Chapter 18 #2
“Let’s say you get away with it, and you kill Val, most likely me as well. You’ve murdered two people. What then? What about your friend Pete?”
Adrian frowned. “What about him?”
“You’ve taken his family hostage.”
Adrian hadn’t thought about that either. He waved the gun and shook his head as he paced some more. “It’ll be fine. I’ve been waiting too long for this. That bastard isn’t going to win this time. No. Nope.”
Pete grabbed something off the table and shoved it in his pocket just before Adrian whirled to face him.
“You wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, would you, Pete? You’re not going to betray me, are you?”
Pete shook his head, feigning sympathy. “Of course not, man. I mean, that would only implicate me, wouldn’t it?” He walked around Saint’s chair and slapped his hands on Saint’s shoulders. “But that means no witnesses. If I’m going to help you do this, I don’t want any of it coming back on me.”
Adrian nodded. “Exactly. Now you’re getting it, Pete.” He paused and narrowed his gaze at his friend. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
“Not so much as a change of heart as accepting the facts. What will it do me to refuse? I could end up dead, and then what? I have to think of Briana and Theo.” Pete dropped one hand, and a pair of wire cutters touched Saint’s palm.
He closed his fingers over it, and Pete patted his shoulder.
“I’m sure our friend here understands. There’s just no other way. ”
It took some uncomfortable and awkward maneuvering, but Saint managed to start cutting the wax thread. As he did, a faint sound caught his ear. What was that? It definitely hadn’t been there before. Was that…static?
Adrian stilled. “What is that?”
“What?” Pete asked, walking around Saint.
“Don’t you hear that?” Adrian slowly walked around, listening. “It sounds like…radio static.”
Saint listened intently. Adrian was right. There was radio static coming from somewhere. A blue glow appeared across the room, and they all turned their attention to what looked like a small black digital radio sitting on one of the workstations.
“The fuck?” Adrian headed toward the radio, and it started beeping.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
It stopped.
“What the fuck?” Adrian bent over to peer at the radio. He very cautiously poked it, then picked it up, his frown deep as he inspected it.
“Maybe it’s on a timer or something,” Pete said. “Or like an alarm that was set by mistake.”
Beep .
Pause.
Beep. Long Beep. Beep.
Pause.
Beep.
Well, I’ll be damned . Saint was so happy he wanted to throw his arms up and shout, but obviously, he didn’t.
Fucking Jack. Okay, he had to hand it to the guy.
That was damned smart. How he did it, Saint had no idea, but he did it.
Could digital radios be hacked? Guess so, seeing as how Jack was sending Morse code through one. The beeping started again.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. H.
Beep . E.
Beep. Long Beep. Beep. R.
Beep . E.
Here .
Saint had never been so happy over one word.
“The batteries are probably dying,” Pete said, and Adrian pressed buttons until it shut off. Didn’t matter. Saint had gotten the message loud and clear. He’d also finished cutting through the restraints. He took a quick look around him.
“I don’t think you’re going to get what you want today either,” Saint said, his eyes never leaving Adrian as he slowly inched his chair back. He stopped when Adrian started to turn his way.
“What are you talking about?”
“See, when you shot up Val’s tavern, you had no idea who you were shooting at.”
Adrian shrugged. “Your point?”
“My point is that you shot one of our friends. And our friend, well, his boyfriend is a former Special Forces Green Beret. Now, those snake eaters are a hardcore bunch. Not as badass as us SEALs, of course, but still pretty hardcore. A few of them are a little off the rails, but they’re good guys. Always handy to have around.”
“Am I supposed to be scared?”
“Yes. Yes, you should be. Because the man you pissed off?” Saint cringed. “Oof. He isn’t the kind of guy you want to piss off.”
A red dot from a laser sight appeared on Adrian’s chest over his heart.
“I would suggest you put the gun down, Adrian.” As scary as the guys were, he knew this was a scare tactic because if any of the Kings wanted Adrian dead, he’d have been on the floor in a pool of blood by now.
Now King on the other hand, Saint wasn’t so sure about.
Adrian had almost killed Leo. There had been rumors about King hunting down a guy who’d hurt Laz and making him pay, so… .
Four more lasers joined the first, all converging to make one large red dot on Adrian’s chest. The guy dropped his gaze and cursed.
“Looks like the gang’s all here,” Saint said, grinning wide. “Just put down the gun, Adrian, and you can walk away from this unscathed.”
Adrian lifted his gaze, and at that moment, Saint knew surrendering wasn’t in the cards.
Fuck . Why did they always have to do things the hard way?
Saint dove out of his chair just as Adrian fired and dropped to the floor.
Pete smartly ducked behind one of the tables, while Saint scrambled behind another.
“You come in here, and I’ll kill him,” Adrian bellowed, firing a shot into the ceiling.
Silence followed.
Taking Adrian in alive might not be an option, though he knew the guys would give it their best. Saint slowly got into a crouched position and started moving.
He couldn’t see through to the other side because of all the damned rolls of fabric.
Listening, he tried to figure out where Adrian was.
No one had run for the door, so everyone was still inside.
Saint had to do something because the guys were going to make a move soon, and Saint didn’t want anyone getting shot.
A window shattered somewhere, and Saint looked up in time to see a black torpedo fly through the window. Make that a furry black torpedo.
“What the fuck was that?” Adrian spat. “Where did it go?”
Since there was no screaming yet, Saint would guess that Chip was hiding.
Or hunting. Saint had just about made it to the end of the table when Chip popped out from under it, scaring the ever-loving shit out of him.
He put a hand to his chest, thankful his spirit hadn’t left his body.
As much as Saint wanted to glare at Chip, it was hard to do with that cute face and huge ears.
Why was it suddenly so quiet out there? Adrian was up to something, and that could only mean bad things for him and Pete.
Chip crawled the rest of the way out, stood, and poked Saint in the chest with his pointy snoot. What the hell? Chip turned, and Saint scratched him behind the ear, whispering, “Good boy.” He pulled the Glock from the holster Velcroed to Chip’s tactical vest and quietly took the safety off.
Time to get moving.
Saint hoped Chip knew what to do because Saint was a little rusty on his German commands. Taking a deep, steady breath, Saint readied himself. And then he caught the scent of smoke.
Are you kidding me ?
That’s what Adrian had been up to. He was setting the whole fucking place on fire, and considering all the harsh chemicals in here, this place could blow any minute. Saint pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Joker. This was bad, very bad.
Recall your dog and get everyone away from the building. Now!
Saint readied himself, and when Joker shouted in German, Saint jumped to his feet, shooting Adrian in the shoulder as Chip leaped from table to table toward the window he’d come in through.
Adrian’s shot went wide, preventing him from shooting Chip as Saint suspected the asshole would try to do.
He ducked, a shot ringing out over his head.
“Give up, Adrian. This isn’t going to end well for you,” Saint said, getting ready to make his next move.
“You’re right. It’s not going to end well for me, but at least I’ll take you with me. Stand up, or Pete gets a bullet in the head.”
Pete made a whimpering noise, and Saint cursed under his breath. Damn it, why hadn’t Pete stayed hidden?
Something popped at the end of the factory, and Saint had a decision to make. If he didn’t make his move, none of them were going to make it out of there.
“Stand up!”
Saint slowly stood and put his arms up, gun in hand. “Just let him go, Adrian. I’m the one you want dead, remember? Leave Pete out of this.”
“If I can’t kill Serrano, at least I know he’ll suffer at having lost you.”
Everything happened in a heartbeat.
Instead of pulling the trigger, Adrian’s head snapped back, a hole appearing in his forehead. His body seemed to float before he crumbled to the ground. Saint spun around to find King standing there, still as a statue, gun in hand. It seemed like time had stopped until King met his gaze.
“Grab Pete. We need to get out of here.”
Saint nodded. He put the safety back on his Glock and tucked it into the back of his waistband. Jumping over the table, he hurried to grab Pete, who sat on the floor staring at Adrian’s lifeless body.
“Come on, Pete,” Saint said, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. He was about to ask King about Adrian’s body when another explosion sent a huge iron shelving unit falling forward, blocking their path from Adrian.
“Let’s go, Sailor. Move,” King ordered, and Saint hurried after him as they ran toward the front entrance of the factory.
Bottles of chemicals exploded behind them as they ran.
Even once they were outside, they didn’t stop running, and it was a good thing they hadn’t.
A blast knocked them off their feet, and Saint landed hard on the grass several feet away.
He rolled, then curled himself into a ball, shielding his head as debris and pieces of the building rained down around them.
When it seemed to have stopped, he heard someone call his name in the distance. Moving his arms and opening his eyes, he saw Val running. Saint pushed himself to his feet, opening his arms in time for Val to run into them.
“You’re okay,” Val murmured against Saint’s hair as he hugged him close. He pulled back and cupped Saint’s face. “You are okay, right?”
Saint nodded. “I am now.” His heart swelled at the love in Val’s eyes and the beautiful smile on his face.
“I’m so sorry,” Val said, letting his brow rest against Saint’s.
“No.” Saint lifted Val’s chin so their eyes could meet. “There’s been enough blame going on. You’re not responsible for the choices he made.”
“You’re right. I’m so happy you’re okay.” Val kissed him, and relief swept through Saint’s body.
It was finally over.