Dangerous Rescue - Linzi Baxter Page 0,16

cameras up in her place and a tracker linked to her name on the dark web pissed her off, especially with Mia in the house. This would be a good time to explain about her daughter, but she wasn’t ready.

“I had someone hack into the cell towers and find your location,” Hudson said, acting like it was easy to do.

The kids in her class talked about the government keeping track of everyone. Siena had never been a conspiracy theorist, and she normally didn’t care because she didn’t have anything to hide. But she worried about how easily she’d been tracked, since someone was after her. She was concerned not only for her own safety but for Mia’s as well. She had to figure out what to do with her daughter. Mia wasn’t safe with her.

And Hudson said he was shipping out. Maybe this was the last time they would see each other. She highly doubted it, but there was no way she would let him waltz back into her life and forgive him for everything he’d put her through. The years hadn’t eased the pain of his betrayal.

“You spaced out again, Siena.” Hudson sighed. “I promise I will make sure you’re safe.”

“She’s coming up with a game plan fo—”

“For school tomorrow.” Siena glared at her friend.

Angel took the hint. It was like the light had gone off in her brain, and she’d realized the man in the kitchen was Mia’s father. She cleared her throat. “Casper, I know you don’t like me and the people I work with, but I promise I will do everything to protect Siena. My boss owes me some time off, and I have a cabin in the woods where we can go stay for a while.”

They were making decisions for her. Siena knew it was petty, but she wasn’t going to let this person who was after her dictate what happened next. Siena had enough money in the bank to live off of for years, but she liked her kids at school. Quitting now wouldn’t be an option. Taking two weeks or even one week off during the school year wasn’t an option either.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll figure out what my ex needs, and it will be all over. He’s not going to kill me. They just need the drugs and money.”

“Jesus, Siena. Your ex works for the Oaxaca Cartel. They aren’t going to give you time to figure out what information you need. These men will torture it out of you. Even if you don’t know, they will keep on you until you’re dead. This is the same cartel who killed my sister.”

The room spun. She’d had no clue Kyle was involved with the cartel. When she walked into his chem lab late one night and found him making the drugs, she hadn’t known he was doing it for someone else. The cartel must have paid his bond.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Angel told Hudson.

Hudson shook his head. “Your team is going on a mission tomorrow. We go wheels up at eighteen hundred.”

“We’re going with your team?” Angel sounded surprised.

Hudson ran a hand through his hair, and the weary look almost made Siena cave and do whatever he wanted. “No, with me,” he said. “I don’t know the extent of the mission. I only have a location and time. I’m meeting another team overseas. Your boss contacted Commander North today because he was concerned about this mission. They think I’m being used because of my skill.”

Siena had never asked Hudson what his role was in the military, not because she didn’t care, but because she didn’t want to put him in a position of wanting to tell her something and not being able.

Her friend grabbed her phone off the counter and swiped her finger across the screen. She typed a text, and seconds later, her phone dinged. She frowned. “Fuck.”

Siena glanced at the clock. It was close to one in the morning, and nothing had been resolved. “I’ll be fine.” The words came out shaky. The more they talked, the more she worried about what kind of trouble Kyle had gotten her into.

“You’re going to stay at my house. My next-door neighbor is a SEAL. Kaiden will also be at the house.”

Her sweet student. “Not going to happen. I’m not putting Kaiden in danger. If it makes you two feel better, I’ll stay in a hotel.”

“No, it doesn’t, but you’re not going to listen to either of us, are you? Commander North