“I know. We’re going to see about getting him some help. For now, I want you to focus on me, okay?”
She tried to muffle a sob and sniffled when she shook her head. “I’m scared.”
“I know, baby, but you’re going to be okay. I promise.”
“They have him. They have Cash. He said if I don’t do what they said, they were going to…” Ivy lost all composure, and her emotions took over.
“Shh. Shh. It’s okay. They aren’t going to hurt him. We’re getting him. He’s here, he has to be, or they wouldn’t have done all this. He’s coming home with us today, okay?”
She shook her head again. “O-okay.”
“I need you to take deep breaths. See the guys over there with those stick looking things? They’re searching for it. If there’s a bomb in here, we’ll find it and fast.”
“Okay. He said if I move, it’ll go off.”
Wylie looked at Dace. “There isn’t a pressure plate anywhere or a single wire attached to this booth.”
“You think he was full of shit and trying to scare her into compliance?”
“We’ve done it, so why not?”
“It’s clear.” Luke was their ballistic and explosives guy. This was his specialty, and he was so good, the guys teased that he could smell the explosives himself. “There’s nothing in here. They’re just preying on her fear to stall us.”
Dace nodded before turning back to Ivy. “I want you to turn your legs out toward me. Good. That’s good. I want you to put this helmet on, okay? Good. We’re almost done. Now on the count of three, I’m going to pull you to me, and we’re going to roll really fast to your right. Are you with me?”
The rest of the team had left the building and cleared the staff, bringing them to safety. Luke remained at Dace’s side with a large shield-like device to his side.
When Dace counted down, he pulled Ivy before he got to two, catching her off guard so she wouldn’t be rigid and put herself in harm’s way. When they rolled, Luke put the shield up and stood in front of them. Nothing happened. No explosion. No bomb.
“I had a feeling. The last thing they want to do is blow shit up and draw any attention. Let’s get a bomb unit out here for a more thorough sweep, just in case.”
“Already on it,” Luke said as he headed toward the vehicles, giving Dace and Ivy a moment together.
“I have to go get our son, but I’m not leaving you alone.” He looked out the window as another vehicle pulled up, and Eva stepped out, waiting. “She’s here for you. I want you to go with her and do everything she says. Everything. If she says you need to leave, go. If she says you need to leave the country, go. I’ll come get you wherever you are, Ivy. I’ll always come for you.”
Dace comforted her when she fell into his arms and cried. He wanted to cry with her.
“Let’s go,” he said, gently brushing her hair behind her ears as he often did. “I promised you I’d never let anything happen to you, and I’d protect you and Cash. I’m making good on that. And I… I love you. Okay? I love you so much it hurts. When this is all over, we’re fixing things. We’re going to fix all this and be a family because I love you, and I love that kid, and I haven’t even met him yet.” He chuckled. “I don’t know how, but I do.”
Ivy leaned in and kissed Dace hard as the tears streamed down her face, and her body shook with emotion. “I love you too. Come back to me. Get him, and you come back to me.”
Dace walked Ivy to Eva’s waiting car, giving her one last kiss before he closed the door, and they sped off.
“Time to get my son.”
CHAPTER 33
“They’ve been using the technology we designed this whole time against us,” Liam said. “Kimble and this club. It’s like working against our biggest enemy…us.”
“We have our work cut out for us then. Maybe we go offline and go back to the days before we had all this shit. Run on instincts?”
“We need to do something because another convoy is coming in from the other side,” Wylie reported. “It’s gotta be the load they’re here for. Get in position.”
“There’s nothing on that truck. Look at it move. He’s fast, and with every bump, the trailer hops,” Carter said. “It’s a decoy. They’re putting up smoke and mirrors here.”
“The team at the port has activity. We need to get down there,” Wylie said. “Kimble just arrived with a truck behind him.”
“You called it, Landry.”
“I still need whoever is on the empty rig. He’s a player if he’s here,” Carter said.
“We’ll put the backup team on him. We just need to follow him. Grab him later,” Dace ordered. “Let’s move down to the shore and move in on the docks.”
Liam pecked at a small handheld device. “They’ve cleared the port. I only show one ship and a couple of small fishing boats.”
“Wylie, get them to move in on those small vessels and secure them. Detain anyone, civilian or otherwise. We need to eliminate any eyes on the port, so get coverage up on the knoll too to cover.”
“On it,” Wylie responded. “Let’s move in.”
“I’m running facial rec from body cams,” Liam said through the comms. “The AI I’m using is learning as we go, but so far, it’s matching dots for us, and you’re not going to believe this, Dace.”
“I’d believe almost anything at the moment.”
The team moved into position, taking to the rooftops behind barriers of any kind to provide support, while the rest of the team mobilized, waiting for their signal to move in on foot.
“We have hits on guys from the port side and guys with Kimble. They’re all affiliated.”
“So either the cartel's militia has divided alliances, or they’re double-dipping and playing both sides. Interesting.”
“I’d say we have a mastermind playing all sides here,” Carter said, looking at the scene through binoculars. “A lot of tension down there, and Kimble looks stressed.”
“He’s watching the containers,” Dace said right as David Kimble made eye contact with him. “Son of a bitch. He knows we’re here. He’s looking right at us.”
“You were right. He wanted us to come after him,” Wylie said. “He wasn’t pinning this on Ivy or Eli. He was getting our attention.”
Luke came through the comms. “That thing at the diner was an exchange. They used Ivy to get him here. Why?”
“Because he’s here. Cash is here. He’s on the boat,” Dace said. “They used him to get Ivy here and used her to get Kimble here. They’re holding his whole life hostage, and that’s why he brought us here.”
Just as David Kimble dipped a subtle nod at Dace and turned his attention to the containers being loaded on the ship again, a shot rang out. David was hit and fell immediately to the ground.
“Where did that shot come from?” Dace yelled over the sound of gunfire being exchanged between the men on the dock and a source unknown.