Page 5 of Rescuing Tobias

Shoving aside the tiny glimmer of misgivings he had, Tobias grabbed the woman’s bicep and began to walk her back toward the house. Given her much smaller legs, she had to practically run to keep up with him, but he didn't bother slowing himself down to accommodate her. If she had to suffer a little it was only a drop in the ocean compared to what she had helped inflict on others.

By the time they reached the old school, the woman was panting, and he could see beads of sweat dotted on her face. The building was now lit up like a Christmas tree, and when he got inside, he could see that the SEAL team had assembled around two dozen doctors, nurses, and guards in the open foyer area. They were all cuffed and on their knees on the floor, lined up against one wall, including the other guard who had been in the room with the woman when they entered.

On the floor, right where he’d fallen, was the guard the nurse had been kissing.

As Tobias walked her over to line up with the others, he saw that her gaze was fixed on the dead body.

“Your boyfriend is dead, just like you're going to be if you try anything else like that again,” he warned, unable to help his lip curling up into a sneer at the thought of the guard and nurse making out and living normal lives while people were dying under their care.

Wide blue eyes looked up at him, shimmering with unshed tears, and he was about to make another snide remark when the woman dipped her head in what appeared to be a small nod.

Of acknowledgment of his threat or something else?

Because it almost looked like a nod of appreciation.

Then she spoke the last words he would have expected given how she went running out of there the moment she realized it was over.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

There was sincerity in her voice, and again Tobias was struck by a sense that something wasn't right.

Still, since he couldn’t figure out what might be off, he merely ignored the woman and led her over to the end of the line, shoving her down to her knees to join the others and await her fate. With all the charges that would be leveled at them, these men and women would be spending the remainder of their lives as prisoners. Justice for their participation in the abduction, imprisonment, and death of all the ring’s victims.

“That the last of them?” he asked Rocco with a nod at the nurse he’d just added to the line-up, as the man strode over.

“Patients are all in the rooms on this floor, we found the nurses and most of the doctors upstairs, the guards in the back rooms.”

The expression on Rocco’s face echoed the same thing that Tobias was feeling. Something felt off, he just didn't know what.

“Already contacted Prey to have them send in the hospital transport they organized for the victims. And another team willbe here to help us take the rest of them into custody,” Rocco continued.

“What did you say?” the nurse who’d run asked as her gaze snapped up to meet theirs. She started struggling to get up to her feet, and Tobias quickly shifted his weapon so it was aimed at her.

“It’s over, sweetheart.” He sneered. “You're all going to be taken into custody.”

Shaking her head, making her curls bounce about, the woman continued to try to get to her feet. “No, not that part, the Prey part. Are you … are you from Prey?” There was a tentative hope in her tone that had him lowering the weapon slightly.

“None of your business. You just need to sit there and wait for fate to catch up to you,” he ordered.

Ignoring him, she managed to get mostly to her feet before losing her balance. Automatically, Tobias reached out to grab her before she fell. A smile lit the woman’s face, and she gave a shaky laugh.

“I’m Isabella Baker, and my best friend Becca’s ex Connor Charleston works for Prey. I was abducted in Cambodia after he came looking for her, and now I'm finally saved.”

March 13th

10:18 P.M.

Saved.

She’d been saved.

It was over.

Finally over.

The relief Isabella felt stole whatever energy she had left, and she sagged in the man’s grip. Just seconds ago, she’d been terrified of him, convinced he was another human trafficker here to take her and the rest of the imprisoned nurses and doctors to some other hellhole. But now he was her savior and she sank gratefully into his hold.

He’d killed her worst abuser, and she’d thanked him for that, but now she had so much more to be grateful to him for.

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