He only winked back.
Damn Viking.
“That seriously is freaky,” Amara grumbled, nodding at Sprig.
“Enough, Amara.” Ryker’s attention went back to the map, but I watched him draw Sprig into his chest with one hand. A wave of tenderness hit me at the idea of Ryker as a father. Not that I wanted a baby right now, if we even could. But it was still sweet to see. Like, look, my man can hold his baby and set up a heist at the same time. I found that seriously hot.
“Are we all set? Everyone feel they know what they are doing?” Ryker stabbed his finger into the paper. We all nodded, an edgy tension in the air. “All right. Let’s get ready. We leave in twenty.”
Sprig’s head bolted up from Ryker’s arm. “Damn you, pixies! Stop grabbing my berries…they’re attached!” Sprig blinked, glancing around at all of us. “Huh? What?” Then his forehead crashed back down. He was sound asleep, mouth open like a drunkard.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. That’s my best friend.
TWENTY-ONE
“Look.” Amara pointed to the building with the hole in the roof. We took point on the building across from it to assess what was happening at Vadik’s torture camp before we put our plan into action. “They’re all there.”
More than two dozen girls mulled around the space, either sparring, stretching, or working the bags draped around the room. Even if not all the girls were there, this was a bit of good news; we didn’t have to break into each individual cell to get them out.
“There are seven guards. All with automatic weapons.” Ryker narrowed his lids, inspecting the space.
“Seven down there, a dozen guarding the building, and who knows how many inside.” I touched the gun on my hip. Arlo’s. He didn’t need it anymore.
“We need to get in there…undetected, knock out seven guards…undetected…and get out with a bunch of girls…undetected.” Amara snorted, bumping Ryker’s shoulder. “Kind of reminds me of Sarajevo.”
“Slightly different.” Ryker chuckled.
They had a past. A long one, but I clenched my jaw a little too hard. His hand slid against mine, entwining our fingers, as if he sensed my mood. I couldn’t seem to hide anything from him anymore.
“I miss my axe, especially on nights like this,” he muttered under his breath.
“You miss your axe every night.” I squeezed his hand.
“And day.”
“We’ll get it back.”
He nodded, keeping his gaze on the girls below. He stood in full warrior mode—his braids tight against his scalp, the top pulled back, wrapped up in a bun. He wore all black clothing and boots, with a new holster, which held several knives, but none of them bigger than a butcher knife. You’d be surprised how fast the weapons were taken after the storm, so I was pleased he found those in Target’s kitchen section.
Amara had three knives, while I had the gun and one knife. Ryker hated fighting with guns, so he gave Arlo’s to me. I was still more comfortable with a gun in my hands than a sword or tiny knife. Too many years of training and hunting didn’t go away overnight. Vadik didn’t seem to play by fae rules. All his men had guns. Most likely filled with fae bullets.
“Do you see her down there?” Amara zipped up her jacket to her chin.
“No.” I moved my head from side to side. “But she isn’t a fighter. They might still have her in the cell.”
“We start with them. Get them running before we go for the cell,” Ryker stated. “It will cause a distraction, pulling any guards from the warehouse so we can slip in.”
We had been waiting for Lars and his men to show up, but the clock was ticking. The opportunity of these girls being out of their cells was limited. We needed to act now. The knot of fear doubled in my throat. “You ready, buddy?” I opened my jacket where Sprig lay tucked safely inside.
“Yeah, I’m ready. I guess.” He pouted. “Though a lot less super.” We forced him to take off his cape and put it in his backpack with Pam. He would be too easy to grab and possibly strangle with the cloth around his throat. He was not happy.
“That’s the spirit.” He crawled onto my shoulder.
The four of us stared down, taking in these last quiet, non-life-threatening moments.
“Okay, let’s do this.” I unlaced my fingers from Ryker’s and turned for the ladder down to the ground level. There was no turning back now.
We moved silently to the building. The girls’ grunts and jeers arose from the practice ring. We skated along the wall, playing hide-and-seek with the guards patrolling the grounds. Five of the guards in the workout room were near the exit. The other two milled around the edges of the ring.
“Try not to use the gun. That will bring attention to us far too quickly,” Ryker said into my ear. “Amara will take the two on the right, I’ll take the three on the left. The other two guys will come for me. I’m physically the bigger threat. Zoey, you get the girls out.”
“What do you want me to do?” Sprig grabbed my ponytail.
“Not die,” Ryker grumbled.
“Sprig, we’re going to need you in the cells. I want you to sit this one out.”
“What?”
“You are too important to the mission. You need to stay safe.”
“Wow, that was a bunch of banana mush,” Sprig quipped. “But fine. I will stay back, but if anything happens, I’m coming to save you.”
“My hero.”
“Ugh.” He rolled his eyes and hopped down from my arm, his backpack strapped tight to his body, and vanished into the shadows.
Ryker twisted the door handle and, like a ghost, slipped into the room, Amara and me trailing behind.
The guards were all facing the girls. Most of the men leered at them in their tiny shorts and sports bras wrestling on the ground.
As big as Ryker was, you’d think people could sense him coming, but he was so swift and precise in his movements, he twisted the neck of the biggest guard before anyone noticed. But the moment the guard dropped, everything changed.
Shouts, groans, and the sound of bones crunching echoed around the area as Amara and Ryker descended on the guards. Like Ryker predicted, the two roaming men ran directly for him.
I sprinted past them and straight for the girls. “Come on!” I bellowed. They all turned around and stared at me. “What are you waiting for? Run!”
“What the shit? Is that the Avenging Angel?” A blonde girl on the mat tilted her head.
“Seriously?” My mouth fell open. That was what concerned them at this moment? I was trying to save them, and they all stood there like sheep. “Do you want to get out of here or not?”
“Yes.” A girl pushed her way through the crowd. Her round face looked sunken and pinched, her stringy hair tied up in a loose bun.
“Maria.”
“You always come back, don’t you, Angel? Can’t get away from it, can you?”
“No,” I said, staring straight into her eyes. “It’s who I am.”
“Finally you realize it.” Maria nodded, a smirk twitching her lips. She glanced at the girls, who stared at her like she was the Messiah. “Come on, girls.”
A gunshot snapped through the air behind me, and I whirled around to see a guard drop to the floor, his gun bouncing off the cement, Ryker standing over him. Every guard lay crumpled below Amara and Ryker.
“Time to go.” Ryker wiped the blood off his face. The sound of that gunshot would have every guard heading our way in seconds.
Alarm burst up my spine. “Go. Now!” Twenty-plus girls turned into a screaming, babbling mess as fear set in. Voices boomed from outside, heading for us. Shit. This could go bad fast.
“Amara and I will take the guards, you get the girls out of here,” Ryker barked and whirled around, running out the door. Amara swiped up another gun and hurried after Ryker.
“Maria, get them away from here. I need to go inside and get Annabeth.”
“She’s not there.” Maria grabbed my wrist.
“What? Where is she?” Acid bubbled
into my lungs.
“I don’t know. She disappeared a couple of days ago.” As Maria talked, her eyes wandered around the room, watching her girls. She was still their leader, even when locked up with them.
“You have no idea where?”
“No. She was too sick to work our last fight. When I got back, she had gone.”
No. No-no-no-no-no. It’s can’t be true. Was I too late?
“Sorry to say she’s probably dead.” Her voice turned cold. “They killed my brother without a thought. If you aren’t good for anything, then you are discarded.”
Marcello was dead. I felt neutral about his demise. He had become a drooling shell of the man he once was because of Ryker and me, but that could never overshadow what he had done to me, his cruelty.
“What does it say about me that I am relieved?” Her lips hooked up in disgust at herself.
“Maria!” a man shouted from the door.
Her grimace broke open into a huge smile. “Carlos!”
It was like watching a romantic movie as the pair ran for each other. She jumped into his arms. The relief on his face at seeing her filled my heart and then broke it. I knew they had been through a lot together. He willingly became a controlled soldier to stay near her. But once I had helped him break through the glamour, he was back to himself. He was still here and alive, which probably meant he was smart enough to fake being under fae control.
I wanted their love to have a chance. Reaching their side, I ripped a knife from my bootleg. They let each other go, and I handed her one of my knives. “Take this. Help the girls and run as fast and far as you can.”
She stared down at the weapon then back at me in wonder.
“You’re helping me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Her expression appeared confounded. “I locked you up. I tortured you.”
“Because you are a survivor like me. And no one should die here. Not like this. Now run. Go!” I waved my hands forward. Maria gave me one last look but nodded. Fate wove our lives together with threads of death, hate, and violence. But somehow we had saved each other. She could have killed me many times, and I could let her die now, but there existed a similarity in each other we recognized. Possibly an exceptionally thin line of respect.
“Come on,” she bellowed to the cluster of frightened girls, taking the lead. Maria and Carlos led her troops into the dead of the night. I heard more shouts and shots fired into the night.
I bit my lip, hoping with all my heart she could get them away from here. If anyone could, it would be Maria.
I whirled back around, moving toward the other building. I wouldn’t believe Annabeth was dead. Maybe they put her in another cell. I couldn’t leave without checking. Hope was a powerful force.
####
I eased out of the building, my gun aimed and ready. “Sprig?” I stepped out, my gaze roaming over the space. “Sprig?”
I could hear only yells and gunfire in the distance. Ryker had done a great job getting the men away from here.
Where was Lars? Would he come? Did he betray us? I didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“Sprig, where are you?” No response. Shit. I didn’t have time to look for him. My opportunity to find Annabeth narrowed with every tick of the clock. I started to dart for the main building.
“Zoey!” Amara’s voice from the alley broke my course.
“Amara?”
“This way!” She waved me toward the back of the building. “I remember in the plans a backdoor to the stairs here.”
I changed my direction toward her. “Where’s Ryker?” I hated not being the one who had his back.
“We got separated.” Worry creased her forehead. “I was coming back to look for him when I saw you. There’s an easier way into the building. It takes you to the stairs, leading to the cells.” She turned, heading for the door.
“Have you seen Sprig?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m sure he’s fine. Probably passed out in the bushes.”
Sadly that was a real possibility. I hoped it was true. He’d at least be safe.
I trailed after Amara, following her through the door, into a hallway.
“Wait.” Alarm beeped in the back of my mind. “The door wasn’t locked?”
When the door shut behind us, it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the pitch darkness enveloping me. Amara’s dark eyes glinted in the dark, and gradually my advanced sight identified her outline in the blackness.
“Yeah…” She tapered off. “They probably just forgot to lock it.”
His men wouldn’t forget anything, least of all a door where people could sneak in and out. My desire to find Annabeth pushed me forward, deeper into the building, but logic kept jumping in my face, screaming at me. My skin itched, my gut twisted. Something felt wrong.
“Amara…” I had just called her name when I felt more prickles at the back of my neck. The sound of feet moving for us.
Shit. Fae.
“Amara!” I yelped. Right then the light blasted overhead, the bulbs crackling awake. Men came from all directions, so fast my eyes couldn’t track them. One grabbed me from behind. I could sense my body wanting to jump, but nothing happened.
“Not so fast,” a thick, familiar Irish brogue whispered in my ear. Garrett. His arms swiftly grasped me and slipped goblin metal around my wrists. Then he tugged the gun out of my hands, and put it in the waistband of his jeans. “Don’t want you taking me to some exotic resort in Tahiti…well, not quite yet. We’ll have time for that later, sweetheart.”
I grunted as I fell against him, my magic subdued by the metal. Cadoc, Maxen, and all the rest of his nameless cronies surrounded us. One I didn’t know patted me down. Cadoc held Amara by the throat, her eyes slanted in anger.
“Always good to see you, Mar.” Garrett settled his chin on my shoulder, keeping me pressed against him.
“Can’t say the same.”
“Come on, luv. We’ve had some good times together. Even you can’t deny that.”
“It’s called faking it, Garrett. You probably wouldn’t be able to tell though, since all the girls do it with you.”
“Deny all you want, luv. But it was you crawling into my bed each night. Begging me.” She scrunched her face and looked away, and Garrett laughed wickedly.
“Come on, li’l sis. Daddy is going to lock you in your room for disobeying him.” Garrett yanked my cuffed arm and pulled me forward. When Ryker and I were first on the run, Garrett showed a picture of me to locate us, pretending I was his missing sister.
As we passed Amara, he slapped her ass. “I’ll be punishing you later, but Vadik wants to see you first.”
She glowered at Garrett with ferocity, but he didn’t appear to care. He and one of his nameless goons shoved me up the stairs. I knew they were taking me to a cell. My mind ran through any possibility, any hope, to get out of this. I had goblin metal stealing my powers, which were sporadic anyway. I had no weapons, and a gun was pressed against the back of my head. Sometimes you were just screwed.
Garrett took me to the second floor, to a room far in the corner. This room held no beds or chairs, only chains pressed against the walls on either side. I gulped as he pulled me in. My body was slammed against the wall, and the click of metal cuffs around my legs and wrists sounded before I could even take a breath.
Garrett’s speed was his advantage. His blurry form stopped in front of me. A smile spread over his striking face. A perfectly trimmed red beard lined his jaw. “So much trouble crammed into such a tiny, cute package.”
I pulled my arms, rattling the chains holding me to the wall. My fury emanated in a snarl.
“Easy, sweetheart.” Garrett patted my head. “Why don’t you hang out here and think about what you’ve done?” He turned for the door and stepped out with the other fae. He slid the cell door close, the lock snapping in place.
“Oh, and don’t you worry your pretty head about your boyfriend.” Garrett smirked, wrapping his hands a
round the bars. “He’s getting some father-son bonding time.”
As if on cue, a pained roar tore through the building.
Ryker!
My soul sank to my toes and my body instinctively struggled to move toward him. To get to him. The shackles clanked as I tried to fight them. I knew what bonding time meant. Torture.
“Go ahead, wear yourself out.” Garrett winked and turned for the stairs. “I’ll be back for you soon after I gather up the humans you set free. You thought you saved them?” He clicked his tongue. “You just got them killed.” Garrett blew me a kiss and disappeared along with his minion.
Another bellow came from below, tearing out my heart. Hearing Ryker being tortured was more painful than if it was me. My arms and legs failed against their restraints, bucking and slamming against the wall until I gasped for air, a strangled cry twisting my vocal cords. All I was doing was hemorrhaging energy. The chains weren’t meant to hold fae, but that didn’t mean I could get out of them. Being fae didn’t suddenly turn me into the Hulk or Superman.
I wish.
The sounds, grunts, and voices rose to me in waves from the room where they were holding Ryker, punishing my mind with images. Every cry from Ryker created a despairing whimper from me. I hated that all I could do was wait to be released from the chains. It was my only possibility to get away. Finding Annabeth and getting Ryker and Sprig were at the top of my plan, but I had no idea how to accomplish any of it.
A shadow obstructed the light briefly, and I jerked my head toward the shape moving to my cell door. Purple hair high in a ponytail swished across her black leather jacket.
“Amara!” I exhaled with relief. “Never thought I’d be so happy to see you. How did you get away?”
She tugged a key out of her pocket, unlocking the cell door, sliding it open.
“You have a key?” I hissed excitedly. “Where did you get it? Never mind, just help me get out of these. Then we can go get Ryker and find Sprig.”
“Why would I do that?” She tilted her head. “You’re exactly where I want you.”
Trepidation fluttered in my chest. “I know you don’t like me, but we need to go after Ryker.”
From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) Page 24
