Page 11 of Cheating the Devil

“Was he thrown out of the vehicle?” Carter asked as he eyed the missing rear passenger window on the driver’s side of the mini-van, as the tow truck operator made some adjustments to the winch.

“No. He was found in the driver’s seat.”

“Then whose blood is this?” He pointed to several drops and smears of red on the window frame.

“There’s blood on this window too,” Jordyn announced from the other side as she slid open the door to inspect the back seat.

The cop shook his head again, this time in confusion. “I have no idea. The driver was the only occupant. Witnesses who came upon the accident shortly after it happened never mentioned seeing any passengers. The blood must be from when the paramedics were taking him out.”

“How long ago did the accident happen?” Brad asked, his panic rising.

“About a half hour ago.”

Jordyn came back around holding something in her closed hand. She furtively gestured to Brad, Carter, and Cameron to head back to where their vehicles waited for them on the other side of the road. When they were out of the cop’s earshot, Jordyn opened her fist, and Brad’s heart clenched when he saw what she was holding. It was a gold necklace with a charm on it. He knew without looking closer it was a St. Agatha medal—the patron saint of nurses. Avery and her friend, Judi, had gotten matchingones after graduating from nursing school. Avery rarely took hers off.

Swallowing hard, fear coursing through him, he held out his hand, and Jordyn placed the delicate piece of jewelry in it as Carter pulled out his cell phone and hit a speed dial button. When the call connected, he said, “Haven, it’s Carter. I need you to ping Avery’s phone. If there’s no response, activate her tracker.”

Shit. Brad had forgotten all about that. Apparently, all Deimos operatives and support staff had a small implant that’d been inserted under their skin near their shoulder blades in case they went missing. The device would be activated only in emergencies or if someone went rogue. Avery’s was still in place, even though she was no longer an agent.

As Jordyn whipped out her phone and began to make a call, most likely to Gene McDaniel, their boss, Brad’s own phone rang. His hope that it was Avery calling died quickly when he saw the name on the screen. Swiping the screen, he answered the call. “Barton.”

“What’s going on, Colonel?” Frisco asked. Evidently, he was in the same room as his fiancée.

“Avery and Lori took a taxi into town to shop at an outdoor market a few hours ago. When they didn’t come back, and we couldn’t get them on their phones, we headed toward the market to search for them. We came upon an accident involving a taxi. There’s evidence there were more occupants than just the driver, but no one knows who they were or where they went, but it had to be Avery and Lori. Jordyn found Avery’s St. Agatha medal in the back seat.”

“Shit. Do you want me to call the base and get a team down there?”

Brad’s mind was ready to explode. As much as he wanted to call in every Delta operative under his command, he couldn’t.Using military personnel for personal reasons was broadly frowned upon and could get him in a ton of trouble with his superiors—especially since they weren’t on US soil. He also hoped they found Avery and Lori long before the Deltas could get boots on the island. He eyed the two Deimos spies and Cameron. He knew, just like him, they’d move heaven and earth to find the two women, and God help anyone who got in their way.

“No. Hold off on that for now. We have to figure out what we’re dealing with first.”

“Understood, sir. Should I at least call Colonel Sheppard, Captain Bryson, and Captain Nielsen and give them a head’s up?” Frisco’s and Ghost’s teams were the only two currently stateside. The third team under Brad’s command was currently on the other side of the world, being monitored by Sheppard in Texas.

Dragging a hand down his face, the coarse, days-old facial hair rasping against his palm, Brad tried to focus. It was Carter’s spat curse behind him that spurred him into action again. “Yeah, tell them.” Without another word, he disconnected the call, knowing his subordinate wouldn’t be offended, and even if he was, it didn’t matter. All thatdidmatter now was getting Avery and Lori back. He turned to face the spy, hoping whatever bad news he’d gotten was something they could work around.

“Keep trying,” Carter said to Haven. “Call me as soon as you have anything.” He hung up the phone. “It pinged once on the north end of the island before it disappeared. There’s a glitch in the satellite; the techs at HQ are trying to unscramble it. All we have is a general area.”

After disconnecting her call, Jordyn rejoined them. “Gene’s trying to find some nearby help, but it might take them more than a few hours to get here. It depends on how fast he can get ahold of them.” She eyed Carter. “Jase and additional gear are aphone call and ninety minutes away. Two hours with land travel time.”

“I was thinking the same thing. We’ve got time to kill until we get more intel.” The spy pulled out his phone again, dialed, and waited a moment for the call to connect. “A-man, your services are needed. Tell me you’ve got access to a plane and can get to Aruba, locked and loaded, in under two hours; it’s an emergency.” He paused. “Awesome. Get me on the phone when you land, and I’ll give you a rendezvous point.” He didn’t put the phone away, instead, made another call. “Reardon, Avery and ... of course, Haven already called you. Get that artificial intelligence of yours running through the list of residents on Aruba. Start with the passports, and if nothing hits, move onto the airline manifests for the past two weeks, local driver’s licenses, and arrest records, in that order ... I know the population is just over 100,000 people without the damn tourists—just do it. She didn’t have the feeling of being watched until they landed on the island, so my guess is whoever it is was already here. I want to know if any names crossmatch with Avery’s past missions ... Don’t worry; we’ll find them ... Yeah, good.”

“What now?” Cameron asked after Carter ended the call. “Are we calling in the cops or doing this ourselves?”

Brad studied the two spies for a moment before answering. “We’re on our own, for now. If this has something to do with Avery’s past, which is a big possibility, the cops will just fuck it up. Hell, it’ll take too long to convince them there’s something more going on than two tourists who lost track of time.”

“I agree.” Carter nodded as he glanced at the phone in his hand after it chirped with an incoming text. “Haven’s arms contact is agreeing to meet us with some more firepower and gear. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 10

“Avery,wake up. Please, please, wake up.”

Lori’s insistent, anguished whispering filtered into Avery’s scrambled mind, but it was quickly shoved out again by the pain coursing through her body. Everything hurt—and that was an understatement. She’d been injured before—broken bones and a few wounds needing stitches—but with a normally high tolerance for pain, never had the word “agony” been something she could physically relate to. Until now.Shit.

She blinked her eyes and had a moment of panic when everything remained pitch dark. Was she blind? She gently moved her head to the side.Oh, thank God. There was a small sliver of light coming from under a closed door. Unfortunately, it didn’t illuminate much beyond an inch or two into the room. Movement from her left told her where Lori was, and Avery reached out to touch her, finding her thigh and causing the young woman to gasp with relief. Avery squeezed Lori’s leg. “I’m here, whereverhereis. Are you okay?”

“I—I think so, but my shoulder’s dislocated, and I have a cut on my forehead that was bleeding. I think it’s stopped, or at least slowed, but I can’t get my damn shoulder back in. It’s popped out before, and I’ve always had to go to the ER to get it put backin.” Although Avery couldn’t see the younger woman, it sounded like she was gritting her teeth from the pain. “Where are we and why? Who were those men that took us?”

Those were the million-dollar questions. Too bad she didn’t have the answers—yet.

---