SEALs of Honor: Mason (12 page)

“Or to use as a way to torture Tesla. She might withstand the torture they throw at her, but she would give in if they tortured her friends.”

Hawk spat on the ground. “True. So let’s snag them so they have less leverage.”

“And her father.”

Swede grimaced. “Good luck with that. He’s already here and raising Cain. He wants to talk to you as soon as possible.”

“Why me?”

“You led the last mission that rescued her.”

So maybe it couldn’t be that bad to speak with him. Harry had said he’d been hell to have as a parent, but…surely as both Harry and Tesla turned out to be great, he couldn’t be that bad.

It was way worse.

Her father was a retired Marine, a SEAL of course. And that was evident from the moment Mason walked in. His team was standing outside. He wasn’t sure if they were here for support or to share in any accolades. He could tell from the first moment that there weren’t going to be any of those. This man was ferocious.

“Lieutenant Mason Hunter?”

Mason nodded.

“Where the hell is my daughter?”

He opened his mouth to answer then realized he had nothing to say. “I don’t know, sir.”

“And why don’t you know, Lieutenant?”

“We haven’t found her yet, sir.”

“And yet you’re sitting here doing nothing. Are you not?”

“No, sir.”

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Searching for her through the videos, preparing to pick up her coworkers, and her house is currently being taken apart to see if there are any clues to her whereabouts, sir.”

The man straightened, appearing much taller than his already overwhelming six foot four build. He might be Tesla’s father, but he was still military. And Mason realized that he’d have been a hell of a leader. Maybe Mason had missed out on an opportunity to serve under him. He looked like he’d raise a whole lot of hell to get the job done.

“And my daughter, are these men going to hurt her, Lieutenant?”

He hesitated. The man might be a retired SEAL, but he was still a father.

“The truth, Officer.”

Mason nodded. “Yes, I believe they will.”

“Then you’d better get her before that happens, hadn’t you?”

There wasn’t much he could say because he’d do his damnedest, but after losing her the last time these guy weren’t likely to make the same mistake again. She’d be either securely trussed and likely to one of them, or she’d be unconscious or drugged. Any and all resistance kept to a minimum. He should know as he’d employed the same tactics himself. All that he could do was find her before they broke her spirit. For hurting her in anyway, they’d pay. He could just hope it wouldn’t be worse than a few scars.

But he knew men like this. If they wanted to, they’d carve her while still alive and eat her for lunch.

“Sir, if at all possible, I’ll bring your daughter back.” Mason saluted and turned to leave. At the doorway, he could see Swede and the others a little way away.

Tesla’s father called out, “Lieutenant.”

Mason turned.

“Are you bringing her back for my sake, your sake, or both?”

The merest of an expression crossed his features, but Tesla’s father caught it. He gave a mirthless smirk. “Right. Then you’d better get moving before you disappoint both of us.”

“It’s not you or myself that I’m worried about disappointing,” Mason returned smartly. “It is and always has been to avoid disappointing Tesla. Your daughter is a fine woman, doing a wonderful thing. I will do my best for her sake regardless.”

And he gave the briefest of nods and retreated.

After all, in this case it was the best defense.

Chapter 17

T
HE MILES CARRIED
on forever. She had to go to the bathroom and soon was going to pee in the damn car. What the hell did they expect? She’d been trussed up like a turkey for hours. She’d done her part and had kept quiet the whole time. Well, it was time for that to change.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” she called out.

There was a spat of guttural mutterings then the vehicle slowed. She watched as shiny lights kicked in overhead showing a gas station. She was happy with that. Anything to relieve her bladder. They pulled around to the back. One of the men got out and disappeared. Daniel crawled to the back of the vehicle. “If you do anything stupid, call or try to make a run for it…” he threatened.

“I know. You’ll make me pay,” she said wearily. “Yes, you’ve told me several times already.”

He just glared at her. The back door of the SUV suddenly popped open and the second man stood grinning down at her, and she realized he was planning on coming into the bathroom with her. Oh shit.

“Just so you know that if you hurt me, I won’t be worth as much,” she said, hoping to convince them to leave her alone.

“Ha. As long as you’re alive, you’re worth a lot.” Daniel smirked.

“But if I’m not capable of working then the buyer won’t be happy,” she snapped. “And I’ll be happy to tell him why I’m hurt.”

The two men exchanged glances, but the hands that reached for her were gentler than any she’d felt from them up until now. In other words, they were scared of their boss. Good thing. And she was pretty sure Daniel was an old friend of Mason’s. Or maybe friend wasn’t quite the word. But she could identify him and if he cared about that, he wasn’t showing it. The other guy she tried to get a decent description of, but what the hell. How was Mason going to find a medium height, medium build, medium brown hair asshole like this one? Of course the huge hooked nose and gut helped make him unique. The busted teeth might help as well. She didn’t want anything to do with that.

Daniel might be a mercenary, but she didn’t get the idea he got off on hurting women. His asshole partner, now that was a different story.

He hated women. Too many women probably turned him down on dates while he was growing up. They probably knew then he was trouble.

The scary asshole held her arm in a death grip as she walked to the small bathroom around the side of the large building. She’d love to run screaming inside, but she had no idea what they’d do.

“See that pregnant woman walking around the vehicle waiting for her husband to fill up the car?”

She nodded, her stomach sinking.

“Any funny stuff from you and she gets the first bullet. Right in the belly.”

Yeah, he got off on hurting women.

“Understand?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“Good.” He unlocked the bathroom, stuck his head inside, nodded then shoved her in. “Hurry up.”

And he locked the door behind her.

Shit. He’d left her hands tied up. Crap. She sat down on the floor and ran her arms and the rope under her bum so she could slip her legs through and stand up with her hands now in front of her. Much better. She dropped her pants and relieved herself while her mind raced in a million directions looking for answers. She had to leave a message. Something of some kind. But if they came in and saw it then the poor woman outside was going to die.

So what options did she have?

Not to mention she had no pen or pencil and no way to write a message that would be hidden from someone using the bathroom and not the scary dude.

Then she got it. Her wrists were raw already so she used her teeth to make one bleed a little more freely, then sitting on the toilet she wrote the message at her feet. Only to be seen by someone sitting down and likely not noticed from the door as the linoleum floor was a mottle brown.

After she finished, she flushed the toilet and ran to the sink. She quickly washed her hands and grabbed and extra bit of paper towel to staunch the bleeding, but it was already slowing so all was good.

The door opened suddenly and it was the scary dude looking at her.

She mustered a smile. “Good timing, I’m done.”

His face fell as if he’d hoped to catch her sitting on the toilet. Sick bastard.

Without saying a word he led her back to the vehicle. Once there, he gave a surreptitious glance around, and ordered, “Get in.”

She stared at the back of the SUV and groaned. “Why can’t I sit in the seat like a normal passenger?”

“Shut the fuck up and get in,” he snarled.

So much for that. She glanced around, but no one appeared to be in a position to see the single female get into the back of the SUV. Too damn bad. Someone might see her and call it in. And she’d gotten a message out. Maybe someone would see that.

It did give her a little bit of hope. And she’d take all of the hope she could get.

Once inside, she tried to listen to the two men as they talked. She was hoping to hear a location, a name, some sign of direction as to their destination. So far nothing.

“Where are we going?” she called out.

Silence.

Then the scary dude yelled back. “None of your business.”

“Really, well it is my business as that’s where you’re taking me. If I wasn’t involved in your stupid deals then it wouldn’t involve me but as I am…”

She didn’t know where the bravado came from – maybe the thought that someone might finally see the message was helping. Bolstering her confidence.

Only she smelt his breath first. Then felt the blow that came out of nowhere.

She blacked out.

*

T
HE ENEMY VEHICLE
had been spotted heading toward the Mexican border. It could turn off before hitting that checkpoint, but at least Mason had a direction to start. They’d receive live updates as they got them. They also had no proof that Tesla was in that vehicle.

That bothered him more than anything.

He and the team were getting ready to board a plane to a point just past where the vehicle was assumed to be headed. They were due to fly out in ten minutes. Ten of the longest damn minutes he’d felt in forever. What the fuck was taking so damn long?

“Easy, Mason. We’re leaving in a couple of minutes.”

“A couple of minutes she doesn’t have.”

A gas station attendant had called the police to say a number had been left written in blood in the washroom. The cops called the number and got Mason. It was his cell number. He had no idea how Tesla got the number but she was brilliant in anything tech so it was no surprise. Better yet, it was the first real confirmation that Tesla was indeed in the vehicle they were tracking.

Now the team was geared for war. They might be fighting in their own country, but it was going to be lethal nonetheless. If Tesla was taken across the line, well they’d be heading down there too. There was no place in this world they wouldn’t go to do what needed to be done.

“Mexico doesn’t make much sense,” Hawk said. “Unless they are meeting someone who will take them overseas.”

“That’s possible. The Mexican authorities aren’t going to care except if the money crossing their hands isn’t quite enough.”

“Which is an easy fix for these guys. We need to find them before they cross, or we could lose her.”

“Not going to happen.” Mason jumped to his feet and raced to get on the plane. Before he got halfway, he heard the engines start up in preparation.

“Damn good thing,” he muttered.

The time was short. The distance difficult. And the timing – everything.

The military plane was in the air within seconds. It would be a short flight so no one had a chance to relax. They set up a strategy as soon as they landed. Nothing else was possible.

“Take it easy, Mason,” Dane said. “You’re going to need to calm down or you’ll scare the hell out of her.”

Hawk laughed. “Have you looked at that girl? She doesn’t scare easily.”

“No, she doesn’t. But everyone, especially those not trained like we are, have their breaking point. She’s going to hit it at some point.”

Mason nodded. “She will. But it won’t be today.”

The others grinned.

“So did you decide,” Swede asked, a big grin on his face.

“No.” Mason snapped. “But she’s not for you.”

“She just needs a chance to see me without you around,” the big man said. “Besides, once she gets to know me, she’ll love me.”

“Just like all the other women,” Hawk teased. “I’m sure you say that about them all.”

“Hell no,” Swede said. “She’s different.”

“She is. She’s honorable. Trustworthy. Stubborn,” Shadow said. “I admire her. What she’s doing and how she’s faced all this torment so far. I love that she was still going strong on her project instead of letting the pressure cause her to back off.”

“I have to admit to having been worried about that myself,” Mason admitted. “But once she healed enough, she’s supposedly been working sixteen hour days on her project.”

“And now the demonstration is tomorrow and the presentation is tonight. And she’s not going to make it.”

Mason growled. “She’s going to make it. Not tonight. But she’ll be there, ready and capable of giving her demonstration by ten in the morning, or I’ll know the reason why.”

His comment was more than an order. It was a request that the men give their all to make this happen. That no matter what, they’d get Tesla back at the base to give that very important demonstration. There were too many lives at stake. Tesla’s was one of them. But he’d spent way too many days in combat boots to not understand the advantage her software could give them. And she was a genius. If she’d been able to do what she said she’d done, he knew she could take this level and shoot it up so much higher. She was gifted. And dedicated.

Had Harry known?

Mason could wish he knew how well Tesla had done now. What she’d been motivated to do in the wake of Harry’s death? Did her father even understand? Or did he not appreciate a daughter still alive when his son had died?

One never knew. The world of parenting being one he’d avoided all his life. He had been an only child, his parents dying when he was just a child. He’d been raised by his aunt and uncle and he’d had a good life, enough he hadn’t craved that need to be loved. If anything he wanted something like they had. A long time relationship with someone who understood. Given his profession, the number of failed marriages amongst the veterans after they came home from the wars, the violence he dealt with every day…he was just damn happy to be almost normal himself.