Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

February 6 th

12:14 P.M.

Every time she wiped a bead of sweat out of her eyes another one took its place.

Another dozen took their place.

It was so hot there, and she was already exhausted.

Ella knew it didn't help that she hadn't slept in almost forty-eight hours, had barely eaten anything, and had drunk nothing but a little water from the plane. Plus, she’d been living hopped up on adrenalin and living with a constant argument going on in her head as to whether she was doing the right thing or not.

It was so easy to make that decision in the moment.

To believe that you were doing the right thing, the only thing you could do, that you had no other choice, that life wasn’t fair, that even though it didn't feel good this was what you had to do.

But in the cold light of day, it was even easier to second-guess everything.

Had she had other options?

Yes.

They were risky, and she’d decided they were too risky, but they had been there.

If she’d taken one of those other options, would she have regretted it?

This way it was her in the firing line, she would be the one to take the fall. It would cost her everything in the event that she survived the fallout, but at least she would be the one suffering.

And in the end, that was why she’d started down this road.

No one else was going to pay the price for her sins.

No one.

Certainly not people she loved.

Needing another break, Ella paused and checked the ground around her before sinking onto it. The last thing she wanted was to find one of the venomous snakes or poisonous spiders that lived in the Mexican jungles. Plus, there were scorpions here as well, and several species of big cats, not that she wouldn't immediately notice one of them if they were hanging around.

Exhaustion weighed heavily on her as she hung her head. Even though she was there, surrounded by the oppressive heat, the sounds of birds in the air, the feel of the hard ground beneath her, and the rough bark of the tree she was leaning against pressing into her skin, all of this felt so surreal.

Was she really in Mexico?

Had she really stolen the Reactivator?

Was she really going to meet up with the notorious weapons trafficker if she could find her way out of the jungle?

How had this become her life?

There was no way she could have predicted that she would wind up basically a traitor on the run, being hunted as a wanted criminal. She’d always been the good girl. The youngest of four girls and parents who were internationally renowned classical musicians, she’d always assumed as a child that she would follow everyone else into music. Two of her sisters were famous opera singers, and the other was a pianist who entertained thousands of people every year in performances in the best concert halls in the world.

She loved music, loved mastering a new instrument, and had even enjoyed scales even though most kids her age hated the monotony of them. If her life hadn't changed the summer she turned eleven, she would have become a musician.

It was on a flight to China, where she had been set to perform in a packed-out theatre that it happened. Two men tried to hijack the plane. Had almost succeeded. They’d taken over and diverted the flight, then when it eventually landed, a team of US Navy SEALs had managed to take control and save all their lives.

That was when she knew.

Music was beautiful, and it wasn’t something she wanted to give up, but she wanted her life to mean more. So, she’d gone to college and studied a range of things from chemistry to ballistics to computers, eventually getting a job at Prey Security. She’d been so proud when it was offered to her that she could hardly believe that she had been offered a job with the best security firm in the world.

It was her dream job, and now it had all come crashing down around her.

Tears leaked out of her eyes, mixing with the sweat and making her eyes burn. Even though she rubbed at them to erase the sting, she couldn’t help but feel like she deserved it.

She deserved to hurt for what she’d done.

A sob was building inside her, and it was precariously close to bursting out, only she heard something.

Her entire body went still.

She was barely even breathing.

Was someone out there?

Friend or foe?

Who was she kidding? Ella knew she didn't have any friends left. All she had was a whole range of foes who wanted different things from her and would treat her differently if they got their hands on her.

What should she do?

Should she stay there and try to hide? Make herself as small as possible and hope whoever was out there walked past her?

Maybe she should try to run? If she snuck away in the opposite direction from the sounds she could hear, there was a chance she could get away.

But even if she hid or even if she ran it didn't solve her problem.

She was lost out there in the jungle. She couldn’t survive long on her own. She still had to try to find her way to Raul Castillo’s place if she didn't want everything to be for naught. What choice did she really have?

Sighing, Ella shoved back the tears and wearily pushed to her feet. No sooner had she done that than she saw two men dressed all in black, weapons slung over their shoulders, walking through the jungle a mere ten yards or so from where she’d been sitting.

“Hello?” she called out, ignoring the fact that they could belong to a cartel and hoping they were Raul’s men. Not that that was much better.

Both of them turned toward her with weapons raised, but when they saw her horrible smiles that made her skin crawl lit their faces, and those weapons were once again lowered.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Little blonde mouse that was supposed to have arrived already, hiding out in the jungle,” one of them said as he stalked toward her.

Right now, she felt very much like a little timid mouse, trying to make herself as small a target as possible because she knew she couldn’t run from the predator hunting her.

“I-I got l-lost,” she stammered, taking a step back, but she crashed into the tree trunk she’d been resting against, trapping her in place. Running was a bad idea. These men would catch her, and if she made one wrong move, the consequences could be disastrous.

“Got lost did you, little mouse?” the other man chuckled as he followed his friend.

“Mr. Castillo said if we found you then we were welcome to have a little fun with you before bringing you in,” the first man said as he reached her and circled her neck with one of his large hands, effectively pinning her in place.

“I … I … that wasn’t … we had a deal … you can't …” Ella babbled as the man’s hand roughly grabbed one of her breasts and squeezed it so hard she couldn’t help but cry out even though she knew there was no one to hear her cries, and no one to care even if they did.

“We can do whatever we want, little mouse,” the second man said with a laugh. “Who is going to stop us?” He waved his hands around at the empty jungle. The only other living beings there were the animals, and they certainly didn't care what these two men did to her.

“P-please, please d-don’t h-hurt me,” she begged, but all it did was make both men laugh.

“Don’t worry, little mouse,” the second man said as he shoved a hand between her legs and groped at her. “We’ll make sure it’s good for you. It won't hurt.”

“Well, maybe it will hurt when I take you here,” the first man said. The hand that wasn’t still around her throat moved to her backside, and he poked at her hole back there through her jeans.

Ella whimpered and it was such a pitiful sound even to her own ears that it was no wonder the two men merely laughed again.

She was pathetic.

Couldn’t even remember the directions that would have gotten her to Raul’s house. Not that she would have been all that much safer there, but she for sure wouldn't be about to be stripped naked and simultaneously raped by two men.

The worst part of it, though, was knowing that it was all she deserved.

Didn't she know better?

If you played with fire, you got burned. And she was about to be scorched.

February 6 th

12:31 P.M.

He had never truly understood the saying that someone saw red.

Not until this moment.

When Miguel heard the commotion, he quieted his steps, slowed his pace, and snuck up quietly to see what was going on.

As soon as he saw a woman with long blonde hair shoved up against a tree and two men dressed in black fatigues pawing at her and trying to yank her clothes off her, he was filled with a rage so powerful he was surprised he didn't turn into the Hulk right then and there.

The woman was Ella. He knew that, knew that these men were likely some of Raul Castillo’s, that she had gotten herself into this mess when she agreed to sell the weapons trafficker the drug and snuck out of the country to do it. Knew that if she had made different choices, she wouldn't be in this position right now.

But none of that mattered.

Whether she was some criminal mastermind, who had conspired with a dangerous man to have her friends tortured or not, no woman deserved to be raped.

None.

Tears streamed down Ella’s face, and her eyes were two big green orbs of terror, she was so focused on the two men trying to strip her naked that she didn't see him approaching. Likewise, the two men were so engrossed in their captive victim that they weren't paying attention to anything else.

One quick slash of his K-BAR and the first man dropped, blood gushing from the fatal wound he’d just inflicted. Before the second man could even process what was happening and do anything about it, Miguel delivered another strike, this one straight into the man’s chest, piercing his heart.

Yanking his blade free, he ignored the two men dying at his feet and instead focused on the woman standing in front of him.

She didn't look like a criminal mastermind. That was his first thought. She looked like a woman a second away from a panic attack. Not that it meant she wasn’t guilty of the crimes she had been accused of. There was no way for her to know that the men who worked for Raul would turn on her like that and try to rape her, although honestly, she should have known better and expected that kind of behavior from men like them.

Still, she’d had a close call, and he couldn’t not feel sympathy for her in this moment even if she had brought some of this upon herself.

“Hey,” he said softly, trying to draw her attention away from the men bleeding out on the ground before her. “It’s all right, they can't hurt you.”

Those wide green eyes shifted slowly to meet his and fresh fear bloomed on her face. She made a small, squeaking sound of terror, and then her gaze darted about and he could tell she was thinking about making a run for it.

If she tried, she wouldn't get very far.

Even if her T-shirt wasn’t shoved awkwardly up, exposing her simple white cotton bra, and her jeans unzipped and shoved halfway down over her hips, there was no way she could outrun him. If it came down to it, he’d restrain her, but he’d rather not have to zip-tie a woman who had mere seconds ago almost been brutally raped.

“Don’t run, Ella,” he said, keeping his voice calm and soothing. “Don’t make things worse, yeah?” Don’t make me have to cuff you .

At the sound of her name, she went stock still, her gaze landing on him again. The terror in her eyes didn't vanish, but it did dim a little, and he relaxed. She wasn’t going to run. She knew she wasn’t getting out of there and wouldn’t try anything stupid.

“My name is Miguel,” he continued talking although he didn't move any closer. Right now, Ella was like a spooked horse, one wrong move on his part and this could get bad really quickly. “I'm a SEAL, I'm Luis’ brother, you remember me? We’ve met once or twice.”

A shaky nod was all the response he got, but at least she was still standing there.

“You know why I'm here don’t you?”

Another shaky nod although he wished she’d give him something. A protestation that she was innocent, that she’d done nothing wrong, that there was a logical explanation for why she’d taken the drug and come to Mexico.

“Do you know who they are?” he asked. While he was assuming they were Raul’s men they could belong to one of the cartels in the area.

A third shaky nod, but this time she swallowed visibly. “Th-they w-were Raul C-Castillo’s m-men,” she stammered as her teeth chattered.

His heart dropped.

Maybe he’d been hoping she was going to tell him she had no idea who they were, that she wasn’t here to meet with the weapons trafficker, that none of this was as it seemed.

He’d wanted proof one way or the other that Ella was guilty of what she had been accused of, and it seemed he’d gotten it.

“Th-they were g-going to r-rape me,” she said as though she couldn’t believe it had been mere seconds away from happening.

“But they didn't,” he reminded her. Only because he’d shown up when he had. If he’d been just a minute or so later, it would have been too late to stop it.

“B-because of y-you. Th-thank you,” she whispered. Fresh tears shimmered in her eyes as she looked up at him with true gratefulness, and it hit him right in the heart that even though she knew he was there to bring her in, she was still able to express gratitude.

Miguel nodded in acknowledgment because it felt weird to say the traditional you're welcome when he was going to have to take her into custody and return her home to face an uncertain future. “How about we fix your clothes? Then you can drink some water and maybe eat something, and then I’ll take you to join up with my team.”

Terror flared in her eyes at the mention of his team, and he knew reality had to be sinking in. Yes, she’d been spared being raped, but it wasn’t like she was in a better position than she’d been in moments ago. Just because no one was going to sexually assault her when she was taken into custody didn't mean it would be a pleasant experience.

She’d be strip searched and locked up in a tiny cell. Depending on who wound up taking custody of her, there could be some forms of torture involved. Some agencies had their own way of dealing with things, and given she worked for Prey, and the kind of work Prey did, there was a chance she had sold other intel to people who would use it to hurt their country. That information would have to be obtained, and there was a chance it would be by any means necessary because if she had done that, they needed to know and deal with it accordingly.

While he wanted to offer reassurances, he couldn’t.

It would be pointless.

They were both aware of the mess she was in.

At least she didn't try anything stupid. Just gave him another one of those shaky nods, then lifted trembling hands and tugged on her T-shirt, pulling it down so it covered her. But when she went to pull up her jeans she couldn’t get her shaking hands to cooperate and do the zipper up.

“Can I?” Miguel asked, waiting until she had an internal battle and then nodded before he closed the short distance between them. Trying to touch her as little as possible, he eased the jeans into place and then zipped them up.

This close to her, he could feel the tension coming off her in waves. He wanted to be able to do something to fix this for her, or, at the very least, make it as painless as it could possibly be.

“Ella,” he said softly, hooking a forefinger under her chin and nudging gently. “Just be honest, okay? I know this sucks, and I don’t know what led you to make the choices that you made, but if you're honest, then they may go lighter on you.”

Instead of giving him one of her shaky nods, it was like all the fight drained out of her in one long, weary sigh. A sigh that felt like it came from the depths of her soul, and he wondered just what had made her turn on the people she worked with, people to all accounts she had a good relationship with.

“Could I … could I just have … one second to myself?” Ella asked in a trembling voice.

He should say no. She was a prisoner and he was tasked with bringing her in. He should search her to make sure she wasn’t armed, cuff her hands, and take her back to his team.

But she was also a victim.

The dead men at their feet were the only reason he agreed. After this, she wasn’t going to get to be alone for a long time. Not until it was ascertained that she hadn't handed over more sensitive information to their enemies. And then that time alone would be spent in a locked cell.

It couldn’t hurt her to have one last moment of freedom before her world came crashing down around her.

“I’ll be just over there,” he said, turning and walking a short distance away.

A few seconds later he knew he’d been gullible and had made a mistake when he heard the sounds of her making a run for it.