Page 41 of Sub Mission

Chapter 11

Seth

I was so content in my comfy sexual cocoon, my mind begged me to ignore the screeching of my cell. I didn’t want to wake up. A part of me feared what had just happened was nothing more than a dream…my biggest fantasy actually coming true…and being even better than the fantasy. Seconds later, my brain registered it was my 911 ring from Landon. I jerked awake and wildly reached for the phone, trying to be careful and not disturb Baker.

At the same time I answered the call, I realized I was alone in the bed. His scent lingered, but Baker was nowhere to be seen. Coldness washed over me.

“What’s happened?” I demanded.

“Calm down, Seth. I’ve sent Baker down to the beach…as bait. There’s been a flurry of movement from the apartment across the way. Try to be as discreet as possible, but you need to throw on some clothes and head for the beach. Before you panic or threaten to take my head off, he’s only about ten minutes ahead of you. He’s perfectly safe. Now, get moving,” Landon ordered.

Baker went to the beach? Without me? What the fuck had he been thinking?

“Fuck! Okay, forget discreet, Seth. I need you to start moving. Now!”

I was moving within seconds, hopping clumsily as I forced my legs into the jeans I’d stripped off earlier. Baker was in danger. My heart felt…wrong. As I ran toward the door, I screamed, “What in the hell were you thinking, Landon? You sent him down there alone?” My heart thundered like a racehorse as I punched the button to send the elevator to our floor. If anything happened to Baker…

“He’s activated the alarm on his watch, so we have GPS activated. Where are you, Seth? We have time, but I don’t want to take any chances. I need you and the rest of the men on site as quickly as possible.”

Landon was being so fucking calm, and it was quickly pissing me off. If I understood him correctly, Baker was in the very hands of danger while I’d been in fucking bed!

I punched the elevator button again, and screamed into the phone, “Are you telling me they have Baker and you’re on the fucking telephone with me, sounding all calm and shit? If something happens to him, Landon….”

“Agent Wilkinson! Get your game face on and do your fucking job! You’re the professional here, Baker’s the rookie. Yet, he’s doing his job, just the way we planned it, and you’re falling to pieces on me.” His voice softened. “Fuck, I knew this would happen the second I laid eyes on him. He’s your walking wet dream. I get it. You’ve fallen for him.”

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.” I growled furiously. “Send the coordinates to my phone.” I hand-patted the weapon in my shoulder holster. . “How many men do I have with me and how many are already on site?” What was wrong with the goddamned elevator? No sooner had I’d asked myself that question when I noticed a red message flashing across the elevator panel.Out of order. That wasn’t fucking possible!

“The other men are in route, Seth, but you know I pulled them off last night to review the surveillance videos from the businesses surrounding the club. They are a bit further out than you, but will be there in less than six minutes. Game face, Seth, I’m serious. Baker is depending on you to get him out safely.”

Fuck! Nobody had eyes on him? I raced toward the stairway, knowing this was going to take time that Landon hadn’t calculated…time Baker might not have. “Do I even have a driver or am I going to have to carjack somebody?” This assignment was turning into a clusterfuck…the most important one of my life and everything was going wrong. Why hadn’t he woken me up?Why? “The elevators are down, Landon. Fucking out of order,” I snapped.

There was a long pause before Landon answered, and I knew my mentor hadn’t been prepared for the loss of the elevators. How much time would that cause me to lose? I raced down the stairs, jumping down the bottom four steps on every floor.

“No need for a driver. The tracking device on his watch shows him in the building across the street. We were correct with our first assumptions on telescope man. He’s in the basement of the building. I have the blueprints in front of me and can talk you through it. We’ve got this, Seth. Baker is going to be completely safe. Using him as bait was always part of the plan. You were well aware and signed off on it.”

That was before I fell in love with him, I wanted to scream.

I punched the stairwell door open as Landon spoke into the phone, “Follow the hallway to your left and exit the building through the door at the end of the hall. Outside that door, make another left and there’s a walkway that leads to the neighboring building. We aren’t going to go in through the front door, so don’t barrel straight in. Let me know when you reach the end of the walkway. ETA on the rest of the team is four minutes.”

It took everything in me to not sprint in the direction of the building, but I knew I didn’t need to do anything to draw attention to myself. No doubt whoever it was behind this had people watching the building…just like we’d been watching them. Then it dawned on me. “Are you telling me that Javier’s involved with this?” Landon had told me his family owned both properties.Why in the hell would the man do something that could ruin his own business and then hire us to catch the fucker?

More importantly, did this mean Baker was in even more danger? Javier wouldn’t know about the GPS tracker in Baker’s watch, but he would be waiting for other members of the team to come to Baker’s rescue.

“No, not Javier. Javier is estranged from the rest of his family due to his homosexuality. His father, mother, sister, andtwin brotherare extreme right wing, Bible-thumping, fanatics. Who knows what their entire plan is, but it’s clear they are on a vendetta to destroy Javier and they don’t concern themselves with collateral damage, like the poor men they’ve abducted and abused. It’s the twin brother, Jericho, who’s taken Baker.”

My anger and fear were reaching a boiling point. “I’m at the end of the walkway. Which way now?” Every precious second lost could be a moment where the group was torturing Baker. I’d seen pictures of the other victims, it wasn’t pretty. They’d all survived, but would be scarred for life, physically and emotionally.

“Go right and follow the path like you’re headed toward the ocean. At the end of the building, you’ll see a service entrance that will lead to the basement floor. I have the code when you get there. The surveillance tapes were very helpful. It looks like it was Jericho, Javier’s twin brother, driving the SUV, and the other two guys are members of hischurch. I’m sure they think they’re doing shit to save souls…when they really only need to be worried about their own.”

“Code?” I demanded.

“372468#,” he answered. “The rest of the team is two minutes away. I don’t want you waiting on them, but I don’t need to hear you going in there like a keg of dynamite going off either, Seth. You’ve done this hundreds of times. Baker’s depending on you to keep your head on straight so you can keep him safe. ’Go to the fifth door on the left, there’ll be a staircase that leads down to the soundproof room where they are holding him.”

“I’ve got to go silent, Landon. I’ll keep the phone activated and in my pocket from here on out. Don’t talk unless it’s an emergency,” I growled.

“Seth…try to keep everybody alive—including the bad guys. Once they’re apprehended, the police will step in and take care of the rest. When you kill people, it’s loads of paperwork on my end.”

“Fuck off,” I hissed, too angry and afraid to make any promises.If they hurt Baker, I won’t be able to stop myself from killing every damned one of them.

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