Dash, p.23
Dash, page 23
Crouching down, Ax moved forward, even as Cherie moved slowly toward the wooded area. No one was paying any attention to her, and Ax didn’t see Meyers, so he must have evacuated out of the front door. Ax followed along the edge of the property until Cherie reached the edge of the trees. He came up behind her.
“Smart as a whip,” he said in a low voice.
He heard Cherie gasp. Chase was right next to him. They were both scanning the area to see if anyone was watching his sister.
“Clear,” Ax said.
“Clear,” Chase confirmed.
Ax grabbed Cherie’s wrist and pulled her down and out of sight. They crouched backward a few steps before Ax lifted his mask off his face and pulled her into his arms.
“Everything’s in place. We’re getting the hell out of here,” he told her.
Cherie’s face was pressed tightly against his chest, and he felt her nod. He took her hand and began to lead her through the trees. Chase covered them as they went.
“We’ve got the package. We’re clear. Let’s GTFO,” Ax whispered in his mic to let everyone know to hustle back to the van.
Within seconds, Clay and Colt were letting everyone know they were in the van. Sam and Bray confirmed. There was only one voice missing. Everyone had checked in but Nick. Stopping, Ax turned and tried to look through the trees.
“What is it?” Cherie whispered.
“We’re a man down,” Ax said as he turned to Chase. “Can you get her to the van?”
Chase shook his head once. “Ax, I can go get—”
“This op is a favor to me.”
Chase looked at Cherie before nodding. He pulled up his ski mask and gave her a tentative smile as he took her hand.
“Ruby,” Cherie pleaded.
Ax looked at her. He tried to convey everything he wanted to say into that one look. They didn’t have time to argue.
“I can’t leave a man behind. You’re safe. I promise Chase will keep you safe. I’d trust him with my life, and more importantly, I’d trust him with yours. There are four more of my men in the car waiting to protect you. He’s not getting you back.”
Cherie hesitated a moment before nodding. Ax gave her a last peck on the cheek then took off through the trees to the edge of the clearing. Crouching down, he scanned the area for Nick.
His heart was racing. He began to sweat as he moved his gaze over every inch of the backyard. Ax told himself Nick wasn’t in that much danger.
The bodyguards had guns, but they obviously weren’t the most astute. They should have been checking to make sure everybody was safe rather than watching the house with open mouths like everyone else.
After three passes over the backyard with no sign of Nick, Ax crept back around. The back part of the fence was the most dangerous, because there were large gaps with no foliage to hide behind.
Slowly, Ax made his way silently around the perimeter of the yard. There was still no sign of Nick anywhere. He checked every nook and cranny he passed. The only explanation for Nick remaining silent was that he was backed into a corner where he couldn’t speak—or else he’d been compromised.
Ax was almost to the back corner of the house where he and Nick had waited the night before to get into Cherie’s room. When he saw Daniel Meyers striding around the side of the house, Ax took a deep breath. He blocked out the sounds he could occasionally hear through his earpiece.
Every time Max unmuted himself to speak, Ax could hear his mother talking a mile a minute, pestering Wade and Max with questions. He finally heard his father tell her she needed to let them work.
Chase told Max he was safe in the van with ‘the package’. Ax let out a relieved breath. Even if he got caught, Cherie was safe. His team would make sure she got back to his family, no matter what.
As he crouched, Ax saw something move along the ground. He knew where Nick was, and the asshole was risking his position to give them more time to get Cherie out.
Ax couldn’t see him, but he knew Nick was hiding behind a bush because he slowly moved a large stick out onto the sidewalk. As Meyers walked past the bush, the stick lifted about two inches from the ground. Meyers stumbled and fell.
He landed on his hands and knees so hard that Ax heard his bones hit the pavement. Groaning and swearing, Meyers rolled to a sitting position.
“Firetrucks ETA less than one minute,” Max warned.
“Go,” Ax whispered into his mic.
“Ten-four,” Sam said. “We’re pulling out and moving exactly one block west.”
Ax could hear Cherie crying in the background, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave Nick twisting in the wind.
“What the fuck is that?” Meyers snarled.
Ax crouched on the balls of his feet, ready to pounce if Nick had been found.
“I pay those landscapers thousands a month to keep this place pristine. This fucking log shouldn’t be here.”
Sirens wailed in the background.
“Congressman, let me help you back into the front yard. The EMTs will want to take a look at you,” said the guard who had been tailing him.
Meyers finally nodded. Meyers was looking over his shoulder the whole limping walk back to the front of the house, and Ax knew exactly who he was looking for.
When the coast was finally clear, Nick crept out from behind the bush. Ax couldn’t see any of his features, only the movement. He sat back and waited for Nick to reach him.
“You should have gone,” Nick whispered. “I would have caught up.”
“How…by running? You gonna call an Uber?”
Ax heard the quiet, frustrated sigh and knew Nick was rolling his eyes under his ski mask as they made their way to the back corner of the yard. The smoking guard was there, holding a lit cigarette behind his back. Ax stayed far enough away so he could whisper without being overheard.
“Sin,” Ax said, “we need a diversion. We need lights out or something to draw people toward the house.”
“Diversion in ten-nine-eight…”
Ax and Nick both inched forward toward where the man kept sneaking drags of his cigarette. When Max ended the countdown, the electricity went out. Most importantly, the pool lights went out. The lights along the overhang at the back of the house began to flash on and off, drawing everyone’s attention.
Ax and Nick ran at a crouch across the open area along the back wall. Once they reached the trees, they both yanked off their ski masks and vaulted over the wall into the neighbor’s backyard.
Ax pulled off his black shirt. He was wearing a white tank underneath, but it was less conspicuous than all black at night. Nick was wearing a light blue T-shirt under his black top.
“We’ll pretend we’re jogging,” Ax whispered.
Nick nodded. They both stuffed their masks into their pockets and held their shirts in their hands. The neighbors would likely know they didn’t live on this block, so exercising would be more believable.
Ax jumped up and looked over the stone wall that separated the neighbor’s backyard from the front. There were enough trees to hide them as they bounded over. Ax went first and Nick followed.
Quite a few people had come out of the other houses, but no one was looking at Ax or Nick because the fire truck was pulling up to Meyers’ house.
“Do you think there’s really a fire?” Nick asked.
The question was directed at Ax but loud enough that the group of people who were gathered at the end of the street could hear.
“Probably just an alarm malfunction,” Ax replied.
No one turned their way. No one gave them a second glance. Still, they paused to gawk for a moment as most neighbors would before jogging away.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Nick
When they reached the van around the corner, the door slid open. Ax’s mouth dropped in horror at the sight of his sister blubbering on the floor of the van. He picked her up and held her in his lap like a baby, rocking her as they all piled in. He murmured to her in Spanish as they pulled away from the curb.
Nick imagined being rescued by her brother, only to be taken away again would be frightening. Guilt assailed him. He hadn’t meant to get trapped, but as he’d made his way from the house, a security guard had come around the corner.
He’d been stuck in that bush for what had felt like forever. The guy had been the only competent one of Meyers’ security, as he’d tried to keep his eyes on what was going on both in the front and the back of the house. His ass had been blocking Nick’s vision, so he hadn’t even risked communicating.
Max was chatting through the comm about how he was busy deleting any evidence of the op from all video surveillance. Nick smiled as he heard Ax’s family peppering Wade with questions in the background.
“Make sure to check the neighbor’s footage,” Nick said. “We had to jump the fence of the neighbor to the back and then hop the fence into the front yard.”
“I’m on it. There will be no sign of any of you. I can’t remove all evidence of Cherie, though. It already looks like she backed into the trees. He’ll just think she ran away.” Max said.
“He’d be stupid to think she didn’t have any help,” Sam said as he pulled out of the back exit of the gated community.
Once they were past the gate, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They passed a few cops, sirens blaring, headed in the other direction, but they were home free. People needed plumbers all hours of the day, so they wouldn’t be conspicuous.
“He’ll probably turn on his security team and think it was an inside job,” Bray said.
“Even when he realizes her family is gone, he’ll probably just think whoever helped Cherie escape warned them,” Nick added.
No one discussed the possibility of him trying to replace Cherie. They’d figure that when out she was safely reunited with her parents. The last thing she needed was any guilt about getting out.
By the time they reached the hotel, Cherie had calmed but was still in Ax’s lap. They all piled out, and when Ax slowly and carefully scooted to the end of the bench seat and stood, Nick realized Cherie had fallen asleep. Ax carried her gently to the elevator and all the way to the suite.
Trailing at the back of the group, Nick lifted a hand to Ax so he’d hang back as the guys filed into the suite. He quietly slipped into the room to let everyone know they’d arrived. Cella was on him like a magnet.
“Where is she? Nick, I have to see her. Where—?”
“Shh,” Nick held his finger to his lips. “She’s passed out. It’s probably the first time in a long time she’s felt safe enough to just sleep.”
A quiet sob escaped Cella’s lips, but she swallowed the next one back and nodded. Nando had his arm around her back and they both had tears streaking their cheeks. Diego looked shell-shocked, eyes wide and brimming with tears as his gaze ping-ponged between Nick and his parents.
“We’ll take Cherie to the room Ax was in,” Nick told Wade.
Wade nodded and gave Nick the keycard as he began speaking quietly with the team. Nick led Ax’s family into the hallway. Cella let out a breath but no sob when she stepped out and saw Ax holding a sleeping Cherie. After a moment, she reached out and smoothed her daughter’s hair.
Nick tilted his head toward the hall and Ax nodded. He hurried to unlock the room and held the door open for the quiet procession. As she passed over the threshold, Cella squeezed Nick’s biceps and mouthed ‘thank you’.
Fighting back his own tears, Nick nodded. Diego tentatively stepped into the room. He looked at his sleeping sister as if she were a completely unknown and novel object.
Ax gently laid her on the bed. She stirred for a moment, but as soon as she heard Ax’s voice, she settled back into sleep, curled around him like a baby koala. Cella turned her face into her husband’s chest and silently cried. Nando wrapped both arms around her and held her tightly.
Unsure what to do, Diego stood at the foot of the bed for a moment and watched his sister sleep. He kept licking his lips and swiping at his eyes. After a few moments, he turned and walked past his parents. Nick gave his shoulder a squeeze.
Diego looked up at Nick and there was such desolation in his eyes. Taking a deep breath, Nick tried to let it go. It seemed every member of the family was placing a heap of blame on their own shoulders for something that had been completely out of their control.
Nick looked back toward the bed. Ax was watching him as he cuddled his sister. Their gazes held across the room and Nick’s heart kicked up. Ax’s jaw ticked. Nick wasn’t sure if Ax was grateful or angry, but he couldn’t stand there all day wishing things were different.
Finally, Nick gave Ax a little smile and a nod. Ax nodded back as he ran his hand over his sister’s hair. Backing out of the room, Nick closed the door without even a click. Taking a deep breath, he turned and headed back to the suite.
His urge to protect the broken family in that hotel room grew and doubled. What the hell am I going to do with that? he wondered as he let himself back into the suite.
“We have to let him know that we know what he did, or he’ll just do it again,” Max said.
“I’m not disagreeing with you, but we have to do it in a way that is completely safe for our group and for Ax and his entire family,” Wade said.
“Agreed,” Max grumbled.
“We need to get Ax and his family to Virginia ASAP. Mitch and Chase, you’ll go with them. You’ve built trust with Ax’s parents, and Chase helped with Cherie, so she’ll trust you as well.”
Both men nodded.
“The rest of us will hang back a few days and try to tie up loose ends—unless you need to get back, Sam?”
“I’m good for a few more days. Then I’ll need to meet up with Jazz.”
Wade nodded before rubbing his hands together. The corner of Nick’s mouth kicked up a little. He looked over and found Bray making the same face. They were the newest on the team besides Max, but they’d both learned enough to know that when Wade got ready, things could get fun.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ax
Several weeks later
Another sleepless night.
Ax sat on the cool sand and stared out at the horizon as the sky began to lighten. Cherie wasn’t talking, not about anything important. She seemed happy to be with their family and relieved to be away from Meyers but she wasn’t talking about it.
She wasn’t pretending nothing had happened or that she was the same Cherie who’d been taken, but she didn’t discuss it, either. No one else dared bring it up after the first two meltdowns. The therapist couldn’t tell him if she was actually talking about it in their sessions, but he hoped she was.
She met with the therapist three times a week and had for the past month since they’d gotten settled in at Dee’s beach bungalow. His parents and Diego were also meeting with a therapist once a week. He’d gone a couple of times, but the anger burning inside him was growing, not shrinking.
Meyers was walking around like he’d done nothing wrong while Cherie was afraid of her own shadow. It wasn’t fair, and Ax could have prevented it.
“You too?” Cherie asked as she sat beside him in the sand.
Ax wrapped an arm around her, pulled her in for a hug and breathed in her scent. She flinched when their father hugged her, Diego too. Ax didn’t know why he was different. Maybe because he’d made first contact and had physically pulled her out. He still couldn’t believe she was home safe.
“Me too, what?” He asked.
“You can’t sleep. You’re as restless as I am. You don’t eat much more than me, either.”
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Ax told her.
At first, she’d done nothing but sleep. She’d been so exhausted. But recently she’d been growing restless.
“You haven’t cornered the market on worry,” she said. “Everyone is hovering over me all the time. I know I was young when this all started—”
“You’re still young.”
“My age might be young, but I had to work like an adult, look after myself like an adult.”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll tell Mom and Dad to back off,” he said.
“No. That’s not what I want. You think I don’t know how lucky I am? You found me. Mom and Dad left their home and everything they knew, no questions asked. They moved to the other side of the country. If they want to hover, they can hover.”
“Not if it slows your healing process.”
“Is that what this is?”
Ax pulled her close again and kissed the top of her head. He didn’t know how to help, so he just sort of stood back and watched, making sure his family had what they needed.
They sat for a few minutes in silence while the black sky became red and orange. As the sun crested, Cherie took a deep breath and spoke words Ax never wanted to hear in his life.
“It was my fault,” she said.
“The hell it was.”
“I went with him willingly,” she whispered.
Ax didn’t know who ‘he’ was, but he knew damn well that she hadn’t known what lay ahead if she made that choice.
“So you knew,” he said. “You knew they were going to sell you into slavery and you went anyway?”
“No. Of course not. This guy, Adam, he helped me out when a couple of guys were giving me a hard time.”
“Danny Silva and Shawn Torres?”
She turned to look directly into his eyes. After a moment, she settled back against his chest and looked out at the ocean. It seemed easier for both of them to talk if they didn’t have to see the other’s face.
“Yeah. They kept harassing me on the way home from school. One day, this guy steps in. He introduced himself, but I could tell he thought he was hot stuff, y’know?”
Ax nodded. He didn’t want her to stop talking now that she’d started. She didn’t look at him, but she must have felt the movement, because she continued.
“I didn’t give him the time of day, but from then on, he’d usually be there to tell those guys to back off. Sometimes he wasn’t, but I handled it.”
That last nugget made Ax want to scream and tear something apart. She shouldn’t have needed to handle a couple of drug dealers harassing her.
