Traction

by Autumn McKayne

  “You’ve only told me about one flimsy kiss,” Rae said, pouting. “Although at this point, I’m gonna guess there’s been more.”

  “A gentleman never kisses and tells.”

  “I’ll ask Reese about it, then.”

  Jared lightly punched her in the shoulder. “You calling my lover a scoundrel?”

  “I’ll call him whatever you want, Jare, as long as he keeps you happy.”

  Jared settled back into his seat, not nearly as nervous as he had been when they had left Gideon’s. “Love you, RaeRae.”

  “Love you, too. Now get out that map and make sure these guys know where the hell they’re going.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “I’ll be damned.” Tate said, looking upon the compound.

  “Looks like a damned office building,” Kip replied, echoing Reese’s inner thoughts exactly.

  “No way the guard change in that place is going to be inefficient,” Declan agreed.

  They took in the six story grey and black building, its dark blue paneled windows breaking up the monochromatic look. It was sterile, almost lifeless, and looked as cold on the outside as the souls of its occupants on the inside.

  Reese tucked one gun into his pants, and strapped another around his ankle. “That’s why you’ve got to move fast. If you go in through the delivery entrance in the back, you can likely get to the basement without being spotted by too many Agents.”

  “Except your boy.” Gideon said, one eyebrow raised like he was awaiting confirmation.

  Reese nodded. “Nick will meet you guys in Corridor D, ten meters inside and to the left. He said he’s got one more defecting Agent, Jillian Barnes, on the inside waiting to help. She’s posted in front of the rescue holding cell, so she will be able to help him get you guys in and the rescues out.”

  Declan checked his gun, and stuck extra clips into his pockets. “I thought we talked about the whole being careful who we trust thing.” He glared at Reese.

  “We also talked about the whole trying to get out alive thing,” Reese threw back. “Nick has got our back. If he says Jillian is safe, then Jillian is safe.”

  “And we trust Nick so much, why?”

  “Dammit, Declan,” Gideon growled. “We don’t have time for this.”

  “Because I tend to trust those who have saved my life, yeah? And Nick did just that, a few years ago when I had five Agents up my ass on a job and Nick hustled me out unscathed.”

  Declan stared hard at Reese until Iris wrapped a hand around his forearm. “Let it go, cher.”

  Reese looked over to Jared, Tate, and Rae. “The goal is to try to get all the rescues out at once. We might not have enough space to get them all to shelters at the same time, but at least they won’t be held hostage anymore.”

  "What about the rescues you don’t have room for?" Jared stuffed as many medical supplies as he could into the pockets of his cargoes.

  “We will take as many as we can to Logan and Lila, holed up in a safe house about ten miles south of here.” Iris assured. “Once we drop them off, we will come right back for any others.”

  Jared faltered. "But while they wait for a ride, they're just sitting ducks."

  Declan strapped an extra gun to his thigh. "Then we make sure we hide them well enough in the meantime.”

  “I’ll be stationed here, ready to lead the rescues to the trucks once you get them out of the compound.” Gideon pointed to a spot on the map, then out towards the copse of trees beyond the compound. “It’s about a quarter mile that way. Trees should be thick enough to hide anyone we need to, and the sound of the river will help cover any extra noise. So if you need to drop back to hold off any Agents, I’ll get the rescues the rest of the way out.”

  Rae nodded, pulling her hair up into a ponytail. “Let’s hope all the rescues can walk out on their own power.”

  “And that we don’t have any runners.” Tate added.

  Declan turned towards Reese. "Lara and Kip should lead out the first team. I want them in the driver’s seats, ready to go while you and Iris load them up. Then you and Iris hop in your trucks while Rae and Jared load the second round. Tate and I will hang back to cover, and Gideon can take us out in the Bronco.”

  “Copy.” He refrained from repeating that Nick would be on hand to help as well. Declan wasn’t in the mood to listen.

  “Get over here, gorgeous.” Gideon grabbed Iris around the waist, dipping her for a kiss. “Let me give you a proper send off.”

  Iris cupped his face. “You be careful, my man. Come back to me.”

  Kip and Tate chuckled, then gripped arms in a tight handshake. Kip pulled his brother into a hug. “Be careful in there.”

  “Always, brother.” Tate clapped him on the back. “See you on the other side.”

  Reese watched Declan grab Rae around the back of her neck, pressing his forehead to hers. His mouth moved, whispering something to her that made her grin and lightly sock him in the stomach. Declan smiled and released her, looking around for Jared.

  It was time.

  Reese snagged Jared’s arm, tugging him up against his chest. "Be careful, yeah?" Reese carded a hand through Jared's silky soft hair and buried his face in it, memorizing the scent, breathing in the innocence and strength that was Jared.

  Jared burrowed into his chest, his arms coming around Reese and holding on tight. "You too.” His fingers curled onto Reese's shirt, tightly fisting the fabric. “Don’t get shot again.”

  Reese let out a laugh. He could feel Jared's heart pounding as if it were his own, but he was pleased not to notice any tremors in the hands that gripped his shoulders. He tipped Jared’s face up so he could look into those golden chocolate eyes. "You're a badass, sweetheart. Don't let them make you second guess that."

  "I won’t.” Jared kissed Reese’s fingers. “I’ve been around Agents since before I could walk. I'm in my element here, remember?” Reese held him close, a pang of nerves shooting through him that he had never before felt on a job. Jared’s words were tough, but he buried his face against Reese’s chest. Reese hated the easy reference to the way Jared had grown up, hated that he was right.

  “You sure are." He ran his hands up and down Jared's arms. Every protective instinct Reese possessed slammed through him so strongly he thought it would suffocate him. He wanted to yell and scream, to tell Jared no way in hell was he going inside that building.

  But his boy could handle it, and Reese was so damn proud of him. "If any Agents come at you, for shits sake shoot first, okay?" Reese tried to keep his voice steady, but from the curl of Jared's mouth he could see he failed. "Keep that oversized heart out of it."

  Jared gave him a wry look. "You sound like Declan."

  "Aw, come on, sweetheart.” Reese grinned and let his familiar confidence slide back over him, because if he let in any kind of worry over what might happen once Jared disappeared inside Agent territory, Reese feared it would cut him off at the knees. “Don't leave me with an insult like that."

  Jared distracted him, kissing the corners of Reese's cocky grin with small affectionate pecks that quickly turned into something deeper and more heated as the sounds of duffle bag shuffling and car doors slamming around them grew louder.

  "Jare." Declan's voice was gentle, but urgent.

  "Don't worry," Jared breathed against Reese's lips. He put his palm against Reese’s chest. "I got this."

  He squeezed Jared’s hand where it lay over his heart before letting it go. "You damn sure do." His voice was thick with pride at Jared's efforts to comfort, when it should have been the other way around.

  Jared walked backwards away from him as far as he could, and Reese took the moment to scan every inch of his lover's face, his body, imprinting into his brain what already had been stamped onto his heart.

  “Alright.” He turned to Kip and Iris, catching a glimpse of Lara Cassidy pulling her truck alongside Kip’s. “Let’s do this.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Declan and Rae kept watc
h while Jared picked the lock to the rear entry door. Tate held back, so he could keep a view of the building at large.

  “Come on bro,” Declan urged.

  “Not helping,” Jared said, his brows furrowing in concentration as he worked the lock. “This is a little more advanced than busting into a restaurant for scraps.”

  Rae took up position on the opposite side of the door. “If this sets off alarms-“

  “Slater said his buddy Nick is disarming the system from 0650 to 0652.” Declan said. “Which means you’ve got sixty seconds, bro.”

  “Got it.” Jared rose. “Let’s hope Nick came through.” He gently pushed open the door, and they all gave a collective sigh of relief when it opened to silence.

  “Ten meters in and to the left.” Declan took point, leading his siblings down the rear hallway.

  Just as they turned the corner, a female voice stopped them. “Who the hell are you?”

  Jared froze, his heart pounding in fear. He squeezed his eyes shut, his mind thrusting him back into a wet plastic crate, behind a smelly dumpster that was his only sanctuary during the Agent raid that took the lives of so many around him.

  He heard Declan utter the code phrase that Reese had given them. “Your fly is undone.”

  The female Agent blew out a breath. “Declan Cooper.”

  “One and the same.”

  Rae wrapped a hand around his wrist, and Jared’s eyes flew open.

  “Focus, Jare. Right here,” Rae whispered.

  “Come on.” Jillian Barnes led the four of them to a narrow stairway. “This way.”

  “This waiting is killing me.” Reese swore. He checked the doors on the trucks for the fifth time, making sure they were all open and ready. “Dammit. I should have gone with him.”

  “Jared will handle himself just fine, cher.”

  Lara Cassidy eyed Reese, watched him pace from the driver’s side of her own truck. “Waiting has never bothered you before, Slater. I’ve been on dozens of jobs with you.”

  Iris caught Reese’s eye, her own violet irises sparkling. “This one is a little different.”

  Jillian led them down a hallway that reminded Jared more of the hotel his family had stayed in years ago at the beach, rather than the dingy compound dungeon like quarters he expected to see. The only difference was that instead of solid walls, two inch thick wrought iron bars divided the rooms. But the carpet beneath their feet was plush and soft, and the hall was well lit and almost cheery.

  “It’s the Agents way of fooling the ditchbreeds into thinking this is a decent place,” Jillian explained. “But have no doubt, what they have in mind for these kids is terrible.”

  Jared looked at the “kids”, most of them in their early to mid teens. Four to a room, separated on opposite sides of the hallway by perceived sex. Every single one had the same mark on their left wrists, the one that he used to have, stains they were born with that labeled them as unwanted ditchbreeds.

  “Alright.” Declan said, gesturing to the keypad on the wall. “Release the doors. Get them out.”

  “Yeah.” Jillian turned to them, her Agent issue rifle pointing straight at Declan’s heart. “Afraid I can’t do that.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “Now would be a great time for you to work that magic, darlin’.” Reese told Iris. “Anything you’ve got.”

  “Sorry, cher. You know I’d tell you something if I could.” Iris watched him pace the length of his truck like a caged tiger.

  Reese let out a noise of frustration. He wasn’t used to feeling this helpless.

  And if it weren’t for his fellow runners, and the obligation he had to the Renegade tag that hung from his neck, he would have been inside that compound building right alongside Jared.

  As it was, all he could do now was wait.

  “Bitch.” Declan lifted his pistol. “I fucking knew it.”

  “Ah, ah.” Jillian cocked her head, a calculated smile on her face. “I wouldn’t. There is someone just behind you who can’t wait to put a bullet in your ditchbreed brother. You shoot me, he dies.”

  Declan’s gun arm froze.

  “Nick let us in to set us up.” Jared whispered.

  “No, actually, Farrington is the bleeding heart that you were led to believe.” Jillian scoffed. “Took me a whole freakin’ year to get him to believe I was on his side.”

  Rae turned her body, a centimeter at a time, to face the Agent who had his gun trained on Jared. “Declan.” She hinted.

  “Got it.” Their guns fired simultaneously, and Jillian and the other Agent dropped lifelessly to the ground.

  Declan rushed to the keypad on the wall. “Don’t suppose you can hack this one, Jare?”

  Jared shook his head. “I never had to learn digital.” The software was new, advanced, and like nothing Jared had ever seen. “I don’t know how to-“

  “I do.” A tall, dark haired figure stepped into the hall, two Agent issue rifles strapped across his back. He pressed a sequence of buttons on the keypad and the sound of a dozen locks clicking out of place echoed through the hall.

  “Rae, get down!” Tate tugged her arm and pulled her out of the line of fire of three more Agents, guns raised and pointing straight at her and the dark haired guy who had just unlocked the rescue cells. The former Agent had one of his rifles off his back and in his hands from one breath to the next, firing squarely at their assailants.

  He reached down a hand towards Rae. “Nick Farrington.”

  “Rae Cooper.” Rae gripped his wrist and hauled herself up. “And you’re late.”

  Nick gave her a wry smile. “Got caught in a meeting.” An alarm sounded loud and shrill over their heads. “That’s our cue,” Nick told them. “Everybody out.”

  Declan and Tate coaxed the rescues out of their cells, taking the lead to intercept any Agents. They led the kids down the hall, Rae and Nick in the middle, two dozen teenage rescues following them up the stairs and out the rear door.

  Jared skittered to a halt at the last cell. One rescue held back, huddled against the far wall of his room, his arms wrapped protectively around his body. Turning skeptical, worried eyes on Jared, he asked, “Wh-who are you?”

  Jared looked into the wide, scared eyes of a young boy, something sick twisting inside him because there was no way this kid was even a teenager yet. “We’re here to help.”

  The boy’s gaze dropped to the cuff around Jared’s wrist. Realization dawned in the boy’s eyes. “You’re one of us.”

  Jared nodded. “I was.” He watched Nick and Rae gather the last of the kids up the stairs and out the door. Jared looked down the hallway behind that he knew wouldn’t stay empty for long, and held out his hand. “Come on. We will get you somewhere safe.”

  The boy was frozen, his eyes darting from Jared to the staircase to the hallway door.

  “Come on,” Jared pressed, raising his voice to be heard over the deafening security alarms. “I know that freedom scares you just as much as these damn Agents. But I will get you out, and take you somewhere you can be safe from these people.” Jared opened and closed the fingers of his outstretched hand. “You just have to trust me.”

  Heavy footsteps sounded in the hall, outside the cell doors. “Please,” Jared whispered, knowing the sound of the word would be lost but hopefully not the desperation behind it.

  The boy slid his hand into Jared’s and they made a run for it, clearing half the staircase before Jared felt a tug on his hair. “Where do you think you’re going, ditchbreed?”

  Jared reached back to grab the hands of his attacker, but not before shoving the kid up the stairs. “Go!”

  The Agent kicked his legs out from under him, causing Jared to fall to his knees. The moment he connected with the cold metal stair Jared heard the crack of bone, felt the shooting pain lance up his right arm. “Go!” He shouted at the boy, who stood frozen in horror at the top of the stairway. “Get out!”

  “You goddamn Renegades think you can come in here and mess
with our system.” The Agent let go of Jared’s hair, only to pull on his ankle and drag him the rest of the way back downstairs. Colored spots blurred Jared’s vision when his left knee cracked against the jutting bottom step. “Mess with what is right.”

  “Nothing about holding people captive is right,” Jared spat out, rolling onto his back and cradling his broken wrist to his chest. “Neither is killing them just for being different.”

  The Agent grinned at him, a sick, toothy smile that made Jared’s skin crawl. “Different. Damaged. Stained.”