Retribution (32 page)

Be naked when I get back. Never mind, leave your clothes on. I’ll take them off for you.

Dray

P.S. You sang for me, here’s your sonnet:

Roses are red, violets are blue

You’re really hot, and you sing pretty good, too.

She groaned but couldn’t stop smiling. He wasn’t ever going to let her forget the words she’d said to him when she woke up on that mountain in the Kush. Sasha tucked the note in her jeans pocket, fixed her coffee, and went to get her laptop set up.

Dray had been quite the busy little bee before he left. He’d set up her computer, linked her to the wireless, and written down all the instructions on the gadgets located in the bunker. She e-mailed her supervisor at PFF inquiring about Lily’s well-being. She e-mailed her sisters, and without getting specific, let them know she was more than just okay. She couldn’t wait to see Sadie and bring her up to date on all the goings on. She wanted to call her parents but decided e-mail was the best way.

She checked all of her incoming e-mails and responded to the ones she deemed urgent. Coming across an unknown sender, she was confused more than concerned when she read the subject line:
Private Invitation for Sasha Bennoit
.

Unsure if she should open the e-mail or not, she decided to go ahead, and when all it listed was a link, she clicked on that, hoping against hope that no one could track her through the internet connection.

She turned to ice. Before her, delivered in spectacular clarity and definition, was a very real, very detailed video of her torture at el-Din’s hands.

Unable to look away or move, she was taken back in stunning detail to every hit, every break, and every cut the bastard had made on her. She couldn’t draw breath. A part of her mind yelled at her to shut it down, and then that part went silent as
she
shut down, unable to process the stimuli that battered her with its heavy truth. Only in her dreams had she remembered this; only in her dreams did the physical pain still haunt her. She couldn’t move from the monitor, and eventually everything blurred as her vision went black.

*

“Sasha, I brought you—baby?”

She sat in front of her laptop, straight up in the chair, but she stared straight ahead. He looked over her shoulder, and everything inside him locked down. The video looped over and over again, and his gaze shot to her. Her face was still, her eyes blank.

He pulled out her chair and went to his knees in front of her, grabbing her face and stroking her cheeks with his thumbs.
Fuck.

“Sasha? It’s Dray. You’re okay. You’re not in Afghanistan anymore, you’re safe with me. Sasha, come back to me, baby. Wake up,” he almost yelled in a frustrated tone.

Dray should’ve warned her not to open any suspicious e-mails. This was what he’d been afraid of when Con had shown him the sites. Even though Con and Itchy had tried, there was no way they could’ve taken down every site that had the video footage of her beating.

He scooped her into his arms and headed to the shower. He sat her down on the toilet, begging her to respond as he stripped her, turned the water on hot, and rubbed his hands up and down her cold body. Her eyes were open, her breathing was shallow, and she was cold—definitely in shock.

He had only returned to get his SAT phone, which he’d accidentally left beside the bed. Now he was thanking God. If he hadn’t, there’s no telling what would have happened to her. Right now he had to get her warm and aware.

He scooped her up and moved into the shower, letting hot water run over them both. He kissed her eyelids, her mouth, her cheeks, anywhere he could reach as he tried to get her out of her catatonic state. Some people withdrew into themselves in an effort to avoid pain and nightmares.

Pain shook the foundations of his soul. He could only imagine what she’d seen, what she’d endured, before her mind cut it off for her.

He cajoled, he demanded, but still no awareness entered her blank gaze. Desperate now, he tried slapping her cheeks and yelling her name. He tried pleading, and finally her eyes closed and she slumped against him.

He took that as a good sign. Her pulse was steady and strong beneath his fingers, and her face had lost that horrid paleness. Her mind had finally gotten through to her body that she needed rest. He dried her off, placed her on the bed, and went to find more clothes for her. Once he had her dressed, he placed her under the covers. Lying down beside her, he drew her close to his heat and whispered his love and all the things he hadn’t been able to say to her before. He hadn’t realized he might not have the time for them. He told her how much she meant to him, how much he wanted to be with her, and what he wanted for their future.

Over and over he spoke of the love he’d found inside of her and how grateful he was it had been him on that mountain, him who’d found her.

Finally her body relaxed into a deep sleep.

“Mr. Bonner Number One?” the security panel voice asked.

“Yes?” he answered harshly.

“Sir, on your earlier request, I didn’t activate the alarms, but there’s intrusion into Sector seven, sir.”

“I’m on it. Lock this area down and rescind the stairs once I’m up,” he ordered as he carefully removed himself from the bed.

As much as he needed to be here with her, business needed to be handled. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on Dempsey.

“Of course, sir,” the system responded as Dray left the bunker.

He waited until he heard the stairs lock into place before he moved from the steel door that led to the bunker.

“All safeguard protocols activated now,” he demanded of Dare’s security.

“All protocols engaged, sir.”

The air stirred behind him.

“So what’s up, man? Is it time?”

He had his weapon out and aimed at his brother before he could blink.

“Goddamn, Dare, you could really get yourself killed that way,” Dray admonished.

Dare snickered and asked, “By you? Please, you’re too damn slow on the draw to get me.”

Dray put his gun back in its holster and ran a hand over his face. “This son of a bitch is getting ballsy. I’m glad you’re here,” Dray growled.

“Where else would I be, big brother? So how’s Letty working out?”

“Who the hell’s Letty?”

“My inside baby.”

Dray had no idea what the fuck his brother was talking about.

“The security system, Dray.”

“She’s fine,” Dray said shortly. “Now let me fill you in. Did you run into Con?”

“Yeah, I did, he gave me the bare bones, so let’s get to the meat, shall we? I assume your ladybird is in the bunker?”

“Yeah. I found her about an hour ago in shock because somebody had sent her the link to el-Din’s site and she’d seen her own damn torture. She’s sleeping now, so I’d like to get this wrapped up as soon as possible. I don’t want her waking up alone.”

“Then let’s meet minds,
braithair
, and get it done,” Dare said in a hard tone.

They hunkered down once Con radioed to inform them the Sector seven threat was nothing but a downed limb from a tree. He filled Dare in on his plans, and then they suited up, strapping on their war gear, prepared to fight. Dempsey would be lucky if he died today and Dray didn’t drag it out to make an example of him. As it was, Dare wanted to hang the bastard by his feet, video his beating, and send it to the el-Din’s as further incentive for them to withdraw the bounty on Sasha’s head. The el-Din’s were another worry, but today’s menu had only Dempsey…and it was time to eat.

“Every sector is clear, Dray,” Con’s voice whispered across the links.

“He’s here, though, don’t doubt it. Stay on guard and await my orders to engage if you see him.” Dray’s response bled sibilant across the link.

“It’s quiet,
braithair
. Too fucking quiet. I’m going topside,” Dare relayed.

“No.
I’m
going topside. You stay grounded. East side of the wharf is the easiest for him to approach. I need you there, Dare.”

“Ten-four. I’m ground then.”

Dray smiled because if there was anything his brother loved more than fighting, it was climbing up buildings. Parkour was his brother’s thing, and while Dray couldn’t see the draw, if it made his brother happy, he was all about it. In this case, Dray’s plan was to lead Dempsey up so that his escape options were limited.

Now all Dray had to do was wait.

“Jerry, you need to move now,” Dempsey told the man on the other side of the fence as they met at the pre-ordained destination on Rowe Street.

“Yeah, I got it. You only have ten minutes once I’ve entered the building to do your thing,” Jerry reminded the little prick. Well, he wasn’t little, but Jerry was sure his dick probably was. After all, only a dickless wonder used women as a means to an end. And now Jerry guessed that meant he was in the dickless category as well because he was about to use Sasha Bennoit to meet his own needs. Fuck, he’d been using her for over a year now.

Pain centered in his chest. Like Dempsey used Talia, Jerry had used Sasha.

“Just stay where we agreed, and when the dust settles, we’ll even up,” Dempsey promised in a light tone. The bastard sounded happy, and if that wasn’t disgusting to Jerry, he didn’t know what was.

“And make sure she’s intact. She’s mine, Jerry-boy, remember that. Not that you’d do anything with your buddy’s woman, right, Jerry?”

Jerry clenched his hands to keep from ripping the other man’s head off. “Yeah, yeah, I got it asshole. Just meet me where we agreed, and if I’m not there, come digging.” Jerry’s fervent hope was that Dray Bonner would eliminate Dempsey and the need for all this subterfuge would be at end. But he knew that if he had to wait any longer, he might chicken out. After all, betrayal had a way of making mice out of men, especially if you were the one doing the betraying.

“Ms. Bennoit? Entrance has been requested into the bunker. Ms. Bennoit?” the security system’s modulated voice steadily called her name.

Sasha pushed her hair out of her face. How had she ended up in the bed again with a new set of clothes on?

“Ms. Bennoit? I need permission to override the protocols set in place by Mr. Bonner Number One,” the disembodied voice continued.

“Um, okay, who is it?” she asked, trying to get her bearings.
What the hell had happened?

“A member of Presidio Security, Mr. Bleak Moore.”

“If it’s Bleak, it’s okay, permission granted,” she said automatically.

Her wits were scattered, and the only thing she remembered was the video of herself during her time of torture with el-Din.

She took deep breaths to avoid a panic attack, the memories that had been held back by sheer force of will threatening to overtake her. She beat back the tide of anxiety that rose up to meet her. She couldn’t think about it right now.

She would not think about it right now.

Then panic of a new kind shot through her as she wondered why Bleak was coming instead of Dray. Had something gone wrong? Was Dray hurt?

As the bulky door to the entrance of the bunker slowly opened, she walked to greet Bleak.

“Hey, Sash! Can you close the door back?”

He was his usual affable self, though still very shy around her.

His question gave her pause. “Okay. You can’t close it back?”

“Well, yeah, but Dray said you needed practice, so I’ll let you do it,” he responded as if that made all the sense in the world.

She shrugged her shoulders. “All right.”

“So you look a little wobbly; you okay? Dray sent me down to check on you; things are getting a little heated up top.” Bleak looked around the enclosed space suspiciously.

“They need you up there then, Bleak. Go back, I’m fine down here, nothing can get to me here.”

“You have no idea the things that can find a way in,” he murmured.

Something struck her as odd about his tone, but she was still a bit muffled. “Is Dray okay?”

“Dray is fine. He’s always fine. They’ll get the job done and be down here in no time. So are you okay? Dray gave me a shot if you needed something to sleep. He said something about a website…”

The question was there in his tone. Sasha shook her head. She was too wobbly now as it was. “I don’t think I need a shot, but thanks. I am going to make some fresh coffee, though, ’cause I could use the caffeine. Do you want some?” she asked walking over to the kitchen area.

“No, I don’t want coffee,” he said directly behind her.

Fear pricked her, and she turned around quickly, knocking the coffee pot off the counter. It shattered into pieces, but she didn’t notice. Desperation masked Bleak’s face, and it was so different from any look she’d seen him with, her internal alarms exploded.

“Bleak, are you okay?” she asked slowly.

“No. I’m not, but I will be. I just need you to take a little nap while I take care of some business,” he returned just as slowly.

“I don’t need a nap, Bleak,” she reminded him as she moved to put distance between them.

He grabbed her arm. “Yes, you do.”

Her brain was shrieking at her, flooding her system with adrenaline. She knocked his arm away, going into an immediate stance of protection. Thoughts peppered her in quick succession. It would take the door at least three minutes to open fully, and that was after the almost one minute of various steps she had to take to get it to do that. She would never have enough time to open the damn door if he wasn’t disabled.

Bleak was a big dude. As big as Dray and apparently infested with a shit-ton of crazy right now.

He lowered his brows, the once cajoling look turning downright intimidating. “Sasha, come here. Dray asked that I give you this shot. I don’t want to hurt you to give it. I never wanted to hurt you.”

His tone matched his name. For some bizarre reason, she wanted to cry. So much loss in that statement. So much pain. She keyed in on the “never wanted” part, and several things clicked into place for Sasha.

“It’s you, isn’t it? You’ve been Dempsey’s the whole time,” she said, calmly continuing to back away from him, keeping him in front of her lest he decided to strike.