Page 16 of Cheating the Devil
Lori saton the hard floor, shivering despite the warm, muggy air in the darkened room. She had no idea how long it’d been since Avery had been taken. It seemed like days, but, in reality, it’d probably been only an hour or two. In addition to her throbbing shoulder, Lori’s throat and right hand were killing her. After the door had slammed shut, and she’d found herself alone, she’d pounded on the steel and shouted at her captors. She’d demanded to be let go, begged for Avery to not be harmed, cursed the bastards who’d elicited the shrieks of pain from the older woman from somewhere in the building, and then prayed Avery was still alive after all had gone silent. Lori had only stopped yelling and beating on the door when it’d swung open and the tall, bald man pointed a gun at her chest. His short sentence had contained venom, glossed with the absolute truth. “Shut up or die.”
She’d complied, partly from fear, partly from the wise advice her father had given her often while she’d been growing up. “If you’re ever taken hostage, stay calm and bide your time until you can gain the advantage to escape. Look around you; find a way to alert someone. If you’re in the trunk of a vehicle, feel around for the release or kick out the brake light cover and wave your hand out the hole. Find a weapon; anything can be one if you think about it. If you have to, disable or kill the bastard. Do it, then run. Don’t look back. Don’t worry about any consequences. Then call me and let me know where the body is so I can bury it.”
Lori had always thought that last line was just her father joking, but now she wasn’t so sure. She knew who he was in the military—Bradley “Tank” Barton was Delta. That meant something to anyone who’d ever heard of the elite team ofsoldiers. Deltas would do whatever it took to complete their mission. They were the Army’s badass, black-ops team. The take-no-prisoners men who’d give their lives to save a teammate or an innocent. And now, as an adult, she had no doubt her father knew where some skeletons were buried, probably far more than anyone would ever know.
Daddy and Cam, please find us. I love you both so much. Please give me a chance to tell you that in person.
A faint click had her picking up her head as light filled the room again. She blinked several times until she could focus on the Asian man who’d furtively entered. Her eyes narrowed when he held up a finger to his mouth in the universal gesture of “stay quiet.” He motioned for her to stand and walk toward him. His face was filled with kindness, sympathy, and worry—definitely not what she’d seen on the other men’s faces earlier. Lori struggled to her feet and warily closed the distance between them, keeping her left arm against her chest to ease the pain in her shoulder. She was just about to ask him who he was, hoping he was here to rescue her and Avery, but he disappeared back out into the hallway. The door opened a little wider, and she realized the man hadn’t been alone. Lori’s eyes went wide as her heart pounded in her chest. Relief coursed through her, and she couldn’t help the word that escaped her louder than she’d meant it to be. “Cameron!”
Her lover and a third man, whom she didn’t recognize, had stepped inside the doorway. Unlike the first man, these two were dressed from neck to toe in black with dark camo paint covering their faces, but it wasn’t enough to prevent her from knowing instantly who Cam was. The large, black pistol in his hand was probably not the only weapon he had on him—not if her father had anything to do with the rescue, which she was sure he did. The second camouflaged man held an assault rifle and kept his attention on the door and hallway, while Cameron eyed her upand down, as if trying to convince himself she was really there and okay. He whispered, just loud enough for her to hear, “Sh, baby. Be very quiet. Are you hurt? Can you run? If not, I’ll carry you.”
Stepping into his side, she hugged him tightly with her good arm, feeling safe for the first time in hours. She lowered her voice. “I’m banged up, but I can run. But we have to save Avery. I don’t know what they’ve been doing to her, but it isn’t good. She was screaming—”
“Don’t worry. Your dad and the others will save her. Right now, you’re my only concern—we’re gonna get you out of here. This is Kell; if he or I tell you to do something, you do it without hesitation. Got it?”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. “Yeah. Got it.”
Lifting her head, she met his gaze, and the emotion she saw in his eyes rocked her soul. He stepped back toward the door and held out his hand for her to take. “I love you, baby. No matter what happens, know that that’s a fact. Now, hold onto my belt and don’t let go unless I tell you to.”
She did as she was told, then whispered, “I love you too, Cam. I always will, and that’s a fact.”
Kell spoke for the first time. “If you’re all done with the declarations of endless love, can we get the hell out of here before the shit hits the fan?”
CHAPTER 13
Avery’swoozy mind spun one way as her broken and bruised body rotated in the other direction. Her wrists were bound together and hanging on a hook in the ceiling, her feet about six or eight inches from the floor. Since all her weight hung on them, her arms and shoulders shrieked in agony. Her ribs and kidneys weren’t faring much better. Yeah, her legs and back were hurting too, basically, everywhere the old bastard had struck her with a leather belt. Maybe she shouldn’t have laughed at his first, weak punch, directed at her mouth. It’d hurt, but nowhere near what he’d probably intended. He must not have realized his age had caught up to him. Avery’s days of being trained to withstand torture had come rushing back to her mind as she’d been dragged from the other room into this one. The problem was, like her assailant, she was much older now, and that training had been a long time ago.
She’d been careful not to piss Lin Chao off to the point he took his anger out on Lori. As long as Avery could keep him focused on her, the younger woman was safe—for now.
How long she’d hung there, practically naked, Avery didn’t know. There were no windows in the room, only a single overhead light, a small table, two folding chairs, and an emptyshelving unit—none of it within reach. Chao had beaten her for what seemed like hours, while his bald watchdog observed. He’d been the one to strip her down to her underwear, tie her wrists, and lift her onto the hook. Then he’d stood back while the old man had his fun. Avery tried hard not to scream when the pain became too much, but it’d been unavoidable. Thankfully, Chao had eventually tired and taken a break, the two men leaving her alone, which allowed her to take stock of her injuries. But they’d be back. She hadn’t needed Chao’s verbal oath to know her beating would continue after he got his second wind.
Part of Avery knew Brad would find them, but the other part worried he might not make it in time. Chao had no intention of letting her walk ... or crawl out the door when he was done with her. Nope. He was determined to make her suffer for as long as possible before ending her life.
Was there a heaven? Would she be allowed in after all she’d done in her life? Avery didn’t know, but prayed she’d somehow redeemed herself in God’s eyes—if he existed. She was still up in the air about that, despite her Catholic upbringing. There’d been many times she couldn’t reconcile the idea He existed after she’d seen all the evil that roamed the Earth.
Brad’s face appeared in her mind. Avery had never thought she’d find “the one.” She’d heard many women talk about finding theirs or read about happily ever afters in the romance novels she favored. But having gone over three-and-a-half decades into her adult life without finding hers, she’d figured they’d been the proverbial “two ships passing in the night.” Thenhe’dwalked right through her door—well, actually, Haven’s door. Avery just happened to be in her charge’s home at the time. Bradley Barton had marched in with confidence, authority, and a swaggering, rock-hard body that had made her swoon like a schoolgirl. Following a successful end to the mission they’d all been a part of, Brad had joined them for dinner, having acceptedAvery’s invitation. After he’d left, Frisco had teased Avery—apparently, she’d been drooling over Brad.
She’d been surprised when the object of her ogling had called the next day and asked her out on a date. Their second dinner together had gone a lot smoother for Avery than the first. Although she’d still had butterflies in her stomach, she’d been able to draw upon her training and act like an adult instead of a wide-eyed school girl with her first crush. After walking her to her door, Brad had gently kissed her on the lips, then promptly asked her out on another date. Two nights later, they’d ended up in bed together. Never had anything felt so right. So, why was this happening now? Had she gone decades without finding love, only to have it ripped from her grasp after a few short months? She hoped not.
The door to her prison swung open, and Chao strode in, looking refreshed, followed by his bodyguard, who shut the door once more. The older man picked up the belt he’d left on a small table in the corner of the room. “Recovered from our first session yet, Ms. McNamara?”
Avery dug deep into her mind, body, and soul, and summoned a strength she hadn’t needed in years. Her jaw ached as she snarked, “Absolutely. What’s next on the agenda?”
An ugly snarl erupted from him as he stalked around her. “Bitch! You’ll be begging for death soon. When you murdered my son, it was over in seconds. I promise you, your fate will not be the same.”
He let the leather belt fly, and it struck her right hip. Pain bloomed instantly, and Avery choked on a cry. She tried hard not to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much it hurt, but, like before, she knew it would get to the point where she couldn’t control it. Involuntary tears welled in her eyes, and she slammed them shut.
Chao hit her again. And again. He punctuated each blow with vile insults in both English and Mandarin. An especially-hard strike landed across her shoulder blade, which was already heavily bruised and lacerated, and, this time, Avery couldn’t stop the howl that escaped her.
The door flew open with a loud bang, and three figures, dressed head to toe in black, skirted the jamb. The first one into the room fired a 9mm bullet into the forehead of the bodyguard before he ever had a chance to draw his own weapon. Despite his age, Chao moved quickly, using Avery as a shield. He suddenly had a gun in his hand and held it to the flesh covering her left kidney. If he shot her there, it was almost definite she’d bleed to death before she could get to a hospital.
“Let her go, Chao.”
Avery would have sagged in relief if she could have at the sound of Brad’s voice. Despite the black face paint, she recognized Carter, who’d killed the guard, and Jordyn as being the two people with him. All three had their weapons pointed at Chao. Unfortunately, Avery was blocking their shots.
“No!” Avery felt Chao’s spittle hit her aching, bare back as he yelled in rage at the interference. “If I die today, I’m taking this murdering cunt with me! Either way, she’ll never leave here alive!”
Pounding in his chest,Brad’s heart threatened to explode. He was so close ... so close to saving the woman he loved, but it wasn’t enough ... not yet. He knew Lori was safe—Cameron and Kell were already on their way to the vehicles with her. Soon, she’d be back at the resort, safe in Cameron’s arms. The man had proven himself in more ways than one over the past few hours,and Brad would gladly give his blessing if the couple decided to get married. The young Marine would have moved heaven and earth to save Lori, and that was enough for Brad. Knowing his daughter was safe allowed him to focus all his attention on saving his own woman.
