Page 55 of Ruthless Commander

“Kat!” I screamed her name.“Katerina!”

Lazarus growled at that name, until his cell vibrated.“Yeah?” he answered, then scowled. “I’m on my way.”

I glanced over my shoulder, as did Bernardi.

“They think they found something,” Lazarus said as he ended the call.

“Oh, thank fucking God,” I moaned, relief flooding through me for a second before I realized Lazarus wasn’t happy at the news.

“I’m heading to the command center.” He hurried down the stairs.

“Wait.” I surged forward. “I’m coming too.”

I followed him, leaving his building behind. He wasn’t excited…why wasn’t he excited?That chill snuffed out the surge of excitement inside me as we hit the foyer floor and charged through the doors out into the night once more.

I holstered my weapon, knowing Rhys was right beside me, scanning the dark. “We have to find her.” My words were snatched from my lips. Still I felt an ache, one that thrummed inside my chest.

They weren’t the Commander’s men…

The words resounded as we hurried across the grounds to the main building. If they weren’t the Commander’s men, then whose men were they? Logan lengthened his stride, slammed his card against the scanner outside the main doors, and waited for us to enter before he followed.

The thud of our boots mingled with the sound in my chest, that panicked thunder skipping and surging as we headed along the hallway to the command center.The command center, where Damien worked…

“Shit.” I suddenly slowed, causing Rhys to plough into the back of me.

“What?” He jerked his gaze around, then met my gaze.

His gun was already rising at some threat he thought I saw. But the threat wasn’t the one he thought of, and it wasn’t out in the howling winds, ready to descend…

It was in there…the control room.

Rhys lifted his gaze, his scowl deepening as he glanced at the door where the others were headed. “I’ll be at your side,” he declared as though he finally understood.

I forced myself to keep moving, following the others as they stopped at the control room door, scanned a card against the lock, opened the door, and stepped in. I swallowed hard and followed them through the door into a darkened hallway.

The hum of electronic equipment danced over my skin. I could say that was the reason the hairs on my arms stood on end, but it wasn’t…it was him.Both of them…

I stepped around the end of the hallway and into an expansive room. Banks of monitors sat against the walls with screens as big as TVs and just as bright. I swallowed and moved closer, drawn by the images racing backwards, then glanced at the man behind the desk…and flinched.

“I want the shoreline searched first,” Mateo commanded, standing behind Damien. “Then once were certain she hasn’t been taken, we can work our way back from there.”

I stepped closer, catching the movement as Damien turned his gaze to me.

You’ll be sorry…

His words resounded as he met my gaze.

All of a sudden time seemed to stand still.

Cold. That’s how he looked at me.Cold…detached.He hated me after what I’d done to him…and he had every right. Mateo followed his gaze and my heart hammered at the movement. I couldn’t feel more tortured with the two of them standing there, both pinning me with their gazes.

Until Damien turned his head and looked back at the screens.

But Mateo kept staring, his frown cutting deeper the longer he stared, until I was the one who looked away.

“There.” Logan pointed at a screen. “Play that back.”

Damien leaned closer, using the controls to rewind the footage, then pressedplay. On the screen, two men hauled Kat's limp body down the beach and into a waiting dinghy that’d been beached.