Page 12 of Inevitable
Gage and Seth were currently on a trip in the Caribbean to help a friend who was opening a dive shop there.
Nate was occupied with checking all the gear they’d need for Lania.
I’d never been to Cherry Cove, and I’d only gotten a brief look at the town on my way from the airport in Traverse City.
The only things I’d really noticed were that it was on the coast of Lake Michigan and that it was a way smaller town than I was used to.
I shook my head. “Not happening. You and Nate are going to be needed to do the rescue.”
“You realize your plan is absolutely insane,” Brock mentioned from his seat in a recliner. “You’re really going through with this? You’re going to give yourself up to become a captive with Emma?”
I shrugged. “They want Prince Nick. That’s not going to happen. They’ll have to take me instead. He’s going to convince them that I’m someone close to him that they can take instead of him…for now. Someone who can negotiate terms for his surrender.”
It was total bullshit, but I was hoping they’d take the bait.
I continued, “Wyatt will track me from headquarters, get my location, and send you two in to recover both of us. It’s the quickest way for us to get an exact location on Emma.”
Conventionally searching for her could take a lot longer, and I highly doubted that they were bothering to feed her or give her the necessities. I also doubted that her captors had any intention of releasing her alive.
These enemies of Nick’s were obviously going to try to hurt Nick in any way possible. Especially if they couldn’t get to him themselves.
I’d discovered from Nick that the assassination attempt had been very real, and that Emma had been taken from a remote location in Lania that Nick and Emma had been visiting.
No doubt they were holding Emma for leverage because they could use her to get to Nick.
“I’m counting on you and Nate to get us out of there once Wyatt has a location,” I told Brock.
Brock answered soberly, “You know we will, but what you’re doing is risky, Marshall. And you’ve never been a leader who takes unnecessary risks. What’s up with that? I think we can find Emma. I know you can do it without taking these risks.”
I ran a frustrated hand through my hair. “Emma needs someone to be with her right now. I’m not willing to wait for days or weeks until we can locate her. You know that time is everything when it comes to hostages. This is the quickest option. I’m willing to take that risk to locate her.”
To his credit, Nick had offered to trade himself for Emma, but that would be certain death for a prince whose country needed him.
I also knew Nick, and I didn’t want to see him get dead.
I’d convinced him that his surrender would be certain death for both himself and Emma. There was no way in hell either of them would leave wherever they were holding her alive.
Nobody was going to die in this rescue mission.
It was already bad enough that they were holding Emma in fuck knew what conditions right now.
“Why?” Brock persisted. “It’s not like you know and care about Emma like we do. Hell, I’m grateful for what you’re doing. But I’m torn. I want Emma out of there as quickly as possible, but I don’t like you putting your ass on the line for someone you don’t even know.”
“I do know her,” I admitted. “We met fourteen years ago in Virginia Beach. I won’t go into how we met or what we did there, but she’s not a stranger to me. We haven’t seen each other in fourteen years, but I’m not risking my life for someone I don’t know.”
I knew Brock well enough to know he wasn’t going to let this go until he had an explanation and telling him the truth seemed to be my best option.
His eyes widened. “You and Emma were together?”
I lifted a brow. “I didn’t say that we were together. I just said that I know her. Our acquaintance was brief. We spent some time together in Virginia Beach when I was active military.”
“Then you already know that she’s special,” he commented. “She’s like an older sister to us. Emma was the first one to befriend us here in Cherry Cove when we settled here after Delta, and we’ve all been like family ever since.”
The womanhadn’tbeen like a sister to me, but I did understand that Emma was special. “She has a way of getting under your skin,” I told him.
Brock grinned. “And once that happens, she stays there. She tries to mother all of us, and she hates it that she usually can’t.I kind of hate that our frequent disappearances worry her, but we’ve never told her about Last Hope.”
“She’s going to have to know now,” I informed him.
