Page 111 of Caution to the Wind

“Who?”

“How much is it worth to you?” he tried, glarin’ up at me.

Stupid, fuckin’ asshole.

“How much is it worth to you?” I growled, pressin’ my gun to his temple. “Every second you drag this conversation on is another second someone I care about could be dyin’. You won’t help me, I’ll take out some of this rage on you. How’d you like that?”

The sharp ammonia scent of urine permeated the space as the middle-aged scumbag peed himself.

“A couple of Asian guys again. All dressed in suits like they were goin’ to a fuckin’ red carpet or some shit.”

“Did they visit the girl in room 7?”

He glared at me, but when I moved the gun from his temple to his slightly parted mouth and thrust it inside, he shivered and tried to speak around the barrel. When I pulled it out, he spat, “Yes. Okay.”

“Did they take her anywhere?”

“They disappeared around back with her about half an hour ago,” he muttered.

I threw him back over the desk. He landed half in his chair and fell to the ground on his elbow, lettin’ out a squawk of pain.

“You didn’t think to call the fuckin’ cops?” I asked even though the cops were bigger fuckin’ idiots than this guy. “You see a girl taken in the middle of the night, and you think she’s down to party?”

“Fuck you!”

“No,” I murmured, knockin’ my fist against the desk. “You’re the one who’ll be fucked if I find out this girl died ’cause you’re a fuckwit. If you believe in God, I’d start fuckin’ prayin’.”

Without another word, I turned on my heel and walked out. The side of the motel was cloaked in pitch black with absolutely no lights to make the grounds safe beyond the dingy light of the parkin’ lot. Cursin’ under my breath, I turned on my phone flashlight and prowled around the buildin’ with my gun raised.

There was nothin’ but dirt and stray rocks that had tumbled down the steeply inclined mountainside behind the structure.

’Til I reached the far side and found two huge blue dumpsters overfull with trash.

And in one, a pale, fine-fingered hand inked with the Chinese symbols forfaith, hope,andhonour.

“Fuck,” I shouted, sprintin’ toward the dumpster and launchin’ myself up over the rim into the muck, mindless of the filth. “Mei, Mei!”

I threw garbage off her body, searchin’ for the extent of the damage, terrified to move her if the wounds were deep or cripplin’.

Bruisin’ was already bloomin’ on her naked body, and when I removed the burlap sack from her head, one eye was swollen shut, and both her cheekbones split open along with her lower lip. There were no compact fractures, but there could’ve been internal bleedin’ ’cause it was obvious they’d beaten her into unconsciousness. I vehemently hoped that her nakedness didn’t mean they’d sexually assaulted her, but it was hard to tell because we’d had sex only hours before.

“Rocky,” I called, tryin’ to rouse her.

“Axe-Man?” Bat’s voice echoed across the parkin’ lot.

“Back here!” I hollered as I carefully collected Mei into my arms.

She seemed so small like this, naked and limp and covered in contusions and lacerations. Her heartbeat was steady but low.

A moment later, Bat and Dane both appeared around the far corner, joggin’ toward me with their guns out. When they stopped at the dumpster, they both cursed in tandem. Any other time, I would’ve laughed. Since the moment Dane got back from bein’ MIA overseas for years, he and Bat had practically been joined at the fuckin’ hip. I wasn’t even mildly surprised they’d shown up together at one thirty in the mornin’ ’cause Dane’d been helpin’ out with Bat’s twins, Steele and Shaw, now that their mum was dead.

Instead, I ordered, “Bat, take her while I get the fuck outta here.”

Bat stepped forward so I could gently lift Mei’s cold body over the metal lip of the dumpster and into his arms. He curled her instantly, protectively to his chest. Dane offered a hand to me to help leverage me over the side.

“Fuck, man, do you know who did this?” Dane asked, acceptin’ my cut so I could shrug outta my tee and carefully pull it over Mei to cover her nakedness.

I shrugged back into my cut shirtless and took her back into my arms, cuppin’ her head as I cradled her to my chest. Hopin’ it was just a bad concussion that knocked her out cold.