Page 71 of The Commander

My eyes snap open. Piercing pain slams into my skull.

“Fuck,” I groan, blinking as the glare of a single lightbulb in the musty room greets me.

Cartel.

I’ve been captured.

“Don’t make any trouble, Marine,” a guy dressed in black tactical pants and a plain T-shirt says in broken English.

“Not a Marine.” I rub my forehead. “Who are you?”

“Someone who’s going to kill you in a few hours.” He grins and reveals stained teeth.

“Then tell me your name,” I press, because knowledge is power.

“You can call me Lucifer,” he laughs, and I swear I can smell his dirty breath from here.

I gag.

“Well then, fuck you Lucifer.” I rest back against the floor and steel myself against my pounding head.

If I’m going to die, I’m not going to be polite to these assholes, but then my brain kicks into gear.

Quinn!

I sit up, cringe at the pain and stumble to my knees. She was there. In the clearing. Unarmed.

The bullet.

Did they kill her?

“Lucifer!” I yell over and over and over when the door clicks shut.

If she’s dead, I will fucking tear that piece of shit to pieces. All of them. Slowly. Not stopping until they feel the pain I will suffer if she is gone.

Despite the decapitating pain in my skull, I search for a way out.

Quinn.

Quinn!

You better be alive.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

JOSH

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The Humvee comes skidding to a stop at the entrance, and I instruct Marshall to head back and pick up Aidan and Cole.

“We’ll be right behind you.” He gives me a pointed look.

“No, stay here and tell Aidan to get Ryder and Declan out here, pronto.”

“Yes, sir.”

Law enforcement pulls in as I stride across the unpaved lot. Hayden and Jake follow me. The cop stops and jams his thumbs into his belt. “What’s going on, Josh?”