In The Trenches: An OPS Protector Romance, page 20
His eyes went wide as I rounded the desk and grabbed him by the shirt, picking him up and slamming him down on the desk. I pulled my gun and pressed it into his face.
“Tell me where the fuck she is!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he said, trembling beneath me.
“Don’t fucking lie to me! You were having her followed, weren’t you?”
“Only for her safety,” he said quickly.
“Why? Why would she need to be protected?”
“I…I don’t know!”
Obviously, the gun wasn’t scary enough. I stepped back and nodded to Red. “I think the elevator is in the basement.”
He nodded and grabbed Hayes from the other side of the desk, dragging him across until his body fell to the floor. He hauled him out of the office by his arm, his legs dragging on the floor as Hayes tried to find purchase. Red walked him right over to the elevator as Kavanaugh and I pried the doors open. We were on the fourth floor, which should be enough to scare the piss out of him at the very least.
Red jerked him to the edge, leaving him hovering over the gaping hole. “Where did your men take her?” Red asked.
“I don’t have any men!”
“Then why all the guards in the lobby and outside? What do you need so much protection for?”
“I swear,” he sputtered. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Let’s see about that,” he said, grabbing the phone from Hayes’s pocket. He tossed it to me and I redialed the last call he made.
“Boss, we’ve got the girl. When are you getting here?”
I narrowed my eyes at Hayes, watching as the color drained from his face. “Hayes can’t come to the phone right now. He’s staring down an elevator shaft, and if you touch a hair on the girl’s head, I’m not only going to drop your boss down it, I’m going to come after you. Only your death will be much more painful.”
The guy on the other end hung up.
“I guess he didn’t want to talk, but you’re going to. Otherwise, Red is going to throw you down that shaft. If you’re lucky, you’ll die on impact. If you’re not lucky, you’ll break a lot of bones and be down there for hours, possibly even days, suffering as you wait for someone to find you.”
“She’s a fucking nobody, man,” Hayes bit out.
“Wrong answer,” Red said, dragging the man’s body over the edge as he planted his boot against the elevator door. I grabbed the back of his vest, ensuring he didn’t follow Hayes over as well.
“Alright! Alright! I’ll tell you. Just don’t fucking drop me!”
Red cocked his head at him. “Are you sure? Because I don’t mind doing this again.”
“I swear! I’ll tell you!”
Red looked back at me and I nodded. He pulled Hayes back and flung him across the floor, slamming him into the wall. I walked over and knelt beside him. “Why do you want her so bad?”
“Because she saw the men that broke in here. She wouldn’t tell me what they looked like.”
“Why do you need that information?”
He dropped his eyes, taking a deep breath.
“You know what? That doesn’t matter right now. You think really hard about your answer. For now, I want the location of where your men took her. We’ll discuss the rest when I get back.”
He nodded and gave us the directions.
“Now, call your boys and make sure they keep her safe until we arrive.”
I stood and pulled my own phone, dialing Lock. “Did you get him, boss?”
“Yeah, he’s going to be hanging out by the elevator. I suggest you come get him really quickly. Keep him on ice until we get back.”
“Got it.”
I turned to Thumper. “Got any rope on you?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
He took a length of rope off a clip on his hip and handed it over. Nodding, I took it and rigged up enough to keep him dangling just over the edge of the elevator shaft. If he kept his toes on the edge of the elevator shaft, he’d be fine until Lock arrived.
“Now, you just hang tight,” I grinned. “Help is on the way.”
“You can’t leave me here,” he cried, looking over his shoulder at the steep drop below.
IRIS walked forward. “You know, he’s right, boss. This isn’t fair.”
“IRIS,” I warned, but I was too late. He kicked Hayes right in the chest, swinging him into the shaft as he screamed, his wrists tightening in the rope. When he swung back, he tried to get his toes to the edge, but didn’t have much luck. I stepped forward and grabbed him, pulling him just close enough that his feet found purchase on the ground again.
“I knew there was a reason I should have left you at the office.”
28
BETH
My face jolted to the side as something hard smacked me. Everything around me spun as my head lolled to the side. I could taste the blood in my mouth and feel the split in my lip. The last thing I remembered was walking into my apartment. Everything after that was blank.
I was tied to a chair with my arms straining from the ropes holding them behind me. The position was uncomfortable, but worse than that was the fear racing through me as I opened my eyes and saw the multiple men standing around me with guns.
“Who…who are you?” I asked, afraid I already knew the answer.
“We’re asking the questions here,” one of the men said, stepping forward. “Who do you work for?”
My stomach dropped out as I realized who took me. Three years ago, my life changed for the worse. I was driving home and just happened to take a wrong turn. It destroyed my life and left me running from anyone that might know me. All this time, I thought I was being safe, but now I knew that the feeling of being watched wasn’t by Hayes.
Swallowing hard, I shook my head. “No one.”
“Do you really expect us to believe that you just stumbled upon us? You came looking for information, and we want to know who’s looking.”
When I didn’t answer, his fist shot out, slamming hard into the side of my face. For the second time, it felt like a sledgehammer hit me. Blood dripped to the ground as I let my mouth hang open. Nausea swirled in my stomach as I realized what they were going to do to me. I didn’t think I could take it. I wasn’t trained to handle pain. I wasn’t trained for anything.
And then I remembered being taken, how my fingernails scratched on the walls as I fought to not be taken. I ran one fingertip over another nail, just to confirm my memories. Dried blood coated my fingers. It was all real, which meant I had really shouted for Fox. But he wasn’t here. I had to hope that he heard me and he was looking for me. Otherwise, I was looking at a very painful death.
“Tell us what you know,” the man snapped again.
I looked at him curiously, shaking my head. “It’s been years. If I haven’t said anything by now, why would you assume I know anything?”
“Years? What the fuck are you talking about? You just started working at the lab.”
“The—” The puzzle pieces started to fall into place. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved that I hadn’t been found, or terrified that I now had another enemy. “Listen, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I don’t know anything. Like you said, I just started working there,” I struggled to explain to them. My whole body was shaking, and I was on the verge of another panic attack.
The man stormed forward, and I knew it was coming. His fist slammed into my face again and again. Then he kicked me in the chest. The chair went flying backward and my skull cracked against the pavement. I coughed harshly, turning my head to the side, hoping I didn’t puke or choke on my own blood.
My vision swam as they moved around me. I prayed this didn’t last too much longer. I couldn’t save myself. I didn’t have anything to tell them, anything that would keep me alive. “Please,” I whispered, but I knew it fell on deaf ears.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed. I drifted in and out of consciousness, barely aware of anything around me. At some point, they had cut the ropes around my wrists. Now I just lay in a puddle of my own blood. My body ached and my face felt like a punching bag Muhammed Ali used on a daily basis.
But then something strange started playing. At first, I thought I was hearing things, that my mind was trying to take me someplace else, away from the pain and torment. It was a sad sort of melody, something that reminded me of a funeral.
Then I heard his voice, Fox was singing “Poor Jud Is Dead”. Despite feeling like absolute shit, I started to laugh. It hurt my chest and my cheeks burned as my lips cracked further, but it was worth it when I saw him walk through the door. All the men around me stepped back, glancing over at me as I laughed too hysterically considering the position I was in.
And then chaos kicked in. I watched through slit eyes as Fox danced around the room, throwing several knives in a row, taking out three different men with accurate precision. I shoved up on my elbow, feeling a burst of…well, it wasn’t energy, but it was something. I winced as I sat up, holding my ribs.
He strolled up to another man, who glanced over to me. He was clearly out of his depth with Fox. “—And his nails had never been so clean,” Fox sang. The man actually looked down at his nails just before Fox shoved a knife into his stomach. The man grunted, looking up at Fox in confusion. Then he collapsed to the ground, not dead, but not long for this life.
“Hey, sweetie pie. I bet you’re wishing now I had walked you inside.”
I would have rolled my eyes, but that used too much energy. “You…took them all out.”
“Of course I did. What kind of man do you take me for? Now, you sit there comfortably. I have to go collect my knives. Can’t leave any evidence behind,” he winked.
I nodded as he walked away, watching as he went to each body and yanked his knives out of them. They didn’t look like regular knives, but I didn’t really know anything about knives. He wiped the blood on their clothes, then pocketed them. Just as he was heading back over to me, the windows in the warehouse busted in and men swarmed the building. Fox was too far away to protect me, and there had to be at least twenty men storming the building…and they were all headed for me.
“Fox?”
“Yep?”
“Got any brilliant plans?”
“Give me a minute. I’m thinking.”
“Think faster,” I hissed. “I’m pretty much useless here. You brought backup, right?”
He glanced at me and frowned. “Backup? Is that a thing?”
I stared at him incredulously as one of the men stormed over and yanked me up by my bad arm. I cried out as he hauled me up. I barely caught sight of his face, and then I knew exactly who was after me.
29
CASH
“Fox is already in there,” Eli informed me as I set up Sally. “But we got a problem.”
“Of course we do. It’s Fox.”
“Well, the good news is, he killed all Hayes’s men.”
“And the bad news?”
“It looks like someone else is after her.”
I laid down on my belly and looked through my scope just as a man dragged her to her feet by her bad arm. I could see the pain etched on her face as she cried out.
“Fox is a sitting duck in there,” Eli said urgently.
“I got it,” I said tersely. This wasn’t like in the Marines. This was going to be down and dirty. I found my first target, the asshole holding Beth against his body. His head was nearly hidden behind her from this angle, but I had Betty on my side and she never let me down.
I took a deep breath.
“Boss!”
The man pulled a knife, raising it to her throat.
I adjusted one click, based solely on instinct. My finger slipped over the trigger.
“Boss!” Eli shouted. “Fucking do it!”
I pulled the trigger and watched through the scope as the bullet made contact with his head. Blood poured over Beth’s shoulder and down her face. The knife fell from her throat. Without even taking a moment to make sure she was okay, I switched targets.
I was vaguely aware of Eli and Thumper’s teams moving in. There had to be at least twenty men on the inside, not to mention the men on the outside watching the perimeter. As they made their way toward the entrance, I continued to take out men with Sally. I’d never been so happy that Fox ignored orders and went after her alone. Without him, she might already be dead. Now he stood over her, throwing his knives at anyone that came near him.
The sound of helicopters overhead had me looking up sharply. More men were on their way. What the fuck did they want her for? “Incoming!” I shouted, shoving Sally in my case and slinging it over my shoulder. I ran down the steep slope to the building, pulling my gun from my holster and firing.
“Boss, we’ve got the perimeter!” Eli shouted. “Get in there and get her the fuck out!”
“On it,” I shouted, running flat out for the facility.
“I got this, boss!” I heard IRIS laugh over comms. I didn’t want to know what he was doing, but a moment later, a high-pitched sound whizzed past me and then the door exploded in front of me. I covered my face as flames exploded out toward me. Ignoring the building flames around me, I ran through the burning doorway and straight for Beth, who was being dragged by her arm further into the building.
The first thing I saw was the massive amount of fertilizer in the building, and the flames quickly spreading toward them. When they reached the first pallet, a massive explosion rocked the building. Men were scattering, trying to find cover and finish the job. The flames were so fucking high, it was nearly impossible to see.
In the distance, I saw three men converging on one target. Fox was pinned down under fire near a post. I turned and fired, taking out three of them.
Fox stepped out from behind the post, holding out his arms. “I fucking had them!”
I shook my head and ran to the back of the building where Beth was running from one man. She stumbled, falling to her knees as the man grabbed her by the hair and yanked her up in front of him. I moved into a better position, needing the best angle possible so I didn’t accidentally shoot her.
“Hey, asshole!” I shouted.
As expected, he spun, pulling her in front of him for cover. He grinned at me. “You’ve got this wrong. I don’t want her. She just needs to die.”
I looked into her eyes momentarily, saw the fear and resignation, but that’s not how this was going to end. Even with the building ready to burn down around us, I was calm. He started to raise his gun, but I was faster. I fired without a second of hesitation. She stiffened as the man fell behind her, crumpling to the ground. Racing over to her, I grabbed her by the arm and ran for the back exit. She was barely standing, her feet stumbling over one another. Without a second thought, I swung her up in my arms and ran for the exit, just barely making it out as the building began to crumble around us.
But as soon as we got outside, we came under more fire.
“Eli! I thought you covered the outside!”
“They just keep coming, boss! What the fuck do they want her for?”
“Fuck if I know.”
Ahead of us was our only chance at escape. Dense trees covered the landscape, which would make it easier to hide, but there was only so long we could run with me carrying her like this. I ran for the tree line, not stopping until we were heavily shaded by low-hanging brush. I gently set Beth down on the ground, noticing the strain on her face as I laid her flat. Digging around in my pockets, I pulled out a kit Lock always insisted I carry on me. I hadn’t thought I’d need it since my military days. Now, it was going to save our asses.
I pulled out the large needle, ignoring the way her eyes went wide. “I’m going to inject this in you.”
“You’re what?” she shrieked.
I didn’t waste another moment, pulling up her sleeve and taking the insanely large needle and shoving it into her arm. I knew it burned like hell. In fact, it felt like fire was burning through you, but it would give her the strength she needed to get moving.
I gripped her hand in mine, staring into her terrified eyes as she panted through the heat. After a minute, the worst of it passed and she sagged back in my arms for a moment. I pulled her to me, pressing a kiss to her forehead, though I wasn’t sure why. I mostly wanted to comfort her.
“Better?”
She nodded against my chest. “What was that?”
“You don’t want to know. We’ve got to get moving now.”
I stuffed my kit back in my cargo pocket and grabbed my pistol, as I held out my hand to her. She got to her feet, surprised at how easily she stood. “Whoa,” she muttered. “Whatever that is, I think I want more.”
“One dose is good. Any more than that, it’ll kill you.”
Grabbing her hand, I started jogging through the trees, putting as much space between the flaming building and us. After fifteen minutes, I stopped, hunching down in the brush to check for anyone following us. We weren’t exactly being silent, but I didn’t notice anyone following us.
“Eli, this is Bullseye.”
I waited for him to respond, but the line was dead.
“Eli, do you copy?” Still nothing. “Fuck.”
“What’s wrong?”
“We’re cut off from everyone.”
“Then we should go back,” she said urgently. “Fox was back there.”
Jealousy rose up inside me that she was so worried about Fox. But then again, he had been good to her when I thought she was a fucking terrorist. “Fox can take care of himself, and so can everyone else.”
“Then we should go back to them,” she repeated.
“No, we have no idea how bad it is. They’ve been in a firefight before.”
“But it’s my fault they’re in it.”
“They’re in it because they choose to be,” I snapped. “We came after you because it’s what we do. You’re the asset!”
She flinched back, hurt filling her face. “I’m an asset?”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I’d hurt her feelings, but we didn’t have time for that now. We had to find a secure location and lay low until we could get back to safety.
