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I poured some water into the collapsible bowl then offered him the gown once again. His entire body immediately tensed.

This time, he took off running. But to his credit, he wasn’t barking.

Yet.

Fortunately, I had no difficulty following him. When he stopped at the back of a thick eight-foot-high wall, he immediately started to dig.

I took a deep breath, staring up at it then scanning the area. There was more foliage backing up to the property, which allowed for additional privacy. With the ocean on one side, that limited access and the possibility of nosy neighbors.

“Good boy,” I said as I stroked his back. He sat down on his haunches just like he’d been trained to do. At that moment, I felt like a proud papa. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.” I crouched down, extracting the assault rifle. I already had a handgun in a holster, with two knives easily accessible. I also had a silencer. There would likely be guards preventing her from escaping. They’d need to be vanquished as quietly as possible.

We moved to the side of the property, realizing that the shape of the property wasn’t in a perfect square or rectangle. At least luck was on my side. Discovering a section of fence that was barbed wire was like a godsend. They’d likely done so given the thick foliage.

I also had bolt cutters. After ensuring the system wasn’t electrified, I cut a portion large enough to fit through.

“You need to stay right here, boy. Alert me if anyone comes. Okay?” He tipped his head quizzically but sat down as he’d done before. With limited training, I had to place hope on the fact he’d listen to me.

I moved through the open area, immediately gathering my bearings. Hearing nothing, I advanced, forced to use a small flashlight to guide my way. This was dicey as fuck, but there was no other choice.

As I moved in a pattern learned with the SEALs, I covered more ground while keeping my bearings. A noise caught my attentionand I crouched down, now crawling through the foliage, ending on my belly and sliding through a thick patch of briars.

The noise had been voices. There were two men dressed in combat gear standing outside a small building. From the looks of it, I’d say it was an outbuilding typically used to keep gardening supplies. Concrete, the location was perfect to mask any noise.

Including her screams.

I pulled out the small binoculars, scanning the area. From what I could tell, it was only the two men. The estate was large, located a couple hundred yards from the small enclosure. I calculated the distance before housing the binoculars and moving forward, still crawling until I was within thirty feet.

Finally crouching, I attached the silencer to one of the handguns and waited as the men began to make their rounds.

The first shot was easy, the soldier dropping where he was standing. But the second was a pain in my ass.

He’d heard the thud and turned, immediately drawing his weapon and attempting to find safety.

I bolted forward, rushing toward him with no hesitation. I sensed exactly what he was going to do, shout that there was an intruder.

Before he had a chance, I lunged, tackling him to the ground. Wrestling, I managed two hard punches before being tossed off. He believed himself to be a hero. Instead of lifting his weapon, he threw himself toward me. With both hands on the weapon, I fired several shots.

Managing to roll, I avoided his heavy body dumping on mine and took a deep breath. There’d been enough commotion I was on edge, immediately returning to a crouching position.

There were no other sounds except for whatever insects and night creatures were moving through the trees. With caution, I approached the building. Forget patience. I shot off the lock. There was a chance a soldier had been placed inside.

I waited outside the door, finally glancing around the edge of the door and seeing nothing but utter darkness. Grabbing the flashlight, I flashed the beam inside. What the hell? Where was she? If this was a fucking wild goose chase, I’d castrate Gray.

I moved inside and almost instantly was tackled, hitting the wall as fists came flying. The flashlight was dropped, but I kept the weapon, doing what I could to keep it from the person attacking.

It took me a few seconds to realize they were small fists, the person fighting me weak. A woman. Her scream was shrill, forcing me to slap my hand around her mouth, jerking her around so I was easily able to hold her against me.

She continued fighting, doing a damn good job of throwing jabs behind her head.

“Juliette,” I whispered. “Stop. I’m here to free you.” I kept my voice low.

At least after a few seconds she stopped fighting.

“Now, I’m going to let you go, but don’t scream. We need to get out of here.”

When I let her go, I was certain she didn’t believe me. She whipped around to face me, her terror-filled eyes glaring atme. They were partially unfocused, likely from the darkened environment.

“Who… are… you?”