Chapter 27
BECCA
“What the fuck?!” I sit up, watching in horror as the men who just pulled up in front of the house we were about to storm, back out of the driveway and race away.
With Butch in their back seat.
Everything happened so fucking fast. I saw the car coming and got a bad feeling, so I slid down in my seat, intending to hide from view as fast as possible. I wasn’t even fully down before they were in the driveway and Butch was walking toward them, a weird smile on his face.
And then they were on him. He didn’t even freaking fight back. Just let one of those goons punch him and stuff him in the back.
“They just took Butch.” I talk to the rest of the team through my earpiece as I jump out of the SUV, running into the middle of the street as I stare after the retreating vehicle.
“Two guys in a black sedan with tinted windows.
They're headed west.” I rattle off the license plate number and a basic description of the men.
I start to run back toward the SUV, fully intending to chase after them. But what if my sister’s inside that house? I can’t just leave her here. I’m caught between the two most important people in my life, and I want to rip myself in half so I can do both things.
But I can’t, so I have to make a choice.
And it fucking sucks.
Turning toward the house, I run as fast as I can. “I’m going in.”
I don’t have time to waste. I need to get in there and see who is or isn’t inside. Then I can find Butch. Drive my SUV into whatever building he’s in, bash in some heads with whatever heavy objects happen to be handy, and take him back home where he belongs.
Except, we don’t have a home. But that’s a problem for a different day.
“Becca.” Zeke’s voice is sharp. Like he thinks he’s going to tell me what to do. “Do not go in that house alone.”
I reach the front door, slamming the full weight of my body against it. “If you don’t want me going in this house alone, you better get here really freaking fast.”
If he says anything else to me, I don’t notice it, because when the door doesn’t budge under my weight, I start searching for something heavier than me.
I’d take a cue from Butch and drive the SUV through the door, but it’s up a porch, and I don’t have faith in the rickety stairs' ability to support the weight of the car.
Plus, then it would be difficult for me to drive it to wherever they’ve taken Butch.
There’s a few rusting metal chairs scattered across the covered area and I grab the heaviest looking one.
Hoisting it up, I swing it at the door as hard as I can, hoping momentum will work in my favor like it did at Myra’s house.
I’m on my third hit when a deep voice booms behind me and a strong arm pushes me to one side.
“Move.”
Zeke is right there with some sort of battering ram. I swear he barely gives it much of a hit and the door crumples like paper.
I look at the thick weight of what he’s holding. “Can I get one of those?”
He drops it to the porch. “Absolutely not.” Pulling a weapon from his thigh holster, he steps in front of me. “Stay between me and Pierce.”
Shit. I hadn’t even noticed Pierce was here.
The owner of Alaskan Security is decked out just like everyone else, sporting a vest and carrying a weapon. He steps in behind me, sandwiching my body between his and Zeke’s as we all start to move in tandem.
Their steps are fast, and I work hard to keep up, trying to move carefully and quietly as we creep through the dingy space.
We’re only a few feet in when all three of our heads snap toward the stairwell at the sound of a smothered whimper. Zeke tips his head toward the second floor. Pierce nods, and once again we’re moving. This time faster. Less carefully and less quietly.
All the doors on the second floor are open except for one, and that’s the one we zero in on. Zeke and Pierce lead me straight to it before stopping. Then they both look at me.
It’s not hard to figure out what they want.
“Hello?” I bang on the door with the side of my fist. “Is anyone inside?”
I hear a gasp and a few muffled movements.
“My name is Becca. I’m here with a couple of my friends to help you. I need you to let us in.”
“Becca?”
I nearly collapse at the familiar voice calling my name. I reach up and grip the front of Pierce’s vest so I don’t go down. “Amanda?” I start banging on the door harder. “Open the door. It’s time to go.”
A flurry of footsteps scuff across the floor and a second later the door flies open. I’m hit by an awful smell, but I don’t care.
Because Amanda is staring out at me like she can’t believe what she’s seeing. Her lower lip starts to quiver. “I thought I was hallucinating. But it is you. You’re here.”
“I told you I would come for you, and I meant it.” I reach out, hooking an arm around her too-skinny shoulders. “It’s time to go.” I turn my gaze to the group of girls huddled behind her. “Everybody stay with us.”
This time Pierce goes first, with me and Amanda directly behind him. The rest of the girls fall in line, and Zeke brings up the rear. By the time we're out of that hellhole, the van is idling in the front yard, parked sideways with the door open, Quinn behind the wheel.
Savannah is standing on the grass, looking ready to provide all the comfort I know I’m not great at giving. She helps all the girls in, getting them lined down the seats running up each side. I push Amanda in last, hating that I have to separate from her so soon.
But I’ll be damned if those fuckers are going to take Butch from me the way they took her.
“This is my friend Savannah.” I grip Amanda’s bony hand. “She’s going to take all of you somewhere safe. I have something else I have to do, but I promise you are safe with them.”
Amanda’s eyes widen. “What? Where are you going?”
“I have to go save someone else.” I give her a little smile, hoping she understands. “It’s kinda what I do now.”
Thankfully, she’s too tired to really argue with me, and I manage to get my sister safely inside, stepping back as Quinn pulls away, leaving me, Pierce, and Zeke staring silently after them. I could let the indescribable weight of what I just witnessed bury me, but it won’t do anyone any good.
Especially Butch.
The van is barely back on the road before I’m stalking toward the SUV. “Come on. Let’s go.”
“Heidi hasn’t given us an address yet.” Pierce seems a little panicked about it, and I like that. It means Butch matters to him.
He should. He’s fucking amazing, and just basically sacrificed himself to make sure we could get to those girls safely.
“We don’t need Heidi to give us an address.
” I get behind the wheel, because I don’t really trust either of them to get me where we're going as fast as I will. Pulling out my phone, I open the find my friend style app that displays two dots. “As long as they haven’t taken Butch’s phone, I’ll be able to find him. ”
His dot is still moving, which I figure is a pretty good sign. Part of me expected it to be headed for the location Luca and Owen are at. Instead it’s aimed in the opposite direction.
Zeke climbs into the passenger seat with Pierce in the back. Picking up my phone, Zeke swipes across his and starts feeding Heidi information as I fire up the engine and take off, following the path that will get me to Butch.
At least it better, or a bunch of guys are about to lose a bunch of eyeballs.
About ten minutes into the drive, Zeke stiffens beside me. “It stopped.” He winces. “And just disappeared.”
“Where?” Heidi and I both ask it at the same time.
Zeke rattles off an address, but it doesn’t mean anything to me. Hopefully Heidi can start figuring out what sort of a place we’re going to be walking into. And because she’s amazing, she does.
Two minutes out from the location, Heidi starts explaining through the speaker of Zeke’s phone. “It looks like a warehouse.” There’s confusion in her tone. “It’s actually really close to where Christian’s group's warehouse is.”
That sucks. Once again, I’m leading danger right to them. But it can’t be helped. I’m saving Butch no matter what. I think they would respect that even if he’s not their favorite person.
“How big is the building?” Zeke sounds uneasy. “It’s only me and Pierce.”
“And me.” They know I’ve killed three people, right?
“Owen and Luca are headed your way, but it’s going to take them about fifteen more minutes to get there.” Heidi hesitates. “I think you’re going to have to wait. The place is huge.”
“I’m not waiting.” I push my foot closer to the floor. “You two can do whatever you want, but I’m going in to get him.”
Maybe I’m riding the high of finding my sister. Or maybe I’m just fucking pissed as hell at the way shit like this has been happening to women since the beginning of time.
I’m over it. Time to put a stop to all the bullshit I can.
“I have some concerns about this.” Heidi doesn’t tell me no, but she also doesn’t egg me on like I’m hoping.
“It’s no longer just young girls they’re targeting, remember?
They’ve started going after any woman who gets in their way, and your picture is on their roster.
If they recognize you, there’s no telling what will happen. ”
“I don’t care.” I mean it. I don’t care. “Butch would do whatever it took to save me, and I’ll be damned if I make him think I’m just like everyone else who left him out to dry. All the pricks who chose their own interests over what’s right and what’s wrong.”
Who chose themselves over him.
“Come up with a safe way for us to get into this building. Narrow down the locations they might have him.” Pierce barks out the orders. “Get Luca, Owen, and Maddox here as fast as possible. Have Isaac ready to coordinate our two separate teams as we go inside.”
I look up at Pierce in the rearview mirror, meeting his eyes. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. He’s likely going to lose his shit when he discovers I allowed you to come in the building after him.” Pierce checks his weapon before holstering it.