by Maddie Wade
“I run the Cobras, but I wanted no part of this. The people I hurt and kill know what they’re involved with. Innocent people living clean lives being hit by chemical weapons? I’d never get involved with that.”
“And yet you are involved, you’re up to your neck in it.” Autumn began to pace, her fear for this man waning as she began to see the man behind the mask.
“Anton, Hench, and Midas got us involved. I had to go along, or I’d lose my position as leader of the Cobras. The only way I can control the narrative is by being in charge. My reputation isn’t something I’ve nurtured because I’m an egotist, it’s so people fear crossing me.”
“So why did Anton, Hench, and Midas do it? Why did they go behind your back and why frame you for murder?”
“Because I’ve been trying to take the club clean, which means less of a cut for them. Anton doesn’t know I know about him killing Terrell. He believes I’m a fool who’s losing his grip and hell, maybe I am.” He brushed a hand over his face in a gesture of exhaustion.
“You let them think you’re losing control to give them enough rope to hang themselves with.”
“Yes.” He looked at her consideringly. “But we have an even bigger problem than my handle on the club. Anton is bringing in someone else to finish the formula. I told him I wanted you so that you’d pay for Terrell’s crimes. He liked the perverse notion, so here we are.”
“You shot Aubrey.”
“No, I shot Aubrey with a blank. It will cause a flesh wound at most. I had to make it seem real. I need Mitch to believe so he’ll come for me. You need to give him enough time to figure this out and end this once and for all by stopping that formula from working.”
“You want me to stop the formula from working?”
“Yes, the people at Henderson are close, but I told them I want you to finish it. I need you to make it look like you’re fixing it but don’t. We can’t allow this to go out into the open and kill people.”
“Why now? Why, after everything you’ve done have you developed a conscience?”
Allen shrugged. “I lost my way. I joined the Cobras because I knew taking them over was the only way to destroy them. They took my brother, my best friend, and I killed every last one of them for it when I gained power, but then I lost my way. Began to believe my own press, got high on the power, the women, the drugs.”
“What made you see the light?”
“I’m not sure I have, but even I have my limit, and dealing in chemical weapons is it.”
“If I do this, how do I know you’ll let me go?”
“I won’t have to because Mitch and his friends will find you. They already have Anton, Hench, and Midas. They’ll throw me under the bus to save themselves, and he’ll come.”
“He’ll kill you.” Autumn felt sadness well in her chest for this broken man who had been a grief-stricken boy.
“I know.”
“You want to die?”
“I’m tired of it all. So many deaths, so much blood on my hands, I’m unredeemable.”
“Nobody is unredeemable.” Yet as she said the words, she knew that wasn’t true. Some people were, but she didn’t think Allen was one of them.
“Don’t feel sorry for me, Autumn. I’m not worth any one’s sorrow.”
“You could confess and help them take everyone down?”
“Do you know what would happen to me in prison? A nark, a snitch? I’d be dead anyway. At least this way I go out by my own choice.”
Tears bristled in her eyes as she saw that the man she’d been running from was more tortured than she’d ever been. “Fine, I’ll help you, but you must do something for me first.”
Allen smirked. “You’re not in a position to make deals, Autumn.”
“Yes, I am, and we both know it, or I wouldn’t be here. I want you to make a note of everything you have on Anton. That man is evil and he needs to be locked up. I don’t want him to get off on a technicality.”
“Fine. Now we need to go.”
“What about Maggie? I don’t want Harold Charles or Verena Finch anywhere near my daughter.”
“They won’t be. They never come anywhere near the business end.”
“I still don’t want her near this. It’s a fucking chemical weapon. A lab is no place for a baby.”
“Better make sure you’re careful then because the only way this happens is if she goes too.” He bent closer. “Verena wanted her as leverage.”
“That bitch.”
Allen chuckled. “I see why Mitch loves you. You’re all right, Autumn Roberts.”
Autumn said nothing; her brain was still trying to grasp the revelations of the last twenty minutes and wondering how this would be affecting Mitch.
Chapter Twenty-One
Mitch had never felt so afraid in his entire life, despair pitted in his belly, making him feel faint. Beside him, Will sat silently, his usually relaxed good humour vanished as Liam flew them, Jack, and Waggs home.
Home—a place he’d used to sleep until he’d met Autumn, then it had quickly become a place he treasured, a sanctuary he craved. Now Linton—no, from now on he was Allen, the boy he’d known as Linton no longer existed—had her and Maggie. His fist clenched against his thigh as he imagined what might be happening and hoped his imagination was worse than the truth.
When Aubrey had been shot, Will had lost it. Only Jack had been able to get through to him long enough to calm him down. The bond between the brothers was evident for every man to see as Jack, who was shaken himself took control, calling Fortis and having Zack and Daniel at the scene in minutes had eased Will’s frayed grasp on reality.
As they landed at the back of Eidolon, Mitch and Will were out of the chopper in seconds, running for the car park.
“I’ll drive.” Jack was opening the locks on the Range Rover as they jumped in and he floored it towards Fortis.
Zack had taken Aubrey there to be assessed by their private doctor once Daniel had triaged her injuries and determined that it was a flesh wound. Will had barely been mollified, threatening every man and his dog with death and pain.
When they got to Fortis fifteen minutes later, Will raced towards the medical room as Mitch walked behind him at a slower pace. He was concerned for Aubrey, but his worry for Autumn and Maggie overshadowed everything.
“How is she?” he asked as Nate moved down the hallway.
Nate stopped with his hands on his hips. “She’ll be fine. It was just a scratch. The shooter used a blank. We found the casing at that scene. Figured you’d want it cleaned up before the cops got there.”
“Thanks, Nate, appreciate it.”
“Anytime, I just hate that you’re going through this, worst fucking feeling in the world.”
“Yeah, you went through something similar with Skye.”
“Yep, I still have nightmares about it.” Nate slapped him on the shoulder. “We’ll get them back.”
Mitch nodded as Jack came out of the medical room and closed the door behind him.
“She really okay?”
“Yeah, she will be. My brother, not so much. I think he just lost ten years of his life.”
“I know how he feels.”
“We need to get back to Eidolon and find out what happened. I called Xander, who was watching the house, and he assures me Allen never left the property.”
Xander and his brothers ran a troubleshooting company. They went into a company and turned it around, oftentimes, buying it up. Xander Lawson had been in the SAS with Jack, his brothers in different branches of the military. They had done a few jobs for them before, but this was a favour.
“You sure you trust him?” Mitch had never doubted Xander or any of the Lawson brothers, but right now, his trust issues were at an all-time high.
“Yeah, he’d never turn, that man would cut off his own arm before he saw a woman or child hurt. He has a teenage daughter so he feels pretty strongly about this.”
Mitch nodded as he and Jack headed back to Eidolon, where he knew Liam
would have already started working this case. He walked in and found maps spread out on the conference room desk.
“I think I know how he got out,” Liam said in greeting
Mitch moved swiftly to see the maps of Allen’s home. It was nothing like the home he’d grown up in and screamed affluence and middle-class. “How?”
“See this?” Liam pointed at a small section at the edge of the property.
Mitch leaned in close to get a better look. “What is it?”
“An underground decommissioned missile silo. It was sold off in the 1980s when the cold war ended. Allen’s property borders it here. Want to guess where it ends?”
“The Farm,” Mitch said excitement tinging his tone and adrenalin surged.
“Bingo. I spoke to Lopez, and he has Allen coming out of the A4179, close to the farm last night.”
“So, as we were arriving, he was leaving to kidnap Autumn and Maggie.” Fury stole through his tone, making his voice sound like broken glass.
“Yes, CCTV puts him driving up to the farm about two hours after we left. He drove into that barn of the far east corner.”
“I bet that’s where the chemical weapons are produced. A silo gives them everything they need, including privacy and silence. They can go unnoticed by everyone.”
“That’s why we only found a fraction of what we expected at the farm,” Mitch surmised.
“I need to call Reid and Deck. I want him to concentrate on pulling all the information they can from Anton, Hench, Midas.”
“I’ll load the chopper with everything we need. We can put a plan together and get your girls back.”
Liam slapped him on the shoulder as he walked out. Mitch knew it wasn’t as simple as that. They knew where they were, but they had to get them out without anyone getting hurt. He walked towards Autumn’s office, pushing open the door and stepping inside. Her scent hit him instantly, the sweet honeysuckle smell wrapping around him like fragrant summer rain.
He strolled to her desk chair, his fingers trailing over the cot where the little angel that had stolen his heart took her naps. He’d never considered kids all that much, yet now he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it. Her belly laughs, the way her face lit up when she saw him making him warm from the inside out. He wanted more of that, more time with Maggie but also more children that shared Autumn’s beauty and brains. He wanted a future with the woman he loved and had been too afraid to express it to.
It seemed like such a silly thing to hold back, the expression of love for another. The truth was he’d been scared of being vulnerable, of opening his heart and having it rejected. Now though, he’d shout it from the rooftops, tell the world he loved her if he was only given a chance. He didn’t care if she said it back, because she showed it with every single action, with her trust. The way she put her faith in him to keep her and Maggie safe, and he’d failed her.
Sitting heavily, he took out his phone, pulling up the pictures he’d taken of him and Autumn the night of the party. Autumn was grinning widely into the camera with that sexy grin he loved so much as she leaned into his body. Had it really only been less than forty-eight hours since he’d made love to her? Felt her body tighten around him with desire, seen the pleasure flash across her face.
His world had toppled on its head in that time, and he fought the agony her absence brought, wetness tingling behind his eyes at the helpless sensation he felt, knowing she was scared, that she could be hurt and he was impotent until they had a plan.
His instinct wanted him to get in his car and drive to Allen’s house and demand he release them, but he knew an action like that would be foolish. Even now, with his world in danger, he was the sensible one, but calm had escaped him.
He fought the emotion, knowing if he gave in to it, he’d crumble beneath the weight of it. He prayed for the first time in more years than he could remember to a god he wasn’t even sure he believed in anymore that they were safe. That Linton Allen would find the last shred humanity in his heart and spare them from pain or death.
Scrolling through his contacts, he dialled the one woman who could bring him peace while his heart was in danger.
“Hey, Ma.”
“Mitch, how lovely to hear your voice. I was just thinking about you. How is that precious girl of yours?”
His throat clogged, and a sob burst through his closed fist. “Not so good, Ma.”
“Mitchell? Talk to me, tell me what’s wrong?”
Swallowing, he cleared his throat with a cough. “Nothing, Mum, it’s all good.”
“Don’t lie to me. I’m your mother and I can hear the pain in your voice as clear as day.”
“You remember I said we were helping Autumn with some issues in her past?”
“Yes.”
“They caught up to her, Mum. I failed her.”
“Is she alive?” He heard the trace of fear in his mother’s voice as her accent deepened.
“I fucking hope so. I don’t know what I’ll do if she isn’t.”
“She’s alive and you, my boy, are going to get her back. I know you, you have the heart of a lion, and if you love her, you’ll fight for her.”
“I do love her, Mum, so much and I haven’t even told her yet.”
“There will be time for that later, I feel it. She’ll be okay. A woman worthy of my son will fight.”
“There’s more. Linton Allen is the man who took her.” Mitch kept talking, explaining everything to the woman who’d sacrificed so much for him. As he spoke, he felt calmer; renewed energy flooded his veins.
“I always felt bad for leaving that boy with his no-good family. He came to visit me, you know. Years later, when you were in the police force as an officer. He said he was happy you got out, but that his path was different to yours and the only way he could avenge Devon was by breaking it from the inside out. I never understood what he meant, but I always felt sad for that boy. He could have been so much more if he’d only had a chance.”
Mitch sat straighter in the chair. “How come you never told me?”
“I didn’t want the past to influence the present.”
“I’m going to kill him if he hurts them. I don’t care about the cost, he will pay.”
“I wish I could take this pain from you, Mitch, but you’ve always been your own man. I know the job you do is dangerous, and I know you hide it from me or try too, but know this, I trust you to do what is right.”
“Thanks, Mum. That means a lot. I love you.”
“I love you too, my boy, so much.”
Mitch hung up, his mother’s revelations ringing in his ears. She believed in him wholeheartedly, and he knew Autumn did too. It was time he believed in himself and went and got his girls back.
Standing, he pushed the chair in and closed the office door. It was time to go to war for the woman he loved. He just prayed the only casualties were the ones on the wrong side.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Autumn glanced at the man holding some sort of semi-automatic weapon on the outside door of the small make-shift lab. Her nerves frayed with every second she spent in this room with her baby not six feet from the dangerous chemicals.
When she’d set foot inside the silo earlier that morning, she’d been unable to hide her awe at the scale on which the operation ran. What’s more, it was entirely under the radar of the authorities.
It was a vast warren of tunnels with labs, storage, even a small kitchen and bathroom with bunks to the left of it. Full electricity ran through it—powering the fridges, along with equipment she knew cost thousands of pounds.
It also told of the brilliance of the man who stood with his arms crossed at the far end of the lab where she worked. Allen was a bad person, he may not have done the things she’d thought he had, but he’d done some nasty shit. Murder, assault, kidnap, extortion, and drug dealing to name the ones she knew of, but she couldn’t help feeling some small bit of empathy for him.
Linton Allen had set this up with nobody knowing
. She could only imagine what he could’ve achieved with the right support. He’d also been considerate of her needs since he’d kidnapped her, which was in no way a compliment, but he could’ve been cruel, and he wasn’t.
He’d set up a cot for Maggie in a bedroom where he’d made sure she had food and water. The door was locked, but it was clean and dry, and Maggie had been none the wiser thank god.
A phone rang, and she turned to look at Allen. He frowned as he walked to where she was pretending to mix chemicals.
“We need twenty-four hours.” He hung up and his face was harsh with anxiety. “Mitch needs to move. Verena is putting pressure on to find the formula or she’ll outsource it. She has a biochemical weapons expert flying in tomorrow, and if you haven’t done as she’s asked, they’ll kill you.” He glanced at Maggie, his jaw flexing. “And her.”
“No, you have to do something.”
“I can’t fucking do anything. Mitch needs to come through.”
“Just call him. They can help us.”
“No, I told you that’s not how this goes down.”
His tone was final, and she knew he wouldn’t relent. This was the play he was making for better or worse, and she just had to pray Eidolon was as good as she believed. She had to try another tactic. “What did you want to be when you were a kid, Linton?”
Allen glared as he crossed his arms again. His body turned so that his back was partial to the door. “I don’t remember.”
“Oh, come on, indulge me. You’re putting the life of my baby in danger for your pride. It’s the least you can do.”
“I don’t owe you anything, lady.”
“No, maybe not.” She shrugged as she brought up the analysis on the screen in front of her. “But you were the one who brought me here, brought my sweet innocent child into this mess. You could have left Maggie behind. Could’ve just taken me but you didn’t, you took her too. If something happens to her, Mitch will kill you.”
Allen stared at Maggie. “She was a means to an end. Not a person but a bargaining chip I could use to control you.”
“How can you look at life in that way?”
