43. Brooks
CHAPTER 43
brOOKS
Fuckety fuck. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was in over my head. We were barely here for ten minutes, and I was already escorting a girl, who I’d bet my right kidney wasn’t eighteen yet, and drugged out of her mind to…honestly I had no fucking idea. I figured Luca wanted me to get her out of here, but how? There were guards everywhere and we couldn’t make a scene before we had Matty.
I scanned the ballroom and found an empty table. “C’mon, sweetheart, let’s get you to a chair.”
She mumbled something but I couldn’t make out her words. We walked past a waiter with a tray in his hands. I stopped him before he could slip past us.
“Excuse me, can we get some water please? My friend had a little too much to drink.”
He gave me a look like he didn’t believe a fucking word out of my mouth, but finally nodded.
“Yes, sir, of course.”
I jerked my head to the closest table. “Thank you. I’m just bringing her over there.”
Once we were seated, and I helped her drink half the glass of water, Maverick started talking in my ear. It was hard to get used to all the voices since I usually just dealt with Diego. Even though this was my third time in this situation it was still a little overwhelming. Especially right now while Luca conducted a casual conversation about buying people. Fuck, I couldn’t wait to get back to stealing again. This was level 1 million in the mercenary game, and I was not ready.
“Brooks, see if you can get her talking at all. Her name, age, where she’s from, how she knows Tanner. Anything that can help Diego find out who she is.”
I wiped a stray hair out of the girls face. She still was out of it, but the water seemed to help.
“Hey,” I said gently, “Are you hungry? There seems to be a ton of food here?”
She shook her head. “N-no. I feel sick.”
“Are you going to throw up? I can find a bathroom?”
But she shook her head. “Okay, let me know if that changes. My name is Brooklyn,” we had agreed to use my full name instead of Brooks, just on the very off chance someone recognized the name Brooks, “What’s yours?”
She looked up at me, her eyes still a little unfocused, but in much better shape, “They call me Lucy.”
Okay…
“It’s probably an alias B. See if she will give you her real name.” Diego told me absently, half his attention on something else.
“But that’s not your real name?”
“No, I’m not supposed to use it though. Tanner will be so mad.”
I wanted to tell her Tanner could shove it up the ass, but I figured that wouldn’t be helpful.
“It’s okay. It’ll be our secret.”
“It’s Amara. But no one has called me that since they took me from my brother.”
I hated this fucking place already. I found myself scanning the crowd. It was fairly obvious who was the ‘elite’ and who was a guest. How many of these guests were here willingly? It made me fucking sick.
“Amara, that’s really pretty.” I told, trying to keep her calm and talking. It didn’t have the desired affect. She started panicking.
“Tanner is gonna be so angry.”
“I won’t tell him. I swear. How old are you, Amara?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure.” She looked like she was going to panic again so I just held her hand.
“That’s okay. No big deal.”
“Brooks, one of our guys will be passing you. He’s going to spill a tray of drinks on you two. You’ll have to go get cleaned up. We have someone that’s going to take Amara, pretending to get her changed, she’s going to get her out of here.”
“Thank fuck.” Amara didn’t even blink at me talking to myself.
I looked at her. “Things are about to be a bit weird, but trust me, okay?”
She had no reason to, obviously, but she still gave me a small nod, just before a waiter with a tray full of drinks was ‘bumped into’ and all the drinks came crashing right on top of us.
“The fuck?” I snapped jumping up and forgetting that I probably should have had a classier response than that, but to be honest, it still fucking shocked me even knowing it was about to happen. Amara took it better than me, or maybe she was still trying to come back from the effects of the drugs. Either way she just kind of stood there dripping wet in a dress that probably cost thousands of dollars.
“I’m so sorry sir,” Luca’s guy stammered, a much better actor than me. “I’ll get towels right away.”
“Towels won’t do anything. We need to get changed. Now!” I snapped when he didn’t respond right away. We were drawing an audience, and I really fucking hoped no one went and found Tanner before we got Amara out of here.
“O-of course sir. Please, both of you this way.” I helped Amara around the puddle of liquor, as two other waiters ran over to clean it up.
“Brooks, one of Leo’s team is in the bathroom waiting for Amara. Her name is Kate. She will be dressed like a server. Tell her to go with her.” Maverick informed me.
I leaned in close to the girl, who looked kind of terrified. “There’s a woman in the bathroom waiting for you. Her name is Kate. She’ll get you out of here. Trust her.”
Amara didn’t answer and I prayed she did what we said. I know she had no way to know if she could truly trust me, so all I could do was hope Kate was convincing.
“Miss,” Luca’s guy—I really needed to find out his name—said to Amara, “If you could go right through there, one of the staff will be coming with a new dress.”
Amara looked at me bewildered. I just smiled encouragingly. “Th-thank you.” I gave her one last nod and she went into the woman’s bathroom. It was all I could do for her right now, and I hoped she got out okay.
“Sir, if you can come this way please?”
I nodded to our guy wondering where he was going to lead us, when our coms went off with a voice I didn’t recognize.
“I know where Matthew is. I just heard the staff whispering. He’s in a cage in a room past the kitchen.”
“Can you get there, Perez?” Maverick asked.
“No. They got eyes on the staff at all times. I had to sneak into the bathroom to tell you this.”
“Okay, get back then. We can’t let them get suspicious yet. Brooks, this will be on you.”
“How do I get there?” The suit was sticking to me now, and freaking reeked, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t get to change.
“Working on it,” Diego came through. “Hang on.”
I was standing in the middle of a staff hallway in a ruined Alexander McQueen suit, with a merc dressed like a waiter. We weren’t exactly inconspicuous. But Diego was quick with his shit and soon had instructions on the best way for me to get there without being noticed.
“There’s an out of service staircase in that room that’s for employees only. It leads right outside to an alley. Mav and Skye can pick you up there.”
“What about Luca?”
“Luc can handle himself, Brooks,” Maverick told me, “You focus on getting the kid.”
I hated this. I didn’t want to leave Luca in the middle of the viper nest, even if I knew he could take care of himself. But I also understood he’d be pissed if I had the opportunity to get Matty and didn’t take it.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Good, Brooks. I trust you to do this,” Maverick said, his tone so fucking serious, even I believed him. That was when I realized I wasn’t hearing Luca at all anymore.
“Why can’t I hear Luca?”
“I blocked his channel for now,” Diego told me, “You don’t need to hear that. I’m monitoring it. Don’t worry, B he’s safe.”
I didn’t want to know. Diego sounded strained, and I hated that he had to deal with all of this on his own. Wes was there, but the hacking and computer stuff wasn’t his strong suit.
“Yo, Daniels, what the fuck are you doing in here?” Both me and Luca’s guy jumped at the sound of another guy, dressed similarly to Luca’s guy. Daniels I guessed was his name, who was standing at the end of the hallway, his arms crossed and looking pissed.
“Sorry, boss. I was just helping our guest get cleaned up there was an accident.”
The guy frowned. “Well hurry up. Mr. Andreev is on his way down. It’s all hands on deck.”
“Yes, sir.” The guy left, muttering under his breath. Daniels looked at me. “I gotta go. Are you good?”
“Uh, yeah.” He knocked my shoulder in an encouraging gesture and left, leaving me alone.
“Brooks, you have to hurry up before Andreev gets Matty. This will be a lot harder if we have to extract him from the middle of the party.” Maverick informed me calmly.
Right. I took off down the hallway, following Diego’s instructions on where to find him.
I stripped my soaking wet jacket off once I was out of the main area and stashed it behind a plant. It wasn’t the best hiding place, but it was slowing me down. I threw out a silent apology for fucking up a suit that cost more than I make in a year, then tossed my tie with it before running off.
“Well I’m glad we put your camera in your necklace and not on your jacket.” Diego said, his tone dry.
Oops/ I honestly forgot all about it but was glad I insisted on the choker like necklace. It felt like a collar, even if it wasn’t one, and I wouldn’t end up ditching it accidentally like I just did with the jacket.
I turned down another hallway, and into the utility room, still following Diego’s instructions. I was going the long way, but hopefully I’d avoid everyone and end up inside the small room behind the kitchen.
It took way longer than I liked, and my anxiety was ramping up. I was sure by the time I got there Andreev would’ve moved Matty and we’d be screwed. I picked up my pace.
“Okay, B, there should be two doors to your right.”
I glanced over there. “Yup.”
“One of them isn’t labeled. Go into that one, but be careful.”
Crouching in between the doors, I quietly started to open it, half expecting a booby trap or something. But nothing happened when it creaked open. No alarm went off, no one came running.
I reached for the knife I didn’t have. We couldn’t bring any weapons in. I felt so fucking naked. I took a deep breath, and stayed crouched as I creeped through the opening of the door.
My eyes locked on the cage immediately. It was across the room in a corner in the dark. I could just make out someone cowered in the corner.
“I see him.” I whispered. The room looked empty besides the cage, and the only sound was the low sobs coming from the cage.
I was waiting for a cue on what to do next when I heard, “This is Diego.”
“What’s going on?” I whispered but no one answered me. We probably were all confused, but D wasn’t talking to us.
“Sorry to be an asshole, but I’m I the middle of an emergency here, is this urgent?”
Who the fuck was Diego talking to?
Mav and Skye were whispering to each other, trying to figure out what was going on, but I tuned them all out. Matty had stopped crying, and he was the only one I could currently help.
“Is someone there?” He called out.
I had to make a decision here. I didn’t see or hear anyone, and the whole point of this was to get him out.
I stood to my full height and stepped out of the shadows.
The last thing I heard was, “It’s a fucking trap Brooks. Get your ass out of there!” Then before I could do anything, I felt the cold, hard metal off a gun pressed against my temple.
“Don’t fucking move,” an angry voice with a strong accent snapped, pushing the gun a little harder into my head and causing me to wince.
“Hey, man, relax,” I prayed he couldn’t hear the tremble in my voice as I carefully raised my hands above my head.
I couldn’t see the fucker at all from the angle he was standing at, but I could see Matty. He had shuffled forward in his cage and was staring at us with wide eyes. I met his doing my best to show him a relaxed front even if I was freaking the fuck out in the back of my head. I prayed Matty got the message of don’t do anything stupid . He must have because he stayed quiet even if he looked terrified.
“We’re coming Brooks,” Maverick’s strong and calm voice came through the coms, “Just stay calm and do everything he says. The fact that he didn’t shoot first and ask questions later is a good sign. Don’t provoke him and stay the fuck alive. We’re coming for you.”
I couldn’t respond, obviously, but it helped steel my resolve some. I pushed all the very graphic visions of my body on the ground with my brain splattered around me to the back of my mind. I had to get out of this alive.
“What are you doing in here?” The guy snarled, “This is a restricted area.”
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to! My date, he left me, and I waited for a while, but he wasn’t coming back, so I got bored and started to look for him and…”
The guy jabbed me harder causing me to stumble and tears formed in my eyes.
“And somehow you stumbled upon this room?” He asked full of disbelief.
I shrugged, well as much as I could anyway. “I-I like to explore. I got nosy. But I wasn’t looking for anything. I wasn’t trying to cause trouble. I swear!”
The man grunted, but he still hadn’t shot me. That had to be a good thing. “Let’s go, we’ll let the boss decide what to do with you. You’re pretty enough, you could be of use.”
I had noticed through all this my coms had gone noticeably silent. The only voice I could hear was Maverick. Did Diego shut off all my other connections? If he did, I was glad for it now, because I was overwhelmed enough, I didn’t need a million voices in my head.
“We’re almost there, sweetheart. Try not to leave the room, but don’t risk yourself. We’ll find you.” Maverick’s soothing tone was the only thing keeping me from freaking the fuck out.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I could do this.
The guy grabbed my arm roughly and started to drag me out of the room. My mind raced trying to think of what I should do. I could probably fight off his grip, but that damn gun had me paralyzed. Had I mentioned how much I hate those damn things? I couldn’t even tell you why but since I was a little kid, I’ve been terrified of them. And with one getting so familiar with the right side of my head, I could safely say the feeling hadn’t changed.
“Wait!”
My heart sunk as Matty spoke for the first time.
The guy whirled me around roughly, his fingers digging into my bicep. The gun was moved to the back of my neck.
“What do you want?” He snapped.
The cage was small, Matty couldn’t sit up fully, but he sat up as far as he could.
“I-I’m sorry. Just please, don’t leave me here alone again. I-I’ll be good. I won’t cause any more problems. I-Can’t be alone anymore.” He finished on a sob.
Damn this kid was good, though he was probably telling the truth on how he felt, even if I was pretty positive he was trying to help me.
The guy laughed harshly. “That’s not my fucking problem. Besides you won’t be alone for long.”
He whirled me around again and started to drag me to the door.
I started to fight back, making myself dead weight, slowing him down. “Wait! Where are you taking me? Please!” I begged.
He muttered something in another language, probably cursing me out, and shifted the gun, just enough so it wasn’t pressing up against me. With my eyes closed I prayed to every deity I could possibly think of then brought my foot back to kick his shin as hard as I possibly could.
His grip loosened on my bicep as he cursed. I wrenched the rest of the way out of his hold, ducked under his grasping arms, and gut punched him. The gun went off.
I froze, feeling fucking catatonic. I waited to collapse, start bleeding all over the place. But after a moment I realized I wasn’t shot. I glanced at Matty, thankful he looked unharmed.
The guy held the gun back up, pointing it at me. “Don’t fucking move.”
I raised my hands back over my head.
Thank God I didn’t have to think of a new plan, because I had nothing. It didn’t matter though cause as this asshole cocked his gun like he was gonna shoot me, a gunshot came from behind me and the guy slumped to the ground, a bullet in the middle of his head.
“Oh God. Holy shit!” Someone yelled. Maybe me. I stared at the body as it slumped to the floor, unable to tear my gaze away.
Big arms wrapped around me turning me toward him. Before I could panic I breathed in the scent. Maverick.
“Shhh, sweetheart. We got you. You did so good.”
I sucked in a sob. This was not the time. I peeped Skye and Leo coming from behind me. Skye had his gun pointed at the guy as he walked over and check his pulse while kicking his weapon away from him. “He’s dead.”
“W-who shot him?” I don’t know why I asked, why it mattered.
“Mav did,” Skye told me, “You kicked serious ass there, sunshine.”
I choked on a watery laugh. Yeah right. Leo was checking the rest of the room. “It’s all clear, but I would imagine we’ll have company soon.”
Maverick gave me one more squeeze. “You two keep everyone else away. Do what you have to do to buy us time. Try to get to Luca if you can. I have a feeling it won’t take long for them to be suspicious, and he’s right in the lion’s den. Diego, can you hear me?”
“Y-yeah.” Fuck he sounded rough.
“Make sure our other men get out. Get the local police enroute like we discussed, and can you make sure our plane is ready to go? I have a feeling we’ll need to get out of here quickly.”
“Got it. Brooks, are you okay?”
“I’m fine D.”
“Good because I’m going to fucking kill you when you get home. Don’t ever fucking do that to me again.”
I grinned, feeling so much better. “I’ll try not to.”
Diego was muttering a whole bunch of shit in the background, but I tuned him out and went over to the poor kid who was still sitting in the cage.
I sat cross legged in front of him. “Hey, my name is Brooks. Sorry about all that, it didn’t go exactly as plan but we’re getting you out of here.”
Matty’s eyes bounced around the room. “Who are you?”
“It’s kinda hard to explain. But we’re here to help you, I promise.”
“Damian was supposed to be there to help me, but he sold me.”
I sighed. “Yeah, well, that one,” I jerked my heard toward Skye, “killed Damian. We’ve been looking for you for a while, kid. Can you at least trust me enough to get you out of this thing?”
He seemed reluctant but eventually nodded. I grinned at him then got to work breaking the lock.
Skye and Leo had left to do whatever they were doing, hopefully getting Luca out of there, while Mav stood guard. It wasn’t the easiest lock I ever picked, and under other circumstances I would’ve been thrilled about the challenge. Now every time I failed just compounded the anxiety.
Finally it snapped open.
I helped Matty out of the cage. He was shaky on his feet, naked except a pair of white briefs, and was covered in bruises, but he seemed okay.
“Are you good to run?” Maverick asked him.
He nodded. “I think so.”
“Good, because we’re going to get company very soon. Skye and Leo are holding them off, and our other guys are here to back us up, but it’s going to be messy.” Maverick met my eyes.
“No matter what happens, you focus on getting Matty out of here. You’re the fastest and the sneakiest. That’s your job, understand?”
Well I didn’t like the sound of that but still nodded my understanding. I had a job to do, and I needed to keep it together to keep Matty safe. Leaning over I kissed Maverick quickly.
“I love you.” I whispered.
“I love you too, brat. Stay fucking alive.” I grinned at him. Then, much to my relief, he pulled something out of his pocket. My knife, “Thought you might want this.”
I did a little celebratory dance as I hooked the hilt to my side. “You’re the best, Sir. Don’t die, okay?”
I turned toward Matty. He had his arms wrapped around him and was shaking. Fuck. I quickly unbuttoned my dressed shirt and wrapped it around him. He wasn’t much shorter than me, but he was thin that it draped to his mid-thighs and was long enough to cover him.
“Ready?” He nodded.
I took Matty’s hand. “Then let’s go.”
We took off.