23. Chapter 23
Ikeep alternating between furious and confused. When I said to Ash that I trusted Kacey with her life, I wasn’t lying. He had proven himself to me back when he used his US Marshal’s badge to break us out of FBI custody, risking his whole career in the process.
And I already see the way he looks at not only Ash, but at Rick and Beck too. I don’t begrudge them the relationships they have between them, so long as they accept that she is mine as much as theirs. I will never let my angel disappear on me ever again.
It’s been an hour since they left and I’m frowning as I look out at the lights of the city when I’m startled by the ringing of a phone. Concerned for Ash, I stride to the table where the phones are, Beck and Rick watching from the other end of the table with matching frowns.
“Hello?” I say cautiously.
“Where is Ash?” snaps a male voice on the other end.
Narrowing my eyes, I try to place the voice. It’s definitely not Kacey, even after only a short time I would be able to recognize him. And if he were calling to try to find Ash, I would be planning violence.
“Who is this?” I ask, my jaw tensing.
“It’s Jason. Now, where is Ash? She isn’t answering her phone, and we have a huge problem,” he growls and it occurs to me exactly who he is and how he knew the number for the burner phone.
“She’s occupied,” I respond, but at the same time I point a finger at Beck, Call Ash, I mouth to him and he grabs one of the other phones and dials her number.
I’m only half listening to Jason rant as I watch Beck try calling her once, then twice before he shakes his head at me with wide panicked eyes. I growl and turn my attention back to Jason and catch the end of his rant “...she is going to miss them.”
“What? Repeat that.” I snap.
Jason takes in a sharp breath. “Simon and Matthew are running. I was just alerted that they put in a last minute flight plan and are clearing things from the city office. Something must have flagged them when I did my searches. They are running and if we don’t do something, we are going to miss them before they disappear for good.”
“They’re still at the offices?” I snarl as I start moving, grabbing out the weapon bag to arm myself. Beck and Rick see what I’m doing and follow my lead.
“Yes, they were before my feed was cut only a few minutes ago, but they were still in the middle of grabbing files,” he confirms, and I can hear the tremor in his voice, either from being afraid of me or just the stress of the situation. What little memory I have of him wasn’t impressive, like a simpering puppy that was always following after his sister whenever I saw Ash out with her.
“Keep trying Ash, Jason. We will go to the offices and head them off. We should still have our access, and they don’t know we have reconnected with her, so they won’t automatically know we know,” I rush out, but then stop when I go to grab keys. “FUCK, Ash has the car.”
“I have a backup car there, it’s in the basement. There is always one at all my properties. It’s just a standard sedan though, so you will need to cope without your usual luxury,” he says and his tone makes me grit my teeth so I don’t snap at him.
“Where is it, and where are the keys?” I force out as calmly as possible.
Jason provides the location of the backup car and directs us to where the spare keys are hidden. With a quick nod to Beck and Rick, we rush out of the apartment.
As we reach the basement of the building, I spot the sedan parked in its designated spot. I waste no time in extracting the keys from the wheel arch, yanking the driver”s side door open and sliding into the driver’s seat. Beck and Rick pile into the car as I start the engine, and an instant later I’m speeding through the parking garage and out onto the street.
Beck is on the phone calling Ash, trying desperately to reach her and fill her in on the situation. I can see the tension in his posture, the worry etched into his features as he waits for her to pick up. Rick sits beside him, his expression grim as he scans the road ahead, ever watchful for any signs of trouble.
I push down on the accelerator, the sedan lurching forward with a burst of speed. The city lights blur past us as we race toward the office building where Simon and Matthew are hopefully still holed up.
Cutting the time in half, we navigate the streets with urgency, weaving through traffic as if every second counts — because it does. The office building looks like every other office building, but with the level of security in this place, you would think the president worked there. I breathe a sigh of relief when the biometric scanner still lets us enter at the ground floor. We get a curious look from the night guard, but our presence or the speed we are walking isn”t uncommon for this building.
Using the elevator to get to the top floor of the building, we take two steps toward the offices that we know Matty and Simon work in before all hell breaks loose.
The glass wall of the office shatters as the sound of gunfire erupts. Beck and Rick instinctively reach for their weapons, their training kicking in as they return fire.
Instinct kicks in, and I dive for cover behind a nearby pillar, my gun now clutched tightly in my hand. Beck and Rick follow suit, taking refuge behind whatever cover they can find.
Bullets whiz past us, the air thick with the acrid scent of gunpowder. I grit my teeth against the adrenaline coursing through my veins, my senses hyper-alert as I assess the situation.