Mending Hearts (The American Soldier Collection 11)

“Shut the fuck up. You’ll know where when we get there.”

“I don’t want to go. Just stop this blue truck and let me out right now on Highway 10,” she said.

“No,” he yelled, and then he looked at her. He let his eyes roam over her body, and suddenly he pulled over, making her lose her balance. She fell against the dashboard. He reached for her back pocket.

“You stupid fucking bitch! You think those Marines and those loser cops can help you? You’re never going to see them again. I’m your Marine now, and as soon as I get you to the cabin, I’m going to cleanse you of their stench and make you mine. Fuck you!” he yelled into the phone and then threw it out the window.

Alana cried as he then smacked her in the back of the head, making her face hit the dashboard. “Stop hitting me please.”

“You’ll pay for that. Soon enough.”

* * * *

“Fuck!” Jaxon yelled out as they all listened in on the phone call. Gunner was on speaker, listening as best he could.

“We can’t be far behind them,” Gunner said. “She gave a description of the truck, the color, and the road they were on. Kenny called it in. Let’s keep in that direction but keep your distance. This guy killed three women. We’re not taking any chances with Alana.”

They headed that way, but an hour later, it was as if the truck, Alana, and Neil had disappeared. The guys were on the side of the road next to a huge area of woods and hunting land as Gunner spoke on his cell phone and other cops gathered around them.

“It’s getting dark. She must be so scared,” Gabe said as he leaned against the truck.

“I’m going to kill him. When I get my hands on him, he’s going to die,” Jaxon said as he ran his hand over his mouth and thought about all the terrible things Neil could be doing to her.

“He mentioned a cabin in the woods. Have you looked into any cabins nearby here? Anything we could start searching?” Gator asked.

“It’s getting dark out. The chopper is still looking around nearby. Anything is possible, but they can’t see in the dark. It would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. They’re burning light,” Kenny said. His cell phone rang.

“It’s Deanna. Let me take this. She’s a mess right now.”

Jaxon looked at his team. “I can’t stand sitting here and doing nothing. He’s going to kill her,” Jaxon said.

“We can’t think like that. Alana is smart. Look at the description of the truck and location she gave. Look how she hid her phone and used it to call you,” Gator

said to him.

“The chopper found something,” Gunner said and waved them over.

“What did they find?” Jaxon asked, and Gunner listened in.

“We got a location on a cabin and a truck like Alana described parked inside of an outdoor garage. They almost missed it, but the doors to the garage are off.”

They listened and waited for Gunner to get more details and organize a plan.

“Whatever the plan is, we’re part of it. We’re going in. She’s our woman, our responsibility, and we failed her. That isn’t going to happen again,” Jaxon said.

Gunner nodded as chaos erupted around them as they planned to infiltrate the cabin in the woods and save Alana.

* * * *

Alana fell to the floor again. His strikes to her skin were painful, and she was beginning to lose hope that help was coming.

He was completely insane as he spoke to some imaginary commander about completing a mission and being free once and for all. She tried to talk to him and calm him down, but he raged on about cleansing her as he stripped her blouse off of her.

Her hands were tied in front of her, and he used them to drag her around the room then punish her for sleeping with her five men.

Alana’s lips were bloody, her eyes sore and swollen nearly shut, but she wasn’t going to give in to this psycho. She was the daughter of a Marine, and if she was going to die, then she was going to die fighting to the very end.

“Is this what you do? Does this make you feel like a man to beat on a woman?” she yelled at him.