by S. M. Butler
Alcott was coming.
She took off running across the quiet warehouse. Her bare feet probably caught every stray piece of debris on the floor they could, but she didn’t slow.
As she ducked down one aisle and found a small space between those large metal containers to crouch behind, Sam’s voice echoed in the massive space. “Miss Lawson, there’s no way out of here. The doors are sealed, and you need this—” As he came into view, his hand was up, his fingers wiggling, “—to open them.”
She knew if she could see him, then it was likely he could see her too. She needed to get deeper into this mess, find somewhere to hole up for a while until she could figure a way out.
The way Sam moved, it was like he was tracking prey. His body was all power, held in check by sheer will, as his eyes scanned the place. Then he grinned. “You know, he’s not going to come back. Your boyfriend.”
Her hands shook as Sam continued to walk toward her. She slipped out of the spot she crouched in and ran on quiet feet further away from him. And yet, his voice was as loud as if he were right next to her. “He left you here. Alone. With me.”
She glanced back as he scanned the area on the other side of the warehouse from her. He rubbed his chest, wincing. When his eyes raised, there was hunger inside them. A predator’s eyes.
That wasn’t heartburn, she realized. It was something else entirely. She held her breath as his gaze turned toward her, but he didn’t appear to see her. Her jaw trembled. Hell, her whole body was shaking.
“Not that he’s going to survive this either. But he’s not the one I want. Neither are you, really. Just convenient distractions until I get my real objective.”
She stepped back and accidentally hit one of the metal containers. The resulting bang of her body against the metal was enough for his gaze to come swinging around, right where she was hiding.
Shit.
A slow smile spread across his face as he started to walk slowly toward her. Had he seen her? Or was he simply following the sounds? She looked for something to throw, but there was nothing around. For a warehouse, this fucking place was super goddamn clean.
Then she saw her saving grace. The fire extinguisher.
26
Jordan checked his watch again as he exited the plane. Rose City was a barren piece of shit, even worse than Jubilee. At least Jubilee had some trees, green of some kind. This place was all desert.
He’d wasted hours getting from Dallas to Rose City. Hours Penny didn’t have to spare. If this didn’t pan out, she was fucked. And so was he. He ran a hand over his face. The more he thought about how scared she must be, even though she’d leveled him with anger, the more fear crept into his chest, intensifying the pressure on his heart.
As he jogged across the tarmac to the waiting car Scott stood outside, he stopped as the door opened.
Well, it appeared he was about to face the music sooner than he wanted. His leg ached as he forced himself into a semblance of a regular walk. Nathan straightened as he stepped out, dressed in his typical flannel and jeans. The next one out was Bridget, her blonde hair as shiny as Penny’s was, though so much lighter.
He stopped, five feet from the car and looked at Scott. “I should have known.” If he was going to have to fight his way out of this, he would. Because Penny didn’t have time.
Scott shrugged. “I don’t owe you anything.”
He glanced at Nathan, who was doing a good imitation of a statue. Bridget stood next to him, but her expression was different. Obviously, she hadn’t perfected her I-don’t-give-a-fuck face yet.
“Do you want to explain, or shall I draw my own conclusions?” Nathan demanded.
“I was sort of hoping you’d not find out about it for a few days,” Jordan said.
“Get in the car, Mr. Levi,” Nathan snapped as he started to turn.
“Sorry, no,” he said. “I have a little over a day. If you know enough to be here, then you know why I have to do this. I will fucking do it and then you can have me, do whatever you want. I won’t fight you then.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed but it was Bridget who spoke, putting her hand on his boss’s arm to stop whatever was about to come out of his mouth. “We’re here to help you, Agent Levi. I put her there as much as you did. Maybe more. I’m the one who ordered you on that mission.”
“No,” he whispered. “It’s on me. I could have just not done it.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Nathan grumbled.
Bridget rolled her eyes at Nathan and then said to Jordan, “Get in the car, Agent Levi.”
Hope spiked hard inside him, but he didn’t dare take that at face value. With Nathan, there were always strings attached, always payments to make. Why should his newest fuck buddy be any different than him?
But in the end, he realized he was out in the desert and the plane he’d come in on was starting to leave. There wasn’t another car for miles that he could see. Jordan growled and pushed his feet forward with another glance at his watch.
Settling inside the car with the others, Jordan stayed silent as Nathan muttered to the driver. When he turned around again, his face was as blank as ever.
“If you’re going to shove me into a hole right now, I’m going to tell you right now, I will fight you with everything I have.”
Scott snorted but otherwise didn’t say a word.
Bridget sighed. “We might have a plan.”
“Tell me,” he said. He wasn’t optimistic, but right then, he didn’t have a choice. Right now, Penny was sitting in a dark room alone, scared and possibly pregnant. Depending on him, even if she’d told him to leave in anger. He was her only hope, because no one else would know where she was.
If she died, what would he do? How would he go on? What would they tell her sister was the cause and why she couldn’t have a body to bury? God, he was getting dark, wasn’t he? Panic was settling in deep into his stomach.
When he glanced at the others, they were all looking at him. Still silent. “If you don’t tell me something, I swear I will jump right out of this thing.”
“What exactly did Reilly ask you to retrieve?” Nathan asked, his voice slow and even.
“The Reaper matrix. The activation serum.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed again, but this time, in intense thought. He was working through something in his head. He glanced at Scott. “What parts did Lewis have?”
“Blood samples, mostly mine,” Scott replied. “He also had the DNA maps of each of the team.”
Because he’d been the one to give him the info before he’d tried to kill them all. But Jordan looked at Scott with new eyes now. He’d done it to save someone. He frowned. Who was so important to Scott Muldoon that he’d have betrayed them? Another sister? Or like Jordan, had Scott fallen for a target too?
Nathan nodded and leaned back in his seat. “He’s trying to build his own. With my work.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to help you get Penelope back,” Bridget said quickly. She shot a glance at Nathan. “But if he’s looking for the activation serum, he’s close to being able to create his own Reapers.”
“I’ll bet he doesn’t realize it’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Jordan muttered. “How does any of this help her?”
“We know what he wants. Now we use it,” Bridget said.
“Use Penny, you mean,” Jordan growled and shook his head. “No. I need it to save her.”
“Just hold on, Jordan,” Bridget put up a hand. She glanced at Scott, who hadn’t moved from his Sullen Soldier position.
Jordan shook his head. “He’d expect a bait and switch. It’s not going to work unless I give him the real thing.”
“True,” she agreed. “I’ll give you that serum. But I need you to do something for me.”
Fuck. Everyone wanted something. “What.”
“Scott’s got a Sierra-adjacent program we need implanted into Reilly’s systems. I’ll give you the serum and in return, you’ll plant that program int
o his personal network. It will destroy any mention of the Reapers, their programming, anything from their system. And it will give us eyes on him.”
“You’ve become quite the Nathan Junior, haven’t you, Bridget?” he said, ignoring Scott’s glower beside him. “Guess sleeping with the boss has its bennies.”
To her credit, Bridget didn’t react. It was a rotten thing to say, and he knew it, but he wanted nothing more than to get Penny safe. Nathan growled beside her and Scott’s face turned a wonderful shade of fiery red.
“Your mouth is going to get you into trouble someday,” Bridget replied easily.
“Too late for that, love,” he shot back.
“Jordan, you really need to reel in the hostility,” Bridget said. “I’m trying to help you. Meet us in the middle at least.”
“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?” He glared at Scott, who seemed content to sit in silence. A far cry from the guy that used to mouth off over the airwaves on missions. He was more sullen, angry, almost seething as he sat there in silent fury. “If she dies, part of me dies with her. The biggest part of me.”
Nathan growled. “Fucking Love Connection. I swear.”
Bridget put a slim hand on his shoulder before she turned back to Jordan. “This is not an either/or situation. You’re getting the serum to rescue Penny. But… you know Reilly will not take that sitting down. You know, he will come after you, if he doesn’t shoot you in the head as soon as he’s got the damn thing.”
That was what he was hoping, honestly. Get Penny out and end this miserable life of his. Let her be free. Deprive Nathan of a punching bag. It was pretty much win-win.
“Helping us will guarantee that we can control what he knows. We can find somewhere safe for Penelope, one that he can’t find.”
“Penny,” he corrected absently. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Reilly knew a lot about him. About the Reapers. About Nathan. Didn’t it make sense to take the opportunity of being in the belly of the beast to plant their own little spy?
But all he really could consider was how to save Penny.
As they pulled into a field, he glanced out. “I want promises that Penny will be well taken care of. I want her to…” What did he want? This was likely a suicide mission. Hell, he’d been barreling toward death the moment he’d seen Penny on that laptop. He was prepared to give his life for hers. Without her was a life he was unwilling to consider. “I want her to live out her life in comfort and happiness.”
Bridget elbowed Nathan, who growled something with an f-bomb in it and then sat up. “Fine. I’ll handle it myself.”
“Good,” Jordan said quietly. “That’s real good. Then we have a deal.”
~*~*~
Penny gripped the fire extinguisher in her hands as Sam stalked her. So far, she’d managed to avoid him, but eventually her luck was going to run out. Either she’d run out of hiding places or he would call for backup. She was surprised he hadn’t yet, honestly.
As he made another swing around the place, she plastered herself against the wall, her breath coming short and fast as she situated the fire extinguisher in her hands. Thankfully, it was one of those smaller, lighter ones, but it was heavy all the same, with enough weight that it would really hurt.
“Sweet little Penny. You and I… we’re going to have a lot of fun together.” As his voice got louder, her heart raced even more. She had one chance at this. Because once she hit him, he was going to be seriously pissed at her. “Maybe I’ll let your boy watch, listen to the symphony we create together.”
As he came around the corner, she swung the fire extinguisher up in a wide arc. It caught him on the side of the head. He’d tried to stop the swing, but she’d managed to get past his block. He dropped like a fallen tree. She took off running, toward the last part of the warehouse she hadn’t seen yet. So far, she’d hidden up against three of the four walls and found no exits. That meant she had one last chance to find a way out.
This part was further away than the other walls, which was why it had been the last. She didn’t fool herself. He was so confident, she was sure the doors would be locked and handprint-activated, like he’d said they were. But she still had to try. Because the longer she was down here, the more likely it was that she was going to die. She had the doors in sight when she was tackled from behind.
Air left her lungs, left her wheezing and struggling to catch her breath as she hit the floor. The two of them slid a few feet together and then his weight pressed down on her. A hard hand pressed against her neck, holding her against the floor. Dirt pressed into her cheek, sending little pricks of pain through her skin.
She screamed as he straddled her hips, holding her down even as she tried to flail and buck him off her. His low chuckle rolled through her like nausea as he leaned down. His hot breath fanned the wisps of hair next to her ear. “Mmm, you are going to make it fun for me, aren’t you?”
“Please,” she sobbed, fresh tears stinging her eyes. “Please, don’t.”
Another low chuckle sent fear slicing through her body as he gripped her hair. Then his weight was off her and he roughly pulled her to her feet. “Come on, you troublesome little cunt.”
His face was bleeding as he dragged her by her hair, half on her feet, half her tripping over them. He walked fast, his hold strong on her. He didn’t even seem to notice his blood dripping down his face, to the ground beneath them.
Her head was aching as he reached her cell. The guard was still standing outside it and Alcott yanked him in with them. He released her with a toss and slammed the door shut with the three of them inside. He glared at her, even as his subordinate stared at him with wide eyes.
“You want to know what happens when you disappoint me, girl?”
She pulled herself into the corner as he advanced on her. She started to scream but stopped as he met her eyes. Instead, the only word she could think of was a soft, whispered “Please.” She had no other words. Not that she wanted to beg for her life, but she was sitting there, terrified and alone, and the head of security had turned into a six-foot snarling beast.
He turned away from her and the small reflection of light was all she saw as his knife dug into his subordinate’s gut. The smell of bile and blood rose in the air as the guy fell to his knees. Sam grabbed the man’s hair, a lot like he had her, and dragged him out so he lay flat on the floor.
Then he started cutting. Pieces of flesh and blood started flying. The man screamed underneath Sam until Sam made his way to the throat. Then all she heard were gurgling sounds as the man drowned in his own blood. Penny cried in the corner, pulling herself into a ball while Sam tortured a man who worked for him.
It seemed like a lifetime before Sam stopped. His face was covered with blood, some his, some his employee’s. Sweet dripped from his brow, mixing with the blood on his face. His suit was stained red. As he lifted his head to look at her, he smiled and truly, that was a genuine smile. The smile of a man that liked to hurt people. He breathed in the scent of death in the room, deeply, reverently.
Nausea rolled right through her, slamming right into her like an anvil. She turned to the side and let loose, her retches echoing in the silence, broken only by Alcott’s heavy breaths.
When she was done, she sagged back against the wall, scooting several feet away from where she’d lost her stomach. Alcott’s gaze fell on her, the hunger rising inside them as he pointed his knife at her, blooding dripping from the end of it. “Now, do you understand what happens when I’m disappointed?”
He pointed the blade at the mess of flesh that used to be a guard. “He failed to follow orders. He allowed you to pass him without stopping you.” He glanced down, found a spot on the man’s pants that wasn’t soaked by blood and wiped off his blade. Then he stood and came to stand over her. “Hopefully, we will no longer have any problems with you following my orders.”
He knelt down in front of her. He smelled of death, of bile, and blood. “Nothing to say now?”
/> She shook her head quickly, her body trembling.
He let out a soft laugh through his nose and stood up. He pulled his phone from his jacket pocket and calmly talked to someone on the other side. She caught only bits and pieces of his low murmur, but enough to realize he was arranging clean up.
He smiled at her when he hung up, that same genuine smile she’d seen after he’d killed the guard. His gaze raked over her like he was measuring her for the same treatment. Then without another word, he left. The clang of the metal door as it hit the frame was louder than the scream she wanted to let fly.
~*~*~
Jordan lifted the small vial in his hand. It was cold, having been stored in the cooler. But it matched the cold fear inside his chest. He’d never felt like this before, not on any mission he’d ever done. But like he’d told Scott on the phone, this one mattered. It wasn’t about retrieving something valuable. It wasn’t about stealing something for Nathan. This was about Penny.
He swallowed hard and inserted the vial into the little portable cooling system, which would keep it safe for the ride to the city. Next, he picked up the little USB stick Scott had given him. The price he had to pay to save Penny.
That little insidious program would bury itself into Reilly’s computer systems and allow him to get her out.
“This was what that mission was for, wasn’t it?” he asked Scott, who stood silently behind him, arms crossed like always. There was no reason to specify what mission. “You needed access to his computers.”
“We were missing a delivery system,” he said simply. “The gallery computer system was cut off completely from outside. There was no way to wirelessly deliver it, and I couldn’t get into the system that night, because we weren’t in the main server room. The vault access didn’t have the right permissions.”
“So, it was a pointless mission,” Jordan said.