by Casey Hagen
“Hi, Mom.” Her little boy had grown up so much in the past year with his slightly deeper, more solemn voice.
“Hello, son,” she said back in the same drawl tone.
“Very funny,” he said.
“Well, I thought so. So, tell me about it.”
“About what?”
“You know what. The Wizarding World? Butter Beer? Your dream vacation,” she said with a watery laugh.
“Mom, are you okay?”
“I’m good. Your sister just worked me over pretty hard for a puppy.”
“And that made you sad?”
“Nah, that’s the thought of muddy paw prints across the white tile that has me ready to curl into a ball and cry like a baby. Come on, Potter, butter beer…and go!”
He talked about all the rides, how Grandpa was willing to get on every single one, and how Grandma pretended she was having an allergy attack so she wouldn’t have to. They’d let him have one too many butter beers on day two, and he ended up losing them in the shrubs next to Hogwarts.
“I wish you could have come with us, Mom.”
“I’ll tell you what. How about I take you guys back for my first official vacation from my new job next year?”
“Really?”
“Yup, just no more puking up butter beer.”
“I learned my lesson on that one,” Tyler said with a groan.
“Okay, sweetie, I have to go, and you’re headed for dinner. We’ll talk soon, okay?”
“I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, Tyler. So much. Bye, baby,” she murmured before hanging up.
She threw the phone on the bed and rubbed her damp eyes. When she opened them, she found Lucas standing in the doorway.
Propping her hands on either side of her, she stared at him. “Lucas, promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me you guys will take every last one of these bastards out so they can never hurt anyone else.”
He nodded. “Done.”
Chapter 9
Lucas nudged Chloe’s jaw back into place. “They’re not available so stop drooling.”
“Cut it out. They’re just so—you’re all so…” she said, her voice full of wonder as she snagged fleeting glances of Tex, Wolf, Abe, and Benny. “I mean, is there some sort of requirement in the SEALs, you know, some unwritten hotness factor you have to have?”
“There’s a whole checklist. Hot, capable of killing, proficient with the dick, and only moderately damaged by failed expectations,” he joked.
Jake led the way, talking about the center the entire time, introducing the guys to each wing and explaining what they did in every one. Dylan, Slyder, Evan, and Cole brought up the rear. They’d almost made it through the whole place, besides the bunkers, in about forty-five minutes. Not bad with how big the place was.
When they arrived at the residential living area, he showed them empty quarters, choosing to give the families in residence privacy.
They had their fair share of women and children who were in the process of building trust with the staff. Skittish and rightfully so, they weren’t ready to see a group of guys towering six feet tall and taller, solid walls of muscle, invading their safe place.
At one time, she wouldn’t have been able to stand among them either.
“Most of the families are settling in for the night, getting their kids ready for bed. Each living quarter operates much like an apartment. There are no defined lights-out times. The parents here have had very little control over their everyday lives while trapped in the cycle of abuse, so we’ve opted for a less invasive approach.”
“How many families are there right now?” Wolf asked, glancing around.
“Nine in this wing. We have another wing for our newer families. We,” Jake cleared his throat, his voice thick with emotion. “We have four families in various stages of healing. One came in last night. If you don’t mind, I know you came all this way, but that wing is pretty much off-limits because of the nature of the new case.”
“It’s critical?” Wolf asked.
“The mom might not make it, and we’ve got a foster mom in residence here, temporarily taking care of our patient’s four-year-old daughter who was found with her. She can’t be separated right now. Not after the way they found her. Even if the mom makes a full recovery, the little girl will need extensive therapy.”
Chloe swallowed hard, fighting tears.
Lucas took her hand and squeezed.
“And you’re sure we have the best doctors for her care?” Abe asked.
“Positive,” Jake said. “Xavier Thorne is our head of medicine and was one of the leading neurosurgeons in the country. If it were me, anything happened to Destiny, to our little girl, he’s the man I’d want treating them.”
“Will we get to meet him?” Abe asked.
“We will. He hasn’t left since our new patient came in,” Jake said.
“Have they found any other family?” Benny asked.
Jake shook his head. “No. No one.”
“Let me know if you need help with that,” Tex said.
“I’ll do that,” Jake said.
Jake led them to the reception of the critical care wing. “Lola, would you see if Dr. Thorne has a moment?”
She shook her head, her pouf of bleached-blonde hair locked into place despite the movement. “He’ll tell me he doesn’t, but he needs to take one. I swear that man is stubborn as all get out. You Navy guys. I’m telling you. Good thing you pay me so well to deal with such an ornery lot,” Lola huffed as she stood. “Give me just a moment.”
“I like Lola,” Wolf said with a smile.
“We’ve tried hard to make sure the staff we hire has the strength to deal with what they see. Lola’s good with ugly, but she’s also good at letting these families bloom without resurrecting their pasts. She’s kind of an honorary grandma around here for the kids,” Jake said.
The honorary grandma came back out into the reception area dragging a tired Dr. Thorne by his tie. “Facedown in his coffee. Well, this should wake you up.”
“Sorry. I’m not at my best tonight,” Xavier said, circling around the desk to shake each of their hands. Lines of tension bracketed his mouth. “You should be proud of what you’ve done here. This place is life-changing for these families.”
“Jake said you have a tough case right now,” Zane said.
“Yes. Head trauma. Every bone in her face is broken. I approved admitting her. We have everything we need to take care of her and the resources to evacuate her in minutes if necessary. At this point, moving her is riskier than keeping her here. UCLA Medical Center and Cedars-Sinai are both working with us, not that they can do much. Right now, it’s a waiting game.”
“Do you know her chances?” Wolf asked.
“Twenty-five percent. If she survives the next forty-eight hours, her chances go up significantly,” Xavier said.
“And the little girl?” Wolf asked.
“Physically, she’s fine,” he said with a rough sigh. “But she was found sitting in a pool of her mother’s blood. She’s the one who called 9-1-1. Those were the last words she spoke,” Xavier said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
He glanced down at Chloe to find her biting her lip, a tear rolling down her cheek. Lucas let go of her hand and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m okay. I just…that could have been me,” she whispered.
“Thank God it wasn’t,” he murmured against her hair. “Never again, Chloe. No one ever gets to lay their hands on you again.”
Tex’s pocket vibrated, the sound caught the attention of the rest of the crew. He dug his phone out and looked at the screen, his mouth thinning into a tense straight line.
“We need to talk,” he said. “Somewhere private.”
“The bunkers,” Lucas said, the tension filling the room immediate and settling into his shoulders.
“Sorry to cut this short…” Tex said to Xavier.
“Thank you for everything you’re doing here,” Wolf said.
Xavier nodded and gave them a distracted smile, his mind already back on the woman and little girl.
Lucas led them to the closest hatch and held the door while they all headed down.
“We’ve got trouble,” Tex said as he continued to scroll his phone.
“What is it?” Lucas asked.
“At the same time Vic’s car blew, there was another similar explosion that only hit the media just now and explains why I didn’t have success with my access to Palm Desert Prison. I thought I finally met a system I couldn’t infiltrate. I wish I had been right,” he said, scrubbing a hand over his chin. “Twenty cells blew and burned for a couple of hours. Authorities suppressed the story but were finally forced to share the news with the public. Prisoners unaccounted for Cutter Hawk, Mario Garcia, and Vega Sorelli.”
Adrenaline spiked, Lucas’ fingers twitched as he struggled to stay still.
“What the fuck? How the hell did they get away with keeping that quiet for what,” Evan glanced at his watch, “over twelve hours?”
“That shit is in the middle of desert country out there. They probably figured if anyone escaped, they didn’t make it far. But somebody’s ass is fucking fired for sure. Curfews have been issued for the six counties from San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties south,” Tex said.
“You get any information on Sorelli’s safehouses?” Lucas asked.
Chloe pressed against his side, her arms around his waist.
“Yeah, fucking hell,” Tex muttered. “I didn’t expect for something to come up and force my hand, so I’m doing this by phone; give me a minute.”
Zane froze.
Lucas froze.
“What is that?” Chloe said, backing away from Lucas’ side.
Zane and Lucas stared at one another with that instant recognition as their phones both started the alert sequence telling them someone had breached the property.
“What?” Chloe asked, her startled gaze shooting back and forth between them.
“Breach,” Zane muttered, grabbing his phone and punching in a code that brought up a digital map of New Hope. “Jesus,” Zane whispered. “It’s everywhere.”
Lucas slid open a control panel, opening up the digital grid on the north wall. A podium rose up from the floor with another series of controls. “What are the chances this is a glitch?” he asked, reaching for the keyboard.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. If someone’s really breached the system, we should see them individually. The height, weight, body mass index, all of it. This is just, it’s everywhere.”
“Six foot four, two hundred seventy-two point four po—one hundred—body mass unknown—five foot eight, one hundred seventy—body—unknown.” Zane’s phone continued to attempt to identify bodies, just to glitch and begin again.
“And it’s closing in,” Lucas said, gesturing to the screen.
“You don’t think he’s here?” Chloe asked.
“They’re not in range of the cameras yet, so all I’ve got is a solid border surrounding us. The temperature is right for human bodies, but they’d have to be tight together, possibly in rows. Hundreds of men,” Lucas said.
The lines closed in, slowly squeezing together, growing thicker as they went. If they were people, they were doubling up as they tapered in. Hundreds might be a modest estimate.
The emergency phone on the wall buzzed. Zane clicked the button, putting the call on speaker.
“We’ve got someone on the phone line up here demanding we send Lucas Burke out.” Xavier’s voice echoed with a steely calm with his next words. “I have a visual; we’re surrounded by flames, and if I had to guess, hundreds of men.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Dylan demanded.
“The center, the whole perimeter is surrounded. And they have fire. The guy on the line said if we don’t send Lucas Burke out to them, they’re going to burn the entire center to the ground with everyone in it,” Xavier said.
“Did the caller identify himself?” Lucas asked, needing to know for sure.
“Yes, Vega Sorelli.”
Zane’s hands curled over the edge of the table, a look of rage twisting his face. “They’d never be able to burn this place to the ground. We have systems that would extinguish—”
“Except this guy survived a blast that took out a good chunk of a maximum-security prison,” Tex said. “He’s not out there with lighters. Chances are he has explosives at worst, accelerants at best.”
“The bunkers,” Lucas said. “They’d hold even with a fire. We have three steel safety doors between where we stand and the facility. We might feel the vibration of explosions, but that’s it. We can get everyone moved—”
“My patient can’t be moved to the bunker,” Xavier said.
“We have a med center down here and can hook her up to the—”
“I’m telling you, she will not survive the trip down,” Xavier said.
The room filled with the silence of truth. They’d lose life; the question was, how many?
The band on the grid tightened again.
“Okay, least loss of life. Spitball all the ideas,” Zane said.
“I’ll go,” Chloe said.
“What the hell do you mean, you’ll go?” Zane said.
“I’ll let him take me,” she said, her voice resolute.
“What? No. NO!” Lucas shouted.
She laid her hand on his arm. “Lucas, it’s the only way.”
“He wants me.”
“Yes, for now. And if you surrender, you’re dead.”
“Chloe—”
“Listen to me. He could burn down the center anyway just for spite. These families could all die. There are children here, Lucas. He won’t think you’re here if I give myself up. He’d never believe after the way you protected me, that you’d let me walk out of here and offer myself up as a hostage.”
“Chloe,” Zane said, his voice low and rough.
Lucas studied the grid for precious seconds and shook his head. “Don’t ask me to stand by and watch you do this—you can’t ask that of me. We’ll find another way. I promised you no one would put their hands on you again.”
“You also promised you would make sure they could never hurt anyone again, too. They’ll keep me alive to draw you in.” She took his hands in hers and kissed each of his palms before glancing around, making eye contact with every last one of them. “You all know this is the only way. This will buy you time to assemble a team to take him down once and for all.”
No one said a word, their silence a heartbreaking testament to the truth no one wanted to accept. Lucas fought the urge to lash out at every one of them. Would they let their women do this for them? Would they?
But one glance at their faces, and he knew. They’d never control the women they loved, even if it killed them to stand by. Hell, Jake had proven that when he forced himself to stand by while Destiny battled her ex-husband one last time.
“I get it now, Zane,” she said, walking up to him. I understand how this career kept you from me, and I’m not angry anymore. It called to you, and you had to go. I’m asking you to do what you know is right and let me go. You’ll get me back. I know you will.”
“Don’t fucking agree to this, Crew,” Lucas warned.
“She’s right. I fucking hate it, but she’s right. I thought I built the perfect system, but I never considered this. Who would? We’ll lose lives if we don’t go with her plan.”
“We’ll lose her life if we do,” Lucas seethed.
“Not if we don’t fuck up,” Zane said. “We won’t fuck up, Chloe.”
She smiled, and Lucas’ heart shredded in his chest.
“I know,” she said with a watery smile as two tears rolled down her cheeks. She took a deep breath and blew it out, straightening her shoulders.
“This was never part of the plan,��� Lucas ground out, his fingers curling into the collar of her blouse as he tugged her against him.
“None of the things in my life have been part of my plan. We deserve a shot at peace. My kids shouldn’t ever have to live in fear again. You have time to get ready for one final stand so we can be free of this. Lucas, it’s the only way.”
Don’t let her go.
His mind screamed the words even as he reached for the computer keys to disengage the hatch to take her topside.
Standing at the bottom of the ladder, she turned, laying her palm flat against Lucas’ chest, right over his heartbeat. “Stay. Don’t take the chance that they spot you. Zane can take me up.”
A low growl was all he could manage as his blood boiled in his veins. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he latched on to her, clutching her to him, probably bruising her.
And if he was, she didn’t let on. She held him just as hard, her nails biting into his skin, until she let go.
“I’m ready.” She glanced around the room. “Don’t leave a single one of those bastards breathing when this is done. I’m counting on you,” she said, pointing her finger at all of them, putting them on notice.
He watched her climb one step at a time until she disappeared topside and the hatch shut in his face.
The men stayed silent, their mouths in angry slashes, and they stood there helpless while Zane gave up his sister to the enemy.
Lucas turned to the monitors, saw the grainy image of Chloe stepping out of the center and scanning the night.
Men with guns surrounded her, and Vega stepped out of the darkness.
“Lucas isn’t here,” she said, keeping her chin raised in that defiant way of hers.
“I know you,” Vega said with a sinister grin on his mouth.
His voice filled the bunker, and Lucas’ lip curled.
He clucked his tongue. “You were mine, and Lucas stole you from me.”
“I don’t belong to anybody.”
Lucas recognized his stance. He braced for it. Just a fraction of a second later, Vega’s heavily ringed hand snapped against her cheek as he backhanded her.
A part of him broke away, hate filling every last part of him. His muscles quivered. His pulse rioted out of control. It didn’t matter if Vega was once a young child riding his bike with a mother and father who loved him.
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