Page 61 of Winters Heat

“Why did Silva have her call?” Jared asked.

“He wants to deal with Winters and thought he was still stateside.”

Winters paced the length of the airborne war room. He paused, then drummed his fingers on the corner of the table.

“So we’ve got the element of surprise,” Jared said. “Given that it’s five men to their army, we’ll need that. Anything else?”

“What? A location confirmation and proof of life isn’t enough?” Parker asked.

Proof of life.Winters never should have left her alone. This was his mistake. That realization struck him numb, and he raked a hand over his jaw.

“What’s our timeline for Winters to make contact?” Jared asked.

“I think our boy should give him a ring.” Parker paused. “Offer up the NOC list in exchange for her. I think Silva wanted it to sink in before they chatted.”

“Sink in?” Winters asked.

“I got the vibe Silva wanted Winters to sweat it. He’s not pulling the standard operating procedure for a ransom request.”

“What a prick. All right. Patch us through to wherever Mia called from.” Jared pointed at Winters with a ready sign.

He nodded back.

“Roger that,” Parker said.

A ringing sound echoed in the belly of the plane. Each long pause in between ate at his sanity. On the fifth ring, a woman answered.

“Colby Winters for Juan Carlos Silva. He’s expecting my call.”

“Si.” The phone went silent. He raised his brows, silently asking if they still had a connection.

Invisible boulders weighted his shoulders and his mind. He needed to stretch. He wanted to fight. But more than that, he braced for every appalling outcome.

“Ah, Mr. Winters.” A voice, iceberg cold, filled the galley through the overhead speakers. “I trust you found time to consider the gravity of your situation. You must be interested in your lovely friend’s safe return.”

“Safe is preferred.” Games worked both ways. He’d play.

“So you do realize she can come home in several different ways. A plane. A box. One piece or two.”

“What’s it going to take, Silva?” His fingers flexed with the urge to reach through the phone and rip the fucker's throat out.

“Of course you know. I want that list. You hand it to me, I hand you your girl. And she isyourgirl, isn’t she? I have an eye for these things. It makes me superior at my job.”

Ripping his throat out would be too easy. Too fast. Disembowelment first. Skinning him alive second.

“She is exquisite,” Silva said. “Even with the bruises.”

Winters’s teeth gnashed. If he hadn’t willed them apart, they would have shattered.

“She’s not yours to touch. Unmarred and unhandled, or no list.” He hid his rage, storing it for Juan Carlos Silva. No warning of his caged fury slipped through his measured cadence.

“Her injuries were accidental. Nothing more will harm her if we can make a deal. If not, I promised her to one of my best, albeit most fiendish, men. I am sure things would not end well for her in that predicament.”

Anger thumped in his chest. Each guilt-drenched breath ached. Juan Carlos baited him. Winters knew it.

“The list is yours. But hear me like your world depends on it, Silva. Because it does. If Mia so much as sneezes in your care, I’ll make you pray for death.”

“Mr. Winters, no need for threats. My offer is true. If you make the exchange, she will be returned. Unharmed. If I do not receive the list, then…she will be harmed.Comprehende?”

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