Page 79 of Her Delta Force Protector

“I should kill you right now, bitch.” He straddled her and traced the shell of her ear with the barrel of the gun. “But lucky you. My new star gets to live another day. Pull another trick like that, and I don’t care how perfect your tits are, I’ll put a bullet through your brain.”

She tried to buck him off her back, but he just laughed. She’d never in her life thought she’d want to kill someone, but she could murder him and still sleep at night. Blind in one eye because of the blood, and with a skull that felt like it was going to explode, she gave up and let her body go limp. She wanted to cry over her failed attempt and the pain in her head, but she refused to give him the satisfaction.

He moved off her. “If you don’t want my fist in your face again, get up.”

When she pushed up, she noticed the ring with a black stone he wore. The ring was what had cut her when he’d hit her, and that stone had to be his dried-up evil black heart.

He grabbed the rifle from the floor, then waved the hand holding the revolver at the door. “Walk.”

She swiped the sleeve of her hoodie across her eye, trying to clear the blood away. “You won’t get away with this.”

“I already have. You should be thanking me. I’m taking you to South Beach, where the rich and famous play. Think outside of your boring little box, Harper. Yours can be the name every man fantasizes about when they wrap their hand around their cock while they watch one of your movies.”

“You’re a disgusting pig.”

“We need to come up with a sexy name for you,” he went on as if she hadn’t just called him a pig. “Maybe we’ll go with just one name, you know, like Cher does. Cherry? What about Kitty? Yeah, I like that one. Kitty. Pussy. Get it?” He laughed, amused with himself.

Kade was going to find them before they ever reached South Beach, but if this sick pervert managed to evade him, he had to sleep at some point, and when he did, one way or another, she was going to kill him.

Chapter Forty-Two

“Can dogs track through water?” Viper asked when they came to a shallow creek.

“I don’t know.” Duke crossed the creek, sniffed the ground on the other side, then turned around and came to a stop in the middle of the water. He looked up at Kade as if asking,What now?

“Find Harper.” Kade didn’t know what else to say. Obviously, whoever had Harper had used the creek to throw them off the scent. Which way did they go, though? Up or down it? Duke lowered his head, and after a few seconds, he headed up the creek, dragging the sock through the water. “Hope he knows what he’s doing.”

“Why don’t I go the other way?” Viper said. “In case he’s wrong.”

“Yeah, good idea.”

They’d been following the creek for about ten minutes when Duke left the water. Nose to the ground, he trotted to a large tree. There were footprints both going and coming. One pair was larger than the other, and Kade hoped the smaller pair belonged to Harper.

Duke went to the back of the tree and whined. Kade studied the footprints. The larger ones stopped a few feet from the tree, and the smaller ones stopped where Duke was standing. The leaves on the ground were wet, and he realized that Harper had hid behind the tree to go to the bathroom while her captor waited only a few feet from her. Rage burned his blood that she’d been humiliated like that.

At least he now knew they’d come this way. “Come, Duke. This was just a pit stop.” Duke didn’t want to leave, so Kade picked him up and returned to the creek. To make sure Duke didn’t try to go back to the tree, he carried the dog a few yards through the water before putting him down.

How long had they walked in this creek? Harper’s feet had to be freezing. Whoever had her—he didn’t care if it was one man or a hundred—was going to pay for both humiliating her and torturing her, even if that was only for the cold feet. He tried raising Viper on the comms, but he was too far away now and didn’t respond.

When his phone rang with the ringtone he’d assigned Tristan, Kade answered, but kept walking. “You here?”

“Yes. Colton—sorry, but I just can’t refer to a man with muscles the size of a tree trunk as Cupcake. Colton’s sending my men out to search in a grid pattern. Where are you?”

Kade pulled up his coordinates on his smartwatch and gave them to Tristan. “Duke’s following her scent. I hope that’s what he’s following. We think either Watson or Sorenson has her, but it could be both.”

“I’ll leave Colton to organizing my men to search, and I’ll come catch up with you. Colton told us about the Hummer leaving, so Chase is on the phone with his brother. Nick’s trying to find the Hummer.”

“Good. I don’t want any of these people getting away.”

Duke still seemed to be following a scent, but Kade couldn’t image they’d walked through the creek for much longer. He should have put a tracker on Harper. That had to have been them at the tree, though, so he’d keep going. But what if they’d doubled back, and Duke had missed finding where they left the creek?

He’d never been indecisive on an operation, but he was questioning his every step now. At this point, he was trusting a dog that had flunked out of military dog school because everything was a game.

“Duke!” When Duke glanced over his shoulder at him, Kade said, “Tell me you know what you’re doing.” His imagination was running away with him because he could have sworn that Duke rolled his eyes before facing forward and continuing up the creek.

Another five minutes passed, and Kade was seriously considering turning around when Duke stopped and circled back a few feet. All this time, he hadn’t let go of Harper’s sock, and with it hanging from his mouth, he lifted his head and stared up the hill. Kade followed the dog’s gaze and saw a shack that looked like it could collapse any second. Duke whined and ran to the end of his leash.

“Hush. Sit.” Duke obeyed both commands, which was a miracle since the dog always did the opposite of what he was told. Kade had the brief thought that Harper was right, that he’d intentionally failed every test the military had given him. Something to think about and laugh over with Harper later. Because there would be a later.

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