Blind Faith (38 page)

The senator shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why did I disappear?”

“Chances are the commander has figured out you’re double-crossing him, but even if not, he’d kill you

because you know too much about his organization,” Nate said slowly, his vision graying. “After this whole

fiasco, he’ll take Audrey and run before tying up any loose ends.” Where was Audrey?

The senator reached out to clutch the door frame with one gnarled hand. “You’re telling me the

commander would actually kill a U.S. senator and that I’m a loose end?”

“Without a hiccup,” Nate said. “I’m not sure about that PROTECT group, either. They might want you

dead.”

Shane typed more keys on the laptop. “I can create an identity for you, Senator. We can also make sure

a body is found that is identified as you, but you’ll have to stick with it.”

The senator ran a gnarled hand through his gray hair. “Okay. I’m staying with you guys. With Audrey. I

mean, a kid needs a grandparent, right?”

Nate stilled. He wasn’t adding to family here. “Um, one of the most powerful organizations in the world

wants us captured or they want us dead. Sticking with us is a bad idea.”

The senator smiled. “I’m glad we’re in agreement.” He swayed. “I guess I’ll go take a nap.” He shut the

door behind himself.

Nate shared an amused look with Matt.

“Let’s worry about him later.” Shane unrolled a map Nate had created of the compound. “We need to go

over this again. The plan sucks.”

“The plan really sucks,” Matt agreed without turning around.

Nate stalked over to study the map once again. “The plan is my only chance.” The clock was counting

down, and he had no good options. This was do or die, and the odds stank. Something in his chest hurt.

“I hate statistics, but the odds of you surviving this are not good,” Shane said, his gaze down, his

shoulders rigid. “We have to find a better way.”

“What would you do?” Nate asked softly, heat filling his head. “If the commander had Josie right now,

what would you do to get her back?”

“Anything.” Shane smoothed out the paper, a muscle in his jaw visibly tightening. “But that doesn’t

mean I like this. We should all go in at once.”

“No.” Giving the commander exactly what he wanted would be suicide for all of them. “I know I can’t

control either one of you, but this is the way it has to go down right now. You have Josie and Laney to

worry about.” Nate left fear in the dust and allowed the soldier inside him to take over. “And Jory. We have

to find out about Jory.”

A strangled groan rumbled up from Shane’s chest. “We will find him, and we’ll do the job without

sacrificing you.”

Nate fastened his brother’s arm and turned him. “My woman is in there, and so is my baby. I have to

go.” His entire life was being held hostage by the commander. He waited until Matt turned to face him. “If I

don’t make it, promise me—”

“You’ll fucking make it,” Matt growled, fury hardening his jaw. “That’s an order.”

Nate nodded, his throat closing. There were so many words he needed to say, so many in such a short

time. “Thank you both.” The multitude of words wouldn’t come, so he did his best. “For being my

brothers.”

Shane’s eyes darkened, and he yanked Nate close for a hug. “Shut up,” he muttered.

Nate hugged back, his heart aching. “You shut up.”

“Both of you shut up.” Matt clicked a clip into place. “We’re going with the plan, but we all survive it. I

trained you until my head nearly blew off my neck, and you’ll fucking remember every single session we

had. Remember who you are, what you can do, and who needs you.”

Nate swallowed, his shoulders going back. “I’ll remember.”

Matt threw him a weapon. “Take this.”

Nate tucked the Glock into the back of his waistband. “If you say so.”

“I do.” All soldier, Matt stalked forward to view the map. “I think you should go in this way.” He

pointed to an area heavily patrolled to the north. “They won’t expect it.”

Nate sighed. “Mattie, we have the plan they won’t expect, and that’s what we’re going with.” He

understood Matt’s need to protect him, but there wasn’t time for another debate. “You know what I can do,

and you know what you would do if Laney was in there.” Hell, Matt would lay siege to the place to get her

out. “Trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

Matt eyed him for a moment and then grabbed him for a quick hug. “Okay.” He let go and turned to

study the map again. “I guess we go with your plan.”

Good. Nate nodded. He needed his brothers on board. “We’re good to go.”

On the table, his phone rang the tune assigned to unknown numbers.

Nate swallowed and answered the call on speaker. “Yes.”

“Nathan! So good to find you, boy.” The commander’s voice had gotten even deeper in the last five

years, if that was possible. “It’s time to come home. Your woman and baby are here.”

Chapter 30

Audrey sat in the conference room and twirled the new box of prenatal vitamins across the table. Her

stomach hurt and her eyes burned from lack of sleep. She’d spent the night at the facility in a rather plush

room complete with attached bath, but sleep had eluded her. She needed to save Nate. Somehow. “Mother,

I’ve never asked you for anything.”

Isobel glanced up from a stack of papers, her brow wrinkling. “Why would you? I gave you life.”

“Thanks for that.” Audrey reached over and clasped her mother’s chilly hand. “I’m asking you for help

now. Please help me save Nathan—help me get out of here.” The genuine plea came from her heart and

asked for more than just help. She wanted to add a request for Isobel to care.

Isobel tilted her head to the side. “I’d think you’d want Nathan to come be with you. This is the best

course for everybody.”

“No.” Audrey tightened her hold. “The best course is for me to leave with Nathan and give this baby a

chance for a normal life. He’s your grandson. Don’t you want that for him?” So much need roared through

her that Audrey’s hands trembled. Even if Isobel didn’t care enough about Audrey to give her freedom,

maybe she’d care enough about a grandson. Sometimes bad parents made good grandparents, right?

Isobel frowned. “But the boy will be special. We need to study him, to make sure he trains in the correct

manner. Just think how powerful he’ll be and what an asset he’ll become to Franklin.”

Ah, Franklin. So Isobel cared about the baby because of what he might do for the organization, and not

as a grandson. In that second, Audrey let go of any childhood dream she’d harbored of her and her mother

finding a common ground. A relationship. Resignation and a sad wisdom filled her. “You love the wrong

man, Mother.”

“I most certainly do not.” Red slid over Isobel’s porcelain skin. “How ridiculous.”

“You do.” Audrey gentled her voice. “Mother, the commander is a sociopath. He’s incapable of loving

anyone or feeling anything. You know that.”

Isobel freed her arm. “I do know that he’s unencumbered by emotion or weakness. He’s invincible.”

“Nobody is invincible.” Sorrow and sympathy softened Audrey’s tone. “You’ve said all these years that

you experimented in the name of science.” Which was somewhat true, definitely. But Isobel’s motivation

was stronger than just the quest for answers. “I’ve known that your love for that man has colored

everything you’ve done.” Including sacrificing her own daughter’s happiness and health.

“My entire life is dedicated to science.” Isobel patted Audrey’s hand as a commotion set up outside the

compound. “Let’s go see what’s happening.” Holding her tablet to her chest, she led the way from the

room.

Audrey’s shoulders slumped, and she pushed up from the chair. She followed her mother, her heart

hurting, her leg hitching as she tried to keep up. She walked outside into the drizzly rain and gasped. Armed

soldiers lined the area, guns all pointed at a van pulling up. One of the commander’s vans.

The door opened, and Nathan Dean stepped to the ground.

Guns cocked all around them.

His hands held harmlessly at his sides, he stalked forward, wearing only faded jeans and a ripped T-

shirt.

A soldier jumped out of the van behind Nate. “He’s not armed, and we searched him for visual or audio

devices. There are none.”

The commander took strong, measured steps from the building to stand before Nate. “You came in the

front door,” he said, frowning.

Nate cocked an eyebrow. “You invited me.”

Audrey measured the two men. The commander had always seemed too large to be real, but now, in the

murky rain, she realized Nate stood at least two inches taller. Maybe three. His chest stretched wider, and his

muscles cut a sharper image. “My boyfriend can beat up yours,” she whispered to her mother.

“What?” Isobel asked, her gaze wide on the action.

“Nothing.” Audrey fought down instant panic at the sheer number of guns pointed at Nate.

Nathan’s body didn’t move, but his head tilted just enough that he could meet her gaze. “What the hell

happened to your face?” he asked quietly. Too quietly.

She gingerly touched her still-aching cheekbone. “Rough night. Before I arrived here.”

The commander glanced at her over his shoulder before turning back to Nathan. “I wouldn’t hit a

woman, as you know. Anybody who harmed her is now dead, I assure you.”

“That’s nice to hear.” Nathan glanced at the myriad of guns pointed at him. “This is overkill, don’t you

think?”

“Maybe.” The commander’s stance widened. “When is the surprise attack coming from your brothers?”

Nate smiled, challenge filling his eyes. “They’re not coming.”

“Bullshit.” The commander stepped toward Nate in an intimidating move. “They wouldn’t let you come

in here by yourself. That much I know.”

Nate didn’t look intimidated in the slightest. He looked… triumphant. “That’s true. If they’d known I

was coming here, they would’ve either tried to stop me or they would’ve joined me. But. I. Didn’t. Tell.

Them.” He kept the commander’s gaze, sardonic humor twisting his lip.

“The kill chips will end them,” the commander said.

Nate’s smile widened, and he shook his head. “We have the computer program and can hack the

codes.”

“You do not,” the commander scoffed.

Nate held out his hands and then gingerly reached into his back pocket.

Soldiers tensed on either side of him.

He sighed and extracted a piece of paper to hand to the commander. “The program.”

A deep red flushed across the commander’s cheekbones. “Where did you get this?”

“Who cares? We have it.” Nate’s lids half lowered, and his smile disappeared. “You lose.”

The commander took a deep breath and crumpled up the paper. “Do I?” He smiled. “I have you, and I

have your progeny. That’s a win, as far as I’m concerned.”

Nate shrugged. “I have mere weeks to live.”

“I can fix that.” The commander turned and nodded at Isobel. “Please post on all crucial Internet sites

that we have Nate Dean, and his brothers have one day to show up and save him or I’ll cut him up to study

for years.”

Isobel nodded, already moving for the door. “Standard encryption and multiple codes?”

“Yes. We don’t want anybody but the brothers to know we have Nate.” The commander clasped his

hands behind his back as Isobel disappeared into the building. “Do you think they’ll discover the message

before I torture you enough to find their location?”

Nate shrugged. “Why don’t we find out?”

Audrey’s knees weakened. Torture?

The commander gestured for Nate to turn around.

Nate lifted his chin, amusement lighting his eyes before he complied, hands behind his back. “Afraid of

me, Commander?”

“No, but I trained you and know what you’re capable of.” The commander nodded to a soldier

hovering by the building to come forward.

“You have no clue what I’m capable of,” Nate said softly.

The soldier held restraints and approached gingerly, looking ready to sprint away at any second. After

he’d wound Nate’s wrists tight with chained-together cuffs, he bent and followed suit with Nate’s ankles.

Then he slowly backed away.

When Nate pivoted back around, he looked… bored.

This was all so wrong. Audrey took in the soldiers, trying to make sense of how everybody could be so

wrong. They looked… scared. Very alert. She shook her head. Why would they be frightened of Nate?

“Nathan’s the good guy.” Her voice sounded shrill, even to her ears.

Nobody looked her way. They all kept their focus on Nate.

Why wasn’t the world exploding? Where were Shane and Matt? Audrey swallowed. They had to be

coming, right? But only the sound of rain falling on concrete filled the air.

The commander smiled. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

* * *

on an examination table in a lab. Thick cuffs secured his wrists to a post behind his ass, which wasn’t

helping his broken ribs in the slightest. He’d spent his first hour having blood drawn and medical tests