Defending Raven (Mountain Mercenaries #7)(43)
First, they’d have to come up with a plan to get David out of the house where he was being held captive. Dave didn’t want to kill the people who were guarding him if it was at all avoidable. The women were certainly under del Rio’s thumb and only doing what they had to in order to stay alive.
Del Rio had more people in his pocket than not, and there was a chance, if he got wind of the plan to get David a passport and take him out of the country, he’d do something to hold up the process.
It was looking more and more like the only choice they had was to raid the house where del Rio was keeping David. But there was no telling what the men and women who were standing guard over the boy had been instructed to do if something like that happened. If anything happened to David, Raven wouldn’t survive. He knew that for a fact.
Dave would do whatever it took to get David back to the States safely. It didn’t matter if he had to lose all his dignity and beg the head of the biggest sex-trafficking faction in South America to let him take the boy. He’d do it. The most important thing was getting Raven and David home. No matter what it took.
As much as he wanted to call his team and raid the house tonight, he knew they needed to wait until they had the official paperwork to get his son out of the country. While del Rio was an asshole who abused children, David had been living in the house for four and a half years. They had no evidence del Rio was going to make a move in the next week or so. They’d be better off doing recon, planning the attack on the house, and making preparations to get the hell out of the country the second they had David in their hands. And they couldn’t do anything that would make del Rio suspicious in the meantime.
The kingpin might already know someone was in town, hanging around Mags, but with a little luck, it would take him a while to figure out who they were.
If he knew the Mountain Mercenaries were back, and that they had a connection to David’s mother, things could get ugly fast.
Wishing he could wave a magic wand and have his wife and child safely ensconced in his house in Colorado Springs, Dave knew he should get up and continue emailing his contacts to set things in motion to return Raven’s friends to their families. But as long as his wife was sleeping in his arms, he wasn’t going to move a muscle. He treasured this. Hadn’t dared dream it would ever be possible.
Closing his eyes, Dave inhaled Raven’s clean, soapy scent into his very soul. No one would hurt her again. He’d die before that happened.
Chapter Ten
Mags spent the next several days getting to know her husband again. He was much like she remembered, but so much more. He was insightful and compassionate, more so than when they’d been together.
She’d been to see David four more times, except now Dave dropped her off and picked her up so she didn’t have to walk the ten miles. She knew her husband and his team were busy gathering intel for whatever it was they were planning in regard to her son, but she never spotted them while she was with David, and he didn’t share any of those details with her.
They did share with Teresa, Bonita, Carmen, and Maria the plans to help them get home, and all four women had been overwhelmed with gratitude. Dave had written down their names, addresses, birth dates, and everything else he’d needed to not only find their families—or friends, in the case of Bonita, whose own family sold her to del Rio—but to procure the necessary paperwork to get the women out of Peru. Mags had watched as he did what he did best . . . use the computer to get information and make shit happen.
Gabriella had also been overwhelmed when Mags had asked if she wanted to go to the United States with her and the rest of the Mountain Mercenaries. She’d agreed immediately. Later, she’d told Mags that she was scared to death, but that there was nothing left for her in Peru, and she wanted a chance to make a better life for herself.
Mags had thought nights would be hard, sleeping in the motel room with Dave, but surprisingly, she’d slept better than she had in a decade. Tucked up against him, on the softest mattress she’d felt in ages, the scent of her husband in her nose . . . Mags didn’t have any trouble sleeping whatsoever.
Today, while Zara and Dave’s friends finalized the details for the new clinic she was funding, Dave had decided to take Mags down to Miraflores. It was the more touristy part of Lima. She would’ve been content to hang out in the motel room all day, but he said that he wanted to leave her with some good memories of Peru.
It was sweet of him. She knew he was just trying to keep her mind off the fact they were still waiting on the paperwork for her and the others to come through. And more important . . . she suspected they hadn’t yet figured out the best way to get David out of del Rio’s clutches.
At the moment, Dave was in the room next door talking with his friends about that very thing. Their voices had started out muffled, but the more time that went by, the louder they got. The frustration and anger she could hear from the other room made her nervous, and she was glad there was a wall between them.
She shamelessly eavesdropped on their conversation. They were talking about her son, and anything that had to do with him, had to do with her.
She’d finally told Dave just last night what David had said about the pictures del Rio had been taking, and he’d barely contained his rage.
Her husband had been very careful to not let his emotions get out of control around her. He did his best to be sweet and easygoing, but after hearing about what had been done to David, she could see the anger shimmering in his eyes, radiating from his entire body. Instead of getting scared, it reassured her. She wanted Dave to be mad. Wanted him to do whatever it took to get David away from the situation. Lord knew she hadn’t been able to do it on her own, so she’d take all the help she could get.