Page 22 of Hayes (Voodoo Guardians #37)

“Dear God,” whispered Hayes. He nearly fell over and then looked toward Bonds, who knew that his life was over. “Where is he? I won’t ask you twice.”

“I-I don’t know. I swear to God, I don’t know. He obviously was planning on screwing me over,” said Bonds.

“Then you’re of no use to us,” said Eric. He gripped the man by the back of the neck, throwing him down the steel deck stairs, waiting for him to hit bottom. It continued until he was at the fantail, at which point, he tossed Bonds overboard.

“Lost at sea seems appropriate,” said Hex, nodding at his friend.

When they were all seated in the war room, Sheikh Omar’s face appeared on the screen.

“I’m so sorry, my friends. My bodyguards were shot, three are dead, only one lived to tell me what happened. He’s in surgery now, but we are not sure if he will live.”

“How did Aamani know where to find her?” asked Hayes.

“We don’t know. If it was someone local, they will pay with their life,” said Omar. “I have my team of men gathering intel to help find her location. People in the area saw a caravan of identical vehicles leave, going in multiple directions, no doubt to confuse the traffic cameras.”

“He’s taken her back to Iraq,” said Hayes. “That’s where he operates, that’s where he’ll want her.”

“We will get her back,” said Omar. “I will use everything within my power to get the girl home safely.”

“We’re headed your way,” said Luke. “And Omar? I’m sorry about your men.”

“Me too, my friend.”

“God,” whispered Hayes, tears filling his eyes. “All her fears, her worst nightmares, have just come to life. She was so fucking brave coming to rescue me, and for what? So that she could be taken!”

“Stop!” said Mo. “Don’t do this. My daughter needs you right now, Hayes. You’re going to help us if you can, and we’re going to figure this shit out. She’ll survive.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because she has to. There is no other choice.”

With the promise of support from the Navy, Omar, and the authorities in Dubai, Luke had his private army ready to roll. The more difficult part would be controlling Hayes and Mo.

“I think I’d be better served on the ship,” said Wyatt. “If they send air power, you can count on it being me.”

“Thank you, Wyatt,” said Mo. He hugged the younger man, each person doing the same. Wyatt hugged Hayes, slapping his back, mindful of his damaged hand.

“We’ll find her, Hayes. I swear to God, we’ll find her. We’ve got her trackers working, right?”

“The team back home is attempting to track her now,” said Cam. “We believe she might be underground because the signal is spotty. But we’ll find her.”

With Bonds dead, the team headed back to the palace of Sheikh Omar. They found him seated at the dining room table with a dozen military men, police officers, and more bodyguards. He stood, ready for any punishment coming his way.

“I did not guard her the way you asked. I should have put more men on her,” he said.

“It’s not your fault, sir,” said Hayes, trying to make himself believe it. “We all thought she was safe, that it was me and Wyatt he was after. I’m not even sure how he found out about her.”

“Emri, the bodyguard who underwent surgery, he told the medical team that he believed he found her because she was able to track Bonds. He was somehow about to reroute her tracking back here. Had you all been here, he might have taken everyone.”

“No, he would have been dead,” said Luke. “Lessons learned. We will not leave anyone behind again, but we’re damn sure going after our girl.”

“Luke, you read?” asked AJ.

“Roger that. Loud and clear.” The others all nodded, indicating they could hear AJ on comms as well.

“We’ve tracked her to Az Zubayr.”

“But that’s a residential, city area,” said Hayes, frowning at them.

“It is, but it has an ancient marketplace that we’ve tried to tell the U.S. military to check out for years. We think there are underground tunnels beneath the city, leading out into the desert and the mountains, possibly even to the Euphrates.”

“Shit,” muttered Hayes, shaking his head. “She must be so fucking scared. I hate myself right now. This is my fault.”

“Son, it’s not your fault,” said Mo. “You were ambushed by your own lieutenant. Victoria came to save you, to rescue you. Don’t let her down. It’s your turn now to get to her.” He nodded, swallowing back his emotions.

“Yes, sir.”

“AJ, we need to see what’s beneath those city streets. Use whatever we have to find those fucking tunnels and let me know where they’re going.”

“ Roger that. ”

“Hayes? I know you want to go, and we’re going to let you. But you have to watch that hand, son. If it gets damaged any further, there’ll be no coming back from it,” said Luke. Hayes nodded.

“If I lose her, there will be no coming back from it. I don’t give a fuck about my hand.”