Chapter Thirteen #2
Smoke canisters rolled toward us, small black cylinders that hissed and spewed thick white chemical fog across the floor.
Then more flashbangs. Three of them in rapid succession, each detonation a white-hot spike through my skull that left my ears ringing and my vision swimming with afterimages.
Someone had planned this and done a Goddamned good job of it.
Quiet explosives, localized breach, smoke and disorientation rather than sustained gunfire.
A surgical strike designed to get in, grab what they wanted, and get out without drawing police helicopters and SWAT teams.
I couldn’t see Sully through the smoke, but I could hear him fire off two rounds from the pistol he’d gotten from the weapons locker.
I had managed to snag a gun myself before leaving the safe room, even as my eyes streamed tears and I coughed and coughed.
The handgun I snatched had a full clip and I found two more next to it.
Now, I swiped the back of my hand over my eyes and tried to keep my gaze on Sully and Riot to have a point of reference in case I had to cover one of them.
I flicked the safety off with my thumb, the weight of it familiar from the hours I’d spent at shooting ranges since I’d started looking for my sister, teaching myself to be dangerous because no one else was going to teach me.
Grant it, I’d never had to use a gun while blind, deaf, and barely able to walk.
My fucking muscles felt like Jell-O after the concussion grenades.
Sully materialized out of the smoke at my left, his face grim and focused.
He looked at me -- at the gun in my hands -- and didn’t say a word about getting back in the panic room.
He just jerked his head forward and moved, and I fell in behind.
I knew from earlier discussions that most of the men were protecting Haven, but once they had everyone there secure in a safe room, they’d all head our way.
We moved away from the hall out into the open room where we had better cover and less chance of being bottled in.
Shapes moved in the smoke ahead of us, dark silhouettes that didn’t belong here.
Sully fired twice more and one of the shapes dropped.
I heard Riot somewhere to our right, his voice a snarled command followed by the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor.
Shouts and raised voices echoed against the walls around me but with my ears still stunned, I couldn’t make out the words.
Darby must have slipped out of the panic room because she was twenty feet to the left of me, pressed against the wall with a knife in her hand.
One of the attackers had her pinned against a support column, one meaty hand wrapped around her throat while he went for his pistol with the other.
Darby’s face was flushed dark, her teeth bared as she fought like a wildcat, trying to break his hold.
I didn’t think. I raised the pistol and fired.
The round punched through the man’s right shoulder.
In the same instant Darby drove her knife into his side, low and hard, angling up under his ribs and stabbing him several times before shoving him off her.
The man’s mouth opened in a soundless scream as he crumpled sideways, hitting the floor in a pool of spreading blood.
Darby stepped back from the wall, rubbing her throat. She caught my eye through the thinning smoke and her lips curled into something that was half grin, half bared teeth. “Thanks,” she rasped.
“Any time.” I moved past her, trying to stay low to make myself a smaller target and to find a spot to see through the haze around us.
The fight was over faster than I expected.
Iron’s team likely hadn’t planned on the club returning or rebounding from the initial surprise so quickly.
Within minutes, the compound crawled with Kiss of Death members who’d poured back through the gates like a tide of fury.
The smoke dissipated as a couple of men went around opening windows as they secured the place.
I still hadn’t spotted anyone other than the man who’d attacked Darby.
Which meant I’d missed the core of the fighting.
Cool night air rushed in, and the vast interior resolved itself.
Two downed attackers and one more lay face down being zip-tied by Tiny and Gunnar with casual efficiency.
Griffin came through the door last, weapon drawn, scanning every corner with those deep-set green eyes until they found me.
I stood in the middle of the room with the pistol still in my hands.
My ears rang. My hands trembled with the crash of adrenaline, a fine vibration I couldn’t stop no matter how hard I gripped the gun. I probably looked half feral.
Griffin stopped in front of me. His gaze pinned me.
I still held the gun, painfully aware of the downed man I’d shot, still groaning and clutching his side where Darby’s knife had found him.
Then Griffin looked back at me and his fierce expression let me see exactly the kind of warrior lived inside Griffin.
“You OK?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” My voice came out steadier than I felt. “Were they after me?”
“Likely.” He didn’t ask why I wasn’t in the panic room. He didn’t tell me I should have stayed hidden. He just reached out and squeezed my shoulder once, firm and grounding, and then stepped past me to help deal with the aftermath.
I turned back to the man on the floor, the one who’d had his hands around Darby’s throat. He lay on his side, groaning as blood pooling under him from the knife wound.
I walked over to him and drove my boot between his legs with every ounce of rage I’d been carrying since the night I crawled out of Enclave éclipse, surrounded by the bodies of people I’d worked with.
His howl echoed through the warehouse, a high, thin sound that bounced off the concrete walls and made Tiny look up with raised eyebrows.
“That’s for my sister, you piece of shit,” I said, and turned away from him.
Gunnar snagged Griffin as he stomped his way in my direction, phone to his ear. Griffin looked confused, but followed without a word. When Gunnar reached me, he held my gaze as he continued to speak to the caller. “Hannah, I’m giving the phone to Veda. Tell her what you’ve got.”
My gaze darted to Griffin before going back to Gunnar and taking the phone. “Hannah? What’s going on?”
“Veda. One of the women here knew Tessa by name, asking if we found another woman on another transport.” Hannah spoke calmly, but I could hear her anxiety as she spoke.
“If she’s right, and she admits she can’t be sure how much she imagined and how much actually happened, but she says Iron took Tessa from where they were held two days ago. ”
I felt the breath leave my lungs. “She’s alive?”
“Two days ago, yes. At least, I think it’s been two days. They drugged the women so she said it could be more or less. From what I could piece together, ‘special handling’ means she’s young enough to pass as a virgin.”
“I swear to God, Hannah. I’m gonna find Iron and when I do, I will kill him and make him suffer every indignity I can think of.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone and I thought I’d either lost Hannah, or I’d said too much and pushed Hannah away. I should have known better.
“On my word as Knuckles’ old lady, bringing the full weight of my husband’s position as president of Kiss of Death, Veda, I will make sure you have this kill.”
I’m not sure I could have been more surprised at anything she might have said. “Are you shittin’ me right now? Making fun of me?” I didn’t see it of the woman, but I had only known her a short time.
“No, Veda.” She didn’t sound like she took offense. In fact, she sounded gravely serious. “I mean what I say. And I make good on my promises.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m sorry I said that. Thank you for calling me.”
“Nothing to be sorry for. You’re one of us, Veda. No matter what happens next. You’re one of us, and we will protect you with the full weight of the club. You and your sister. And that means getting the retribution you feel is fitting for the crime.”
I lowered the phone in a daze. Griffin stepped close, reaching out to touch my hand and, very slowly, pulled me closer to him.
I handed Gunnar his phone, adding softly, “Thank you.”
Griffin found me again a few minutes later. I was sitting on the floor with my back against the wall and the gun resting on my thigh, staring at nothing. He lowered himself down beside me, close enough that our shoulders touched, and didn’t say a word.
“She’s alive,” I whispered. “They think she’s still alive. At least she was two days ago.”
Griffin’s jaw clenched and his hand tightened on mine. “I promised you I’ll bring her home and I will. I’ll bring her home, no matter what.”
I looked up into his eyes and finally voiced the one concern I hadn’t dared to ask myself. “What if she’s not alive, Griffin?”
“I’ll bring her home anyway. You will get your sister back, Veda. I can’t promise she’ll be alive, but I can promise you that I’ll bring her home.”
I nodded at him, exhaling a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “OK. I believe you.” I wasn’t lying. And that was probably the most surprising thing of all.