“Em’s out cold; Kenny’s chained down.” He relayed, not going into detail.
“Linc and Nate are coming to you Coop, stay there, do not mo —”
“Fuck, Em’s waking up.” He interrupted Creed’s orders. “She’s pissed and taunting this bitch. We need to move fast, man.”
“Dane, stay where you are. Nate, get ready to breach. Once we get inside, Coop, shoot the flash-bang in; we’ll stun and capture. Confirm,” he demanded, knowing full well him and Dane, as well as Nate and Ty, were more eager to get inside than him and Linc. They didn’t have a personal stake in it, whereas the four of them did. Which was why they knew Creed had to be in charge of this mission, or rather, he demanded it.
“Fuck, shit, fuck. Emily is taunting this crazy bitch, and it’s working.” He relayed again, smirking when Dane whispered, “That’s our girl.”
Watching the by-play of what was going on inside was its own form of torture, and knowing they were probably scared to death wasn’t helping his nerves either. The way this woman, whoever the fuck she is, sauntered around the room like she owned it made him sick. Realizing she was the one seemingly responsible for the torture of countless women was something from a nightmare.
“Who’s this bitch?” Linc whispered once he and Ty made it to the window Coop was looking in. As he was about to answer, things started happening in what felt like slow motion. Emily kept goading her, laughing when she kissed the man, and then snarling as she came closer to her restrained form. When the woman turned around to face Kenny again, Emily pulled one of her legs free and kicked her from behind making her land on her own knife.
Seems like sweet justice to me, he mused.
“Go, go, go. Situation critical,” Linc implored once he saw the man stand up after checking on his partner.
As Ty shot out the window, he pulled the pin on the flash-bang canister and tossed it through. Ducking and covering their ears, they waited for the backlash.
Hearing gunfire from inside, he carelessly jumped through the window doing a tuck and roll and coming up on his knees just feet away, with his gun aimed at the last spot he’d seen the man. Only to see him lying flat on his back with three bullet holes in his forehead.
“I thought the mission was neutralize and capture?” Linc asked energetically like he was upset he didn’t get to do battle.
Rushing to Emily, he knelt before her to untie her feet while Dane searched the man for a key to unlock the chains shackling her arms to the wall.
“Baby girl,” he whispered, looking into her frightened, yet relieved eyes. “Are you hurt?”
Shaking her head no, she looked to Kenny as Nate and Ty were trying to untie her, but she was fighting them, stuck in the nightmare in her head. Every time one of them would touch her, even by accident, she would let out the most haunting scream he’d ever heard. His heart was breaking for the pain she must be feeling.
He heard Linc off to the side, calling for an ambulance and police and trying to explain what was happening when Creed walked in the room with a blanket. Watching as he approached slowly, his eyes locked on Kenny, he gently placed the blanket over her, covering her nudity, and then started untying the bindings on her wrists. Fascinated when she would only try to pull away rather than scream.
Getting Emily untied, Coop gathered her body to his, taking all of her weight so her arms could rest until Dane could unlock the chains. Burying his face in her neck, he kissed just below her ear, whispering, “I fucking love you, Emily.” Like a prayer.
“Emily, baby girl —” Listening to Dane’s voice crack when he got her unlocked and hugged her between them, nearly brought Coop to his knees. The emotion lurking behind his words had tears gathering in his own as Emily, silently, cried between them. “You ok, baby? The ambulance is on its way now.” He told her, spinning her around to face him.
Running his hands all over Emily’s body still didn’t bring home the fact that she was in one piece. Dane could still feel the panic running through his veins, the rush of adrenaline from shooting that fucker in the face. He meant to just disarm and cuff the guy, but it didn’t happen that way. He saw the way he was looking at Emily and screaming about what he wanted to do to her, and he saw red... knew he was going to follow through, whether he went to jail or not. The fact that he merely existed would haunt Emily and Kenny for the rest of their lives, and he couldn’t let that happen. He figured Creed and Nate were thinking the same thing because they all shot him at the exact same moment, creating three nea
t holes in a row on his forehead, killing him instantly.
Gazing down when he felt her put her hands on each side of his face, he finally felt his heart rate slow down, and he could breathe again. He no longer had the constrictor wrapped around his lungs. Not knowing what was happening to her was pure hell.
“Baby,” he whispered, kissing her lips gently, just a touch of their lips meeting. “I love you so much.” He murmured in a low voice.
Searching his eyes, she rubbed his cheek with one hand before turning to look at Coop, seeming to search his as well, and placed her other hand around the side of his neck. She pulled them both to her so they were all touching foreheads and whispered, “I love you both, so very much.” Brokenly, she said, “Thank you, thank you for coming in time. Kenny, she couldn’t… I tried… Oh God.” She broke down crying between them.
“Sshh, baby, she’ll get through it. We’ll all help her.” He promised, hoping Kenny wasn’t too broken to come back from the edge she was currently tethered to.
She didn’t think it would happen… that they would actually find them. She should have known better. Known they weren’t going to give up until they found them. Emily had no idea how long the couple had held her and Kenny but knew it had been at least a day. Her biggest regret was that Kenny had to pay the price for her sins.
She knew she’d done nothing wrong and that it wasn’t her fault this couple had targeted her, but it didn’t make the guilt sway or lessen. It would forever be her fault that Kenny’s once happy demeanor, once beautiful smile, would no longer hold the same bright flame she used to.
Sitting in the back of an ambulance with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and paramedics and police trying to question her, she watched as Kenny was treated. How they eventually had to sedate her just so they could assess her wounds. She would flinch and scream anytime anyone other than Linc and Creed would touch her. If it was them, it was just a flinch, no scream. She had been curled into herself looking off into nothing, a blank stare written across her features... Dull… Dead. Her innocence was taken.
Feeling a presence at her side and a hand land on her shoulder startled her into jumping and nearly falling off the step of the ambulance. “Just me, baby girl,” Dane whispered, gathering her in his arms and sitting back down with her in his lap. “Baby, they need to know what happened.” He tried encouraging her to talk when what she really wanted to do was give Kenny her life back. She wished she could crawl into a hole never to be bothered again.
Looking into his deep blue, worried eyes, she shook her head no and laid it against his very hard chest, rubbing her cheek against his pecs, breathing in his manly scent and closing her eyes. Accepting in that moment she was safe, protected. Nothing could touch her.
Listening to Dane’s heartbeat calmed her racing heart. The strength it represented gave her the courage she needed to open her eyes and nod her head for the questions to start again, but not before asking, “Where’s Cooper?”