Page 38 of Thaddeus

“Right. We’ll be there. Thanks.” Declan disconnected, then told us, “Pack up, we’re leaving.”

“What? You’re leaving?” Emerson asked hopefully.

“All of us, you included.”

“No way. I told Zane I wasn’t interested in his plane ticket back to the U.S.”

“We’re not going to the U.S., we’re going to Mabaruma.”

“You’re fucking crazy. Did you hear me? He trains his fighting dogs there. You understand what the means, right? There’ll be like twenty dogs there being brutally beaten. Which means they won’t be cute cuddly puppies; they’ll be mean and vicious and will rip your face off. I’m not exaggerating either. I’ve seen it. I’m not going back there.”

“I don’t doubt what you say, and you won’t get close to the training camp.”

“Then why am I going?”

“You’ll see. We’re outta here in ten. Tex has a plane on standby.”

Declan walked back out of the room, leaving a scared and shaking Emerson looking around the room.

“You’ll be safe.” Tatiana tried to assure her.

“Yeah, safe is the last thing any of us will be. And I want it noted to your boss, I’m really unhappy, this wasn’t part of the deal.”

“What exactly did you think the deal was?” I asked.

“Not this. I’m not an idiot, I know he has me by the balls. He obviously knows what happened to David, so I know he could royally screw me. That is, more than I’m already screwed. I had no choice but to answer y’all’s questions.”

“There’s that word again—choice. You always have a choice. You just don’t seem to know how to make the right ones.”

I grabbed the dossier Garrett and Tex had pieced together about Emerson’s life post our relationship and stalked out of the room. I’d only gotten through the first few pages in the twenty minutes Emerson had stayed in the bedroom after I’d left.

With every sentence I’d read I thought I was going to be sick. I had to keep stopping and taking a minute to digest the fucked-up shit I was learning.

Autumn Pierce had been brutalized and I wondered how much Emerson knew about the two months her sister had spent with the sex ring. Some details were in the police reports, but not direct statements from Autumn herself. There was nothing from Autumn at all, the special victims detective had noted that Autumn Pierce had severe PTSD and was mute during the time of questioning.

Most of the details had come from Tex and what he could find on the ring. They were known for their depravity. And that was saying something since you had to be a sick fuck to be a part of a group who kidnapped and held women against their will in the first place.

The report had also confirmed there were two years of Emerson’s life that were missing, which confirmed her statement about it taking a week to explain the last eight years of her life.

Autumn had been found. But now she was gone again.

I grabbed my ruck off the bed and shoved the papers in the bag. I was so fucking tired working off of a few hours of restless sleep compounded with the emotional beating I’d been on the receiving end of, I wasn’t sure if I could stay awake long enough to even get to the plane.

“Let’s roll,” Declan bellowed.

* * *

“You should get some sleep,” Max said, sitting down next to me.

Tex hadn’t had a plane on standby, he’d had a luxury jet. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when he handed that bill over to Zane.

We’d been in the air about twenty minutes and already Brooks, Tatiana, and Kyle were snoozing. Declan was staring out the small window, looking like he had the weight of our mission on his shoulders. For all the shit our team leader gave us, he was one of the best operators I knew. Even if his training had come from the Marine’s and not the Navy.

I glanced down the aisle and Emerson had her eyes closed, too.

She looked just like the sweet Emerson who used to be mine. So damn pretty she took my breath. There’d never been a time when I’d looked at her that I hadn’t known how lucky I was to have her.

“You knew?” I asked Max.