Page 13 of Sackett
Selena fought the urge to laugh at how stupid these people were.They had to have gone through her briefcase to find her name, if they hadn’t known it beforehand, but they didn’t snoop enough to find the paperwork that listed her office address.And they obviously hadn’t looked her up on the internet either, because her office address came up in the top three results when you did.That wasn’t an accident.
“I am licensed to practice in several states.Colorado is one of them, but my practice is in Arizona.It’s a long drive to get here from Arizona.”
Mr.Smarmy watched her a moment longer then turned away and went back to pacing.
“Perhaps you are right.That doesn’t mean we’ll change the deadline.Or that we won’t hurt you if they fail to meet it.But in the hope that they do care about you, at least enough to keep you alive, we’ll do the same.”He went to the door and opened it.
A woman in a plain, long-sleeved dress that went almost to her feet came in carrying a tray with a plastic bowl and a bottle of water.She set the tray on the heavy table on one side of the room that Selena hadn’t been able to move, no matter how hard she’d pulled on it, then moved the bowl, the bottle of water and something Selena couldn’t see well from this angle off the tray, then left, taking the tray with her.
“Your dinner.”Mr.Smarmy left Selena alone, closing and locking the door behind him.
Selena stared at the door for several seconds, then turned and looked toward the bowl they’d left.Was it safe?Had they put something in it to make her sleep so she wouldn’t try to escape?Her stomach rumbled as the tantalizing aroma reached her, but did she dare risk it?
She stood and padded her way over to the table.Standing next to it she found the bowl filled with what looked like some kind of chunky stew, and the thing she hadn’t been able to identify was a plastic spoon.Not even metal or even wood.They had obviously thought about her using it as a weapon.Picking up the bottle, she inspected it and only after determining the seal was still intact, did she open it and take a sip.She stared at the bowl of soup for a long moment, then took the bottle of water back to the cot and sat down to try and figure out what to do next.
13
Sackettsatatthepicnic table listening to the plans being made.Not that he wasn’t participating, but he wanted to get on with it.He wanted to get Selena out of there and make sure she was safe.Had they already hurt her?
He had to push that line of thinking out of his head.He took a deep breath and turned back to the table where Ghost, Maverick and the others continued to discuss the mission.
“We need to split up, search the buildings two at a time.We’ll find her faster, but still have someone to cover our backs.”Ghost glanced around the table.
“But how will we know if the other group found her or gets caught?”Maverick asked.
“We brought comms,” Jake put in.
Maverick nodded and turned his attention back to the table and the items spread out in front of them.
“Teams will be me, Colt and Maverick on team one, Sackett, Jake and Malice on team two.”
Sackett didn’t know if Ghost had taken the prospect himself because he wanted to keep an eye on the boy or if he had some other reason.It didn’t matter.He had two men at his back, and that was what mattered.Sackett knew that Ghost and Malice were close and usually worked together, he appreciated that he’d been assigned someone Ghost liked to keep on his own team, when possible.
“Team one will hit this building first,” Ghost used the back of a pen to point at the screen where the building Donna said was most likely where they’d keep Selena.“While team two hits this one.”He indicated another at the far end of the compound.“Once each building is cleared, if the hostage isn’t located, we move on to the next building, working our way toward each other, and clearing each one until we find her.”Ghost looked up and met the gaze of each of the men around the table in turn, as if making sure they were all listening and paying attention.
“Once she’s found, we extract.Priority is getting the hostage out, no matter what.Understood?”Again, Ghost checked with each man, waiting until they nodded their understanding before moving on to the next.
Sackett nodded, but didn’t bother saying if she was hurt there would be hell to pay.Whether it was now or later, he’d make sure that these assholes suffered at the very least every injury they gave her.
They covered ingress, egress, escape routes, where to go if they got boxed in, as well as rendezvous points for once they were out.Ghost had just finished letting them know where they would leave the vehicles and go the rest of the way on foot when the rental Sackett and Maverick had picked up at the airport pulled back into the parking lot, parking where Maverick had put it earlier.
Ghost pointed at Jake and Colt, then jerked a thumb toward the SUV.Neither said a word, just took off toward the vehicle.A couple of minutes later, the three returned carrying several grocery store bags and a case of water.
“Geeze Malice, did you think we needed the whole store?”Maverick asked.
“I thought we needed fuel.We need to not have to worry about things for several hours.And the water can be divided up between our bikes, so we have something for the ride home.Especially if we head out tonight, at least for a few hours,” Malice said as he started unloading things from bags and handing out sandwiches.
“Plus, I got a few basic first aid supplies.We don’t know what kind of shape we’ll find her in, and it will be too late to go buy anything very close.If we don’t need them, all the better they can stock some first aid kit.”
Sackett took the sandwich Malice handed him but didn’t unroll it right away.He didn’t like the thought that Selena could be hurt, that she could be hurting now and there was nothing they could do about it.He disliked even more that Malice had thought about taking care of any wounds she might have before he had.It was stupid, and he knew it.That was only part of what made him keep his mouth shut.Another part was that he had no right to feel this way.He had no claim on her.Fuck, he’d only met her once.Why did he feel so protective, so possessive about her?
He pushed the unhelpful thoughts from his mind.They weren’t what he needed to focus on now.Getting her out of there safe was.And in order to do that he needed to make sure he was fueled and ready.
Glancing around to see if anyone had noticed his delay, he found everyone busy eating their own food, and no one watching him.With a deep breath, Sackett unrolled his sandwich, pulled a bag of chips from the multi flavor bag Malice had bought and listened as Ghost outlined what they’d been over while Malice was gone for him.
“Donna told us lights out is at 9 p.m., so we’ll wait until ten to go in,” Jake said between bites.“That gives most of the place a chance to be asleep.Hopefully, if we’re quiet, they’ll only discover we were there in the morning when they find her gone.”
“Don’t count on being that lucky.If they’ve got half a brain, they’ll have some kind of guard on her,” Malice said.“I take it our goal is non-lethal if possible?”He glanced at Sackett, then to Ghost.
