Chapter Eight
Grayson
“Can everyone hear me?” Dominic said as he pulled up to the prison, parking in the spot the security guard at the gate told him to a minute ago.
The rest of us were in an prison van about half a mile down the road.
“Loud and clear,” Jake confirmed, double-checking his laptop screen as I adjusted my earpiece.
“Check,” I said.
“Hear you, Gray,” Dominic responded.
The rest of the team made sure their earpieces were working as I pulled out one of my blades, the metal glimmering in the sun. We’d be in Missouri in less than five hours. As soon as Dominic got confirmation from the prison for his appointment with Gelling, we headed to the airstrip.
Humbly and his men were working on locating the van Monica Larks had stolen over two days ago, contacting every police station up and down the coast. For now, Carrie’s location remained unknown. That was about to change the second I got my hands on her father. Despite his confessions during his trial and the notes from the FBI investigation, Bradley Gelling still had a lot more secrets he was hiding.
I intended to bring every single one of them out into the light.
“You boys ready?” Dominic asked us through our earpieces.
Hayes was in the driver’s seat, me beside him, Ash behind me, and Jake behind Hayes. I sheathed my blade and twisted my upper body, looking each of them in the eye, knowing what they were about to do for me and for Carrie could change their lives forever.
“Don’t get out yet,” I ordered Dominic.
Hayes turned his head to look at me, his hand falling from his face as his brows came together. Jake’s head snapped up from his laptop, his expression matching Hayes’ as Ash just stared at me, his jaw tight. “What you’re about to do for me—”
“This isn’t the first time we’ve broken the law for a hunt,” Ash cut in darkly.
“You don’t have to warn us about what we’re about to do, Gray,” Jake added. My eyes met his. “We know what we’re doing.”
Hayes remained silent, and Dominic said, “I’m here, Gray. I’m ready to walk through those doors and do what needs to be done.”
“This isn’t for a mission or a hunt, guys,” I reminded them, my voice harder than I expected it to be. “This isn’t an assignment. This is about my woman.”
“We’ve been over this, Gray,” Dominic sighed as Jake returned, “You claimed her. She’s under our protection now.”
“She’s a part of Red Snake,” Ash said firmly. “We protect our own.”
My eyes shot to his, seeing something so familiar in them—that was when it hit me. He cared for the woman he’d gone into Devils Den for seven months ago. This complicated things. I’d told him at the airstrip that when Carrie was safe, we’d start the hunt for the preacher’s wife. We held our gaze for some time until, eventually, he looked away, focusing on the warm winter weather outside.
“We’re here, Gray,” Hayes finally cut in, and I returned my attention to my right hand. He gave me a single nod. “Let’s get it done, yeah?”
I nodded and gave the order. “Go, Dominic.”
“Roger that,” he muttered.
I looked straight ahead again, my eyes on the prison sitting in the middle of a field while Ash went over the plan, the sun shining down on the cluster of red-bricked buildings. He’d be leading, Hayes covering his six, Jake behind him, and I’d be in the back, just in case we’d needed to tie up loose ends. All of us, except for Dominic, were dressed in full tactical gear, all black. Each of us had our own mask made of polycarbonate, each of them containing night vision, each painted differently.
I popped my neck, adjusting my bulletproof vest before looking down at my black mask, my fingers tracing over the white and red snakes etched into it. I’d always hated the damn things. I moved smoother without one, but I didn’t think Carrie would appreciate me getting shot before I killed her father.
“Thank you,” Dominic said to a prison employee.
“He’s in,” Jake said, typing on his keyboard. “Once he’s in the room, I’ll cut the signal before the scramble can get him.”
“And when we’re inside?” I prompted.
“The second we’re all inside, my computer will remotely kill the signal,” Jake explained, repeating what he’d told us on the plane. “From there, we’ll have ninety seconds to reach Dominic’s location, giving us a five minute-window once we reach the room.”
“If you want longer than that, we’re going to have to kidnap Gelling,” Ash said, a flicker of hope in his rough voice. He really wanted to beat the shit out of someone, and a human trafficker would be the perfect punching bag.
“Five minutes is plenty of time,” I assured them as Hayes put the SUV in drive, getting back on the road.
The boys and I were quiet as he came up to the back gate of the prison, and my jaw jumped as the guard stepped out, holding up his hand as Hayes slowed down.
“They never like to make it easy for us, do they?” Hayes drawled, putting a piece of gum in his mouth, reaching for the gun strapped to his thigh. None of the team had real guns with them today. We weren’t in the business of killing innocent people…but we were in the business of shooting them with tranquilizers while we got the job done.
Hayes stopped the SUV ten feet from the guard, calmly blowing a bubble with the gum.
Fuck.
“Did you—fucker, did you just put in a piece of gum?” Ash asked from the backseat, knowing what happened when Hayes Mitchell put a piece of chewing gum in his mouth.
Jake chuckled. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
I continued staring at my right hand, studying his profile. He’d shaved before we left Denver, and during the flight here, he’d been quiet, in his head. His jaw moved swiftly as he chewed the mint-flavored gum, the hand on the stirring wheel tightening as the security guard waved us forward. “How many you got, Doss?” Hayes asked, smiling at the guard.
I looked straight forward again, noting how the gate wasn’t opening for us yet.
“Thirteen,” Ash answered, getting his gun ready and pulling down his mask.
Jake put his laptop back into his backpack, appearing unbothered. “Simple enough,” he sighed, mask already on, pulling out out his gun.
A small smirk found my lips as Hayes looked at me, the guard at his window now. “Quickly?” he prompted, his green eyes shining with something I hadn’t seen in years.
I sighed, pulling down my mask. “And quietly,” I told him as he rolled down the window.
The guard didn’t have a chance to react as I lifted my gun and fired, the dart hitting him the shoulder. Hayes rolled up the window again as he pulled down his mask, a pair of silver wings standing out against the black, and shifted the van again before reversing, looking over his shoulder. Having done this time and time again, the boys and I remained quiet. Then, Hayes shifted again, slamming his foot down on the gas, and we launched forward.
“Ash,” I called, and I heard his door open.
“Already on it, boss,” he said, the popping of his gun followed. I looked over to see three guards in the watch towers closest to us fall. I rolled down my window, and right before Hayes crashed into the gate, I fired twice, hitting the remaining guards at the gate checkpoint.
We slammed into the gate, and Jake bit off a curse. “For fuck’s sake, Mitchell,” he muttered.
The vehicle bounced violently as Hayes drove us over the gate, gravel flying behind us as Ash, Jake, and I kept our eyes out for any other guards. “So much for quietly,” I muttered as he parked five feet in front of our entry point.
Hayes, now in a different mindset, winked at me as he pulled the keys out of the ignition and tossed them to me. I caught them and opened my door, turning and scanning for anymore guards.
I heard Jake open his door before he fired. My eyes sliced back to him to see a guard falling in the distance, a guard dog with him. Jake looked at me. “I’m not shooting the dog.”
“Then don’t,” Ash clipped from behind his mask, the blue skull on it flashing in the sunlight. “Let’s roll.”
Within seconds, we were in formation, heading for the door. I turned my back to them, gun at the ready, surveying the damaged we’d left. The dog was charging for me, his sharp teeth bared. I whistled low, something I’d learned in during my time in the Marines, and the dog stopped, tilting his head to the side as Ash kicked the door in. I heard the boys moving now, and I backed up, following my team inside before slamming the door shut behind me.
“Ninety seconds starts now,” Jake whispered.
Hayes looked at the wall, finding a row of light switches and shutting them all off. Darkness surrounded us, and we heard the sounds of the prisoners bouncing off the concrete walls around us. The night vision in our masks activated, giving us the advantage.
“Move out,” I ordered. We assumed our stances, knees bent, arms stretched, guns pointed, and we moved, Ash leading the pack. As we made our way down the first hall, I shifted, walking backward, sweeping my gun back and forth.
“Right,” Jake instructed me from behind, making sure I followed.
A guard ran into the hall as we rounded the corner, and without a second thought, I fired, hitting him in the shoulder. He dropped in the darkness, his handgun landing on the tile floor with a clatter. I turned back around, knowing we were close to our destination, and reloaded. Seconds later, we arrived, surrounding the door as Ash and Jake kept watch and Hayes knocked three times, then four, letting Dominic know it was us.
Not even a second later, the door opened, and the light from the room flooded the hall. He moved to the side, and I charged in, the men following behind me as my eyes landed on Carrie’s father.
“What’s going on?” he demanded, frantically looking at me and my team.
Ignoring him and the panic in his tone, I lifted my mask, watching as he flinched, his chain on the table rattling.
“Who—who are you?” he asked as the door closed behind me.
I almost smiled, knowing I was about to give this asshole a taste of hell.
Jake moved around me and the table, heading for the corner where the camera was. He clicked his tongue in disappointment as he slapped a small magnetic device to the side of it, and then a cruel smile stretched across my face as the recording light switched off. Jake stayed in the corner, leaning against the wall, and pulled off his mask. I looked over my shoulder to see Ash put his back against the door, his gun at his side. Hayes came around the table, his green eyes on Gelling as he came to stand directly behind him. He lifted his mask, ignoring the way Gelling was gawking up at him in horror.
“Remember, we’re on a time limit, Gray,” my right hand reminded me as he stepped back, leaning against the wall before folding his arms over his chest.
Gelling looked over at his shoulder at Hayes before twisting back to look at me, his eyes on my scar. “W-what’s going on? Was there a raid?”
I looked over to Dominic, who was dressed in a three-piece suit, holding Gelling’s file in his hands.
“He say anything to you yet?” I asked.
Dominic chuckled as he moved to side at the side of the table, his dark blue eyes on the prisoner. “He told me to go fuck myself.”
Fucker had balls, I’d give him that.
“I see.” I put my tongue in my cheek and looked back to Gelling, studying him.
He was in his mid-sixties, shorter than I expected. His skin was pale and glistening with sweat, his chest heaving with every short, hurried breath he took. I cocked my head to the side as he asked who we were again, like he had any kind of power here.
In a flash, I leaned over the table, my hand shooting out, wrapping around his neck. As my fingers pressed in, my palm pressed against his Adam’s apple, cutting his airway off, my upper lip curled. “I’m a friend of your daughter’s,” I growled.
His eyes widened, his pale, weathered skin turning a dark red, almost purple. He kicked his feet and lifted his cuffed hands, the chain snapping against the metal table. The darkness inside me laughed, enjoying the sight of one of Carrie’s abusers suffering at my hand, and suddenly, I was contemplating kidnapping him.
“If we did take him,” I began casually, “where would we put him?”
“We can’t take him, Gray,” Dominic replied just as casually, flipping through his file as if he were reading the morning newspaper. “We don’t have time for strays.”
“He isn’t a stray,” Ash rumbled from behind me, hatred dripping from every word. “He’s a damn parasite.”
Reluctantly, I released Gelling, relishing in the way he gasped for air before coughing violently. “We have some questions for you, Bradley,” I told him, rising back to my full height.
He glared up at me. “You know my daughter? Are you one of Jones’ men?”
He wasn’t referring to Jeremy Jones; rather, his uncle. “You’re not in the position to be asking me questions, so I suggest you shut your mouth unless you’re giving me an answer, that clear?”
Apparently, it wasn’t clear enough. “Who do you work for?” he barked out, jerking in his chains.
Within seconds, I was leaning over the table again, blade in hand, his tongue pinched between my fingers, yanking it out as far as it would go. A noise came from him as I pressed my blade to his tongue, snarling at him. “Don’t test me, Gelling. I’m not a patient man.”
He began to shake as he met my eyes. I pressed the blade further into the bottom of his tongue, pinching it harder between my fingers. “We’re here to ask you some questions about your dead son-in-law,” I told him as he whimpered, closing his eyes for a moment.
In the next second, the smell of piss filled my nostrils. A slow smirk formed on my face. This wasn’t the first time a man had pissed in fear in front of me, and it wouldn’t be the last. A dark chuckle rumbled up from the back of my throat. “You’re pathetic. You know that, don’t you?”
Gelling’s eyes opened again, and I released him, rising back up as I asked, “Why was your daughter’s husband chopped up by the Russian Mafia?”
Gelling’s voice shook as he answered, “I made a deal, and it went south. Robert’s life was the payment.”
My eyes flicked up to Hayes. “Was Robert into the same sick shit you are?”
The old man shook his head, shaming coating his features. “No,” he sighed. “Robert was a good man.”
No, he wasn’t. “Who is Monica Larks?” I asked, studying his face.
The corner of his left eye twitched. “H—how do you know about Monica?”
“Who is she?” I repeated firmly, twisting the blade in my hand.
“She is—was Robert’s lover.”
Anger boiled in my gut. “You knew he had a lover and still let Carrie walk down the aisle.”
Gelling’s face changed then, and slowly, he sat back. “Robert was Carrie’s only shot. It was a business transaction.”
“Did Carrie know that?” I shot back, my upper lip curling.
The man looked confused for a moment, shaking his head. “Carrie wouldn’t have been worth anything if she couldn’t secure a good marriage. Robert was a good candidate. They looked good together and gave me the publicity I needed to win the election.”
“Which went to shit when you decided to use children as fucking currency,” Ash growled from behind me.
“Two minutes,” Dominic warned from beside me.
“Right,” I began and pointed the blade at Gelling. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about Robert fucking Hale, and you’re going to do it quickly. If I don’t have everything I need from you in sixty seconds, I’m taking your tongue with me. Okay, pumpkin?”
Gelling tried to shoot up from his seat, but Hayes was there, shoving him back down as the chains rattled. Jake laughed. “Where the hell were you going to go, old man?”
I leaned over the table again and pressed the tip of the blade against Gelling’s lips as he thrashed in the seat, Hayes holding him down by the shoulders. “I suggest you start talking. Now,” I told him.
Sixty seconds later, we had more intel on Robert Hale than ever before.
Hayes held Bradley Gelling’s head back as I forced his jaw open and yanked out the abuser’s tongue, pulling it as far as it would go. Tears were streaming down his face now as incoherent sounds came from him, pleading for mercy as he kicked and thrashed, bucking his body, desperate for freedom.
He wouldn’t find any here.
I leaned down, fuming as I pressed the blade to the bottom of his tongue once more. “Rot in hell, you son of a bitch,” I growled just before I sliced the muscle at the root.
Blood squirted everywhere as Hayes and I released him, the tongue landing on the table with a splat . Gelling screamed, his face red as his eyes squeezed shut. He thrashed and fell out of the chair, landing on his side, a steady stream of blood pouring from his mouth as he continued wailing.
Jake shook his head. “For fuck’s sake, that’s going to get annoying,” he said calmly as he pushed off the wall and kicked Gelling in the back of the head, knocking him out.
“Ready, boys?” Ash called.
Jake and Hayes put on their masks as I turned to face Ash, pulling down my own. Dominic packed up his suitcase and buttoned his suit jacket. “I’m famished.”
Hayes shook his head. “You’re always thinking about food,” he noted as he pulled out a wool mask from his cargo pants and tossed it to Dominic.
“Gray,” Ash called, his hand on the door. “You killing him or not?”
I looked back to Carrie’s father lying in a pool of blood. “Nah, this world isn’t done with him yet.”
We got into formation, Dominic in the middle, and Ash opened the door.
Ten minutes later, we were packed into the van, flying down the interstate as Jake pulled up Robert’s alias.
I’m coming for you, Sunshine.