Page 20

CHAPTER 20

March 8 th

4:03 P.M.

Her head pulsed with a headache.

That was the first thing Ava became aware of.

It seemed to throb in time with the beating of her heart, which was most disconcerting.

Every part of her body felt like it had been laced with concrete, and she couldn’t seem to summon enough energy to make her mind work properly.

Sluggish.

That was the only way to describe it.

Like each one of her thoughts had become a snail, crawling ever so slowly through the vastness of her brain. In some dark part of her mind, she knew that was no good. That she needed those little snails to hurry up and come to her because without them she couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.

Something was wrong.

That much she was aware of.

But nothing else.

Without the benefit of her thoughts, when a wave of exhaustion crashed over her, Ava didn't fight against it. She let it push her down and pull her under. Allowed it to blanket her in a curtain of soft, velvety darkness.

Some time later she emerged once again.

Aware and yet not aware that something was very wrong. Something she needed to figure out if she was going to … live?

Was it really that dramatic?

No.

That couldn’t be right.

There was no way Nathaniel would have allowed her to be in a position where she would be in danger. Perhaps she’d just had a relapse of some sort. Other than lingering pain from her wound, she had been starting to feel almost normal again. There was some tiredness as well that she’d just assumed was to do with trying to process an ordeal when she didn't have time to focus on healing because the perpetrators were still out there.

Was it something more than that?

Was she sick?

Back in the hospital?

Panic thrummed through her system, and it must have burned away a little of the grogginess because things shimmered back into her consciousness.

Nathaniel had left. Walked out because he was so determined to believe that she didn't deserve him just because they came from different backgrounds. Her parents and the man they insisted she marry had been at her apartment, but she’d thrown them out, threatened to sic Eagle Oswald on them if they didn't leave.

Alone.

She’d been alone when they came.

Men. Two of them. Pretending to be movers.

They got into her apartment and jabbed her with a needle, giving her something that had knocked her out.

Air began to saw in and out of her chest.

They had her.

The traffickers had gotten her back.

Her worst nightmare had just come true, and this time there wasn't going to be a happy ending. There was no way they would allow her any opportunity she might be able to take advantage of and escape. Last time had been a fluke. They hadn't realized that forgetting to restrain her would result in such dire consequences for their operation. Probably had believed she was too weak and beaten down to try anything.

Their error in judgment had cost them a lot of money.

Chances were, they were pretty angry with her.

What did that mean for her? They already planned on killing her by disassembling her body piece by piece, but were they going to punish her for escaping and forcing them to kill off not just their product but their workers as well?

“I can tell by your heartrate that you're awake, may as well stop pretending otherwise,” a cold voice spoke.

Ava hadn't been pretending, she’d just been panicking. Imagining all the horrible ways these people could exact their revenge for her putting a huge dent in their business.

Someone stepped closer to her and a thumb pressed roughly against one of her eyelids, forcing it open.

With a strangled squeak, her other eye popped open as well and she took in her surroundings. Confirmation that her worst fears really had become a reality.

It was like déjà vu. She was in a sterile white room. Lying on a hospital bed as she looked down her body and she saw her clothes had been removed and she was in a hospital gown, but there was no blanket covering her. Which meant she could see the thick leather restraints securing her ankles and wrists to the sides of the bed.

An IV had been set up, and she could see machines standing around her bed, attached to her body, and a thin tube running from between her legs to a bag hooked up to the end of her bed. She was prepped and ready for whatever organ they planned on stealing from her next.

Only one other person was in her room besides the one standing at her bedside, who had to be a doctor if the outfit he was wearing was anything to go by. But the other person wasn't dressed in scrubs. Instead, the woman wore a black skirt suit, her dark blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun, making her narrow face appear even thinner. She had on a pair of frameless glasses, and beneath them a pair of hazel eyes studied her in a way that made Ava squirm. Well squirm as much as she could while tied to a bed.

With slow, measured steps, the woman approached the bed.

It took everything Ava had but she didn't back down or look away, she maintained the woman’s gaze even though she was sure she was going to wind up regretting it.

This woman had to be the person in charge, the head of the trafficking ring, or at least one of them. That the woman had taken the time to come here directly to Ava’s room meant they all knew what she’d cost the ring, and it was evident that she was indeed going to be punished for it.

“How did you do it?” the woman asked, her voice sweet, melodious, and not at all what Ava had been expecting.

“Do what? Escape?” When the woman nodded, she answered, she could see no benefit in holding back the information. Regardless of whether she told them the truth or lied, security was going to be tightened going forward. Not only would she not be given a second chance to escape but nobody else would be given one either. “They didn't secure me after an examination because they were called about some sort of emergency.”

For a long moment the woman said nothing, just stood there obviously pondering what her next move was going to be.

Finally, she inclined her head in a small nod. “Thank you for your candor.”

Was she supposed to say you're welcome? It seemed inappropriate given that she hadn't told the truth for any other reason than there seemed no benefit to lying. So she settled on not responding, just lay there and waited for her fate to be pronounced.

“I’m sure you understand that I cannot let this infraction pass. You cost me millions when I had to cut my losses in case you were able to tell authorities enough to lead them to us. We already have buyers lined up ready to purchase your remaining organs, and I'm sure you understand that I’m going to need to give them what they paid for as quickly as possible. Already you’ve cost us days, and in this business, time is money. I have a team coming here in twelve hours and we’ll begin. You won't be given an anesthetic for the procedures. Normally, I would have denied pain relief, but as time is of the essence there won't be recovery time between surgeries, my surgeons will be taking everything at once. I must make an example of you. I cannot have our other assets believing that escape is a possibility.”

The woman said that last part almost apologetically, but Ava was still stuck on the fact that she had little more than twelve hours to live.

It wasn't enough time.

There was no way Prey would be able to find her within twelve hours plus however long it took for surgeons to remove each one of her organs and prepare it for transfer to its new owner. While she had zero doubt that Prey knew by now that she was gone, and would be doing everything within their power to find her, it couldn’t be done that quickly. Last time she’d been gone for weeks, and they’d had no idea where she was.

So this was it.

How she was going to die.

As the woman turned to walk away, Ava realized there was one more question she wanted an answer to. In the scheme of things, it didn't really matter but nonetheless she wanted to know.

“How did you find me again?”

Pausing, the woman looked over her shoulder at Ava. “We tag our product when it first comes in. Not that we expected one to ever escape, but we have a lot of product spread out through several bases and its quicker and easier to be able to tag it all and know which base each one is at so we can move quickly. I'm sure you understand that this is a time sensitive business.”

With that, the woman turned and walked out of the room leaving Ava staring after her. Never in her life had she felt less human than she did right now.

Twelve hours.

Unless she got a miracle in twelve hours she would suffer an excruciating death.

* * *

March 9 th

1:11 A.M.

What the hell was that annoying beeping?

And why wouldn't it stop?

Nathaniel growled softly, his instincts alerting him that something was wrong a split second before his consciousness returned and everything came hurtling back all at once.

The soft growl morphed into a roar as he bolted upright.

Pain screamed through his body, and the irritating beep picked up in both speed and volume, but he cared little about anything other than getting to Ava.

She’d been taken. On his watch.

While he was outside sulking and nursing a grudge that was completely one sided, she’d been alone and vulnerable in her apartment. The traffickers were there, watching her, waiting, pretending to be moving furniture into the apartment across the hall.

By the time he realized what was going on it was too late. They shot him before he could shoot them. Before he could get his girl safely back in his arms.

Because no matter how badly he’d messed up, Ava was his. Had been from the moment he climbed into that life raft and found her curled up in the bottom. He was absolutely and hopelessly hers as well, and he wanted the chance to right his wrongs, fix what he’d broken, and try for a future he’d never thought he deserved much less allowed himself to want.

“Whoa.” Hands clamped on his shoulders, pushing him back against the bed. “You shouldn’t be going anywhere.”

“Get off me,” Nathaniel snarled, turning on whoever dared get between him and finding his girl.

Instead of doing as he’d demanded, the hands only tightened their grip, and when he blinked the hazy shapes in the room came into focus. It was Ava’s team, all five of them were sitting or standing around his hospital room.

If he was in a hospital, and not in an emergency room, then that meant that hours had passed since he’d been shot.

Hours meant Ava wasn't just gone she could be permanently gone.

After she’d already escaped from them once, they weren't going to leave her lying around and possibly mess up and give her a second chance. If he was an organ trafficker and all he cared about was making money, he’d have a team prepped and ready to go, that way he could ensure his investment played out.

“How long?” he growled at no one in particular.

It was Tobias who was standing beside his bed, preventing him from climbing out of it. Chelsea sat on his other side, watching him with big, worried eyes. Teresa had her laptop open on her lap and was watching him with a much more pragmatic expression. Josiah lounged in a chair by the door and seemed completely disinterested in anything other than whatever he was doing on his computer.

“Since you were shot?” Tobias asked.

When he nodded it was Teresa who answered. “Coming on sixteen hours.”

Sixteen hours.

That was more than enough time for Ava to have been operated on, all her organs taken, and her lifeless body disposed of.

Even though he knew the answer—her team wouldn't be sitting keeping vigil around his bed if it were possible—he had to ask anyway. “Is she here?”

“No,” Chelsea answered softly. “She’s gone. There was a small amount of blood in the apartment, not hers, and the cap from a syringe. They got to her.”

With a snap that seemed to echo through the room, Josiah suddenly slammed his laptop closed and shoved to his feet. “How?”

“How what?” Teresa asked, shooting her colleague a surprised look.

For all the anger bottled up inside Josiah Fleet, the way he segregated himself from the rest of his team, making it seem as though he were disinterested in everything and everyone around him, from the protective sparks glowing in his dark eyes, it was clear the man was protective of his team even if he wasn't close with them.

“How did she get taken on my watch,” Nathaniel answered Teresa’s question before Josiah got a chance.

More than ready and prepared to work hard to earn back the trust Ava had so freely given him, Nathaniel was playing the long game. Part of that meant he would also have to regain the trust of Ava’s team, they were more her family than the one she’d been born into. He needed these men and women on his side if he was going to build any sort of future with Ava, and that started with being honest with them.

“I went outside to clear my head,” he admitted, sagging back against the pillows.

“You left her alone? Why would you do that?” Chelsea asked.

“Because I messed up. I thought she’d be safe if she stayed in her apartment. Her parents came over with some old guy called Bentley Jones.”

“She hates that guy, he gives her the creeps,” Chelsea inserted.

“Her parents wanted her to marry him as soon as she turned eighteen, but Ava had no intention of being a trophy wife,” Teresa added.

“I didn't grow up in a very good family. Domestic violence, alcoholism, eleven siblings, no money. Things were rough and I always planned to stay single. Until Ava anyway. But I guess I’m more affected by my past than I wanted to believe. When I saw her parents pushing so hard to get Ava to agree to be with the man they chose for her, and I realized everything he could give her that I couldn’t, I snapped. Then he was talking about a bracelet that was worth fifty thousand dollars, and I had to get out of there.”

“It was her grandmother’s,” Chelsea told him. “The bracelet. That’s why she loves it. It’s not that its worth a small fortune, it’s that it belonged to the only person in her family who actually loved her, who Ava loved back.”

Now he felt even worse about his freak out.

“So you threw a tantrum and stormed out?” Josiah asked, his voice cold and hard. Unyielding. Unforgiving.

“Pretty much. I was watching the building, saw that Jones guy leave, then her parents, realized I was being stupid, and decided to head back up and talk it out. But I was too late. Delivery guys were leaving as I crossed the street, and one of them looked like he had blood on his face. I thought it was weird. Followed them, offered to help, thought if they were real delivery guys they would appreciate it, if not then I’d handle it. I saw a lock of her hair. Ava’s. They had her hidden beneath the blankets they used to cover the furniture. They shot me before I could get my weapon. Now it’s too late. Ava is gone. They’ve had her for more than twelve hours already, she’s probably already dead.”

As much as he hated to think that much less say the words aloud, he had to face facts.

Reality was that Ava had cost these people a lot of money, they’d taken her back with a specific goal and purpose in mind. They weren't going to sit on this, they needed to act immediately to start recouping some of their losses.

“We don’t know that,” Chelsea immediately protested.

They didn't but it was a safe bet. If she wasn't she would be soon, and they had no idea where she’d been taken. She could be anywhere in the world by now.

“Maybe, but we have no leads, and no way of finding her before it’s too late.”

“Actually, we haven’t all been sleeping on the job after failing at is so spectacularly,” Josiah said, his tone still harsh.

“What do you mean?” Nathaniel asked.

“I mean that while we were sitting around waiting for you to wake up, we were also working. Some of us take our job seriously enough not to let our personal issues interfere with it,” Josiah snarked.

Given what Nathaniel knew about the former SEALs past and what had happened to him and the rest of his team, he highly doubted that Josiah Fleet did anything that wasn’t influenced by his past. But he wasn't going to argue about that right now. All he cared about was saving Ava, if that was even still on the table.

“One of the doctors that was IDed from the boat has a brother who works in pathology at the hospital where Ava was almost abducted,” Josiah informed him.

“So we have a link, that’s great, but it doesn’t tell us where Ava is right now.” That was all he cared about. As badly as he wanted the ring dismantled, finding Ava was his priority.

“That link doesn’t, but this one might.” Chelsea opened the laptop sitting on her lap and gently set it on his legs. She fiddled around with it for a moment and then looked at him expectantly.

“It’s a map,” he said, not sure what he was supposed to be seeing.

“It’s a map of clinics that their father used to own,” Teresa explained.

“And you think Ava could have been taken to one of the clinics.” That was all he needed to hear. Now he had to get the hell out of there, go find his girl, and pray she might be willing to give him a second chance.

If she was still alive.