Page 47 of Savage Hearts

“I don’t care.” He shrugged his shoulders as he pulled open the car door. “I’ll walk through fire to bring her back, and I’ll stand beside her as she heals.”

“And if she still walks away from you?”

“At least I’ll know I did everything I could to make her feel whole. If that’s not with me, then I’ll love her from a distance.”

“Let’s bring her home then.” I clapped him on the shoulder.

We piled into the car and were silent as we navigated through the streets of Bogotá. The last time I was in Columbia was when I was a Marine. Being here now brought up a lot of unresolved anger, but I couldn’t let that interfere with my purpose. Celestina was counting on me to come home.

Once we turned down the gravel road that would take us to the location of the auction, Cristian stopped the car.

“Alright, Beckett, this is your stop. Follow that path through the trees until you find Marco. He’ll be waiting for you.”

I climbed out and retrieved the weapon from the trunk. Shouldering the long-range rifle, I hiked down the path. As soon as the trees thinned out, a massive Hispanic man stepped out of the foliage.

“Beckett.” He stepped closer, holding out his hand. “Come. I will show you where to set yourself up. We have twelve men staged around the compound. We’ve counted twenty armed men on the property. About an hour ago, a bus filled with women arrived. They were ushered off and inside.”

“Did you see Carmela?” I knew Matias had provided the men with her photo.

“No, but that means nothing. We couldn’t get close enough to get a good look. But there were fourteen who were dragged through the back door.”

“Fourteen? There were supposed to be fifteen.” My gut was telling me something was wrong. Where was the last girl? And I hoped like hell it wasn’t Carmela who was unaccounted for.

As we were moving into position, another SUV pulled up the metal building. Dropping to my belly, I pulled out the weapon and lined it up so I could look through the scope. I watched as a portly man got out, tugging what looked like a chain leash behind him. My gut coiled with disgust when I saw a woman fall to the dirt and scramble to catch up. Her unnatural blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she was only wearing a thong. I couldn’t get a good look at her face, but I didn’t need to. It was obvious she’d been beaten. The black and blue marks along her back were evidence enough.

“Well… I guess that explains where the fifteenth girl was. Looks like the man in charge kept her for himself,” Marco growled beside me. “I hope his fat belly is fileted tonight. Men like him disgust me.” He spit on the ground beside me. “Okay… I’m going to let the men know you’re in position.”

Getting comfortable beneath the limbs and leaves that gave me shelter, I took several long breaths, steadying my pulse, which was thumping like wild racehorses. Sweat dripped down my brow as I waited for the sign it was time. We each had a role. I prayed for Manuel to meet his maker tonight—if not by my hands, then by one of the others. I didn’t care how he found his death… as long as he found it.

twenty-one

BECKETT

It feltas if I’d been in the same spot for hours, holding my position, when all hell broke loose. Weapons being discharged sounded from within the warehouse, followed by people screaming and running out the entrance I had my eyes on. Scrambling up from my hidden view, I slid down the sloped ground, my gun slung haphazardly across my shoulder. Marco met me at the bottom, his face covered in dirt and sweat—likely mirroring my own.

“What the fuck is happening?” I growled out my question, my eyes darting around at the men scrambling to make their exit.

“I don’t know.” He pressed his finger to his ear. “But comms are down. We need to get inside.”

Nodding my head in agreement, I shoved through several people and stepped through the open doorway. My eyes immediately found Lorenzo, whose eyes were filled with rage. When I tracked his line of sight, my gut coiled with a rage I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Gael was holding a man by his throat, his gun poised against his temple. I couldn’t hear him over the noise inside, but it was obvious it wasn’t a pleasant conversation. Marco glanced at me, his eyes flicking toward the stage where a man was crouched over a woman. Jumping into action, I pointed my gun forward and shoved through the throes of people, heading straight for the riser.

I’d nearly made it to the edge when a scream tore through the room, causing me to falter in my steps. My eyes shot toward the sound to find Sofia locked in a choke hold by a portly man in a suit. He was attempting to drag her out the side door while Gael struggled with another man. As soon as I took two steps toward them, the man Gael held against the wall dropped into a bloody heap. His eyes were wild as he turned to find Sofia struggling to breathe.

“Beckett.” Alex’s warning wasn’t fast enough, and I was knocked off my feet. The motherfucker tackled me from behind, sending us both to the ground. He grappled with me, desperate to take my weapon, but I wasn’t about to let him. Shoving my elbow back, I connected with the soft flesh of his neck. The fucker grunted, loosening his hold on me, and I rolled to the left, bringing the gun up and pulling the trigger at the same time. Bullets tore through his body, jolting him with each impact. Blood splattered out, coating both of us in a layer of crimson. Using my feet, I pushed him off and scrambled to stand.

Gael had Sofia in his arms, headed toward the exit. Marco was dropping people with his weapon, leaving a trail of dead as he moved through the room. Turning back toward the stage, I swore out loud. “Fuck.” The man, who I was pretty sure was Alex, was gone, and so was the woman he’d been kneeling beside.

“We need to clear the building. I’m pretty sure there are still some women inside and one of them might be Carmela.”

Following Marco and Lorenzo, we navigated our way through the metal warehouse. Several men were lying in their own pool of blood, but those who didn’t suffer from the flying bullets had escaped. We paused outside the door, glancing at one another with the same thought in mind—this was fucked up.

“You ready? There could be guards inside here.”

Lifting the gun, I aimed it forward. “They’re going to wind up with lead poisoning if they are. Open it. We need to get the fuck out of here and find out where Alex went.”

As soon as Marco pushed open the door, my stomach bottomed out. I’d seen some pretty fucked up shit—even during my time in the Marines. But this was far worse.

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