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“Yes,” I snapped, not allowing Poseidon to finish his sentence. Whatever he was about to ask, I didn’t have the patience to answer. Thankfully, he remained silent in the minutes that followed.
Truth be told, I hardly recognized myself. I was rarely one to lose my temper, and it certainly wasn’t like me to interrupt a man who’d been my best friend since our days at Sandhurst.
“My apologies,” I said, looking over at him.
“Not necessary. If it were me in your place, I’d be ripping every one of those bastards apart with my bare hands.”
There was no need for me to admit I’d had a similar thought. However, if my gut was right and Bexli had escaped and the goons were out looking for her, I had to keep my wits about me. Finding her came first. Justice would follow.
We were close enough to see the beach, but far enough away not to be spotted.
“Are they in the water?” Poseidon asked.
“Affirmative,” Tank answered. “I gotta tell ya, this is about the worst search effort I’ve ever seen. These guys are fucking idiots. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs, but these don’t seem much smarter than the assholes leading them around.”
“Let’s take the fuckers out, Cay,” said Poseidon, who, this time, had turned his mic off before he spoke.
I raised a brow. “Down, not out.”
“Yeah, killing them would take away the fun of interrogation.”
“Tank, any sign of whom they’re looking for?”
“None, sir.” He paused. “Stand by.”
I held my breath, waiting for his update until I couldn’t any longer. I studied the scene on the beach, but nothing significant appeared to have happened.
“Sorry, sir. Just got word from my buddy at the NRO. He said they’ve been able to restore the footage they thought was missing. You should have it now.”
I swiped the screen of my mobile, pulled up the video, and watched as the door I’d entered the villa through eased open. Next, a scantily clad Bexli exited through it and raced across the lawn.“It’s her,”I gasped as I watched her dart into the woods. While it was dark and there was a great deal of canopy cover from the trees, I could see her movement through the forested area.
She was close to the seawall when barking dogs must’ve come out of the villa. The overheads continued tracking her as she climbed onto the cement edifice, then eased herself into the water, feet first.
“Well done, Bex,” I murmured, continuing to watch as she swam parallel to the shoreline. Far enough out that it was unlikely anyone would spot her. Close enough that she could float in if necessary.
Bexli was a strong swimmer. I knew since we’d spent the majority of the time we’d vacationed at my family’s compound in the Grand Cayman, in the ocean.
When the video stopped, I looked at the time. The recording was from over an hour earlier, not long before our teams arrived at the villa. “Where in the bloody hell are you, Bex?” I repeated, looking from the screen to the beach.
I opened the second video and saw a very different scene play out. Several SUVs came out of garages on the south side of the property. Two parked. They were the ones we’d spotted earlier, those that transported the guards and dogs we were watching now.
The other four pulled up near the building’s entrance just as the front door opened. I smiled when I zoomed in and recognized the man being carried out on a stretcher. It was Lorenzo Moretti, aka Mithras. When the SUVs drove away from the villa, I prayed the overheads would show us where they’d gone.
It was easy to piece together what must’ve happened. Bexli had somehow gotten her hands on a syringe and managed to drug Moretti, then escape.
By God, I was proud of her. Now, I just had to figure out where she’d gone.
“Tank, have your buddy see what else he can pull up from the beach.”
“Roger that, sir. Already on it.”
It seemed unlikely, from what I’d seen, that Bexli stayed in the water much longer. What the recording didn’t tell me was where she’d gotten out and where she’d gone from there.
There was no reason for us to wait to ambush the guards. We had enough operatives to surround them. That didn’t mean it would be easy. We already knew they were armed, and in the open area, once we decided to mount an attack, we’d be immediately visible. One thing we did have on our side, in addition to the number of people and significantly better training, was NVGs, which they clearly did not.
“Teams in position?” I asked through the comms, immediately receiving confirmation they all were. “Nemesis? Permission to deploy?”
“Permission granted. Teams, move out!”
