Chapter 21 - Maverick
MAVERICK
“Shoulder’s fucked up. Room’s spinning.”
My stomach dropped as Brooks’s eyes rolled to the back of his head.
I caught his limp body in my arms easily, but fuck.
I barely had him secure before he started coming to, but even if it was only a few seconds, it was terrifying.
Brooks hadn’t gotten seriously injured since he’d joined our team, and I didn’t realize how viscerally I’d react.
I never liked seeing any of my men hurt, but I’d admit, at least to myself, I was a little more protective of Brooks, even if he could handle himself.
So seeing one side of his face marred with bruises and his eye nearly swollen shut had me feral.
And that wasn’t counting the damage to his shoulder and possible concussion.
The job had started so smoothly, I should’ve known things would go to shit at some point.
First, Skye had found those people who had overdosed in Tanner’s room: three barely legal women and a young man around the same age.
Two had been in a cage built into the wall of the bedroom; they were gone before Skye could get to them.
The two girls on the bed had lasted longer, and he’d thought he had a chance to save them.
We’d tried CPR, but it had been too late.
And around the time we’d realized there was nothing we could do, Brooks had been attacked in the basement.
The sound of a fist hitting flesh got my brain working again.
Skye was still straddling Tanner, one hand wrapped around his throat while the other worked him over.
It was likely pointless. I could see the look in Tanner’s eyes.
He knew it was finished. He wasn’t going to speak.
I thought Skye knew that too, but he had to try.
He must’ve caught me watching because he looked over his shoulder with one of those devilish smiles that I probably shouldn’t find as attractive as I did.
“I’m good here. Take care of Brooks.”
I did a quick assessment of Skye’s frame of mind before tilting my head in agreement. “Be careful.”
Skye rolled his eyes, but he would take it seriously. Tanner might be close to death, but the fucker was sneaky, and I didn’t want him to take Skye off guard. I felt better knowing Diego would still be watching and act as a second pair of eyes.
“Maverick?” Brooks asked, sounding a little loopy.
I smiled down at him. “Right here, sweetheart. C’mon, let’s get you out of here.” I adjusted my hold on him and began climbing up the stairs.
The comms had been awfully quiet, but the sigh of relief from the crew back home was palpable when they heard Brooks’s voice.
As scary as it was for us here, it had likely been worse for the guys back home.
They’d watched shaky footage from a screen with no way to help or protect him.
I knew Luca had to be losing his ever-loving mind.
“He’s okay,” I told them softly, knowing they’d need the confirmation. “He’ll be okay, boss.”
“Thank fuck.” Luca sounded strained.
“We’re gonna need some assistance here.” My voice had a slight tremor to it.
Shit. I swallowed and tried again. “Cleanup crew and a doc to check out Brooks. His shoulder looks fucked, and he might have a concussion,” I told them as I walked into the main room.
The bodies were still upstairs. The guards were still tied up outside.
But my focus was solely on Brooks. I gently placed him down on one of the sofas.
He went with a groan, wincing from the slight jostle. His arm hung limply at his side.
I scrubbed my hands through my hair, allowing a moment to gain my composure.
“I have a cleanup crew on standby,” Luca finally answered.
I could practically hear him pacing. I was glad Wes had chosen to stay.
Luc and Diego were going to need him. “I’ll let them know there’s more than we expected.
Can you get Brooks back to the apartment?
I have someone I can trust that’ll meet you there. ”
“Yeah, okay.” As much as I wanted to hurry and get Brooks checked out, logically it made the most sense to get back to our rental first. I trusted anyone Luca did, but the fewer people who saw this place, the better.
There was nothing incriminating at the apartment.
“Also, there’s the guards,” I continued.
Brooks’s eyes began to flutter closed again.
Should I be trying to keep him awake? Fuck.
I hated this. “They need to be dealt with. And we should probably search this place before we leave.”
“Make sure someone takes images of the captives,” Wes inputted.
“That way Diego can do facial recognition.” If they were victims, like we strongly believed, we would try to identify them so their families could be notified and they could be laid to rest properly.
Unfortunately, this shit happened so often that we were all familiar with the protocol, but it was still good to have the reminder. We were all reeling a little.
“Fuck this.” That was Skye. “He’s not saying shit, boss. Permission to kill him? I’ll drag the guards in and deal with them and the cleanup crew after, if you wanna get Brooks out of here.”
I didn’t like the idea of separating, but there was merit to it. We couldn’t leave this house of horrors the way it was, and we needed to get Brooks help.
“Everything is quiet there,” Diego relayed, probably sensing our hesitation, considering neither Luc nor I answered right away.
“The cleanup crew is on route. Tanner didn’t activate any silent alarms that I could tell.
It should be safe.” Plus, Skye was able to protect himself and knew what to do in this situation.
Even if he preferred not taking the lead, he was perfectly capable.
Diego didn’t add any of that, but we all knew.
It didn’t mean that I liked leaving one of the men I loved alone.
Finally, Luca cursed under his breath and made the decision for us. “Kill him, Skye. We’ll get the information elsewhere. And yes, if you can stay and coordinate with the cleaners and search the place, I’d appreciate it.”
“Roger, boss. Sorry, asshole, time’s up.” He opted for a knife, not one of his guns, and even though I was used to it, I winced at the sound of Tanner’s life ending in my ear.
Then it was over.
Skye came up a minute later, blood splatter and a grin on his face. He was buzzing, the adrenaline still pumping through his veins, which confirmed that it had been the right decision to let him finish up at the house. I was fucking exhausted.
Before we left, I quickly helped get the three guards inside so they could be dealt with.
We didn’t want to kill them. We doubted they had any idea who they’d been guarding.
But Skye would confirm our instincts, and if they really were innocent, then he’d give them a nice bonus to assure their silence and send them on their way.
Diego would have to monitor them for a while, but money and a little light blackmail worked wonders.
By the time that was done, Luca confirmed the doctor would meet us back at the apartment.
I met Skye in the kitchen, where he was drinking fancy bottled water that had come from Tanner’s fridge. He smiled at me. “Want some?” I grabbed the bottle from him and took a few sips. It tasted like water.
“I wonder how much this shit costs?”
“Ask Luca, he’s probably bought it before. It’s probably in his mini fridge in his office.”
“I can hear you still, you know,” Luca grumbled, making us laugh.
“I know, boss.” Skye laughed and took another sip.
“I’m taking Brooks back. You’re good?”
Concern dripped on his face. We’d all been hurt on a job before.
Concussions and broken bones weren’t anything new.
It was why we could be so casual and calm and handle business, but we were still all worried.
Concussions weren’t something to play with, and I couldn’t imagine the pain Brooks was in.
“I’m fine. Take care of our boy.”
“I will.” I leaned in and kissed Skye quickly but fiercely, a thousand feelings in that one caress.
Then I left to go take care of our man.
Brooks would be fine. He had a concussion and bad bruising, but thankfully there were no fractures in his face or nose.
He’d be swollen and black and blue for a while, but that would heal.
We had to monitor the concussion, but there was no sign of memory loss, and Brooks could speak coherently and carry on a conversation.
Besides a bad headache and vomiting, it looked like the thing causing him the most pain was his shoulder.
The doctor was pretty sure there was a broken bone and possible ligament or muscle damage.
He wouldn’t know the extent of it without imaging though.
So for now, he gave Brooks the good pain meds, put him in a sling, and we got him set up in the middle of the bed the three of us were sharing.
We’d have to see how he was feeling tomorrow to determine whether we’d try to get him home and to our doctor before the testing or if we’d have to stay here longer to take care of it.
The doctor warned me he might need surgery, which fuck, I really hoped not.
Brooks was too out of it from painkillers by that point to care, so I worried for him.