Grabbing the handle, he lifted the door as he stood. The stench hit him first and nausea rolled in his belly.
“Ugh, flashbacks to the apartment,” Kayla groaned.
“These are getting a workout,” Noah mused as he handed everyone a mask.
Ethan found a string attached to an overhead light and tugged it on. Dozens of boxes were stacked haphazardly inside. They found the source of the smell slumped in the corner.
“That’s Razor Ivanov,” Noah stated. “Leader of the Eighty-Sixers.”
He’d been shot, but that wasn’t what killed him. It was the unnatural angle of his neck that most likely ended his life. Someone had twisted so hard, his head was practically backwards.
Noah snapped a picture and then they focused on the boxes. Declan removed his knife and slit the tape on one, while Noah did the same and let out a long whistle. He held up a plastic-wrapped brick with a gloved hand. Stamped on top was a bloody Dagger. “I’m guessing cocaine.”
Kayla waved a hand. “In all these boxes?”
Declan peeled the flaps back from his box. “No.”
“What’s in yours?” Ethan questioned.
He held up a brick of a different kind. Cold, hard cash. Stacks of one hundred-dollar bills. The box was packed to the brim.
Ethan and Kayla helped and by the time they checked all the boxes, the amount of money and drugs were mind boggling. Without a hard count, they estimated the cash to be around twenty million dollars give or take. The boxes filled with blow contained one hundred bricks apiece and there were two dozen. Declan wasn’t up on the street value of coke, but it had to be significant.
He’d been correct when he surmised Jamarcus could’ve kept drugs or dead bodies inside. He’d hidden both.
Kayla stood with her hands on her hips. “I see why they were so anxious to find this.”
“This is interesting.” Ethan tipped over a box filled with clothes, shoes and personal items. “It looks like Jamarcus was planning on rabbiting with the booty.”
“We’ll never know, but Razor must’ve known what Jamarcus stole or maybe he ordered him to,” Noah guessed.
“He decided he wanted it all for himself, so he eliminated the threat,” Kayla finished.
“Heads up. Vehicles approaching,” Alex relayed through the comms. “Three travelling at a high rate of speed, heading for your location.”
“They’re splitting up to surround you,” Dorian warned.
“Lock up and head to the SUV,” Noah ordered.
“No time,” Dorian insisted. “Weapons at the ready and hold your positions.”
They ripped off their masks as the sound of tires squealing at each end of the building echoed down the corridor.
Alex let out a harsh curse. “One man jumped out with a rocket launcher. Take cover.”
The whizzing sound grew closer as the missile zipped through the air and slammed into Noah’s SUV, blowing it sky high before it landed on the units across the alley and crashed back to the ground. Good thing they didn’t hunker down in there. They barely had time to recover from the blast before all hell broke loose. Alex and Dorian started picking off unsuspecting gang members from their rooftop perches while the four of them fired from inside the building. An engine roared and then a car sped down the road towards them. A gun barrel poked out the back window. If Declan couldn’t stop them, they’d spray the storage unit with automatic gunfire. He and his coworkers would be sitting ducks with no solid cover to absorb the impact of the bullets. Leaning out, he aimed for the driver, pumping the windshield full of lead. Meanwhile, Kayla aimed for the front tire, blowing it out. The car jerked and swerved, but not before the man operating the AK-47 squeezed the trigger. The car slammed into back of the unit across from them, the front-end crumpling, sending smoke pouring from the hood. The driver hadn’t been wearing a seatbelt. He was currently lodged in the broken windshield.
“All active shooters neutralized,” Dorian reported. “Two down on either side. We’ll check on them.”
“Driver’s out of commission.” Declan kept an eye out for any movement from the back seat. The gun had dropped out the window, but the man might have a backup. Creeping closer with his weapon ready, he heard a moan as he neared. The man was slumped across the seat bleeding profusely. Declan opened the door and dragged him out by his feet. He thudded to the ground with a muted gurgle of pain.
Judging by the amount of blood, the man wouldn’t last long enough for a doctor to save him. He needed answers. Crouching down, he slapped the man’s face to make sure he was conscious. “How did you find us?”
The man’s pain-filled gaze landed on Kayla. “The chick…led us…to you.”
Kayla jerked back. “What? Impossible,” she scoffed.
“S-true,” he slurred. “Remember…man you bumped into at…hospital? That…me.” He let out a shuddering sigh. “I tagged…shoes…device tracked you.” His eyes rolled back, and his head lolled to the side. Noah and Ethan dropped down to tend to his wounds, but there was nothing they could do for him.
Dorian hurried over, skirting around the burning SUV. “Both deceased on my end.”
Alex approached from the other direction. “Mine, too. I called Terrance Owens to give him the information about what we found in the unit, so he’d get credit for the bust.”
Declan nodded in approval, the movement making his head spin. What was that about? “Good.” Terrance watched over his brother, so he owed him. A major drug and cash bust would boost his stock in the department, maybe even earn him a promotion.
Kayla grabbed onto his arm for support as she lifted a foot to peer at the bottom of her shoe. He bit back a cry of pain as his vision swam.
She jerked her hand away and gaped at it. “Declan, you’re bleeding.”
Now that she mentioned it, his arm was throbbing. He glanced down to see his sleeve covered in blood. It’d flowed down his arm and slipped beneath his glove, leaving his hand moist. He couldn’t feel it because his arm was currently numb. Oh, no, no, no. He’d spent too much time in the hospital recently. He’d just slap a Band-Aid on it and call it good.
He hissed in a breath when she tugged at his sleeve, rolling it up until she could assess the damage. “Bad news is you were shot. Good news is it went all the way through, so no need to dig out the slug.”
“It’s nothing,” he insisted.
“You’re going to the hospital whether you like it or not,” Noah informed him.
“Not,” he muttered.
“Too bad.”
“We don’t all need to be here when the cops arrive,” Dorian noted. “You guys get him checked out. Alex and I will stay here and deal with the authorities.”
Ethan glanced at the still-burning shell that had once been Noah’s SUV. “Yeah, about that. We don’t have wheels.”
“Take mine.” Alex handed him his keys. “We’ll get a ride back.”
Before they bullied him into a trip to the ER, Declan dug in his feet. “Two men down at either end plus the two in the vehicle. That’s only six.”
Noah finished his thought. “That means there are eight more out there. Now that there’s no possibility of recovering the drugs and cash they were after, they might want payback.”
Would they try to exact revenge against one innocent seven-year-old boy? Declan’s vision started to blur. Noah helped him into the SUV and Ethan climbed in beside him to tend to the wound. He hated this so much. Though it hurt like hades when Ethan pressed on the wound to staunch the bleeding, he bit his tongue, refusing to cry out. Conversation went on around him, but his focus was on not passing out.
“Look at this.” Kayla held up a small black dot. “It was embedded in a groove in the bottom of my shoe.”
Noah braked at a red light and glanced over. “You think that’s the tracking device?”
“It’s not just a sticker. I can feel something inside.” She punched an app on her phone and held it to the dot. “It doesn’t register as a tracker.”
“We’ll send it to Tyler to dissect.”
#
Kenzie couldn’t stop pacing. Anxiety twisted her stomach in knots. Even though Declan promised it was an easy trip to the storage unit and back, she couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that something bad was about to happen.
Picking up on her mood, Jamal had been subdued. He and Yogi were lying on the couch watching a Disney movie. Gage was sitting at the bar with his computer. He’d offered to prepare an omelet for her, but her tummy protested at the thought of food. Not even the smell of the bacon he fried up for Jamal could tempt her. Maybe after Declan returned safely, her appetite would return, too.
Needing a distraction, she gazed at the attractive agent. His jet-black hair was the same color as hers, though his was cut short, emphasizing his chiseled features. Whereas her blue eyes tended more towards gray, his were a cobalt that stood out against his tan skin. He was about the same height as Declan and just as muscular and fit. Even through his clothes, he looked like he didn’t carry an ounce of body fat. She knew for a fact Declan didn’t.
Huh, it was true that if you studied someone long enough, they’d feel your stare. He glanced up with a questioning look. “What?”
“How long have you been with COBRA Securities?”
“A week.”
Her brows shot up. “Really? I thought you and Declan acted as if you knew each other.”
“We do. We went through training at the same time and roomed together. I stayed while he returned home to pack.”
“Is this your first assignment?”
“Yes.”
She winced. “Sorry you were stuck with the short end of the stick babysitting us.”
“All part of the job,” he assured her before returning his attention to his computer. She wasn’t letting him off so easily.
“Where are you from originally?”
“Oklahoma.”
“An Okie from Muskogee?” she teased, referencing the old Merle Haggard song.
“Stillwater, actually.” His cell rang. “It’s Kayla.” He listened, his face hardening. “Repeat that?” He glanced at Kenzie as he disconnected. “Declan’s been shot.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Kenzie wasn’t sure she was still breathing. When the words came out of Gage’s mouth, she felt her knees weaken. Jamal’s panicked cry snapped her out of her shock. He’d heard and now he was shaking. As scared as she was, she had to be strong for him.
Steeling her spine, she asked, “How bad?”
“I don’t know. Kayla had to take a call from the office before divulging details.”
She reached for his arm. “Come on. We’re going to the hospital.”
He avoided her grasp and shook his head definitively. “No. I’m sorry but my orders are to keep you here where it’s safe.”
“This isn’t a negotiation,” she advised him tersely. She didn’t want to be mean, but he wasn’t keeping her from rushing to Declan’s side.
“We don’t have a vehicle,” he pointed out triumphantly. “Sorry.”
She wiggled a set of keys. “Declan’s truck. Now you can either ride with us or you can stay here. Your choice. But we are going to the hospital.” It wasn’t a lie. If he wouldn’t take them, they’d take themselves. Simple as that.
“I could restrain you with flex-cuffs.”
Jamal jumped in front of her like a pint-sized warrior and crossed his arms over his chest. “No, you won’t. We’re going to Declan. Now.”
She took no joy in the man’s capitulation. Worry and fear were salsa dancing in her belly. She was afraid she’d have to ask him to pull over so she could throw up, even though she hadn’t been able to eat.
Jamal proved to be an exceptional direction-giver. Along with Declan’s dashboard GPS, he led them to the hospital. Kenzie jumped out and helped Jamal from the back seat. Grasping his hand, they took off for the emergency room. A black SUV was parked next to the doors. She gasped in horror as Noah and Ethan placed Declan on a gurney. Blood covered his arm and his eyes were closed.
“Declan!” Jamal cried.
His eyes jerked open and he bolted upright. “Jamal, Kenzie. What are you doing here?”
Tears flooded her eyes. “We’re here for you. Are you okay?”
His lips twisted. “It’s a damn scratch. I’m fine.” He tried to get off the gurney, but a medic stopped him and turned to them with a stern look.
“He needs medical attention. You can talk to him after he’s patched up.”
#
Scarlett Harmon passed tired eons ago and was quickly working her way to catatonic. All she wanted to do was hug her sister and then sleep for a week. Leo had allowed her to speak to Ruby on the phone when she first arrived. It was her only condition before doing their dirty work. Ruby was terrified, but they were feeding her and pretty much leaving her alone. That was good.
Now that Scarlett’s part in the operation they’d launched was over, she wanted out. “I did what you requested, now let my sister and me go like you promised.”
“I don’t think so, sweetheart.” Leo ran a finger down her cheek. She recoiled from his nasty touch. His nostrils flared at the rebuke and he dropped his hand. “You’re too valuable. I think we’ll keep you a while longer.”
Frustration had her gritting her teeth. It took every ounce of restraint she possessed to refrain from using her makeshift shiv and jamming it into his eye socket. Most of the time, she was left in a cold, dark space with only a mattress and a bathroom she didn’t even want to think about. She’d have nightmares about it for years to come—assuming she’d have any years to live after they were finished with her. When they brought her to the room where they’d placed her laptop beside several other computers and a wall of monitors, she’d spotted a ballpoint pen and surreptitiously swiped it. After removing the ink reservoir, she was left with a hollow tube, which would render significant damage when stabbed into a vulnerable optical organ.
Though she hated to be separated from her computer when she was locked up, she wasn’t worried that they could steal any information. Besides the biometric locks, she’d built in many fail safes and prepared for any contingency. Even if they made her open a program and download it in front of them, what they’d have would be jumbled garbage.
She was bummed she’d lost her tracking dot when it wasn’t complete, but she was happy to note it worked. There was no better test than by fire, she supposed. She’d warned Leo that it was still a work in progress. He’d glared at her and told her it had to work or else. She didn’t know what “or else” meant and she had no desire to find out. Thankfully, she didn’t have to since the dot did it’s intended job. But with no way to retrieve it, she’d activated a kill switch that would render it inoperable so no one could access her technology.
“Besides,” Leo continued, “until we know if this is what we’re looking for, we might be in need of your ample…services.”
The way he said the last word, his gaze trailing down her body, made her skin crawl. She’d barely slept worrying that he or one of his disgusting friends would come into her room and rape her. Or worse—Ruby. She’d fight to the death if they tried to attack her, but that would leave Ruby all alone with them, and that wasn’t an option.
“You want to see your hard work pay off? Watch.”
He brought up feeds from dash cams on three separate screens. She tried to follow what was happening, but the cars were driving fast along a bumpy road. They were at a storage facility. Her eyes zeroed in on one of the vehicles as it screeched to a stop. A man jumped out with some kind of long tube he supported on his shoulder. She gasped in horror when a projectile blasted out and slammed into a black SUV, sending it skyward. Had there been anyone inside?
Her hands flew to her mouth when gunfire sounded and then men were going down like bowling pins.
“What? No!” Leo bellowed, jumping to his feet. “They have snipers. Sonofabitch. How did they know we’d be there?”
One of th
e cars bumped the one in front of it out of the way and then sped down the corridor between buildings, heading to an open door. Someone stepped out and fired and she flinched when bullets pierced the windshield and wiped out the camera. The burning SUV blocked any view of the only remaining camera.
Leo frantically punched buttons on his phone, his curses growing louder and more colorful when his calls went unanswered. With a huff, he stormed out of the room. He’d left her alone with her computer.
Pushing the horrifying images she’d witnessed from her head, she accessed the folder where she’d captured snapshots of the group they’d tagged with her device and ran it through a facial recognition program. She’d hacked into the hospital surveillance cameras and grabbed their headshots without Leo knowing. A hit came back for the woman. She worked for a security company in Indiana. With a glance over her shoulder to make sure she was still alone, Scarlett tried to hack their website to leave a message, but it was impossible to breach. She might’ve been able to with enough time, but she’d been trying to do it on the down low. Having to resort to using the generic email address on their bare bones’ website, she sent a message.
Urgent! Please help me. My name is Scarlett Harmon and I’m being held hostage by a gang called the Daggers in Chicago. I’m in some kind of warehouse but I don’t know the location. I created an untraceable tracking program that they forced me to use on your group. They have my sister. Please don’t alert the police. I don’t know where they’re holding her, and they will kill her.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Leo roared, making her spin around and shriek in fear.
#
The small cubicle surrounded by a white curtain where Declan had been wheeled was packed with bodies. The nurse tried to object and send everyone to the waiting room, but she finally tossed her hands in the air and admitted defeat. Jamal perched on the bed beside him with Kenzie standing close. Noah, Ethan, Kayla and Gage were in there as well, though Gage was practically hugging the curtain, looking decidedly uncomfortable. Declan assumed it was because Kenzie talked him into escorting them to the hospital.
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