Broken Honor by Tonya Burrows

leave me behind on this, you need to think again.”
    Gabe arched a brow, but he appeared more amused by her demands than angry. “Oh, yeah?”
    “Yeah. And if you try, I’ll turn your asses in to the local police faster than small-town gossip, and you’ll be tied up in so much red tape you won’t be able to move. Please don’t make me do that.”
    “You wouldn’t,” Jesse said.
    “No,” Gabe said slowly. “I believe she would.”
    She nodded. “If you get in my way, absolutely. I don’t think it needs to come to that, though. Gabe here seems like a reasonable guy.”
    Meaning Jesse wasn’t. Heat crawled up his neck, and he realized he was grinding his teeth. “No, you’re staying here.”
    She ignored him and met Gabe stare for stare. “Well?”
    Gabe considered her for a long moment. Then he lifted a shoulder. “Okay.”
    Jesse whirled on him. “Boss—”
    “She’s had some training, knows how to shoot, and from what I can tell, has balls of fucking steel. Nothing against my wife or Phoebe, but she’s better than any of the assets we’ve had to work with in the past, and we need all the help we can get.” He held up a hand, cutting off all further protest, and reached into his pocket for his buzzing phone. “Bristow,” he answered and walked away.
    Jesse scowled over at Lanie. “You’re not going anywhere, Elena.”
    She scowled right back. “It’s Lanie. And oh, yes, I am. Didn’t you hear your boss? I have balls of fucking steel, and you’re stuck with me, cowboy.”
    Gabe returned a moment later, his face set in grim lines. “Marcus and Ian found three bodies at the airfield, two men and a woman.”
    Lanie sucked in a sharp breath. “Are they…?”
    Jesse had the strangest urge to pull her into his arms and comfort her. Jesus. Instead, he faced Gabe. “It’s not Mara and Quinn?”
    “No.”
    He’d guessed as much because of how calm Gabe was after ending the call, but it still felt like a weight off his chest to hear it confirmed. “Any sign of them?”
    “Tank picked up on Quinn’s scent in the hangar and led them to a cell phone.”
    Jesse’s body went cold. “Quinn’s?”
    “Yeah.”
    “How do we trace him now?”
    “Ian said he left us a clue,” Gabe said. “They’re headed back to the hotel. Lanie, I’m assuming you already searched Mara’s house?”
    She nodded. “After the police cleared it, I had to go in and round up Mara’s animals. Mrs. Ruiz next door has them for now. But if there was anything in there to help us, it’s now in the possession of the El Paso Police Department.”
    “Then we’re wasting our time here.” Gabe walked to the car, opened the driver’s side door, and arched a brow in question. “You two coming or what?”

Chapter Nine
    Somewhere in Transnistria
    “Clothes,” Alexei said in heavily accented English. “Off. Now.”
    Quinn glanced around the tiled room, which was like a crappier version of his high school gym locker room. Besides him and Mara, three of the other women had been transported to this place via a van with blacked-out windows. All of the women were exhausted, beaten down, but not one of them moved. They all looked toward him, as if he had all the answers.
    He lifted his still-cuffed hands. “Handcuffs,” he said, mocking Alexei’s accent. “Off. Now.”
    Alexei just grunted in response and walked over to a hose coiled up on the wall.
    Well, it had been worth a shot. Now that his body wasn’t contorted, he could theoretically break out of the cuffs, but he wanted to save that little party trick until he really needed it. Until then, he’d have to live with them on.
    He gazed over at the women and nodded. “Do what they say.”
    Mara translated his words for the women, then touched his shoulder. “What are they doing?”
    “They’re going to hose us down, probably cavity search us.”
    She shuddered, and he turned to her, cupping her face in his bound hands. “Any way you cut it, the next few hours are