by Becky McGraw
“The stairs up to the filming room is the third door from the entry at the back of the compound,” Dex whispered into his mic, breathing heavily as they reached the back gate.
Logan and Susan stopped to put their backs to the wall beside the back door, then she leaned in to test the lock and shook her head. Logan pulled out his cell phone and evidently used the keycard scrambler app that Dex put on his phone for another mission.
That his very technologically challenged boss even remembered he had the app—much less how to use it—astounded Dex. He stopped beside Susan and swung Grace to his side.
“Clear,” a very deep voice that wasn’t his brother’s said over the headset.
“Careful, friendlies at the rear,” his brother replied, sounding frustrated.
“Roger,” the first man replied. “South hall on one.”
“East, one,” Patton replied.
“We’re going west on one,” Logan said, grabbing the door handle to swing it open. He ducked inside with his pistol, then leaned back out. “Clear.” He opened it again, then entered and Susan rolled in behind him.
Dex didn’t really know what to do and, from the looks of it, neither did Grace. Her frozen face did not make him any more confident about bringing her inside this building. He eased the door closed, but she reached around him to open it.
“We’re going up to the filming room,” she whispered into her headset as she met Dex’s eyes and he nodded. Together they kept to the left side of the main hallway and he listened for any sound, watched for any movement from the ten or so doors down the hall.
At the third door, he stopped to get his heart rate under control. He knew once he opened that door they would be committed to going up those stairs alone to face whatever waited for them there.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked, and she nodded, then moved around him to open the door. She rested it on her hip while she swung her pistol into the opening.
“Clear,” she whispered, then moved and Dex caught the door. He hustled behind her up the stairs and stepped behind her into the long hallway at the top. As he knew from the schematic of the building he’d found, there were two doors, the one at the end of the hall being the filming room. He had no idea what was behind door number two.
He looked at the solid steel door at the end of the hall and wished there was at least a window so they could see what was going on in there, but it had none. There was a reason it was windowless. What went on inside the room at night was too brutal to ever see daylight.
A very faint, low-pitched moan echoed down the hallway, and Grace whimpered as she hurried toward the end of the hall. Dex’s heart was barely beating as he followed behind her. He felt rather helpless without some kind of weapon.
If something happened, the only thing he had at his disposal to help were the few martial arts moves Susan had taught him. They’d worked for him on Master Tim at the resort, but he had no idea if he could perform them under duress. He felt as incompetent right then as his brother thought he was as he watched Grace gingerly test the door knob and it twisted. They should never have come up here by themselves.
He grabbed her arm to pull her back against the wall beside him, then pressed the button on his headset. “Someone’s in the filming room. We need backup,” he whispered and she nodded.
“Wait—on the way,” Patton growled, but Grace obviously wasn’t waiting. She pulled away from him, and before he could stop her, twisted the knob and opened the door.
Dex was right behind her when it opened, and the first thing he saw was a naked woman, with a plastic bag over her head and a noose around her neck, who was under a spotlight in the center of the room. Her outstretched arms were shackled to a cross member and her toes barely touched a wooden block, which was placed under her feet. She squirmed to keep her weight from the noose, but wasn’t succeeding, if her purple face and hummingbird breaths which sucked the bag into her mouth and nose were any indication.
“Oh my, God,” Grace whispered, as she dropped her pistol to run toward the woman. Dex strode to the gun and bent to pick it up, but a boot landed on his ass and he went flying. His head rammed into a table and he hit the floor hard. Stars danced in his vision as he spun to sit up to watch a man in a black mask slam the door, lower a cross-bar over the middle, then slide home a lock above it.
“I wondered how long it would take you to get up here,” he said with a harsh laugh as he turned around. “You almost didn’t make it in time to watch her die.” The man tsked as he casually walked over to pick up Grace’s pistol and shove it into the waistband of his pants as if he didn’t think he’d need it. “I’d have been disappointed if that happened. And so would’ve my friends,” he said looking into the shadows at the back of the expansive room. Three men walked just to the edge of those shadows. One wore a suit, and the other two fatigues.
He knew they were coming? How?
Loud banging echoed down the hallway outside the door, but it wasn’t coming from the door to the room. Fuck, they must’ve locked the door to the stairway. That meant there were probably more men down the hall in that other room. There’s no way it could’ve been locked otherwise.
If this turns into a goat fuck, that’s our specialty. Dex sure as hell hoped Susan was right, because that is exactly what they had right here.
“Get naked, Kitty,” he said, with a laugh walking toward Grace. “The least I can do is let you die with your sister.”
Rage shot through Dex, launching him up to his feet like a freight train on a direct path toward the devil. The two men moved too, and when his body connected with the Dom, they landed on top of him in a scrum.
Fists and feet flew, some landing painfully, but Dex didn’t stop throwing blows. Adrenaline was his high-powered fuel as he fought them with all he had. His boot connected with one of the men’s jaws and with a grunt, he rolled to the side. He shoved the heel of his hand up under the second man’s nose and his head snapped back. He came back up just in time to catch Dex’s elbow to the side of his head.
Thank you, Susan.
Dex and the Dom rolled across the floor, and he was determined to be on top when they stopped. They struggled, and Tim reached between them to try to reach the pistol, but Dex grabbed his hand. Their eyes met, and Harlow’s glittered in the spotlight. It wasn’t until that minute that Dex realized they’d stopped rolling by where Marcy was suspended.
Harlow reached out and before Dex could stop him, he punched the wooden block and sent it sliding across the floor. Her feet kicked wildly near his head and she gurgled. Grace screamed, and it echoed in the room and inside his head.
Dex knew he had a decision to make. Save Marcy Wentworth, or finish it with Harlow to save himself and Grace. He chose them, and struggled to keep his grip on the weapon.
Gunfire pinged off the door, a shoulder or something rammed into it, but he knew the team would not get inside in time to help them. The two men on the floor a few feet away stirred, and Dex knew he’d lose if they got involved in the action again.
He pushed his hand downward on the pistol grip and felt for the trigger well. Placing his finger on top of the Dom’s, he angled the gun inward toward the man’s body and squeezed with all he had. The gun fired and echoed in the room, the Dom’s body jerked, and his eyes opened wider. The heat from the blast singed Dex’s hand and lower body, as the reverb radiated up his arm to his shoulder, vibrating his teeth.
Dex yanked the pistol out of the man’s grasp to sit up. He tried to skate backwards on his ass, but his feet kept slipping. He looked down and gagged at the blood trail he’d left on the floor with his feet. His eyes followed it to the larger pool surrounding the man’s hips and his stomach lurched. He knew after this was over he was going to vomit, but he couldn’t afford the luxury right now. At that moment, he definitely had a new appreciation for what his brother, hell, Susan, Logan and their team, went through as a normal course of business.
Dex forced himself not to look at Marcy We
ntworth, who’d stopped kicking, or Grace who was trying to loosen the rope around her neck, because he knew he would vomit. A flash of movement caught his eye, and he turned the pistol toward the man who was now on his feet and rushing toward him.
Swallowing hard, his hand shook as he pulled the trigger, praying he’d hit him somewhere. A bright orange burst was his only warning that a bullet was headed his way too. Dex dove to the side, thankful for at least having quick reflexes, when he felt the energy of the bullet as it whizzed past his ear.
Heart pounding, he rolled to his side and pointed the pistol toward the man again, but didn’t fire when he found he’d stopped to grip his thigh, but the pause didn’t last long. With a curse, the man raised his pistol again and Dex fired another round. He dove to the side, but moaned and hysterical laughter bubbled up in Dex’s throat.
Hell, maybe I’m not so bad a shot after all, Dex thought, sitting up to aim at him again.
“Charlie Foxtrot, General—let’s just get out of here,” the man wheezed, limping toward his partner, who’d just sat up. “They’ll be through that door in a second and I’ll be no help.”
“Fucking cowards,” the man grumbled.
Bullets pinged off of the door, shoulders slammed into it again, and Dex glanced to see the cross bar bulge. The thug helped his buddy to his feet, and Dex kept the pistol aimed in their general direction.
“Grace, get the door,” he shouted, as he watched the men hobble together to disappear in the shadows behind the video cameras and lights.
Instead of going with them, though, the suited man walked into the spotlight wielding a pistol and Dex’s blood ran cold.
“Get away from that door!” he shouted at Grace, aiming his pistol toward her, but keeping his eyes on Dex. She must’ve complied, because he moved his aim to Dex’s chest. “Toss that pistol over here, Lowell, before you shoot yourself and deny me the pleasure of killing you.”
“General Sheridan?” Dex asked, believing it was him but not able to see him clearly in the spotlight behind him. His breath froze in his chest as he put the gun on the floor and kicked it over near the man’s feet, and his mind whirled over the implications of Sheridan’s presence in this equation, but it would not engage to process them.
“Error in judgment, Lowell. You’ve made plenty, but your first was crossing me. Your second was giving up your gun,” he said with a harsh laugh. “No wonder the military didn’t want you. Not only are a coward, you’re too stupid to live.”
Dex dove to the side when the pistol belched orange fire and Grace screamed. The bullet pinged off of the concrete floor very near his ass. He rolled again in case another bullet followed, then skated on his ass to put more distance between them.
“You did well hiding your tracks after you sent that information anonymously to the DOJ and the Secretary, but you should’ve just stayed in your safe place, dumbass,” Sheridan said, taking a casual step toward him.
Truer words had never been spoken, Dex thought, staring at the end of the pistol when Sheridan aimed it toward him again. His instinct to hide, to be afraid of this man, was evidently right on the mark.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Dex knew their only possible salvation would be to keep him talking. “What are you doing in Las Vegas, General?” Playing dumb worked, especially since he didn’t have confirmation from Gray as to what this man’s role was in the organization.
Mastermind would not surprise Dex in the least.
“Vegas offered plenty of opportunities for a disenfranchised business-minded, ex-military man to make a living after a weasel ruined his life. Especially a man with plenty of para-military and mercenary friends. Those men come in handy for certain pest problems in this town. When I found out you were one of those cockroach problems, I decided to get involved.”
Oh, I’m betting the farm that you’re involved up to your thick neck here, but it sounds like you have other shady enterprises here too.
Thomas Sheridan took a step toward him again and moved his aim to the center of Dex’s forehead, causing beads of sweat to pop up there. “You really don’t have any common sense do you, boy?”
The pounding on the door continued, but faded as his heartbeat took priority over that and his pounding heart in his ears. Like everyone said it would when facing death, his life flashed before his eyes. His only regret at that moment was not being able to say goodbye to his family.
Emotion squeezed his chest as memories of his relatively charmed life growing up in Boston, his parents, the good times with his brothers, flooded his mind. In that moment, he acknowledged he hadn’t had it so bad, and even though they didn’t understand him, rarely included him in their pack activities, he never doubted his family loved him.
Why else would Patton have come right away to find him when their mother called him? He’d left his base and training to come to the hospital. Why else would he be outside of that door right now with his friends trying to save them?
Dex had no doubt that Grant would be right there beside Patton, fighting to get in if he wasn’t deployed, and Brad would too, if he wasn’t at the Naval Academy. Hell, his father would be leading the pack and would probably have a battering ram with him, which his brother obviously didn’t have.
Because no matter what, his family had his back. They could argue amongst themselves, say things that shouldn’t be said, but nobody outside of their pack was allowed to fuck with someone in their family.
Hadn’t they all battled the bullies that Dex was harassed by through junior high school? Every. Fucking. One. Those guys learned by high school they’d better leave him alone, or they’d have his two older brothers in their face.
The heat and blast energy of a powerful explosion near the door washed over his entire body. Dex covered his head as shards of metal and wood rained down on the concrete floor. Hope surged through him, making him dizzy as he glanced back at the door. When he found it warped, but the bar still in place, he groaned, but forced a grin as he looked back at Sheridan.
“Well, it looks like your friends had enough sense to get out of here. I’d suggest you do the same, General, before my friends get through that door.”
Sheridan laughed. “You and your lady friend will be dead and I’ll be out of here long before they get through that door. My man Harlow always was a meticulous soldier, and I’d say his construction specs on that door are no exception, since that charge didn’t work. Either that or your friends are as incompetent as you are.”
A flash of movement drew Dex’s eye to Sheridan’s left. Dex hoped Sheridan’s men had returned to drag him out, but a flash of long red hair told him it wasn’t them. A loud battle grunt and a rattle preceded a glint of silver and a whoosh.
Sheridan twisted to look back just in time to catch a heavy metal chain square in the face, which sent him staggering backwards with blood gushing from his nose. Grace stepped into the spotlight with determination in her eyes, and anger and grief plain on her face as she swung the chain again in a wide arc. It connected with a rattling thud against the side of Sheridan’s head and he grunted as he spun like a top.
Before he recovered, she swung the chain once more, connecting with his jaw, and the pistol clattered to the floor as he crumpled to his knees. She swung again from behind him and it wrapped around his neck. She yanked hard and twisted, he grabbed at it with his fingers, flailed one arm behind him to try to grab her, but only for a second before he collapsed face down on the concrete.
Dex scrambled to his feet to sprint to the door, flip the bar and slide the upper lock. The door burst open hard, slamming him against the wall. Dazed and without breath, Dex sank to the floor as his brother stormed in first, sweeping the room with a rifle, his teammate followed closely, doing the same. Susan and Dave entered last, with their pistols ready.
Grace wailed for someone to help her as she tried to cut her sister down. In a flurry, they spread out—his brother and one of his teammates helped Grace, Dave and Susan went to Sheridan, and the
other SEAL trained his weapon on the Dom, who wasn’t moving.
“The feds should be here soon,” Susan said, leaving Dave to guard Sheridan. “It’s too damned bad the place is already cleaned out.”
Dex lost his breath again, but managed to use his hands on the wall to stand. He didn’t move toward her, because he wasn’t sure his legs would work. “No, they couldn’t have, because I’d have seen that on the cameras.”
“It was on a loop, evidently, until they bugged out. That could’ve happened, probably did happen, long before we got here,” she replied with a huffed breath.
And again, more proof that he was a dumbass who’d been outsmarted by criminals. Embarrassment and guilt washed through him as he glanced at his brother, who was helping Grace lower Marcy Wentworth to the floor. Her limp body and blue face were proof of his incompetence.
Dex faced the sad fact right then that he was totally useless in all aspects of the investigative and security business. He should just hand in his Nerds-R-Us card and beanie and go flip hamburgers. He’d probably be more successful at that. But considering his ineptitude at everything, he’d probably burn down the burger hut.
“I’m so sorry,” he said, gritting his teeth as he watched Grace climb on top of her sister’s body to start pumping her chest, her sobs echoing through the room. He shoved a shaking hand through his hair.
“No need to be,” Susan replied, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder.
“I think both of those men are dead,” Patton announced, walking up to them. He glared at Dex with disgust on his face. “You’re damned lucky you had her with you,” he growled, pointing toward Grace. “Or you’d probably be dead too. You might want to go pull her off her sister, because she’s—” Patton’s eyes glittered as he shook his head.
“I know that, and it was a helluva choice to make,” Dex replied, pushing away from the wall to shoulder past his brother.
