Day and Night

by Kaylie Hunter

  On my third step, my foot slipped out from under me. Grady pulled me to a stop before I slid over the edge.

  “Thanks,” I whispered.

  Grady nuzzled into me, laughing. “You’re so out of your element.”

  “Dark alleys, crack houses, and angry gators are more my specialty,” I agreed.

  ~*~*~

  We stopped every few minutes to wait, watch, and listen as we descended. No perimeter guards or surveillance cameras were spotted. No other creatures in the night scurried out to say hello. The back side of the east wing was in full view and I crouched down to study the structure. Grady and Bones stepped closer, crouching down beside me on both sides.

  “What are you thinking?” Grady whispered.

  “The setup is strange,” I whispered back. “There are very few windows, and all of them are small sized and high up, like—” A cold shiver raced from the back of my neck to my toes.

  “Kelsey?” Grady asked, reaching out to place a hand on my shoulder.

  Bones reached out and rested a hand on my knee. “Like what?”

  “Like the dungeon I was kept in when Nola held me prisoner,” I said, barely audible.

  “You think he’s back in business?” Grady asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said, pulling out my phone.

  “What are you doing?” Bones asked.

  “Texting Maggie that if we don’t make it out alive, she needs to get a warrant and raid this place.”

  Grady nodded. “You’re staying here. Bones and I can handle the rest of the mission.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I think he meant that as a suggestion, not an order,” Bones said, laughing.

  “Look,” Grady whispered. “Last year, we learned the hard way that bombs trigger my flashbacks. We have no idea whether something in that building will trigger one of yours, though.”

  “You’re right. But I’m still going,” I said, nodding toward an attached single-car garage. “The garage appears to be the main entrance into the east wing.”

  Typically, victims of trafficking weren’t walked through the front door. If I was right about the east building being used to hold prisoners, then it would make sense that the garage would serve as an entrance, and if the victims died, the exit.

  “You’ll never get access into the building through the windows, and you’ll need my help to get past the locks and security via the garage. Most likely there will be at least one guard inside; I’ll let the two of you deal with the guards. But we’ll need to keep it quiet.”

  “I can do quiet,” Bones said as he stood in a crouched position and started leading the way toward the garage.

  Grady and I followed, with me slightly behind Grady and his right hand grasping my left. He wasn’t being overprotective. He had every reason to be concerned for my mental health if we were walking into what I imagined we were walking into. And with him being left handed, we were still able to grip our Glocks in our dominant hands. I released a slow silent breath as we neared the back corner of the garage. Bones raised a fist, peeked around the corner of the garage and then signaled two fingers, indicating two guards were on the other side. Grady lightly pushed my back against the garage wall, before tapping Bones on the shoulder, the signal that he was ready. I stood motionless as they crept silently around the corner and out of sight.

  I counted to twenty-five before I heard Grady’s owl hoot that it was safe to follow. Stepping around the garage, Bones and Grady were dragging the guards over to a small clump of brush.

  “Wait,” I whispered, crouching down to search the guard Grady had. “Got it.” I held up a security electronic-swipe badge. “See? You needed me already.”

  Grady leaned over the body and kissed me before he finished dragging it over and dropping it on top of the guard Bones had dumped. I went to the side door of the garage and swiped the badge through the scanner. The red light turned green and I turned the knob, stepping inside. Bones and Grady slipped in behind me.

  As expected, the garage was empty and didn’t appear to have any cameras. What I hadn’t expected was a handprint scanner mounted next to the door that led into the main building. “Shit.”

  “When I grabbed the other guard’s security badge, I may have borrowed a finger,” Bones said, holding a severed finger against the scanner.

  My insides rolled, and I swayed into Grady’s side as the light on the panel turned green. “For a souvenir or because you thought there might be a scanner?”

  Bones’ teeth glistened in the semi-darkness as he smiled. “Scanner. Seems all these rich assholes have them these days.”

  I gagged as Bones slide the finger into his cargo pants pocket. Bones shook his head at me before moving into the hall behind the door.

  “The guard was already dead. He didn’t feel a thing,” Grady whispered, stepping around me and pulling me along behind him.

  “But Bones is just carrying it around in his pocket. Gross,” I said, shaking off the icky feeling as I followed Grady into the dim building.

  “It’s not as bad as the time he needed an eyeball.”

  “What eyeball?”

  “You don’t want to know.” Grady looked back at me and grinned, before releasing my hand and joining Bones at the end of the hallway.

  “Where to?” Bones asked. “There are doors along the entire back wall, a set of stairs going to the basement, or the walkway into the main section of the compound.”

  “Down,” I answered. “The windows on the backside of the building were dark, so if anyone’s inside those rooms, then they’re sleeping. My guess is that if Wayne and Alverez are prisoners, they’re being questioned. You’d need lights and privacy for a conversation like that.”

  “Do you want to wait here?” Grady asked. “You can watch our backs in case someone heads this way.”

  “Thanks, but I’ll feel safer if I stay with you.”

  “Stay close then. If you start to lose it, tell me.”

  “I’ll do what I can, but I can’t make any promises. Don’t let me jeopardize the mission.”

  “I hate this,” he said, pulling me by the back of the neck into his embrace. “It’s too much for you.”

  “We didn’t know,” Bones whispered. “But we’re here now, and we’ll get her in and out as quick as we can. But we gotta move.”

  I felt Grady nod before he released me from his embrace and once again grasped my hand as we rounded the corner and started down the stairs. I relied on them to be my eyes, and focused my senses instead on trying to hear any noises ahead while I kept conscious of my breathing, moving purposeful, slow, steady streams of air into my diaphragm. When we reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped into the lower room, all the air whooshed from my lungs as I stared at the furnishings. Mounted to the floor in the center of the room was a large wooden cross, from which Wayne was currently hanging unconscious, strapped by his hands. My knees folded, dropping me to the floor. I watched, unable to move, as Grady dragged me over and leaned me against the stone wall before joining Bones in the center of the room to help free Wayne.

  From the left, I heard the familiar sound of muffled screams and turned to stare at the solid wood door with black iron hardware. My pulse thumped against my skull as I gasped for a full breath of the musty air. I set my gun behind me, not trusting my reactions at the moment with a loaded weapon. Pulling off my gloves, I placed my palms flat on the damp, cold cement floor, trying to center myself. I’d come full circle. Destined to be a prisoner of my past.

  As memories swamped my brain, I was frozen in terror. As if in slow motion, three armed men moved in and surrounded Grady and Bones, who had holstered their weapons to work their knives against the ropes that held Wayne. It was too late. Wayne, finally freed, dropped face first to the floor as two more guards entered from a back hallway. It was five guards against the two of them now. And the guards had automatic weapons.

  I sat helpless, barely able to breathe. Grady glanced at me and nodded his understand
ing. They slowly raised their hands in surrender, and the guards relieved them of their weapons.

  One of the men spotted me and laughed as I cowered, covered in sweat, into the wall. He walked past me toward the solid wood door and banged his fist against it. The door opened a crack, and the guard spoke in a hushed tone to someone on the other side. The door closed, opening a few minutes later to Ernesto Chaves wearing a dark suit and shadowed by another guard. The other guard dragged Alverez’s beaten body out of the room, dumping her near where I sat. Her hands were bound behind her back as she rolled toward my legs. She looked to the center of the room, her eyes focusing on Wayne’s crumpled form on the floor. She screamed through her gag, causing Ernesto to look at her. He smiled coldly, holding her glare, as he kicked Wayne in the ribs.

  “So, he’s crazy after all,” I mumbled to myself, still dazed by the panic and weighed down by fear. I looked down at Alverez who had dropped her forehead to the cement floor as she cried. She was going to die here. We were all going to die here. I looked at Grady, then Bones. Fury raged through both of them. They wouldn’t go down without a fight. I glanced again at Wayne, who was still unconscious and covered in bloody marks. They had tortured him. Just like they would torture us.

  Something snapped in my brain and the whooshing of my pulse against my skull dulled. I took another slow breath, tucking my chin to my chest as I tried to force sanity to return. I had to save them. The guards thought I was nothing more than a damsel in distress. I could use that. Even if it was close to the truth.

  Faking a sob that felt too close to being real, I shifted forward and leaned over Alverez, clutching her by the shoulders and dragging her back so her head rested on my right thigh, and my left leg was bent so my boot rested against her back, near her hands. “Knife in boot,” I whispered in her ear, before I sobbed loud enough for the guards to hear. “I’m so sorry, Ari! I thought we could help you. I should’ve called the police.”

  Alverez played along, sobbing loudly as she reached into my boot and pulled the knife from the inside sleeve. Since her body covered mine from their view, I reached inside my jacket and pulled my spare Glock from its holster, tucking it just under her hands as one of the guards moved over and threatened to kick her. She saw his movements in time and tightened her grip on the knife as she skootched herself and the Glock behind her, away from me and backed into the wall. The guard sneered before turning back to the center of the room.

  Grady’s hands and feet were being tied as Bones was being strapped to the center cross. Ernesto pulled a large hunting knife from the sheath at his hip.

  Bones glanced briefly at me before turning to Grady. “Everybody was talking earlier about the damage I’d do if Bridget got hurt. Kind of makes you wonder what she’ll do when she finds out about this.”

  Grady chuckled. “She’s going to be pissed.”

  “You think?” Bones laughed as his other hand was tied to the ring bolt. “Man, I want to be there for that. I love it when that woman gets mad. Her nipples practically stand up and every hard muscle in that tight body of hers twitches.”

  Grady laughed. “Lucky bastard. When my old lady gets pissed, watch out. Heads are going to roll. I can’t imagine her letting anyone live who goes after me.”

  “She does have a hell of a mean streak,” Bones said, pulling at his wrists and checking to see if there was any slack. “She’s pretty damn slow to contemplate shit, though. Has to always think out every angle. That must drive you crazy.”

  Grady smirked. “I’ve learned to be patient.”

  “You two seem quite comfortable with your situation,” Chaves said, glancing between them. “I wonder how long that will last.”

  Chaves pressed the tip of the knife into Bones’ thigh and slowly applied pressure.

  I brought my knees to my chest and slid my second switchblade out of my other boot. Alverez had maneuvered herself upright with her back against the wall only a few feet away. I glanced over at her. She was waiting for me. My right hand moved behind me, grasping my Glock. We both had one knife and one gun, against six guards with automatic rifles and one crazy bastard with a hunting knife.

  Bones hissed between clenched teeth. “Maybe if it was you up here, strapped to the alter, we wouldn’t need to be so patient,” he said to Grady.

  “You think this is payback? Maybe for all the crap you said in Miami?” Grady asked, seeming relaxed as he chatted with Bones.

  “I apologized for that!”

  Grady snorted, looking down but turning his eyes toward me. He glanced at his hands before looking to me again. Studying the ropes, I realized that the knot was already loosened, and he’d be able to free his hands in seconds. Then he nodded toward the guard behind him. I knew what he wanted. If I could drop the guard, Grady could unbind his hands and grab the assault rifle. I nodded back.

  “Ari?” I whispered. “There’s no way in hell I’m waiting to be tortured in another dungeon. Do you understand?”

  “What are you two talking about?” the guard asked, coming over to us again and crouching down.

  With my left hand, I struck the knife into the side of his neck. Rolling onto my knees, I spun him, forcing his body to turn so his back was pressed against my chest to act as a shield. Two of the guards turned their weapons toward us, startled by the movement. Alverez and I fired our Glocks simultaneously and didn’t stop until all the guards were down. Only one of them had fired back, filling the guard I held with lead.

  “You could’ve saved me one guard to kill,” Grady complained, setting the assault rifle that he had acquired beside him on the cement so he could untie his legs.

  “You took too long,” I said, shoving the dead guard to the side so I could get up.

  “It’s true,” Bones agreed from the wooden cross, still holding a leg wrapped around Ernesto’s neck. “I saw the whole thing. You’re slipping, man.”

  “Is he dead?” Alverez asked, stepping forward as she held a gun on her brother.

  “Nope,” Bones answered, releasing his hold on Ernesto and letting him fall to the floor. “Just choked him until he passed out.”

  My knife was still in the neck of the first guard, so I took the one that Alverez held and passed it to Grady. I turned and held my gun on the other guards, just in case a bullet missed its mark and didn’t kill them. I was done with surprises tonight.

  “There might be more guards on the property,” Grady said to me as he worked to cut Bones down.

  “I know. There might be prisoners here, too. We need to call this in.”

  “Shit,” Bones grumbled. “Do you know how much paperwork that will cause? They could keep us here for hours.”

  Grady looked up at Bones. “You might want to ditch the severed finger. That’s at least two hours of questions.”

  I pulled my phone and called Maggie.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  It was six in the morning before we dragged our bloody bodies back into the house. Bridget greeted us in the kitchen and scowled when she saw that one of Bones’ pant legs was cut open and a bandage was wrapped around his leg.

  “Sorry,” he said with a wide grin on his face. “Kelsey was taking her sweet time when it came to rescuing me.”

  “And why the hell did she need to rescue your ass?”

  “I was sort of tied to a cross, waiting to be tortured.”

  “How exactly does a badass like you find himself tied to a cross?” Bridget glared, placing her fisted hands upon her hips.

  “Well,” Bones said, looking down at Bridget’s erect nipples. “Let’s go out to the garage, and I’ll explain what happened.”

  Grady and I laughed as we walked past them. I peeked into the living room and nudged Grady when I spotted Maggie on the couch, sleeping with Nightcrawler. He chuckled, but pulled me by the hand down the hall, stopping only a moment to look in on Nicholas who was still sound asleep.

  “I don’t like it when we’re both away from Nick at the same time,” Grady said after he closed ou
r bedroom door. “If tonight would’ve gone sideways, he could’ve lost us both.”

  “And if we wouldn’t have been together, people would’ve died tonight. There’s no winning these mental debates. I can only hope that whoever’s left standing takes care of him if something does happen.”

  Grady remained quiet, sitting on the end of the bed to take his shoes off. “What’s all that?” he asked, nodding toward the atrium.

  I turned to see the atrium had been filled with stacks of boxes. Some of the boxes were emptied with piles of folders and paperwork scattered next to them. More folders covered the coffee table, the end tables, and the couches. On the far wall were bags of plastic-sealed objects: knives, pictures, letters, and even a gun. “I told Bridget to grab whatever looked like blackmail-related evidence in my mother’s storage unit, but I never expected all this.”

  “Come on. We need to shower and take a nap before Nicholas wakes.”

  “I took a nap on the jet,” I said, walking over to open a folder.

  Grady moved behind me, taking the folder and tossing it on the couch. “Okay. So maybe I meant something else when I said we needed a nap.”

  He grinned as he turned and lifted me, my legs wrapping around his hips. Carrying me back through the bedroom and into the bathroom, he pressed me against the wall and rubbed my core against his jeans-covered erection.

  “I like naps,” I said, pulling his black T-shirt over his muscular chest.

  ~*~*~

  Our shower lasted a good forty-five minutes before we moved to the bedroom to “nap”. By the time we finally made it out of bed, I felt like a different person. Lighter.

  The sound of Nicholas and Sara bickering from the other side of the house didn’t surprise me. I pulled clothes from my dresser as the fight escalated into high-pitched screeching. I heard Anne raise her voice, followed by instant silence. Anne seldom raised her voice. Grady and I glanced at each other and smirked as we quickly threw on our clothes.

  When we entered the dining room, Nicholas was sitting in one chair, arms crossed over his chest, and glaring at his plate. Sara sat at the other end of the table, glaring at her own plate with her fork held tightly in her clutched hand. Anne was in the kitchen slamming dishes around and Whiskey, Maggie, and Nightcrawler were sitting at the table drinking coffee and grinning.