Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
“Holy shit, Beck.” Beckett tried to focus on the man standing in the doorway, the voice familiar but entirely impossible, unless . . .
“A.J.?” Beckett whispered in disbelief.
A gunshot rang out close by and Beckett flinched, but he was still hanging from the ceiling by the chains and too banged up to do anything.
Another gunshot and a body hit the floor.
“This is Bravo Two. I have eyes on the prize.”
Bravo Two? Prize?
“A.J., that you?” Beckett repeated, blinking away the blood dripping down his face and thanking God that it really was his brother.
“Yeah, it’s me. Let me get you down.”
As soon as A.J. freed Beckett, he collapsed into his brother’s arms, then slid to his knees.
“We need to get you out of here. They’ll send more people.” A.J. wrapped an arm around Beckett’s torso and assisted him to his feet. “Take his other arm and help me with him,” he said to Cora, who was on her way out the door.
“Don’t go out there by yourself, damn it,” A.J. rasped.
Cora whipped around. “I have to get to my son.”
“He’s safe with my team,” A.J. said, and Beckett breathed a sigh of relief.
Before Cora could respond, one of Miguel’s men appeared behind her and deftly wrapped an arm around her neck, using her as a human shield.
Beckett closed his eyes, willing his body to remain upright on its own so his brother could deal with the asshole.
A.J. popped off a headshot, nailing the guy with precision and splattering blood across Cora’s face. “Not sorry,” A.J. bit out. “You deserved that. Now, help me get Beckett out of here.”
“No. There’s too many of us. We’ll draw attention.” She grimaced and wiped at her face, then crouched and took the pistol from the dead man. “I’m going out on my own.” But she was blocked by another obstacle.
Jesse and Ivy this time, and Ivy flung herself at Cora.
“A.J. and I got split up while I was handling Miguel and Hector,” Jesse explained, maneuvering around the family reunion. “Glad you found the room.”
“Thanks to your directions,” A.J. replied. “Not that I wanted to leave you alone with those animals.”
“Taken care of. I meant to leave Miguel and Hector alive, tied up and unconscious, but they weren’t very cooperative. So, I put them down for good,” Jesse said, then quickly snatched the pistol from Cora.
“Is Sydney here? I’m assuming she took down his security cams?” Beckett asked, and the idea of her being out there alone had his stomach turning.
“Yes and yes.” A.J. assisted Beckett to the doorway, which was blocked by two dead bodies and the women who kept fucking up Beckett’s life.
“Can you radio her to join us?” He knew Sydney could handle herself, but that didn't mean he wanted her out there on her own.
“Sydney knows I’m with you and that Jesse was working his way to meet us.” A.J. nodded. “She’s handling a few fuckers on the second floor. We’re still trying to find Jorge and the scientist.”
Beckett tested his legs to see if he could stand alone. “I’m good,” he reassured his brother before A.J. unholstered the sidearm strapped to his leg and handed him the Sig Sauer P226. “We can’t drag them along with us while we search for Jorge.” He tipped his chin toward Cora and Ivy. “One of you should escort them out of here. But I’m not leaving without Sydney.”
“I’d like to be reunited with my son,” Cora begged. “Please, get us out of here.”
“Sydney’s my teammate,” Jesse said. “I’m staying.”
“I really hate leaving you,” A.J. began, peeking into the hall to check if it was clear, “but I know I won’t convince you to walk out the door with me. Too damn stubborn.”
“Where do you think Jorge may be hiding?” Beckett asked Jesse. “You spent some time with him.”
“One sec. I have Sydney over comms,” A.J. announced, and Beckett secured his hand against the wall near the doorway for support.
“This is Bravo Two. That’s a good copy. Sending backup to you,” A.J. said over comms before directing his attention on Beckett. “She’s heading to the room you two were in this morning. With the roses? She interrogated one of his men, who said there’s a hidden room down there. She took a remote control off the guy to open the door.”
“That room?” The mirrored wall?
“I know how to get there,” Jesse said as A.J. handed him the earpiece to stay connected to the team.
“Get out of this alive, brother,” A.J. ordered.
“See you soon.” Beckett motioned for his brother to get a move on, and A.J. rattled off the call signs for Bravo and Alpha Teams to Jesse.
According to A.J., Sydney and Gray were still inside, and the others were preparing to infil.
A.J. reached for Cora’s elbow, urging her to stay with him and her sister. “I don’t like you, you know that, right? And if something happens to my brother while I walk your asses outta here, we’re gonna have much bigger issues.”
“You’re clear.” Jesse motioned for A.J. and the sisters to leave.
Cora took one last look at Beckett and followed A.J. with Ivy tight to her side.
“Gray’s in my ear,” Jesse said, peering into the hall again. “The scientist tried to escape, but Camila and Carter intercepted him just outside the gates. We’re down to our last HVT and an unknown number of potential tangos inside.”
“Copy that.” Beckett followed Jesse away from Jorge’s “torture room,” or whatever the hell it was called. So far, the place was eerily quiet, and no sounds of gunfire nearby.
“That sex fuckery room is down this hall,” Jesse said a moment before an armed guard appeared. Jesse nailed the guy in the head before the man had a chance to raise his weapon.
“You think he ran into Sydney before he turned down this hallway?” Beckett asked once they were on the move again.
“No, he would have been stumbling our way with an arrow in his heart if that were the case.” Jesse hesitated, then added, “I’m really fucking sorry for earlier.”
“You had no choice,” Beckett remarked. Jesse didn’t need to beat himself up about the beating he’d been forced to give Beckett. Hell no. They had a mission right now, and they needed to see it through.
“There.” Jesse glanced back at Beckett with a smirk on his face. “See what I mean.”
On the floor just outside the open doors of the sex dungeon lay a dead tango—his throat slit and an arrow in his chest. Overwhelmed with a mixture of awe, pride, and fear, Beckett pushed his battered body forward toward the room.
Sydney whirled around, bow raised and ready to fire another arrow, as Beckett hobbled in holding his ribs. The look of surprise and relief on her face hit him hard.
“Beckett,” she cried as she took in the sight of his banged-up face.
“I’m okay.” He reached for her wrist. “Let’s get this bastard and get the hell out of here.”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head, on the verge of tears, but quickly shook it off and reached for a remote control on a nearby table.
Jesse kept watch near the double doors as Sydney aimed the remote at the mirrored part of the wall and pushed a button. The mirror shifted and began to slide sideways, revealing another corridor.
Sydney swapped her bow for the rifle slung around her neck and gestured for Beckett to get behind her.
“You’re not my shield, sweetheart. Sorry.” He peered at her. “But we can go in together. Side by side.”
She let go of a breath as if prepared to argue but then gave him a hesitant nod.
“I’ve got y’all’s six,” Jesse said. “Go ahead.”
The three of them slowly entered the space, finding a safe and precisely what Elaina had predicted they’d find—a tunnel. A bookshelf as the “cover” for the tunnel was off to the side of it.
“Jorge left it exposed on purpose.” Sydney turned in a three-sixty, ensuring the room was empty before advancing to the tunnel entrance. “This thing could be miles long, and we have no idea where it dumps out. But regardless of Elaina’s warning, we’d be crazy to go in there.”
“Not just crazy. Dead.” Jesse pointed to something on the wall just inside. “Jorge’s got the place rigged with explosives. He wanted us to follow, and once he exited, he’d blow the whole thing.”
“We’ll find him another way, then.” Beckett glanced at the bookshelf and saw a framed black-and-white photo of Al Capone. He started to turn away, but a reflection in the frame’s glass caught his eye. Jorge. He’s been hiding in the dungeon waiting for us.
Beckett shifted around and blocked Sydney’s body while raising his gun at Jorge. With his injuries, his shot was garbage, only striking Jorge in the shoulder, but Jesse finished him off with a bullet to the head.
“He’s down.” That was almost too easy. But he’d take easy every day of the week. When he whirled to face Sydney, she was frowning. “What’s wrong?”
And then he felt it.
He’d been shot too.
“Hey, you good?” Jesse asked on approach, not looking all that worried.
“I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound,” he said, but Sydney didn’t seem to agree it was nothing.
She unstrapped her vest, tossed her bow and rifle, then ripped her shirt off and began wrapping the fabric like a tourniquet around his arm. “Bullet points only,” she hissed. “You’re not supposed to take an actual bullet for me.”
Beckett lifted his face to find her angry eyes focused as she continued to tighten her shirt around his arm.
“Hey, I sent word over comms to let everyone know our final HVT is down. They said all other threats have been extinguished. We should be safe to walk out,” Jesse informed them. Now Beckett could relax and let Sydney finish taking care of his arm.
But as she did so, his eyes lazily fell to her black bra. And he couldn’t help but tease, “This really is becoming a habit, Miss Archer.”
“Damn it, Cora. Don’t do this.” Beckett jerked his arm free from Griffin, who was attempting to patch up his flesh wound outside on the driveway of Jorge’s estate.
Cora was crouched before Miles, wiping tears away from her cheeks with one hand while holding his arm with the other. “I’m sorry, but I need to go. Thank you for bringing him back to me so I could say goodbye,” she said to Liam, who stood there with a confused look on his face.
Beckett knew Liam sure as hell hadn’t wanted to reunite a mother and child, only for them to separate. And like this, after what this poor kid just witnessed . . .
“ Te quiero mucho , Miles.” Cora now pointed at Beckett as tears filled Miles’s eyes. “This man will take care of you,” she dropped the news on them all in English, so Beckett assumed Miles was bilingual.
“Cora, do not leave him,” he begged again. “You chose to stay in his life. Don’t walk away from him like you walked away from McKenna.”
Cora shook her head, a sob catching in her throat when she said, “You were right to keep me away from her. I’m not cut out to be a mom.”
Beckett caught sight of Sydney talking to Gray at a distance, her profile to him. Gray had given her his T-shirt to cover up. Beckett blinked and returned his attention to the problem at hand.
Cora leaned in and kissed her son’s cheek before standing. “Ivy and I are going. We’ll find a new home. A fresh start. Maybe I’ll check in? But please, be the one to take care of him.”
Ivy was behind the wheel of a sports car she’d driven from the garage a few minutes ago, waiting for her sister to bail on her child. Again.
“ Mamá, no vayas. No, por favor !” Miles threw his arms around her leg and dropped his weight, nearly tugging her down to the ground with him. “No go. No, please,” he repeated in English, breaking Beckett’s heart.
What in the hell was he supposed to do? He couldn’t force Cora to stay with her son. Hell, even if she took him with her and Ivy, Beckett wouldn’t put it past her to hand him off to some stranger next month.
“You will be better without me, mi amor . You have a sister. Remember I told you about her. Showed you her pictures. Go be with her.”
Photos? You weren’t lying about that?
“ Mamá, no vayas,” Miles cried again, holding on tighter. Beckett looked around at the others still outside, but they’d all turned away, whether to give him privacy or unable to handle the heartbreaking sight.
Carter, Camila, Jesse, and a few others had gone inside Jorge’s estate, hoping to crack his safe and find the scientist’s formula and records of the secrets Jorge had traded for favors.
“ Cora, vamos !” Ivy yelled out the window and patted the side of the car, urging her to get a move on.
What the hell was wrong with these women? Did neither of them have a soul? Beckett lifted his good arm to set a hand to his aching chest, finding the emotional damage worse than any of the beatings he’d taken today.
“I’ll check in when I’m settled and safe.” Cora tried to pry Miles’s arms free, but he wasn’t relenting. “Help me, please.” She looked up at Beckett.
“You’re going to leave and start a new life. Just like that?” Beckett frowned. The woman was the devil in his eyes already, but this? This was cruel even for her.
“Take him, damn it,” she begged.
He cursed under his breath. “I’m so sorry,” Beckett said to Miles, then asked Liam to pick the boy up, worried he didn’t have the strength to handle a five-year-old’s resistance in the shape he was in.
Miles flailed in Liam’s arms while watching his mother run for the car. She stood outside the passenger door, gave her son one last look, and then they took off.
“Wait,” Sydney called out a second later. “Stop her.”
“She’s made up her mind.” Beckett looked back to see Sydney covering her ear while going for her gun.
“No, Jorge must’ve called for more reinforcements before we took him out,” Sydney yelled as Griffin and Gray drew their weapons in preparation for whoever was coming for them.
“Cora!” Beckett called out, limping after the car in vain, his sidearm now in hand. “It’s not safe! Stop!”
Cora turned on her seat and peered at him out the back window, but Ivy only pressed down on the gas pedal harder.
“How far out is the armed vehicle?” Beckett stopped running, realizing it was pointless. He couldn’t outrun a Mercedes even if he were uninjured.
Sydney didn’t have a chance to answer because a moment later, just as Ivy drove through the destroyed gated entrance, an SUV T-boned the little convertible.