Page 21

CHAPTER 21

March 9 th

4:46 A.M.

There was nothing to do but lie there and think.

About anything and everything.

The past, the present, and the future.

Not that Ava had much of a future left.

Since there was no clock in her room, there was no way to tell how much time had passed. No one had been in to see her, whatever bloodwork or tests they’d needed they’d obviously done while she was still out. No one brought her anything to eat or drink, and since she hadn't eaten anything since dinner the night before she was taken her stomach was empty and cramping painfully.

The least of her concerns though.

It was weird to be lying there simply waiting for death knowing that nothing could be done to stop it from happening. As badly as she wished for some last minute reprieve, she wasn't really expecting one.

Her Prey people would be going all out to find her, digging into everything they could come up with. Every team would be on standby, her family coming together to try to save her, but they weren't going to make it on time. The best she could hope for would be that someone would be able to use her death as a way to get more intel and burn this trafficking ring to the ground.

If her death achieved that then at least she wouldn't die in vain.

And she didn't have to worry about people not knowing that she fought as hard as she could until the end. Her Prey family knew that she’d escaped the first time, and she’d been able to give them whatever intel she could. So even though she wouldn't be escaping this time around, no one would think less of her because she lost the fight. She wouldn't think less of herself either.

Because even though she was going to die, at least she knew she really had done everything in her power to save herself. She had escaped, she had gotten away from Rex in the Mexican jungle even though she hadn't realized he was an ally at the time, and she had gotten away from the man at the hospital.

Dying a fighter was better than dying believing she was a failure.

It also helped to know that Nathaniel would be amongst those looking for her. He might have his issues, and he might have behaved like an arrogant jerk thinking he knew what was best for her better than she knew what was best for herself, but he did care about her.

That she was sure of.

Just like she was sure that if she wasn't going to die, they would have found a way to work through it all even if she was angry with him.

But that chance was never going to come, and she hoped her death didn't become another excuse for Nathaniel to keep himself locked away from the rest of the world. His childhood had understandably hurt him, but she didn't want it to rob him of his ability to live a full and happy life.

How many of her twelve hours were left?

Without contact with anyone it was too hard to tell. It felt like she’d been lying there on her own waiting for days, but really it could have been only a handful of hours.

A window in there would be nice. Not only would it be a way for her to monitor time, but it would be something to look at. The sky was always so beautiful, like a painting that was always changing. Sometimes it was so blue it almost hurt to stare at, then it could be a pretty mix of pinks, reds, and golds. It could be every shade of gray imaginable, or it could be a dark inky blue at night. It could burn with the sun, or it could send raindrops or snowflakes showering down upon you. Every time you looked at it, it was a little bit different, and just one glance at it made you feel alive.

But in there, with nothing but white walls, and gray linoleum floors, Ava already felt half dead. The rest was just a formality, one she could never truly prepare herself for no matter how many hours she lay there with nothing else to do.

Part of her wished it would just hurry up and happen already. It was going to be painful and horrific, but it was inevitable, and she just wanted it done. Being forced to dwell on it was only making it worse.

With a whoosh, the door to her room swung open and three people filed in.

Just like that, Ava knew she didn't really want her death to hurry up and happen. Not when she was actually staring it in the face.

Despite what she told herself, there was still hope left inside her.

Hope that Nathaniel would somehow pull out a miracle and come riding in on his white horse to save her. That Prey would do what she’d seen them do, what she’d helped them do, so many times before.

Only there wasn't going to be a miracle for her.

The nurses and doctor didn't even look at her. They just came over to her bed, took a moment to jot down some notes on her vitals, ensure that straps binding her to the bed were still secure, then they began to roll her bed toward the door.

Ava had been hoping they were going to transfer her to another bed. In her mind she had played out a dozen different scenarios of how she would take advantage of the moments she had to get free. How she’d grab anything she could use as a weapon and tear down anyone who got in her way.

If the day she had escaped was her lucky day, this had to be her unlucky day.

The only sounds were the soft beeps of the monitors, and the whir of the bed’s wheels as she was maneuvered through the door and then down a short corridor. They took her into another room, clearly an operating theatre, and her bed was placed in the center of it. Another two doctors were in there, but not the woman in the black skirt suit.

She’d half expected the head of the trafficking ring to be there to watch as the punishment she had ordered played out. But Ava should have known better. To that woman she wasn't a person, she was simply product that needed to be sold. While she was enforcing the punishment as a deterrent to others, she didn't care one way or the other about Ava.

No one spoke to her until one of the doctors moved to stand beside her IV. “This is just a muscle relaxant that will make it easier for us to work on you without damaging any of the organs. It won’t knock you out, won't alter consciousness, and won't provide any pain relief. You will feel everything until the pain becomes too much and your brain shuts down as a defense mechanism. We’ve been given orders that once that happens, we are to sedate you as we normally would when performing these procedures.”

What he didn't say was perfectly clear.

This was it.

Once the pain overloaded her system and knocked her out, she wouldn't be waking up again. Anesthesia would be administered, and the remaining organs would be removed quickly and efficiently. Then once the final ones were gone, her body would no longer be able to function and she’d be dead.

There was no empathy on the faces of the doctors and nurses as they took their places around her bed. A final check of her bonds was given, and then the doctor nodded to one of the nurses.

Making quick work of it, the woman found a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut away Ava’s hospital gown until she was left lying naked before them. Maybe she would have been more humiliated if her gaze wasn't locked on the scalpel the surgeon held in his hand.

Knowing there was no point in fighting, that this was happening whether she wanted it to or not, and actually stopping her body from tensing and trying to fight against her restraints were wildly different things. The muscle relaxant she’d been given gave her limbs the same heavy feeling they’d had when she first regained consciousness. They were sluggish and uncooperative, her attempts to yank against the leather straps were pointless.

Placing a hand on her stomach, above where the old wound was, the surgeon quickly cut away the stitches that hadn't yet been removed, then pressed the blade against the cut.

Agony tore a scream from her lips as he cut open the older wound and she watched in horror as her blood began to spill.

He wasn't done there though, after cutting deep into her flesh, reopening the cut from her first surgery, he then began to cut into smooth skin, opening the wound further, almost as though he were performing a cesarean operation.

Only she wasn't going to be giving birth to any baby.

She was going to lose herself piece by piece.

When his hand dipped inside the wound, she screamed again and prayed that she would hurry up and pass out so she could just die and get it over and done with.

* * *

March 9 th

4:59 A.M.

“You shouldn’t be here, you know that, right?”

Nathaniel turned to face Rocco, ignoring the way the world tilted slightly. It didn't matter that he felt like he’d been hit in the chest with a tank, didn't matter that pain pulsed through his body constantly, or that his head was permanently spinning.

Nothing in the world was going to stop him from being there.

Ava was there.

Or at least he prayed she was.

Because if she wasn't, they didn't have any other leads.

Four clinics were owned by the brothers, all four were being hit by different teams. He’d elected to tag along with Rocco’s team because he had a good feeling about this clinic. It was no different than any of the others, and he couldn’t pinpoint why it was exactly that he felt drawn to this one, but he did, and so he was there.

He also had a feeling like they were up against a ticking clock.

It was supposition that the trafficking ring would move quickly, but it made sense. They knew Ava had cost them not just the money they would have gotten for selling her organs but all the other people they’d killed on the boat.

Recouping losses was logical, but he felt like it was more than that.

Was it too late? Was she already dead?

No. He wouldn’t allow himself to believe that.

Couldn’t.

“Wait out here, let us go in and get her if she’s in there.” Rocco stepped up and put a steadying hand on Nathaniel’s arm.

“I'm coming,” he gritted out. If his girl was in there, he wanted to be the first thing she saw. Wanted her to know that nothing would ever stop him coming for her. She was his and he was going to glue himself to her side from here on out so nothing and no one could ever hurt her again.

Including himself.

“You're a liability and you know it,” Rocco said as gently as possible.

But he didn't want gentle, didn't want to be coddled. The fact that he’d been shot in the chest was irrelevant as far as he was concerned. The bullet hadn't punctured a lung nor had it hit his heart. He was sore, absolutely, and sure there was some lingering dizziness, but he was standing upright, and his hands weren't shaking as they gripped the weapon slung over his shoulder. He could do this.

Had to do this.

It was his fault Ava had been snatched a second time, and he had to make it right.

“I can do this,” he assured his friend. They were wasting time Ava didn't have by arguing about his capabilities. They were all SEALs, they’d all been injured in the field and carried on to complete the mission. This time, he was even doing that with painkillers in his system and his wounds properly stitched and bandaged.

“Fine.” Rocco sighed like he didn't like this, but at least it seemed as though he’d stopped arguing about it. “But I’m putting Rex on you. Last thing we need is for you to go and pass out in there.”

“Not going to pass out and don’t need a babysitter,” he ground out in irritation.

“Non-negotiable. It’s that or you stay here in the vehicle, even if I have to cuff you to it.”

“Fine,” he growled, throwing in a sigh like Rocco had moments ago. If having Rex stick to him got them moving quicker, then he’d go along with it.

“It’s not a bad idea for me to stick to you, you know that, right?” Rex asked.

“I’m not going to pass out.”

“Not what I was talking about. If I stick to you, then it means I don’t have to risk Ava getting a few good hits in again.” Rex’s dark eyes danced with amusement, and it helped to settle Nathaniel’s nerves.

“My girl’s a wildcat.”

“She sure is. She’s got strength in spades, don’t give up on her yet,” Rex urged.

Giving him a tight nod, that was something harder done than said. It wasn't that he thought Ava wasn't strong enough to survive, she absolutely was, but that didn't mean she would.

“Okay, let’s move in,” Rocco announced, uttering the words Nathaniel had been longing to hear.

Thanking his lucky stars that the clinic was in Mexico since SEALs couldn’t operate on US soil, he gripped his weapon and started moving with the rest of Rocco’s team. Even if the clinic had been Stateside, he would have found a way to be involved, no way he wasn't going to be there for his girl, but this was at least one less battle he’d had to fight. Already he’d had to sign himself out of the hospital against medical advice, and for a while he’d been sure Rocco was going to refuse to let him tag along.

But he was there, and they were finally moving toward the small building hidden deep in the jungle. Originally it had been intended for good, used to bring medical treatment to some of the small villages in the area. But following the death of the brothers’ father the clinic had been closed down.

Or at least it no longer treated villagers.

There was every chance that the clinic had been operational all this time, only now it was used as part of the trafficking ring.

As they worked their way through the trees, they became a little thinner, indicating they were almost upon the clearing. Every step he took, Nathaniel kept waiting for gunshots to pierce the early morning.

They never came.

And soon they were in the clearing. The concrete building before them looked innocuous enough. It wasn't big but it wasn't tiny either, containing probably at least a dozen rooms.

First thing he noticed were the fresh vehicle tracks in the grass surrounding the building. It was clear someone had been there recently even if he couldn’t see any cars parked around it.

Spreading out so they could enter through the front and back at the same time, Nathaniel noticed a garage on one side of the building. That had to be where the vehicles were parked. If people were there, he had to hope that meant Ava was still alive.

If she was dead, they’d already be transporting her organs across the globe.

Wouldn't they?

Clinging to that belief, he followed Rocco as they approached the back door. Rex remained beside him and Phantom was behind them. Bubba, Ace, and Gumby were going to hit the front door.

The door was unlocked, so getting inside was easy enough, and they slipped through it and into a short corridor. From where they were, he could see five doors and a large open space down the other end that had probably at one point been the waiting room.

Moving as one, they entered the first room on their left.

As soon as they stepped inside he knew.

Ava was there.

The blue robe she’d been wearing yesterday morning was folded and sitting on a countertop on the opposite side of the room.

Relief hit him hard. She was there.

Close.

All he had to do was find her.

Then the most horrific, blood-curdling scream of pure terror filled the building.

Nathaniel was moving before he could even think. Shoving past Rex, Phantom, and Rocco, his injury forgotten, driven forward by a single purpose.

Find Ava.

Get to Ava.

Save Ava.

Protect Ava.

It was like all conscious thought had fled his mind and he was unable to think of anything other than his one goal. Training meant nothing to him, and he was out the door and running toward where the scream had come from before Rocco or the others could do anything to stop him.

Throwing open the door to the room beside the one where Ava had been at some point just as another scream pierced the air, he froze as his worst nightmare became a reality.

She was there, bound to a bed, naked, with blood coating her stomach and dribbling down her sides. Around the bed were half a dozen men and women dressed in scrubs, one of whom held a scalpel in his hand.

The blade dripped with Ava’s blood and Nathaniel saw red.

They were hurting his girl, killing her, and she was awake for every second of it. These monsters hadn't sedated her, they were going to make her feel every slice, every cut, make her watch as her organs were pulled from her body one by one.

Whatever hold he had on his rage snapped.

Throwing his weapon to the ground he launched himself at the doctor holding the scalpel, a bullet to the brain was too quick a death, he had to suffer, had to pay for what he’d done to Ava, what he’d been going to do.

Red rage consumed him, and he let it.