Dangerous Rescue - Linzi Baxter Page 0,62

He pulled her leg back, and she fell against the hard floor. Then the fucker wrapped his hands around her throat.

The world spun around her. Siena clawed at his hands. Just when she felt the world dim, he released them, and she coughed and sucked in her breath. Her vision slowly came back, and she watched in horror as he raised the gun and pointed it at Angel.

Siena leaped up to shove his arms. The gun fired, and a scream erupted, followed by a second gunshot. The sound echoed through the small kitchen. Warmth spread over her flesh, and she looked down at her hand covered in blood. Her white shirt was slowly turning red. She pressed her hand to her side and slumped down.

She was shaking as she moved to the side and reached for the gun on the floor. Her hands trembled as she aimed it at the man who’d caused everything. Siena didn’t feel any remorse as she pulled the trigger. The gun pushed her back, and she rested her head against the wall.

The bleeding on her side wouldn’t stop. It hurt so fucking bad. As her vision faded, the last thing she saw was Hudson. He would take care of their daughter. She just wished she’d had more time with him.

19

Hudson

Hudson watched the screen flick to another slide. The mission to take down Abida hadn’t been a complete bust. An analyst at the CIA cracked a code from the computer hard drive they recovered when they did a second sweep through the compound. Abida was now listed as a high-value target, and Hudson’s team's next mission was to head back to Yemen to find him.

It seemed that as soon as they cut the legs off one terrorist organization, two more appeared. And as long as people kept paying when their computers were infected with ransomware, terrorist organizations would keep popping up. Most people didn’t realize that when they paid the money to get their information back, they were actually funding terrorist attacks and human trafficking. Large organizations would rather pay so they didn’t lose their information. It was sad when they didn’t think about the domino effect.

The CIA had new intel coming in about Abida’s location. Hudson’s team would train for the next two weeks for the mission. Hudson let out a breath, relieved they were working on a mission the proper way. The attack would happen in the dead of night so they could use the darkness to their advantage, unlike his last mission, when they’d raided Abida’s compound in the middle of the day. No wonder he knew they were coming.

Cy’s computer dinged twice, cutting off Commander North. Cy typed a couple more things, and his computer dinged again. He turned to Commander North. “I need to speak to my team, and I think it would be best if you left.”

He could feel the tension in the room. “Talk. Now,” Commander North growled.

For a couple of seconds, Hudson thought Cy was going to ignore the commander's orders, but he finally let out a sigh and said, “I know you told me to trust Xavier and his team.”

Commander North ran a hand over his face and groaned. “What did you do, Cy?”

“Well, I might have used the NSA satellites to keep a watch on Grim’s house. You see, I’m developing this undetectable software you can run on other organizations’ satellites. I might have used it with one of the NSA’s, and the software picked up a face.”

“Whose face?” the commander ground out. “And don’t think I’m going to let it slide that you hacked the NSA’s satellites.”

Cy nodded before turning to his laptop. “Rock, Buddy, and Carter’s images were caught off the satellite closest to Grim’s house. Do you want to hear more?” He winced.

Commander North nodded.

“Okay. I just hacked traffic-engineering cameras with the triangulated coordinates from the satellite.”

“Speak English for the rest of us at the table,” Hudson said.

“The three men are five minutes from Angel’s house.”

Hudson's stomach dropped. Siena had planned to run home and pack a few of her things while he was at work. He’d wanted her to wait until he got home, but she said it wouldn’t be an issue. Now it was a huge fucking issue.

“Let’s go! I need to get to Siena’s!”

“Sit down,” Commander North said. “This isn’t a sanctioned mission. My fucking tech guy hacked NSA, traffic engineering, and from the way his fingers are moving, I’m guessing ten other organizations he shouldn’t be. But we never