Chapter 5 Jorge
Jorge
The first time we heard gunshots, we all got really nervous, until we found out that it was Vera and Caleb coming our way.
That really frustrated Derrick, since they’re supposed to go to safety, not double back to rescue us. But he kept it under control by organising the different teams, since Timothy, Mathew and Riley were on the go, so they weren’t really in a position to organise much.
The lights are all off, apart from the street lights outside, which give only very limited illumination in here through two small windows. The darkness is oppressing, but we don’t want to tip anyone off that we’re in here.
I’m sitting on what’s normally a packing bench, where they apparently pack the online orders, judging from the tools around it. Luca is standing between my legs, leaning against me heavily, his arms wrapped around himself, his breathing tight.
We need to get him out of here as quickly as possible. He’s not doing well. He’s looking even worse than he did when we first found him, and that was already pretty fucking bad.
But I have no idea how long it’s going to take to get out of here, so all I can do right now is to try to create a soothing rumble in my chest and hold him as tightly as possible.
I can’t wrap him in my pheromones, no matter how much I would like to, as we’re still trying to leave as little of a trace behind as possible.
“We’re one block away.” Vera’s short words make my heart race and Luca looks up, meeting my eyes, like he’s trying to see if it’s really true.
“It should be mostly safe.” Derrick moves to the door as some people from the team pull the table and other heavy things away from it.
“Thanks. We’ll be there soon.”
At that, I slide off the packing bench and keep my arm around Luca as I also go to the door. But Derrick holds out his hand, signing for us to wait.
I know it’s not totally safe, but I want to get to Vera as soon as possible. I want to see her already. I need her, we need her.
“Sirens. Not too far from here.” Caleb’s deep voice is welcome, even though the news isn’t good.
Luca tenses in my arms and I pull him closer again.
“How far are the vans?” Derrick moves anxiously as he looks over the room, like he’s taking inventory of all of us. He’s now clearly on a different frequency, as I can’t hear him over the earpiece or hear the reply, but he nods, his eyes dark. “We can’t wait. We’ve got to move.”
He points to two people closest to the door.
“Take her.” He points to one of the women who got shot when we were running away.
Then he points to two people who are injured, though not as badly.
“You two join them.” He looks at his phone.
“Turn right at the next crossing, follow that street, one of the vans will pick you up. Don’t wait for the rest of us. Get out of here.”
The five start moving and just as they’ve left the storage space, Vera and Caleb step inside, looking very gross and exhausted, even in the dim light.
I immediately go over to them and take Vera in my arms. She’s here and she seems to be doing okay.
She smells like a garbage can, but that doesn’t take away from the relief rushing through me at having my Omega in my arms again.
I lift my arm slightly so Luca can push in with us, and the Beta seems to finally relax a little.
“This is why I didn’t team you two up. You were supposed to get out, not get yourself into more danger.” Derrick’s grumpy voice also seems to be full of relief. “You won’t listen to orders if you think you know better.”
Caleb lets out a low laugh. “You think I’m going to go against Vera? Especially when her plan seems like the right idea?” The large Alpha wraps his arms around us, holding us as he lets out a low rumble, content, soothing, one that’s way more effective than mine.
“We’ll talk about this back home.” Derrick orders the next group of five people to meet the vans, before he comes over. “You four are next. I’m sure Mathew and Riley are eagerly waiting for you.”
I turn to him. “What about you?” I’m sure Timothy and Eli are eagerly waiting for him to return too.
“I can’t command anyone when I’m not here.” He looks around. “Plus, there’s only two more groups after you. So I’ll be out of here in no time.”
I don’t like the idea of leaving him behind, but I know I’m not going to be able to change his mind. This is how the organisation works, this is his role, and this is how they always do things.
“Guys?” Riley’s voice is tense over the earpiece. “Mathew got into a bit of trouble. We’re getting him to someone who can help him. Timothy is with us, some of his guys have taken over the tech van.”
My heart drops and pheromones full of dread flare around us. Fuck.
If he can’t be taken home to be treated, things must be really bad. It’s not like there’s a full-on hospital back home, but most injuries can be effectively treated there. Mathew has the staff for it.
If they’re taking him somewhere better equipped, that means that Mathew isn’t doing well.
The shot wound on his leg didn’t seem too bad. There was blood, but from what I saw, it wasn’t bad enough to be dangerous. Though, maybe waiting around too long, and not going home to get treated right away is part of the issue.
“We need to go to him. I don’t want to go home.” Vera’s voice is small, quiet, pained. She’s clearly running out of energy. “I need to be with Mathew.”
Derrick makes a frustrated sound, shaking his head, before letting out a deep sigh. “We’re all going out at once. I’m joining you four.” He directs the last people out before he looks to us. “Time to go.”
I’m glad we’re finally moving again. But knowing that Mathew is out there, not doing well, and we’re nowhere near him, it’s bad.
I hate it. I hate not being with him when he’s not feeling well, when he’s hurt, when he’s in pain.
It hate it when we’re not all together.
As we were leaving the storage space, the police sirens and sirens from other emergency services were getting really close, which was fucking scary.
Five people, all of them covered in blood, sneaking along a basically deserted back road isn’t really the safest feeling to begin with. But it’s a hundred times worse when you can hear sirens all around you.
Luckily, we were moving away from the brothel, along a smaller road, so the police shouldn’t be sniffing around here any time soon, and the vans weren’t too far away either, so it was all over pretty quickly.
Derrick directs the diver of the van that’s picking us up to hop into one of the other vans, before taking control of the wheel.
The rest of us pile into the back together, staying close. The fear of not knowing how Mathew is doing keeping us quiet, anxious.
Vera moves carefully, her hands on my arms, touching wherever she can reach. “Did you get hurt anywhere?” She looks up at me, her eyes are intense, full of worry
I take her hands, holding them, trying to stop her shaking.
“A few bruises. Nothing else.” Most of them from when Derrick threw us to the ground to get us out of the way of the shooters.
“What about you?” I take both her hands in one of mine and run my other hand up her arms, trying to figure out what blood is hers and what blood is from other people.
“Some cuts. All shallow.” She lets out a quiet laugh. “And some bruises that are going to be very sore tomorrow.”
“Good.” I put my forehead against hers, flinching a moment at the stickiness, not knowing if it’s from blood or sweat or both. Likely, both. Gross.
Vera sits in my lap as she reaches out to Luca. “How about you?”
The Beta leans into her hands, closing his eyes, savouring her touch. He’d probably purr if he could. “Some bruises, nothing more. Mathew protected me.” His voice breaks at the end and he quickly covers his face with his hands, hiding his tears.
Caleb lets out his deep rumble again and pulls Luca closer to him, which seems to calm the Beta down. “He’ll be fine. Mathew is strong and I’m sure he’s been through worse.”
Mathew has been through much worse, but that was before he had a pack and before he got pregnant. The stakes are very different now.
Very, very different.
I turn to the tall Alpha slightly. “What about you? How are you doing?”
He pulls a face. “I might need a few stitches, but it’s nothing big. Nothing to worry about.”
Well, if he says that with that look on his face, of course, I’m going to worry.
A bag falls between us, making all of us jump.
Derrick lets out a low laugh as he meets my eyes in the rear-view mirror. “See if you can clean yourselves up a little. We don’t all need to look like we’ve just walked through a meat grinder.”
I feel like I did, though, I feel like I’ve been through a meat grinder. And in my case, it’s mostly mental, not physical. I’m sure most of the others that went on the raid tonight feel much worse.
After a few moments of digging around in the bag, Vera pulls out a pack of wet wipes, opens it and puts it between us. Then she takes a wipe and turns in my lap to face me. She reaches up and drags the wipe over my face, the cool sensation feels good.
Though, when she pulls the wipe away after only one swipe, it’s covered in a colour I don’t want to think too much about.
Gross.
She lets out a soft laugh. “It’s probably a good idea to clean up, at least a little.” Then she turns the wipe and goes over my face again in slow and careful motions, trying to get as much of the gunk off as possible.
I slide my arms around her waist and try to relax. It’s not like we can do anything right now, just cleaning up and waiting until we arrive.
From the corner of my eyes, I watch as Caleb helps Luca put on a pheromone blocking mask, and then I notice the soothing pheromones Vera is releasing. No wonder I was starting to feel so calm.
“Vera, you don’t have to...” I reach up, trying to stop her movements, but when she looks at me, her eyes are full of tears. Her pheromones are as much a way for her to calm down as her trying to get the rest of us to relax. “Thank you.”
I put my hands on her waist, rubbing circles, trying to soothe her too.
We’re all dealing with the situation in our own way.
All trying to deal with what happened tonight, with not knowing how Mathew is doing, with everything that we’ve been through.
We’re all trying to deal with fear in our own ways.