Page 42 of Rescuing Josiah
Likewise, she was shoved down into a chair, metal cuffs locked around her wrists, binding her in place. The way the man who had dragged her down there watched her had her shivering in disgust. As he straightened, the man let his fingers trail unnecessarily along her body, brushing across her breasts, and a warning growl rumbled through Josiah’s chest.
“Hurt a hair on her head and I will kill you,” he vowed. Not only was that threat absolutely genuine, but it was also the words that would activate the cameras and microphones set up torecord everything and allow Alpha Team to watch and intervene if necessary.
The man who had done all the speaking chuckled. “I assure you, Mr. Fleet, your wife is quite safe with us. She is very beautiful though, isn’t she.” His appreciative gaze roamed her body, and Chelsea tried to shrink into her chair, attempting to hide herself even though there was nowhere for her to go.
“You know who I am, what I was, you also know I'm risking everything to save the woman I love,” Josiah told the man, looking him dead in the eye.
It was totally inappropriate given the danger they were currently in, and yet Chelsea couldn’t have stopped the flush of warmth at hearing Josiah say he loved her even if she wanted to. The words weren't real, of course, he didn't love her, but she loved hearing them nonetheless.
“I can kill all four of you without breaking a sweat, the only reason I'm not is because Chelsea needs to live, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen. Touch her like that again, and I’ll change my mind,” Josiah warned.
“No need for threats,” the man said quickly, obviously believing Josiah. “We’re simply here to collect the first half of the money. Now that we have a potential match, we need payment. I'm sure Dr. Wood explained how it would work.”
“Half up front, half after the surgery,” Josiah said.
“Right. Now I'm going to give you your cell phone and you’re going to do the transfer,” the man said, holding up Josiah’s phone, which he must have grabbed while the other men were manhandling her and Josiah downstairs. “I must warn you, if the money doesn’t go through, then both of you will be killed, and the scene staged to look like a home invasion.”
Josiah snorted at that, and even she had to huff a small chuckle.
There was zero percent chance Josiah would be killed by untrained men in a home invasion. With his training and experience, he was quite capable of killing any intruders.
“No one would believe that,” she told the man. “My husband was a SEAL, the only reason you aren't already dead is me. If you try to stage this as a home invasion, then Prey will know something is wrong. Even if they find out what we were going to do, they’ll still hunt down our killers.”
“A murder suicide then,” the man snapped, like the whole thing was irrelevant. “How you die doesn’t matter, right now, there are three weapons pointed at you. You will be killed first, Mr. Fleet, then I will allow my men to indulge in your beautiful wife’s body before she is also killed. Transfer the money now and don’t even think about trying something stupid.”
The phone was thrust into Josiah’s hand, and he unlocked it and scrolled to the banking app. This was it. Once the money was transferred, she and Josiah would move to the next stage, one step closer to getting eyes on Desiree Tilly. Once they did, this would all be over. The trafficking ring would be dismantled, and she and Josiah would annul their pretend marriage.
That thought was both exhilarating and depressing, all wrapped in one.
Chapter
Twelve
May 16th
2:01 A.M.
Important undercover operation or not, if one of these men touched Chelsea in an inappropriate way again, he was going to kill them.
Every last one of them.
Mission be damned.
Already scenarios were flying through his mind, different ways he could get out of the cuffs and kill them before they could get a shot off. It definitely helped that one of the men was standing close enough that Josiah could kill him with nothing more than his unrestrained legs, and then take his weapon.
Not putting cuffs on his ankles was a mistake. Even with them on, he still could have taken these ridiculously stupidly trained so-called muscle, but without them he was at a major advantage, and they weren't even smart enough to realize it.
Keeping his muscles tense and ready to spring into action if the need arose, everyone in the room waited in silence for the money to transfer to the other account. Eagle had everything setup so Prey would know exactly when and where the money was going. Already, the rest of Cyber Team would be digging into the account details he’d been given and hopefully tracking them, if not to Desiree Tilly herself, then someone else high up on the ring’s food chain.
Beside him, he could feel Chelsea’s fear, but she was holding it together perfectly. Everything she’d said and done was completely convincing, and he was pretty sure that if they both got out of this alive and dismantled the ring, he would be trying to convince her to take up a career as an actress. She was Oscar-worthy for sure.
“Done,” the man in charge announced as he shot a smile at both Josiah and Chelsea. “That wasn't so bad, was it?”
Since there was no good answer to that question, Josiah merely growled. Good thing his role was really just playing himself because he did not have Chelsea’s skill. Enough to survive maybe, but his act was definitely being bolstered by hers.
“S-so what h-happens now?” Chelsea asked. Tears continued to shimmer in her gray eyes, making them look like storm clouds about to send a drenching of rain, but he was pretty sure they were fake.
“Now, my dear, we’re going to uncuff you and your husband, take you out to our vehicle, and drive you out to where you’ll be staying while you have and recover from your transplant,” the man explained. “Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Dr. Gant.”
