by Hamel, B. B.
Becca was topless, her bra dirty, her hair disheveled. Like she’d been there at least a night.
“I got that from Jay.”
Terror spiked through me. Jay had Becca chained up in his basement like a fucking piece of meat.
And that terror was quickly replaced with rage.
“Motherfucker,” I yelled, standing up.
“Whoa, Climber.”
I reached back, fingering my gun. “I’m going to murder him. Where the fuck is he?”
“Calm down, Climber. We have to talk first.”
I got in Thom’s face, not caring that he had nothing to do with Becca getting kidnapped. I wanted to hit someone, to break something, and Thom was the closest thing. Rage flowed through me, threatening to overwhelm everything.
“Tell me where he is,” I yelled.
“Okay, I’ll tell you. But you got to sit down.”
I grabbed the front of his shirt. “If she’s hurt, I’ll kill every one of them. I’ll rip out their fucking eyes.”
“Climber, man.”
“Where the fuck are they? Tell me where the fuck she is.”
“Climber.”
My grip tightened. “Tell me now, cocksucker.” I pulled the gun from my waistband.
“Climber, dude. Calm down. I didn’t do this.”
I held the gun up. “Tell me now.”
“Climber.” I could see the fear in his eyes but I didn’t care. All I saw was that picture of Becca, and I felt so much anger course through me. “REID. Put the gun away.”
My name snapped me out of it. I looked from my gun to Thom’s face and slowly lowered it, slipping it back into my waistband. I moved back away from him, releasing his shirt. The anger was still there, but I knew I shouldn’t direct it toward him.
“I have to go there now, Thom.”
“I know, man. I get it. But listen to me.” He paused to right himself and then continued. “I heard from the people up north. They’re taking your deal.”
“When are they coming?”
Thom checked his watch. “An hour.”
I nodded slowly. “They’re coming here in an hour.”
“With muscle, too. Apparently Rigley doesn’t want to give Jay any time to regroup before they hit him.”
“I have to go now.”
“No. If you do that, you’re dead. But if you wait for Rigley and his muscle, we’ll get Becca back.”
“I can’t let her stay there. It’s my fucking fault.” I clenched my jaw, trying not to let my frustration spill out on him again. “I put her in there.”
“I get it. I really do. But going now is a suicide mission and might hurt her more in the end. Look, Rigley wants the money you have. He won’t let Becca get hurt.”
I turned my back on him and shoved out the door. I ignored his protests and started back into town, my head spinning.
I had to find them. I had to get Becca out, and I couldn’t wait an hour.
Rage filled me, spun down my limbs, and made my pulse race through leaping jumps. I was so full of adrenaline and anger that I didn’t hear Thom come up behind me.
He tackled me hard, sending me to the ground. I threw up my hands and broke my fall, but he was on me already, struggling with my pack. I felt him grab my gun and yank it free.
“Get the fuck off me,” I grunted.
He held the gun at me. “Stop struggling, Climber. This is for your own good.”
“Fuck you, Thom. Kill me if you want to but I’m going.”
He pressed me down, gun against my temple. “You think that’ll help, getting your ass killed? Do you even know where you’re going?”
“I can’t stay here. They have Becca.”
“They do, but only since yesterday. She’s fine, man. We’ll get her back but you can’t kill yourself in the process.”
I took deep, calming breaths.
I knew he was right. I knew he was right. I knew it but I couldn’t help wanting to get out there and do something.
“Rigley has to let me come,” I said finally.
“He will, man.”
Thom moved back and let me go, still holding on to the gun.
I slowly got up. “We wait an hour. If they’re not back, I’m leaving.”
“Okay. Fine.”
I stared at him. “Gun.” He handed it to me. “Don’t hit me from behind like that again.”
He grinned. “Roger that, Climber.”
We walked slowly back toward his trailer.
Thom was right. Getting myself killed wasn’t going to help Becca. As much as I despised waiting and hated myself for getting her involved at all, I knew that I couldn’t rush out there like an idiot and fuck everything up.
I’d wait one hour. After that, nothing was going to stop me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Reid
They came in four huge black SUVs.
Forty-five agonizing minutes after Thom tackled me from behind, Rigley and his men pulled up and climbed out. There were twenty of them all together, each man carrying an assault rifle and wearing body armor. Each of them looked like they knew what they were doing.
Rigley laughed and threw his arms open when he saw me. “There’s my favorite thief.”
“Rigley.”
He embraced me and laughed. “This is a glorious day, thief. Why do you look so serious?”
“They have my stepsister.”
He pulled away. “Captive?”
I nodded.
He made a face. “Jay is scum. Real scum. I look forward to breaking him.”
“I’m coming with you guys.”
He raised an eyebrow. “You have training? Know how to kill a man?”
“They have my stepsister,” I said slowly. “I’m coming or we don’t have a deal.”
He frowned. “You’re trying to change the rules now?”
“Jay changed the rules. I have to come.”
Rigley studied me for a minute and I stared back at him. It didn’t matter to me whether he said yes or no, I knew I was going anyway. I’d walk if I had to.
“Okay. You ride with me.”
I nodded. “Fine.”
Rigley looked at a man with a deep scar down his right cheek. “Pierre, get this thief a vest.”
The man shrugged, took a drag of his cigarette, and then rooted around in the trunk of the SUV. He pulled out a black flak vest and tossed it to me.
I’d never worn one before. It was surprisingly heavy as I strapped it on. Rigley watched appraisingly.
“You look like a real badass now, thief,” he said, grinning.
“I always was one.”
He laughed loudly. “Now thief, the rest of the cash.”
I rooted around in my pack and pulled out a trash bag and tossed it to him. He caught it and looked inside and then back at me.
“You had it the whole time?”
I nodded. “Bargaining. Just in case.”
He laughed again and tossed the bag to Pierre, who put it in the car.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
The men immediately put out their cigarettes and began to load back into the cars. I looked back at Thom.
“See you later.”
“Good luck, Climber. Don’t get killed.”
I grinned. “Dying isn’t my style.”
But killing Jay sure is
, I thought as I followed Rigley into the car.
It was a tight squeeze, but it didn’t matter. The driver pulled out, the cars moving in formation, heading farther away from town.
I had no clue where we were going, but evidently Rigley did. I didn’t bother asking questions, and the mood in the car didn’t make me feel talkative.
I kept thinking about that picture. Becca chained to a wall like an animal, her shirt ripped off, her hands behind her back. I didn’t know what they did to her, but I was going to make them pay for it.
I was bringing hellfire and retribution down on their doorstep.
We drove farther and farther, out into the wo
ods and the mountains. Finally, the driver made a left and headed down a dirt path. We were probably a half hour outside of Ridgewood in a pretty sparsely populated area.
The place had huge, high chain link fences with a gate. For a second, I wondered how we were going to get past it.
And then the driver floored the car, answering my question.
“Hold on,” Rigley said, grinning at me.
I grabbed on to the car seat just as the driver rammed into the gate.
We pitched back and forward but slammed through it. The sound of crunching metal and grating plastic tore through the air. If they didn’t know we were coming, they did now.
The other SUVs followed as we barreled up the path, heading right for a house set back away from the road. Bushes and trees circled the place, and it looked like any other suburban home in the world.
Except it was full of violent gangsters. And the woman I loved, chained in the basement.
There was no movement from the house as the SUVs encircled it. Slowly, the men climbed out of the cars. I walked behind Rigley, keeping close, my gun drawn and the safety off.
They were using complex hand signals that I couldn’t follow. People spread out in all directions, one team heading toward the back, the others fanning out.
“Just keep near me, thief,” Rigley said.
He looked happy, like it was the best day of his life. He was absolutely terrifying.
For a second, I felt afraid. I was about to break into a house full of violent and dangerous men. There was a real chance that I was about to die.
But as soon as I remembered Becca and the look on her face, all the fear was gone. I felt as centered and calm as possible, almost like I was climbing a steep wall.
One team of four men approached the front door. They used a heavy steel battering ram and slammed it into the door once, twice, sending loud, booming noises through the area.
The door exploded inward on the third try.
There was silence and then the deafening roar of gunfire.
The men up front fell back as another team moved up to cover them. Men inside were firing rifles out at us, high caliber shit that ricocheted off the dirt and bore holes through the trucks. Rigley dove behind a nearby bush and I followed. The bullets whizzed through the air, and Rigley laughed loudly. He began to return fire.
“Die motherfuckers,” he yelled, laughing joyously.
Another team moved forward and pulled what looked like grenades from their vests. Rigley looked at me.
“Avert your eyes!” he yelled over the gunfire.
I watched as the men tossed the grenades into the room. I looked away just in time.
There was a loud, deep boom, and a flash so bright that I saw it through my eyelids twenty feet away in full sunlight.
“Come on,” Rigley yelled. I opened my eyes and followed him. The gunfire from inside the house had stopped and Rigley burst in through the door.
I followed him closely. Ahead there was an overturned table with two men behind it, both clutching their eyes, screaming.
Rigley fired, killing them both. Their heads disappeared in red smoke.
Another team followed us in and we fanned out. The next room was clear, but the room after that had three more men. I ducked against the wall, firing back at them, but we were pinned down as bullets tore into the walls.
They were insane. Fearless and insane, firing like they’d never run out of ammo.
I retreated. Rigley stayed there, returning fire and laughing like a psycho.
I had to find Becca. It was my only option. I didn’t have time to play commando with the rest of the gangsters. I had to keep going forward. I moved back toward the front hall and went down another corridor. Most of the other teams were taking care of the other room, and so I found myself alone.
Up ahead, there was a T-junction and another door. I poked my head around the corner and saw nothing. I grabbed the door handle, turned and pushed it open.
Stairs, leading down.
My heart skipped a beat as I descended into the basement. I shut the door behind me and crept down as quietly as possible.
“Becca?” I said, looking around.
I heard something clink over in the back corner. I held my gun up and crept forward.
There were boxes all over the place and old workout equipment strewn around. The air felt muggy and damp, and I kept feeling spiderwebs on my skin. I picked my way through the mess and headed toward the noise.
I rounded a mound of boxes and froze.
“I’m surprised it’s you,” Jay said.
Standing a few feet away, illuminated by a single window, was Jay. He held his gun up, pressed against Becca’s temple, the chain wrapped around her throat.
I stared into her eyes. She didn’t look afraid, but she looked exhausted. Her shirt was torn but her bra was still intact, and Jay was holding the chain in one hand and a gun in the other. She shook her head slightly.
“Let her go,” I said.
“You must really like her,” Jay said casually. “You’re risking a lot.”
“And you’re hiding behind a fucking girl.”
“She’s my hostage. This is what you do with hostages.” He pressed the gun against Becca’s temple.
“Let her go, Jay. It’s over.”
“How about I don’t do that. Instead, why don’t you leave, or I blow her brains out.”
“You’re just making it worse for yourself.”
“It was you, wasn’t it,” he said suddenly.
“What are you talking about?”
“You robbed me.”
“Yeah. I did rob you.”
“And this bitch helped you.”
“She had nothing to do with it.”
“Ah. I don’t believe you.” He grinned and cocked his head. “My slut tells me otherwise.”
“Lindsey? She’s too fucked up half the time to know what’s going on around her.”
“Maybe that’s true. I guess it doesn’t matter. But you should leave now, or I’ll kill this pretty girl.”
“I can leave. But Rigley won’t.”
“I’ll handle him.”
“Let her go first.”
“No, that isn’t happening. You see, I like this one.” He smiled a sick, cruel smile. The hand holding her chain released it and moved down her chest. “She’s pretty. I think I’ll make her mine when this is all over.” He moved the gun slightly, concentrating on the hand reaching toward her chest.
Rage and adrenaline steadied my hands.
Becca jerked back suddenly as Jay’s hand reached to cup her breast.
I squeezed the trigger.
My gun fired.
Jay stumbled back, dropping his weapon. He blinked, shocked, not believing what had just happened. I watched as the red hole in his skull dripped blood and he slowly sank down to the floor. He flopped over, half of his head missing. His eyes were lifeless pits.
I dropped my gun and ran to her. I ripped off the gag and she took a deep breath.
“Reid!” she said.
“I’m here. It’s okay.” I ripped the duct tape from her hands and unwound the chain from around her neck. “Did they hurt you?”
She didn’t answer, just pressed herself against my chest, sobbing. I wrapped my arms around her as she rocked, holding her tightly.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. “It’s okay. It’s all over now. It’s all over.”
After a heartbreaking and agonizing and joyous moment, my brain filled with her smell and her body, so happy she was alive and safe but terrified of what happened to her, she pulled away.
“How did you find me?”
“Rigley. The deal with the Canadians worked.”
“I guess that’s why I heard all those guns.”
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. “They didn’t touch me.”
“You’re not hurt at all?”
“Tired. Scared. But they never touched me.”
I let out a l
ong breath. I felt something inside me unclench and I pulled her against me, crushing my mouth against hers. She returned my kiss with a seriousness I hadn’t felt before. Hunger flooded my body, and the feel of her skin against mine sent shivers up my spine.
My cock began to get hard. I had to pull away before I fucked her right there, next to the corpse of the piece of shit who kidnapped her.
“Here,” I said, pulling off my flak jacket and shirt. “Put this on.”
She took my shirt and pulled it over her head. I dropped the vest down on the ground. The shooting upstairs had stopped, and there were only voices of men talking left.
“Think we won?” she asked.
I nodded. “We definitely won.”
“Is it really over?”
“It’s really over. I promise.”
Before she could say anything, the door to the basement opened. “Hello down there?” Rigley called out.
“It’s me,” I called back. “We’re coming up.”
“There’s my thief!” he laughed.
Becca gave me a look and I just shrugged. We walked back around the junk and the dirty work out equipment and made our way upstairs.
“So this is your stepsister,” Rigley said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Rebecca,” she replied. “You too.”
“Are we done here?” I asked him.
“Yes. The fucks are all dead, and we are victorious.”
“And you and me?”
“Square, Mister Thief. You did good.”
“Jay is downstairs,” I said softly.
“Ah. We have his girl. We thought he might have gotten away.”
“He didn’t.”
“You have Lindsey?” Becca cut in.
“Yes. “ Rigley paused and then grinned. “What should we do with her?”
Becca blinked. “I don’t know.”
“Should she die?”
“No!” she said quickly. “No, don’t kill her.”
“Are you sure?”
“She’s been through enough,” Becca said softly.
I looked at her for a second and then back at Rigley. “We’re going.”
He was already turning away. “Take a car. We lost a whole team today, so we don’t need it.”
“Thanks. I’ll leave it at Thom’s.”
“Keep the fucking thing. We have plenty to replace it now.”
I took Becca by the hand and we walked out of the house. I carefully steered her away from the worst of the violence but couldn’t help but walk past at least two bodies. She looked away until we were out in the sunlight.