Page 51 of Fast Vengeance

Ten minutes later they arrived at the base where they had set up headquarters. Everything became far too real as she followed Taggart and Victoria to the main building. She hung back to walk beside Gabe, his solid presence helping to calm her nerves. If Taggart hadn’t been right there, she would have reached for Gabe’s hand to bolster her courage.

He glanced over at her, kept his voice low. “You doing okay?”

It felt good just to be beside him like this. “Yes.” Terrified she would screw something up and dreading the moment when she heard her father’s voice again, but otherwise not too bad. “This is going to work, right?”

“Sure as hell hope so.”

Headquarters was a hive of activity and noise. She faltered at the threshold, momentarily overwhelmed.

Gabe stepped forward and set a hand on her lower back, his touch warm, reassuring. “We’ve got your back,” he reminded her in a murmur, his fingers curling against her spine, the gesture protective, even a little bit possessive.

It calmed and centered her. Helped stem the tide of alarm threatening to overwhelm her.

Taking a deep breath, she walked over to where Taggart stood with Agent Rodriguez and a group of Mexican law enforcement officials. After introductions, she and Rodriguez translated back and forth for both sides as the taskforce laid out the potential plan they had devised during her transport. Everything they said made sense to her.

Taggart turned to her. “You ready to do this?”

She stole a glance at Gabe out of the corner of her eye. He hadn’t said much during the discussion, but he’d been watching and listening carefully. If he had concerns about the plan, he would have said so. So that made her feel a little better.

“Yes,” she said to Taggart.

He nodded once. “Get her a phone,” he said to no one in particular.

One of the Mexican officials brought over a cell phone she assumed was secured with some kind of encryption and ushered her to a private room. Taggart followed, and so did Gabe.

Standing next to the desk when Taggart shut the door behind them, enveloping the four of them in blessed quiet, she shoved aside the anxiety swelling inside her. “What do I say?”

Taggart handed her a piece of paper with a number for the contact on it. “Tell him what we talked about in there. We need proof of life on Hamilton first, or there’s nothing further. Once we get that, we go from there,” he finished, his cryptic words sending a shiver down her spine.

In all honesty, the less she knew about the operational side of things, the easier this would be. She didn’t want to know what they had planned. Better for her to be totally ignorant of that part, so she couldn’t accidentally screw up by giving something away to her father or his men.

Staring at the number in her hand, Oceane drew in a deep breath. She prayed this would work, that Taggart and the team could somehow get a lock on the signal of the phone she was about to call.

Once they got proof of life, hopefully she could figure out a way to help them get the location where Brock was. If she could save him by doing this, then it would all be worth it, even if it meant never getting the answers from her father or the closure she was looking for.

She reached for the phone, heart pounding, palms clammy, aware of Gabe’s eyes on her from his position beside the door. But he couldn’t take this next step for her. She had to find the courage to face this on her own.

“Okay,” she murmured as she began dialing the number. “Let’s do this.”

****

Manny looked up from the latest spreadsheet from his accountant when David walked into the kitchen. His head of security smiled. “She’s here.”

Manny slapped the laptop shut and swiveled to face him, his heart beating faster. “In Mexico?”

He nodded. “Veracruz.”

“You’re certain?”

“Yes. I just got a heads up from Sanchez. She called the number we gave them. She’s with the DEA contingent.”

So fast. Incredible to think she was finally here, back where she belonged. He hadn’t spoken to her personally for security reasons. “And? What did she say?”

“She said she wants proof of life on Hamilton before we go any further with the negotiations. A video. That was it.”

Negotiations. He snorted in irritation. It infuriated and insulted him that he should have to negotiate to get his own daughter back. Was this Oceane’s demand, or the DEA’s? He would make them pay for turning her into their puppet.

It also angered him that she would make such a demand of him, dictate that he had to prove the enemy was still alive, even if he had been expecting something like this. But he’d been praying for this chance for so long, and his daughter had a soft heart. He could use that to his advantage.

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