Unbound (Forbidden Bond Book 1)(44)

They left without Kayden and were at the Enclave in no time. During the  car ride over, the commander activated a Wrath team and had them prepare  to move out. The Wrath was an elite group of warriors trained to deal  with the more dangerous situations that faced the vampire kind. If the  warriors were like a cross between the police and the military, the  Wrath was a cross between the human Navy SEALs and a police SWAT team.  They were a deadly force. From what Koren told her, Dani got the  impression nobody wanted to have the Wrath come down on him or her.         

     



 

Dani concentrated on gathering every detail she could from Christopher,  while his voice faded in and out. Christopher had no telepathic ability  and hers was too new to her to be very reliable. She repeated everything  Christopher told her so that Gage could hear, and Koren wrote it down  on the back of an envelope she found in her purse.

The Enclave was a buzz of activity, and Dani absorbed it all in silence  while she spoke to Christopher. When she finally focused on the  commander's directions she realized she was going to be left behind  while they took her notes and searched the area near the wharf that they  believed matched Christopher's description. Oh hell no!

"All due respect, sir, but I'm going with you. I can't stay here and  wait." She stepped into the commander's path with her hands lodged  firmly on her hips. She would not stay behind. The room grew quiet and  the men waited for the commander's response to her dictate.

"Look, Danielle, I commend your effort to help retrieve our victim, but  you have no training. You would be a liability to our mission," he  explained kindly and patted her on the shoulder. He tried to step around  her but she blocked him again.

"In my admittedly limited experience, the closer to a person I am the  better the, for the lack of a better word, reception, is for me. I may  be able to lead you directly to him without the need to search each and  every building in the area. Doesn't it make more sense to take me along  for that reason? We don't have time to waste." She held his stare while  he considered her reasoning. Finally he shook his head and reached  around her for a flak jacket. He handed it to her, looking grave. Koren  gasped.

"I agree that we need to find him as quickly as possible. Let's get you  geared up. You can go on the terms that you remain in the vehicle at all  times and do exactly what I tell you when I tell you to do it. Is that  understood?" he asked her firmly. Christ, the man was scary as hell when  he was in warrior mode. It was hard to believe this was the same male  who spoke so gently to his mate.

"Yes, sir. I understand." She backed up.

"Have someone get us the smallest fatigues we have," he shouted and  looked her over. He shook his head and muttered as he walked away,  "They'll still be too big."

"I just tried to reach Kayden again," Koren told her, looking concerned.  "Maybe you can try to reach him telepathically," she suggested.

"I thought of that too, Mrs. Paris. I'm afraid if I try it I'll lose my  link to Christopher. I just don't understand it, or have enough practice  to know if I can reach two people at once yet. It's too risky to  experiment right now."

"Please call me Koren. No need for formality." She smiled gently. "I  agree. You shouldn't take the chance of losing Christopher." Koren's  eyes filled with tears. "If anything ever happened to my son." Her voice  cracked. "I just can't imagine what the Staffords are going through."



Dani held on tightly as the truck sped through town toward the  waterfront. When they reached the area where she believed they would  find Christopher, the teams slowed to let her concentrate. "I can feel  him, Gage. We're close. This is it! Christopher is in this building!"  Dani pointed to an abandoned warehouse by the docks.

"Are you sure? Maybe we should circle the area again." Gage surveyed the street and surrounding buildings.

"I can't explain it. But I know he's here, and something is going on in  there. He needs us now!" she shouted and tried to get the door open  while the truck was still rolling.

The Wrath warrior named Garrett grabbed her around the waist and planted  her back in the seat. His partner, Troy, rolled his eyes in annoyance  and gave her a look that promised consequences should she try it again.  The truck she rode in carried a standard six-man Wrath team, plus she  and Gage, who drove. Two other teams followed in separate vehicles.

Most of the warriors were wary of having a civilian female on a strike,  but Garrett and Troy seemed to have adopted Dani as a little sister.  They taught her how to gear up properly in her flak jacket and thigh  holster. While the rest of the teams gathered, they'd taken her into the  firing range for a quick lesson. Good thing, considering she'd never  held a gun before, and she wasn't sure she could pull the trigger on a  person.

"You're staying here. We'll handle this. You stay out of sight in the  truck. Do you understand? I have never lost a person in my charge, and  I'm not going to start today." Gage telegraphed his insistence with his  eyes in the rearview mirror.         

     



 

"Yes, sir." She sagged back into the seat, defeated. Dani wanted to go  in. She wanted to help find Christopher, not sit there like a scared  little girl, but she'd promised to stay in the truck. She'd done all she  could to help find him.

All the warriors entered the building as a fierce unit that she hoped  would never come looking for her. Every one of the large men was a  nightmare in black. The truck sat parked on the corner at an angle that  allowed her to see two sides of the building. Not thirty seconds after  the team disappeared into the building, a door on the other side opened,  and three men emerged. Two men dragged a guy with his arms and legs  bound. A beat-up dark gray sedan sped around the corner and stopped just  long enough for everyone to get in.

"Shit! They're getting away." The car sped past the rear of the truck,  and she knew she couldn't sit there and wait. If she lost him, they  wouldn't find him again. Dani jumped behind the wheel and forced the  truck into reverse to go after Christopher. Trying to keep the wheel  steady at a rate of speed she'd never think of driving on the street,  Dani grabbed the comm unit that was left in the truck and called Gage.

"This is Dani. Can anybody hear me?" It seemed like the voices of every  male on the mission came back at once. "Christopher was brought out a  side door, and they're moving out fast in a car. I'm following them in  the truck," she said, spitting out the names of the cross streets she  passed. She had to catch them before they got out of the industrial  area. It would be impossible to drive like this when they were in  civilian traffic.

Gage came over the radio. "Stand down! Stand down! Do not pursue! We're heading out!"

She ignored him, dropping the device. The bad guys drove toward the  water. She knew they would have to circle back on the only other street  that came away from the water. When the bad guys turned up ahead before  they hit the water, she turned down a narrow alley between two  buildings, racing to block their escape. She asked Christopher how many  streets they passed before turning. His answer came loud and clear. Dani  sent a fierce mental command for Christopher to brace himself for a  collision, and she wished that she'd put on a seatbelt. It was going to  be close. They hit the intersection at the same time, and the getaway  car plowed into the front driver's side of Dani's truck. She flew  forward, cracking her head on the windshield and banging her  still-aching ribs against the steering wheel. It took her a minute to  shake off the impact.

Two of the bad guys tried to get Christopher out of the car, and he  fought them. The third slumped in the front seat. She felt the blood  running down her face and the knot on her head, but she had to get out  of the truck. Dani put all she had into a telepathic command to STOP!  The abductors froze in place. "Move away from the car," she told them,  and they both backed up and stared dumbly into the distance.

Cautiously, she crept over to free Christopher from the car. Thank God,  he'd been wearing a seatbelt and wasn't injured badly. She would never  have forgiven herself if her stunt had killed him. With the men disabled  and Christopher out of the car, Dani grabbed the knife holstered along  with the gun Gage had given her and cut the tape from his hands and  feet. They supported each other, staggering back to the truck. She tried  to back the truck out of the tangle of metal and shattered glass when  another strike vehicle pulled up behind them. The Wrath jumped out with  their guns drawn, ready for a fight. The last thing she remembered was  leaning against Christopher in the front seat, while he thanked her and  tried to get a look at her injuries.



After all that, she just wanted to sleep, and the annoying, constant  beeping wouldn't stop. Her head felt like she'd cracked it against a  windshield. Oh yeah, she had cracked it against a windshield. Slowly,  she pried her eyes open to find Mrs. Paris holding her hand. Kayden's  mom ran out to the hall and called for help. The beeping that had woken  her was a heart monitor. Mrs. Paris came back with a big smile and  kissed Dani's cheek.