Delta Force Rescue - Elle James Page 0,51
knows too much about my business to let go. You know nothing about me. And you never will.” He looked past her shoulder and said something in Spanish.
Two guards appeared. One had blood drying beneath his nose and a bruise on his cheek. They gripped her arms and half-carried her back to her cell. The food tray had been removed. There was nothing else in the room she could use as a weapon. Her heart sank into her shoes.
Briana could have wallowed in her despair and let loose the tears waiting to fall, but the thought of maybe seeing Rafe again kept her going. They’d had so little time together. She liked him. A lot. She could even see herself falling in love with the man—if given the chance.
The next time the door opened, she’d have to be ready to throat punch the guard and make sure he didn’t yell for help as soon as she ran.
If she got another chance, she’d take it.
Chapter 12
With Brotherhood Protectors Hank, Swede, Boomer, Taz, Chuck and Bear by his side, and his old Delta Force team supposedly in place around the compound, Rafe dared to hope all could go well once they arrived with Alejandra to make the trade. They didn’t try to sneak in like the Delta Force team. Their job was to be there for the trade. The Deltas were there to cover their sixes and make sure El Chefe didn’t try to take them all out and keep both females.
Hank’s men gave the Delta Force team plenty of time to get to their positions and for the sun to sink into the horizon. Two hours out from the designated time, Hank handed Alejandra the burner phone to make her call to the Devil Boss.
She set the audio on speaker and spoke in Spanish, repeating her words in English. “I’ll be there in two hours. We will make the trade outside your compound. We will see that Señorita Hayes is well and uninjured before I step out of the vehicle. Understood?”
“Si. We will have bullets reserved for Miss Hayes if anything goes wrong during the transfer. Understood?”
Rafe’s lip curled back in a snarl. He personally wanted to kill El Chefe with his bare hands. To watch him choke to death slowly. How a man could torture and kill innocent people on a whim was beyond Rafe’s comprehension. Men like the cartel leader needed to be eliminated from society completely.
After Alejandra made the call, they loaded the team into three SUVs then lined up for the drive out to the compound. Taz, Chuck and Boomer took the lead. Hank, Alejandra and Rafe rode in the middle vehicle. Swede and Bear brought up the rear. The Brotherhood Protectors were fully equipped for combat, wearing bullet proof vests, helmets with radios, rifles, handguns, grenades and night vision goggles.
The Delta Team would be in place with a sniper on either side of the entrance, ready to pick off anyone who might try to take out Hank and his team.
They drove in silence to within a mile of the coordinates the DEA agents had given them and slowed to a stop, where they performed a communications check with the Delta Force team. Once everyone was accounted for, the procession continued on to the turnoff. The sun was well on its way toward the horizon, casting the surrounding jungle into deep shadows.
The closer they got to the compound, the faster Rafe’s heart beat. He wanted to see Briana, to know for sure she was alive and well. And he wanted to kill El Chefe for taking and hurting her. The woman only wanted to do right by people, to ease their suffering. She’d helped Alejandra because she couldn’t stand to see a woman and her child exposed to the elements and afraid to seek assistance lest she draw attention to herself and be discovered by the man she’d escaped.
Briana had a big heart and courage like no other woman he knew. Yes, he could be falling in love with her and, for the first time in his life, he was okay with that. He wasn’t tempted to return to the Delta Force teams. He realized he wanted a life outside constant deployments to war-torn nations where he could be shot at, blown up or tortured if caught. No, he wanted more in life. He wanted someone like Briana to come home to at night, to explore the mountains with and maybe raise children of their own. Not