“Look, man. I’m sorry I don’t know what your name is,” Marley tried to smile at the man. “I will do anything I can to help you just please don’t hurt me.” Marley put on a show pretending to cry into her hands, making much more noise than was necessary in an effort to try to cover any sounds Daisy might make. Daisy was almost upon him when she felt a hard-round metal object on the back of her head. A deep threatening voice spoke into her right ear.
“Drop it, bitch. I swear I will blow your fucking head off if you make one wrong move,” Daisy stilled. She carefully lowered her gun to the floor. Before she was even upright, she was hit in the side of the head, hard. Her world went dark.
Back at Robertson’s security agency…
Luke looked up from his computer. He had been buried in video surveillance. He knew that he was missing something, but he just couldn’t put his finger on it. He had been reviewing the footage over and over, but he couldn’t seem to find the missing piece to the puzzle. He glanced at his watch. It was 4:15pm. Where was Daisy? She should have been back by now. He checked his cell to realize that it had been on silent. He had missed two calls from Daisy, several missed calls from Hawk, and four voicemail messages. He hadn’t heard from Marley either. Luke tried to call Daisy back, but it went straight to voice mail. That was odd. Before he could click her voicemail, his phone rang. It was Hawk, Ace’s Captain from base.
“Luke, here.”
“Where is Daisy?” Hawk yelled into the phone “I have called her several times and she hasn’t answered. She always answers. Even when I have called in the middle of the night. Where is she, Luke? Is she okay?” Hawk growled into the phone.
“I don’t know Hawk. I haven’t talked to her for hours. I was lost in reviewing video footage. I just tried to call her, and it went to voicemail,” Luke sighed. “I’m worried. You are right, she always answers. I was about to check my voicemail. I’ll call you back when I know something.” Luke hung up without another word. He clicked on the message Daisy had left for him.
“Luke. It’s Daisy. I think something is going on with Marley. I’m at the cabin you asked me to check out. I just saw the suspect going to the cabin and he had Harley with him. She looks scared. I’m going to try to see if I can get her out of there. Send help as soon as you get this. I love you. I’m so sorry for what happened. I know you don’t blame me, and I love you even more because of it. I can’t help but feel responsible. If I don’t make it out of this, listen to Imagine Dragons’ Bleedin’ out. It’s how I feel when I think about what happened. I let you down, but I would give my life for you. Take care brother. I hope to see you soon, but if not know that I have always loved you and would do anything for you.”
Luke sat in stunned silence before he began to curse loudly as he headed towards the door. As he opened the door, he was met by Hawk and several other strapping military men.
“Hawk, how the Hell did you get here so fast?” Luke inquired in surprise.
“When Daisy wasn’t answering I arranged transport up here. Now you tell me what the Hell is going on,” Hawk demanded. Hawk began pacing the room in agitation.
“I just listened to Daisy’s voice mail. She was at a cabin watching for a suspect on a case I am working. She saw the suspect with Marley, my…client and friend,” Luke paused for a moment as he considered the gravity of the situation. “She was going to try and rescue Marley from the man. We need to get to them as soon as possible. These men are very dangerous,” Hawk was on his phone before Luke had even finished speaking.
“Give me the address. I will have support on their way,” Hawk called to Luke as he was relaying Luke’s information to the person on the other end of the call. The group of soldiers followed Luke into the parking lot where they all quickly loaded up and moved toward the cabin Daisy had been surveilling. On the way, Hawk told Luke that the team had been found and were on their way back to Camp Lejeune. He had made arrangements for a chopper to fly them up to Virginia Beach as soon as their plane landed. He also introduced Luke to his Marine team companions that have accompanied him to locate Daisy.
“Luke, I would like to introduce you to my fellow Marines. They are a team, like Ace is a part of,” Hawk began. The men were waiting patiently while Luke was getting loaded into his vehicle. For the first time in a long time, Luke was embarrassed at how long it took him to get himself and his wheelchair loaded into his SUV. “This is Ranger, Merlin, Casper, Badger, L.A., Jasper, Cage, Slick, Frog, and Spock. Guys this is Luke, Ace’s future brother-in-law.”
The large strapping men gave Luke a chin lift in acknowledgement. Luke returned the gesture. Once he was finally seated in the driver’s seat of his SUV, he gave Hawk the address they were headed towards. Luke called Beau and related the information he had and disclosed his fear for Daisy and Marley.
“Rosco and I are on our way. We will be there as soon as possible,” Beau replied. “Stay calm, brother. Daisy is a trained soldier and she’s smart. She will take care of herself and your woman.”
“I never said she was my woman,” Luke began to protest.
“You didn’t have to, Luke,” Beau chuckled into the phone. “It was easy to see you are into her and she is definitely smitten with you.”
“You really think so?” Luke inquired. “I am interested in her, but I’m not so sure she would want to be tied to me. You know the whole paralyzed thing.”
“Luke, the woman is into you. It was easy to see when we were there. It doesn’t seem to bother her,” Beau responded. “Isn’t that right, Rosco?”
“Definitely. The woman is in L-O-V-E love,” Rosco yelled from the passenger seat.
“Tell him to grow the fuck up. This is serious,” Luke growled into the phone. “If we don’t get there in time, it will be a moot point.” The men sobered at the thought that both Daisy and Marley could be killed before they could arrive.
“Hang in there, Luke. Let those Marine help you. Also, we have some information we found in Atlanta,” Beau continued. “You need to call the FBI. This is some serious shit.”
“I will get on it,” Luke said. “You guys be careful coming home.” Luke ended the call and quickly pulled up his contact at the FBI. He related all the current information he had on hand. His friend informed him he would be on his way as soon as possible, but in the meantime, he would send the local agents to his location.
Chapter 22
Luke, Hawk, and the Marines arrived at the cabin. They set up a command center and began reconnaissance. Ranger and his team set up a perimeter around the cabin. They watched for hours, but didn’t see any sign of the women. Night had fallen and they still weren’t any closer to knowing where the women were. The only movement seen was two men walking around inside the cabin. They found Daisy’s car well hidden in a clump of trees down the road from the cabin. Apparently, the men had not found it. It was still locked and her cell phone was laying in the console.
Luke became more agitated as time passed. Hawk tried to calm him, but he was beyond consolation. He was feeling guilty. If only he had gotten Daisy’s phone call she wouldn’t be in this mess. He would have convinced her to wait for help to arrive. Luke knew deep down that would not have been the case, but he was a lot like Daisy. He wanted to bear the responsibility for this problem even though there was no way he could have prevented it.
While the team was still gathering intel, Deadeye’s team arrived. Ace jumped out of their rented SUV and hurried to the command center. Local FBI agents were on scene as well as the local sheriff, and Virginia State troopers. Hawk gave Ace and the team an update on the situation.
“Daisy left a message for Luke eight hours ago that Marley was at this location and in trouble. She was going to attempt to rescue her. We have been unable to reach her or Marley since then,” Hawk informed the men when they arrived. “The man Daisy was surveilling has been linked to a terrorist group known as The Brotherhood. They are a radical branch of Islam. They have claimed responsibility for several mass shootings, bombings, and even kidnappings around the world. They are considered to be extremely dangerous. He has been on Homeland’s watch list since he entered the country two years ago, but they haven’t been able to tie him to anything directly.”
“They should have locked his ass up when they suspected him of terrorist activities. Then he wouldn’t have my woman,” Ace vehemently declared. He was pacing back and forth as he listened to the briefing. His face was pale and thin layer of sweat was beading on his brow. Ace could feel his heart racing. His fear for Daisy and what she might be going through was consuming him. It was all he could think about.
