She’d developed the pride a military wife has for her man. From behind the scenes and unbeknownst to him, she’d supported him from home and raised his sons to be as strong as she knew him to be.
After 9-11, she’d lost him completely. She knew from digging in records from that time period that he hadn’t perished in the aftermath. But she never found him again. Not a military record, not an address.
Oz was just…gone.
But having sons with him meant she saw the man she never quit loving in her sons’ dark eyes, the set of their jaws…and in their carefree attitudes about life.
A tear rolled down her face, and she couldn’t even brush the fucking thing away.
Then the van stopped and all hell broke loose.
Chapter Three
“In position on your three, Oz.” Gilly’s announcement in the comms unit checked one more item off in their master plan.
Breach the dock. Locate the ship that Rose would be loaded on to.
Their positions high on the stacks of crates ensured he and Gilly not only possessed the vantage point to see that van the moment it rolled into the area, but eyes on their ward—Rose.
“Won’t be long now,” Oz responded to his man.
He pivoted to scan all directions. From the east, the road leading to the docks didn’t branch off, so no one could drive in or out without he and Gilly seeing. Behind him, the dock looked like a cityscape, with cranes to lift the heavy wares mimicking skyscrapers and the sea of crates in all configurations like the many buildings of a city.
They were lucky—at this busy time of year, a record number of cargo crates gave them more territory to scope out before setting up in what he and Gilly agreed would be the top position.
On his three o’clock, he couldn’t make out Gilly at all. The man knew how to become a ghost and blend in, but he knew Gilly protected his back when it came down to the clinch.
The sun sinking on the horizon meant dock lights would soon be turned on for freighters to come in at night and load their cargo. His sources told him that the van carrying Rose and her kidnappers had an estimated time of arrival of 20:06. And sunset came at 20:11 on this night.
That gave them only a few minutes to locate her and get her out before the dock lights turned on, and hiding from the glaring lights would be much more difficult.
He dragged in a deep breath of ocean air. Gulls screamed as they floated on the air currents, pitching down to the water to feed before soaring back into the fiery sky painted in reds and oranges.
He brought his binocs to his eyes. What he saw didn’t align with what he knew.
“Gilly, black van five hundred yards out.”
“Black?”
“Either I’m seeing things or they ditched the white one. The log we looked at has every vehicle with clearances for this road recorded. No black vans were listed.”
“They’re a step above street thugs then. Military trained?” Gilly’s voice came clear but low in the soft tone he spoke in.
“Damn.” Oz wished he had better intel on the kidnappers. All they knew about the pair came from another kidnapping case. His sources gave him enough to go on and get the goddamn job done, but contained gaps he didn’t like.
“I’m moving in.” Oz took a flying leap onto the next crate and ran across a dozen more to get into position where he believed the van would stop. Their target, the only freighter docked, loomed up at the water’s edge. “Get ready with the thunder,” Oz instructed Gilly.
“Ready to party.”
On any other mission, Oz would have chuckled at his wingman’s enthusiasm, but all his focus centered on getting Rose in his sights—and then keeping her off that goddamn ship.
The van slowed to a stop and backed between two towers of crates.
“They’re going to unload her into one of those crates—”
The interference over the comms unit came a split second before the explosion. Oz took a running leap and hit the ground in a somersault. The peal of alarms filled the air, covering the thud of his footsteps as he hauled ass to the van.
Weapon in hand, he scanned the empty front seats. The guys were already out and getting Rose from the back.
In his ear, the comms unit crackled in and out. Gilly’s voice cut off several times, and he had no way of piecing together what his man said. From the corner of his eye, Oz caught movement from above.
He glanced up as a man fell from his high perch and hit the dock flat out. Oz’s heart slammed. Gilly.
His ward—Rose—waited feet away. But his promise to Gilly to defend him even in death took priority. He needed Oz now.
Torn, he had to make a choice. The wrench on his mind hurt, but he never dallied over a decision—he didn’t now.
Gilly could manage. Oz went for Rose. As he slipped through the darkness to the back of the van, he spotted the first man. Armed. The greasy black hair matched the photographs in Oz’s microchip he’d pulled up on his phone. When Oz locked an arm around his throat and jerked him off his feet at the same moment he delivered a lethal twist of his own body, he swiftly ended his life. Though he deserved a much more painful and torturous death, Oz didn’t have the time.
A high, muffled scream caused every hair on his body to stand on end. Christ, she sounded the same.
Oz moved in to the other man standing at the open back door. Low thumping noises like feet on metal alerted him to the fact Rose refused to come quietly. Another muffled scream and Oz went for it.
He grabbed the man by the shoulders and hauled him backward. His bulk and height fit with the description, meaning they might have switched vans but they hadn’t switched hired thugs.
When he whipped around and shoved the barrel of his weapon into the man’s forehead, Rose issued another scream from inside the van. Could she see everything that happened?
He pulled the trigger. The man collapsed, and a third came at Oz. As a fist struck him in the gut, he tensed his abs to keep the air from being knocked out of him. Whirling, he took control of the fight. The sun quickly sank and the lights came on, but the big crates left much of the dock in shadow.
“Ah! Ah!” Rose’s repetitive cries twisted a knife in his heart, but he couldn’t think of getting her to safety until he took down this motherfucker trying to deter him from getting to Rose.
Oz grabbed the man’s fist and flipped him, busting his arm and dislocating his shoulder in the same move. His body hit the dock hard, but the man didn’t have time to struggle for air before Oz finished him.
Breathing a bit faster, he threw out all his senses. He expected more men to move in…but one had taken out Gilly.
“Gilly, where are you?” From here, he couldn’t see the position where the man fell. As soon as he got Rose to safety, he’d return for his guard.
He approached the back of the van. Inside, the woman huddled, bound hand and foot, with a hood cloaking her head and duct tape around the outside and tightened around her mouth.
Jesus Christ.
“Those men who took you are gone. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Ahhhh!”
He reached in and put hands on her. Fuck, just touching her leg brought back a dozen memories from their night together. Eighteen years ago—a lifetime ago.
She kicked at him the best she could with her feet bound. A small cut on her leg bled a lot, but seemed to be congealed now. After a swift backward glance to ensure they were alone, he took out a knife and cut her bonds. With her hands and feet freed, she grappled at her head.