The coordinates are for a location about an hour and 20 minutes away. Tex tells them that he saw them taking Elise inside the cabin a few hours ago, but they haven’t emerged. He has his eyes on the satellite hovering over the location and will call immediately if there is any movement. He has been working to see if he can find any surveillance cameras in the area.
The team is already on their way before the phone call ends. They race through traffic and Deadeye prays some ticket happy cop doesn’t try to stop them. Deadeye stares out the window at the rapidly passing scenery. He vows that he will save Elise again and when this is all over, he’s going to ask her to marry him. It may be crazy because they haven’t known each other very long, but he knows there will never be another woman for him. He loves her and wants her to always be in his life. After a mad dash across the city and into the mountains they finally arrive at their location. They park about a half-mile away and begin to move to surround the cabin.
Once both teams have gotten into position, they begin to strategize how to get into the cabin and save Elise without her captors harming her first. There were several ideas tossed around, but without knowing for sure how many they were dealing with it was hard to settle on a plan.
“We need to get eyes inside.” Hawk tells the team as they get into position. “Hack and Worm see if you can get on the roof and find a way to find out what is going on in there.” Both men nod and move toward the side of the cabin where there was a large tree. Five minutes later they were reporting back over their mic that each man wore when in the field.
“There are five tangos, repeat five tangos. One posted at the front and one at the back door.” Hack’s voice comes across their ear buds. “There are three men in the cabin. There’s no sign of the target.”
Deadeye’s heart sinks to his stomach. Where is she? What have they done with her? While he is worrying about where she is and what has happened to her, Worm’s voice comes across the mic. “I have eyes on the target. I repeat eyes on the target.”
Deadeye breathes a sigh of relief. She’s here and soon she will be in his arms again. They just need to be stealthy and not alert the men in the room with her that they are there until it’s too late.
Hawk’s voice comes over the com. “SITREP, Worm.”
“Target is in the kitchen area of the cabin.” Worm reports. “One man is near her. She looks unharmed.”
Hawk signals Ace and Straw to take out the man at the front door while Tank and Wallace take out the man at the back door. Both teams of men move silently into position to take out their targets. It takes them several minutes to slip up on to their positions. Once they are in place, it all happens in a blur. The men move quickly, silently and have taken out the guards in less than a minute. The rest of the team moves up to head inside to take out the men holding Elise and liberate her once again.
Deadeye is trembling as they move into position to enter the building. It is imperative that they make no noise and alert the men guarding Elise. He fears they will kill her before they can free her. No mission has ever been so important. Not his first-time saving Elise, not saving Charlotte from crazed drug runners. This is his test. He has to get to her. He can’t live without her another day.
Hawk, Wolf, and Abe take point and move into the cabin launching flash grenades into the room prior to entering. After a beat, the men flood into the cabin, with the Ace, Straw, Deadeye, Benny, and Dude on their heels. At the same time, Tank, Wallace, Cookie, Mozart, and Bull enter from the back. They all have guns drawn and are ready for battle.
The men in the cabin are caught completely off guard. Two of them are lounging on the couch and the third is in the kitchen area. They dazedly try to reach for their weapons, but it’s too late. The teams take each man out with a quick bullet to the head. Deadeye scans the room, but there is no sign of Elise. His heart sinks into his stomach. What have they done with her? He runs into the room and looks for a possible location of where they may have hidden her. Spotting a closed door on the far-left side of the room, Deadeye makes a run for it.
Deadeye kicks the door open and it bangs against the wall. He quickly scans the room and his eyes fall on Elise. She is again tied to a bed and gagged, but at least she has all her clothes on this time. Her eyes are wide and fearful until she sees Deadeye. Despite his face covered in war paint and him being dressed in black from head to toe, she would know his eyes anywhere. Her eyes light up when she realizes it is Warren and his team that have come to rescue her. Warren rushes to her side.
“I’m here sweetheart.” Deadeye declares as he takes her in his arms. He grabs his knife from its strap and cuts the rope holding her to the bed. “I believe we have done this before, sweetheart.” Elise rolls her eyes at his arsine assessment of the irony of their situation. Before she has time to think about it any longer, Warren’s lips are on hers. He kisses her long and deep with all the passion she has missed while he was gone. When he pulls back from her, he looks in her eyes. Elise sees tears in his eyes. “I love you, sweetheart. God, I thought I had lost you.” Warren’s voice has gotten husky with emotion.
“Warren, I love you, too.” Elise wraps her arms around his neck and buries her face into his shoulder. “I was so afraid I would never see you again. Thank you for finding me.”
“I would come for you a hundred times, sweetheart, but I hope this is the last. Are you hurt?” Warren’s face is drawn with emotions.
“No, Warren. I’m not hurt. Just thankful to be in your arms again.” Elise wraps her arms around him and kisses him again. They share a few more moments in each other’s arms before they are interrupted by Hawk and Wolf entering the room.
“Deadeye you need to get her out of here. We need to clean up this mess.” Wolf tells the couple. “We are going to have some explaining to do about why there are 5 illegal alien bodies in and around this cabin.” Elise’s head jerks up from Warren’s shoulder. Her eyes are wide with fear.
“Come on sweetheart.” Warren lifts her up in his arms. “Keep your head down and eyes closed, baby. You don’t need to see what’s left of the bastards that were holding you.” Elise nods in agreement and buries her face in Warren’s chest. They move out of the cabin at a fast clip. Warren carries Elise down the driveway to their waiting SUVs while the remainder of the team cleans up the mess they had made in and around the cabin.
A few hours later they are back in the conference room with Commander Hurt giving a debriefing on what had led them to kill 5 men. Elise gives them an accounting of how she was kidnapped off the streets of Annapolis and brought to California. Deadeye has refused to leave her side for a moment. He had requested she be evaluated at the ER, but Elise had refused. She assured him that she only have a few abrasions on her wrists from the ropes.
“Elise please tell us what happened.” Commander Hurt asks softly. “We saw the footage from the camera at the intersection, but I’d like to hear it from your perspective.”
“I was stopped at the light when I was hit from behind. I assumed it was someone texting, you know?” Elise sighed. “I got out of my car and started to walk toward them, but when I saw the driver…I knew it wasn’t an accident.” Elise shudders as she remembers looking into his evil eyes. She had almost fainted as she thought she had seen a ghost. “He looked so much like him, like Hussan. I was so shocked. I thought I was seeing a ghost. My feet wouldn’t move at first. They were frozen to the ground. By the time I tried to run, they had taken me and one of the men was getting into my car.” Elise turns to face Warren then. “I’m so sorry I froze. I should have run back to my car and drove away before they could take me.”
“Sweetheart, this is not your fault.” Warren cups her face with his hands. He doesn’t care that he is in front of his team and the SEAL team. “You did everything right. You kept your head and did what you had to do to survive until we could come for you.” Warren placed a soft kiss on her lips and then pulled her into his chest. Elise melts into him for a moment.
“How did you all get here so quickly? You were gone on a mission.” Elise looks around the room at all the men gathered sitting around the table.
“I had just gotten home, when Hawk called me to tell me you had been taken.” Warren informs her. “You parents called him in a panic when they couldn’t find you.” Warren chuckled sarcastically. “Your parents may not like me, but they knew we could find you and bring you home again.”
“Oh, Warren you must be so tired. When have you slept?” Elise’s eyes are full of concern and worry. That was just like his woman to be worried about him instead of herself. She was the one that had been kidnapped, dragged across the country, and been witness to the death of her captors. The men in the room chuckled at her questions. She glared at them which only made them laugh harder. “This is not funny.” Elise spits with fire in her voice. That just sends the men over the edge. The raucous male laughter fills the room. Even Commander Hurt joins in their mirth. Elise continues to frown at Warren and his friends which makes it harder for Warren to get himself under control.
“I’m sorry, Sweetheart.” Deadeye tries to speak around his laughter. “You are worried about me, when you were the one kidnapped. You should be hysterical and freaked out by what happened, not worrying about me.”
“I was freaked out. I’m not going to lie about that.” Elise whispers like it’s a big secret. “I couldn’t believe that this shit had happened to me again, but now…I have no reason to be freaked out. You came for me just like I knew you would. So now I can be worried about you and your lack of sleep.” Warren can’t help himself. He pulls her into his arms again and kisses her long and deep. Only Commander Hurt’s demand brings him out of his lust.
“Could we finish this up?” Commander Hurt smirks at Deadeye when he breaks the kiss to look at him. “I’m sure we all have better things to be doing.”
