Stone's Surrender: A SEALs of Honor World Novel (Heroes for Hire Book 2), Page 2

  Even if just a scrap, she badly needed that piece of hope.

  Behind her, Susan whispered, “Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”

  And Susan was desperately in need of that ray of hope Lissa had found for herself. With as much conviction as she could, Lissa whispered, “Yes. We will. Rest. Build up your strength. We’ll have to draw on it.”

  And she turned to let the sun shine on her face again. If she stood at the right angle, she could see a distant hilltop. The faraway details were blurry.

  Something had changed though. She frowned as she studied the horizon. She had had nothing else to look at in the last few days, so she’d memorized the shape of the landscape in her head. Now an extra shadow fell to the left. And then she caught sight of a flash on the hillside. Was that the rebel leader’s men up there? Or was someone, even now, searching for them? Maybe there was one advantage to being a senator’s daughter.

  Just as she decided she should sit down and catch a nap, footsteps raced toward them. She didn’t have time to decide if she should hide behind the door and attack, or just fall to the ground and pretend to have passed out from lack of water and food. Suddenly two people were already inside the room.

  And screaming at them.

  Chapter 2

  The three hostages were grabbed and shoved from the room and down several steps. They were pushed into another room, and the door slammed shut. Not a word was spoken to them; nothing was asked of them.

  This room was larger with a door down at the far end; Lissa walked over and opened it. She grinned. She turned to the other two. “It’s a bathroom.”

  Also a hell of a relief because water came from the sink faucet. She walked back into the center of the room to find Kevin standing at the table, then the two women rapidly left.

  “They brought us water and food,” he said by way of explanation. “Not much of it but enough to keep us alive.”

  They wanted Susan to eat first as she was in the weakest condition. But Susan wasn’t having any of that. She made sure everybody got equal amounts of both, the water and a rice dish of some kind with a little bit of meat and vegetables.

  In truth only enough food for one of them. But, like Kevin said, it would keep them alive, which was all that was required at this point. After they ate, Lissa explored the space. It appeared to be identical to what they had had upstairs, but larger.

  Still no furniture besides the table, nor blankets or anything to sit on. Just one window, which was slightly bigger than the last.

  She took a closer look. They appeared to be on the second floor but still facing the same side of the building. And this time bars were on the windows. Right. No escape that way. But she couldn’t help but reach out and give the bars a good shake, just to make sure.

  They were solid. And the walls were stone and adobe, traditional native building materials. It would take a grenade or earthquake to make these walls come tumbling down. And considering several floors were above them that would be the worst scenario since they would be flattened inside.

  Disgruntled at that concept, she turned to study the rest of the space, but there was nothing more to see. Susan had gone to lie down on the left side of the room, and Kevin held her in his arms. Lissa turned toward the table, but it wouldn’t provide much in the way of weaponry either. Simple but old, rickety.

  If she were to hit anybody with a piece of it, that would only piss them off, and she’d be in worse shape than ever.

  She walked to the door—a big old plank—and studied the hinges. She was surprised this room, like the other, had a door, as mostly just cloth was draped over the openings here. But then this was some kind of a boss’s house, and he seemed to expect prisoners here. She reached out and grasped the handle of the door they had been shoved through and pulled it.

  Surprise, surprise … The door swung open. Had the serving women not locked it on the way out? Or did the doors not lock?

  Instantly two men appeared before her, weapons raised and pointed at her. She held up her hands in apology and pointed to the empty plates on the table. She walked over, grabbed the dishes, held them out, and said, “Please, may we have some more food?”

  The two men looked at her with disgust, grabbed them, and left, closing the door tightly behind them. And she somehow knew, even if one had walked away, the other would still be standing guard.

  So locks were hardly needed.

  Well, she had tried. Just as she decided to lie down also, the door opened again. This time a young girl walked in, carrying a tray with more food. With a smile of thanks, Lissa stepped over to the table and studied the fresh rice and vegetables. More than they had the first time around. Good. Maybe they wouldn’t starve yet.

  She turned toward Kevin and Susan to see if they wanted any more to eat. Kevin held up his finger to his lips for Lissa to be quiet. She realized Susan had fallen asleep. Also good.

  Lissa took a plate with one-third of the food to Kevin. Then she took another for herself. When Susan woke up, some would be there for her to eat. Lissa sat down against the wall across from them and proceeded to fill her tummy. Surprisingly good. But, then again, starvation made anything taste good.

  When she finished, she placed her plate on the table and returned to her spot on the floor. It would get cold when night came. But she didn’t think blankets would be offered. She’d been cold before, and it was preferable than being hungry.

  Feeling a whole lot better, she curled up like Susan and slept.

  *

  Stone studied the layout of the compound below him. He was surprised when they found places like this—a complete oasis compared to the rest of the village on the other side.

  Some wealthy man had decided to build himself quite the place here. Large enough to hold an entire village comfortably—nobody would even have to share space, from what Stone could see. Also several good-size trucks drove around, moving inventory from one side of the compound to the other. Stone presumed weapons, considering they needed trucks to move them.

  With his scope, Stone estimated the distance to the outside wall to be four hundred yards. Another ten to the inside wall of the actual building. He slowly assessed any weaknesses. His gaze landed on the second-story window, worried about the young woman he’d seen before. She’d been there for a brief moment and then was gone. Now he wondered who she was. But, as she’d been the only blonde he’d seen since they had arrived in this damn country, it was a safe bet that was Lissa Brampton. Intel had said she was here. He was inclined to believe it now.

  He had been on enough missions where the data had been wrong so he never trusted it until he could confirm same with his own eyes. What he didn’t like was the wind picking up. That made for shitty shots. Not impossible but it just added to the complexity.

  A lot of people were in the compound. His team needed to make a diversion, then sneak in for the hostages, and get the hell out of here. The diversion was Levi’s job on the far side. All seven members of the team were here, but with only four on the ground, that didn’t allow for a lot of cover. Ice was controlling something inside the vehicle that gave them a hell of an advantage though—one of Bullard’s new drones.

  Those things were something else. The military used them to pick off known terrorist members one at a time all over the world. They were deadly accurate. Stone crept toward the truck where Ice stood. She had two drones set up. It helped that she was the helicopter pilot from hell or maybe she just happened to have a natural aptitude to take to these drones like a boss man. None of the others had the same fine-tuned control she did with them.

  “Are you ready?”

  She nodded. “Bullard sent instructions on how to muffle the noise ever-so-slightly.” She reached down and adjusted something in the rear of the small machine. “Just finished tinkering with it.” She glanced at Stone. “Anything from Levi?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet.”

  And all that changed two minutes later.

  Ice sent both
drones in the sky, directing them around back where Levi was setting up charges on the far side of the wall, hoping the blast would lure everybody over, giving Rhodes and Merk a chance to make their move while Stone and Harrison covered their backs.

  Ice tensed beside Stone, watching the screens and controlling two drones at once. She carefully picked off the men on the outside, away from the action.

  Stone looked at her with respect. “Two already?” he asked.

  She didn’t take her eyes off the screens. “Yes.”

  Then Levi’s charges blew. The compound erupted.

  The drones were a matte black and, like a bat in the night, were very hard to see until they moved. Plus they hovered at a very unique speed, making them difficult to pinpoint in the night sky.

  “Five,” she said in a cool tone.

  Stone grinned. Maybe he didn’t need a sniper rifle after all. He was ready and lined up, but saw no targets. Then he stiffened.

  Rhodes and Merk appeared suddenly. With all the gunfire and explosions on the far side, the two of them had scrambled to the side. How did they know where the girl was? But they headed for the blonde he’d seen earlier. Very quickly they had lines thrown up and caught in the bars, and they scaled the wall. Damn, they were good. Something he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to do with his leg now. Well, maybe he could, just not as fast.

  He peered through his scope. Harrison scouted the bottom area. Suddenly the bars in the window blew apart, and both men went inside. In Stone’s mind, he urged, Go, go, go.

  The two men disappeared into the room beyond them, then they came out with the blonde and a second woman.

  Shit, they weren’t expecting a second hostage. When Rhodes and Merk repeated the climb and exited with a man between them, Stone knew things would be a whole lot more difficult than he had originally thought. It was one thing for them to pick up and carry a single woman, but it was another for two men to handle three people.

  Just as Rhodes and Merk lowered the rescued guy to the ground, an unfriendly came around the corner. His head exploded even as Stone readied his shot. Damn it. Harrison got him.

  There. Stone pulled the trigger, and the second man went down. After that, pick and shoot, pick and shoot.

  He kept track of Merk and Rhodes and the hostages’ progress but just barely. He could hear Ice swearing behind him and knew she was still at work. A funny poof in the sky went off to the left. He watched as one of the drones blew up. Behind him, Ice said, “Shit.”

  Hell, he didn’t know what she expected. That damn thing had taken out twice as many people as he had, and he was damn good.

  His earpiece crackled. “Retreat.”

  Easy for Levi to say. They now had a total of ten people to extract from this nightmare. Leaving Harrison to give the others cover, Stone and Ice bailed into the same truck. He started the engine to soon be able to gather the hostages. In the darkness he crept down the hill, doing his damnedest to avoid the rocks and trees he’d scoped out earlier.

  Almost to the bottom, Merk moved to meet the double-cab truck. Stone picked up a sniper rifle and took several cover shots as the hostages were loaded inside the rear cab. They were parked at a shitty angle, and they still had Levi to find and Harrison to collect. Logan would drive the lead truck, pick up Merk and Rhodes, and then meet up with them soon.

  “Drive, Stone,” Ice snapped. “I’ll take them down.”

  He transferred the rifle to her. She sat on the open window, firing over the hood of the truck. He drove the vehicle backward and around onto the road and then hightailed it out of there.

  Yelling, he asked, “Where’s Harrison?”

  “He’s coming, twenty yards in front of us.” She looked around and added, “But where the hell is Levi?”

  Stone had no idea.

  That happened when people made plans.

  They went to shit. Always.

  He hit the gas and drove as fast as he could to pick up Harrison. Stone knew Levi. He’d be here when they least expected him.

  Harrison jumped on the running board behind Ice as Stone gunned it. He could feel the tension from everybody in the vehicle. Nobody in the back said a word. Ice never did, but he knew damn well what was on her mind. Levi had to be here somewhere.

  They wrapped around the mountain they’d been climbing and headed toward the village. They no longer had a safe place for them. In fact, from the looks of the dust curling up the hillside behind them, they were about to have unwelcome visitors.

  Ice opened up the laptop for the minefield software. “I’ll navigate. You drive.”

  His earpiece crackled. “Stone, keep coming. I’m ten yards to the right. Stop and I’ll jump on.”

  Stone had barely hit the brakes when he felt Levi leap into the pickup bed.

  Harrison joined him there, yelling at Stone, “Unfriendlies on our ass. Move!”

  Stone hit the gas, hating the thought of finding his way at top speeds in the dark.

  “Don’t worry about it. I got this.” Ice barked orders that barely had time to register as she sent them right, then left and right, and left again and now straight forward.

  By the time they finally made it to the other side, Stone’s adrenaline was running at top speed. A pickup point was ahead, and a vehicle change needed to happen damn fast. Stone hadn’t been able to shake the rebels on their ass. In fact, it looked like they’d been following his tail all the way out.

  “We’ve got another minefield ahead,” Ice said. “If we do this correctly, we can take them out at the same time. Take a left now.”

  Instantly he jerked the truck, hearing a soft gasp from behind him. He ignored it.

  “And a right … now.” Again he jerked the wheel and a land mine went off just behind him.

  He glanced at Ice. “That was too close.”

  She shrugged and grinned at him in the dark. “It was necessary.”

  He raised his eyebrows but kept on driving until he heard a huge boom. Glancing in his rearview mirror, he watched as the truck following them hit a mine full-on. The vehicle was blasted into the air and tumbled before blowing up.

  Beside him, Ice closed the laptop and said, “Good job.”

  Stone laughed. “You mean, damn good job.”

  “Are you people nuts?”

  The soft female voice from behind him was the first of the hostages to talk. Stone really hadn’t been aware of their presence. What must they have thought of this last hour of panic? He shook his head. Maybe he was crazy, but they’d been smart enough to listen to him and stay quiet. He could appreciate that.

  He twisted and gave a quick glance behind him. “You guys okay?” He returned his gaze to the road and asked a second question. “Anybody need medical help?”

  “No. Kevin and Susan are doctors themselves,” the blonde said. “They’re just tired. I’m fine too.”

  Ice turned to study her. “Melissa Brampton?”

  The young woman nodded. “Yes, I’m Lissa.”

  “Good. Your father’s waiting at home for you.”

  “He actually paid the ransom?”

  The shock in her voice made Stone send another quick glance her way in the rearview mirror. She did appear to be in a daze. Whether in shock from the recent events or at the thought that her father might care enough to pay, he wasn’t sure.

  He decided he’d take one of those doubts out of the question. “Yes, he was quite prepared to pay the ransom. However, the decision was made to come in and rescue you because paying did not guarantee your life.”

  She nodded silently. “That’s what I figured. Never thought he would pay though.”

  Her words had a slight tone of bitterness that made him and Ice exchange a look.

  Then the blonde added, “He was never one to back a losing horse.”

  Stone didn’t know what the hell that meant, but obviously there was some strain in the relationship between father and daughter. Although events like this tended to make even the worst relationships a whol
e lot better. He wasn’t so sure that was the case this time though.

  In the rearview mirror he took a long look at her for the first time and was surprised by what he saw. For a woman who had defied her father to come to do good works in a country on the far side of the Earth, a war-torn country at that, he’d expected somebody strong, robust even. Instead she sat tall and lean. Maybe there was a strength to her, but he saw only fragility instead.

  What was likely very fair blonde hair under all that grime had been tied in a braid. Her face was covered in dirt, her clothes torn, and she looked like she had just survived a heart-wrenching ordeal. Which, in fact, she had. Yet he could see the strength in her face and her gaze, but physically she was the exact opposite of what he had pictured.

  He also wasn’t expecting the sucker punch to his gut. Then again he wasn’t into showpieces. He liked women with grit, and she appeared to have it, in spades.

  Ice’s hand whacked him across his arm, making him realize his mind had wandered again. He turned his gaze forward and kept his focus on the road. The last thing he needed was to be sidelined by a woman, full of grit or not.

  “Well, he did,” Ice snapped in response to Lissa’s last two comments. “Although there’s no way in hell our team would be looked upon as a losing horse.”

  Chapter 3

  Lissa didn’t know the woman in the front seat of the vehicle. But she was obviously in charge and capable. A part of Lissa felt like she should rebel against that authority; another part told her to just shut up, sit back, and relax. She didn’t have to be in control all the time. And she needed to learn to let go more. It seemed like she’d been on the warpath her whole life, ever since she had been old enough to understand that she didn’t want to do or follow every dictate sent her way.

  Besides, these people had come to rescue her. And had done an admirable job of it so far. She understood they were likely very highly paid for the job, but still she appreciated them. Their lives were in just as much danger as her own at this point.