Page 29 of Blood & Bond (The Bouchers #2)

If he still had his head, Charlie would be fine.

Following Danny, we jumped off the roof, landing on top of a trailer. From there, it was easy to hop down to the tractor unit and then to the ground. We hit the car at a run, and I’d barely shut the door before the engine was running, and Danny pulled it onto the street.

We idled at the intersection.

“Charlie’s in the van,” Matthias announced. “Repeat: Charlie is in the van. They’re ditching the car.”

Danny turned on his blinker as the van passed us and then pulled easily onto the street behind him.

“You think he’s still out?” I asked, watching the back window. The only people visible were the driver and passenger.

“Hopefully, he’s playing possum,” Danny replied.

“We’ve got Erik,” Josiah said through the comms. “Getting him to Alice. We’ll call in a clean-up on the way.”

“How is he?” Beau asked.

“He’ll be fine. Two chest, one stomach. It’ll hurt like a bitch when he wakes up, though.”

Knowing that our father was fine and out of danger, it was easier to focus on what we were doing. We followed the van onto the freeway and fifteen minutes later took an exit as Beau and Chance took our place.

Heat pulsed beneath my skin, but it wasn’t as distracting as usual. Instead, it was oddly comforting.

“Charlie just put his hand up to the back window,” Chance said, laughter in his voice.

“He flipped us off.” Beau snickered.

Charlie was awake and okay. That was a relief.

Danny and I hopped out of the car we’d been driving and into a new one that Uncle Sven had stashed that morning.

He’d left the night before and spent all night parking them in different directions.

I wasn’t sure how he’d known where to put them.

Something about possible routes and the odds of which would be used.

Minutes later, we were pulling onto the freeway ahead of the van carrying Charlie.

Keeping his eyes forward, Danny puttered along in the slow lane, letting them pass us. Two exits later, Chance, Beau, and Finau disappeared.

Danny sped up and moved to the middle lane, gradually catching up to the van.

There were enough cars on the road that another pair of headlights was nothing to think about, and we settled in.

Thirty minutes later, the boys joined us again in a different SUV, and we took the next exit.

This time, we just circled around and got back onto the freeway without switching cars.

It was dark enough that they wouldn’t have noticed us with the others between us.

“Really hoping they’re not taking us across the state,” Danny said after we’d been on the road for an hour.

“Looks like you’re getting your wish,” I replied, nodding at the van as it exited the freeway.

Uncle Sven’s voice came through the earpieces as we took the next exit.

He was monitoring Charlie’s tracker. Following his directions, we made our way through the town.

The goal was to follow close enough that we wouldn’t lose them, but far enough away that they never saw us.

It was an intricate dance that included pulling over more than once so we wouldn’t cross paths.

Eventually, he announced that the van had pulled into a garage.

I cracked my neck from side to side as we parked one block over and climbed out of the car.

“Almost done,” Danny said quietly, slapping me on the back.

“Lucy’s going to be pissed if anyone messes up my pretty face,” I joked. The heat inside me flared, and I sucked in a breath. It still wasn’t bad, and if mine wasn’t bad, hers shouldn’t be either. Uncle Sven would’ve let us know if there was anything happening at the house.

“She doesn’t care what you look like,” Chance said, his voice coming from somewhere near the building to our left. “It’s your dick she needs.”

“For a second there, I thought you weren’t being an asshole.” Beau scoffed. He was further ahead than Chance, but not by much.

“Everyone quiet,” I ordered.

If there were Vampires in that garage, even the smallest noise could alert them. Hopefully, we’d only be dealing with humans, but we couldn’t count on it.

“Only camera is on the north side,” Josiah announced. “Move to the others.”

We stepped carefully as we moved between buildings. Danny and I came in from the east side while Beau, Chance, and Finau took the west and south.

“Erik is fine,” he continued. “Currently being fussed over by Alice and Mattie. Woke up on the way to the house, cursing a blue streak.”

The building wasn’t large by anyone’s standards, but it did have a pretty good-sized yard surrounded by a chain-link fence.

The whole area was well lit, which was a bit annoying.

We had to scale the fence and move to the darkness closest to the building one by one while Josiah kept an eye on the north door.

The windows were cloudy, but light still filtered out of the rooms that were occupied. One in particular looked promising, and I noted where it was so I could check there when we finally got inside.

“Got the blueprints,” Matthias announced in our earpieces.

When we paused, I wiped my sweaty palms on my trousers and pulled on my gloves. The long-sleeved shirt and vest were saturated, and I fought the urge to pull them away from my skin.

“South entrance goes directly into the bays, three side by side. Sixty by thirty. Two offices and a bathroom along the north wall. East and north entrances go directly into the bays, west entrance into the office.”

“They’ve got four exit doors?” Chance asked dubiously, his voice barely audible.

“Guess they need to be able to run,” Josiah replied. “Idiots.”

“Set,” I breathed as we reached the east door. I reached out and found the knob turned easily. I held it as we waited.

“Set,” Beau whispered.

“Set,” Finau said. I nearly jolted with surprise. It was the first time he’d spoken since before we’d left the house, and I hadn’t even remembered that he had a comm.

“Execute,” Matthias ordered.

When we entered the building, there were four men sitting off to the side, closer to the northern door and between us and the offices.

Chance opened fire from across the room before I could, and two dropped instantly.

A third tried to run, and I hit him in the thigh.

He tripped over a chair and fell with a crash.

The van was parked in the center of the room, and I headed straight for it, even though I had a feeling no one was there.

Throwing open the door, I found smeared blood, but no Charlie.

Someone had taken down the fourth man while I searched, and we cleared the rest of the room quickly. The man I’d hit in the thigh was moaning on the concrete floor, and I stopped long enough to tie a tourniquet around his thigh.

“You take this off, you’ll be dead before you can call for help,” I told him flatly. His face had already been mangled. His nose was broken, and one of his eyes was almost swollen shut.

He gasped and glared at me.

“Ulf,” Beau called.

I rose back to my feet and met my brothers at the far edge of the room.

The bathroom was clear, and so was the office on the left. Taking a deep breath, I slammed my boot against the locked doorknob and watched in satisfaction as it flew open.

Danny stayed outside the door to make sure there weren’t any surprises, while Beau, Chance, and I moved inside with precision built from years of working as a team.

Charlie was tied up on the floor. The ropes on his ankles were tied with a short lead to the ones on his wrists, and his back was curved so sharply that I winced as I hurried over to cut him free.

“How many?” I asked as I pulled the gag in his mouth down his chin.

“I saw three, but I heard four,” he replied, letting out a low groan when I cut through the ropes, and the pressure on his joints disappeared.

I helped him to his feet and turned to find my brothers untying a woman on an office chair in the corner of the room. She was dirty and had a split lip when they pulled the gag off, but she didn’t seem to be any worse off than that.

“We’re getting you out of here,” Chance said, crouching in front of her. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

The woman shook her head.

Her gaze went from Chance to me, then to Charlie, then to Beau.

“Sorry,” Beau said as he carefully cut the ropes that held her arms to the chair. He glanced over his shoulder. “Where the fuck is Finau?”

Chance’s head snapped up from looking at the ropes on her ankles.

“We haven’t seen him,” Charlie said, looking toward the doorway.

“Finau, check in,” I ordered into the comm.

“Looks like Finau’s comm is offline,” Matthias reported grimly.

“What the fuck?” Chance asked as he rose to his feet.

“Sorry again,” Beau said gently as he reached for the woman’s legs.

“Why do you keep apologizing?” she asked hoarsely, rubbing her wrists.

I took a few steps closer to get a better look, just as Beau wrapped a hand around her ankle.

The woman didn’t even flinch.

Staring, I looked her over. This woman wasn’t Latina. Even sitting, I could tell that she wasn’t five feet tall, and her body would’ve been considered more muscular than curvy by anyone’s definition.

“Your mate sent us to get you,” I told her, hoping for a reaction. Hoping I was remembering wrong.

Her hazel eyes shifted between Chance and me, then down at Beau. “What are you talking about?”

“Finau,” Chance said, his body perfectly still. “Billy Finau.”

She stared at us, relief turning into confusion. “I don’t know who that is.”

“She isn’t sweating,” Charlie noticed.

“Fuck,” Chance barked, making the woman flinch back in her seat just as Beau pulled the ropes from her ankles.

I’d barely blinked when suddenly the woman was out of the chair, and Beau was staggering backward.

She jumped and slid over the desk, landing behind it, her hand wrapped around the beer bottle that had been lying on the top.

Without flinching, she hit it against the edge of the desk, making it into a weapon.

“Whoa,” Chance said, raising his hands, a knife still held in one. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

“What the fuck is going on?” she asked.

Danny stepped into the room, his eyes wide.

“I know you,” the woman said, staring at my little brother. “How do I know you?”

“No fucking clue,” Danny replied, moving forward slowly. “You planning on using that?”

She looked down at the broken bottle. “If I need to.”

“How far do you think you’d get?” he asked, stopping at the other side of the desk.

Understanding hit me with the weight of a boulder.

“You’d be surprised,” she said, still staring.

“You remember where we met, yet?” Danny asked, his mouth curving upward.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Beau muttered as he looked at me.

There was no other explanation for the look on his face or the feeling in the room—a mixture of tension and electricity.

“Oh no,” Charlie breathed.

“No one here is going to hurt you,” Danny said, flipping his pistol around so he could offer it to her. “Take it.”

She didn’t question it. Reaching out, she plucked it from his hand.

“Bullseye,” she said slowly.

Chance shifted, and I glanced over to find him watching her, his gun half raised.

Danny shook his head at her.

“The gun shop,” she said, her eyes searching his face. “That’s where I saw you.”

“I haven’t been there in almost a year,” Danny replied.

“I know.” She licked her lips. “You came in with another guy. He looked like you, but his hair was shorter.”

Danny cleared his throat. “My brother Zeke.”

She looked around the room and then back at Danny, the question clear.

“He’s not here,” Danny explained. “These are the rest of my brothers. Ambrose, Chance, Beau, and Charlie.”

Her gaze stopped on Charlie.

“Zeke’s mate,” Danny said softly.

The woman’s head slowly turned back to Danny. “You’re Vampires?”

“Yes.”

They stared at each other.

“I’m your mate,” she said, the words hesitant.

“Yes,” Danny confirmed.

“Shit,” she whispered, dropping her arm to her side. The gun dangled loosely in her grip.

When what we’d all suspected was confirmed out loud, the room erupted into movement. I jogged for the door and picked up speed until I reached the garage bay. The man I’d put a tourniquet on had pulled it back off and bled out on the floor.

“Fuck,” I roared, kicking the body.

“If she’s Danny’s mate,” Charlie said worriedly. “Then where is Finau’s?—”

“It was a fucking misdirect,” Chance barked as he raced down the hallway. “She’s never met Finau.”

That’s when I heard Sven’s voice in my ear.

“Breach,” he reported grimly. “Breach. Breach. Breach. Get the fuck back here.”