Dangerous Rescue - Linzi Baxter Page 0,39

boomed as he kept his hands around the woman’s neck. “You were supposed to head south.”

Xavier hadn’t lowered his gun as he took a step forward. “See, that’s why you have the nickname Rock. Your pebble-sized brain can’t think past the payday you could get. I do have to give you credit for figuring out that I was after your ass, but the decoy you sent south was shit.”

Hudson’s head spun. The woman’s face turned bright red as Rock squeezed her neck. Hudson took a step to the side, trying to get a clear line of sight, but Rock continued to use the woman as a shield.

Grim stood to the side, her gun raised. He trusted Grim to take the shot. She had spectacular aim.

“You should know how the world works. Take the job with the most money,” Rock growled. “This was our ticket out.”

The woman in Rock’s arms passed out, and he smiled and dropped her to the floor. Buddy did the same with the other woman and disappeared through the back door. Two of Xavier's men rushed out the door, following them.

Hudson ran to the woman’s side and checked her pulse. Xavier stood next to him while Grim talked to the third woman in Arabic. Hudson sighed in relief when the hazel eyes of the woman he was helping popped open.

Xavier ran his hand through his hair. “We need to go. Our ride is here.”

“What about Rock and Buddy?” Hudson glanced at the door. “We can’t let them get away with this. They were going to do something in exchange for these women. Now they’re free to get back to base and tell some made-up story.”

“They can’t go back. I’ve already alerted the commander about their plan. Also, we have Slug, and he’ll sing if he doesn’t want to end up in the black hole.” Xavier walked toward the door.

The black hole was an unsanctioned prison located in the arctic. Not many people knew it existed. If a prisoner escaped it, he or she would die within an hour from cold.

“Let’s get these women out of here,” Scar said, speaking for the first time. Blood dripped down his arm. “I don’t want to go another round.”

Xavier's two men came back into the room. “They took the escape route like we planned. And the second team is in place.”

“Let’s head out. Once Cy figured out what happened, we called in reinforcements. Your team is at the other end of that tunnel.”

Hudson itched to help them, but knew the women needed to get out of the country because they had information the government needed. “Let’s head to Germany.”

“We’re heading home.” Xavier nodded to the three women. “They're now in my custody. Your woman needs you to get your ass home.”

The mention of Siena was enough to get Hudson moving. The extraction plan went smoothly, and soon, they were flying back to the states in Xavier’s private plane.

Hudson leaned back in the leather chair. Scar snored next to him. The three women stuck together.

Xavier threw Hudson a phone. “I had Lucas program this with your number.”

He turned on the phone, and a slew of messages appeared, all from Siena. She’d sent daily information texts.

I was arrested today. Cy and Gumby got me out.

Wasn’t arrested today. I call that a win.

Kaiden scored the winning touchdown.

The police think they found Kyle’s body and that I’m safe.

Hudson had a feeling that wasn’t the case. The Oaxaca Cartel didn’t just let millions of dollars of product disappear. They were giving her false hope.

13

Siena

Siena couldn’t wait to see Hudson again. Cy and Gumby checked on her each day, giving her tidbits of information. She contemplated hiding the text from Gumby but she turned her phone over to him instead. Gumby had Cy examine it, and he must have worked miracles, because after an hour, Siena was told that Xavier would take it from there and she was no longer in danger with the cartel, but Cy was still working on taking the hit down.

On the second day of Hudson’s mission, Cy and Gumby said everything would be okay. But Gumby didn’t hide the strain in his eyes very well. Siena knew something wasn’t right, but neither of the two men would say what.

At night, Kaiden would tell her it wasn’t uncommon not to hear from Hudson for days. And she knew this. He’d gone on a few missions when they were together, but they were short and he was only gone five days or so. She