Page 169 of Stand: Part One

Did she seriously just tell me no?

“I can’t be down there! I need to be outside! Please! I don’t want to be left in this house by myself! It’s on fire!” she screeched, panic rising in her voice as she started to back away.

My eyes narrowed at the oddly misplaced apprehension she was still wearing on her scraped-up face, and it made the well-controlled rage still simmering inside become absolutely volcanic.

I don’t have time for this shit.

In two steps, I marched forward and backhanded her so hard across the face she fell into the barely intact bookcase. Camaro whined as Jaden’s knees buckled, her motor skills dazed from the impact as she failed to regain her bearings.

With her diminished capacity, I easily threw her over my shoulder without a fight and moved back for the hidden stairs, whistling again for Camaro to go in ahead of us.

Her claws clicked along the metal stairs as I followed her in, closing the door over top of us and locking it in place. The bottom of the stairs yielded an open space wide enough to fit a twin bed, a fridge, a sink, and a tiny connected bathroom.

Jaden groaned and squirmed as I laid her down on the bed to disarm her body of every weapon she had collected from her kills. Each item I found brought me closer and closer to throttling her knowing she had engaged this many people. But I didn’t have time to punish her now. It would have to wait until this was over.

Despite her groaned protests, I gathered Jaden’s little stash and locked it all away in a large drawer. I then moved to retrieve my most reliable fail-safe, the only thing I could count on to keep Jaden obedient. When I turned back around, she was clutching the side of her face as she pushed herself up against the wall.

“Darren, please don’t leave me down here,” she begged as I moved toward her. When her eyes landed on what was in my hand, more panic jolted her body. “Please! No! Take me outside! I don’t want to be trapped in here!”

Ignoring her nonsensical protest, I reached out and clutched her arm, hauling her to me as I removed the cap of the syringe with my teeth.

“No, Darren wait, wait!” she begged as she tried to maneuver away from me, pressing her hand against my wrist to stop me.

Camaro continued to whine loudly as I angrily whipped Jaden around onto her stomach, pressing my knee into her back to hold her down.

“Darren, no! Wait! Stop!” she cried as I pushed the needle into the back of her arm, injecting her with the sleeper agent calibrated just for her.

“Stop…” she mumbled before her eyes fell shut and her body finally went limp. Rolling her onto her back, I removed her vest and did a quick scan of her body, searching for obvious injuries. Relief was swift when all I found were scrapes, bruises, a few burns, and a shit ton of drywall dust.

Moving my gaze back to her face, I could see her reddened cheek was already starting to swell. She’d have one hell of a bruise and a massive headache when she woke up, but at least she’d be alive.

Rising to my feet, I grabbed a small ice pack from the freezer, wrapped it in medical gauze from a first-aid kit and placed it under her cheek. The swelling should be significantly reduced by the time I returned.

But the fact that I had to resort to such extreme measures was an infuriating mystery I’d have to dwell on at a later time. Right now, I needed to get back up there and handle whatever the fuck had decided to knock on my door.

And I needed to be able to do that without worrying about my disobedient brat of a wife. Knocking her ass out and hiding her in a safe place was the only option I had since I couldn’t trust her to follow my orders. I’d enjoy rectifying that later.

“Stay, Camaro,” I told the dog, approving as she hopped up onto the bed and laid her head over Jaden’s torso with a sad whine. “Good girl.”

Turning to the monitors of the security cameras installed into the wall, I searched for my would-be enemy.

Two black vans idled before the front entrance, the chrome gate lying in pieces on the ground. Two of my men were lying dead or severely injured at their posts in front of the house. Six cameras from the east wing of the house were destroyed, but I spotted Scott moving through the halls, giving orders to my remaining guards.

With the two vans and the chopper, and what I could find on-screen, I estimated about twenty gunmen had descended into my home. And that was a deadly fucking mistake.

Pulling out several hidden drawers, I switched out my Kevlar plates with fresh ones and then slung an AK-12 over my shoulder. After strapping on two additional Glocks, two grenades, three knives, and several more magazines, I was sufficiently armed. I checked the cameras one last time to ensure no one was outside the trapdoor and quietly made my way back up the stairs.

Almost immediately, there was more gunfire in the background, and the sound drew my attention to the southern entrance. Maneuvering quickly through my destroyed house, the sounds of fighting increased as I got closer. Rounding the corner, I found Scott and two of my guards fighting off three more gunmen.

From my hidden vantage point, I was able to shoot a round into each of their legs. Shifting quickly, I slammed the butt of my rifle into the head of one while Scott and my guards did the same with the others. We would need some to survive for questioning later on. And I planned on having their night last for a very long time.

“You find her?” Scott asked as he knelt to hogtie their hands and feet.

“She’s secure in bunker three. How many have you taken out?”

“Including these three? Six.”

“There shouldn’t be very many left then. There are two vans parked outside.”