by Angel Payne
Brynn’s phony sneeze rang in his ear: their established code for a yes.
On the screen in Rhett’s palm, Adler turned right.
Damn it.
“Oh, poo.” A descending hitch of the camera. The woman was going for broke on the cleavage contingency plan. “We’ve already been that direction. What’s over here?” A swing back to the left—down a long, nondescript hallway—with no discernible door at the end.
“What the fuck?” Rhett rasped.
“No shit,” Rebel concurred.
“What’s going on?” Shay broke in.
Rebel joined Rhett in gaping at the footage Brynn captured for them, showing the entire length of the hallway. The images showed up as a weird mix of green tones due to the tint from the passage’s fluorescent lights, renewing the permit for the acid party churning in Reb’s gut.
Finally he said, “You solid on that intel about the room on this hall, Hawk?”
Garrett grunted. “As sure about it as my own nuts.”
“This hall?”
“For fuck’s sake, Stafford.”
Rebel shot a long huff. “For fuck’s sake yourself. There are no doors to the damn thing.”
“What?”
“We’re looking right at the feed,” Rhett rejoined. “There are a couple of bathrooms three-quarters down the corridor, and no other portals beyond that. At the end, the hall turns to the left without another interruption.”
Rebel cocked his head toward his friend. Rhett’s gaze was jolted with the same new comprehension. “Unless…the room is accessed differently.”
“Pressurized entrance?”
“Even a hidden panel?”
A thousand shades of blue gave away the rapid shift of Rhett’s thoughts. “Wouldn’t put anything past the bastard. Your theory makes the most sense, Moon. It’s probably operated with a second door inside the first, so the first wall only opens far enough to let a man through.”
Rebel’s teeth locked. “This is why the mouse cam never returned anything to us.”
“Nothing we could use or see.” Rhett returned the feed to the live stream. His face was clamped in tension as he stated, “Try to get as close to that wall as possible, Brynn. Pretend your shoe broke, or fake a fall.”
Brynna sneezed again, before stepping forward.
With every tap of her heels on the tiles, he couldn’t get over the intuition that they were sending her to her doom—at the hands of that sick fuck.
Suddenly, the image whipped around again. They caught a glimpse of Brynna’s wrist, with Adler’s hand clamped around it, before the front of the man’s wrinkled shirt filled the view. “There’s nothing that will interest you down there, Miss Diamond. Now come with me, if you please.”
“But—”
“Now.”
“I have to pee!” As she readjusted her shirt, Adler punched the air with a rough grunt. A couple of catsup stains on his shirt looked like congealed blood—or maybe it was congealed blood—as she stepped all the way into his personal space. “And perhaps take care of a few…other things.”
Adler’s growl instantly went all appeased hound dog. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”
Rebel was about to question Brynn’s punt from the ninety, when he saw her clear at least half the hall’s length before dashing into the ladies room. He let her hear his complimentary hum. “Very nice move, Little B.”
“Yeah?” She disguised the whisper by whapping the stall door closed. “Well, what the hell do I do now? Walk out of the bathroom naked?”
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Rhett gritted.
“You guys…I’m getting nervous.”
Her voice trembled. Her helplessness jerked hard at Rebel, transforming the bile in his stomach into a strange sensation through his whole body. The feeling was so foreign, he had no identifier for it. He was frustrated, furious, and close to dizzy from the agony of containing himself to this hiding place. Uselessness wasn’t his goddamn forte, especially when his very bones craved to rush the complex at a full run, guns blazing like a fucking cowboy.
“Stay calm, minette.”
“You’re doing really great, sweetheart,” Rhett added.
Her wince was soft but sharp. “Homer baby’s been shooting me some weird looks. The boobs aren’t working their magic anymore. Do you think he’s figuring something out?”
“Brynna Cosette.” Rebel knew if his growl didn’t work, the middle name would. “Listen to me, all right? Breathe. Keep your eyes open and your thoughts clear. We’ll make this work.”
“That’s right,” Zeke concurred. “Stay calm and stay safe. If you think things are hinky, get the fuck out of there. Don’t jeopardize yourself for this. We’ll just go to Plan B.”
“Then Plan C, if we have to,” Rhett emphasized.
“Try to get him upstairs.” The suggestion came from Garrett. “The scan didn’t detect as many heat signatures up there.”
“Which might just mean the bodies up there aren’t warm.” Brynn’s soft giggle was sprinkled with enough hysteria to stress the fuck out of Rebel. Well, more than he was. He caught Rhett’s new glance, filled with a strident message. We have to calm her down. And yeah, if that meant resorting to Dom tones in voices, then that was what would happen.
“No.” Rebel went for it. “That means that more of Adler’s team might follow him there, making it easier for us to get inside the building undetected.”
“Okay.” Her voice still shook but the lilt on the second syllable was all confidence. Good. That was damn good—because the orders he had for her next would demand it.
“Brynna, I won’t cover this in pixie dust. The second we’re in, we might not be so incognito. Make sure that pistol I gave you is at the top of your purse—and be prepared to use it if you have to.”
“On his head.” Rhett leaned over the monitor, as if she’d be able to see the urgent lines on his face, the anxious glints in his eyes. “You put that bullet right between his eyes, peach.”
“Yes, Sir,” she whispered.
“Just save his balls for me.” The slow, furious snarl was Shay’s alone. “I’m going to filet them, barbecue them, then feed them to the coyotes out in Red Rock.”
“And Zoe’s going to help you.” Her heartfelt assurance to the man, even from the middle of a situation where her next steps would take her deeper into danger, tempted Rebel to roll over in the grass, stare up at heaven, and implore the angels, How did you get it so right with this woman?
She was, singlehandedly, the most incredible woman he’d ever met.
The woman he’d fallen hopelessly in love with.
Staying motionless in the grass sure as hell wasn’t a problem now. The realization struck him like fucking Saul on the road to Damascus, blinding and paralyzing, sucking every molecule of air from his lungs. Thank God Brynn didn’t need him on the comm during the thirty seconds it took to act out her bathroom break excuse, flushing the toilet and washing her hands.
And thank fuck all he received from Rhett, once he could lift his head again, was a stare of complete agreement.
He narrowed his own gaze, hoping the guy read his return message. As soon as this is all over, the three of us are going to talk. About everything.
Thank God he hadn’t squandered the moment.
Because in the next one, coherent thought fled his brain—
Just as all semblance of logic fled his senses.
As terror like he’d never known flamed through his body.
On the monitor, Adler awaited her in the hallway—with a lord’s polished posture, a gentleman’s sedate smile—and a monster’s evil glare. Before he even spoke, one conclusion was horrifyingly clear:
Brynn had been blown.
Her gasp betrayed how thoroughly she understood the reality, too—right before Adler made a brief motion with his hand, ordering a pair of men forward who looked recruited right out of the WWF. He still didn’t seem to know about the camera. A good thing, since it gave Rebel the prec
ious seconds he needed to reach into his bag for his RPG launcher.
On the monitor, Adler smirked at a now-squirming Brynna. “You know, Miss Diamond, we live in an age of such amazing technology. Even from a hidden security camera, one can generate a high-quality image within seconds, then run it through facial recognition software. And then—Voilà! One has the naked truth about their seductive little…guest.” The man’s face darkened again. “Hmmm. No. That’s not right, either.”
Adler motioned again. A loud rip distorted the audio, along with what sounded like Brynn’s scream. The monitor was black for a second. When the visual feed returned, their view was a drastically different angle.
They looked at everything from the floor—including the two huge guards dragging a flailing—and nearly nude—Brynna down the hall. Somehow, they’d let her keep her panties and stockings. The corridor was strewn with the garments that didn’t make the cut.
“Ahhh.” Adler’s voice was still disgustingly clear on the audio feed. He’d remained behind, chuckling at the destruction he’d ordered. “Now there’s the naked truth.”
Rebel mounted the RPG gun to his shoulder. Squeezed the trigger tighter…tighter…
“You can barbecue the bastard’s balls, I-Man. I’m going to spit-roast his dick.”
Chapter Eighteen
‡
NOISE.
Noise, damn it.
Scream, Brynna. You have to scream!
Her mind bellowed it from somewhere beyond her body, almost like a sensei evaluating a student. She’d kicked and screamed and twisted against the meat slabs who’d grabbed her, even landing some blows that had them resorting to language more colorful than their grunts—but that had justified them to pinch and squeeze in very specific places. Locations that didn’t require imagination about what Adler had permitted them to do with her.
Oh, God.
What they were going to do with her…
Because of that, she couldn’t reconnect. Couldn’t reach far enough to grab her mind and shove it back into her body. Maybe she didn’t dare. Letting go of her mind…it didn’t have to be such an awful thing. She’d learned. She’d been damn stubborn about it, but she’d learned. Rhett and Rebel had been the teachers with the strength, determination, and patience to bring her into the light of that recognition. Caring for her enough to make her really see…to let her really fly…
To give her the beautiful wings of her submission.
A sob spilled from her as the truth finally ripped into her.
Rhett.
Rebel.
They’d called her the gift but they’d been the gifts. Their faces burst across her vision, confirming it to the point of pain. Their lips, infusing her skin with their passion. Their eyes, the dual oceans of their adoration. Their bold jaws, set with the same resolve: to make her scream as she succumbed everything she felt and everything she was to them…
And she had.
And with the admission, knew she’d never feel the same way in her life again. Not with anyone else again. Certainly not these two monsters, who hauled her into a room that had weirdly just…appeared. Holy shit. Rhett’s theory was right. The room-that-wasn’t-a-room was hidden behind a secret panel, concealed behind the hall’s real wall. So did that mean—
“Brynn!”
Zoe’s scream was as excruciating as being dumped on the room’s cement floor. For several seconds, Brynn couldn’t respond. As all the wind rushed into her lungs, her brain decided to make a not-so-triumphant comeback to her head. The full horror of this nightmare, until now just feeling like an episode of a graphic HBO show, gripped her like the reality that it was.
Her sob erupted into a scream. She kicked away from the guards, not wasting time being modest about it. Too damn late to play Laura Ingalls, when a pair of Neanderthals were clearly thinking behind-the-barn-fun with naughty Nellie Oleson.
She had to keep her shit together. Had to make her brain stay put this time, and use it to think clearly. It might be the only way to keep Zoe and herself alive.
Rhett.
Rebel.
Their names ripped into her consciousness again, this time bringing hope. They were here. Somewhere. How much had they seen and heard on the feed? Did they know Adler had exposed her? Facial recognition software. Didn’t that stuff exist only exist on TV shows? Again, she fought past the sense that she was just playing out a movie scene—that any second, the director would call “cut” and everyone would break for coffee. The two thugs would help her off the floor before talking about their weekend plans with their wives and kids…
“Brynn. Oh my God!”
Zoe’s voice was thick with tears. Brynn’s own eyes stung, tears stemming from a mix of joy and horror. She’s here. I’ve finally found her. But even turning toward her friend was impossible. Her arms had been pinned against the floor. Her head was locked in place, too.
What the hell?
There was a third guard. Of course. The one who’d been keeping watch over Zo already. The asshole had dropped behind her, then clamped her head using his knees. He trapped her wrists beneath his hands. His face, upside down because of the position and that much more disgusting for it, floated over hers with a slow smirk—and breath that smelled like old cheese and stale beer.
“Awwww. A present. You guys really do care.”
“For all three of us.” She couldn’t tell whether Thing One or Thing Two had spoken. Like it mattered. Didn’t matter. Her stomach would’ve churned with as much dread at the sound of their pants unsnapping, their zipper sliding down. “I think she tried to get in to save the duffed-up bitch.”
“Well, thank you, darling.” His friend knelt in front of her, pushing her knees out wide. “You saved something, all right. Our very blue balls.” He tossed a look back at his friend. “She’s all yours, Burt. Just push the lace out of the way, I guess.”
Burt chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll figure it out.” He stroked his rising erection while staring down over her body. “This boy knows his way to the goods.”
Zoe’s cry pierced the air. “Oh, my God. Brynna.”
“Shut up.” The brute still holding her right thigh flung a threatening glare. “I can’t fuck you but I sure as hell can smack you.”
Brynn bit her lip hard to refrain from hurling an insult of her own. It wouldn’t gain her anything, and might get Zoe struck. God only knew how many times her friend’s spicy temper had earned her such abuse over the last week. Her mind took off with the worst possibilities, since she wasn’t able to run an actual visual check. Squeezing her eyes shut only worsened the possibilities, but at least she didn’t have to look at the third monster, who dropped to his knees between her legs with an oily growl—
Then burst into a stunned choke, as an explosion rocked the building. “What the fuck?”
Brynn’s head fell to the floor as the first guard lurched to his feet. “What the hell was that?”
Even through the wall, the alarm peals were ear-shattering. Brynn had never heard better music in her life, and that included all three of her favorite dance music stations. Lurching to her feet and whirling, she found Zoe on a small daybed in the corner, gripping the mattress like it was her life raft. Holy crap, her belly was big. Brynn wondered if Adler had forced her to pad the swell out for ultimate protection, until seeing the dent of her friend’s belly button against her cotton maternity tee.
“Zo!”
As she raced to her friend’s side, another explosion sounded, closer and louder. Though the boom turned the adrenalin in her system to rocket fuel, it was a secondary boost to hugging Zoe once more. “Finally.” She inhaled, treasuring the spicy scent that belonged solely to her friend. At last she yanked back, peering carefully into the eyes that nearly matched the sapphire stud in the woman’s nose. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” Zoe braved a wan smile while picking up a T-shirt off the bed and tossing it at Brynn. The all-white thing draped to the middle of her thighs. Perfect.
“O
h, honey. Your dancing always was way better than your acting.”
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Fine. They’ve kept me alive. Let’s leave it at that.”
“And the baby?”
“Good.” She suddenly grabbed her belly. “Ow!” Gritted out a laugh. “Really good. Especially today. Owwww.”
Brynn watched her friend even more closely, while letting Zoe nearly squeeze her hand off her wrist. “That doesn’t look ‘good’.”
“No.” It was damn near a snarl. “It’s fine. I’m fine. She’s just…kicking.”
“Kicking. For a full minute?”
Another boom. Bellows followed it, male yet indiscernible, orders and countermands that pounded the walls like billiard balls in a drain pipe.
“What’s going on?” Zoe gasped out.
“I didn’t come alone.” Thank God. Her Doms had saved her from that very fatal mistake.
Her Doms.
New tears jabbed, welled, and flowed.
Somehow, in some way, those two words had become two of the best syllables in the English language. And if the wrong side was winning in the skirmish outside this room, she’d never have the chance to tell them.
No. She couldn’t believe that. She wouldn’t.
This time, she chose to believe. To trust. To throw her heart completely into the power of love.
“Rhett Lange and Rebel Stafford came with me.” She murmured it close to Zoe’s ear, so the Neanderthals wouldn’t be alerted. “If anyone can get past that door, it’ll be them. But keep acting scared.”
Zoe hugged her tight again. “Gracia a Dios, it won’t be that huge an act.”
But her friend didn’t get a chance to stretch her thespian chops. Before they could release each other, Zoe curled in, emitting a longer cry of pain. “Ohhhh shit!”
Brynna held her as she sank back onto the mattress, clutching her stomach, lost to an agonized grimace. Ohhhh shit was right. “Zo. I think you’re in labor.”
