The Hacker and his Heart's Desire

by James, Rebecca;

  We stood in complete darkness. All around us the tunnel was still and silent except for the small scratching noises of rodents in the far corners that had terrified Tony when we’d been there before. Carefully, I moved forward, Wallace and his buddy following close behind. Every time our feet made a scraping noise or a pebble got dislodged, we all tensed and paused, listening.

  When we finally neared the door, I motioned to the sides, showing Wallace and the other man where they could hide in the shadows and not be seen when the door opened. They were to follow everyone out for a surprise rear attack on the guards in the back. The rest of us would wait outside to ambush those in the front. They gave me the thumbs up, and I quietly returned to the rest of the men outside the building.

  The sky was darkening. I motioned the men to follow me to a previously scoped-out hiding place. A whistle caught my attention—Blaze’s signal that the Hedonists were there. I whistled back, and a moment later, several dark shadows appeared from around the corner and joined us in our crouch behind piles of scraps of steel and wood.

  “Going okay?” Blaze asked.

  “They’re in place. No word from my cousin. There’s a van behind some dumpsters around the corner. I haven’t looked, but I assume there’s a driver waiting. Probably Sikes or Kendle.”

  Blaze motioned for Tease to go around the long way and check it out. We needed to know exactly how many people we should be worried about.

  “I don’t think Karl would risk having more than a couple men on the ship in on this,” I whispered. “Only one’s been spotted.”

  Blaze nodded. The area grew darker by the minute, and dressed in black, we completely blended into the shadows.

  “There’s a problem.” Blaze side-eyed me while continuing to scan our surroundings. “Hung and Trace are checking it out right now.”

  Unease uncoiled in my chest. “What is it?”

  Blaze’s jaw tensed. “Your cousin recognized Nick from Lux and put two and two together. He knows Royce is a plant.”

  I swore quietly, clenching my fists. “Dammit, I should have seen that coming. How did you find out?”

  “Some henchman of Bruder’s told Tony.”

  I froze. “What? Where’s Tony now?”

  Blaze rolled his shoulders like he was working out a kink. If he was half as tense as I was, he’d need a deep muscle massage when this was over. My stomach cramped when he didn’t answer right away.

  “Boss?”

  “Bruder’s trapped Tony in a car in the parking lot.”

  “What? Trapped him in a car?” I fought to keep my voice low as my mind tried to make sense of the statement. I’d left Tony in the Rockwell Center.

  “Hung says Tony is locked in a car with a snake, and he didn’t mean the human kind. A couple security guards are trying to get him out. Oh, and the chick Bruder was dating turned out to be FBI. That’s all I know. Hung will keep us updated, but we can’t risk checking our phones until we take care of this problem.”

  I thought of Tony at the mercy of one of Karl’s vipers and vowed to put a bullet between my cousin’s eyes before the night was through.

  “Did he tell you what kind of snake it was?” I asked, sickened.

  “King Cobra.”

  I shut my eyes, holding back the urge to run to where my bike was hidden and ride back to Rockwell Center. A King Cobra bite could kill a man in thirty minutes or less.

  Blaze rested his hand on my shoulder and whispered in my ear, “He’s okay. They’re going to get him out. But now Bruder knows we’re onto his little operation, he’s going to have men over here to keep us from interfering. Bruder’s not going to call this deal off—not with all the clients demanding their goods and a ship waiting in the harbor. I’ve called in some extra reinforcements. The new group from Pennsylvania.”

  I nodded, scanning from the wharf to the entrance to the building and back again. We’d briefly been introduced to the new club in town at a rally the month before.

  “God, Blaze,” I said in a tense whisper, shaking my head. I was counting on my cousin’s big fat ego to cause him to underestimate what we had waiting for him.

  Blaze checked his watch then tilted it so I could see the glowing digits. Five-forty.

  One of the Pistons to my left made a sound, and I turned to look. He pointed with a gloved finger toward the far end of the docks where a car was pulling in, its headlights off.

  “Here they come,” I murmured to Blaze as we watched four big men climb out of the car and quietly shut the doors. They walked carefully, guns drawn and sweeping the area. They made their way to the van and looked like they were speaking to the driver and were yanked out of sight a second later. I looked at Blaze, brows raised, and he winked at me. I’d known a couple of the Pistons had swung up a fire escape on the side of the building and were flattened out on the low roof over our heads, ready to spring down if need be, but not that Blaze had placed others closer to the pier.

  The sound of bikes in the distance told us the Rogues were on their way.

  Forcing myself to clear my mind of worry over Tony and the others, I cracked my neck and gripped my pistol.

  A few yards away, the door of the building slammed open and several of Karl’s men rolled out, guns drawn.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Tony

  “Hold on, Mr. Sarto,” one of the men said. “Be very still until we can get this door open.”

  Be very still? Was he kidding? I hadn’t moved a centimeter in what seemed like forever. Sweat stung my eyes, forcing me to periodically squeeze them shut. Each time I did, I was afraid the snake would strike. I didn’t know if it was the confined space, the snake who wouldn’t calm the fuck down, or the intense fear of it striking, but I felt like I was about to pass out.

  The snake had lowered itself a little bit, no longer standing on almost half its length, but it remained hooded and occasionally hissing.

  A guy with a blowtorch worked on getting the passenger side door off while Jeo, several security guards, and the police stood back watching—at least, that’s what I could tell from my peripheral vision. Breath coming in soft, quick pants, I struggled to remain frozen in place while my pulse raced and my heart pounded. I thought I might vomit, but I knew if I did, the snake would get me, so I held it in as best I could and prayed for the guy with the blowtorch to hurry.

  Hung peered into the driver’s side window. “Just a few more minutes, buddy. Hang in there.”

  The car was still warm inside, but not as warm. Somebody had to have had the heat on high before I got in, probably for the comfort of the snake. Wouldn’t want it to hibernate or something when it had a duty to perform.

  I suddenly realized that at some point during this hellish experience the sun had gone down, and I hadn’t even realized it.

  “Get me out of here, Jeo,” I said, close to my breaking point.

  “Hey. T. It’s okay. They’re almost done, I promise.”

  I heard the torch shut off and a voice muffled by the closed passenger window. “I think we can get it off now.”

  They started tugging at the door, and with every motion of the car, no matter how slight, I thought my heart would stop. The snake reared up fully again, and I stiffened in terror.

  “Motherfuckers, don’t move the fucking car! Holy Jesus!” Hung yelled.

  One of the cops shouted to me, “Mr. Sarto, we’re going to open the door on the count of three, and when we do, my partner is going to yank you out of there as quickly as he can. Be ready and don’t struggle.”

  I held my breath, every muscle in my body screaming from the long period of holding still. “One…two…” The door came off and cold air whooshed into the car, drying my sweat. “Three!”

  “Get out get out get out…” Hung chanted as the cop grabbed hold of me and yanked me out the door at the exact time the snake struck. It all happened within a matter of seconds and then I was out of the car and being dragged along the sidewalk as Sheila moved in with a long pole to tr
ap the cobra. She put it into a plastic container and shut the lid.

  I lay on my back, staring up at the night sky, tears running into my ears. Battery operated lights had been set up around the area and quite a few more people had gathered than I’d thought. I was shaking like a leaf in gale force winds and felt unbearably vulnerable.

  Hung knelt on the pavement beside me. “T. You okay? They’ve got the snake.”

  “Excuse me, sir. We need to check him over.” A paramedic nudged Hung out of the way and started cutting at my clothes. “Hi, Tony, I’m Joe. Were you bitten?” he asked. His partner settled on my other side and dug around in a large satchel.

  “I-I don’t know. I don’t think so.” I felt sick.

  “There’s blood on his hand,” the other paramedic said, and I suddenly became aware of a stinging sensation near my thumb. I held it up and looked at it. My heart jumped. He was right: I was bleeding a little.

  “He might have scraped it on something when you dragged him out,” Hung said from behind him.

  “The snake struck. We have to treat it as a potential bite for his safety,” Joe said.

  “How did this happen?” one of the cops asked as Joe checked my vitals.

  “Karl Bruder kept snakes. He got someone who works for him to put this one in the car and lock me in.”

  Joe and his partner strapped me onto the gurney.

  “How do you feel, Tony?” Joe asked.

  “Shaky. A little out of it.”

  They locking the stretcher in a raised position before rolling me toward the back of an open ambulance. Hung jogged along beside me.

  “I also feel kind of dizzy,” I said. “And sick to my stomach.”

  “We’re getting you to the hospital,” Joe said, and then lowered his voice to talk to his partner once they’d gotten me situated in the ambulance with Hung crammed into a corner. I heard the word “antivenin” before Joe climbed up and the doors shut.

  “What’s the hold up?” Joe shouted to his partner a moment later when we still sat, engine idling.

  “A lady from the FBI gave me the number of a doctor who has the antivenin. It’ll save us from having to see if the zoo has any.”

  The ambulance began to move.

  A fine sheen of sweat glistened on Hung’s forehead. He kept his hand on my shoulder and every so often patted me and said, “Everything’s gonna be okay, T.”

  I was just glad to be out of that fucking car.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Cane

  Not knowing where to take aim, Karl’s men shot their guns willy-nilly into the night. They ricocheted off the building and the stacks of lumber Blaze and I hid behind. The Pistons stationed on the roof jumped down on top of them, several of their club brothers swarming out of the shadows to assist with the ambush. Blaze and I leaped out from our cover and ran toward the door that was now vomiting people into the cold night, most of them yelling hysterically for help. Several others—most likely Karl’s clients-took off, but the Rogues rounded them up before they could make it past the building to the street.

  “Get the captives to safety!” Blaze yelled as more shots fired and sirens started up in the distance. Door now clear, I left the others and crept into the building, shining my light first into the empty room and then into the tunnel.

  Again, empty.

  “Fuck. Where the hell are you, you motherfucker?” I muttered. I ran outside and circled the building, staying close to the wall, avoiding the melee going on around me. Suddenly, I spotted a shadow rising from the ground and immediately recognized the hulking form of my cousin.

  “Stop!” Gun in hand, I ran toward him, but he took off across the adjacent lot toward the street. I went after him, sprinting full tilt. Bulked up as Karl was, his added muscle weight worked against speed, and I soon ate up the distance between us, tackling the bastard to the ground.

  “Get the fuck off me!” He struggled underneath my weight. I pressed the gun to his temple and he stilled, looking up at me with one eye, the other pressed to the ground. “You actually want me to believe a pussy like you is gonna shoot me?” he scoffed. “Family? My father gave you a home, Cane. Now let me the fuck up and I just might forget about this!”

  I growled and smashed the muzzle of the gun into his flesh. His talk of family didn’t mean anything to me. He’d tried to hurt Tony. Tony could be dead. “You’re going down, Karl. You’re done.”

  With a roar, Karl heaved upward, his massive frame bucking me onto the ground. A well-aimed kick to my head sent me reeling.

  “Fucking pansy,” Karl muttered between panted breaths. I struggled to focus on him as he split into two, three, and four Karls. My head suddenly felt like a cannonball, too heavy to lift.

  “I can’t believe you had the nuts to go after me,” Karl said, staggering over me. He grinned maliciously. “You know where your darling little computer whiz is right now? He’s in my car getting all cozy with King. One move and King will inject enough venom into the brat to kill him within minutes.” He chuckled, spat at me, and then made the mistake of thinking he could step over me. Mustering all my strength, I swung my leg out, sending him sprawling face-first into the dirt.

  “Motherfucker!” he yelled. Yards away, the fight seemed to be dying down as Karl slowly dragged himself to his knees while I managed to roll over and aim my gun in the general direction of his heaving, barrel chest.

  “Goddammit, you’re pissing me off, Cane! I should have done this a long time ago.” Karl reached into his jacket just as the moon inched from behind a cloud and glinted off the steel of a gun.

  Hands shaking and sweat dripping into my already distorted vision, I focused as best I could and squeezed the trigger.

  Karl hit the ground like a felled tree.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Tony

  I’d been vomiting a lot and pain shot up my arm from my hand. On top of that, my vision had gotten blurry. But I hadn’t had trouble breathing, and the doctors told me that was a good sign. It had been decided the snake had only nicked me with one fang, and as people reacted differently to venom, the doctors couldn’t be sure exactly what that meant for me. But a black line marked where the swelling had stopped, and my stomach was beginning to settle.

  It seemed the antivenin was working.

  “You’re very lucky that doctor had antivenin,” the nurse told me as he checked my IV drip. “I’m not sure the zoo would have, and it doesn’t take long for a cobra bite to kill. Even a nick like you got.”

  I’d heard that more than once since I’d arrived at the hospital.

  “Can I see my friend now?” I asked.

  The nurse sighed. “He’s kind of a handful. We’ve made him go to the waiting room.”

  “I’ll tell him to be good,” I said, trying for a charming smile that probably came off pretty bad, judging by the nurse’s expression. He shook his head.

  “I’ll tell him for you.”

  Less than five minutes later, Hung came barreling into the curtained-off enclosure they’d put me in like he’d just been let out of a cage.

  “’Bout time they let me see you,” he groused, pulling a chair as close to my bed as he could and squeezing my leg.

  “You didn’t miss much. Just a lot of barfing.”

  “How do you feel?”

  “Better. My hand hurts, but they’ve given me something pretty strong. Tell me what’s going on. I’ve been going crazy back here.”

  Hung’s phone buzzed, and he looked down at it. “This is Blaze now. Hang on.”

  As eager as I was to hear everything, my exhausted body must have pulled me under because the next thing I knew, Hung was gently shaking my shoulder.

  “T? Sorry to wake you, but Nurse Tight Ass wants me out of here.” He grinned. “Blaze said they got ‘em all. All the bad guys, clients, and captives. Pounced on them when they came out of the building, pretty much just like we’d planned.”

  I squinted as, loopy from pain meds and sleep, my mind struggle
d to keep up.

  “…the cavalry got there just in time.”

  I frowned. “There were horses?”

  Hung chuckled and leaned over to plant a wet kiss to my forehead. “Everything’s cool. Go back to sleep.”

  I wanted to ask about Cane but drowsiness tugged me under. The next time I awoke, I was in a room with morning sunlight streaming over the bed.

  “Hey, Tony.”

  I looked to my right to see Nick sitting beside my bed.

  “You’re okay!” I smiled at him.

  Nick tossed the magazine he’d been reading to the table and leaned forward. “I am so glad to see your eyes open. Jeo told me you were good, but I wanted to see it for myself.”

  “Yeah. Getting better every time I wake up.”

  Nick handed me a cup of water with a straw, and I drank before speaking again.

  “Why do you sound like you’ve been leading a rally without a megaphone?”

  Nick cleared his throat, but it didn’t help much. “I’m fine. I’ll tell you all about it later.”

  I looked at my hand. The black marks the doctor had used to measure the advancement of the swelling were still there but the skin looked normal, other than being a slightly red and puffy around the scratch sight.

  “Does it hurt?” Nick asked.

  “Not so much anymore.” I sighed. “I was such an idiot. I should have realized Bruder could recognize you and Royce. I can’t believe it never entered my mind.” I blinked and looked around, nervousness edging out my annoyance at myself. “Nick, where’s Cane?” Surely Hung would have told me if something had happened to Cane. Wouldn’t he have?

  “He’s being questioned by the FBI. He wants to be here with you, but they haven’t released him yet.”

  I tried to raise myself to a sitting position but wound up sinking back into the bed. “He had nothing to do with what Bruder was doing.”

  Nick patted my leg. “We know, and more importantly, that FBI lady knows. Blaze is with Cane, and Morgan’s got his legal team working on it.”