Chapter 24

chapter

twenty-four

Zak hadn't elaboratedon what he meant by stirring up the hornet's nest but instead excused himself to make some calls.

When he came back, he nodded. "We lucked out. They were in Nevada on a training mission. They're on their way. ETA ninety minutes."

Everything kicked into high gear then, and within an hour, the team was loading up the dogs to head up the mountain for the rescue mission.

Ellie grabbed Puzzle's harness and buckled him into it. She was just strapping on her boots when Zak stepped up next to her, blocking her path. "You're not going."

Outrage burned through her. "Like hell I'm not."

His gaze flicked down to Puzzle. "He's not certified."

"That excuse is so flimsy it's transparent." She crossed her arms over her chest. "We've been on missions before."

"Not ones like this. He's not a war dog, and we haven't desensitized him to gunfire."

She lost some of her defiance at that and glanced down at Puzzle. His tail wagged at the possibility of heading out on an adventure, knocking someone's half-empty mug off the nearby coffee table. The dark liquid splattered across the floor like an oil spill.

She looked up, meeting Zak's gaze again. "Are you expecting a war?"

His smile was grim. "That's why I called in the big guns."

"Who?"

He didn't answer and instead pointed at her. "Stay."

At her side, Puzzle obediently sat, but his tail still wagged, spreading the coffee mess around with each swish.

"I'm not a dog!" she called as Zak and the rest of the guys marched out. "I'm not just going to sit and stay on command."

"Welcome to my world," Sawyer muttered from in front of his computer. "I don't get to do anything fun anymore, either."

She whirled on him. "Who did he call?"

Sawyer's fingers stopped tapping at the keyboard, and he looked in her direction with his unfocused eyes. "Ghostbusters?"

"I'm serious."

He hesitated for a heartbeat, then sighed and dragged a hand over his face. "He called in the team that rescued him from Afghanistan."

"Oh shit." She'd never heard the full story of Zak's time as a POW or how he lost his leg, but she had heard the rumors of his rescue by some kind of badass black ops team. "He thinks it's that dangerous?"

"Well, he hasn't really talked to them since his rescue… if that gives you any indication."

Ellie glanced back at Puzzle. The fur on his back was standing up, and the light in his eyes dimmed. He could sense her worry. She held out her hand, and he pressed his head against her palm. "So those guys... they're… what? Mercenaries?"

"I think they prefer to be called private contractors. They specialize in hostage rescue and do dirty work that government agencies can't touch due to legal entanglement."

The words hit Ellie like a sucker punch. She sank into the nearest chair, staring with wide eyes at Sawyer. Puzzle whined and nudged her knee with his snout, but she barely noticed. Her mind was whirling, too full of what-ifs and worst-case scenarios.

"Are they... are they any good?" she asked, although she wasn't sure she wanted to hear the answer.

Sawyer snorted, a sound somewhere between amusement and disdain. "They're the best. They don't always obey the rules, but they get the job done."

Fear curdled in her, bitter and cold, choking out any semblance of rational thought. She thought about Cal, strong, stubborn Cal, wrapped up in something so dangerous that Zak had to call in a team of mercenaries.

All because of her.

Infiltrating the commune had been her idea.

And then she'd left Cal there…

She popped to her feet. "I am not sitting this one out."

Sawyer whipped around in his chair. "Ellie?—"

But she was already out the door with Puzzle at her side.

By the time she got to the parking lot, the team had just finished loading their gear in Redwood Coast Rescue's new K9 unit trucks. She slipped alongside one of the vehicles—the one farthest from Zak's—and crawled into the backseat, keeping low. She bribed Puzzle to lie down in the footwell with a treat.

His tail thunked on the floor as he gobbled up the piece of freeze-dried chicken. To her ears, it sounded like a drum, and she winced.

"Shh. We have to be quiet."

The driver's side door opened, and a border collie launched into the cab, followed by Donovan Scott sliding into the driver's seat.

The big, heavily tattooed former Marine met her gaze in the rearview mirror, then his mouth tipped up in a smile. "Zak will not be happy."

She straightened up in the seat. "That's too bad because I'm going. I know the compound. You guys don't, and neither do those mercenaries Zak hired. No matter how good they are, they'll appreciate not going in blind."

Donovan shrugged and started the engine. "Hey, I'm fine with it. You probably have a better understanding of cults than any of us, and I'd prefer not to go in blind myself. I want to get home to my wife and kid tonight."

Ellie nodded, relief washing over her. A tiny sliver of guilt pricked at her for roping Donovan into her plan, but she pushed it away. It was Cal's life on the line, and dammit, she'd do whatever it took to bring him back, even if it meant facing Zak's wrath later.

They pulled out onto the road, and neither spoke for several minutes. She felt Donovan's eyes on her in the rearview mirror. "You scared?"

She took a deep breath. "Terrified."

"Nah, you'll be fine." He gave his border collie, Spirit, an ear scratch, then returned his attention to the road. "What's it like up there at the commune? There's been rumors about it as long as I can remember. In school, kids used to say they did twisted shit up there, like animal sacrifices and kinky blood magic sex rituals."

She exhaled the breath caught in her throat on a short laugh. "If they do any of that, I didn't see it." But she wouldn't put the sex rituals past Hopeful. "Honestly, it was all very tame at first. Lots of meditation and yoga and group therapy sessions where everyone talks about their feelings until you want to puke rainbows. But then they started talking about crystals and auras, and it just got… weird."

"So, basically, it's a New Age RWCR." He made a face. "Rylan has us all doing yoga during our group therapy sessions now."

All of the members of Redwood Coast Rescue had their demons. They had all faced war and came back in pieces, but they had found healing in each other and their dogs. Their weekly group therapy sessions played a huge role in that healing process. She'd seen first-hand what it had done for Shane. Her new brother-in-law was an entirely different man now than when they first met.

"Yoga isn't so bad," she said.

Donovan grumbled. Then, after a beat, he muttered, "No. It's not."

By the time they reached the outskirts of the commune, dawn was beginning to paint the sky a deep, rich blue. Ellie peered out of the window, her heart pounding like a drum as she looked at the familiar landscape. She squeezed Puzzle's collar in her hands, drawing comfort from his warm presence.

Donovan pulled onto a narrow track off the main road. He turned off the engine and took out his radio.

"Spirit in position," he said in a low voice. Whenever they communicated on a mission, they used their dog's name like a callsign— something Ellie hadn't gotten used to yet and often messed up during training exercises.

There was a brief silence before Zak's voice crackled over the speaker. "Copy that. HORNET entering into enemy territory via airborne insertion. ETA: fifteen minutes. Stand by."

Donovan set the radio down and settled back in his seat.

"Wait, we're just going to sit here?" She stared at the radio, then at him.

Donovan shot her a side glance, amusement in his eyes. "Ellie, we're not knights storming a castle. We're a K9 unit. We go in later, not first, so the best thing we can do for Cal and Pierce right now is give HORNET the space they need to do their thing."

He was right.

She clenched her fists in her lap and scowled out the window at the pale yellow light brightening the horizon behind the mountains. Puzzle nudged her hand with his snout, and she absently scratched his ears.

Of course she knew Donovan was right, but it didn't make waiting any easier when Cal was just right there up the road in that godforsaken commune with a man who was likely, certifiably, a lunatic.

She settled back into her seat, trying to ignore the quiet hum of nerves below her skin. She took slow breaths, counting them out in her head, attempting to calm her racing heart. "I've never been very good at waiting."

"Yeah, me either."

"This sucks." She'd never been good at waiting.

Donovan chuckled softly. "When I was in Afghanistan, we had this saying—‘Embrace the suck.' It meant that some situations were just going to be hard as hell, but resisting it, fighting against it, only made it suck more. So we just... embraced it."

She glanced over, a frown creasing her brow as she considered his words. "So you're saying I should embrace the fact that this... waiting sucks?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah."

Embrace the suck.

It sounded ridiculous, yet there was a weird sort of wisdom to it.

She squinted into the growing brightness outside and strained her ears, hoping to hear… something. Anything. She desperately wanted to know what was happening beyond those trees.

She heard nothing. Saw nothing. She didn't know whether that was a good or bad sign.

Embrace the suck.

With a sigh, she leaned back in the seat and forced herself to loosen her death grip on Puzzle's harness. The dog woofed softly and rested his head on her lap, all but melting into her.

Embrace the suck.

It felt like an eternity before Zak's voice finally crackled over the radio again. "HORNET secured perimeter. Spirit, you're clear to move in."

"Copy that," Donovan replied and fired up the engine.

The commune appeared out of the foggy dawn like a specter— eerie and ghostly quiet. Several men stood under the Hope's Embrace archway in camouflage gear with large guns in their hands. None of them seemed to be in much of a hurry, which could only mean one thing…

There was nobody left to save.

Oh, God.

Ellie surged out of the truck before Donovan had it completely stopped. The men swung toward her, raising their weapons as one, and she skidded to a halt, holding up her hands.

"Shit," Zak said and pushed to the front of the group. "Fuck. Stand down. She's one of mine." He strode toward her, his face a carefully blank mask.

"Zak." Her voice cracked on his name, and she swallowed hard against the knot of tears in her throat. "Where's Cal?"

Without answering her question, he glared at Donovan, who had just jogged up to join them. "What the hell is she doing here?"

Donovan shrugged, unabashed. "She's stubborn. I like that about her."

Zak swore under his breath before turning back to her. His gaze softened slightly around the edges. "Ellie…"

"Tell me." The words came out as a command more than a request. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure it was going to burst.

There was a long pause before Zak finally spoke. "Ellie, listen. They're all dead, but?—"

The world dropped out from underneath her.

"Whoa." One of the mercenaries darted forward and caught her before she collapsed. "Easy now, darlin'. Take a breath. C'mon. Breathe. There you go."

As he lowered her to sit on a nearby stump, she stared at him, uncomprehending the words he was saying. But he had a kind face under the camouflage paint, with blue eyes the color of worn denim. His accent called to mind dusty plains and cowboys astride horses herding cattle.

"Hi… Ellie, is it? I'm Jesse. Here." He pulled a canteen off his pack and handed it to her. "Take a sip."

"Shit, Hendricks," someone else from the group said, and his accent was from deep in the Louisiana bayou. "Maybe you coulda dropped that bomb with a little more tact?"

"She didn't let me finish," Zak muttered and crouched down in front of her. He took the canteen from her shaking hands and handed it back to Jesse. "Cal and Pierce aren't among the bodies. It's just the commune members."

"They mostly committed suicide," Jesse added.

"Mostly?" Wow, was that her voice? Why was it so faint, so far away?

Jesse's eyes brimmed with sorrow. "Some appear to have been forced. Especially—" His voice broke, and he cleared his throat. "Especially the kids."

"Oh my God."

Another mercenary crossed to stand beside Jesse. Not a man, but a woman with gorgeous brown skin and braids pulled back into a bun at her nape. "Hi, Ellie. I'm Lanie. You okay?"

She couldn't answer. Not really. The world was spinning, her vision narrowing in a way that made her feel both hot and cold.

Mostly committed suicide.

Some appear to have been forced…

Especially the kids…

Those words replayed through her mind on a loop.

Ellie shook her head furiously. "What about True? My niece. Dark curly hair, light blue-green eyes. Just a teenager. Is she…?"

Lanie frowned and glanced back at the rest of her team. They all shook their heads, and she turned back, gentling her voice. "We didn't see her."

Then she was out there somewhere, too. Maybe she was even with Cal. That was the best-case scenario because he'd protect her with his life. The worst case…

She was dead, and HORNET just missed her during their sweep of the compound.

Ellie popped to her feet and swayed a little before catching herself. "I... I want to see. I need to see."

"Ellie…" Zak began, a note of warning in his voice.

"I need to," she insisted. And if they left on foot, Puzzle could track them. You said he's good at trailing—one of the best you've seen. He can find them."

Zak exchanged glances with Lanie, who nodded. "It's not a bad idea. Our K9 team is…" She hesitated. "Unavailable right now."

One of her teammates scoffed at that.

Lanie ignored them. "So we could use the help."

"Then Ranger will do it," Zak said, setting a hand on his dog's head. Ranger's radar dish ears twitched, and his yellow eyes watched the humans with startling intensity.

"Ranger's only trained on cadavers for the last few years," Donovan reminded him. "With all of those bodies in there, he won't be able to help. And Spirit's a bomb-sniffer. Shane and Clue aren't here. Pierce and Raszta…" He let the thought trail off without finishing it. "We're shorthanded. It'd be stupid not to use her and the pup."

Zak let out a breath. "All right." He held up his hands in defeat. "It's not ideal, but let's see what Puzzle can do."

"Thank you," Ellie said.

Zak just shook his head and turned toward the entrance. "I still don't like it."

If she was honest, neither did she. Puzzle was so young, still a puppy in many ways. Was he ready for this?

The knot of dread in her stomach twisted tighter with each step they took toward the commune, but she forced herself to keep moving forward, one step at a time.

She had to know. Had to see for herself that Cal was not among the victims and make sure True wasn't there.

The smell hit her first—a strong, musty odor like old socks. She'd smelled it before when she and Cal first arrived, but now it was a thousand times worse, mixed with the scent of death.

The first body they came to was Remedy, still in her garden. She lay among the flowers and vegetables with her arms spread wide as though embracing the earth. She looked asleep, a half-smile frozen on her blue lips that was both heartbreaking and terrifying.

Jesse carefully stepped around the body and bent to examine a nearby plant. After a moment, he straightened and backed away. "That's hemlock. Knew I recognized the smell."

"Fuck," the Cajun guy muttered. Ellie still didn't know his name. "That's a hell of a way to go."

Zak looked back at Ellie, his gaze worried. "You sure you wanna keep going?"

"Yes," she replied, her voice firm. "Puzzle needs Cal's scent to track him."

They moved further into the commune, passing bodies strewn about like grotesque dolls. Each one caused a fresh stab of fear to pierce Ellie's heart, but none were Cal or Pierce or True.

She paused the group by the cottage she and Cal had stayed in and started to go inside, but the Cajun guy stopped her.

"Me first, cher."

She didn't argue and stepped back, letting him sweep through the door with his weapon aimed.

"Clear," he called back after a moment, and she followed him in.

It was weird being back. The bed was still rumpled from sex, just as she and Cal had left it. The clothes they'd both worn into the commune were still folded up in the dresser. She pulled open the drawer and lifted out Cal's shirt, pressing it to her face and inhaling deeply. She could only faintly smell him in the fabric, but Puzzle would be able to pick up the scent.

"We'll find him," Cajun said.

She started. She'd forgotten she wasn't alone. "Thank you…" She turned toward him. "I'm sorry. I don't know your name. I've just been calling you ‘Cajun' in my head."

"Actually, that's what most people call me. Other than my wife. She usually calls me ‘pain in the ass,' but for some reason she still loves me." He grinned and shifted his weapon to hold out his hand. "Jean-Luc Cavalier."

Ellie accepted the shake and was charmed when he lightly kissed her hand.

"Cajun!" Lanie called from outside. "Stop flirting and get your ass back out here, or I'll tell your wife you're misbehaving again."

Jean-Luc's grin only widened, his eyes sparkling with mischief in his grease-painted face. "Promise?" he called back as he headed toward the door. "Claire loves it when I misbehave."

Ellie managed a shaky laugh as she followed him back outside. She hadn't known she could laugh in a situation like this, but she felt lighter for it. Later, much later, she'd realize Jean-Luc had done it on purpose, turning on the charm to help her relax.

"Puzzle, here." She bent down to press Cal's shirt to her dog's nose. "Find Cal. You love this game. Let's go find Cal." He sniffed intently, then gave a low murmur before pressing his nose to the ground.

It didn't take him long to find the scent.

He bounded a few steps toward the woods—all big puppy paws and clumsy legs he hadn't quite grown into yet—but then he stopped and looked back at her. There was happy excitement in his eyes that reminded her so much of Cal.

"Yes, Puzzle. Let's go." Her throat closed up, and she could barely form the words. "Go find Cal."