Protecting Caroline (SEAL of Protection Book 1) (15 page)

Caroline shook
her head again, “No, take Matthew and go, I’m right behind you. I don’t need
help. Just get him out of here and safe.”

Mozart was
frustrated, but she was right. He had to get Wolf out of there. He leaned down
and put his teammate over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry.

“Okay, I’ve got
him; get your ass out of there.
Now
!” Mozart bellowed at Ice.

Caroline ignored
the ire in Sam’s voice. She knew he was stressed and wasn’t really yelling at
her. She turned around to look around the room to see what she could use to
help her get out of the window and not get burned. The T-shirt she’d laid there
to protect Matthew had slid out with his body.

She grabbed a
pillow off the bed. She laid it over the hot window sill and watched as it too immediately
started to smoke. It was now or never. She didn’t have any time to spare. She
stuck one leg, then the other out the window and sat on the pillow on the sill.
She took one more look behind her and saw the bedroom wall collapsing. She let
out a small shriek and jumped. It wasn’t too far to the ground but she fell
sideways when she landed anyway. She immediately got up and headed after Sam.

Mozart took the
time to turn and look at Ice as they ran away from the burning cabin. She was
next to him. She had cuts on her arms and legs from the glass from the window,
her face was covered in soot, she was coughing like a forty year old smoker, but
she was mobile and running. It had to be good enough for now.

“Why didn’t you
get out of there, Ice?” Mozart asked, not even out of breath. He was obviously
in good shape and this was just another little run for him.

“SEALs don’t
leave SEALs,” Caroline panted and said between coughs. “I couldn’t leave him. I
just couldn’t.”

Just as they
were reaching the nearby tree line, a man stepped out from behind a tree, holding
a pistol pointed right at them.

“Stop right
there,” he said menacingly.  

Mozart knew he
could take him. No problem. As he was leaning over to set Wolf on the ground he
saw more men come out of the trees, all with rifles or pistols pointed at them.
Shit. He was good, but he wasn’t
that
good. Where was the team?

“I bet you’re wondering
where your team is, aren’t you?” The man sneered, seemingly reading his mind. “They
aren’t coming. They’ve been ‘indisposed,’” he threw his head back and laughed
in the most evil laugh Caroline had ever heard.

“You’ve been a
pain in my butt for a while now bitch, but now it’s my turn to be one step
ahead. You SEALs think you’re indestructible, but you aren’t.”

Before any of
them could do anything, the man raised his pistol and shot at Mozart. Mozart
felt the bullet graze his head and he fell sharply to the ground. Hell, that
hurt. He heard Ice screaming. God, Ice. He felt Wolf’s bodyweight heavy on his
back. He tried not to pass out. He needed to stay awake and get Caroline out of
there. He needed to protect her and make sure Wolf was all right.

Caroline
screamed as she watched Sam fall to the ground still holding Matthew. Two men
came out from the trees toward her and grabbed her before she could even think
about running or fighting back. She struggled and tried to kick them, but they
had her arms bound behind her back before she could do anything.

The zip ties they’d
used immediately bit into her flesh. They’d tightened them to the point of
cutting off her circulation. They obviously weren’t concerned about her
comfort. That scared her more than anything.

“No, stop it.
What are you doing?” She said, still struggling in the grip of the two men and
against her bindings. They walked her toward the man that had shot Sam.

“You’re coming
with us, bitch,” the man smirked and backhanded her hard across the face.
Caroline would’ve fallen to the ground if she wasn’t being held up by the other
two men. Dammit, that hurt. Her head swam. She coughed. Jesus, she was in
trouble here.  

Mozart struggled
on the ground. He’d heard what the man had said. Shit, he had to get to Ice; he
couldn’t let this guy take her. His head was swimming and he couldn’t get his
arms to work right. He was going to pass out; he wasn’t going to be able to
help her.

The man turned
his attention back to Sam and Matthew on the ground. He held the pistol toward
them.

“No. No.
No
!”
Caroline screamed, struggling even harder, ignoring the pain in her arms from
the awkward way she was being held. “Leave them alone. What do you want? Me?
You’ve got me, leave them alone!”

The man turned
back toward Carline with a glint in his eye. “You don’t want me to kill them?” He
said with venom.

Caroline shook
her head vigorously.

The man laughed
evilly. “What will you do for me if I let them live?”

Caroline was
scared out of her mind. She had no idea what this man had in store for her, but
she knew he wasn’t really asking for her permission. He’d kill them in a
heartbeat if he wanted to. “Whatever you want. I’ll do whatever you want. Just
don’t kill them. They’re only here because of me.” She’d drop to her knees if
she thought it would help, but the man didn’t even give her a chance to offer.

The man turned
his back on her and went over to Sam and Matthew. He pulled a knife out of his
pocket and leaned down toward Sam. Before Caroline could beg the man not to
hurt him he’d sliced into Sam’s cheek. Laughing he did it again, and again.
Standing upright again he brought his boot down and ground it in Sam’s face as
if he was squishing a bug under his foot.

Turning toward
Caroline, who was now watching in horror, he sneered, “Fine, I won’t kill them,
but they’ll wish they were dead when my men get through with them. They’ve got
other ways to make them suffer.” He nodded at two other men nearby and they
headed for Sam and Matthew.

Caroline
struggled with all her might but all it did was make her wrists bleed
sluggishly. The last thing she saw as she was led away was the two men kicking Sam
and Matthew who lay unconscious on the ground.

Wolf paced the
room. It’d been six hours since Caroline had been taken. His throat was still
raw from smoke inhalation, and he was still coughing, but he was alive. He was
glad he didn’t remember the beating he and Mozart had been given on the field.
The rest of the team had arrived in time to prevent the two thugs from killing
them.

The terrorists
were good. They’d created a diversion that had Benny, Dude, and Cookie headed
off on a wild-goose-chase. Wolf only knew what his team had told him they’d
seen when they came across the terrorists beating the crap out of him and
Mozart, which wasn’t much. He had no idea what had happened to Caroline and how
they’d gotten out of the cabin. Mozart had most likely rescued the both of them
and they’d been overwhelmed while escaping.

Mozart was still
unconscious. A bullet had grazed his head and that, along with the beating, had
him laid up in the hospital. Wolf was especially worried about Mozart’s face as
well. Someone had carved him up and there was enough dirt and crap in his
wounds to cause a massive infection. Mozart had always been the “pretty” one of
their crew and Wolf worried that his days of being a flirt would be over. His
face wasn’t pretty, but at this point that wasn’t what was concerning the
doctors. They’d all just have to wait and to see how long it’d take him to pull
out of it. Dude, Abe, Benny, Cookie and himself were now trying to figure out
what the hell happened and where the fuck Caroline was.

Wolf hurt, but
he ignored his injuries. He’d suffered worse in the past and continued on. This
time was different though, they had his Caroline. He closed his eyes in
despair, then quickly opened them again. He didn’t have time to feel sorry for
himself or to panic. He had to figure out what the hell was going on and where
Caroline was. It was time to call Tex. If anyone could find her, it was Tex.

* * *

Caroline opened
her eyes slowly. She hurt. Everywhere. She had no idea where she was. The man who’d
kidnapped her had stuffed her into an SUV and one of the other men had knocked
her out with a cloth over her nose and mouth. She knew it was chloroform, and
fought as hard as she could, but inevitably, couldn’t fight its effects.

When she’d come
to, she was restrained to this stupid chair. The damn zip ties were still on
her wrists, but now they were attached to the arms of the chair she was sitting
in. She could see the blood oozing over the edge of the armrests and dripping
onto the floor. Jesus, it was like a bad movie. The chair, the zip ties, the
chloroform…if it hadn’t been happening to her and if she wasn’t so scared, it
would’ve been laughable.

The man who’d cut
Sam and ordered both him and Matthew beaten—she hoped they weren’t killed,
despite what he’d said—came into the room. She was in some sort of warehouse.
He came right up to her and spit in her face. Caroline was so surprised she
didn’t do anything to try to avoid the spittle. She felt it ooze down her cheek
as he yelled at her.

“You stupid
bitch,” the man growled at her. “You cost me
everything
! I had it all
planned. It was gonna work, and you blew it.
You
. It’s all
your
fault! Those dumb ass country hick SEALs wouldn’t have known what was going on
if it wasn’t for you.”

The man
continued his ranting. “You’ll tell me everything that happened on that plane.
I want to know exactly how you knew about the ice and how you overpowered my
men!”

Caroline didn’t
want to tell him anything. It was enough he knew she was involved. She’d never
been so scared in all her life. Even when she was hiding in the shower afraid
to breathe too loud, she hadn’t been
this
frightened. Jesus, each
situation she’d been in was worse than the last. This time she knew she was
going to die. The government didn’t make deals with terrorists and besides
that, no one even knew where she was. Matthew and Sam had been unconscious when
she’d been dragged out of the clearing by the cabin, and she hadn’t seen anyone
else around. If his men
had
been around, they would’ve prevented them
from taking her…wouldn’t they?

Even as the
brief thought flashed through her head that maybe they let the terrorists take
her to save their teammates, she dismissed it. She hadn’t met the rest of the
team yet, but if they were anything like Matthew, hell, like Christopher or
Sam, they wouldn’t have let them take her. She had to get control of herself.
Thinking irrationally wasn’t going to save her life. If she had any chance of
getting out of this clusterfuck, she had to use her brain.

Even though she
was scared, she vowed to herself she wasn’t going to tell this maniac anything
that would help him take down another plane or hurt more people. She looked
away from the man and around the room instead. To even have a chance, she had
to start trying to figure out how to get out of there.

“You aren’t
going to talk, bitch?”

Caroline’s eyes
went back to the crazy man standing in front of her. She just looked at him
without saying a word.

He leaned in
toward her. Caroline could smell the foul body odor coming off of him. It was
as if he hadn’t showered in days, no weeks. He leaned in as a lover would, and
whispered into her ear.

“You tell me
what happened or I’ll make you so miserable you’ll be begging me to let you
tell me every little thing I want to know. Then you’ll beg me to kill you.” He
licked the side of her neck up to her ear with a long slow brush of his tongue
against her. Then he bit her earlobe so hard Caroline was afraid he’d torn it
in two. She couldn’t help but whimper and try to pull away from the pain. She
didn’t want to tell him anything, but she wasn’t tough. She was just…her.

The man stood up
and backhanded her. He didn’t give her a chance to recover from his strike
before hitting her again, then again. Then he kicked her shin as hard as he
could. He continued hitting her and slapping her and occasionally biting her.
He tried everything he could to get her to talk, but Caroline kept her mouth
shut.

Caroline started
off stoic and not giving any reaction to each strike, but she was soon crying
out with every hit and she could feel the tears coursing down her cheeks. The
man knew he was hurting her, but he didn’t stop. He laughed as he beat her.

Caroline knew
she was going to die, but she’d be dammed before this crazy man used her
knowledge to hurt or kill others. She said nothing throughout his beating, just
kept trying to avoid his fists and feet when she could, which wasn’t often.

Finally he
stopped. Caroline knew it wasn’t because of anything she’d done, but more
because he was tired. He was breathing hard, and panting as if he’d run a
couple of miles. He was sweating profusely and his face was bright red.

“You’re a stupid
bitch. Don’t worry, I’m leaving you for now, but I’ll be back. We’ll start up
where I left off. I’ll bring some of my buddies back with me. You can just sit
there and think about all the ways I can make you hurt before I kill you,
slowly. I’ll give my men a go at you as well. Have you ever been gang banged?
No? Well you just sit there and think about it. You can save yourself the pain
and misery if you’d just tell me what I want to know. If you do, I’ll kill you
quickly. If not, you’ll die a horribly painful death. I can promise you that.
My men will make sure you’re bleeding out of every hole before they kill you.
They’ll watch you bleed and laugh.” He spit on her once more and left the room.

Caroline’s head
bobbed. She closed her eyes and tried to process everything. She was still tied
up in the chair and had blood dripping from her head somewhere. Her eyes were
almost swollen shut. But she was still alive…for now. She completely believed
the man when he said he’d make her suffer. She’d seen the look the men who’d
roughly pushed her into the SUV had given her. They wouldn’t be gentle at all
with her. She was scared shitless. She didn’t want to die slowly, or otherwise,
but she just couldn’t, and wouldn’t, condemn other innocent people to die.

Caroline tried
to figure out more about where she was. If she had a shot at all to get out of there
she had to pay attention. She couldn’t see that well through her swollen eyes
and the blood blurring her vision, so she tried to listen.

There…what was
that? Seagulls. The nasty birds always made those cawing sounds as they flew
through the air. She had to be by the sea. She felt proud of herself for a
moment, but then realized most of Norfolk was by the ocean. Crap. That wasn’t
going to help anyone. She could hear what sounded like ship horns blowing. She
tried to concentrate more, but finally just closed her eyes. She was so tired…

 It could have
been minutes or hours later when she heard the door squeak open in the
cavernous room. A man came in, not the same man that had beaten her before.
She’d never seen him before, but he was wearing a three piece black suit. His
hair was slicked back and not a piece was askew. He looked as out of place in
the dungeon-like atmosphere of the filthy room as he would’ve at a rodeo in the
heart of Texas. He was followed by three other men, including the guy who’d
beaten her earlier.
Oh shit. Was this it?
Caroline held in a sob. She regretted
with every fiber of her being not making love with Matthew. She suddenly
fervently wished she’d put her concerns about moving too fast with him aside
and had gone for it.

The man in the
suit didn’t look at her, didn’t say anything. He got busy setting up what
looked like a tripod. Oh God. Was he going to
film
the men raping her?
He mounted the video camera on the tripod and turned it around so it was facing
her. He stood behind it and gave a chin lift to the three other men. Caroline
saw the red light blinking on the camera and shuddered, watching as the men
came toward her, cracking their knuckles. No, no, no, she couldn’t do this. She
screeched as they reached for her.

*
* *

Wolf sat at the
table, his hands clenched in his lap. He was a SEAL. He was supposed to be able
to save the world, but he felt helpless because he couldn’t save the one person
who’d quickly come to mean everything to him. He and his team had discussed for
what seemed like hours what they were going to do next. Tex was working
frantically with his hacker friends to try and track down where the men had
taken Caroline. They had some clues, but no location, not yet. Cookie’s phone
rang and he answered it quickly.

“Yes, sir. Got
it. I’ll tell him.” He hung up. “Check your email, Wolf.” Cookie said. “That
was the commander, he just received a video. He told me to tell you they were
tracing it now.”

Cookie called
Tex to update him on the email and to have him get to work tracing it. They
knew the commander was tracing it as well, but more often than not Tex could
get results faster than anyone else. Wolf quickly brought up his email on the
laptop and the team gathered around to watch.

The five men watched
in horror and anger. It wasn’t anything they hadn’t seen or experienced for
themselves in the past. But this was Caroline. Wolf’s Ice. That made all the
difference in the world.

The video showed
Caroline strapped to a chair. She’d obviously been beaten. Her wrists were
bleeding where the zip ties held her to the chair and she had blood dripping from
her head somewhere. But her face. Jesus. They’d beaten the hell out of her. Her
eyes were swollen almost shut, and her face was already bruising. The T-shirt
she was wearing was ripped and hanging off of one shoulder. They could see her
bra strap vividly white against her skin. She was breathing quickly and
erratically.

There was a man
speaking, but Wolf barely heard him.
His
woman was hurt. Christ. He
couldn’t handle this. He pushed pause on the video and locked his hands behind
his head. He paced back and forth rapidly. He took a deep breath. He
had
to handle it. He couldn’t let Caroline down. He had to focus.

His teammates
let him be. No one tried to talk to him. No one gave him false reassurances.
They didn’t know what they were going to see on the rest of the tape. It was up
to Wolf on when, and if, he wanted to watch the rest of the video.

Wolf paced,
trying to gather up the courage to watch the rest of the video. If his woman
was killed in front of his eyes, he didn’t know how he’d react. He had to lock
it down. Wanting to go back to the previous night when he’d held Caroline’s
soft sweet body in his arms, Wolf took a deep breath. “
Fuck
.” All his
anguish and dread were put into that one word. The room was quiet. No one said anything;
they could feel Wolf’s anguish.

He finally spun
toward the laptop and clicked the mouse that would start the awful video again.

“Tell me what
happened!” The man beating her screamed. At her silence he continued screeching
at her. “How did you know the ice was drugged? I
know
it was you. Those
dumb ass SEALs don’t have the smarts to know their head from their ass. I know
it wasn’t them. What tipped you off? How did they get the jump on my men?”

The SEALs could
see the man getting more and more agitated as he continued to ask Caroline
questions and she refused to answer. At one point Wolf heard Cookie say under
his breath, “Jesus, just tell him sweetheart. God, just tell him what he wants
to know. ”