Page 43 of Fast Vengeance

The drive back to base was tense and silent. As soon as they arrived they went into the command center. By this point more than two hours had passed since Hamilton had been taken.

He could well be dead by now. Although Gabe’s gut said they wouldn’t kill him, at least not yet. It didn’t make sense for the kidnappers to go to the trouble and risk of taking him if all they wanted to do was kill him. They could have done that back in the parking lot.

Rodriguez was over to one side of the room having an intense conversation with two officials. The moment he saw them, he waved Taggart over, his expression urgent. Taggart rushed to him as Gabe and the others hung back and held their breaths.

Gabe watched them closely as they talked, tried to figure out what was going on.

Don’t be dead. Don’t be dead, he prayed silently, thinking of Cap.

They’d been through countless ops together and multiple deployments to one of the most hostile regions on the planet. To lose Cap like this would be a devastating blow to them all.

After what seemed like an eternity, Taggart came back over to them, his eyes cold, jaw tight. “It was someone working for Nieto.”

Gabe hissed out a breath. Knew it. Son of a bitch. And the bastard would do something this fucked-up to try and get Oceane back. “Someone ID’d him?”

“No. A message came in from one of Nieto’s lackeys. Nieto’s holding Hamilton in exchange for his daughter. The lackey left a contact number of a go-between for any further communication.”

“Fucking hell,” Gabe muttered, and spun away. He had to walk it off. Couldn’t stand still one more second with this helpless rage tearing through him. Behind him, the rest of his teammates peppered Taggart with questions but Gabe only half-listened.

“No idea on a location for Hamilton yet,” Taggart said. “No timeline either. The message was sent by text from a burner phone ten minutes ago. They’re trying to find out where the signal originated from but it cut off almost immediately.”

“So basically we still have no freaking idea where Cap is,” Granger said.

“No,” Taggart muttered. Then he sighed. “All right. You guys go back to the barracks for now. I’ll monitor this with Rodriguez and come update you if anything happens. Be ready to move. The second I find a possible location on Cap, we’re going, and I don’t care how much Mexican red tape I have to slash to make it happen.”

Damn right.

With no other option open to them, the team returned to barracks and went over their gear again. Everyone was quiet and pissed off. Scared as hell about what was happening to Cap right now. Because sure as shit, wherever they were holding him, Cap wasn’t going to be treated like Nieto’s guest.

Another eighty minutes passed before Taggart walked in with Rodriguez. Gabe set aside his sidearm and turned on his bunk to face them. “Anything?”

“Nope.” Taggart sat on Cap’s bunk, glanced down at the Captain America Nerf gun sitting on top of the unrolled sleeping bag. “The good news is, he’s probably alive. The bad news is…”

He wouldn’t be for long. Taggart didn’t have to say it, it was clear.

Maka heaved out a heavy breath and scrubbed his hands over his head, his agitation mirroring the mood of the entire team. “So that’s it? Nothing more we can do?”

“I’ve got half of headquarters back home working on it, in addition to every asset we have down here,” Taggart replied in a tired voice. “But for now…no.”

“There’s gotta be something,” Granger protested. “Something those guys aren’t doing that we can,” he said, pointing toward the command building.

Taggart nodded slowly. “Yeah, there is.”

Everyone went still, the room becoming eerily silent as they stared at their commander. Gabe’s pulse picked up, something warning him that whatever Taggart was about to say, Gabe wouldn’t like it.

“There’s one sure way to guarantee we can draw Nieto out of hiding,” Taggart said, his cool aqua gaze landing on Gabe.

Gabe’s heart stopped beating. Oceane. Taggart didn’t say it, but that’s what he meant. That they could basically dangle her as bait in front of Nieto to try and get Hamilton back. A human bartering chip.

“No,” he rasped out, shaking his head, hating even the thought of it. He wanted Cap back as bad as anyone, but not at her expense. She’d been through way to fucking much already.

“At this point it might be our only option to get him back alive.” Taggart stood and skirted the end of Cap’s bunk, heading for the door. “I’ll update you all when I hear something.”

As soon as he left, everyone looked at Gabe. “You think she’d do it? Come down here and do a staged exchange for Cap or whatever?” Freeman asked.

Gabe clenched his jaw, fighting to keep his emotions in check. It was crazy and he fucking loathed the mere idea of her coming down here and exposing herself to further danger in the middle of cartel country. But would she do it if they asked her?

“Yeah. Yeah, she would.” Because she wanted to put her father away. Get justice for her and her mother. For Victoria. And she would want to save Hamilton as well.

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