Page 83 of Beast

Sweat dripped from her forehead. “That’s amazing. You’re amazing. How can I ever thank you? My dad, he has money. . .”

I raised my hand up. “Stop. I’m not interested in money. Your father has offered a reward, a huge one at that, but I don’t want it. In fact, the only way you can thank me is never mentioning our involvement in your rescue.”

She winced. “Oh, okay. I get it. You don’t want to be associated with me. I understand.”

“That’s not it. We all need to be anonymous to do our jobs in the Teams. And this was off-record. We didn’t get permission from our command. We could get disciplined and ruin our careers.”

Her eyes closed and her jaw shook. “So I have to lie about how I was rescued?”

“I’m not asking you to lie. But you need to leave our names out of it. Our names and pictures can’t be plastered over the media or we’ll get kicked out of the Teams. We can’t exactly go undercover if the world knows our identities.”

She took a small bite of the banana. “I get it. I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”

I touched her shoulder. “Hey. Don’t say that. I’m not sorry. I’m not sorry about any of it. How I met you, that you told me your name, or how I found you. I’m only sorry I didn’t torture the motherfuckers who took you.” I paused … I had to ask about Gabriel. “Your son—his dad?”

“Renzo, the dancer.” Her eyes seemed distant and dare I say, sad. “You didn’t have to kill him.”

“Are you fucking serious? I actually would’ve let him go, but he reached for his weapon. Cocky motherfucker was laughing. My only goal was to save you and your son. Especially now, knowing he was the boy’s father, he could’ve tried to kill us all since we were taking his son away. He kidnapped you. How can you even say that?”

I couldn’t read her. Her mouth was turned downward in a frown yet she was nodding her head. “Renzo wasn’t that bad compared to the others. He took care of me.”

This poor fucking girl was identifying with her captor. I’d studied that shit. “Annie, he was a fucking pimp. He sold you.”

“I know. But sometimes he was nice to me, like when I was pregnant. And he was good to Gabriel.” Her eyes shifted. “Sorry, it’s just hard for me.”

Jesus, this girl needed some serious psychotherapy. I knew she’d be messed up, but she seemed to care more about Renzo’s well-being than her own. Or her son’s.

“We’re going to sail you to San Diego. It will take a couple of weeks.”

She beamed at me. “Oh, Patrick. Thank you. You truly are a hero.”

I hated being called a hero. This was my job. Any Team guy would’ve done the same. “You’re welcome. I need you to focus on getting better. Somehow I don’t think this journey will help with the detox.”

“I can do it. I’m not scared of anything. Now that I know we’re going home.”

She wouldn’t be saying that tomorrow, when the withdrawal kicked in. But I would be here for her, every step of the way.

“Where’s Gabriel?”

“On the deck with Kyle.”

“Can I see him?”

“Of course. You don’t have to ask me permission to do anything. You’re safe here.”

Pushing herself off the chair, she walked over to me and kissed me on the cheek. “I know I’m safe. You’re here.”

She climbed down the ladder to the deck and stood there in the breeze, breathing in the Caribbean air. Gabriel ran up to her and she scooped him in her arms, pointing at the ocean. He kissed his mama. I could see she loved him, that she didn’t see him as the son of her captor, just as her adorable little boy.

I wanted to ask her a thousand questions, about her life before she was taken, about the horror she had endured, but I was in too deep already.

17

Patrick

WE MET DAVE ON THE dock, just after sunset, avoiding customs and immigration. We didn’t want anyone questioning us. Dave loaded food, water, supplies, and toys for Gabriel. I instructed Annie to keep Gabriel below until we headed back out to sea.

Dave took helm of the ship, and we set out on our journey to San Diego. Before I could open my mouth to debrief him, he gave me a wink. “You found her? That missing American? Annie?”