Page 16 of Sweet Refuge
He circled the pole, dragging the chain with him. He could try breaking the heavy links again, but it hadn’t worked after the first few hours he worked at it. The garage was also strangely devoid of tools, almost giving an abandoned feel. Not that he could reach a wall to pull down a weapon anyhow.
What happened to his sidearm? If his kidnapper had it, he’d see the weapon was military issue—which went along with his tale about making arms deals.
He sat down again, his back to the pole, legs outstretched. What happened to the guy he bashed over the head with his tequila, back at the bar? The selfie Slade snapped was on his phone if only his team could unlock his device.
He had all the confidence in the world that Charlie would come for him. And when they did? They’d take up arms against that weapons dealer out for his blood, and on the Black Bloods too. They wouldn’t wait for another of their own to be snatched.
Revenge was a surety. Other things? Not so much.
Like Lena. She was never going to give him the time of day. He’d been trying since Bosnia, goddammit.
Every day he woke up and realized that the woman he loved was no longer part of his life ripped open that wound all over again.
Maybe it was time to give up on her. He was wasting time, hoping she’d come around. He could push his energy into his duty to Blackout or into climbing the ranks if he so desired.
He raised his bound hands and scrubbed the backs of his knuckles over his face, streaking the dusty grime of the garage through the slick film of sweat.
Damn, he needed to cool off. Sweating was bad when he was already dehydrated. The air in the garage was oppressive from what he knew were sweltering temperatures at this time of year.
But there was one thing far worse than dying of dehydration or by gunshot.
If his guys didn’t reach him in time…then Slade would have no way to say goodbye to the woman he never would stop loving as long as he lived.
* * * * *
Being at this resort broughtallthe warm, fuzzy feelings back to Lena—feelings she needed to lock away in a vault inside her being and forget about.
She hadn’t thought of this place or her honeymoon in a long time, and she preferred to keep it that way. But she was a professional. She’d demanded to be part of the team searching for Slade, and she had to treat it like the op it was.
She knew her teammates were casting her looks and exchanging questioning glances with each other. Who wouldn’t, when she proved to know twoveryintimate details about Slade? The complex code to unlock his phone was a dead giveaway that she had a fast-track to his mind. And the name he used to check into the resort was another strike in favor of any argument that she and Slade had something going on.
In the tourist-filled entry, her senses were on high alert. She waltzed up to the front desk and offered the employee a smile she hoped didn’t look as tense as it felt.
“I’m looking for my boyfriend’s room,” she said without pause. “He’s expecting me.”
Behind her, she heard Frost’s low grunt. She ignored him, but how long before the guys started to grill her?
“If he’s expecting you, shouldn’t you know what room he’s in?” the woman muttered in Spanish as if Lena didn’t know what she was saying.
“Actually, I just arrived in the city,” Lena breezed out in the same language. “My boyfriend is caught in a meeting and told me to come to the front desk. He said he’d leave a key for me.”
The woman clearly didn’t enjoy being called out on her assumption that Lena was one of those travelers who didn’t bother learning the spoken language in the country she visited. But she gave her most neutral smile and waited for the woman’s response.
“What is his name? I’ll see if he left word to provide a guest with a key.”
“Peter Parker,” she said.
Another grunt from behind her. Lena dealt with a lot of male noises, but these Neanderthals were getting on her last nerve.
The woman typed the name into the system and stared at the screen. “There is no request for a second key.”
But therewasa Peter Parker staying in the resort.
Lena carefully pressed her palm into the surface of the desk.
The woman flicked her eyes up from the screen. “I’m afraid you’ll have to speak to the person who booked the room. For security reasons, we cannot hand out keys without authorization.”
Of course, this wouldn’t be a problem. Lena just had to hack their system—or get someone at Blackout headquarters to do it for her.