough,” Micah mumbled as Preston stared at him in disbelief.

  They all had their tactics, and usually his wasn’t as violent. But violence was not beneath him, and when it came to saving a friend he wouldn’t hesitate to use it.

  They got to the deserted airfield just in time to see Natalia, off in the distance, struggling with two really big men. “Hit the gas,” Jet mumbled. They were still too far away to help and that struggle was not going to last long. In fact, it was already over because one of the men had punched her so hard it looked like an immediate lights out situation. He tossed her over his shoulder and boarded the plane. The doors closed and the plane quickly started to taxi, as if they were just waiting to make a fast getaway in case the authorities showed up due to their drug running. They had probably managed some payments before boarding. That had to be the only thing that had them still on the strip instead of in the air.

  Micah fired off a couple shots, but from their distance it didn’t do any good. Had they been in front of the plane, heading toward it and not behind it chasing it, maybe then they could have stopped it. He could have put a bullet through the front of the plane, something…he could have done something more. But as the small jet lifted off he, just like everybody else in their jeep, knew it was too late.

  “We know who he is. We know where he’s going. We’ll get her, Micah.” Jet placed a hand on Micah’s shoulder. “We’ll get her back.”

  At what cost; he wondered. What cost would she pay for their inability to stop that plane from taking off? “How soon can we get there?”

  “I have to clear our entry. I know people. We’ll be able to get everything in; don’t worry.” Preston was a man with contacts in almost every country. Fortunately the people he knew were either on the legal side of the fence, or at least playing it straight for their side. They respected him; some of them owed him a debt for him saving their life. Whatever it took, whatever they had to pay out, Micah didn’t care. He would take it out of the company funds just so long as they brought Natalia home alive.

  Tensions were high now and they were racing against the clock. He knew their first mission, their first priority was to rescue her and bring her home, but at the top of his list was his need to spare her any further pain than she already had experienced. Losing her friend, watching her die, because he was sure she had watched the carnage around her and he knew how close she was to Kelly; those two were probably glued to each other when all hell broke loose. That was one level of pain, being held prisoner was another. He knew the feelings that went through a person, the thoughts that ran rampant in their mind because he had been there. The di
fference was he was trained to survive; trained to combat whatever hell he was in and to mentally shake it off and move forward. She didn’t have that training; she didn’t have previous experience that would help prepare her mind for the battle that would come. He would not, and he meant that with everything inside of him; he would not let that bastard violate her. They had to move faster. They had to get there and get her out. Failure was not an option.

  Chapter Six

  “That dress looks good on you.” Diego walked into the room he had her locked inside. The bars on the window were just another clue to her that he had done this before; holding a woman prisoner in his home was probably one of his favorite pastimes. He had set up a lavish bedroom, complete with canopy bed draped in soft shades of blue and pink, a love seat in the corner and the perfect vanity area, as if this suite was built for royalty. The bathroom had a walk-in shower, and the closet had no shortage of clothes. Yes, he had done this before. She wondered how many women had died in this place. How many women had he used up in that bed and then threw away? She didn’t want to be one of those women.