Page 71 of Protecting Bree
Kevlar, Smiley, and Blink were supposed to be sleepingso they could trade off with the rest of the team when their watch ended, but none of them were even close to feeling sleepy. The part of the city where the port was located was one of those places the State Department—and anyone with half a brain in their head—would warn Americans against visiting, or even traveling through.
It was poor, and violence had taken a firm hold. Every twenty minutes or so, the sound of gunfire could be heard through the thin walls of the room they were in just a few blocks away from the port entrance. Every so often, they could hear screams and even the occasional explosion. Smiley had seen several children as they made their way back and forth to the rundown building that called itself a motel, and their condition made him incredibly sad. All they’d ever known was poverty. Life wasn’t fair, that was for sure.
The sound of Kevlar’s phone ringing seemed loud in the otherwise silent room. None of them were talking. There was no idle chitchat going on. All three men were lost in their heads, thinking about the upcoming search and what they could do to make it successful.
“Kevlar here. Yeah, okay, let me put you on speaker. Okay, go ahead.”
“As I said, my name is Rex. I’m in charge of the Mountain Mercenaries out of Colorado. Tex tells me you and your team are in Ecuador hunting a man named Mateo Castillo?”
“Yes. He kidnapped Smiley’s woman. Had been after her for a while now. Bought her from her ex out of Las Vegas.”
“Vegas. Figures. That was del Rio’s favorite huntingground. Tex also said that Castillo has, for all intents and purposes, taken over del Rio’s operation, moved it to Ecuador. Is that right?”
“From what we understand, that’s correct,” Kevlar told him.
“Motherfucker. Right. Okay, I’m going to tell you what I know about how del Rio did things. How his operation was set up. The schedule of the guards, how the women were kept and where. Everything I can. Hopefully, you’ll be able to use the intel to take this Castillo fucker down once and for all. You need to send a message that if anyone tries to pick up where he left off after his balls are cut off and shoved down his throat, the same thing will happen to them, no matterwhathole they crawl into to try to hide.”
Smiley approved of Rex’s barely held-in-check violence. His hatred for anyone who worked in the sex trade came through loud and clear. And why wouldn’t it? His wife had been held captive and tortured for years.
An hour later, Smiley was sick to his stomach, and his sense of urgency to find and kill Castillo was higher than ever.
But he also had a better understanding of the business side of the sex trade. How customers were contacted, how they paid, where the money went, things like that. Tex and the women he was working with were surely following the money trail right that moment. They’d want to catch as many men as they could who were using Castillo’s services and buying women from him, as well as finding Bree.
At the moment, all Smiley could think of was his woman. Yes, he cared about the others who might be under Castillo’s thumb, but he was desperate to preventhis Bree from spending even one more second than necessary as a captive.
Rex had offered the services of his mercenaries, but Kevlar declined. As it was, they were conspicuous enough. Adding six more large men to their group would make it almost impossible for the government and the police to overlook their presence.
By the time Kevlar said goodbye to Rex, Smiley was keyed up. He wanted to go back to the port right that moment. Needed to do something other than sit around and worry and imagine all the bad things that might be happening to the woman he loved.
Without a word to the others, Kevlar’s fingers tapped on the screen of his phone. Then he looked up and said, “Our turn.”
Thank fuck.
Glad his team leader was on the same page as he was, Smiley stood. Making sure his weapons were still secure, he strode toward the door, more determined than ever to find the boat Bree was on and liberate her from the men dumb enough to make their living kidnapping innocent women.
And if one hair on her head was harmed…so help those men. Their deaths would be long and painful instead of quick and humane. He needed them to hurt as much as he was right now. As much as they’d made Bree suffer.
Bree didn’t think she’d ever feel normal again. She’d been sick for so long, she could barely see straight…or maybe that was because her eye was still swollen shut. And her ribs hurt like crazy; dry heaving wasn’t the best thing for a cracked rib.
But thankfully, it had been at least a day since she’d last puked, and she’d been able to keep down the water and crackers she’d been given. She was still hungry, but she could practically feel her cells soaking up the water as she drank tiny sips.
She still felt a little green, and was still in pain from the beating she’d received, but as the boat slowed, and as she saw lights twinkling from the small porthole in the side of the vessel, her heart began to beat faster.
They were here.
Whereherewas, she had no idea. No, that wasn’t true. She assumed they were finally in Ecuador. But she didn’t know exactly where in the country. Regardless, her only chance to evade the hell Castillo had planned for her was to escape before she arrived at his compound.
From what she understood from her captors, that compound was in the Amazon jungle. Far from civilization. Men…customers…flew into the nearest city under the guise of taking a vacation or some such bullshit. Then they were escorted to the compound, where they could indulge in all the sex they wanted—for a price. The more they paid, the more they were free to do with the women.
It was disgusting and vile, and scary as hell. Even though the man she’d killed had said that she was to be a reward for the workers at the compound, and not the paying customers, it didn’t make her feel any better. It almost felt worse to Bree.
Hell, who was she kidding? It was all bad. Terrible. Awful. Horrifying.
She had to figure out how to get away before they arrived in the jungle. Because she wasnota jungle girl. Bugs freaked her out. And snakes? Nope ropes? Forget about it.
The men were busy on the deck, readying the boat to dock, and Bree frantically looked around for anything that might help her. The men would have to remove her from the cage, because she could tell it was permanently attached to the floor of the boat. There were bolts holding the bottom down so it wouldn’t slide across the floor in rough seas.
That would work in her favor. As long as they didn’t bring inanothercage to put her in, before taking her off the boat.
