SEAL Team Seven Tyler: Book 4 (5 page)

Tyler

I parked my truck around back, and made my way into the little rundown building that could do with some repairs.

There was paint chipping off the walls and the carpet was so old and worn in some places it was hard to tell what color it had once been. I was expecting a family of rodents to go waltzing by any second.

I couldn’t imagine her in a place like this, and that head of rage I had going was only amped up by the filth she had been left in. Was he sending a message by leaving her here, and if so to who? This motherfucker was going to die really bad, no doubt about it.

I was already in combat mode, so my senses were on high alert. Maria had said that there was no one standing watch over her; that just told me what this man thought of his influence in the little town.

My pulse picked up speed the closer I got to the room she was supposed to be in. I listened for any sound any sign of a threat as I drew near. My focus was one hundred percent dead center on that door down the grimy hallway as I fought back painful memories, memories that if given free reign will turn this shit into something this town wasn’t ready for.

I was doing fucking breathing exercises by the time I reached the right door, something I hadn’t done since my early days on the team. I could already feel the force of my anger threatening to take over, something I couldn’t allow to happen, not now, not yet.

I called to mind her face from just the day before, when she’d been giving me shit in that sarcastic way of hers. The way her eyes sparkled one minute and went sad the next when I didn’t pick up the bait.

I especially remembered the way she’d looked holding the baby, and the way it had made my dick hard. That shit had scared the fuck out of me, and so I ran. That’s why I hadn’t known that she’d left.

I braced myself when that shit wasn’t helping, but only making the anger worse. Kill that shit Tyler, she needs you to be on your fucking game, no losing your shit and fucking everything up. I gave myself that little pep talk but the reality was this was too close on the heels of everything that had been plaguing me the night before. I was tired of people fucking with me and mine.

One thing kept running through my mind; what the fuck was I gonna find behind that door? And how bad was I gonna fuck this place up because of it?

I’d been thinking about any and everything else on the way here so that I didn’t lose my cool. First I needed to get to her, assess the damage, and then we could go from there. That’s what I kept telling myself. But now that I was here that shit didn’t stand a chance. ‘Okay Tyler, don’t lose your shit and scare the fuck outta her.’

I heard noises coming from televisions behind closed doors, voices raised in anger behind some, and even a baby behind another. That shit made my gut burn. I couldn’t imagine little Zakira in a place like this. I didn’t expect to find a place like this in the quaint little town either, but I guess all those drugs we suspected were being trafficked just a few hundred yards from here had to be sold somewhere.

No one came out their doors and saw me, which was a good thing because I’m sure it would’ve caused a ruckus. I could feel the mean coming off me, so I knew I was in what Lo likes to call the kill mode.

Apparently when I went there I was a sight to behold. I had to rein that shit in though as best I could, because I didn’t have Connor here to diffuse the situation, and he was about the only one who could.

I made myself go through that door, going in low then high as I panned the room with my gun drawn. The place was empty except for what looked like a bag of rags shackled to a radiator. The bile rose in my throat and I bit it back when I realized what I was. Death had just come knocking at somebody’s door, I wonder if he knew if he felt it?

Tyler

My woman was in room twenty-two beaten all to shit, and chained to a radiator like a fucking dog. She was hungry, filthy and halfway to dead.

A red haze formed, and that blinding rage finally rose up inside me, before I was able to beat it back. I’m pretty sure the people two doors down heard my roar before I was able to contain it.

That fucking haze kept growing, but the sight of her crumpled and hurt kept my ass in check, barely. I think I went mad for a second or two at the sight, before my senses came back.

“Vicki, baby, what the fuck?” I went to her side to gauge the situation and found that it was worse upon closer inspection. The anger will have to wait for later, right now it was more important to get her the fuck out of there.

I pushed everything else out, my own self loathing, the killing instinct against the one responsible, everything; right now it was just me and the broken woman slouched over in front of me. That shit worked for all of five seconds, no dice.

I didn’t even know where to touch her. It looked like her whole body had been bruised from head to toe. She was so small; did I know she was this tiny all along?

Who would do such a thing? What kind of monster could take his fists to something so small, so delicate? My hands shook each time I lifted them to touch her and I had to pull them back. She hadn’t answered me yet either and I worried for a second that she might be in shock. I couldn’t stop to check her over as I wanted to, I didn’t know how much time we had.

It was a bitch trying to keep my senses open for any hint of danger, when everything had gone down to a pinpoint of anger, fury and rage. I was so fucked up I knew she was in more danger from me unless I got myself under control, than what had already been done to her.

I calmed myself as much as I could and called on all my training before making a move to touch her. I knew very well the dangers of approaching this shit the wrong way. I’d been on enough rescue missions to know the trauma she’d been through, and what that shit can do to the mind.

Usually that shit’s in the middle of a war zone, or after some asshole had decided to snatch someone’s daughter to make a deal, but still, that was almost always part of guerrilla warfare.

I’d never seen this shit stateside, and wondered fleetingly, what kind of disconnect this fucker had that he thought he could get away with it here. All these thoughts ran through my head as I thought of my best course of action.

I found the easiest way to do this was to not look at her, to shut off all emotion and to come at this shit like a grid. That fuck was easier said than done, especially when my heart already knew who she was and was not happy about any of this shit.

Focus Tyler, for fuck sake you can do this. I shook my head and pushed the anger deep down and out of the way to give rationale a chance to rear its head.

I have to cut her out of the chains, which wasn’t so much of a problem. My thing was how to get her out of the building without anyone seeing us. I didn’t want her getting caught in the middle of more bullshit, and if this guy was really dealing with the cartel the way most people here suspected, chances are that he, or his men will lay down fire.

Fuck it; there was no other choice. I couldn’t wait the time it would take my brothers to get here even if I called, and I wasn’t leaving her here a second longer. I got the clippers out and looked for the farthest link from her soft skin to cut.

It was disassociation time but I found I still couldn’t do it, not with her. She hadn’t said anything, but I knew she was aware of me. My heart hurt at what she must be feeling, but I was glad that it was me who had come after her and not someone else. Someone she hadn’t had eyes for maybe.

“Vicki, sweetie, it’s me, Tyler, I’m here to help you.” I kept my voice low and nonthreatening as I went to work, trying my best not to look at her. She didn’t even have the strength to pick her head up and look at me, probably wouldn’t have been able to see me anyway with both eyes swollen shut.

My gut knotted harder and I felt like fucking crying when I finally cut her loose from the radiator and saw the entirety of what had been done to her, to mine.

“Oh fuck baby, no.” He’d done a number on her. Why, what could have brought on this horror on someone so innocent. The whys would have to come later, right now it was more important to get her to safety, but the man in me was having a hard fucking time with this.

Like I said, any female in this predicament would’ve brought out the protective instinct in me, the fact that it was her, just signed that fucker’s death sentence. My mind tried to flash back to an earlier time, another horrific scene, but I dragged that fucker back from the abyss. If I went there now this whole town was fucked.

She fell into me as soon as her one arm was loose and I bit into my lip to keep the roar of rage locked inside when I realized she was broken. The adrenaline was pumping hard and I was back in killer mode in ten seconds flat.

As soon as I touched her I knew. I knew it on the way here, knew it when Candy said her name. I felt it in my gut then, pure fear, and something else. It was the something else I was going to have to take out and examine when things had calmed down a little; that shit seemed to be the only clarity I felt in the midst of all this hell.

What a fucking time to come to your senses soldier! I could hear my old CO in my ear, and he would be right as usual. I’d dropped the fucking ball on this one.

This was most assuredly partly my fault, but how the fuck was I to know that some asshole was gonna go after her? I’ll have to deal with that fuck up on my part later as well. Right now taking care of her came first. Everything else, including my vengeance will have to wait.

Still, it was hard not to rush outside and hunt this motherfucker down and give him what he had coming to him. She was a fucking mess, so much so I couldn’t believe that only one man had done this.

The picture that formed in my head of what she must’ve endured wasn’t helping matters any. This shit hadn’t been from a few slaps; this shit looked and felt like a systematic beating from some very angry fists.

I closed my eyes and asked for strength, I wanted to flip the fuck out and go on a rampage. Wanted to hunt, but once again I had to rein it in. It was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.

But this was Vicki, my Vicki; I had to find the control somehow. I had a new respect for what Connor had to deal with when he was talking me down off the ledge, that shit can’t be easy.

***

My hands went back to shaking as I worked on getting her loose from the chains now that she was no longer bound to the radiator. With every snip of the cutters into the thick iron chain links her body would twinge in some small way, letting me know that she felt it.

I had to concentrate on what I was doing so that I didn’t cause any more damage, bring her any more pain. The room started coming in to view then and I realized just how filthy the surroundings were, even more so than my little preview out in the hallway.

That she’d been left here like this was a slap in the face. Whether he knew who she was or her connection to us, I didn’t really care, this shit was personal.

The question begged to be answered, if I had taken her up on the coy smiles and come hither looks, would she be in this hell right now? A resounding ‘no’ was my answer to myself.

There’s no way. If I had taken my head out of my ass sooner, she would be home right now safe and sound. Under lock with the others no doubt, but no one would’ve gotten to her. That too was on me.

“I’m so sorry sweetheart, I’m gonna get you out of here in a minute just hold still for me now okay?” She had roused herself out of whatever state she’d been in and was starting to fret.

Probably thought the monster who’d worked her over was back. I took the large shears that I’d brought along with me and cut through the rest of the chains around her arms and legs, talking to her soothingly the whole while, refusing to look at her again lest I lose my shit after all. It was close, real fucking close.

She wasn’t talking, wasn’t saying anything. Even the low moans of pain she’d been issuing when I first came into the room that was the only thing telling me she was still alive had been silenced.

My heart was starting to hurt like fuck, a situation I’d never experienced before, at least not since I was a kid. From the age of eighteen when I’d joined up, I’d made sure never to be in a position where anything could get to me like that again.

I’d long ago stopped giving a fuck about anyone or anything. In fact I’d pretty much given up on life before I’d hit my teens. I never really expected to make it this long, and had even courted death a time or two willingly.

That was before my brothers and I formed our bond and became a family. Before I started believing in hope and all the other bullshit that comes with actual living.

They’d all faced their own demons in their past as well, and that more than anything had gone a long way to helping me open up to them; that and the old man always keeping after us. But even so, there were some things…

The things that had shaped me as a kid were too horrendous to hold onto, but they were never too far from me. They still had the power to wake me in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, the screams of a frightened child still trapped in my lungs.

I fight every waking moment of everyday trying to keep those memories, those images at bay. This shit right here brought it all back, and as a thinking man I had to wonder, just why in the fuck did it take this to get me to come around?

Why did I have to be so hard? I thought I could shut myself off, thought I could go through life without ever feeling, without giving anything more than I was willing to give. But this I felt down to the very depths of my soul; like I said, a really fucked up time to see the light.

“I’m going to move you now baby, I’ll try not to hurt you.” I took my time even though everything in me wanted to hurry and get her out of there. I didn’t want to lay her on the dirty floor long enough to find something to cover her up with, but in the end I had no choice.

I left her there so that I could find what I needed to put around her and really took stock of my surroundings for the first time. She’d put up a hell of a fight from the looks of things, but having heard that fucker described a time or two, I knew her five two frame was no match for that fucking behemoth. We’ll just see how the fuck he holds up under my fists when I get ahold of him.

Wrapping her in the filthy blanket off the bed in the torn up room, I walked out of there with her cradled in my arms. She had her face buried in my neck and the sounds she made tore at my heart, each one sounding like an accusation.

People were out of their rooms by then, probably heard my earlier roar. I ignored everyone and everything as I spoke to her calmly, reassuringly.

No one looked too hard as I made my exit; most of them were probably more interested in their next high than what was going on around them. At least that’s how it appeared to me.

There weren’t that many people around outside this time of day and I’d planned ahead, parking behind the hotel out of the way. The maid, Maria, had been instructed to leave the back door slightly ajar and to keep anyone from back there while I did my thing.

The only people I passed were a few older men and women going about their business. Maria was standing watch when I got there and I nodded my thanks as I reminded myself to really thank her later.

I didn’t want anyone sounding the alarm until I had gotten her away from this place, so I hurried even though I knew she was jarred with each step. I didn’t forget what I’d been told, how that fucker had threatened anyone who came to her rescue. I didn’t want someone getting itchy fingers and making that call.

She didn’t need to be caught in the middle of whatever the fuck was going to come down behind this, and I was a hundred and fifty percent sure that something would. If he didn’t start it I sure the fuck would.

I had to protect her now, keep her safe at all cost. Not only because she was a helpless female, but because of the promise that she could’ve been mine. No I hadn’t given into her shy invitations the handful of times we’d been in the same room. But the connection had been made, the call had been sent out even if I hadn’t answered.

Only one day ago she’d been giving me shit, and as much as I played it off, she’d been wearing me down, but I couldn’t give in too easily. My brothers were dropping like flies in the love department, and that’s some shit I try to avoid at all cost.

I had no place in my life for that bullshit, no matter how sweet my family made it look; not to mention the fact that they all seemed to have lost their fucking minds behind it.

They made it look good I have to admit, and seeing her with my niece had given me a few starts the last day or so. But it wasn’t a good idea, or at least it hadn’t been yesterday.

Today though, that shit had been turned on its ass. Seeing her so broken and near fucking death was a little more than a wakeup call. It was like someone standing over me with a bullhorn drumming this shit into my head. I could’ve lost her.

I couldn’t think about that shit now either, because it was too close to the other, first things first. I had to get her to safety before I made my next move. I had barely enough control left to do that shit.

I double-checked that all was clear before taking her to the jeep and laying her in the backseat. I made sure she was comfortable, before closing the door again and climbing into the driver’s seat.

There was nowhere to go but my place. I wasn’t sure how far of a reach the bastard had, and I wasn’t about to trust anyone else with her care. So I headed back to the compound instead of the nearest hospital.

My mind was already racing ahead to what I had to do once I got her there. I was finally able, now that I had her out of there and we were in the clear, to think again.

I’m the tech guru of our little outfit but all of us knew how to patch up the human body. And thinking that my mind went to my other worry, what was now my biggest fear.

I know I had what I needed to patch her back up physically, but what about mentally? How the fuck was I gonna do that when all of this could’ve been avoided had I been man enough to take what the fuck I wanted instead of running and hiding?

Bitch made, that was my fond epithet for my brothers, but it seems it was more suitable to me. At least they had the nuts to go after what they wanted even after all the shit they’d seen.

I was the one who’d been hiding from life, thinking I could outlive my demons but I can’t, they’d finally caught up with me, and then some. And an innocent had paid the price.

***