"Yeah, we"ve got it." Cole stared hard into Todd"s eyes to let him know how he felt about the situation.
Zack waited as Cole and Todd came to an understanding of sorts then was out of the car as soon as the locks clicked. They fol owed Todd over to where the command post had been set up.
"Where is the house?" Cole demanded.
"It"s one street over directly behind the one we"re in front of," Harry told them. "He"s got al the windows papered so we can"t see inside to know what is going on."
"Why aren"t you moving in?" Zack asked.
"We were waiting on more intel. We have someone going door-to-door asking about his place to see if anyone has ever been inside. We need to know more of what to expect going in or we"l run the risk of getting her kil ed." Harry put his hand to his ear and turned away.
"I don"t like just sitting here," Zack said in a growly voice. "He could be hurting her or kil ing her while we"re standing around with our thumbs up our a.s.ses."
Harry walked back over. "Okay, we got as much information as we"re going to get. They know the general layout of the house and are about to go in. I want you two to stay out of the way until they give the al clear. Do you understand?"
"Right," Cole said.
Zack only nodded his head.
Cole had no plans of causing a problem that could get Tina kil ed. He"d be ready to take care of her when it was al over, though. He and Zack would make everything okay for her somehow.
Zack"s eyes were cold and hard when Cole looked over at him. He was expecting the worst. That was usual y Cole"s take on things. This time, though, he expected everything to work out. He didn"t know what he would do if she were gone.
Both men jumped when they heard a m.u.f.fled explosion. Then there was gunfire, and both men took off running for the house despite Todd"s warning.
No one would have been able to subdue them at the moment. They rounded the corner of the man"s house to find the tactile team pul ing out a man by his hair and clothes. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was screaming about police brutality. Zack was al over him before the others could hold him off. They final y got him off the man by tel ing him he needed to see about Tina. Cole ran into the house ahead of Zack looking for her.
They had used tear gas in the house and it was almost more than they could handle, but it was dissipating quickly thanks to al the fans in the house being turned on. They grabbed the first man they came to and asked where Tina was. The man pointed toward a back room. Cole raced to the room only to be blocked by a monster of a man.
"They"re bringing her outside. You need to wait outside or I"m going to put you out," the bruiser of a guy said.
Cole and Zack were not smal men, but this guy was ma.s.sive and total y blocked their view of the room.
"Out. Now!" he yel ed.
They cursed but backed out of the house to keep Tina from being subject to the smoky tear gas any longer than necessary. She"d already had it ful force for several minutes.
Less than two seconds after they walked back outside, Todd was al over them about breaking into their investigation. Cole ignored him and waited for Tina to come out, but Zack yel ed right back. It was so unlike his partner to be this verbal with anyone. He was usual y the one who calmed Cole down.
"Zack, here she comes. Hold up, buddy."
Tina coughed and choked, trying to get the nasty tear gas out of her lungs as she clung to the man carrying her out. The mask on her face did little to help with the gas already in her lungs. Her eyes were tearing up to the point she couldn"t see anything around her. G.o.d, she was free.
Then she heard Cole"s voice and real tears began to flow. They were there looking for her. They hadn"t forgotten about her. They"d real y been trying to find her. She sobbed trying to cal for them behind the mask.
"Easy, Tina. You"ve got two men here who are about to get arrested for interfering with your rescue. Do you want to see them?" the man carrying her asked.
"Yes, yes, yes. Please, I want Cole." She reached out blindly trusting that Cole or Zack would catch her.
The blanket covering her slipped and she hissed out a breath at the sting on her arms where she"d been restrained. Then Cole had her in his arms.
Zack jerked off the mask and began covering her face with his hands as if searching for wounds.
"Baby, oh, G.o.d. We thought we"d lost you," Cole was saying.
"We"ve got you now, Tina," Zack was murmuring over and over next to her ear.
She realized that they"d al sunk to the ground and she was in Cole"s arms with Zack wrapped around both of them. Her eyes burned so badly she couldn"t open them past mere slits.
"I was so scared, Zack. I knew you"d come for me. I knew you and Cole would find me, somehow." Her voice was raspy from coughing, her throat raw.
"Sir, let us check on her. We need to see about her." A paramedic was trying to get between Zack and Tina.
Tina nearly choked trying to laugh at the idea the smal man could possibly move Zack out of the way. Stil , he was persistent and final y got his attention.
"Let us help her, man. You can watch us."
Zack backed off and gave the man a kil er stare. "You hurt her and I"l hurt you."
"Don"t go threatening the paramedics, Zack," Cole said with a shake of his head. He stil hadn"t let go of Tina, though.
"Sir, you, too. We need to check her out and get her to the hospital." The brave man reached out for Tina. Cole shook his head and stood up with her in his arms and carried her to the stretcher. He gently laid her on the gurney and stood next to her while they removed the blanket and covered her with one of theirs.
Tina knew she was a mess, but she couldn"t help it. She had done what she had to do to survive while she waited on them to come get her. She knew they would come get her.
"Ma"am, are you hurt anywhere other than your arms and ankles?"
She shook her head no. She didn"t think she could speak again without wanting to throw up. She"d gotten so used to making herself get sick that the taste of the tear gas in her throat was making her need to retch.
"Baby, you tel them everything. Let them help you." Cole squeezed her hand.
Zack was standing a little behind Cole. She smiled at him. He smiled back, but it didn"t reach his eyes. Was he angry with her?
"Sir, we"re going to transport her to the hospital now." The paramedic gave the name of the hospital and they loaded her up, but wouldn"t let either of them ride in with her.
On the way, they cleaned up the blood from her wrists where she"d cut them trying to get untied. She"d used the corner of a metal bookshelf to try and cut through the ropes. Mostly, she"d only succeeded in cutting herself. She had a bruise on her forehead she supposed from being in the back of the van unconscious, and various other bruises al over her body from the trip to his house, she supposed.
Al in al , he hadn"t real y hurt her. When she had first awakened, she had gotten sick, and he"d been thoroughly p.i.s.sed off. He kicked her a couple of times, but left her alone other than that. Then every time he tried to move her, she coughed until she gagged and threw up on purpose. She was sure he was going to catch on soon though and had been trying to cut the ropes away when a tear gas grenade had come through the window and al hel broke loose.
Now she lay in the emergency room in one of the rooms with one of her coworkers helping her get undressed.
"You were so not lying about the two hunky men, Tina. I"m jealous."
"Don"t let Doug here you say that. He"l spank you for sure." She was grateful for Emily"s barrage of comments about the guys. It helped keep her mind off of the last twelve or so hours.
"I wish. He"s been total y remiss in that department lately. Maybe I"l drop a word or two about how good-looking your guys are in front of him." Emily waggled her eyebrows at Tina.
"When can I see them? I need them with me, Emily."
"I know, but let Dr. Kearny check you out first."
"We"l give you a lift," Todd told them. "Although, we should be taking you in for disregarding direct orders to stay out of the way."
"You can arrest us after we are sure she"s okay. She has blood on her. I want to know where it"s coming from," Zack said in a quiet voice.
"They"l take good care of her. Come on." Todd led them back to the car and they fol owed the ambulance in to the hospital.
It turned out to be the very one she worked at. Her own people were there to take care of her. Neither man was al owed in the back with her when they took her inside. They had to give her information to the clerk and then wait in the waiting room. Todd settled them in with a promise to find out what was going on and come tel them.
"I"l let you know what I know as soon as I can get any information. Right now, we need her clothes for evidence, so when you go home, she"s going to need clothes," he told them.
"We"l take care of her." Zack told him.
"I"m getting the picture," the other man said, then disappeared into the main part of the building.
"How bad do you think she"s hurt?" Zack asked Cole.
"I think she"s basical y okay. I didn"t see anything but the blood on her arms and hands. She seemed okay other than the f.u.c.king tear gas making her cough and her eyes red."
"They better hope they have enough to convict him or I"l make the rest of his short life hel ," Zack told him.
"From what I overheard he had trophies in the room of his victims. They"l seek the death penalty for that alone."
"Hel , he"s kil ed in more than four states. He"l be tried in each state and spend the rest of his life in one prison or another regardless of the death penalty here," Zack said with disgust in his voice.
Cole agreed with him but didn"t say anything. He stuck his hands in his front pockets and walked over to the bank of windows to stare outside. It was going to be a long night and he needed to be able to handle whatever they found out about Tina. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was known for raping and torturing his victims. He held out hope that she"d been spared at least the torture. He could tel that Zack had al but lost hope that she was going to be fine. Having not said anything about the brown van fol owing them that day, he was wal owing in self-disgust. It had to stop for Tina"s sake.
"Zack, look at me, man." He walked over and stood in front of his best friend.
"What?"
"You"ve got to get hold of yourself. When they let us see Tina, I don"t want you frowning at her. She"s going to need al the help we can give her to recover from this. I need to know that you"re with me on this."
"How can you want me anywhere near her when I could have stopped this from happening?" Zack snapped.
"You couldn"t have done a d.a.m.n thing about it, Zack. I couldn"t have done anything about it. Even knowing the brown van was fol owing her for a week, we wouldn"t have been able to stop her from going to work or coming home. If he hadn"t have gotten her at the house, he would have grabbed her when she got off work at the hospital. There is not a f.u.c.king thing we could have done. Do you understand?" He had grabbed Zack by the shoulders and was shaking him.
"Yeah, I get it," Zack final y admitted and hung his head.
"No matter what, she"s ours, right?" Cole asked him.
"Hel yeah."
The emergency room door opened and Todd walked through it. His face was grim but not any more so than when he"d left them.
"What?" Zack demanded.
"She"s going to be fine. They want to keep her overnight just to monitor her, but she"s good," he told them.
"What did the b.a.s.t.a.r.d do to her?"
"Other than knock her out with chloroform, let her get banged up rol ing around in the back of his van, and cutting her arms up trying to get away," he said, "not a d.a.m.n thing to her."
"What?" Cole asked stil not sure he heard the man right.
"She woke up sick as a dog from the chloroform he used on her. It disgusted him so much she kept throwing up whenever he came near her. He gagged when she did, so he couldn"t get near her. It was the smartest d.a.m.n thing I"ve ever heard of." Zack and Cole looked at each other and started laughing until there were tears running down their faces. Cole shook his head wiping the tears from his eyes.
"That"s our Tina," Zack said.
"They had to put two st.i.tches in one of her wrists where she cut it trying to cut through the rope, and she got a teta.n.u.s booster. The rest are just bruises.
She"s one lucky woman. She escaped him twice," Todd said with a shake of his head. "Those are pretty high odds. I think you two have a lot to be thankful for."
"Don"t worry. We know." Cole and Zack shook his hand and watched the man walk out the ER door.
"Who is going to go get her clothes?" Cole asked.
"I wil . After I see her." Zack grinned like an idiot. "She"s okay."
"Yeah, she"s better than okay. She"s safe."
Chapter Sixteen.
Tina was dozing on the gurney when the sound of cursing outside her door awakened her. She knew immediately who the one cursing was. Cole couldn"t stand being told what to do.
Final y, both men walked in and immediately she was engulfed by tight hugs and hungry kisses.
"Um, excuse me," a voice said behind them.
Tina looked between her men to see Emily standing there with Doug right behind her. Evidently she had said something about her men after al . The other nurse looked aggravated.
"We need to move her to a room now. You can fol ow us." Emily smiled at them.
Cole and Zack both stood aside but kept a hand on her at al times as the two nurses prepared to transport her to the floor.
Despite Doug being an a.s.s about it, Emily flirted outrageously with her men, but they didn"t seem to notice. They were total y focused on her. Tina didn"t doubt their sincerity one bit anymore. She was sure she"d heard the word love several times from each man. If they truly loved her, then what? How would they make it work?