Chapter Eighteen

T he moment the trunk was on the boat’s deck, Chaz wasted no time getting to work with a small, hand-held torch and removed the lock. Brand and Jayson carefully lifted the lid to reveal exactly what they expected to find—a large nuclear warhead. Brand quickly snapped several pictures.

“Do your thing, Hawke,” Brand invited as he and Jayson stepped back, providing Xander with plenty of room to work.

“Thanks a lot, Ward,” Xander replied in a droll voice. Pulling in a deep breath, he dropped down to his knees and began to examine the outer shell of the weapon, running his long fingers along the warhead’s seam, soft and light, as though he were caressing a lover.

“The CIA taught you how to dismantle a nuclear bomb?” Lex asked doubtfully.

“Among other things,” Xander murmured, pulling a switchblade out of his pocket and flicking it open. With a steady hand, he slid the blade’s tip into the warhead’s casing. “I also knew a girl who was into this sort of thing.”

“Bombs?” Jayson asked, confused.

“No. Knife play.”

“Jesus Christ, Hawke. Just don’t blow us up, okay?”

“Not planning on it, Ward.” Once he found the points he was searching for, he applied pressure with the knife, and pushed. The case opened and he lifted it up to expose a bowling ball-sized pit of plutonium. “There she is.”

“Shit,” Brand swore. He took a couple of quick photos with his phone then nodded to Xander.

No one dared to move or breathe as Xander carefully reached inside, grasped the radioactive trigger and gingerly lifted it out. With mindful precision, he slowly lowered it into the velvet-lined box on the deck beside him. Then he closed the lid and locked it.

“Easy peasy.” Xander smirked up at them.

“Anyone else stain their briefs?” Lex asked, and deep, wary chuckles filled the air.

“Yeah, not gonna lie,” Chaz said. “There might be some Hershey bars in my shorts.”

“Good job, Hawke,” Brand said, slapping the man’s shoulder. “Glad your kink helped get the job done.”

“ Her kink,” he clarified. “Not gonna pretend I didn’t enjoy it, though.”

“We need to go.” Wes checked his watch and frowned. It was getting late and they barely had thirty minutes before the three hour deadline would be up. As he hurriedly yanked his wetsuit off and got dressed, the hum of the boat’s motor filled the salty air and Jayson guided them toward shore.

The plan they’d discussed earlier seemed to be going off without a hitch, which was great, but also made Wes nervous. Odds were something usually went wrong at some point during an op. No matter how much you prepped and planned, shit could get messy fast. That’s why alternate plans were always in place and the team had to be ready to roll with the punches and be able to improvise. Luckily, he was working with and relying on some of the very best. They might be older, but no one had lost his touch. Wes trusted these men with his life, as well as Ellie’s.

By the time Jayson had maneuvered the boat alongside the dock and they’d secured it, Wes was ready to go. He’d replaced the fin with his normal prosthetic, fitted sock and a dry liner. His Glock rested in the holster at his hip and his knife was securely sheathed in his boot. At this point, each guy had a job to do and it was now or never.

They all jumped onto the dock. There was no point guarding the empty warhead, so they left it. Xander carried the box holding the plutonium pit and slid into the waiting SUV along with Lex. They would hide it, while Wes and the rest of the team would meet Nayvadius.

It was getting dark entirely too quickly for comfort and Wes was ready to jump out of his skin. As Chaz drove them to the meeting spot, Wes couldn’t stop bouncing his knee or drumming his fingers. He was completely focused on getting his Ellie back and nothing would stop him.

The neutral location where they’d agreed to meet was in a snake fruit grove not far from the dock. A fitting place because every last one of these pirates was a goddamn snake. As they approached Nayvadius and several of his men, Wes frowned. He didn’t see Ellie anywhere and alarm bells began to clang in his head.

“Something’s wrong,” Wes said, sitting up straight.

“What do you mean?” Chaz asked, eyeing him in the rear view mirror.

“I don’t see Ellie.”

“She could be in the car or at a secure location,” Brand said.

But Wes only shook his head, hand covering his pistol. Once again, his gut told him something was off. If anything had happened to her, he’d go ballistic. He hadn’t been joking when he said he’d drop that fucking bomb on the island. His team would have to hold him back, tie him up, sedate him or just knock him out if one hair on Ellie’s precious head had been harmed.

Chaz barely braked to a stop before Wes threw the door open.

“Murph,” Brand growled in warning, following on his heels.

Wes stalked over to the pirates, his team at his back. “Where is she?” His deadly tone sliced through the air.

“Tucked away and safe for another…” Nayvadius checked the darkening sky above. “Ten minutes?”

“What the fuck?” Wes lunged at him, and Corey and Chaz grabbed his arms, holding him back.

Meanwhile Brand turned his phone around, showing Nayvadius the pictures of the warhead. “We held up our end of the deal. It’s on the boat and all yours. Now tell us where she is.”

Nayvadius examined the pictures then smiled, showing off his missing front tooth. If Wes had his way, the pirate would be missing a helluva lot more than teeth by the time he was done with him.

Satisfied, Nayvadius nodded to his men then gave Wes a cold, oily smile. “She’s tied up in the furthest cavern on the southern beach.”

“You sonofabitch,” Wes gritted out. But he didn’t have time to pound the man into the ground like he wanted. Instead, he yanked free of Corey and Chaz and spun around, heading back to the car. “Let’s go!” he shouted. There wasn’t a second to spare.

Once they were back in the car, Chaz hit the gas and they sped toward the southern beach.

“He’s going to lose his shit when he finds out we removed the pit,” Jayson stated. “Kinda wish I could be there to see it.”

“Kinda wish I’d knocked the rest of his fucking teeth out,” Wes growled.

“Once we get Ellie, time to exfil. This place is getting too damn hot,” Brand said.

The SUV finally reached the tangle of caverns facing the ocean and Wes’ heart sank faster than a brick in the sea. “It’s fucking high tide.” Fuck, fuck, fuck. Dread poured through him. If Ellie had been left in the cavern, tied up and alone, she didn’t have a chance once the damn thing filled up with seawater.

Jumping out, racing toward the caves as fast as possible, Wes saw the waves pounding into the caverns. Not thinking straight, only concerned about Ellie, he headed straight for the last cavern. Right before he could enter, Corey grabbed him.

“Tie this around your waist,” he directed, shoving a rope into Wes’ hands.

Without a word, Wes wrapped it around himself, knotted it and waded into the darkness. “Ellie!” he yelled, turning on his flashlight. All he could hear was the rush of the water as it filled the narrow space, splashing against the rock, knocking him off-balance. What if Nayvadius had lied? What if she wasn’t in there, but somewhere else? There wasn’t time to spare or dick around. If this wasn’t the right cave, if he was looking in the wrong spot, she might be trapped and could drown before he found her.

Plowing forward, splashing through the waist-deep water, Wes called out for her again. “ELLIE!”

He thought he heard someone following behind him, but he didn’t stop to turn around and look. Finally, just as his panic threatened to consume him, he heard her.

“Wes! Oh, God, hurry!”

Her cry for help made him move faster despite the slippery bottom. Somehow he managed not to wipe out even though he lost his footing several times. After a few turns, his flashlight beam landed on her. Hunched over, wrists tied up and secured to some metal rod buried in the rocky wall, Ellie had her head twisted at a funny angle, doing her best to keep her nose above the quickly-rising water. But waves kept pounding through the small tunnel, washing over her face, and she was probably ten seconds away from being completely submerged.

“I’ve got you. Hold on!” Wes finally reached her just as her entire face disappeared under water. Fuck. Pulling in a deep breath, he lowered his face beneath the surface, pressed his mouth to hers and blew air from his lungs into hers. Then he gave her arm a squeeze, reached down into his boot and yanked his knife out.

◆◆◆

Ellie did her best to remain calm and suppress the rising hysteria. But the water kept getting deeper and no one was coming to her rescue. She’d rubbed her wrists raw trying to escape, but the damn rope refused to loosen. Now, knowing she only had minutes left before she was completely submerged, she felt a strange calmness pass over her. This was it. There’d be no escape this time.

Weston. His name filled her head and she wished she had more comforting memories with him to ease her transition into death. But, she didn’t and she felt cheated. Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the seawater that splashed up and hit her in the face. Gasping for air, she thought she heard Wes call her name. Hoped was probably more accurate.

“ELLIE!”

Her eyes popped open and she twisted her head, straining to keep her nose above the dangerously high water. Wes was there, coming for her. He was alive! “Wes! Oh, God, hurry!”

Like some kind of mirage, or maybe the miracle she’d asked for, a beam of light appeared and then she saw him, heading straight toward her. She got a quick glimpse of his soft, brown eyes—now filled with worry—before the ocean finally and completely covered her. He said something, but she couldn’t hear. Then his lips pressed against hers. For a moment, it felt like a goodbye kiss, but then she realized what he was doing. Opening her mouth, accepting the air he offered, Ellie breathed in, her lungs gratefully filling.

Renewed with a burst of determination, Ellie opened her eyes as he squeezed her arm reassuringly and began cutting through the rope that secured her to the rod. Oh, thank God. Excitement filled her as the rope frayed and broke beneath the sawing blade.

It wasn’t long before her lungs started to burn again. She nudged his shoulder, needing more air. Wes broke the surface then immediately came back down and opened his mouth against hers, giving her the breath she needed. Her lungs expanded and she watched Wes lift the knife again. Right as he began to start the final cuts, his entire body flew backwards and Ellie watched in shock as he was dragged away from her.

Their eyes met through the watery depth, or maybe she just imagined it. Time seemed to freeze. Then it sped up so fast, everything blurred. Wes tossed the knife and flashlight at her, hard and fast, before being yanked out of sight, somehow jerked back through the dark, swirling water.

What the hell was going on?

Her gaze dropped to the knife and flashlight now laying near her foot. Lowering herself, she reached for the knife, knowing she had to grab it and finish freeing herself fast. Wes had managed to cut through most of the rope, but there hadn’t been enough time to finish the job. Now, it was up to her.

Stretching her arms out, her fingertips brushed the edge of the blade’s handle before the current shifted, picked it up and swept it right out of her reach. Lungs burning, her hope just swirled away with her only chance of freeing herself.

It was over.

◆◆◆

Goddammit! The rope around Wes’ waist jerked him away from Ellie, knocking him off-balance, and the only thing he could do was throw her his Ka-Bar and flashlight so she could finish freeing herself. Someone was dragging him away from the woman he was intent on saving. Heads were gonna fucking roll.

His team wouldn’t pull him out unless he’d alerted them he had Ellie. That could only mean one thing: there was a problem. Fucking pirates.

He didn’t have time to untie the knot and free himself, so he reached for his Glock and came up out of the water like an avenging Aquaman. A quick assessment told him everything he needed to know: Pirates? Check. His team fighting back and kicking ass? Check. The scum holding the end of his rope and trying to drag him away from Ellie? Dead.

Wes fired off two successive shots and the pirate dropped. Turning his weapon, he scanned over the situation, and quickly decided his team had it handled. His priority was getting back in that cave and making sure Ellie had been able to free herself.

But what if she hadn’t gotten hold of the knife? What if something bad happened in the last thirty seconds that would forever change the rest of his life? No. He’d found his wife and he wasn’t losing her. Not again. Wes turned and charged back into the drowned cave, ignoring his soaked liner and slippery prosthetic. Trying to disregard the sharp fingernails of doom scraping across his gut, tearing it open.

“Ellie!” he yelled, plunging himself back into the dark, winding cavern.

◆◆◆

With her lungs ready to explode, Ellie gathered all of her sapped strength and gave it one last shot. She stretched her leg out, reaching with her foot, stretching her arms out until they screamed and felt like they would rip from their sockets. Her foot barely brushed the tip of the knife’s handle.

Nooo. It was still out of reach. Her heart plummeted and all she could think about was being the reason Wes would shatter and break all over again. Why did he love her so much? She didn’t deserve it. More importantly, she couldn’t bear for him to go through losing her all over again. It wasn’t right or fair, and she hated herself for it. Inflicting pain on the man who loved her more than anything killed her.

Suddenly, the current shifted, spinning Wes’ knife closer and Ellie sprang, reaching back out. Her fingers curled around the knife’s handle and, even though she was out of air, a renewed fire burned through her. Moving back to the rod, she gripped the blade firmly between her tied hands and finished cutting through the section where Wes had been working on. The rope severed after three strong cuts and Ellie felt her body get picked up and tossed around in the wildly shifting water.

Desperate for air, she kicked hard, found her footing, and her head broke through the surface. Gasping, choking, she dragged in several lungfuls of air before she saw Wes approaching her fast, a wild look in his usually calm, grounding gaze.

“Ellie!”

“Wes!” she screamed. He grabbed her, crushing her against his chest, and she nearly wept. She was safe, alive and clinging to the man she loved. Though she didn’t remember their past, she knew they had a future together, and it was a bright, beautiful one that she looked forward to more than anything.

Wes held her in his arms and made his way back outside, all the while whispering calm, reassuring words in her ear. The moment they stepped out of the cave’s mouth, his hold tightened and she looked over to see Nayvadius yelling and waving his gun around.

“Ellie, run,” Wes hissed, setting her down, and moving in front of her. He lifted his Glock and aimed it in Nayvadius’ direction.

Ellie didn’t hesitate or question Wes’ order. Instead, she took off toward the nearby jungle cover, prepared to hide, when a loud POP! POP! POP! filled the air. Without warning, she was jerked off her feet as a searing pain hit her.

The crazy idea that she’d just been shot flitted through her brain before she hit the ground hard, her head slamming against a rock. Then everything went black.