by Nicole Fox
We made it out of the compound easily. Again, it was so easy that I wondered just what I was missing. I paused before going through the last of the security measures, looking around to see if Jess might have beaten us down there. But she was still nowhere to be seen.
“Gabi is waiting for you out front,” I murmured, pushing Rian forwards with a hand at her lower back. “This is as far as I'm going with you. I have to wait for my partner; she was distracting Silas.”
Rian nodded at me. “Thank you,” she said, her voice hardly even a whisper.
I nodded at her and turned back towards where Jess should be coming from. I wondered for a moment if I should go looking for her, but that seemed like a recipe for disaster. The last thing I needed was to walk in on her and Silas engaged in… Well, I could only hope that things hadn't gone that far, but if they had and he had made a quick move on her, I didn't need to see that. I would probably end up picking a fight with the man if I did, and the last thing I needed was to be picking a fist fight with Katia Sin's right-hand man.
I waited and waited, glancing impatiently at my watch every couple minutes, but she still didn't materialize.
Suddenly, there was a commotion down at the end of the hall. “That's him there!” one of the men shouted, beginning to run down the hall towards me.
I swore under my breath. Clearly our mission had been compromised. I was torn between fighting them and trying to go after Jess and getting out of there and coming back for Jess. I doubted I could fight both these guys — especially since they probably had weapons on them — and still make it into the heart of the national headquarters to free Jess on my own. I no longer had the element of surprise on my side.
I swallowed hard and made the decision to run out the front door. I hopped on my bike, revving the engine just as the goons flew out the front door of the headquarters building. Sure enough, one of them had a gun, and I was glad I hadn't stuck around and tried to fight with them.
Instead, I peeled out of the parking lot, roaring down the street on the way back to the hotel. I could only hope that Gabi and Rian had at least made it out safely. I'd need their help to hatch a plan so that I could get Jess back. I only hoped I wouldn't be too late.
Back at the hotel, I was relieved to see Gabi's car in the parking lot. That, at least, appeared to have worked out. Sure enough, she and Rian were there in the car.
“Where's Jess?” Gabi asked, looking around a little as though Jess might somehow materialize beside me.
“She didn't make it back to the meeting point,” I growled. “I'll need to go back for her—but I'll need to wait until the element of surprise is on our side again.”
Gabi's eyebrows rose to her hairline. “Good luck,” she finally said.
“Oh no,” I said, shaking my head. I pointed at Rian. “I helped get your sister back. You're going to help me get Jess back.”
“I don't think so,” Gabi said, shaking her head. “I've got the two remaining packages, and I'm prepared to deliver them to Katia. But that's as far as my involvement in this is going to go. You're on your own for this one.”
I scowled at her. “Gabi—”
“Don't,” she said. “There's nothing that you can do to make me help you out. You don't have anything on me. Unless you want to go to the authorities and explain what your role is in all of this, but I'm sure you wouldn't be stupid enough to do that.”
I frowned at her, hating the fact that she was right. There was nothing I could do to force her to help me get Jess out. I slammed a palm down on the side of her car and then turned and stalked into the hotel, trying desperately to think of ways to get Jess back.
I wouldn't be able to just walk right into the national headquarters again. They had to have video surveillance in the building, and everyone would be on the high alert, looking for someone who fit my description. What's more, I knew Silas wouldn't let Jess out of his sight like he had Rian—not after this humiliation.
I was so caught up in my thoughts that it took me a moment to realize someone was reclining on the couch in the suite, clearly waiting for me. I blinked at the man as he moved, sitting up and leaning forwards to stare at me. “You are in some serious trouble, Thorn Riley,” the man told me, a dark look on his face.
I blinked in surprise at him, shaking my head a little. “What the hell are you doing here, Dorian?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Thorn
I woke up gasping from another dream about Jess. It wasn't even a very graphic dream — I had just dreamt of her trapped in a room there, pleading with me for help — but it had tugged at my guilty feelings nonetheless. It had been a week now since the fiasco at the national headquarters, and I still had yet to come up with a plan to get her out.
Dorian wanted me to go back home and forget about all of this, but I wasn't able to do that. I knew better than to outright disobey him, but we were stuck in a strange sort of limbo at the moment, tiptoeing around one another and both too stubborn to give in to what the other person wanted.
“It's not just about Silas,” Dorian said over breakfast, glancing up at me from the bagel that he was spreading cream cheese on. He shrugged a little. “I mean, Silas is undoubtedly the one who has Jess trapped, but it all goes back to Katia in the end. You know once she gets out, she'll be gunning for your life.”
“She won't,” I argued, shaking my head. “She got her packages delivered. She got everything that she wanted. There's no reason for her to come after me.”
“Katia Sin doesn't need a reason to go after you,” Dorian said patiently. “And anyway, you have given her a reason. You showed up in her prison and directly defied her orders. She's got to be pissed as all hell about that.” He shook his head. “You've gotten yourself as mixed up in all of this as I'm going to allow. I'm sorry, but it's time we were headed back home.”
I ducked my head a little, feeling like a chastised kid. “Dorian, you don't understand,” I said, shaking my head. “I got Jess mixed up in all of this. I can't just leave her there with Silas; it's not right.”
“You have feelings for her. I understand that,” Dorian said. “But what you did was stupid. And although you enabled her to get involved in all of this, it ultimately was her choice. You have to leave her alone to deal with the consequences.”
“...the notorious Katia Sin.”
I whipped my head around, staring up at the TV which was currently spitting out the morning news. Sure enough, there was Katia Sin on the screen. And the headline? She had escaped from prison.
I swallowed hard, my heart sinking. If she was out already…
“We've stayed here for too long already,” Dorian muttered, shaking his head as he watched the story as well. He eyed me consideringly. “I don't like the way the Sigma Saints has gone lately,” he said succinctly.
“You're not the only one,” I muttered.
“I know,” Dorian said. He cocked his head to the side. “Now that Katia is out of prison, she's just as much a target as you are.”
I frowned at him, wondering if he could possibly be suggesting what I thought he was suggesting. “Are you saying—”
“If you're going to stick around here,” Dorian said very deliberately, “you're going to need to take out your biggest rival.”
“You want me to kill Katia Sin?” I hissed, looking around. I knew that she had had me followed before. If there was anyone around who could overhear this conversation… What Dorian was suggesting was just…
“You know you can do it,” Dorian said, shrugging a little. “Strike now, while she doesn't expect it. She'll be feeling invincible; she just escaped from a federal prison. Before she can get her feet under her again, before she can sort out Silas and everything else—everyone who stepped up and took some of her power while she was in jail—you need to strike before she is ready for you.”
I found myself nodding, even though I knew this plan was absolutely insane. Dorian seemed to believe that I could do it, though. And if I took out Katia,
maybe I could figure out some way to get Jess free from Silas before the chaos settled.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Okay.”
Dorian smiled at me, the edges tinged with sadness. “I always thought you were smarter than all of this, Thorn,” he said. “You never really struck me as the kind of brash and impulsive person who would get tangled up in something like this.”
I shrugged a little, unable to meet his eyes. “Yeah, well.”
“Gabi will be coming by this afternoon to help you brainstorm. She says Rian may have uncovered some things that could help you out.”
I blinked at him. “Okay,” I said, surprised to hear that. “I thought Gabi was out of this as soon as the packages were delivered to Katia in prison. Now that Katia's free, can't she wash her hands of all of this?”
Dorian shrugged a little. “I suspect there's quite a bit of a need for revenge there. Anyway, she's in law enforcement. For all that she did to get Katia the packages, I imagine she also wants to set things right in the world.”
I frowned at him and then shrugged as well. It would be good to have her help. Especially when I knew we could rely on Rian for insight into Silas's character and behavior.
We went back upstairs after breakfast and settled in to wait for Gabi to arrive. My phone started ringing, and I stared down at the unfamiliar local number, debating whether or not I should answer it. It could be something to do with Jess, though, or something to do with Katia. Finally, I answered it, pressing the plastic to my ear.
I didn't expect it to actually be Katia on the other end of the line, that's for sure.
“Thorn Riley,” she said in her silky voice. “So nice of you to pick up my call. I have a deal to make with you.”
I quickly changed the phone over to speakerphone, knowing that Dorian would want to hear this as well. “What sort of a deal do you want?” I asked suspiciously.
Katia laughed a little. “Well, as you may have heard, I've flown the coop. I'm out of jail. And that means that I'm here with your lovely little fuck-buddy, Jessica Harper. And I have a feeling you want to continue to ensure that nothing too horrible happens to her.”
I swallowed hard, trying my best not to let my temper get the better of me. “What sort of deal do you want?” I repeated, an edge to my voice.
“Well, I figured I'd make you an offer — her life in exchange for your life. We all know that she's innocent, and you, on the other hand … well. I'm feeling generous, and I think that you might be more of service to me than she is. She makes for good entertainment, but there's nothing like having a good, strong man by your side...”
“Her life for mine,” I repeated flatly. “How could I ever believe that you were going to let her walk free, though? You weren't going to let Rian Gonzalez free, even if Gabi and I delivered the packages to you in prison.”
“Well, Silas was having a lot of fun with her,” Katia said dismissively. “I couldn't take away his fun.”
“You might say the same about Silas and Jess,” I pointed out.
“Oh no,” Katia said, and I could just imagine her tossing back her long, flowing hair. “He refused to sleep with the girl — says he doesn't need your sloppy seconds. Of course, she's still providing quite a bit of entertainment, but he won't mind being done with her. He'd rather have you here, paying for the humiliation that you've caused him.”
“Fine,” I said, even though I knew I shouldn't be agreeing to anything like this. I could see anger on Dorian's face out the corner of my eye, but I knew Katia wasn't going to make the offer again, and she wasn't going to give me time to think things over or anything like that. It was now or never here, and I couldn't leave Jess trapped in whatever fate had befallen her over the past week. “Fine, I agree.”
“Good, good,” Katia said cheerfully. “You'll need to meet me here, at our regional headquarters. Tomorrow, at noon. Make sure that you're alone; I don't need you trying to play the hero and making us all do extra work to take you in. There will be no escaping.”
“I understand,” I told her, nodding my head grimly even though she couldn't see it. “I will see you tomorrow at noon.”
Without bothering to say goodbye, Katia hung up the phone, leaving me staring down at the blank screen. As soon as she had hung up, Dorian exploded, cussing me out in three different languages. “For fuck's sake, Thorn!” he finally cried, shaking his head. “And here I thought you couldn't do anything more stupid than you already have done!”
I shrugged a little, staring out the window at the view. “As much as I'd like to say that there is another way to do this, you and I both know that there isn't. This is the best chance that I have to ensure Jess's freedom. Whatever else happens after that, we'll deal with it when it comes to that.”
Chapter Thirty
Thorn
Katia was grinning at me as I walked into the national headquarters the next day, and I couldn't help but feel chills run up and down my body. Dorian had done everything that he could to try and dissuade me from actually meeting up with Katia and Silas, but he'd ultimately been unsuccessful. I owed Jess at least this much, for getting her caught up in all this mess.
Anyway, I didn't think my emotions would allow me to leave her there, caught amongst these sick bastards.
Gabi had supported the plan too, when she'd come over the previous day. Or at least, she had agree with me that it was the most plausible option that we had. That didn't really make it any better, but it was good to have that vote from her too.
I squared my shoulders and marched over towards Katia. “Where is she?” I asked. Despite the fact that I was bartering away my life, all I could think about right now was Jess, wondering if she was okay, wondering what sort of state she might be in after a week as Silas's plaything.
“She's fine,” Katia said, rolling her eyes a little. She gestured with the flick of her hand and Jess was led out of one of the other rooms.
They had her collared, and they were leading her along on a leash. She was stark naked, and I could see goosebumps on her flesh even from here; she must be freezing. But she held her head high, seeming to look straight through everyone around her. I was surprised to see how strong she looked, how little this captivity seemed to have taken out of her.
Her eyes finally focused on mine, and she looked mildly surprised to see me there, but just for a moment, before that flicker of emotion was gone again.
“Doesn't she make a lovely pet?” Katia asked, reaching over to stroke Jess's hair as though the woman really were, in fact, a pet of some sort.
Silas leered at me. “But I sense that you're going to make a much better pet for us.”
“What?” Jess asked, sounding shocked, and I took that to mean that they hadn't told her exactly what deal I had struck to get her freedom. “Thorn, what are they talking about?” she asked. “They can't be taking you as a pet, can they?”
I shrugged a little. “It's my life in exchange for yours,” I told her. I wished I could tell her the rest of it — how Dorian was trusting in me to kill Katia, so that the Sigma Saints could start over again. I wished I could tell her about these feelings that I had for her, about the way I had been thinking about her all week while she was in here, feeling more and more guilty about the whole thing with every passing second. But I couldn't say any of that in front of Katia and Silas.
I turned to Katia. “All right, you have me here, so that means she goes free. Where are her clothes?”
Katia laughed a little. “I didn't say I was going to clothe her before putting her free. She can walk out just like that.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “You wouldn't dare,” I said, a warning note in my voice.
Katia just shrugged, though. Finally, I stripped off my shirt and tossed it to Jess, figuring that that at least would give her some amount of decency. She gave me a grateful look and quickly pulled the shirt on over her head.
“What's in that box?” Katia asked suddenly, pointing at the box that I'd brought with me.
&nbs
p; I shrugged a little. “Just a package for you,” I told her. “You can see what's inside it soon enough. But for now...”
I pulled Jess into my arms, knowing that this was probably going to be the last time I ever got to embrace her. I held her there for a long moment, trying to memorize the way her warm, sumptuous curves fit against my body, the way she clung to me as though I were a life-raft and she were drowning. “You're going to be okay,” I murmured.
“But what about you?” Jess asked, sounding scared.
“Head back to the hotel,” I told her, ignoring her question. “You'll find help there. I promise. You're going to be okay.”
Jess shook her head, clinging even more stubbornly to me. “I can't let you do this, Thorn. I can't let you sacrifice yourself for my sake.”