Page 27
DANTE
T he house has been eerily quiet for twelve hours now. Morning came and went. Sunshine peeks in through the back door, but I can’t bring myself to care. Reid has been gone for twelve hours. No hint of where he’s been taken. Nothing.
I swipe through the photos on my phone to feel an ounce of serotonin.
There is one single photo of us together in my entire camera roll.
A single photo. Reid is sleeping soundly against my side, his lips pushed up in a pout where his cheek presses against my shoulder.
If I close my eyes, I can almost smell his sweet scent, the faint lingering of smoke that clings to his hair after a smoke.
I can’t sit here and wait anymore. I’m going to go mad with terror and grief.
Swiping through my phone, I notice an app that I never installed hidden away on the last page of my app folders. The icon is black, with a dark green bullseye. When I tap the icon, it requires my facial ID to open.
My phone vibrates softly, before a screen similar to that of a submarine tracking device comes up, revealing a single dot flashing on the screen. I lean forward toward the phone until my face is only inches away.
Location: Eastport steel yard, twelve miles from current location
Holy fuck. I stand so quickly that the chair behind me tips over and crashes to the ground.
Mason stands abruptly from the chair he’d been curled up in reading one of Parker’s books.
Said book falls to the floor as Mason comes toward me, Parker not far behind.
My chest is heaving as I stare down in amazement at my phone.
Reid—that little shit. He installed software on my phone to track me, but it also tracks him back. Fuck.
“I know where Reid is,” I say, suddenly out of breath.
Mason’s dark blue eyes widen and his fingers clutch at his arms. “Where?”
“The steel yard,” I admit quietly.
Parker swears before disappearing up the stairs to no doubt grab Jacob and Hayden. Just as I’m reaching down to grab the phone, the dot disappears from the screen.
Location: lost
No fucking way. The boys fly down the stairs to surround me in the dining room. I lift my phone and wave it at them, suddenly frantic at what the lost signal could mean.
“Reid must’ve installed a tracker on our phones. It showed him at the steel yard, but a moment ago it disappeared. It’s gone… what if…. Oh my God, Reid.”
I fly out the front door, shoeless, and jacketless in the freezing morning air. A shout from behind me roots me to the spot as I rapidly look up and down the street. Where the hell is my bike?
“Put your goddamn shoes and jacket on, Dante. You think you’re going to save him without any weapons? Jesus Christ,” Hayden swears from the front stoop, arms raised in frustration. He points at the stoop while glaring at me. “Get back here. I feel like a fucking mom right now.”
I guess he is right. I can’t save Reid without weapons. Hayden helps me put on my shoes, then lovingly slides my harness over my shoulders. His hands are trembling slightly as he pats my guns in place. When his gaze lifts to mine, Hayden’s eyes are sure and hard.
“We are going to get him back,”Hayden promises.
“Did you talk to Robin?” I ask quietly.
Hayden swallows loudly and glances away. “They just told me to do whatever I needed to get Reid back, clean the scene, and they’ll worry about the rest.”
“Permission to kill?”
Hayden nods. “Everyone.”
And that brings a real smile to my face.
We’re all finishing getting ready while Mason shifts awkwardly onto his feet. Parker looks over at him with a bemused, fond sort of look, before quickly shaking his head as if scared of himself.
“I don’t want to stay here alone… what if they come for me next?” Mason asks timidly.
“You’re coming with us,” Parker says with finality.
Jacob and Hayden glance at each other, but shrug in acceptance of Parker’s decision.
We all load into the car together, with Mason sitting in the front so that no one accidentally touches him.
After the whole medicine debacle yesterday, it’s pretty obvious he has some touching issues.
Combined with the nose tap that he and Reid do, it’s probably gone on for a very long time.
The ride to the steel yard is quiet. Parker glances in the rearview mirror more than usual, probably to check we aren’t being tailed.
My heart thrums away in my chest. I can see my heartbeat in my eyes.
Jacob leans hard against my shoulder, bringing me back to reality when my thoughts start to shift to all the awful what-ifs that ran through my mind last night.
Reid is going to be fine, I say over and over in my head.
My new mantra.Maybe I can will it into being true. The universe owes me at least that.
Parker parks the SUV a few blocks from the steel yard.
We don’t have the cover of night to hide us, but we have guns, and Jacob which is almost just as good.
Jacob leans forward in the seat to aim his hard gaze through the windshield.
His eyes trail over the barbed fence, the security guard booth, and the gate that locks access to the yard.
Containers dot the horizon as far as the eye can see.
The stench of trash filters in through the air vents, which will no doubt double once we step out of the car.
Mason shifts awkwardly in the front seat. Finally, after what feels like forever, Jacob leans back and points toward the east side of the yard.
“Cameras won’t see that spot there,” Jacob points out with perfect confidence. “We can slip in, then pick our way through the containers. Let me lead so I can spot the security weaknesses.”
Jacob opens the car door, and holds his hand out for Hayden.
Their fingers tangle for a brief moment, before Hayden drops Jacob’s hand like he’s been burned the moment he’s safely outside.
I climb out, feeling an odd sense of finality to the moment.
Either I bring Reid home, or I do something so drastic even Robin can’t clean the scene or keep me out of jail.
Parker comes around to Mason’s side of the car, and opens his door.
Parker’s fingers turn white where he grips the metal, eyes firmly on the man sitting safely inside the vehicle.
“Get in the back seat, lie down, keep the car locked no matter what you hear.” Parker holds the keys out to Mason and waits for Mason to hesitantly take them in his hand. Once Mason is safely ensconced in the back seat, Parker slams the door shut, and tilts his head in wait for Mason to lock it.
The car door locks and Parker breathes a heavy sigh of relief.
We all follow behind Jacob as he leads us toward the fence's vulnerable spot.
Keeping one hand on a gun, I follow behind Jacob to slip through the sliver of space between the fence posts.
The sun beams over us, but my skin is chilled from the cold air.
The scent of metal and sewage lingers over the steel yard, bad enough to make me bite down the urge to gag.
I will not puke before the mission has even really begun.
Jacob pads softly along the metal containers, urging us to turn at the whim of the security system weak points.
He lifts a hand for us to stop when the sound of voices rise above the cry of vultures above us.
The voices are speaking in Russian, so I can’t understand a word, but Hayden tilts his head like a dog waiting for a treat.
When Hayden breaks the line and heads to the left, Jacob reaches out to grab him but is a second too late. A moment later the sound of two bodies dropping to the ground echoes around us. Hayden returns while carefully slipping his gun back into the holster.
Hayden points straight ahead, mimes something that I don’t understand, then squints his eyes at Jacob.
They stare each other down for a hard moment until Jacob seemingly gives up.
I don’t understand these two and I never will.
Hayden shifts to be in front now with Jacob close at his back, almost breathing down Hayden’s neck.
Any other time Hayden would’ve elbowed him hard enough to steal Jacob’s breath, but for some reason he’s putting up with the strange behavior now.
After more seemingly endless walking, we come to stop outside a beaten-down-looking warehouse.
Hayden dips quickly and we all follow. Lifting up slightly, I spot three men standing around the warehouse, smoking cigarettes and murmuring amongst themselves.
Parker sighs loudly to my right, before lifting the rifle strapped to his back.
He takes a few seconds to set it up, squints one eye, taps the gun three times, then rapidly pulls the trigger until all three men are dead on the ground.
Hayden’s grin is terrifying. “We’re so good at this. It’s like a video game.”
“These are real people,” Jacob murmurs while tiredly pinching his nose.
“Bad people,” Hayden corrects with an evil little grin.
We all stand and slowly make our way to the warehouse. The metal creaks when Jacob slides the door open, but there’s no sound of other people. A scream echoes around us and my blood goes cold, then immediately boils. That’s Reid.
Hayden grabs my arm hard, and his eyes implore me to stay calm.
But I can’t. That’s my man crying out in pain.
Suddenly an alarm goes off and Jacob swears loudly as he grabs his guns.
Five burly men round the corner, freezing in their spots at the sight of us.
A scary hush falls over us as enemies take each other in.
The men are all older, covered in scars, obviously used to fights of this kind.
But what we lack in age, we make up for in fevered training and the thrill of blood on our hands.
Parker is the first to draw his gun, aiming his silencer and pulling the trigger before any man can blink an eye.
Chaos erupts when the man falls to the floor dead, bleeding from the perfect bullet-sized wound in the middle of his forehead.
Perfect Aim Parker strikes again. One of the men yells and charges for me, and I focus on him instead of my brothers.
I don’t have time to grab my own gun before he’s pummeling into me and we’re fighting.
His fist connects with my chin and that fucking hurts, pain radiating through me distracts me only for a moment, before I’m getting my own punch in.
The noise around me from the other fights is distant, no longer important as I fight for my life.
The guy is bigger than me, not in height, but in weight, so he has more momentum when he aims a punch for my stomach.
I dodge him as best I can, but he still makes contact, and Jesus it’s been a while since I’ve been in a fistfight.
I lunge for the gun in his holster at the same time he aims an uppercut to my nose.
Fuck. I’m going to have the biggest nose of all time if it breaks again.
Which only makes me think of Reid. My Reid.
My hand wraps around the warm metal of the man’s gun and I tug away, only for him to rush at me until we’re rolling around on the dirty warehouse floor.
Distantly, I can hear Jacob screaming in his own fight, but I can’t focus on him right now, I have to focus on me.
We tussle for the gun and the man gets it spun around, pulling the trigger.
Oh. That fucking hurts . I can’t care about where that bullet went or the warm ooze of blood I feel on my side, instead I butt the man's head, grinning when it shocks him into falling to the side.
Two seconds is all it takes for me to get the gun to his head and pull the trigger.
I lie there for a second, catching my breath, ignoring the pain at my side, then sit up in a rush .
The sound of gunfire echoes around us, blood spraying everywhere as the fights continue.
Parker is engaged in hand-to-hand combat with two of the men, while another man has Hayden in a tight headlock while Jacob tries to take him out.
Jesus, we’re all a mess. A scream rents through the air, not coming from any of us.
That’s Reid. Fuck. Where the hell is he?
Parker uses the men’s momentary distraction at the sound of Reid’s scream to do one of his weird karate moves that has them both bonking their heads together, then slumping to the floor like rag dolls.
The final man standing now looks agitated and terrified, his grip tightening around Hayden’s neck.
Hayden’s eyes are calm, arms limp at his side, as his gaze stays firm on Jacob.
I can’t hear what they’re talking about, instead I look down to see blood oozing from beneath my black tactical gear.
Fuck. Parker hurries over, presses a hand to my stomach, then his dark brown eyes meet mine.
His hair is messy, slightly curly from sweat.
“You need a haircut,” I tell like the stupid fuck I am.
Parker bites back a smirk. “I told you, I’m growing it out.”
“Awkward length,” I mumble in annoyance.
Parker shoots a look over his shoulder, lips curling in distaste as Jacob is still trying to talk the man out of letting Hayden go. Over it all, Parker stands, marches over, pulls his silencer, and shoots the man dead.
Jacob lets out the loudest huff of all time. “We needed one of them alive to ask questions.”
Hayden yelps and jumps away from the dead man that had been holding him captive. “You were far too comfortable with him possibly killing me,” Hayden says as he tugs on his shirt to straighten it out .
“He wasn’t going to kill you,” Jacob argues.
Hayden stares at him hard. “Oh yeah?”
“I wouldn’t have let him,” Jacob says with finality.
Silence echoes around us.
Then another scream.
And then I see red.
My speed is unmatched. The boys lag behind me as I run toward the sound of Reid’s scream.
We’re magnets. My body knows the way to Reid before my brain can even fucking catch up.
Everything hurts, blood drips down my side, my nose and jaw thrum with the pulse of bruises to come, but none of that matters. All that matters is that I get to Reid.