Unleashed (30 page)

Shocked silence echoed over the line. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, Melody, the game’s up. I know who your daughter’s real mother is.”

“Sh-she was a single mother who wanted to give her baby up for adoption,” she protested, voice cracking.

“Her name was Emily Parrish and your husband and James Medford kidnapped her and killed my mother to keep it a secret. Then once the baby was born, they killed Emily, too.”

“No, no. James helped us with the adoption, but Patrick would never have been involved in anything like that.”

He could hear the doubt creeping into her voice. “Then why keep Jennifer’s adoption a secret, if you and Patrick don’t have anything to hide?”

Melody’s voice broke on a sob. “I didn’t want anyone to know that I was…deficient in that way. When James said he knew a girl who wanted to give her baby up for adoption who looked exactly like me, we immediately said yes and promised to keep it a secret. But it was all James, it had to be,” she protested. “Patrick would never—”

“I need to know where he is,” Danny said firmly, trying to keep Melody from disintegrating into full-blown hysteria.

“Fine, talk to him yourself. But I’ll have to call his office to find out exactly where he’s giving his seminar today.”

Danny bit back a curse. He had no time to wait to retrieve what was no doubt bogus information. Maybe they could use his cell phone to track him, or—“Does his car have a built-in navigation system?”

“Yes,” Melody said, confused.

He already knew Patrick drove a BMW 5 Series. “What’s the license number?” Melody quickly told him.

“Thanks. That’s all I need to know—” he was about to hang up when she interrupted him.

“Wait. You’re not going to tell anyone about Jennifer, are you? She has no idea, and if what you say is true…”

Danny grimaced. He believed in his gut that Melody didn’t know the truth about where her miracle baby had come from and knew this was going to be painful for her and her daughter. But he couldn’t protect them anymore. “I think you need to get yourself a good attorney and prepare yourself for a long, hard discussion with your daughter.”

He quickly dialed Toni and relayed the information. He pulled over and stopped his slow cruise up the Highway. Ethan, Alex, and Ben quickly followed suit. Once Toni hacked into the network, they’d be able to pinpoint Patrick’s location. He prayed Caroline was with him, and still alive by the time they got there.

Caroline inchwormed her way to where Kate and Michael sat huddled in the corner. All three watched tensely as the man Patrick called Gates laid into Patrick. “Why am I getting calls that the shoot is going bad? And what the fuck happened to him?” Gates said, toeing Marshall’s body as though it were a sack of meat. “Although I suppose I should thank you for saving me the trouble. I swear to God, the three of you have caused me nothing but trouble this past year. First James thinks he can blackmail me into letting him out, then we have her,” Caroline flinched as his cold yellow gaze landed on her huddled form, “with more fucking lives than a cat. What is she doing here, anyway? What are they doing here?” he asked, indicating a trembling Kate and a sobbing Michael.

“I needed to know how much she knows. If James was telling the truth.”

“I think it’s safe to assume if she and Taggart found their way to the set, they know too much.” He nodded to one of his goons. His gaze pulled back to Caroline. “I’m going to do something I haven’t done for a long time and kill you myself. I should have done you myself a long time ago and saved all of us a bunch of trouble. Now get those two,” he said, indicating Kate and Michael, “inside, and get them ready to transport with the others.”

Toni had quickly homed in on Patrick’s location, only five miles from where Kaylee had led them. As they approached, Kaylee’s already pale face had gone chalk white. “That’s it. Right down that drive.” She pointed to a narrow dirt driveway marked only by a mailbox, destroyed a long time ago. Brush grew thick on either side, making it difficult to see from the road and discouraging anyone who might be inclined to investigate.

They pulled their cars off the road about a quarter mile past the drive and got out. “Ethan’s going to take you to the police station, and you tell them everything you told me,” Danny said.

Kaylee nodded, wide eyed as she watched Danny, Alex, and Moreno load up with their arsenal. In addition to the knife strapped to his right calf and his Glock tucked into his shoulder holster, Danny also carried a Taser, and a derringer in an ankle holster. Alex and Moreno were similarly armed, their muscular bodies bristling with weapons.

Danny squatted down next to his car. Taking direction from what Kaylee remembered, he drew a diagram of the huge house and surrounding grounds and went over the plan one last time. “We need to go in as quick and quiet as possible,” Danny said, though he didn’t need to remind Alex or Moreno of anything. The big Latino and even bigger half Croat were two of the best soldiers he’d ever worked with. They’d performed similar extractions in a lot scarier places. Despite their size, they could move as swiftly and silently as death as they snuck up on the guards and took them out.

“And I’ll come in leading the cavalry,” Ethan said, just the faintest whiff of derision in his voice. But if he didn’t like the idea of having to wait to come in with the police, he knew better than to say it. This was Danny’s op, and he needed Ethan to go with Kaylee, not only to make sure the local police knew exactly what they were up against, but also to give Danny, Alex and Moreno enough time to get Caroline and the other girls out safely. Danny had a bad feeling that if the cops came blazing in, sirens blaring and lights flashing, it could turn into an ugly hostage situation in the blink of an eye.

He would get them out safely, Caroline included. He wouldn’t acknowledge the possibility that Caroline could already be dead.

Danny heard the rumble of Ethan’s engine fade in the distance as he and the other two men took off at a fast clip down the side of the road. Fortunately traffic was nonexistent, and they made it to the driveway before anyone could see them and wonder what the hell three heavily armed men were doing running down a rural highway in the central valley. When they turned down the driveway their pace slowed and they went on high alert, listening for any cars or other signs anyone was approaching.

They made it down the drive without incident and ducked into the brush, out of sight. Sure enough, Patrick Easterbrook’s car was parked in the muddy drive in front of the rundown house. A sleek, black Jaguar was parked in front of it, and a black Mercedes SUV had pulled up behind.

A lone guard stood at the front door, a gun in his slack grip as he leaned against the wall looking half asleep.

Danny did a quick scan of the front of the house and saw no signs of security cameras or other surveillance. He nodded at Alex, who started thrashing around the bushes with enough force it sounded like a bear was trapped.

On cue, the guard straightened, yawned, and peered across the drive to the thick brush that flanked the drive. Alex let out a low, weird sound that could have been human or animal. Danny could feel the guard’s curiosity pique. Shifting his grip on his pistol, the guy walked slowly to where they were hidden. Using his gun hand, he parted some branches for a closer look. Danny came around from behind and Tasered him right as he caught sight of Alex and Moreno. Danny quickly bound him with plastic flex ties, gagged him, dragged him into the bushes, and tucked the guard’s gun into his own waistband.

They skirted around the house and took out two more men guarding the back door. It would have been a hell of a lot easier shooting them than it was waiting to get close enough to take them out with Tasers, but he and his brothers had left enough dead bodies in their wake in the past several months. Danny didn’t want to add to the pile.

But Danny didn’t plan to be so merciful with everyone. When Danny found him, Patrick Easterbrook would meet the barrel of Danny’s gun, or better yet the blade of his knife so Danny could experience Patrick’s fear the moment before he died. He’d never felt like this, this blood lust, but he wanted Patrick to experience what his mother had felt the moment before Patrick killed her. Wanted him to understand the crippling fear that had been Caroline’s constant companion.

Danny wanted him to pay with his life.

Focus on the mission. Do not let emotion take over
, he warned himself. He couldn’t give in to his rage, not yet. When that happened he got reckless and sloppy, and he had to keep his head in the game if he wanted to get Caroline out safely. She was the number one priority. Not his revenge, not even those poor girls trapped in that house.

They entered through the back door and moved silently down a dark hallway. Closed doors lined the hallway. Danny nodded and Moreno tried the first one. The door swung open to reveal a hospital bed along with some kind of electronic monitor. Danny moved in to take a closer look. A cabinet across from the bed held shelves full of glass vials, IV bags, gauze, and other medical supplies. On a corner table rested a tray of surgical instruments.

Birthing room
. His skin prickled as he imagined the kind of pain and fear that permeated the walls. He suppressed a shudder and silently backed out. They continued down the hall, past what looked like an empty office, then a TV room. Low voices could be heard, and as they rounded the corner Danny saw two women working in a large kitchen. He nodded for Alex and Moreno to continue through the front entryway and up the stairs.

“Excuse me, ladies,” Danny said, his tone conversational, the Glock he leveled at them all business, “can you tell me where I can find Patrick Easterbrook and somebody named Gates?”

The women looked up, freezing in horror as they caught sight of the gun. They both shot their hands up in the air, chattering shrilly in Spanish all the while. Danny repeated his question in Spanish.

They shook their heads, feigning ignorance. “I don’t know anyone by those names,” the first said. “We just help take care of the girls. Nothing else.”

The second one nodded, but Danny saw her dark eyes flicker to a point just past his shoulder. Though his gaze didn’t waver, he shifted his focus to the space behind him. Someone was coming up, doing his best to be silent, but the floorboards of the old house weren’t entirely cooperative. He felt the air shift behind him as an arm raised and—

Danny turned, caught the guy’s gun hand in his grip and broke his forearm with a sharp jab of his elbow. The guy screamed in agony, bringing two more people hurrying down the hall. More women, Mexican or Central American by the looks of them, all dressed in scrubs. They took one look at Danny and the fallen guard and went in reverse so fast they tripped over their own feet.

“Stop,” Danny yelled in Spanish, and fired a shot out the kitchen window. Everyone froze. He heard scuffles and muffled screams coming from upstairs, but didn’t take his focus off the injured guard. “How many more guards?”

“Three,” the man groaned. “Upstairs with the girls.” The thuds and yells coming from upstairs convinced Danny that Alex and Moreno were taking care of it.

“Where’s Patrick Easterbrook? Where’s Gates?” he said, feeling like a broken record.

Moreno came thudding down the stairs, a sheen of sweat on his face. “We took out three more guards, and found seventeen girls upstairs. No sign of Caroline.”

C
aroline let out a choked cry as one of the goons came toward them and hauled Kate to her feet and grabbed Michael by the back of his hooded sweatshirt.

“No!” Caroline screamed, struggling against her bindings so fiercely she felt blood trickle over her wrist. “They haven’t done anything! You have to let them go.”

“Let them go? Are you kidding, that’s the only thing this idiot has done right today.” Gates turned his attention to Patrick. “Really. The girl’s perfect, her looks and her coloring. And the kid,” his smile was pure evil. “You’d be amazed what some sick fucks will pay to get their hands on a kid that age.”

That was it. The bile surged in Caroline’s throat and the meager contents of her stomach spilled on the dirt floor. The acidic odor mingled with the sickly sweet metallic odor of blood.

Gates didn’t seem to notice.

“It’s too bad you’re not a little younger,” he said, his reptilian gaze sending a shudder through her as it raked her body. “You’re very beautiful, but a little on the old side to be truly useful.”

One of the thugs gave her a lecherous look and murmured in Spanish, “She may be old for babies but she’s still good enough to fuck.”

Gates responded in Spanish as well. “Good point. No need to waste good pussy before we take her out.”

She heaved again, this time nothing but bile, but didn’t let on that she understood. “So what, you’re going to kill me now?”

“No,” Patrick protested. “I have to know what she knows, and who she told—”

“Too late, Easterbrook. Time to cut ties, pull up stakes and lay low for a while.”

“But I can’t leave Melody,” Patrick protested. “I can’t just let my wife think I left her.”

“Don’t worry. She won’t think you left her. Not on purpose anyway.” He and the thug exchanged nods.

This time Caroline knew what to expect. She squeezed her eyes shut just in time to miss the top of Patrick’s skull exploding.

Danny froze at the sound of gunshots coming from the woods outside the house. Without a word he started sprinting for the door.

“Danny,” Moreno yelled. “Don’t go by yourself. Wait for us to secure things here.”

Moreno’s words met a brick wall as all logic and calm faded away. He couldn’t wait. Caroline was out there somewhere, he could feel it, and every second he waited brought her one second closer to death. “You stay with the girls,” he ordered. He burst through the front door of the house and sprinted across the drive, kicking up mud and gravel with his churning steps.

A trio emerged from the brush. Danny skidded to a stop and raised his gun to fire. “Freeze.”

His own blood froze when he saw Kate Medford and her little boy, Michael, being marched at gunpoint to the house. The goon grabbed up Michael and held him up as a shield, the barrel of his gun to the poor little guy’s head.

“Drop it or I’ll shoot the kid.”

Danny drowned out Kate’s screams as he dropped his gun to his side, slackened his muscles as though he was about to obey. The thug eased his hold slightly, letting Michael drop a couple of inches, easing the barrel from the boy’s skull.

Enough for Danny to get a shot.

A single shot through the forehead. The thug dropped like a bag of rocks.

Kate looped her bound hands over the boy and pulled his small, shaking body to her.

Shit. There had to be a better way he could have done that. Now the poor kid was probably in shock and would be seriously scarred for the rest of his life. “I’m sorry,” he said as he knelt next to Kate and cut first her ties, then Michael’s. “He shouldn’t have had to—”

“You have to get her,” Kate interrupted, yanking Michael to his feet and casting a terror filled gaze behind her.

“Caroline? He has her?” Every cell went on high alert.

Kate nodded. “Patrick has her, and that other guy. They’re going to kill her.” Horror dawned across her face. “The gun. They might have—”

“Don’t.” He said it as much to himself as to her as he rolled to his feet. “Don’t think it. Not until we know for sure.”

Warm sticky droplets hit Caroline’s face and she heard someone screaming, then harsh, male laughter. Her legs were jerked by rough hands and she felt the ties around her ankle tighten, then fall away.

She kicked and thrashed as hard as she could but couldn’t escape two pairs of rough male hands that pinned down her hips. Cold air hit her legs as her boots, pants and underwear were dragged from her body.

“Feisty little
puta
,” one of them muttered in Spanish as he tugged at his fly. “She’ll settle down once she gets the feel of my
verga
inside her.”

“I doubt I’ll even be able to feel it,” she growled in Spanish and spat in his face. He drew back, momentarily stunned. Caroline seized the opportunity and slammed a bare knee into his groin. He howled and clutched at his crotch.

She struggled to her knees but was hit from behind by a sharp blow from the butt of Gates’s gun. Her ears rang and her vision swam, but still she fought to get away.

Her breath left her in a rush as she was slammed onto her back. Rough hands shoved her thighs apart and a heavy weight settled between. She stared at a hole in the roof, gritting her teeth as she tried to pull herself out of her body, out of her mind, away from what was about to happen to her.

She heard a sharp popping sound and for a moment thought it was her own break with reality. The fumbling and probing between her legs stopped and she realized the pop was a gunshot outside.

Oh God, please don’t let it be Kate or Michael.

The weight lifted and Gates dragged her by her hair to stand in front of him. The cold muzzle of his gun pressed against her cheekbone. He shoved her through the stall out into the barn, careful to keep Caroline in front of him. Old furniture and empty boxes were scattered across the floor. Several mattresses were piled haphazardly in the corner, the top one stained with rusty looking streaks.

Caroline didn’t let herself contemplate where the bloodstains had come from.

Cold dirt and hay bit into her bare feet, and she tried not to dwell on the fact that she was half naked. She was still alive, and they hadn’t raped her. She could endure a little nudity.

Gates ordered his henchman to take a look outside. The man obeyed, moving cautiously to the door. He slid it open a crack, letting in a streak of feeble gray winter light. Caroline watched, heart thudding against her ribcage as the man lifted his gun and craned around for a look. He shook his head, indicating he’d seen nothing. He took a tentative step outside, until only half of his body was visible. Caroline heard his footsteps crunching through dead leaves and gravel as Gates pushed her closer to the door.

Suddenly with a grunt the thug reappeared in the doorway. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out but a choking sound. Caroline let out a horrified cry as a thick bubble of blood burst over the man’s lips, soaking his chin like a macabre beard. As he fell to his knees, the man’s eyes widened in horrified knowledge of his own death.

Gates cursed and dragged her back toward the stall. “Who’s out there?”

“We took out your guards and the cops are on their way, Gates.”

“Danny!” She couldn’t keep herself from crying out in elated relief. “I’m back here.”

Her exclamation earned her a punch to the head that made her ears ring.

“You two need to let her go,” Danny said in his cold, hard, commander’s voice.

Something bugged her, through her ringing, aching head.
Two
. He didn’t know about Patrick.

“Patrick’s dead,” she yelled. “It’s just Ga—” her call broke off in a shriek of pain as Gates dug his fingers into her breast and twisted hard.

“You hear that, Taggart?” Gates yelled. “You show yourself and drop your weapons or there’ll be more than that before I finally kill her.”

Danny hadn’t even thought before he’d killed the other thug, he was so filled with the need to get to Caroline. He was nothing, a human obstacle standing between Danny and the woman he loved and the revenge he craved.

It was only when he heard Caroline call out to him that he could pull himself back. Relief flooded him, so strong it nearly sent him to his knees. She was alive. The shot he’d heard hadn’t been for her.

But he was going to get her killed if he charged in like this. With Alex, Ben, and the police on their way, Gates was screwed, but he still had Caroline. Back up against the wall, he was as dangerous as any cornered animal. Danny needed to tread carefully if he wanted to get them both out of there alive.

Acid ate at his guts when she told him Patrick was already dead. Logically he knew it was better for them. Easier to take out one armed man than two. But his soul burned with the need for revenge, and the thought that it was beyond his reach left a bitter taste in his mouth.

None of that matters. Caroline is all that matters
. She was still alive, and Danny was ready to face down the devil himself to make sure she stayed that way.

Danny appeared in the doorway of the stall, his empty hands raised. He was stripped down to a T-shirt, no weapons in sight. “Hear the sirens? They’re on their way, Gates. We got Kaylee to the police, my guys have already released the girls at the main house. You might as well let her go.”

Caroline drank in the sight of him. Huge. Radiating power. Utterly calm as he took in her state of undress and the sight of a gun pressed to her head and Marshall’s dead body on the floor. His quicksilver gaze took in every detail, flickering only when it caught on Patrick Easterbrook’s lifeless form. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared, and Caroline sensed he was restraining himself from ripping the already dead body limb from limb.

“Lift up your pant legs,” Gates said.

Caroline watched as Danny pulled up the legs of his pants one at a time, showing he had no weapons hidden.

“Come on,” Danny said. “You’re fucked already. How about you let her go and I’ll give you a running start.”

She could feel Gates tense behind her, felt the faint tremble of the hand holding the gun to her head. “Or how about this, asshole? How about I kill both of you for costing me millions of dollars and the loss of my operation?”

When Danny had first seen Caroline, he’d thought his head was going to explode. Bruises marred the creamy skin of her cheeks. She was naked from the waist down and he could see dark smudges on the tender skin of her thighs. Gates pressed the gun to her cheek so hard Danny could see the tip of the barrel leave an indentaton.

He watched Gates’s finger flex against the trigger.

Everything stopped. The rage in his head quieted. The adrenaline pumping through his veins eased off, and everything came into razor sharp focus. He could pick out the individual beads of sweat on Gates’s upper lip, see every single eyelash surrounding Caroline’s scared, dark eyes.

As though in slow motion, he watched the muscles in Gates’s arm and shoulder shift. He knew how Gates was going to move before his arm went into motion.

He was going to shoot Danny first.

Danny eased up on his toes and bunched the muscles in his legs. The second the gun started to pull away from Caroline’s face he made his move.

He sprang, closing the distance in a split second, barely registering the sound of gunshots firing into the air. But he sure as hell registered the impact of one of the bullets slamming into his left side. He heard Caroline shriek as his body slammed into both of them.

He blocked out the pain screaming in his side as he spun himself away from Gates’s gun hand and slipped behind Gates’s body. Before the other man could react, Danny hooked his arm around Gates’s neck and twisted his head sharply with his opposite hand.

A sickeningly loud crunch of bones and tendons rang through the barn and Danny felt Gates fall, deadweight, from his arms.

Danny took one step toward Caroline and faltered, his legs going weak under him. He thought it was relief until he heard her gasp, “Oh, my God,” sounding like she was talking under water. His body felt chilled, the only warmth coming from the sticky liquid pouring down his side.

“Don’t you die on me, Danny. You can’t get me through all of this and die on me now,” she sobbed. Pain lanced through him as she pressed her hands hard against his side.

Somehow through the pain and fog he noticed she was still pantsless. “Go get dressed, baby,” he forced the words through rubbery lips. “I don’t want the cops getting a look at what’s mine.”

Caroline let out a half laugh, half sob as she scrambled to put on her pants. “You have to be okay. You can’t leave me.”

“Won’t leave you.” His field of vision narrowed until all he could see was her face. “Love you too much.” The bright halo of light surrounding her face grew smaller and smaller until she disappeared completely.