Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
The drive out of downtown Annapolis was blissfully silent. As promised, Kira had sent the blueprint to Damion’s house.
“Seven-thousand-three-hundred square feet,” I told Zane while scrolling on my tablet.
“Three levels. Basement is walk-out—rec room, laundry, two small bedrooms, kitchenette, a bathroom, and sunroom with outdoor access. Main floor—entrance is in the foyer stairs leading to both the upper floor and basement. To the right is the living room, left is the dining. There’s a short hall to the right—closet, bathroom, bedroom.
Through the foyer is the office on the right, left is the breakfast area, kitchen, family room.
Stairs in the family room both up and down.
Egress in the breakfast and family rooms. Garage access is off the family room.
Upper floor—master takes up the right side, four other bedrooms all with attached baths. ”
“You’re good with her,” Zane said apropos of nothing, completely ignoring my house briefing as he drove.
I couldn’t think about Cara right now. I couldn’t think about her sad, scared eyes or her happy smile or the way she hugged Zane tight before she skipped away to get back to her new friends.
She didn’t behave like a traumatized child who’d lost her parents, been stored in a saferoom, and had her new guardian torn from her just a few hours ago.
I couldn’t remember ever feeling like Cara looked—not carefree, but something close to it. By the time I was her age, I was already begging for scraps.
Unloved.
Unwanted.
A castoff.
And what about Blair McKnight, was she a castoff? What had her family done to her to make her turn against them? What evidence had Michael shown her that would make her trust him? Lore didn’t trust, neither did Stella, but had Blair? Had the young, smiling, rich girl been na?ve?
Yeah, I couldn’t think about that right now either.
I had to stay focused, resurrect Lore—the skilled, competent, and experienced operator. That woman who could handle anything. If I allowed my mind to drift to Stella, the one who was Lolo, the woman who called Cara, Care Bear and read bedtime stories and made up fanciful tales, I’d break.
“Cash—”
“I can’t,” I cut him off. “I need Cara out of my mind. I need to remember how strong and capable Lore is. I need to turn everything off except for the mission.”
“Copy that,” Zane clipped, obviously unhappy I didn’t want to hash out my feelings. Or more than likely, I’d shut down his Commando Therapy session.
Feelings.
Since when did Zane Lewis want to discuss feelings in the middle of an op?
I went back to my tablet, studying the surrounding neighborhood around Damion’s property. Mentally mapped out the easiest way to infil. Then a secondary option if we needed to go in quietly. After that I went back to memorizing the floorplan when something hit me.
“Private jet—”
“Kira already checked. It’s down for maintenance. She also checked all private rentals leaving the surrounding area—nothing leaving in the correct time frame.”
Of course she had. Kira was the best.
“Any security footage from Damion’s neighborhood?”
“Nothing unusual.”
I went back to my tablet, pulled up Google, and searched Damion McKnight.
The fucker had a Wikipedia page. I opened the link, ignored the biography, and stared at the picture of Stella’s brother.
I could see the similarities—they shared the same facial features, however, Stella’s were softened with femininity.
A vision of Penny invaded my mind. Now that I knew we shared a mother, I couldn’t deny we looked alike, something that I’d overlooked when I’d first met her.
I inwardly cringed at my reaction to Penny.
I’d accused the woman of hitting on me. One day that would undoubtedly be the source or ribbing, but for now, not a single person was touching on the topic.
With a shake of my head, I went back to the Wikipedia page instead of reading about the man.
I went to the section that listed Damion’s relatives.
Blair McKnight was a blue, clickable link.
Her page opened up and I immediately realized my mistake.
Another picture of Stella…Blair…young and beautiful with a radiant smile.
I closed my eyes against the fear that gathered in my chest.
“Fuck,” I groaned. “I don’t understand. She told Cara these stories about us. The King, the Dove, and the Snake. She programmed our numbers for Cara to use if she ever needed help. She trusted us with her Goddaughter. But she never fucking called.”
“She trusted you,” Zane corrected. “Nebraska and I were backup. But it’s you she trusts.”
“Right. But not enough to call me,” I spat.
“Cash, that’s not about you. She trusts you. It’s herself she doesn’t trust.”
“I don’t—”
“I understand her,” Zane cut in. “I was her before I met Ivy. Full of bullshit bluster. I get you, too. Arrogance and humor all to cover up the fear and rejection. I fed into all the shit that was said about me. You have to know half the stories told about me are so juiced up and twisted even I can’t remember the truth.
The fear that accompanied my name was the armor I needed to keep everyone away.
“I couldn’t allow anyone close because I didn’t trust myself not to fall into a trap.
Deep down I was still this poor kid, whose father abandoned me, living in a trailer park trying to keep me and my brother from starving.
I couldn’t shake the memories of asshole kids picking on me and Linc because we were skinny fucks wearing hand-me-downs that didn’t fit.
I knew all it would take was someone showing me the smallest hint of humanity and I’d crumble.
I was starved of love and affection, and I knew if I let a woman close, she’d be able to use it to manipulate me. ”
I stared at my boss, stunned into silence.
“I don’t know how to love anyone. She’s smart not to trust—”
“Bullshit. Not even thirty minutes ago I watched you shower a little girl who you’ve known for all of a few hours with love and care. And you don’t even like kids.”
That wasn’t true.
“They scare the fuck out of me,” I admitted. “They’re helpless and easily broken.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” he conceded. “Though when I think of Eric and Rose neither of those things come to mind.”
Before I could stop myself, the question felt like it was torn out of me. “What does?”
“Joy. My great blessings. Love. Protection. Pride.”
I knew that to be true. The only person he loved more than his children was his wife. And that was likely because it was Ivy who’d given him his two greatest blessings.
“It was like I fell in love at first sight,” I muttered.
“With who? Lore?”
“No, that was pure lust. My first thought when I met Lore was how quickly I could get her into my bed. It took a while for her hardass, bitchy routine to penetrate. But when the door to the saferoom opened and the saddest pair of blue eyes looked up at me I was a goner. Or maybe it was when I first heard her scared voice asking me if I’d come get her. ”
And there was a chance we’d find Stella and she’d take Cara and disappear again. This time I’d lose both of them.
“You’ll need to be convincing and make her stay,” Zane said as if reading my mind.
“How do I do that?”
“Cara. She’s your ace.”
“I’m not using Cara—”
“There’s using then there’s using. If you don’t want to lose Cara you better be prepared to play dirty. Nothing’s off limits when you’re fighting for the woman you love.”
Fuck, did I love Stella or was my ego dented because she’d rejected me?
I glanced at the map on the SUV’s screen. Time to put all these messy feelings away. And hope when the time was right, I didn’t fall back into my normal MO and pretend I was an emotionless, arrogant prick who hated the idea of commitment and love.
“We’re ten minutes out.”
Before I could offer up details Zane’s phone rang through the SUV’s speakers.
Kira.
I hit the screen to connect the call. “Perfect timing.”
“Yeah, I know, I’m perfect at my job. You’re nine minutes out.
The white Lincoln Nav that pulled into Damion’s garage approximately four and half hours ago has left.
Garrett’s still backtracking the Nav’s movements to see if he can put it in the vicinity of Lore’s house.
No luck on that but he did find a clear image of the driver and Damion in the front seat.
It looks like there’s one figure in the backseat but it’s in shadow so he can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman. And no view of the cargo hold.”
“Nothing unusual?” I snarled.
“Damion’s SUV pulling into his garage isn’t unusual,” Zane calmly returned. “No one else going in or out?”
“Not according to his ring camera for the last twenty-four hours. He doesn’t have interior cameras, but I think it’s safe to say at a minimum three men entered the house. Two left, Damion and the driver.”
I pulled up a mental image of the blueprint. “There are two French doors into the sunroom and a door into the laundry room. We’ll enter through the laundry. Where are the cameras?”
“Already on a loop of nothing.” Kira snickered like she was offended. “Theo and Easton already checked in. There’s nothing at the shopping center. They’re holding their position.”
“And the warehouse?”
“No cameras. Smith and Jonas are still fifteen minutes out.”
Zane pulled off of Arlington Boulevard and hooked a swift left into a church parking lot.
“We’re on foot from here,” Zane told Kira. “Switching to comms.”
“Copy.”
Kira disconnected. I pulled my earbud out of my pocket and inserted it. After tapping my body armor under my tee, I got out of the SUV and met Zane around back.
“Ready?”
After another mental check all my gear was in place, I nodded.
Carrying a suppressed sidearm was never comfortable, but in a neighborhood with houses close it was the best way to give us time to escape before the neighbors called the police. Of course, that went out the window when the bad guys started shooting back.
“Seven, are you there?” I called in to Kira.
“Good copy, Six.”
Zane followed with a comm check and made our way out of the parking lot.
Just two armed dudes out for a stroll in the middle of the afternoon through an affluent neighborhood.
Nothing to see here.
We were three houses down from Damion’s when Zane grumbled, “Not even a curtain has moved.”
I knew what he was talking about. Not a single resident had peeked through a window or come out of their house to ask why two men who obviously didn’t belong there were walking down their street.
Not that the confrontation would’ve been welcomed, but damn, these people lived like they didn’t have a care in the world.
Maybe that’s how normal people live.
“We have no cover,” I noted, taking in Damion’s house.
“Nothing like a little shock and awe in the middle of the afternoon.”
Zane sounded positively excited about the possibility of bedlam.
The Snake promised to sink his fangs into anyone who’s mean to you.
Cara had no idea what a true statement that was.
Zane had already demonstrated he had zero issue with tearing a man’s throat out with his teeth—been there, seen it, and I had no interest in having to explain to Ivy that Zane didn’t return home with me because he was getting yet another tooth fixed—true story.
“Seven, we’re on approach,” Zane called in to Kira.
“You’re clear on both sides.”
We quickly darted between the houses—no bushes, no fences, no cover.
I stopped at the door, tension wrench and rake already in hand ready to pick the lock. Zane covered my six with his back to the brick, suppressed Sig unholstered and at the ready.
I felt the tumblers click, and with one last turn of the wrench, the lock unbolted. I pocketed my kit and replaced it with my Glock. Slowly I opened the door, listening for the telltale beeping of an alarm.
Instead, I was met with grunts and whimpers.
Knowing that Zane would have my back, I ran through the kitchenette into what I knew was the rec room—however, there was no pool table or arcade games. The space was empty, save the blue tarps covering the flooring. An overpowering odor of rubbing alcohol lingered in the air.
Two people were grappling in the middle of the room.
Lore was on her side, back facing away from me, her strong thighs wrapped around a man’s neck, one hand in his hair and the other on his chin.
And she was topless.
Fury punched through me.
Lore jerked the man’s head, using her body as leverage, and with a vicious twist she broke his neck.
I rushed forward just as Lore let go and slumped to her back. Her howl of agony made my insides revolt.
Zane yanked the man off of Lore.
I dropped to my knees to assess the damage. Bruises were already forming on her throat, chest, and shoulders. Thank fuck there were no stab wounds or GSWs.
Suddenly her back bowed and she cried out in pain again.
“Open your eyes, Lore.”
No response.
My hand went to her throat. A slow, weak pulse thumped under my fingers.
“Baby, open your eyes,” I begged.
“Basement’s clear,” Zane quietly said. “Grab her and let’s go.”
Through a haze of fear and fury, I swooped up Lore’s limp body, rolling her chest toward mine to cover her naked breasts.
“Fuck,” Zane growled.
My gaze immediately scanned the room looking for threats. When there were none, I glanced at Zane. His eyes were glued to Stella’s back.
“Seven, call Dr. Spenser, have him meet us at the office,” Zane grunted.
“Copy that.” Kira came back.
I glanced down at the woman in my arms and that’s when it hit me—the smell of alcohol mixed with the coppery scent of blood. And there was blood, a lot of fucking blood, flowing out of a mess of gashes and cuts—so many of them I couldn’t see any uninjured skin.
“Package secure,” Zane continued. “Call the others back.”
His angry, glittering eyes hit mine.
The Snake had awakened.
But so had the King, and someone would die for daring to touch my queen.