Kill Switch

by Penelope Douglas

  What the hell? Was she trying to give me a heart attack? Winter was with my father right now. Every second was a risk.

  We rushed into the elevator and Will pressed the floor for the parking garage.

  Rika stayed silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was calm and soft. “Absorb it,” she said. “Process it. And then get your head straight again. When you do, tell us what the hell we’re doing.”

  She was right. I needed to calm down. I couldn’t fucking think with my mind racing and spinning like a tornado.

  My father would have Michael and Winter at his house. He wasn’t trying to hide them from us. He wanted to bring us to the table.

  But Rika was right. In the digital age, there were no guarantees. He knew we had the evidence backed up.

  He couldn’t get his hands on Alex tonight, and he couldn’t hurt Michael.

  Winter was his assurance.

  Think.

  Negotiation was useless. I would never let him keep Winter.

  We needed to get on the property, undetected, and he wasn’t going to be dumb enough to fall for Banks as a diversion again.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck…

  My mind started wandering from one scenario to the next, and finally, I had it.

  “David and Lev,” I said. “They’re still working for Banks, right?”

  My father’s old employees who left on bad terms, hated my father, but knew the lay of the land and everyone who worked for Gabriel. They worked for my sister now, who also stole my father’s cook, Marina.

  “Yeah, you want me to call them?” Will asked.

  I nodded, all of us charging out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. “Tell them to meet us at the hilltop gate. Tell them to bring something good from Marina. Something my father’s men would miss.”

  Damon

  Present

  Since we knew my father’s men would be keeping a closer eye on the woods that we escaped through last night, it seemed less of a risk just to get them to open the rear gate for us. With a little finesse and guts, anyway.

  “Thanks for coming.” I walked up to David and Lev, meeting them as they stepped out of their SUV.

  “Banks made us,” Lev spat out.

  Pissant.

  Both of them used to work for my father, but now they worked for Kai and my sister at their home in Meridian City. Doing what, I wasn’t sure, but they stayed, so there must be something exciting going on over there.

  I jerked my chin at the tin Lev was holding. “What did you bring?”

  He popped the lid, but David answered, “She had some vatrushka already made. There’s zephyr in there, too.”

  “Fuck, yeah.” I reached in, snatching one of the berry marshmallow things and popping it in my mouth. My taste buds exploded, making my mouth water like crazy, but it was probably more because I hadn’t eaten in two days rather than them tasting that good.

  Although, they were good.

  Marina also worked for my father before Banks stole her away, too. She and my sister were the only things I missed about this house, and now that they were no longer there, I had no reason to visit unless I was forced to.

  I grabbed a vatrushka bun, barely chewing it before I swallowed it down, and led them over to a tree. I peered around it, the hilltop gate my father used for deliveries, caterers, and employees sat a hundred yards away, lit up by two lanterns.

  Rika stood near, blowing into her hands to warm them up, while Will put on a sweatshirt, pulling the hood over his head.

  “We just need you to get the gate open,” I told Lev and David.

  If we could get them to come out, they’d shut off the cameras, not wanting a secret meetup caught on film.

  “And then distract them, so we can get in,” Rika added, tucking her hands under her arms.

  “And when you need to get out?” David retorted.

  I exchanged a look with Rika, neither of us having an answer. “We’ll deal with that later,” I said.

  Grabbing our backpack off the ground, I led Rika and Will to the edge of the tree line, waiting for the tiny lights on the cameras to go dark so we could move.

  Behind us, I heard David on the phone.

  “Hey,” he said.

  He was silent a moment and then he laughed. “Aw, you still mad about that?” he joked. “Well, David and I aren’t here as friends. We come with a drug deal. We got some of Marina’s vatrushka. Bring us a bottle of Mamont, and we’ll call it even.” And then he added, “We have a little zephyr, too.”

  He was quiet, and I looked over at him, seeing him hang up the phone and nod once at me.

  Good. They were going for it.

  I dug out some surgical tape, quickly tearing off three pieces and adding them to my wound to reinforce the stitches and hold the cut together. I’d be lucky if this shit didn’t tear open again before the end of the night.

  I zipped up the pack, but Rika took it, putting it on her own back instead of letting me carry it. I almost argued, but I didn’t need another trip to the hospital, so fuck it.

  After another moment, the power lights went off, and we bolted, running across the dirt road, jumping over the low hedges lining the wall, and crouching down, waiting for the gates to open.

  Steam from our mouths billowed into the air, and we plastered ourselves against the wall to wait.

  Luckily, my side didn’t hurt at all, and I didn’t know if it was because of the drugs they gave me still lingering or the adrenaline, but I just wanted to get in there. Rika’s fucking ideas were thrashing around my head, and every second Winter spent inside that house…

  I squeezed my fists, trying to calm down.

  A deep creak filled the air, iron bars clanked together, and the gate opened, a black Chevy Tahoe pulling through, its lights flashing on the forest ahead. They pulled to a stop, dust kicking up from the road underneath, and opened the doors, one guy from each side stepping out.

  I waited for them to move around the front of their car, out of our line of sight, to talk to our guys, but before I could shoot off, Rika grabbed me.

  I jerked my head, glaring at her.

  No time to lose. What the fuck?

  But she just shook her head, grinning. “I know this trick.”

  And she rushed forward, crouching down and running for the back of the SUV.

  What?

  Will and I had no choice. We followed her, racing to the rear of their car as she pulled the back door open and climbed inside.

  I shot a glance around us and inside the car to make sure it was empty. The dome lights were already on since the guys left the doors opened, so they didn’t notice when she opened the hatch.

  Jesus. This was stupid.

  “Looks good,” I heard one of the guys say in front. “Only she makes it right.”

  Gingerly, Will and I climbed in after Rika, all of us sitting and slouched, staying down and out of sight.

  “This is dumb!” I mouthed to Rika.

  She rolled her eyes and pulled the door closed but not all the way.

  “Try some,” someone said outside.

  “Think I poisoned you?”

  There was a pause as David or Lev probably taste-tested the food for my father’s men, and then I heard David speak up again.

  “Where’s the vodka?” he asked.

  The car rocked under us as someone dug in it for the bottle they were trading.

  “Splendid,” David finally said.

  “New employers too good for the black market?”

  “At least I’m getting fed well,” David replied. “You?”

  There was silence and then my father’s guy asked, “This time again next week?”

  Come on, come on, come on…

  The car jostled under us as the men climbed back in, and I watched Rika as she waited.

  As soon as their doors slammed shut, she pulled ours closed, masking the sound, and the interior went dark as the guys shifted into gear and shot off in reverse.

 
I let out a breath.

  If that hadn’t worked, I would’ve killed Rika.

  But it did, so... Fine, whatever.

  The car turned around, and I heard the gate start to close as we sped down the back road toward the house.

  It was only a few hundred yards, but this was faster and we travelled undetected. Good plan.

  Once the car slowed, we got ready, and as the guys killed the engine and opened their doors, we slipped out, quietly pushing the back door closed again and diving off to the side of the garage where my father kept his cars and motorcycles.

  “Go!” I whisper-yelled to Will, letting him lead us to the next building which would curve us around the side of the house for a better view.

  We crept over, hiding in an alcove on the side and taking in the surroundings. I heard the guys in the shop, doing whatever they did in their downtime, but I knew there was another shift on the property, making the rounds.

  “Now what?” Rika asked.

  “The armory is in the clubhouse,” I told them.

  “Guns?” she blurted out. “That was your plan?”

  “You got a better one?”

  “We take him,” she said.

  “Huh?”

  She sighed, looking impatient. “We have no idea where they are or if they’re even here?” she explained. “After we got you out, he might not think right under your nose is a great spot to hide them. We take him, and we have leverage.”

  So take my father, if we can, and hide him somewhere, threatening and/or torturing him until he gives up her fiancé and my…Winter.

  That sounded like a lot of waiting.

  “I don’t have all night,” I told her. “We’re getting some guns.”

  “Yeah,” Will laughed.

  She growled under her breath, exasperated.

  We started to move around the side of the next building, but she pulled us both back.

  “Look,” she said under her breath.

  We shot our eyes up, seeing men leave the house, Winter and Michael in tow and leading them to a car. Miles Fucking Anderson gripped her by the back of her hair, force-walking her into an SUV with her hands tied behind her back.

  She squirmed and fought, and I inched forward, ready to kill.

  Will jerked me back, though.

  “They are here,” he said. “Where are they going?”

  “He’s moving them,” Rika guessed and looked at me. “I told you.”

  Michael stumbled after, breaking free and charging one of the guys, but a baton smashed over the back of his head, and he fell to his knees.

  Rika sucked in a breath, stifling a sob.

  I was more worried, though. Winter was more expendable than Michael to my father. He wouldn’t want to kill Evans Crist’s son or a star player for a national basketball team.

  “We need to run,” I said. “Now. Back to the cars.”

  We didn’t hesitate. Whipping back around, we bolted through the trees, past the garden maze, my old treehouse, and down the small incline back the way we came. The wound in my side started to ache, so I put more weight on my right side as we ran, digging my heels in.

  How were we going to get out? Fuck.

  There were no trees around that wall, and we couldn’t climb the goddamn gate. We needed to get around to the main road before they left and disappeared.

  But as we approached, the cold night air stinging my lungs, I slowed for a second, noticing that the gate wasn’t closed. Not entirely.

  It wasn’t fucking closed.

  Relief washed over me, but we didn’t stop to question. We slipped through the opening and raced for our cars buried beyond the trees.

  Glancing back, I noticed the cameras hung by their wires, dangling like a dead animal, and something was lodged in the hinges of the gate. I laughed under my breath.

  Thanks, guys. David and Lev might hate me, but they knew my sister didn’t.

  My father’s people were going to notice the cameras were offline any second, though, if they hadn’t already.

  We dashed to the cars, Rika jumping in Michael’s old G-Class, and Will and I taking his SUV.

  Barreling onto the dirt road, I stepped on the gas, kicking up the gears and storming down the empty path. I kept the lights low, counting the seconds in my head as Rika followed close behind.

  They got them in the car. They have to get all the way down the driveway and through the gate. Then pull onto the road, and hopefully they weren’t in a rush, so they wouldn’t be far ahead of us. What if I lost track of her? Where would my father take them?

  We charged out onto the highway, bouncing and skidding as I jerked the steering wheel right and laid back on the gas. Rika swerved behind me, getting control of her car again, and I kept my eyes peeled on the road ahead.

  But just then, headlights shone from the right, in the distance, and I immediately slowed, knowing it was them. I breathed hard.

  We hadn’t missed them. They were just leaving the estate now.

  Rika skidded behind me, unprepared for my sudden brake, and Will gripped the handle above his door.

  “Shit!” he exclaimed.

  His phone, propped up in its mount on the dash, rang, and I saw Rika on the screen. Will answered it, the speaker coming on.

  “Stay back,” she ordered. “Just follow.”

  “I know!” I fired back.

  Did she think I was fucking stupid? Whatever we did would put Michael and Winter in more danger. We had to think.

  I hung back, hoping they just assumed we were other drivers on the road, and followed them at a distance, unsure of how many people were in the car.

  Other than Winter and Michael, probably two? My father’s men always worked in a minimum of pairs.

  We kept Rika on the line, while Will dug out his pocket knife. We’d need that for their zip ties.

  I followed the car down past the neighboring estates, past the security booth for our community, and onto the highway, but instead of heading toward Meridian City like I thought they would, whoever was driving took the right exit, heading for the village.

  Gabriel was keeping them close, after all.

  I swallowed a few times, trying to get my dry mouth wet.

  They were going to come to a stoplight in another mile at the village center.

  “You still handy with that crowbar?” I called out, remembering Rika back when she was sixteen and the antics she pulled that night.

  “You want to box them in?” she suggested.

  I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me. “You take the rear. Let’s do it.”

  Will jumped out of his seat, crawling into the back and digging something out. When he came back, he threw me a baseball bat and my mask, and he held his own crowbar, his white skull with the red stripe already on his head.

  I pulled the mask on, completely forgetting about not showing ourselves. There were people on the streets, and while I didn’t care if my father’s men saw us, I wasn’t winding up on more motherfucking videos, since we had to do this in the busiest part of town.

  We passed houses, businesses, and streets lined with cars, most of the town closed down for the night, but there were still people about.

  Perfect.

  Gabriel’s guys might be less inclined to use weapons if it was populated. My father kept his shit under wraps, even though most of the town knew how his house operated.

  The stoplight appeared up ahead, they started to slow, and I punched on the gas, speeding up.

  “Go,” I shouted to Rika.

  I swerved to the left, she swerved to the right, they stopped, and we swung around, skidding to a halt, Will and I in front and Rika in the back, so they couldn’t drive off or back up.

  Not waiting a single second, we jumped from the cars, masks and hoods drawn, throwing our weapons into their windows and smashing the glass.

  Bystanders gasped or yelped in shock, but I didn’t waste time worrying about them.

  Breaking the rear glass, we reached in,
unlocking the doors, and I came down on the two guys in front as Rika and Will grabbed Winter and Michael.

  Anderson and the other guy shouted and laid on the gas, trying to move, but they were locked in, just bumping into our cars in the front and behind. We had everyone out of the car before they even had a chance to reach for their weapons.

  Will sliced off Michael’s restraints, and Michael didn’t wait a moment more. He whipped open the front passenger side door and hauled himself up, shooting his legs into the car and kicking the other guy in the face.

  Will took Winter, climbed back in our SUV, and Michael grabbed Rika, running for their car.

  “Back at the house,” I told them. “I’ll send Crane.”

  Rika nodded, Michael climbed into the driver’s seat, blood seeping from his head, and they took off, swerving in a U-turn and jetting past us.

  I jumped in our car, pulling around in a circle and seeing Anderson trying to start the car as we blew past.

  I didn’t care if there were cops or if someone on the street was calling them in right now. I wasn’t stopping until we were safe.

  I looked over at Winter, sitting in Will’s lap as he cut off her zip ties, and I quickly scanned her face and clothes. She still wore the same bloody jeans from yesterday when I’d been bleeding all over her and Will’s hoodie. She didn’t look hurt, except for some blood trickling from her lip, and nothing appeared ripped like there had been a struggle. Her angelic face and white-blonde hair looked like they’d been through the ringer tonight, though. Eyes red while worry and upset creased her face. I could tell she’d been terrified.

  How the fuck did this happen? I wasn’t asleep long at the hospital. They didn’t have her long, right? God, if they touched her…

  I quickly called Crane on Will’s cell.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Take any guys left and go set up shop at St. Killian’s,” I ordered him. “We’ll be there soon.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I wasn’t sure if my father was paying him anymore, but if he wasn’t going to go, I knew he wouldn’t tell him where we were going.

  “You think Gabriel will go there?” Will asked me after I hung up. He still held Winter in his lap.

  I shook my head. “No. He’ll take time to regroup. He’ll come eventually, though. We need to be ready.”