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“I want a name.”
“You won’t be getting one from me.”
He tightened his grip on her and she moaned in pain. “You will eventually tell me or you’re going to wish you had.”
Then he dragged her through the woods to where his car was parked.
• • •
Roland was racing after those guys through the woods when suddenly two other men jumped at him, knocking the gun from his hand. Where the hell had they come from?
When they tried to overpower him, he went into fight mode, spinning around and kicking, bringing one to the ground. Unfortunately, he’d barely knocked the wind out the other.
He was about to take him on when he suddenly felt a hard blow to the shoulder and realized the two guys he’d been pursuing had come back and were now a part of the fray.
If they thought that just because he was outnumbered, it meant a damn thing, they were in for a rude awakening. He was a skilled fighter and had been trained by the best. He faced the four men. In all honestly, he only had to worry about three of them. The guy he’d knocked to the ground earlier was still there, lying flat on his ass and moaning in pain that both his legs were broken.
“Three against one. Think you can handle me?” he taunted, giving them the come-get-me sign with his hands.
“We can definitely handle you, old man,” one of the men, who looked to be in his early twenties, said cockily.
“Come on then.”
Just as he’d suspected, they all lurched for him at the same time and he was ready for them. It had been a while since he’d had to fight this hard, but like riding a bicycle, it all came back to him.
Roland ducked to the side when one man produced a switch blade and moved quickly from another who kicked out at him in an attempt to bring him down. And he was very much aware that the third man had circled around him, intending to attack him from behind.
Knowing what these men had planned to do to Lennox fueled his rage and channeled it into strength. Using some of the deadliest martial arts known to man, Roland took care of business, and before long, the three men had joined their comrade on the ground, moaning about broken limbs, damaged jewels, and contorted facial features.
He searched their pockets. One had thought to bring several zip-ties. How convenient. As he secured all four men, he wondered if their leader, that Clearwater guy, was still parked somewhere, waiting for them to report back to him.
Knowing he had left Lennox alone long enough--and ignoring the moans of pain from the four men--he picked up his Glock and jogged back to the woods surrounding the cabin where he’d left her.
But even before he got within a few feet of where he’d left Lennox, he sensed something was wrong. He called out to her and got no response. The rage he’d felt earlier came back with a vengeance.
He thought of going back to the men and forcing them to tell him where Lennox had been taken, but then decided not to waste his time. Whoever had taken her would still be in the area, even if she’d been forced into a vehicle. Rushing through the woods to where the Jeep was hidden beneath the trees, he jumped inside.
The Jeep was equipped with yet another handy invention--digital odor technology. The device made it possible to track and transmit smell through satellite communication. Dak had already tested it out for the CIA and it worked.
When they had picked up the Jeep, he had used a piece of Lennox’s clothing to program her scent into it. Of course, she hadn’t known that. But he was suddenly very glad he’d done it. Heaving a determined sigh, he spoke to the fob. “Find Lennox Roswell.”
• • •
Clearwater glanced over at the woman as he talked on the phone to Meadows. “Yes, I have her. Since she didn’t die in the explosion, I figured you’d want her, since her and her bodyguard were responsible for screwing up your human trafficking ring.”
He released a laugh. “Trust me, her bodyguard is dead. There’s no way he could go up against four of my best guys and survive.” Then he nodded. “I figured you’d want to teach her a lesson yourself. I’m holed up in a place an hour from where that cabin was. I figured law enforcement and the Feds are swarming all over the place by now. I havethree guys with me. I left the others to finish off the bodyguard. They should be on their way back by now.”
After Meadows said he would be sending someone to get the woman, Clearwater ended the call. He was glad he was back on Meadows’s good side. Even better, the bastard who had killed his brother was now dead, too.
FEAR LODGED IN LENNOX’Sthroat. Although the man named Clearwater had put her in an empty room, he hadn’t closed the door. So she had heard everything he’d said to the person he’d been talking to, some guy named Meadows.
Physically, she was fine…as long as those other men who kept looking at her with lust in their eyes kept their distance and if the zip-ties binding her hands weren’t so tight. Clearwater had all but shoved her down in this chair and told her if she made any sound, he would kill her. She had no reason not to believe him.
The thought that Roland might be dead had her fighting back tears. Life was unfair. Almost five years after losing one man she had loved, she’d now lost another. There, she had finally admitted what she’d fought all along--she had fallen in love with Roland.
She wasn’t absolutely sure when it had happened. It could have been the first time they’d met, at Stonewall and Joy’s wedding. Or it could have been at Dak and Mellie’swedding. Or even at one of their many chance encounters since then. All she knew was that at some point, she’d decided he was a man worth loving.
And he hadn’t known. It didn’t matter to her that he’d never wanted her love, that she’d wanted more than his protection. She’d been hoping that during their time together, she might have been able to convince him that those possibilities she’d told him about really did exist. Now, she would never have the chance.
