Page 15 of Burning Justice (Chasing Fire: Alaska #6)

Eight

Maria was about ready to quit pretending she was unconscious.

No one was saying anything, and there were at least two other people in this room with her. A room that smelled musty and damp and maybe like it had been used to store hay or soil at some point.

Now she was in here, tied to a wooden chair. Feet secured to the legs, hands tied to the sides by her hips.

Her head hurt from the bus crash that had shaken up everyone. Elias Redding—who she wanted to call every nasty name she could think of—had hopped on the bus like it wasn’t flipped on its side and dragged her away.

She was surprised he hadn’t killed everyone else on the bus but wasn’t going to ask him why not. Didn’t want the mess of multiple murders on his hands? Maybe he still felt some kind of brotherhood connection to the guys even though he was their enemy now.

Whatever it was, her mind would rather wonder about that than focus on the fact she had no way out of this chair or this room and no idea what was about to happen.

“Maria.”

He knew she was awake.

She lifted her chin, blinking so her eyes could focus. Single bare bulb with a weak yellow light. Elias and another guy in a cargo jacket—one of those militia people. And another man, standing in the shadows in the corner. Wearing a suit.

Not good.

Especially given the tray of what looked like surgical instruments on the rolling cart to one side.

She said, “I’ve seen this TV show.”

Now playing the part of Sydney Bristow…

Hmm. How did that intrepid double-agent spy get out of the predicaments she found herself in? Maria could use some of that information right now. A way out. A lifeline.

It started with getting out of this chair.

Elias stepped forward. “I think you hit your head. You’re not making any sense, Maria. But you need to start talking, or this is going to take a long time. And it’ll be painful for you.”

“I think your mother probably dropped you when you were a baby. I mean, normal people don’t do the things you’ve done.” Did he really think she was going to cower? It hadn’t happened last time, so why would she have changed? If anything, she was stronger now than she’d been two years ago.

Elias slapped her cheek with an open palm. Her face whipped to the side, her skin burning.

Maria blew out a breath. “This feels familiar, Elias .”

“It should. Seems like you and I are destined to go around and around.”

“So just tell me what you want, I’ll tell you what I know, and we can get this thing resolved.

” She lifted her chin. There were far too many guys in here for her to make a stand and try to escape.

She couldn’t fight all three tied to a chair, and she also couldn’t find out what they wanted if they left the room and she escaped.

Elias chuckled. “Very well. Give me the code to deploy the canister.”

She bit her lip. Not what she’d expected him to say, and she couldn’t react to it. Otherwise, he’d know she had no clue what he was talking about.

But now she knew why they were alive.

They had something he wanted, and Elias couldn’t kill them until he got it. Which made Maria leverage. Her father, leverage. Her friends, leverage. They were all weak because they cared about each other enough that they’d refuse to let the other get hurt if they could do anything about it.

She pretended to consider his request. “Hmm, let me think about…no.”

Maria wanted to adjust this awkward position on the chair, but she was tied so tightly she couldn’t move. She managed to wiggle her fingers, curling her right hand enough to know she still wore the ring.

One of Jade’s tracker rings.

Which meant her friends—her Trouble Boys—would find her.

Elias tugged something from his back. A phone. He took a picture of her, the flash so bright the white spot stayed in her vision after he was done.

“Kane isn’t going to make a trade with you,” she said.

“You think I care about him right now? That’s a loose end for later. Don’t worry. Those guys will get what’s coming to them for betraying me.”

“Betraying you…” She nearly choked.

“Your father, however? He’s the one who will show up for you. Isn’t that right? Wherever he’s hiding, he’ll burrow out and trade your life for the code. So it really doesn’t matter if you tell me or not. Either way, I’ll get what I want.”

Her cheek burned where he’d slapped her, but that was nothing compared to how it felt realizing he was going to play the victim. Elias seemed to have convinced himself that he was in the right.

Probably thought destroying America was some kind of righteous cause. A way to fix everything that was broken.

Her father was gone. “Hiding?”

Elias said, “Don’t play coy. He’s probably contacted you by now and your Fed friends have him in a safe house, all cozy.”

“Probably.”

He’d sent her that note, but it hadn’t been for them to meet up. In fact, it had sounded more like her father didn’t want her to find him. That he was going to do what he needed to do, and she should stay out of it.

As if she would ever give up trying to find him.

“Tell me the code and we can forgo all the back and forth.” Elias stood over her.

She had to look up to see his face, making pain shoot through her head. She winced, because she wanted him to know that she was in pain, and eased out a breath between gritted teeth. “You think I’m going to tell you anything?”

She kind of wanted her dad to show up to rescue her. That would actually be nice, considering how long she’d been trying to do that for him. Once in a while, it felt good to be the one being rescued.

Not that she planned to be here long enough that her boys had to go to the trouble of getting her out of this situation.

“Don’t worry. You will tell us.” Elias walked to the door.

His buddy held it open, and the two of them walked out, leaving her alone with the man in the shadows. And the instrument tray.

Definite Sydney Bristow vibes.

He stepped out of the shadows, and Maria realized why Crew, Tristan, and Special Agent Parker had been talking about these guys being connected to the Chinese.

“You look like a fun guy,” she said, trying to keep her tone light. “I can tell.”

He stared at her, his face almost gaunt. Dark eyes full of shadows. “Your father thought so.”

Breath caught in her throat.

She wasn’t going to pray just because she was scared that she would suffer before she got out of this situation. Or that she might not get out of it at all. Maria wouldn’t be the person who reacted because their back was against the wall. She needed a plan.

She could use some help though—she wasn’t unaware of that.

The Trouble Boys had rescued her last time, when Elias and that group of militants had held her prisoner in Syria.

Kane probably hadn’t stopped praying since the bus.

If he was alive, or conscious. Please be okay.

She had no idea who was hurt and how badly.

Her friends. Her teammates. The man she wanted to…

No, don’t think about that.

Otherwise, her last moments would be about regret.

The man stepped toward her, holding a pair of pliers. “This is most likely going to hurt a great deal.”

She stared at him. “Bring it on.”

It was the only way she knew of to beat the fear.

Stare it in the face and not back down, because that meant giving in, and if there was one thing her father’s life had taught her, it was that you didn’t lose heart no matter what happened.

No matter how long it took to get out of a horrible situation.

I’m going to fix everything.

Maria tipped the chair to one side, then the other, rocking a little so she could test the sturdiness of the frame.

He closed in, reaching for her index finger. “Hold still, dear.”

Maria screamed in his face. As soon as she had the chance, she would make her move.

Or she would die trying.

“ Paging Doctor Weston. ”

Kane sucked in a breath and sat up on the hospital bed. “Saxon!”

He was in a tiny bay, curtains all around him. The light-blue material whipped back, sounding like a shower curtain rail. But it wasn’t Saxon, it was Crew. And Tristan was right behind him.

“Report.” Kane didn’t have the authority to demand it, but he didn’t care. How long had he been out? Long enough they’d all been transported here. Who knew what condition everyone was in? And Maria…

She’d been taken.

Crew stood at the end of the bed. “Okay, take it easy.”

Kane started to argue.

Tristan said, “Do you want to know the situation or what?”

Kane held his tongue.

“Good,” Crew said. “Grizz, Mitch, and Raine are fine. Just bruises. Mack regained consciousness, and he’s texting. The smokejumpers are too far into dense wood on treacherous terrain. They can’t be airlifted out. Hammer said to ‘do what you need to do’—whatever that means.”

Kane nodded.

“Okay, fair enough.” Crew sighed. “Saxon is getting his arm stitched. It was cut on the edge of the seat.”

“Thanks.” Hopefully it wasn’t bad, because he needed his buddy for this. “What about finding Maria?”

Crew said, “Tucker has the password to the system that will locate all of our tracker rings. He’s going to call when he has a location for Sanchez.”

Tristan’s eyes flared. “Is her name really Maria? Because everyone just calls her Sanchez, so I didn’t know what her first name was.”

“Her name is really Maria.” Kane had figured they all knew, but maybe she’d never told them.

Crew said, “Rio is on his way. He wants an ID on the guys who knocked over the bus, but he’s at least an hour out.”

“Right.” Kane didn’t plan on being here that long. Not when they were going to have a location soon and needed to get out there and get her back.

Kane swung his legs over the side of the bed.