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She loved him, but there was no love for her.
She lowered her head and stared forward. She pushed back the emotion, the fear. She pushed away the pain. But nothing could still the betrayal.
Oswald Heinrick was a family friend. He had dated her grandmother for years. He had always been kind to Risa. Until the night he was with Jansen for the chance to molest a child. He’d wanted Carrie. Jansen had forced him to settle for Risa.
Micah wanted revenge, and he had taken Risa to get it.
She stared into the darkness, and for the first time, oddly enough, despite the rape and her confinement for nearly two years, Risa finally felt defeat.
CHAPTER 24
“HEINRICK IS IN the house.” John’s voice came across the receiver Micah had tucked at his ear as Jordan, Travis, Nik, Noah, and Mac all gathered in Risa’s apartment along with the Durango team.
Morganna and Kira were sitting in the living room with Risa. Micah stood at the doorway watching her, his brows lowered in a frown as he took in her pale expression, the dazed look in her eyes.
“Observation only, Heat Seeker.” Micah lifted his wrist and spoke into the small mic attached to the strap that surrounded it.
“Observing impatiently, Maverick. The bastard is getting ready to run.”
“If he tries to run, stop him.” Micah lowered his wrist as his jaw tightened with the effort to hold back the rage building inside him.
“We’re going to have to go in, take him out quiet, and transport him to another location for interrogation,” Jordan stated as the team watched him with clear, determined eyes. “We have a warehouse here.” He pointed to the location on the city map he’d spread across the table. “This will give us the privacy we need for interrogation as well as confinement.” He looked up at Macey March, the technical whiz kid of the Durango team. “Head out there with Tehya and get it ready.”
Macey nodded before brushing past Micah and leaving the room. In the living room he motioned Tehya to follow before they both left the apartment.
“John, Micah, Travis, and myself will slip into the house and take Heinrick. The Durango team will cover. Nik, you’ll cover here and keep Ms. Clay stationary until Micah returns.”
Micah turned to Jordan. “Send Risa along with Nik to the secondary location until we have Heinrick there. I don’t want her here without me.”
Jordan’s blue eyes looked like ice. “We can’t risk that.” He shook his head. “Nik will stay here with her and in constant contact with us. I need you on the team, Micah; you know that.”
Micah turned and stared back at Risa, willing her to look up at him.
She was curled in the corner of the couch, her ball gown swirling around her like golden to black flames as she clutched a lap blanket around her shoulders. Her hair shielded her face, but he could see enough to know she was stark white.
Morganna sat on one side of her, while Kira had pulled a chair close to try to talk to her. She wasn’t talking to them.
“Micah!” Jordan’s voice was a slash of command despite the softness of it.
Micah turned to Nik. The Russian’s face was devoid of expression, his icy blue eyes flat and hard as he stared back at Micah and nodded slowly.
“I don’t like it,” Micah breathed out roughly. “We don’t have Orion yet.”
“Heinrick is our key to Orion,” Jordan reminded him. “This is what we’ve been working toward.” He turned back to the other men. “We’ll weapon up in the vans; we have everything we need there. Heinrick’s estate is thirty minutes from here and secluded. He has no security or staff on-site. All we have to contend with is electronic security. Are we ready to roll?”
Micah turned back to Risa. She hadn’t moved, hadn’t changed position. He needed to talk to her before he left. He needed to take that look of dazed terror from her eyes before it destroyed him.
“Micah, are we ready to roll?” Jordan asked behind him.
He grimaced at the demand. It wouldn’t be much longer, he promised himself. Once Heinrick was taken care of, then he would be back. He could ease her pain then. It would be a matter of hours.
He nodded slowly. “I’m ready to roll.”
As the team shifted in the kitchen, Micah moved to the living room. Morganna and Kira were rising to their feet, their expressions worried as he neared them.
“Risa?” He knelt in front of her, taking her cold hands from her lap and staring into her dry eyes.
She looked shell-shocked. How the hell was he supposed to leave her like this?
