On His Six

by Patricia D. Eddy

  I don’t like this. We knew they’d probably have to split up, but the plan was for West to excuse himself to the bathroom. Not be locked in a room with a girl he’s supposed to fuck.

  “Leave us,” West grits out, striding over to the girl and grabbing a handful of her blond locks and forcing her head up to meet his gaze. He leans over, inhales deeply, and then turns around to glare at Kolya. “Teper.”

  “Come, Natalya. I will show you to your seat for the auction. Sergei will wait outside for your employer.” Kolya takes Inara’s arm and guides her from the room as West wraps his hand around Elena’s throat and hauls her to her feet.

  As soon as the door closes, West leans in and whispers in Elena’s ear. “Are there cameras in this room?”

  Her eyes widen, but she doesn’t answer.

  With his hands roving down her body, he pretends to kiss her neck. “Elena. Listen to me. I’m here for you. To get you and the other girls out of here. Semyon is waiting. Along with Zion’s sister. But you have to answer me. Are there cameras in this room?”

  “Da. Behind you.”

  West roughly shoves Elena over to the settee in the corner as Wren’s fingers fly over the keyboard. “Sixty seconds,” she says. “Make it look good.”

  Grasping the strap of her dress, West glares down at the frightened girl. “Fight me, Elena.” He climbs on top of her and pulls up her skirt with one hand, pinning her wrists with the other. She bucks, trying to throw him off, but he’s twice her weight, if not more. “Just a little longer.”

  “You’re good,” Wren says and lets out a shuddering breath. “The cameras will be glitchy, but they’ll mix static with a looped image.”

  “Thank fuck.” West jumps off Elena and helps her to her feet. “I’m sorry, kid. I had to make it look real. Do you know where the other girls are?”

  She nods, swiping at tears tumbling down her cheeks. “They are in basement.”

  “Any other way down there besides the stairs outside the ballroom?” West asks as he pulls his pistol from the holster.

  Her eyes go wide, and she chokes back a sob. “Freight elevator. To the right, all the way down the hall.”

  “Let me guess. Cameras everywhere?”

  “Da.”

  West presses his back to the wall behind the door, motioning Elena out of the way. “We’re going to move fast. Do you have shoes?”

  “No. He take them.” She shakes her head, staring down at her bare feet. Bruises cover her legs and her face has been used as a punching bag too many times. “I can run.”

  “Okay. Romeo, prepare for my signal. India, get the hell out.”

  On the left half of Wren’s tablet screen, Inara laughs at something Kolya has to say, then lifts the glass of Champagne to her lips as she takes a step—directly into another guest’s path. The glass tumbles from her hand, the liquid spilling onto her pants.

  “Der’mo! Imbecil,” she mutters at the man she ran into, then turns back to Kolya. “Do you have a powder room? This will ruin my outfit.”

  “Show her,” Kolya orders one of his men, and the beefy guard starts to lead her down the hall.

  Back upstairs, West shouts, “Help! Pomogite!”

  When the guard bursts into the room, West wraps an arm around his neck and squeezes, cutting off the man’s air. “Shut the door,” he hisses to Elena, and she rushes forward.

  Fifteen agonizing seconds later, the Russian sinks to his knees, and West holds on for another four count before letting him drop. “Headed to the freight elevator.”

  “Roger that,” I say, my eyes trained on Inara’s camera as she reaches the ladies’ room.

  “Blondie,” Wren whispers next to me. “I mean…I think his name is Victor. He…was one of the men who took me. He’s…Kolya’s favorite.”

  Her pale face is even whiter than usual, and her eyes glassy. I reach over and rest my hand on the back of her neck, squeezing gently until she blows out a breath.

  But when I look back at the tablet, my blood runs cold. Blondie—Victor—and another man have Inara cornered in the opulent bathroom, guns drawn.

  “Now, boys,” she says, laying her Russian accent on even thicker. “I am certain there has been some mistake.”

  “No mistake. You and your boss are dead, cyka.” Blondie rushes her, and after she throws a punch and tries to duck under his arm, the camera cuts out.

  42

  Ryker

  “Fuck! Whiskey, report! Indigo is under fire.” West’s camera shows only the freight elevator doors, but the image still moves. Over comms, Inara grunts and glass shatters.

  “Almost to the basement. India! Check in!” West snaps.

  “A little…busy…” After a loud crack, a hiss sounds in my ear, and Wren checks the audio feed.

  “Dead.” She hunches closer to the screen, lines of code scrolling by faster than I can read them. “I’m trying to hack into Kolya’s network. Shit. He discovered my back door. I can’t do anything from here!”

  “Hostiles,” West says. “Stay behind me, kid.”

  Two shots, and I can’t sit still any longer. Turning to Wren, I take her face in my hands. Fear churns in her eyes. “Baby, listen to me. Get behind the wheel. Engine running. I have to get them out of there. They don’t have enough firepower.”

  “No, Ry. Please…don’t—”

  West’s strained voice fills our ears. “Romeo, we’re pinned down. One clip left. Switching to lethals.”

  “I have to, Wren. They’re my family. Keep the engine running and, on my mark, you haul ass to the back of that fortress. Keep as low as you can, and if I tell you I’m blown, you go to Safehouse Bravo and get in touch with Graham. You hear me?”

  Tears tumble onto her cheeks, but she nods. “I…I love you.”

  A vise squeezes my heart so hard I can’t breathe. “I love you too, little bird.” Pushing my door open, I shove to my feet, sprint to the back of the SUV, and grab an M-80 and extra magazines. I have two pistols and four clips tucked into my vest, and I’ll kill every single one of them if I have to.

  “Engine running, sweetheart. Be ready for my signal.” Wren slides into the driver’s seat, and I lean in, snake my hand around the back of her neck, and pull her into me for one passionate moment. The kiss is hard, desperate, and greedy, and I’d live right here if I could. For the rest of my life. But I won’t ever leave a man—or woman—behind. I can’t.

  Without looking back, I take off at a run.

  I reach the backdoor of the mansion in record time and kick the deadbolt in. The hallway is utterly silent, and I race towards the ladies’ room. Inara’s my first priority. She was outnumbered and armed with only a knife and a small pistol in an ankle holster. West at least had extra magazines.

  As I round the corner, a tall, dark-haired man with neck tattoos shouts something in Russian and takes aim. A single shot to his kneecap takes him down, and I kick his gun away, then slam the butt of my pistol against his head. I’ll kill every single motherfucker in Kolya’s employ if I have to—as long as my team and Wren are safe, but I’d rather not add more red to my ledger if I can avoid it.

  At the ladies’ room door, I pause and listen. Nothing. Pushing inside, I gawk. Water spews from a broken sink, the mirror is shattered into a thousand pieces, and the ornately carved wooden door to the toilet is off its hinges. Blood smears the fancy carpet, and one of Kolya’s men lies dead, a gaping knife wound across his throat.

  “India. Report.” Nothing. A glint of light catches my eye as I reach for the knob. Her necklace.

  “Base? Over.”

  Silence.

  “Fuck.” Yanking the burner phone from one of my many pockets, I check the bars. No signal. Kolya’s got a jammer. I’m on my own. We all are.

  Wren

  The engine turns over with a rumble, and I struggle not to give in to the panic punching a hole in my chest. Semyon scrambles into the passenger seat and I shove my laptop at him.

  “How good are you with tech?” I ask a
s I wrap my hands around the wheel.

  “I can send email.” His voice trembles. “Is…Elena…?”

  “Whiskey? Status report?” I can’t hear anything, and now both cameras are out. “Whiskey!”

  Only silence answers me, and I take a deep breath. “Semyon, I’m trusting you with my life. With Elena’s life. With everyone’s lives.” I hold his gaze, and in those pale, bloodshot eyes, I see a lifetime of pain. “I have to get in there. I can shut down the entire security system from inside the mansion. Turn off the power. The cameras. Everything. Give Ryker, Inara, and West a fighting chance. But you have to be me.”

  “Y-you?” He shoves the laptop at me. “No. I am not good with computers.”

  “All I need you to do is drive. Listen in on comms and be ready to bring the SUV to the back of the building when Ry tells you to. Can you do that?” My heart threatens to beat out of my chest, but if I don’t go in there, they could all die.

  Nodding vigorously, he says, “Da. I can drive.”

  After we switch seats, he peels out of our parking spot and heads for the mansion. Barreling through the square, he squeals to a stop at the side of the building, and I leap out of the passenger seat, tossing my earbud at him as I go. The tablet’s already tucked into my pack—almost a clone of the one I broke in Kolya’s bathroom—and I race to the building’s back entrance, finding the door kicked in. Ryker. A fire alarm blares, and safety lights flash every few seconds.

  I have to get up to Kolya’s office.

  As I pass the main stairway, men and women stream by me, some crying, others shouting. I try to blend in, but dressed all in black, my hair covered, my only hope lies in my short stature and confusion. I weave around four women huddled together, find the stairs, and force myself to climb them two at a time, ignoring the pain in my still-swollen knee.

  A couple of teenage boys huddle in the stairwell on the second floor, whispering to one another, and I grab one of them by the arms. “Where is Kolya?”

  “Up!” he squeaks, his voice in puberty’s cruel grip.

  “Anyone with him?”

  “A big man go up too.”

  My eyes burn. Ryker. If he’s with Kolya…he’s either killing him or dead. With every blink, I see my brother’s body. Ryker’s stricken face as I fell off the balcony days ago. The tears tumbling down his cheek after I told him I loved him.

  If Kolya’s hurt him at all…I have to end this. I don’t know where West and Inara are. Elena. The girls. If I fail…Zion’s last wish…

  Choking back a sob, I shove the boy up against the wall. “I need access to a computer. Away from Kolya. Where can I find his surveillance room? A server?”

  The kid shakes his head. “I do not understand.”

  “Cameras. Computers. Security.”

  “Basement.”

  “Take me there. Now.” Pulling a dart gun from a holster at my hip—Ryker forced me to take a tiny pistol too, but it’s strapped to my ankle as I’ve never fired a shot in my life outside of video games—I aim it at the kid’s head. Maybe he won’t know it’s just a tranquilizer.

  “Da.” He hurries back down the stairs, turns right, and then motions me around a corner. A nondescript door at the end of the hall has a broken “Exit” sign over it, and I follow him down another flight until I hear the terrified whispers of at least five or six women and someone shushing them.

  “Come out now and we will not kill you,” a heavily accented voice says.

  Holding up my hand, I stop the kid from going any further.

  “Fuck you.”

  West. He’s still alive. Thank God. Taking a quick peek around the corner, I see two of Kolya’s men aiming at a bank of lockers.

  Can I really do this? Tranq them? A warning shot ricochets off the wall, and one of the women screams. I have to. These girls…I could have been one of them. This…this is real. This is life and death. And I can fire a tranq gun to fulfill Zion’s last wish. To save a man who flew halfway around the world to help me. And maybe…to save Ryker.

  I slip around the corner. One, two, three, four, five. I imagine stroking my fingers over Zion’s bracelet, centering myself. Focusing.

  Releasing my breath on a sigh, I squeeze the trigger.

  43

  Wren

  One of the goons goes down almost immediately, but the other turns and raises his pistol. I yelp and leap back around the corner, but two seconds later, there’s a thud and a clatter, and then West’s voice.

  “Wren?”

  I choke back another sob. “Fudgsicles. Yes. I’m here.”

  “Where’s Ryker?”

  Until he grabs my arms, I don’t realize my eyes are closed. “I…I don’t know,” I whisper. “Inara?”

  “No idea. Comms are down.”

  Forcing my eyes to focus, I count six girls behind him, including Elena. Her red dress is hanging half off her shoulder, and tears stain her cheeks. “I know. The security room’s down here somewhere. I can disable Kolya’s signal jammer. Heck, I can take down the cameras and probably control the lights too.”

  “Where?”

  Turning back to the teenager, I arch my brows. “Well?”

  “This way.” He gestures to another door, and West stops me before I follow.

  His deep blue eyes hold mine. “I’m going first. If I let anything happen to you, Ryker will kill me.”

  “Ry went upstairs. More than five minutes ago. Kolya’s up there.” The lump in my throat threatens to cut off my air, and I press my fist against my chest, rubbing in small circles, trying to calm myself down. I can’t think about him now. Can’t worry he might be dead already.

  West swears under his breath and follows the kid through the door. “Clear. Come on,” he says sharply, and the girls and I hurry to catch up. The security room is small—barely big enough for the nine of us, but unoccupied. “One of the guys you knocked out came from here. I guess he was the only one monitoring the cameras.”

  I slide into the chair and pull the tablet from my pack, along with a cable. After I patch myself into the system, I meet West’s gaze. “Get the girls out of here. Semyon’s waiting outside in the SUV.”

  “No. I’m not leaving without you.” His hand clamps down on my shoulder, and for a second, I let his words comfort me. But then Zion’s face flashes before my eyes.

  “My brother promised he’d get Elena out. Please, West. Go. If I’m as good as everyone keeps telling me, we’ll have comms again in five minutes and you can come back for me.”

  Indecision flashes across his face for a split second, but then he nods. “You do not leave this room until I come for you. Understand?”

  “Roger.” I can’t give him my word. Can’t promise. But he doesn’t know that. With his arm around Elena’s shoulders, he ushers the girls back out to the hall, along with the kid who led me here, and shuts the door behind him.

  Ryker

  A hard slap to my face rouses me, and I come to with a snarl, sitting bolt upright and lunging for whoever’s hitting me.

  “Green!” Inara hisses as her bare arms bruise under my grip. Green means friendly, and my addled brain registers the command seconds before I do real damage.

  “What the fuck happened?” Lifting my hand to my head, I stifle a grunt as pain races down my arm. The coppery scent of blood fills my nostrils. There’s a lead weight on my chest, and all around us, a fire alarm blares, its shrill screams disorienting.

  “You took two. One in the chest plate and one in the shoulder. Not an artery.” She helps me lean back against a wall, and I force a few deep breaths, trying to center myself. “You saved my life. Again.”

  The last few minutes come back to me. Inara, pressed to the wall not quite hidden by a bookcase, one of Kolya’s men drawing down on her. I couldn’t just shoot him. If I had, he could have squeezed off a round at point blank range. So I shouted, but as I fired, someone tackled me and the alarm started blaring. We both went down, but I managed to break the guy’s neck before the first ass
hole shot me, twice.

  Blinking hard to clear my vision, I scan the hallway. Asshole’s dead, the thin slice from Inara’s blade across his windpipe. “West?”

  “I don’t know. Comms are down. Your call, boss. Go find Kolya or get West and then get the fuck out of here?”

  If we don’t find the bastard, Wren will never be safe. “Split up. West was in the basement. I’m going after Kolya. Never leave a man behind, right?”

  “Hooah.” She pushes to her feet, and I reach into my holster for my backup piece.

  “Take this. It’s got a full mag.”

  “What’s that leave you with?” Her brow arched, Inara accepts the gun, checks the safety, and waits for me to answer.

  “Enough to put a bullet in that blond shithead’s brain. Now go, soldier. That’s a goddamn order.”

  By the time I manage to stand, she’s gone. Every breath is agony. Rounds to body armor hurt like a motherfucker and leave one hell of a bruise, but my ribs aren’t broken, and the wound in my arm is manageable. Compared to being burned with a blowtorch, almost anything is manageable.

  Silently, I creep down the hall, weapon ready, listening for the slightest sound out of place between the alarm’s ear-piercing clangs. A creak of a floorboard. Heavy breathing. Four quick cracks sound from the first floor, then shouts. God, I hope they make it out. I hope I make it out. Make it back to Wren.

  Shut it down, Ry. Focus!

  Directly under a metal speaker, the high-pitched wail makes me cringe, and I can’t hear a fucking thing. I have to get to the fourth floor. If Kolya’s anywhere, he’s there.

  With a quick check of the stairwell, I take off at a sprint, pausing only for a moment on the landing to check above me for any movement. Nothing.

  Until I clear the last step to the third floor, and the barrel of a gun presses to my temple.

  “You took my precious ruby away,” a heavily accented voice says.

  Kolya. Fuck.

  “Drop the weapon, face the wall, and lace your hands behind your head. If you believe in God, big man, you should tell him you are coming to meet him.”