“We’ll enter over the eastern wall,” Aidan said, his eyes on the document in the center of the Blue Halo conference room table.
Cassie had drawn a diagram of the compound as best she could. It was rough, but it would have to be enough.
Cassie leaned forward. “Since it’s at the back of the compound, and faces the backs of several buildings, they put fewer guards there. They assume the wall is enough.”
And the wall would be enough. For normal men.
They still weren’t alerting law enforcement of their plans. By the time Detective Shaw had authority to raid the compound, it might be too late for Damien. Hell, it might be too late already.
He couldn’t think about that. It would hurt Cassie too much to see Damien gone. If he was there, and alive, they’d find him. But it needed to be a simple extraction. Something they’d all done plenty during their time in the military.
Cassie sat beside him, with Callum, Jason, Logan, Flynn and Tyler also at the table. Tyler would be staying home with Cassie during the op, but the man was still part of the planning process. Blake and Liam were still in Salt Lake City, watching the compound.
Cassie nibbled her bottom lip. She was nervous. In fact, she’d gotten progressively more nervous throughout the meeting. When her fingernails dug into her thigh, Aidan reached over and set a hand on top of hers. “What is it?”
There was a beat of silence before she answered. “I was relieved when you told me about your plans to search the compound for Damien, and so grateful. But…there are cameras and guards everywhere. Elijah will already be furious that the contractors failed and the attention it’s brought to him, even if there’s nothing to prove he hired them. What if something happens?”
“Nothing will happen.”
Her lips thinned. “What do you think he’ll do when he sees you on camera?”
“We’re going to hack into the system while we’re in there,” Callum said.
Her foot started a rapid tap on the floor. “Then he’ll definitely know it’s you.”
“Good,” Aidan said quietly. Her eyes flashed up at him. “The man sent people for you—twice. I want him to know it’s me breaching his security. I want him to be painfully aware of who and what he’s up against.”
Because the man wouldn’t win. And the sooner he figured that shit out, the better.
For a moment, she just watched him, an array of emotions flickering through her eyes. Then she sighed. “Okay. I trust you.”
“Good.” He squeezed her thigh.
She turned back to the diagram. “Saturday evening’s probably the best time to go. Everyone in the compound does Bible study at the church, which is on the western side of the compound.”
“And you think Damien is being held in the Great Hall?” Liam asked. According to Cassie, that’s what members called the main building.
He heard the small elevation in her heart rate. She hated thinking about Damien being held there against his will. His fingers tightened around hers.
“Yes. There’s a basement that runs the length of the meeting area,” she said. “No one’s allowed down there except for Elijah and his brothers. I’ve always suspected that bad things happen in that basement.”
“If he’s keeping Damien in the basement, he’ll probably have the door guarded,” Blake said.
Aidan stroked the back of Cassie’s hand. “We’ll knock them out but won’t kill anyone unless necessary.” He got several nods in return.
“I wonder…” Cassie paused.
When she looked at him, his stomach dipped, because he just knew he wasn’t going to like what she said next.
“We still need Olive. I could go with you, talk to her one last time. Beg her for her testimony and evidence.”
“No. Cassie, we’ve discussed this.”
“We never actually finished the conversation.”
Oh, they’d finished it. He didn’t want Cassie anywhere near the place. “It would be too dangerous for you to come.”
She cast pleading eyes on him. “Aidan—”
“There’s also every chance that if Olive sees us, she’ll alert others that we’re there,” he pressed. He didn’t know this woman. He didn’t want anyone in the organization seeing them. It was too much of a risk.
Cassie shook her head. “She wouldn’t.”
“She might,” Aidan said quietly.
Tyler cleared his throat. “If we get Damien out of there and he can tell the police what happened to him, his experience will be evidence for a warrant.”
Cassie’s brows tugged together, but she eventually nodded.
She knew they were right, but he knew that she was desperate. Desperate to get Elijah locked up and her sister away from him. Desperate for him to go to jail, not just for kidnapping, but for murder and rape.
Distant tapping of feet on the stairs sounded, then the door to the Blue Halo office opening.
Based on the footfalls, four women had entered the building, and he already knew exactly who they were. A few seconds later, there was a knock on the door.
Jason grinned. “Come in.”
The door slid open. Courtney was the first through. She held a tray of coffees in her hand and went straight over to Jason. He pushed his chair back, and she slid onto his lap.
Grace was next. Logan rose and took the woman into his arms.
Carina, Flynn’s partner, entered the room, closely followed by Willow, Blake’s woman. Both of them set more coffees onto the table, as well as cake.
“And what are you all doing here?” Tyler asked, leaning back in his chair. There was a smirk on his face because he already knew. They all did.
The women wanted to meet the infamous Cassie.
“Thought we’d bring you guys some treats,” Courtney said, before looking at Cassie. “Hi, I’m Courtney. This is Willow, Grace, and Carina.”
The women exchanged hellos.
“So…” Grace’s eyes flashed to Aidan. “Any chance you boys are finished with Cassie?”
Aidan shook his head with a sigh. “If she wants to go with you, she’s all yours.”
Cassie’s brows rose. “Uh…sure?”
She stood, and the women began to filter out of the room. Before Cassie left, she leaned down, pressing her lips to his ear. “The conversation about me going isn’t over.”
Then she was gone.
Cassie sipped her coffee in the reception area of Blue Halo. It was good. Really good. And God, she needed it.
The four women sat around her. They’d spent the last ten minutes telling her everything there was to know about Cradle Mountain. So far, she’d learned that Courtney owned the coffee shop down the street, Grace was a therapist, Willow was finishing a teaching degree, and Carina worked as an in-home nurse for Flynn’s mother. Oh, and they were all dating men from Blue Halo Security.
So far, the women seemed great. Funny. Kind. Friendly.
Courtney leaned forward. “So, enough about us. Tell me—what’s going on with you and Aidan?”
“Courtney.” Grace sighed before turning to Cassie. “You don’t have to tell us anything. You’ve just met us.”
Courtney frowned. “What are you talking about? We just told her our life stories. I’d say she knows us pretty well.”
Cassie laughed. Yeah, she definitely liked these women. “Aidan and I are…back together.”
There was an array of gasps and squeals.
“But aren’t you married?” Carina asked. The question was gentle, but there was genuine confusion there. Which was fair.
“I am, but the marriage has only ever been on paper. My husband and I are best friends, and we married as a way to get each other out of a bad situation. In fact, he’s been kind of seeing someone else.” You couldn’t really call it dating when they’d never gone on a date. But they loved each other.
Her heart hurt for Dean. The man was sick with worry. She’d called him again that morning, just to check in, and he wasn’t doing well. She could hear it in his voice.
She wasn’t sure if the women had been told about Paragons of Hope and Elijah and the compound, but it was probably a bit much to share her entire messy life story on a first meeting.
“Damien’s actually missing.” Now why had she gone and said that?
When the women’s brows rose, she continued. “That’s what the team’s doing right now. Planning an extraction.”
“How does Aidan feel about Damien?” Willow asked.
“He’s been really great about it since I told him everything. Aidan knows I love him. He also knows I love Damien as a friend, and that I need him to be okay.”
“He missed you so much,” Grace said.
Courtney nodded. “Anytime the guys brought up your name, his entire face would change and he would kind of just…shut down. Like it hurt too much to think about you.”
Cassie sucked in a sharp breath. Those words were like an arrow to her chest. “I hate that. I wanted to come to him, but I was being watched. And I was so close to…”
Courtney was the one to finish for her. “Shutting down Paragons of Hope?”
Yep. Their men had told them. “You know.”
Carina lifted a shoulder. “We weaseled the information out of them.”
Grace’s voice lowered. “How’s your sister?”
Even the thought of Mia made her heart hurt. “I asked her to come with me. She chose to stay.” That pretty much summed it up.
For a beat, the women were silent. Did they hear the pain in her voice?
“At the start, it was only about getting Mia out,” Cassie continued. “I just knew she wasn’t safe there. Then I learned the extent of what was going on. It was so much worse than I thought. Now it’s become a personal mission to make sure Elijah goes away for a long time so he can’t hurt anyone else.”
Willow reached over and squeezed her hand. “The guys specialize in protecting good people and taking down bad ones. If anyone can do it, it’s them.”
She was just nodding when Aidan stepped out of the hallway. At the solemn look on his face, her gut clenched. “What is it?”
“Mia’s on the phone.”
She shot to her feet. “What?”
“She just called through the Blue Halo line.”
She moved forward. Aidan’s arm slipped around her waist as he led her back to the conference room. Why was her sister calling? Where from? Did she want out? Was she calling because she needed help?
The second she stepped into the room, Callum handed her the phone. It wasn’t on speaker, but she knew all the men would hear Mia clearly.
“Mia?”
A sigh gusted over the line. “Cass! Are you okay?”
Oh God, hearing her sister’s voice… It was everything. “I’m okay. Are you?”
“Yes.” There was hesitation in Mia’s voice, and it had Cassie’s stomach churning anew.
“What is it, Mia?”
“I’ve been so worried since the other night. I know you were going through a lot, and that’s why you thought you had to leave. But I want you to come home now. Not home, to your house. Come here. To me. You’ll be protected at the compound.”
Cassie frowned. “What?”
“Elijah told me you were attacked at some gas station. And then a hospital? He’s so stressed,” Mia continued. “And the police were here!”
Hurt and disbelief were like razor blades on Cassie’s insides. Her sister hadn’t called because she wanted out. She’d called because she wanted Cassie back in. After everything she’d told her…it still shocked her to the core that Mia refused to believe her.
“You’ll be safe here. I swear.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yes, I was attacked, Mia. But I think you already know what I’m going to say. Elijah sent those men—”
“No,” Mia interrupted. “If he sent men, it was to save you. To bring you home because he’s worried sick!”
Cassie closed her eyes. Aidan touched her back. “Elijah hired professionals to forcibly kidnap me while I was with Aidan. The guy threw me into the back of his van, tied me up, and would have brought me back to Elijah against my will while basically confirming that the person who hired him, Elijah, was going to kill me!”
He hadn’t said Elijah’s name, but she knew it was him.
“No—”
“He also sent men to snatch me from the hospital.” Anger and frustration weaved their way through her veins. “He’s not a good man, Mia. I’m never returning to that place.”
Mia’s voice lowered. “None of that’s true, Cassie. It can’t be. Elijah loves you. You’re like a daughter to him. Please…at least retract what you said to the police about suspecting he sent those men. You’re ruining his good name!”
Her breath caught. Who was this woman? It wasn’t the sister she thought she knew.
“No. He doesn’t love me. And I’m not retracting anything. You’re making the wrong choice, Mia.”
Cassie hung up. She didn’t want to hear anything else her sister had to say.
She loved Mia. She’d always love her. But right now, her sister’s belief in that vile man cut so deep, she couldn’t bear to hear another word.
