Chapter 21
Chapter
Twenty-One
“Thunder just saw them,” Blade said, coming to an abrupt halt, causing Dragon to almost crash into him.
“Saw who?” Steel demanded.
Dragon held his breath as he awaited the answer. Had he seen both girls, or had he seen both of them and the man who was trying to abduct them? Or was it the man who had abducted them, and only one of the two missing women?
“Cassandra running off into the forest and a man following her,” Blade replied.
Good news and bad.
It meant Cassandra was alive, relatively unharmed, at least enough to be mobile, but she was trying to make her escape, and she was being followed. Would the man after her still try to contain her or would he decide it was easier to just kill her and cut his losses?
And where was Rose?
There was no way to ask that question since Blade was with them, and Thunder didn't have the same enhanced hearing. No way to ask any of the dozen or so questions burning on the tip of his tongue.
So they all picked up the pace again, running through the secret tunnels that ran between walls and underground, jumping over debris along the way, as they searched for the way out. They knew there was one because this was the way Thunder had come, and he’d obviously found his way out.
He’d just scented fresh air, when Blade obviously heard another update from Thunder.
“Rose is in a van, parked about thirty yards from where we’re going to exit, around the back of the building,” Blade informed them all.
“Is she …” Steel trailed off, no doubt unable to verbalize the question they were all wondering.
“Alive,” Blade assured him, and their team leader let out a shaky breath. “Thunder is staying with her in case this guy is working with a partner.”
Even though he knew it was the right call, Rose was unconscious and Cassandra was awake and trying to escape, he hated the idea of her out there alone somewhere, running for her life, with no idea they were only minutes away from coming after her.
Pushing himself harder, ignoring the thrumming pain that hadn't left him since he regained consciousness after the explosion, the others followed close on his heels as he burst out into the ice-cold night.
Above them, the sky was clear, a myriad of stars shimmering like someone had doused the atmosphere with glitter, the moon full and round, shining down upon them. If Cassandra had been safe beside him, he probably would have thought it was a beautiful night.
Now all he could think of was that he’d promised his little rabbit he’d keep her safe, and yet he’d left her alone, and she’d been kidnapped. Now that he was out there, away from the bleach, the dust hanging heavily in the air, he could smell Cassandra’s fear and the acrid scent of vomit.
And blood, he could smell blood.
Steel had bolted right for where Thunder said the van was parked, the others following him, and Dragon forced himself to follow as well. Running off randomly into the forest would take longer to find Cassandra than checking in with Thunder first, and learning which direction they’d gone in.
By the time he joined the others at the lone vehicle in the parking lot, Steel was on his knees, an unmoving Rose in his arms. Voodoo was crouched beside them, ignoring Steel’s protective growl to place his fingers on the woman’s neck, his own injury long since forgotten, or maybe already mostly healed.
“Pulse is strong, she’s going to be fine, the drugs just need to work their way out of her system,” Voodoo assured Steel as Dragon scanned the tree line not far from the van.
From the splattered blood and vomit in the van, it was clear that Cassandra had either woken up or never been entirely unconscious, then attacked her would-be abductor and made a run for it.
The blood was from her attacker, he could tell by its scent, but the vomit was from her.
Because of the drugs, or was she more injured than he wanted to consider?
“She went that way,” Thunder told him, stepping up beside him and pointing to the closest line of trees where he would have expected Cassandra to head if she was trying to run away.
“Was she injured?” Of course, she had to have some injuries, she’d been in that building along with the rest of them, there was no way she’d walk away completely unharmed. What he was really asking, without actually asking, was whether it looked like any of those injuries were life-threatening.
“It was dark, and I only got a glimpse of her. She was weaving a little, but she was up and on her feet and running like her life depended on it,” Thunder replied.
Not needing to hear anymore, Dragon took off. He knew the direction the two had headed, he didn't need to be able to see, although his night vision goggles afforded him that. All he had to do was follow his nose to find them.
“Thunder, Blade, go with him,” Steel ordered behind him, and Dragon could hear the others following him, but he didn't slow down.
The three of them ran, the other two following his lead, although he was sure Blade could hear where Cassandra and the man chasing her were without having to follow him. The closer they got, the stronger the scent of Cassandra’s fear became. She knew her life was over if she was caught.
“Wait,” Blade suddenly ordered.
No way in hell.
When he kept running, both Blade and Thunder grabbed him, shoving him up against a tree. He fought against them like a wild animal. Cassandra wasn't far away, and he had to get to her.
“He got her,” Blade hissed in his ear. “You go running in like a maniac, and there’s nothing to stop him from killing her.”
Much as he hated to admit it, the growing scent of Cassandra’s fear confirmed his teammate’s words.
Worse than that, he could smell something else.
Something that made him want to throw up.
“He’s going to rape her,” he growled.
“Like hell he is,” Blade shot back.
“We’ll get to her before he does it,” Thunder quickly added.
“Thunder will go in first as a distraction,” Blade said. “Then we’ll follow. You get Cassandra, and I’ll take care of her attacker.”
“No,” Dragon quickly refuted. “I’m killing the man for daring to lay a finger on what’s mine.
” The moment Cassandra had shared with him her secrets, what she liked when it came to sex, and the fears she had, the guilt she’d heaped on her own shoulders, about how that related to her own conception, she’d sealed her fate.
She had handed herself—mind, body, and soul—over to him, and while he wasn't the best person to treat them with the tender care they deserved, nobody would defend her more fiercely than he would.
After exchanging a nod, his friends backed up, slowly releasing their holds on him. Knowing they didn't have time to discuss their plan in any more detail than they already had, Dragon jerked his head at Thunder, who quickly took off, he and Blade following.
A mere two hundred yards or so away, Dragon heard them.
“Don’t,” Cassandra cried out. “He’ll kill you for touching me.”
“He’s dead, sweetheart,” another voice sneered. “Don’t you get it? The others all died in the explosion. No one is coming to save you. No one is going to stop this from happening.”
Another fifty yards and he saw them.
Cassandra, on the ground, lying on her stomach, the man above her pressing his hands into her back to pin her in place.
Despite the position she was trapped in, his little rabbit did what she always did, she fought back.
She was fighting with a desperation that filled him with pride, broke his heart, and ignited his rage.
“What the hell?” the man shouted as Thunder streaked toward him.
Caught off-guard, he shifted off Cassandra as he reached for his weapon, and trusting Blade to do whatever it took to protect his girl, Dragon launched himself at the man who dared to think he could touch what didn't belong to him.
Every emotion he’d ever suppressed, every single drop of anger he’d ever felt toward his family and Dr. Gardner, all exploded out of him as he took Cassandra’s attacker to the ground, and finally, at thirty-three years old, allowed the red haze of fury to consume him.
January 9th
10:01 P.M.
One second, her foot was catching on something, and Cassandra was landing hard on her hands and knees on the unforgiving forest ground. The next, her assailant was on her, shoving her further down, telling her what he was going to do to her.
And then … he was just … gone.
A scuffle behind her had her attempting to drag herself back up onto her feet. She had to take advantage of this opportunity to run. There might not be another.
While she prayed like she’d never prayed before that the man was wrong, and that Dragon and the others weren't dead, just trapped in the building and trying to make their way out, she couldn’t rely on anyone to come swooping in to save her.
If she wanted to live, she had to keep fighting.
Stopping even for a second could literally mean the difference between life and death.
So Cassandra summoned strength she didn't have, did her best to ignore the drugs still in her system, and got to her feet.
She took no more than two steps forward before she collided with a wall of solid muscle.
Muscle, not a tree, she could tell by the heat emanating from it, and she’d certainly crashed into enough trees on her run through the forest.
A whimper escaped as hands closed around her biceps.
He had a partner. Of course he did. The man who had broken into her home did too.
She should have known there would be another one of them out there.
Should have been more careful, not lost her footing, not fallen, not taken so long to get back up.
“Shh, Cassandra,” a voice soothed when she began to fight against the hands gripping her.
Couldn’t stop.
Had to fight.
Survive.