Page 54

He studied me. “Do you swear you’ll stay?”

“I swear. Go!” I shoved him toward the door.

He kissed me. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I replied.

And like that, he was gone. I shut and locked the door.

It was dark in the bathroom except for a tiny nightlight.

I didn’t bother to turn on more. With nothing to do, I paced.

My healing thigh wound pulled and throbbed from the overuse, but I ignored it.

I strained to hear what was happening. From time to time, there would be a gunshot or a yell.

I worried obsessively about one of ours getting hurt or killed.

And I tried to figure out where Tobias got these men.

I stayed in that damn bathroom for I don’t know how long.

To me, it felt like a week. Everything had quieted down, which scared me.

I was close to the door, trying to see if I heard anything, when there was a knock.

I smothered my shriek, but I did stumble backward and almost fall. I caught myself and straightened.

“ A stór mo chroí , it’s me. Unlock the door. It’s over,” Rian called out.

My hands shook as I unlocked it and then threw the door open. I launched myself at him. He caught me and clutched me to his chest. I kissed all over his face as I rambled.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? How are the others? Did you get Tobias? Are they all dead?”

“Shh, slow down and take a breath. I’ll answer all those, but first, let’s go back to the living room.”

I let him lead me there, although I remained glued to his side.

He didn’t seem to mind. Entering the living room, I saw how much of a disaster it was.

The furniture was overturned and torn. The front door was in splinters, and glass was everywhere.

Briefly, I wondered how Rian would explain this mess to the owner.

Then, my attention was snagged by four men seated on the floor with their arms and legs bound.

They were all scowling and looked worse for wear.

I spared our guys a quick scan to see if any were bleeding.

I didn’t notice any blood, so I pulled away from Rian and stomped to the men on the floor.

It wasn’t an elegant walk, but I didn’t give a damn.

I stopped and examined their faces. They glared at me.

“Rian, Tobias isn’t here. Where is he? Did someone kill him? I need to see the bodies,” I demanded.

“ Leanbh , take a moment. We’ll look. Do you recognize any of these men?” Rian asked.

“No, I don’t.”

“Are you positive?” Rory asked. He was standing guard over the captives along with Fionn, Hollis, Daniel, and Ciaran.

“I’m one hundred percent positive, Rory. I don’t know them.” I fought to keep the sarcasm out of my tone. He was only trying to help.

“Alright, let’s go outside,” Rian said.

I wandered back to him. He placed a hand on my back and guided me through the mess and the broken window to the backyard.

We’d still been dressed. So, thankfully, no one was barefoot, not even Rian, though he would have preferred to be.

It was dark, but someone had turned on the outdoor lights so we could see.

It was a repeat of the scene inside, except their captives were lying on the ground.

Their dead eyes stared sightlessly up at the sky.

Before checking to see if I knew them, I surveyed our guys.

They were dirty and not smiling, but I didn’t see any blood until I got to Rocco. I gasped and rushed to him.

“What happened? Oh my God, we need to get him fixed up,” I cried as I reached toward his bloody sleeve. He captured my hand.

“I’m okay, Gia. It was a through and through. Alistair has already slapped a pressure bandage on it. I’m not going to bleed out. Just don’t touch it because it hurts like a mother, and I don’t want to cry like a pussy,” he fake whispered the last part, causing the men to chuckle and him to grin.

I rolled my eyes. “No need for that. I know you’re one. I bet they shoved a tampon in there to stop the bleeding,” I automatically snarked back. That comment made the guys laugh harder. Even Rocco grinned and mouthed Payback .

Bring it , I mouthed back before I placed a kiss on his cheek and got back to business. I returned to the dead men. Slowly circling them, I took my time studying their faces. When I was done, I shook my head.

“None of them is Tobias. What the hell? Did he send them, or is this someone else? Why attack us?”

“We don’t know, but we’ll find out,” Alistair said.

“Hey, you guys need to get in here and hear this,” Ciaran hollered through the open window.

There was no reason to guard dead men, so our entire group returned to the house. As we did, one of the captives snarled at another, “Shut your fucking mouth, Carpenter.”

“Fuck you. Did you not see what they did out there to the others? They’re dead. I’m not going out like they did. No one said we’d be going against an army of trained mercs. This whole thing was bullshit from the start. I said we shouldn’t do it,” Carpenter replied.

“They’ll kill us anyway. Just shut up,” another one snapped.

The three began shouting at him, and the din made it impossible to hear Carpenter. Riley had a solution. She removed a roll of duct tape from her pack and said, “Duct tape solves everything. I can even close wounds with it. Though the tampon has merit, it seems.”

She grinned at Rocco when she said it. He rolled his eyes. Within seconds, the three shouting captives were muzzled. We stood there staring expectantly at Carpenter. He appeared nervous.

“You were saying,” Alistair prompted.

Carpenter glanced around the crowd of people surrounding him. “I-I was saying that no one said a mercenary team would be here. And I never agreed with this stupid mission, either. Why do this for someone not part of our group?”

“Okay, let’s break that down. First, tell me who your group is. And who sent you here on this mission?” Rian asked.

Carpenter hesitated as one of the muzzled men screamed behind his tape and drummed his heels on the floor. Reign casually reached over and smacked him in the head as he muttered, “Hush.”

“We’re part of a group, what you would call a militia.

We protect the Glades from those coming in and trying to take away our land and rights.

The government has no right to tax or take away our constitutional entitlements.

We’ve armed ourselves to protect our families and property.

We only use force when we’re pushed to do so by the government. ”

“Listen, we’re not here to listen to your ideology or manifesto. All you had to say was you’re a militia. What is the name of your group?” Alistair asked.

“We’re the Glades Defense Force.”

“Okay, so we know who you are. Now, tell us who sent you here and why,” Rory demanded.

“A guy has been trying for a while to join our organization. He talks about the same things we do, but we have to be careful who we allow in. He told the leaders that a small group of developers was staying in this house. They were here to survey the land, and he’d heard they had the government’s backing.

If they found what they wanted, they would enlist their friends in the government to declare eminent domain and toss hundreds, if not thousands, of people out of their homes.

That’s stealing, and we won’t stand for it. ”

“You said that you didn’t want to do it. Why? Sounds like something your kind would jump on board with,” Rian said.

“Typically, when we hear about people or situations requiring our attention, we research to ensure what we’re walking into.

However, the leaders waived that this time.

They said it wasn’t necessary, and we were mobilizing to strike you hard and make sure no one else would ever think of coming here to do what you were doing.

We were told to tear up the house and kill as many as possible. ”

The way Carpenter said the last part, I knew there was more to it than what he said. I leaned toward him.

“That’s not all you were supposed to do, was it?

You have another order, don’t you? Tell us.

You’re going to die regardless, but if you continue to tell us everything we want to know, it’ll be painless.

Unlike your three buddies there,” I said softly and with a slight smile. I watched Carpenter gulp.

When he didn’t say anything, Quin took out a big-ass hunting knife. It was one of those monsters with a serrated edge and sharp enough to go through metal. When Carpenter saw it, he confessed the rest.

“I didn’t hold with this order, but some others had no problem with it. In fact, they were looking forward to it.” He paused and glanced over at the other three militiamen. The look of disgust on his face told me he was telling the truth. When he turned back to us, he spilled.

“We were told that there would be a woman with them. She wasn’t to be shot.

We were to capture and have fun with her, but not kill her.

When we were finished with our entertainment, we were to call and let him know.

He said he had a personal grievance against the b-bitch and wanted to spend time with her. ”

He looked ashamed. Rian let out a growl and went for the muzzled ones, but Rory and Ciaran stopped him. They whispered in his ear, and whatever was said calmed him, but there was a definite expression shouting that payback was coming.

Rian moved back next to me and gave Alistair a chin lift. “Continue,” was all he said.

“Alright, we know who you are and what your mission was. We need to know the name of the man who got you to do this for him,” Alistair stated.

“He’s been around for years on and off. His name is Tobias. I don’t know his last name. One of our leaders has known him for a long time. That’s why they didn’t do the research first. He was trusted.”

Even though we expected it, hearing Tobias’s name still hit me hard. What the fuck was wrong with him?

“Did he say anything more about his grievance against her? Or what he planned to do once she was turned over to him?” Rian asked.

“No, he just seemed very eager to have her.”

“You said you were to call him after we were taken out, and you’d abused Gianna. Where is the phone you’re to call him on? And the number?” Alistair asked.

“I don’t have it. He gave it to Glover,” Carpenter said.

His eyes shifted quickly to the men with him and then back. Well, that told us at least Glover wasn’t dead.

“Which one is Glover?” I asked.

All three struggled against their restraints, tried to talk, and glared with hatred. When Carpenter didn’t answer, I sighed.

“He can’t hurt you, but we will if you force us. Which one is Glover?”

“The one with the American flag bandanna on his head,” he replied, then hung his head.

My man was the one to go over to him. He leaned down and ripped the duct tape off his mouth. Glover spat at him, but Rian seemed to expect it, and he moved so it missed him. I wasn’t startled when he threw a punch, knocking Glover’s head to the side.

“It’s disgusting to spit on people. Didn’t anyone teach you some manners, or were you raised in the woods by wolves?” Rian asked casually.

“Fuck you. I’m not giving you shit. You can take the phone, but you won’t get the number out of me,” Glover gloated.

“Everyone breaks when you hit a certain level of pain. I guess this means we’ll be finding yours,” Rian said.

“ Miele , as much as I would love to let you work him over, there’s an easier and quicker way. I think if we wait too long, Tobias will know it went bad, and he’ll disappear. Let me have his phone, please,” I asked.

While he was getting it, I limped over to where my work bag was.

It was miraculous that it was where I had left it earlier.

I took my laptop and a cord out of it. Opening it, I hurriedly got it out of sleep mode and found the program I wanted.

When Rian handed me the phone, I plugged the cord into the cell phone and the other into my computer.

Working quickly, I let the data scroll across the screen as the program accessed it.

After maybe five minutes, I looked up. Glover was still gloating, and the others were quiet, watching me. I smiled and directed it at Glover.

“You’re not as smart as you thought. I don’t need you to tell me the number. I have it. Two-three-nine-five-five-five-nine-zero-six-eight is the number you want, Rian,” I said confidently.

There was a slim chance I was wrong. If he hadn’t used this phone when speaking to Tobias, we’d have to employ the hard extraction method. However, it was a number that he’d used a few times in the past three days and not prior.

The way Glover’s face fell and the look of disbelief that spread over it told me I’d gotten it right.

“I don’t need to ask if you’re sure. I saw his face. Nice job,” Alistair said.

“You’re all dead. As soon as we don’t return or check in, they’ll come hunting us, and when they see what you did, they’ll for sure kill you slowly,” Glover shouted.

“They won’t get that chance because, not to brag, but when people go up against us, they end up the losers,” Hollis told him.

“Oh, and just who are you supposed to be?” Glover sneered.

“You might’ve heard of us. We’re pretty well known, even if most have no idea of our identities. Congratulations, you just fucked with the Hounds of Justice,” Alistair stated.

The way Glover paled, it was clear he’d heard of them. However, he tried to bluster his way through it. “Like hell you are. Why would the Hounds be involved with this?”

“Because my family created the Hounds, and the woman you were to rape is soon to be my wife. And if you don’t recognize me, I’m Rian O’Sheeran. I’m positive you’ve heard of our family.” Ciaran and Rory stepped forward to flank Rian.

As dead silence descended, I knew these four wouldn’t be long for this world. But first, we had to have one of them place the call to get Tobias here. It was the logical way to finish this. The other Glades Defense Force members may have to wait to be dealt with later.