The Hot Gamer (A Romance Love Story) (Hargrave Brothers - Book #3)

by Alexa Davis

  "Ryan!" Echo cried as I ran into the room and found Cece kneeling at her feet frantically trying to cut the cable wound around her legs. "He's got the keys in his pocket, and my phone!"

  "Got it," I said as I went back out and rifled through the guy's pockets finding the lock keys and Echo's phone. I went back into the office gave the keys to Cece and the phone to Echo before I turned and headed for the door again. "I'm going to the lab. Hurry up and join me!"

  It took me three tries to locate the door to my father's lab, but when I tried the first of the two keys it didn't work. I was sweating by the time I slipped the second key in and heard the lock click. We were in — or so I thought.

  The inner room was pitch black and by now Cece and Echo had joined me, but us could find a light switch on the wall, so Cece flipped on her cell phone and used the glow of the screen to scan the small space. The door leading into the lab resembled that of a large industrial refrigerator with a seal running around the outside edges. It was silver and had a lever with a lock in the middle; I slipped the first key into it and turned it hoping that it would be a simple solution. The lock easily opened and I carefully pushed down on the lever, unsure of what would happen once we broke the seal. I heard the whooshing of air and as I pulled the door open I saw a blue light shining from somewhere toward the back of the room.

  I signaled to Cece and Echo to follow me as I moved slowly between two lab tables that sat parallel to one another stretching eight feet into the center of the lab. Both were covered by glass cases and had fume hoods hanging from the ceiling. To the left of the tables were four large boxes with blinking lights flickering on and off in what appeared to be random patterns as they processed information and stored it deep in the inner recesses of some technological brain.

  "Servers," Echo whispered. "All of his research data is on them, but the most important data is on the hard drive. We need to find it."

  As we cleared the lab tables I stopped abruptly whispering, "Get down!"

  We all dropped to the floor and crawled toward the two giant circular glass cases that rose up out of the floor just as a voice filled the space.

  "You are not getting out of here alive, missy!" the goon shouted.

  "Give yourself up, Echo Frost," a second voice hissed. "You cannot beat us."

  "The hell I can't!" Echo shouted before I could slap a hand over her mouth.

  "Shut the hell up!" I whispered. "They don't know who's in here with you or that we're armed."

  I looked at Cece and nodded as I pulled my pistol out of my pocket. She was already holding hers.

  "You stupid, stupid girl," the voice growled. "You have no idea what you've done or how we're going to make you pay for it."

  "On three, we're going to rise up and fire at them," I said. "This is for real, so don't hold back, okay?"

  "You sure we shouldn’t wait for the police?" Echo whispered.

  "Chica, no police are coming," Cece said patting her arm. "Me and Seal rolled solo on this rescue mission."

  "Hey, what are you people doing in this lab?" came a voice from the hallway. "You're not supposed to be in here."

  "Butch! GET DOWN!" Echo screamed as Cece and I rose up from behind the lab tables and started firing. The goon and his boss returned fire and soon the room was full of the deafening sound of guns firing and the smell of black powder. I ducked down to eject the spent magazine from my gun and slam in a new one before emerging from between the tables and firing at the man moving towards us. I fired and he dropped to the floor with a thud seconds before I felt the searing pain rip through my midsection.

  "Ryan!" I heard Echo scream as I fell backwards and everything went black.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  Echo

  I heard myself scream Ryan's name as I watched him fall to the floor. Cece grabbed me and yanked me around the backside of the lab table, motioning to me to be quiet as she held her gun in her shaking hands. We waited a few moments, and then hearing nothing, she stuck her head up over the edge of the table and saw the goon on the ground as the second captor raced toward the door. Without hesitating, Cece raised her gun and shot the fleeing captor in the shoulder.

  "You fucking bitch!" the captor's words were garbled through the voice modulator before dropping the gun. Cece fired again and brought him down to the ground. He writhed on the floor as Cece stood over him and kicked his gun out of his reach.

  "Do not fuck with me, Mister," she said as she pointed her gun at his head.

  "You shot me, you stupid bitch!" the voice screamed.

  "Yeah, because you were trying to kill my friend, you idiot," she said as she nudged the wounded arm with her foot and listened to the painful scream that followed. Cece looked at me as she pulled out her phone and said, "911, dial it and tell them we have two wounded and two questionable."

  "You bitch! You can't kill me and get away with it!" came the high-pitched reply as she nudged the arm with her foot again.

  "Wouldn't want to deny you your day in court, asshole," she said. "Don't get your panties in a wad, I'm not going to kill you — unless you don't shut the hell up."

  As the second captor went silent, I quickly moved toward Ryan and unzipped his hoodie. His side was covered in blood, but I couldn't tell how bad it was. He groaned a little when I tried to lift his shirt.

  "Don't touch it," he croaked. "Medic...need a medic."

  "Help is on it's way, don't give up," I said as I gripped his hand and touched his face. My fingers were covered in his blood and left prints on his cheek.

  "Hard drive," he mumbled. "Get drive, Echo"

  "Shit the hard drive!" I yelled at Cece. "I need to find it! Where the hell is it?"

  "Calm down and think, chica," Cece said as she aimed her gun at the man at her feet. "Where would Dr. Powell have put it?"

  "My. Office," came a groan from the front of the room.

  "Who said that?" Cece called.

  "My. Office," came the voice again. Cece motioned for me to check it out as she covered me with her gun.

  "Butch, is that you?" I said when I saw the security guard laying on the ground near the front of the lab.

  "Mmm hmm," he nodded slightly as he struggled to breathe. "Drive. My office."

  "You've got Dr. Powell's hard drive in your office?" I asked as I frantically tried to staunch the flow of blood coming from his neck. Cece tossed me her hoodie and I used it as a pressure dressing as I wondered what was taking the medics so long. I shouted, "Cece! Check Ryan! Make sure he's still conscious!"

  "Mmm hmm," he said as he gasped for air.

  "Hang on, Butch," I whispered as I gripped his hand. "Help's coming."

  "Drive under desk," he grunted as his eyes fluttered closed. "Don't miss it. Hiding."

  "Butch, stay with me," I called as I squeezed his hand. "Butch! Butch! Don't let go!"

  The next thing I knew the paramedics were pushing me out of the way as they scooped up Butch and Ryan. I looked around for the whining captor and realized that he'd disappeared while Cece and I had been focused on keeping Ryan and Butch alive. The goon had bled out making the lab floor slick and slippery.

  "Where are you taking them?" Cece asked several times. "Hey, where are you taking these guys?"

  "Probably Bellevue, it's the closest!" one of the paramedics shouted as they pushed the stretcher out the door and ran for the elevator.

  I moved out of the way and stood near Cece off to one side of the room and surveyed the lab. Directly across from where we were standing were two huge glass tubes. They were filled with some kind of smoke like gas that moved up and around as if it were actually breathing. I thought it kind of a miracle that they hadn't been shattered in the crossfire.

  "What the hell is that?" Cece whispered.

  "Not a clue," I replied as I stared at the tubes. They were roughly six feet around and rose up to connect the floor to the ceiling. I couldn't see anything but smoke inside both of them, but there was something about the smoke that seemed alive. I grab
bed Cece's arm and whispered, "We need to find the hard drive. It's down in Butch's office under the desk."

  The room was full of movement and motion as the rescuers carted off the injured. One of the police officers pushed us off to the side and told us to stay put while they evaluated the scene. Cece and I took one look at each other and knew that we were going to have to find a way to take advantage of the chaos and slip out the lab door. We both watched as the investigating officers began sizing up the scene, and then I asked if I could use the bathroom. The first officer said no, but when Cece made a fuss about how I had been kidnapped and held hostage, he gave in and told us to come right back. We nodded, headed toward the bathroom and then took a sharp right turn at the end of the hallway and hightailed it for the back stairway.

  "Cece, the second guy escaped," I said as we pushed through the door. "He's going to come after me."

  "Nah, not after I winged him," she said in a confident tone that I knew was designed to reassure me rather than speak the truth. She pointed out how she'd spray painted the cameras, and I laughed when I saw that she'd used silver sparkle spray paint to do the dirty work.

  We were breathing heavily by the time we reached the bottom floor, and pushed our way into Butch's office. He'd left the door open when he'd come to check on the commotion in the lab, which made me breathe a sigh of relief that we wouldn't have to break in. We'd done enough damage already.

  I searched under the desk, pulling out boxes of old security tapes until I found one that looked out of place. It was a new box that was marked, "SAI 001_DON_AR." I pulled the lid off and inside found a hard drive with a handwritten note taped to it.

  Ms. Frost,

  If you are holding this, then I am dead. Please get this to Commander Arvin Donnelly 207 W. 24th Street. It is of the utmost importance that he receives this ASAP. He is expecting you. Put this in his hands only. No one else's.

  Regards,

  Dr. Alan Powell

  P.s. Please tell my son I am sorry, and that I have always been proud of him.

  "Oh God," I said as I held the drive and note out for Cece to read. "We need to get to find this Commander Donnelly. Now."

  "Got it," Cece said turning toward the back door. "Follow me, chica!"

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Ryan

  I felt like I was swimming up through murky water even though I could feel my lungs struggling to pull in air. As I raised my hand and tried to push whatever it was that was obscuring my vision out of my way, someone pushed my hand back down.

  "Easy, Lieutenant," a firm voice said. "You're okay, you're just waking up from anesthesia."

  "Huh?" I said as I again tried to raise my hand to push the darkness away from my eyes. Again, I was met with resistance. "Stop it! What are you doing?"

  "Just take it easy," the voice said as a hand held my wrist. "I'm checking your pulse right now. You've had surgery, Lieutenant. You're in recovery."

  The voice waited a few seconds for the words to sink in and then let go of my arm. I lay still trying to process what I'd heard.

  "What happened?" I croaked as I tried to open my eyes again. "Where am I?"

  "You were shot, and you're in the hospital," the voice replied as it started to sound clearer. I could tell that the person speaking to me was a woman, a nurse.

  "Who shot me?" I groaned as a wave of pain washed over me.

  "We have no idea," she said as she adjusted something near my right arm. "What's your level of pain, Lieutenant?"

  "Ryan," I croaked. "Call me Ryan. I'm off duty."

  "Okay, Ryan," she said and I could hear a smile in her voice. "Then tell me what your level of pain is, Ryan."

  "Not too bad," I replied as I wondered how I could get myself out of here and back to finding Echo. "Where's Echo? Where's Cece?"

  "I'm sorry?" the nurse said. "Who are they?"

  "With me," I groaned as I tried to move my arms so that I could push myself up into a sitting position. I quickly discovered that my arms were not working. "They were with me. Where are they?"

  "I don't know," the nurse said. "But I'll try to find out if you promise me that you won't keep moving around. You just got out of surgery, Ryan. You were shot and they had to remove a bullet from your abdomen. You're so lucky that it didn't do any major damage. You must have an angel on your shoulder."

  "I need Echo," I said staring at the nurse.

  "Promise me that you will not try to move around and I'll go get someone to find her," she said returning my laser like stare. She waited and then said, "If you get up and try to move around you will pull out the stitches the surgeon put in and you'll bleed out before I can get back and help you. Promise me."

  "Fine," I groaned as I lay still. "I promise."

  "I'm taking you at your word, Lieutenant," she said as she headed for the door.

  "Ryan, it's just Ryan," I called after her.

  A few minutes later, the door opened, but instead of the nurse it was Commander Donnelly.

  "Lieutenant," he said as he walked toward me.

  "Sir," I replied as I tried to salute out of habit and found the pain too intense. "I'm sorry, sir."

  "Son, you're in surgical recovery, there's no sorry necessary," he chuckled as he pulled up a chair and sat down near me. "How are you feeling, Lieutenant?"

  "I'm fine, sir," I said. "Never been better."

  "Ah, still have your sense of humor," he smiled. "That's good because you're going to need it as you recover. What were you doing, Lieutenant?"

  "I'm sorry, sir?" I asked knowing what he was asking but stalling for time in order to figure out how to respond.

  "You heard me," he said. "What were you doing when you got shot, Lieutenant?"

  "Trying to help a friend, sir," I admitted. It was an honest answer, but one that didn't give much away, and he knew it.

  "Son, I have heard a whole lot of bullshit in my career, so you can cut out the evasive maneuvers and get to the truth," he said sternly. He reminded me of my father the way he cut to the chase and somehow already knew the truth. I didn't want to tell him what I'd been doing because I was afraid it would get me kicked out of the Navy.

  "Sir, I was helping rescue a friend who'd been kidnapped," I said in a voice as official as the circumstances would allow, then groaned as I felt the pain returning to my left side.

  "Lieutenant Powell, we can sit here and go round and round with me asking questions and you barely answering them," he said leaning forward. "Or you can spill the entire story and save us both the time and breath. Which is it going to be?"

  "Sir, my father left information for a friend of mine and someone kidnapped her to try and get it," I said trying to give him the story in as few words as possible. "In the process of rescuing her from the kidnappers, I was shot by one of them. That's the whole story in a nutshell."

  "Where is this friend now?" the Commander asked.

  "That's what I keep asking," I winced as I a sharp pain shoot through my left side again. "I don't know where she is. I'm worried that they did something to her."

  "What is your friend's name, Lieutenant," he asked as he pulled his cell phone from the inside of his jacket.

  "Echo," I exhaled trying to keep the pain at bay, but failing and emitting a groan.

  "Echo? Echo Frost?" he asked in an urgent tone. "Is your friend Echo Frost, Lieutenant?"

  "Uh huh, that's her, sir," I grunted as the pain swept over me and I began to moan. The nurse returned as the first sounds left my lips.

  "Ryan, I told you not to move around!" she said moving toward the pump that held my fluids and pain medications. She fiddled with the dials and suddenly the pain receded a bit, like the tide moving back out. "Is that better?"

  "Uh huh," I nodded as I felt the pain medication flowing through my veins and loosening my clenched muscles. "Much better."

  "You've got a button here," she said shaking her head as she dug the sensor out of the sheets and tucking it into my right hand. "Press the button when you
need more pain relief. Don't be the hero right now. Pain will not help you recover more quickly."

  "But Echo..." I began.

  "Son, I'll find her," the Commander said as he tapped the screen of his phone and dialed a number.

  "I've got someone looking for her, too," the nurse added. "Between the two of us, we'll find her."

  "I...," I said as the pain relievers did their job and carried me out like the tide.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Echo

  As Cece drove the van toward the address on the top of the hard drive, I turned on my phone and hit redial on the message that Commander Donnelly had left on my phone.

  "Dammit," I muttered when the call went to his voicemail. "He's not answering. Why isn't he picking up?"

  "Perhaps he's on another call?" Cece suggested. "Or maybe he doesn't know it's you?"

  "Of course he knows it's me!" I said. "He's called me telling me it's important that I get back to him!"

  "Oh, I see," Cece said. "I did not know this bit of information. Why didn't you tell me, chica?"

  "I forgot," I admitted sheepishly.

  "You forgot that a Commander from the United States Navy was calling you asking you to call him back?" she asked in a tone that told me what she was really thinking.

  "I got caught up in the drama over the files Dr. Powell was sending me," I said.

  "And perhaps his handsome son?" she added.

  "Cece!" I protested. "I was trying to do the right thing!"

  "Uh huh, sure," she nodded as she made a turn onto 24th Avenue and pulled up next to the Navy Recruiting Headquarters. "Chica, that boy has it bad for you. Really bad."

  "No, he doesn't!" I retorted. "He doesn't even know I'm alive. To him I'm just a computer programmer who worked for his dad and has the information he needs. He doesn't see me as a woman at all!"

  "Girl, you are an idiot," Cece said shaking her head. "That boy is head over heels for you and you keep ignoring him. Of course he's going to act like he's not interested! It's self preservation!"