No Chance

by Christy Reece

  She didn’t argue with his assessment. There was a lot of truth in his words. If there had been proof that William was involved, he would already be in prison where he belonged.

  “Turn here, Skylar.”

  Skylar turned in to a private drive. Giant trees obscured everything but the narrow drive. The headlights picked up a medium-sized house behind a brick wall.

  “Drive around back,” William said.

  As she drove to the back of the house, the adrenaline she’d carefully suppressed had returned with interest. She needed to disarm William and disable him before they went inside the house. Other people would no doubt be there. Without William, she could sneak in and try to find Kendra.

  She pulled the car to a standstill. Her hand on the door, Skylar prepared to get out. With a gun pointed at her head, she had no choice but to pretend she would follow his instructions. But once they were out of the car, the tables would be turned.

  “Hold on, my dear. Before you get out, I have one more thing I want to say to you.”

  Furious at his smugness, Skylar turned to face William, about to give him a scathing reply. She never got the chance. The gun smacked into the side of her head, and agony speared through her as she slumped into the seat.

  William blew out a tired sigh. Really, for a man his age, he’d gone through some extraordinary events today. Exhaustion pounded on him but it wasn’t yet over. He still had to figure out what to do about Skylar.

  Poor dear. She’d had a bad day herself. Watching her lover get locked into a dark, airless prison he could never escape from and then being bashed in the head by her godfather. No, it hadn’t been a good day for either one of them.

  But things were finally coming together. He’d sent his bodyguard to gather Maddox’s and Skylar’s things. When people started looking for them, it would simply appear as if they’d left the estate without telling anyone. And they would never be seen or heard from again. Simple. Uncomplicated. Easy.

  Of course, he still had a few dead bodies to dispose of, including that pesky chauffeur. He would call the bodyguards as soon as he was inside and instruct them to dump them together somewhere until the party was over. Perhaps the wine cellar, where it was relatively cool. Explaining the stench of dead bodies to his guests would be inconvenient, not to mention embarrassing.

  After this weekend, once all evidence of this drama was gone, everything could go back to normal. And he’d earned himself some extra time with his precious jewel. Would she appreciate what he’d had to go through to keep her? Probably not … but he would make sure she rewarded him appropriately.

  Opening the passenger door, William pulled himself from the car. Walking around to the other side of the car, he looked down at the unconscious woman. Skylar was by no means a large woman, but he was long past the days when he could pick up an unconscious body, slender or otherwise. Besides, that’s why he had loyal employees. Pressing a key on his cell phone, he spoke quickly: “We have a guest. Please come to the back and retrieve her.”

  An odd urgency suddenly hit him. One he couldn’t put a finger on. There was no way Gabe Maddox could escape from his tomb. Not only was it impenetrable, but his claustrophobia would incapacitate him and soon all the air would be gone. And even if by some miracle he did escape, he’d never be able to find Skylar. She hadn’t been able to show him the papers to the house before they were caught. And William now had those papers in his jacket.

  No, he was safe. He had all his bases covered. Nothing could go wrong.

  “Get up, bitch.”

  Her eyes wide open and alert for the first time in weeks, Kendra kept her face buried in her pillow and waited. Let him come to me.

  The man expelled a huge sigh and stomped closer. “I said, get up!” A hand touched her … not hard. He knew he couldn’t hurt her or he’d pay a heavy price. She was counting on that.

  “Come on. I don’t have all day.” The hand nudged her again.

  In a quick full-body roll, Kendra swung her arm up. In her hand, she held a glass she’d been able to hide under her mattress. The thick, heavy crystal made a satisfying thud against his temple. He dropped to the floor with a thump.

  Kendra jumped from the bed. There was no time to waste. Cameras were on her. Someone would be here any second. She quickly searched the pockets of the creep on the floor. No weapons, but a key ring held some interesting keys. She grabbed them and ran to the door.

  Opening the door, she stuck her head out. Footsteps were running down the hallway. She took off in the opposite direction, hoping to find the other girls and get them loose before they were found. Hopefully, they weren’t so drugged that they couldn’t help. If they banded together, they could overpower the freaks in the house and get out of here.

  The footsteps drew closer, and now people were shouting. Any second now, she would be discovered. Spotting a doorway, she ran to it and turned the knob. Locked. Taking the keys, she tried three … the third one worked. Twisting the lock, Kendra opened the door and ran inside. She closed the door. Holding her breath, she heard footsteps running past. Her breath coming out in a ragged sigh of relief, Kendra turned around. She swallowed a scream.

  “Hello, my jewel. Were you as eager to see me as I am to see you?”

  Grinning with delight, there stood her tormentor. And sitting in a chair behind him was the woman who had introduced them. Skylar … the woman she’d once called friend.

  Oh God. Oh God. Skylar’s sob was one of both relief and sorrow. Relief that Kendra was alive; sorrow because the young woman was almost unrecognizable. Gaunt and hollow-eyed with an emotionless, empty expression on her face. William had been right—Kendra Carson was no more.

  Skylar had woken seconds ago and found herself slumped in a chair, her hands tied behind her back. The incessant throbbing of her head was but a distant, irritating pain. The obvious abuse that Kendra had gone through made any pain she felt shrink to insignificance. Now she just needed to figure out a way to help them both.

  “Kendra?” Skylar said softly.

  The girl moved toward her as if she were in a dream. Was she still drugged? Her eyes looked dead, but not dazed … just empty.

  “Kendra, I’m so sorry … I didn’t know.”

  And finally Skylar saw emotion in her eyes. With a sob, Kendra dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Skylar. “I knew you would come … I knew it. And I know you had nothing to do with this.” She raised her head and glared at William. “You son of a bitch. I know everything.”

  “Really, my dear. So dramatic.” His adoring smile was both terrifying and revolting. “I’ll make sure you apologize appropriately when we’re together again.”

  The door opened behind him. Two men stood in the doorway. “About time you found her.” William nodded toward Kendra. “Give her an extra dose this time. The vein in her foot … between her toes, like we’ve used before. Make sure she’s ready when I come for her.”

  Skylar screamed when the man pulled at Kendra. But Kendra wasn’t going without a fight. She turned and punched the man in the face. He grabbed for her again. Kendra ran toward William, and Skylar could see the emotion in his eyes. Amazingly, he looked as though he believed Kendra was running to him for protection. There was delight and pride in his face. Before Kendra reached him, he held out his arms in welcome. Taking advantage of his open-armed, unprotected stance, Kendra raised her foot and kicked him deep in the balls. With a howl, William grabbed his crotch and dropped to his knees, gagging and crying.

  The man behind Kendra grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. Skylar jumped to her feet and ran toward them. Kendra kicked and screamed, pounding against the man holding her.

  Though Skylar’s hands were tied, she had every intention of stopping the bastard from taking the girl. A hand grabbed Skylar’s hair and pulled her back, throwing her to the floor. The man holding Kendra walked out the door, closing it behind him.

  Skylar sprang to her feet, bypassed the bastard who’d knocked her down,
and went toward William, who was still on the floor, apparently in agony. She shouted, “William!”

  He raised his head and Skylar registered tears streaming from his eyes. Her foot connected with his face. Blood spurted from his busted nose.

  Holding one hand to his crotch, the other to his nose, he screamed at the other man, “Dammit! Take her! Give her the drug. Not enough to knock her out. I want her awake when you kill her. And I want to be there to watch.”

  Screaming, Skylar bit the arm that reached for her. Blood filled her mouth. He yelped and backhanded her, knocking her to the floor.

  “Shit, that hurt,” the man said.

  Still on the floor, his hand holding a handkerchief to his nose, William’s voice was muffled as he screamed, “Get her out of here! Now!”

  The man grabbed for her again, avoiding her mouth. Skylar kicked at him. He remedied this by pressing his big foot on her throat. Struggling for breath, her vision dimming, she saw William’s bloodied face glaring down at her and then nothing more.

  twenty-six

  A crushing weight pressed in on Gabe’s chest. No wonder William had looked so smug when he locked him in. The room was actually a vault. No air circulated. The dizziness he’d felt could no longer be ignored. He’d assumed his stupid-assed sickness was just having a field day, but now he knew the dizziness came from lack of oxygen in the room.

  The last words he’d heard from Cole weren’t promising. Was his friend even still alive? The microphone in his ear had picked up enough grunts, curses, and growls to fill twelve rounds of a wrestling match, and then there had been total silence. After several minutes of calling his name, Gabe had given up. If Cole was alive, he would have answered. Already he felt the grief at the loss of a good friend.

  His breath hitched unexpectedly as if the air were being sucked out of him. How long did he have before the air completely disappeared?

  For an instant, he was back in the mines, listening to his younger brother breathing his last breaths of life. The helplessness and grief almost overwhelmed him. How he’d loved that kid.

  And Skye. God, how he loved Skye. He’d been so stupid. So incredibly blind. He loved Skylar James Maddox. Soul deep. Unstoppable. Forever.

  What did his insecurities matter? His idiotic, stiff-necked pride? He loved her … and he knew without a doubt, despite his stupidity in the way he’d treated her, that she loved him, too. She knew him inside and out and she still loved him. What a freaking idiot he’d been.

  With superhuman strength, Gabe got to his feet. He’d found the small crevice where he believed the door was. There was no movement to indicate it would open, but since this was the only opening he’d felt in the entire room, this had to be the door. However, it felt as solid as if a steel bar was in front of it. That didn’t matter. Whatever breath and strength he had left he would use to bust out of this prison. Skye’s life was in danger and he’d be damned if he let her down again. She’d almost died because of his mistakes before. Never again.

  Taking a controlled breath from the remaining air in the room, Gabe backed up and took a running start to the door. He was six feet four inches and 220 pounds of determined male. As he slammed into the wall, pain slammed back.

  Refusing to give up, Gabe backed up and slammed again. Again. Then again. The wall felt slippery and he didn’t question why. He’d busted his hand on the second slam. His face on the third one. Didn’t matter. Wouldn’t stop.

  With a roar, Gabe went at it again and then again. Something moved. Backing up, barely able to think straight, he tried to pull in a breath and couldn’t find one. The air was almost totally depleted. An inhuman growl came from deep within … Gabe took one more slam and heard a wonderful sound. Craaack!

  Giving it all he had, Gabe backed up, took a running leap, and slammed against it again. And found himself lying face-first on the floor of Harrington’s office.

  Lungs burning and breath wheezing, Gabe got to his feet and staggered to the door. He opened it. His gait shuffling and wobbling, he ran toward the stairway. Muted music came from the party that apparently was still going strong.

  He heard a scream and didn’t bother to look around. Probably looked like he’d been through a wood chipper. Didn’t care. Just had to get to Skye.

  Halfway up the stairs, his legs went out from under him. Gabe crawled the rest of the way. On the landing, he took a deep breath to steady himself. Passing out would do Skye no good. Feeling slightly better, he put one foot on the floor. Two big hands grabbed him. Growling an obscenity, Gabe jerked his head up, ready to kill whoever was planning to try to stop him. Instead he looked up into the battered but very alive face of Cole Mathison.

  Despite his bruised and bloodied face, Cole smiled and said, “Hell if I know who’s the ugliest one now.”

  Gabe drove while Cole read the monitor. It was picking up the signal perfectly. Skye was close … even closer than Gabe could have hoped for. Now pray God she was still alive.

  A van with four more LCR operatives followed behind them. They wouldn’t assist unless Gabe and Cole found it necessary. With hostages involved, going in stealthily, with as few operatives as possible, was LCR’s way. Taking down the bad guys was secondary to making sure all hostages came out unharmed.

  “How do you want this to go down?” Cole asked.

  “You mean Harrington?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Even if Kendra’s at this house, he’s responsible for more than one girl’s disappearance. Do your best to keep him alive. We need him talking.”

  Cole nodded. Gabe couldn’t help but appreciate that Cole had asked. After the hell the man had gone through last year, he’d made no secret that killing wouldn’t be something he’d ever willingly do again. After being used as a personal killing machine for a maniac, who could blame him? The guilt of the death of one innocent man weighed heavily on Cole’s shoulders.

  “Slow down. We should be just about there,” Cole said.

  Gabe slowed to a crawl and the monitor started a rapid blink. A few feet farther and the dot was solid red … no blink. Skye was here.

  “There’s a narrow path,” Cole said. “Barely big enough for a car. Bet there aren’t many people who even know there’s a house here.”

  Not wanting to alert anyone to their arrival, Gabe drove past the driveway a few yards. A small clearing on the side of the road gave him the perfect spot to park. The car was dark green, and unless a light shone directly on it, no one would see it.

  Both men got out and went to the trunk. Pulling a Kevlar vest on over his damaged shoulder and ribs barely caused Gabe a blip of pain. Skye was in that house—nothing could faze him now.

  Working silently, they slid their guns into the holsters at their sides and ankles. Taser guns and knives went into a belt at the waist, along with rope and other necessary tools of their trade.

  Once set, they gave each other a look—one filled with purpose and the knowledge that they may not come out alive, but they’d do their dead-level best to make sure that any victims they found would.

  With a small nod of acknowledgment to the operatives parked a few yards away, waiting for further instructions, Gabe took off at a run, Cole at his side. They had both changed into black T-shirts and pants. The night was as black as pitch; no one would see them coming up the path.

  The drive was graveled but held deep ruts as if heavy traffic had been on it for years. Harrington probably didn’t want to have it repaired since that might call attention to what went on only a few yards away.

  At the end of the drive, Gabe held up his hand. Compared to the other houses in the area, this one was small. Still, it did have two stories … and most likely a basement. It would take some time to go through each room.

  “Let’s stay as invisible as possible until we don’t have a choice.”

  Cole nodded his agreement.

  Going low, they ran to the back door. Standing to one side of the door, Cole turned a knob and pushed it open. On the other sid
e, Gabe peered in. A laundry room … empty.

  Giving Cole a signal of his intent, Gabe went through the door. Cole followed.

  Not since the dark days when she first thought Gabe was dead had Skylar felt such sadness. Only by concentrating on the need to save Kendra and Gabe was she even able to think with any kind of coherency. The drug, of course. A depressant, designed to take away all will and hope … it was doing its job. She fought it with a vengeance. She had so much to live for … so much to do. She tried to ignore the demons of doubt that reminded her that Gabe didn’t love her. That there was no hope. Kendra had been raped and tortured. William had made it clear he intended to have Skylar killed. And Gabe might well be dead.

  Pulling herself to her knees, Skylar squinted around the room. The dim light cast shadows over a chair in the corner. The big flat surface she saw across the room was a bed. She pushed herself to her feet and stumbled toward the chair. Halfway there, her legs gave out and she fell.

  Sobbing weakly, she lay there for several seconds, once again fighting the overwhelming hopelessness. A dim voice in the back of her mind began to shout at her. She ignored it. The voice grew stronger, screamed at her and called her names. Told her to get off her ass and fight.

  Skylar pulled herself up and crawled to the chair. Finally reaching it, she lay her head on the chair cushion and rested. The voice wouldn’t stop. Insistent, irritating, and belligerent, it told her to get up and get the hell out of there. This time, Skylar recognized the voice. It was hers. She stood, straightened her shoulders, took a breath, and made herself walk to the door. She would find Kendra and they would escape. There were no other options.

  Her hand on the door, she took another bracing breath and opened it. A man stood at the entrance—a battered-looking but very alive Gabe.