Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

February 3 rd

1:37 P.M.

There was nothing as terrifying as being trapped inside your own body.

That was exactly how Cassie had spent the last … however many hours since the two men had killed Violet and then kidnapped her.

In that time, she'd been taken out of the hospital and transported in what appeared to be an ambulance, at least on the outside, down to a marina and then onto a boat. The boat had quickly set sail and they'd traveled for what had to be hours.

Throughout it all, she'd been unable to do so much as twitch a finger or make even a grunt of sound. She'd watched the throng of people around them as she'd been taken to the fake ambulance. Although her vision remained fuzzy, she could see the shapes of them and hear their voices. All she had to do to be saved was reach out and tell someone she needed help, but she couldn't.

Because she was trapped.

A prisoner inside her own body.

And now a prisoner of whoever had kidnapped her.

While she was trying to delude herself into believing she didn't know who had taken her that was a lie.

She knew.

She was just too terrified to admit it.

There was only one person who would have abducted her and that was Raul Castillo. The feared weapons trafficker who would buy and sell anything, who had a stellar reputation in the underworld, and who had already abducted both Scarlett and Lucy.

Both her friends had been rescued, but they hadn't made it out of their ordeals unscathed. Physical and psychological wounds hadn't even begun to heal for either of them yet, and even when those wounds did heal they'd leave behind scars.

Scars that would stay with them for a lifetime.

Was she about to be inflicted with those same wounds?

There was no way she could deal with going through what they had. She wasn't as strong as Scarlett or Lucy.

Scarlett had been forced to learn to be strong almost from birth. Her parents were awful people who had basically abandoned their kids with their grandparents and made them be trained from toddlerhood to join the military when they graduated high school. Scarlett knew how to shoot and use a knife, self-defense, and survival skills before she even learned how to read and write.

And while Lucy had grown up in a wonderful and loving family, her early diagnosis of epilepsy had made her an outcast as a child. She had to learn how to be strong to survive, to fight for what she wanted in life, and not to let obstacles get in her way.

Both of them were so strong, an inspiration to her, but the truth was, she wasn't like them.

She was too soft.

Too weak.

If any of the three of them were likely to cave under the pressure of torture and give up the formula for the Reactivator, it was going to be her.

Anger and humiliation burned through her. This drug had been her idea, she couldn't be the one to hand it over to someone who would wind up selling it and letting it be used against the people she'd been trying to help.

A tear escaped, trailing its way down her cheeks.

Automatically she went to wipe it away, even though she knew the drug had left her incapacitated, awake but unable to do anything, only to find that her finger twitched.

Shock and relief shoved away some of the fear and she focused on the finger again, curling it in and then stretching it back out again.

It cooperated and followed her instructions.

Was she completely back online already, or just the one finger?

If she didn't want to be tortured into giving up the formula, she had to get out of there. Right now, Cassie didn't even care that there was likely the middle of the ocean. She'd gladly jump into the water that still terrified her and swim for as long as she could to get away from these people.

Raul Castillo was either waiting until the drug wore off to begin interrogating her or he was going to arrive soon. Either way, she wasn't hanging around to find out.

She was getting out of there.

Working her way up her body slowly, she managed to work each finger, curling them into a fist and lifting them off the gurney she'd been left on. After checking to make sure she could move her other hand and then both her legs, Cassie drew in a breath.

Already she'd wasted more time than she would have liked, but she couldn't make her escape attempt until she was sure her body would cooperate. There was only going to be one shot at this, and if she wasted it then it was gone.

Lifting her head was harder than she would have liked. Just because she could move didn't mean her body wasn't still weak. The drug was likely still in her system, and she had no idea how long it would take until it was completely gone. In a perfect world, she'd have more time to regain strength before throwing herself into the ocean, but this wasn't a perfect world, and time was already running out.

Holding tight to the knowledge that Luis knew that something was wrong, that he'd already been looking for her when she was abducted, Cassie pushed herself into a sitting position and then swung her legs over the side of the gurney.

Fighting a wave of dizziness she stood, curling a hand around the gurney until it passed because she didn't want to fall down and then have to drag herself up off the floor.

"You can do this, Cassie." Her whispered voice was weak and scratchy, but it worked, and it was such a relief that tears flooded her eyes.

Ignoring them, she stumbled to the door of the small, otherwise empty room she'd been put in. The only sound was the engine's hum, so she hoped no one was guarding her.

Cautiously, she edged the door open and peeked out just enough to find that the hall outside was indeed empty. It looked like she was on some small cruise boat. The long hall had doors lining either side of it, and she wondered if there was anyone else being held against their will behind them.

There was no time to check, there could be no one and if she wasted this opportunity, she wouldn't get another.

So, she snuck down the hall, finding a small lounge area at the end with a staircase leading down and one leading up.

Down would get her closer to the water, but there were also more likely to be people down there.

Up it was.

Hoping she was making the right choice, Cassie clung to the rail as she dragged her still-heavy limbs up the short flight of stairs and out onto a sundeck. There were chairs, tables, and lounges scattered about, and she assumed that if they wanted this to look like a legitimate cruise ship then they had to make it seem the part.

Thankfully, there didn't appear to be anybody up there, so she hurried over to the railing. Objectively, she could agree that she was only maybe three stories high. It was a relatively easy jump, considering it was a water landing.

But images of the other day, of the explosion and being thrown into the water, almost drowning, assaulted her mind.

This time there was no Luis to come swimming to her rescue.

She'd be all alone.

A quick glance around confirmed there was no land in sight.

Just ocean.

Miles and miles of ocean.

And … an approaching boat.

Cassie's heart sank. There was not a doubt in her mind that Raul Castillo himself was on that boat. Given the fact that he'd had more than one of his hideouts raided in the last month because of his obsession with getting the Reactivator, it made sense that he could be hiding out on a boat.

Harder to track him that way.

She had to do this now. If she let her fear of the water control her, she was going to be tortured and eventually murdered once she gave up the intel. And Cassie was fairly sure she wouldn't be able to hold out as long as it would take for somebody to find her.

"Hey!"

The voice behind her had her head whipping around to see three men rushing up the stairs toward her. Guess they'd gone to make sure she was ready for their impending guest only to find her gone.

Now or never.

Drawing in a deep breath, Cassie climbed onto the railing.

Only just as she was about to drop down to the water below, do her best to swim for her life, a meaty hand wrapped around her bicep, dragging her backward.

A howl of pain and desperation fell from her lips as she realized that it was over. Her one chance of escape was ripped away from her.

February 3 rd

2:48 P.M.

"Okay, looks like we have the full story on Violet Shephard," Rocco announced as he breezed into the kitchen at Luis' house where they'd all gathered after it became clear that Cassie was no longer at the hospital.

The last few hours had been hell.

Quite literally, Hell on Earth.

The flashbacks to when he was eleven and roaming the hospital hallways waiting for word on whether or not his brother was going to survive surgery were a constant in his head. They taunted and mocked him. Reminding him of the vow he'd made that day to never be responsible for another person because the risk of messing up and hurting them was just too great.

There was a constant question circling inside his head.

Should he have risked falling for Cassie?

Was it his fault that she'd been taken?

He'd promised her he would be there for her, protect her, make sure nobody hurt her, and yet she'd been taken on his watch. She was his responsibility, his to watch over, and there was no denying he had failed in the most horrific way.

Yet oddly enough even though he was terrified out of his mind, even though it would be so easy to bail, he couldn't.

Wouldn't.

There was a strength that he hadn't had before. A knowledge somewhere deep inside him that despite the risks, despite the fear, despite the crushing sense of failure, Cassie was his, and he couldn't leave her even if he wanted to.

And he most definitely did not want to.

Even though the only thing he was interested in right now was finding a lead on Cassie, he glanced over at Rocco. "What did you learn?"

"Seems that Violet had a son with her first husband," Rocco explained, taking the empty chair at the table.

"Violet had a kid? She never told me that." They'd been together several times after her first marriage ended in divorce, and never once had she mentioned anything about a child or having to get home to the boy. In fact, that first time they'd been together after her divorce, he was pretty sure they'd enjoyed a week-long sex romp, barely leaving his bedroom, let alone his house, and never once had she said she had to get home to look after a baby.

"He's seven," Rocco said. "For the last six years, Violet and her ex-husband have shared joint custody of the boy. The husband is a wealthy investment banker and Violet liked the child support she got for shared custody, but that seems about all she enjoyed in being a parent." Rocco looked disgusted. Luis knew that Rocco and Caite were foster parents, there was no way they couldn't judge the woman for her flippant and selfish attitude toward her own son.

"I never would have guessed she was a mother," he said honestly, knowing that Violet had purposefully kept that from him. Because if he knew she had a kid, he never would have allowed anything else to happen between them. Kids were a major responsibility, and he hadn't wanted that. Though oddly enough, the thought of kids with Cassie wasn't anywhere near as terrifying as he thought it would have been.

"Seems like the ex has been trying to get full custody for the last six years. But you know how courts don't like to cut a parent, especially the mom, out of a child's life. Since there was no abuse, no drug or excessive alcohol use, the dad couldn't get a judge to see Violet's attitude to their son as neglect. But that changed a few months ago when the little boy was diagnosed with hemophilia. Apparently, the boy was usually home alone after school until well into the night when his mom finally came home. This particular night, he cut himself riding his bike, and by the time she got home he'd lost a ton of blood," Rocco explained.

"Please tell me after that a judge finally saw sense," Ace said, hands in tight fists. The man had married Piper in Timor-Leste so the three orphaned kids who survived an attack on the orphanage they were living in could have a family and a chance at a better life. Both Ace and Piper loved those kids like they were their own because they were.

Love wasn't about biology, it had taken him a long time to get that, but it had finally clicked in his brain.

"He did," Rocco confirmed, "and Violet wasn't happy to lose out on the nice chunk of child support she got each month."

"She was at the hospital for her son today?" Bubba asked.

"Yes. She's allowed visitation, and for their son's sake, the dad invites her to come to all appointments so the little boy can have the support of both parents. Although I don't know how much support Violet actually offers," Rocco added.

"So how does that play into why Violet has suddenly been all over our boy Luis here?" Gumby asked.

"No way to know for sure," Rocco replied, "but my guess is if she wants the child support gravy train to start back up again, she needs to convince a judge that she's going to put her kid first. What better way to do that than to try to pretend you've got a stable home life to offer him? She knows Luis, he has a good job as a Navy SEAL, which is pretty impressive on this resume she's trying to build. Probably thought he was a good shortcut into marriage and then getting her kid back and the payout that would come with it."

That might be speculation, but Luis could actually see Violet's mind working like that. She'd always been driven, liked nice things, expensive things, and usually went after wealthy men, with the exception of him. Without sounding like he was a conceited jerk he had always just figured she was with him for his body, which was fine with him because hers was definitely a huge attraction to him.

Unlike with Cassie.

Sure, she was gorgeous, and he was one hundred percent attracted to her body, and her pretty face, but that wasn't why he was with her.

It was her huge heart, her huge mind, her capacity to look at herself, note her flaws, and find the courage to do something about them. That's why he was falling in love with her. That's why he was willing to risk the heart he'd been protecting for over twenty years now for her.

Because she was worth it.

While he certainly didn't wish the pain of losing his mother on Violet's little boy, it sounded like the kid might actually be better off without her in his life. After the way she'd treated Cassie, making his girl doubt herself, he couldn't say he was all that broken up about her loss either.

Especially not when Cassie was out there somewhere.

"Do we have any leads on Cass?" he asked. After clearing the hospital and determining that there was indeed a bomb there but that it hadn't been activated, all their attention had shifted to locating Cassie.

Quite frankly, it was all he cared about.

Did he want innocent people hurt if the other two bombs the mole claimed were out there went off? Of course he didn't, but his girl would always come first. Always.

"There were several ambulances that left the hospital today after we reported the bomb, and then there was the gas leak," Rex explained. "But as we went through security footage, checking out each one, there was only one that never turned up at another hospital. And when I dug deeper, I found the plates were stolen. I've been trying to track down where it went, but that kind of thing takes time. Everyone at Prey is on it though, man. Raven and Olivia Oswald themselves," he added, mentioning Eagle Oswald's sister, Raven, and his wife Olivia, both of whom were computer experts.

"We'll find her," Phantom said quietly.

As though the words had some sort of magical power, Rex's eyes grew wide, and he looked from the laptop screen in front of him to Luis.

His heart rate picked up dramatically.

Good news or bad?

"Did you find something?" he managed to ask.

"I think I found where they took her," Rex replied. "Reports of an ambulance showing up at a marina. Apparently, it was bringing a sick kid to a cruise boat as one of those charities that do special things for dying kids. Cruise boat is small, one that only has around a hundred or so people on it. It left the dock less than an hour after Cassie disappeared."

It was her.

It had to be.

Because Luis had a pretty good idea who had organized Cassie's abduction, and he also had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen to his girl unless he was able to get her back in time.