Chapter 17
Seventeen
Luca peered through the window, trying to see the security office.
“What’s going on?” Jenkins was still shackled to the floor, and even if Luca wanted to free the man, he didn’t have any way to do that.
“The guard went into the security office.” Since he’d seen the officer rush past, he hadn’t heard anything, so he had no idea what was going on in there. Thanks to the reinforced glass that was likely here to protect them and offer some privacy, there wasn’t much they could hear.
Until the muffled gunshots.
“Someone is shooting.”
Jenkins said, “So that guard is shooting other people, or they are shooting him?”
“I can’t see how we would tell either way.” Luca tried the handle again. Since the lights had come back on, it was a whole lot easier to see. Not that there had been much to give him an indication of what was going on. Not until that guy ran past the window.
None of the other officers had come down here in response to the guy going for help, which was what Luca had thought he was doing. What was going on?
Much like her fear and her need to trust that God had everything in His hands, worry for Kira settled on him.
He had no idea where Kira was, but had to pray that she’d been able to help the officer with the medical emergency.
There was nothing else he could do except pray.
Thankfully, it was also the best thing he could do right now.
The corrections officer emerged from the security office with a gun in one hand. As he approached, Luca slammed both palms on the window. “Hey, let us out of here!”
The guy looked at him, and Luca realized it was the one who’d run over and yelled for medical assistance. But the question was, had he drawn Kira out of this room on purpose? Where was she?
No, he couldn’t think like that.
There was no way anyone could have targeted them intentionally. But the thought that they had been purposely separated left him cold and desperately in need of information.
Not only did he recognize the guy, but the officer had blood spray down the side of his face. He was the one who had fired the gun in his hand and killed people inside the security office.
Did that mean help wasn’t coming?
Luca slammed his hands on the window again, as if he hadn’t realized that this man posed more of a threat than Jenkins right now. “Hey! I’m talkin’ to you!”
The guy slowed not far past the window, ignoring Luca.
A group turned the corner. Two men. Hector and Stuart, who was dragging Kira with him.
Luca flexed his fingers on the window. As if he could reach through it and grab these guys—take them down.
This isn’t what I meant. He prayed the words, even though he hadn’t meant to be that blunt.
Sure, he’d been thinking earlier that Kira needed to trust her own strength. To believe that she could face more than she thought she could handle. To not shy away from life because she was scared to embrace the parts that were hard or painful—the parts she couldn’t tackle with medical care.
But he didn’t want her to have to face a dangerous situation where she was forced to be stronger than she believed she was. That wasn’t what he’d meant.
She didn’t need to learn strength all at once while fighting for her life, just to have circumstances prove to her that she was strong.
He wanted to protect her no matter what.
Lord, keep her safe.
His deal was making Renegade safe for the people he cared about.
Generally speaking—the way he had operated in the military.
Not protecting a specific person who was in danger.
Luca had spent years purposely not forming relationships like that.
After all, Kira could get killed or walk away from him.
And then where would he be? He would have nothing.
He would be just like his father.
Loving a woman will destroy you. That was what the old man had said before he proceeded to try and drink himself to death like there was no other reason to live. In the end, it had taken intensive questioning from federal agents and a self-inflicted bullet to the brain to finish it.
Part of him wondered if the FBI’s accusations had been true and his father had killed himself out of guilt. Or if it was simply a sad end to a sad life.
Luca had loved a woman during the second year of his military service.
When Bridget left him, he’d been crushed.
He had sworn off all relationships as a result, sticking with close friends who had become family to him.
Now that Kira had crept into his heart, he knew that if something happened to her, there was no way he would be able to continue.
Kind of like there was no way out of here. He had zero ability to keep Kira safe from in here, which meant Luca had to leave her fate entirely in the Lord’s hands. Another thing he wanted to learn, but not all at once.
The whole thing was like a kick to the stomach that left him breathless.
I don’t want to lose her.
The man who held on to Kira came to the door, dragging her in front of him. Stuart Parker had his hand around her neck. Behind him was Hector, the cartel guy Luca had heard talking about the hit at the hospital. Were these guys really working together, or was this a crime of convenience?
Stuart called out loudly, “You’re going to set Jenkins free, and then we’re going to trade. Send him out and you can have her back in one piece.”
Kira winced, but he didn’t see tears in her eyes. And as far as he could see, she didn’t have any injuries either. Luca wanted to communicate with her. Reassure her somehow. But what could he say when there was no way to get out of the room?
“So open the door,” he told Stuart. “I need a key to set Jenkins free.”
They knew he cared about Kira, but they didn’t know how much he cared about Jenkins. Unless they thought Luca’s association with Hammer meant that he wouldn’t want Jenkins to be killed. There were ways to play this that meant minimal carnage. Especially to anyone in this situation who was innocent.
Not the first time he’d been in a face-off with a bad guy. But it was the first time it’d happened when he didn’t have any weapons on him. Neither did Stuart, but that wouldn’t stop him from snapping Kira’s neck at any second.
Stuart looked at the officer. “We need this door open.”
Luca managed to make out the words “We need an admin password to get any of the doors open.”
Stuart leaned over toward him, deadliness in his body language. “Figure it out.”
Hector said something and followed the officer to the security office.
Luca glanced back at Stuart. The guy was watching him, trying to read how he felt about Kira. How far he could push this and terrorize her while Luca watched, just to get as much sick satisfaction out of this as he possibly could.
Luca turned away.
She wasn’t going to understand why he gave them his back. But doing so took all the power from Stuart. Luca wouldn’t be able to see what he was doing, and he couldn’t object to something he didn’t hear. With his back to them so they wouldn’t know, he said to Jenkins, “What is he doing?”
“Staring at you.” Jenkins glanced over. “You ticked him off with that move.”
“Is he hurting her?”
“She’s scared, but he’s just holding her too tight.”
Luca said, “Those other guys had better hurry up and get this door open.”
“As soon as they do, I’m a dead man.”
“And you think my priority here is keeping you alive?”
“It had better be if you want to know anything else about the Shadow Syndicate.”
Luca glanced at him. “Really? Right now you’re going to pretend like you have more information about this?”
“I guess you’d better keep me alive, and we’ll find out exactly how much I know about what’s going on in this city.”
“I’m getting Kira, and I’m getting out of here. That is literally my only priority.”
“Be sure to explain to Mack how you hung me out to dry and let me die just so that you could survive.” Jenkins’s attention drifted past Luca’s shoulder.
Luca turned around just as the cartel guy and the officer raced back. The officer ran a key card through the reader next to the door, and it clicked. Luca grabbed the handle and pulled it open, needing to be on the same side of the door as Kira. Otherwise, there was nothing he could do to help her.
Stuart backed up, pulling Kira with him.
The officer lifted the gun and pointed it at Luca, aiming at his face. “Keys.”
Hector tossed a set of keys to Luca.
The officer said, “Unlock his cuffs.”
Luca didn’t move. An alarm sounded down the hallway, followed by the words “Lockdown initiated” in a robotic voice through the speakers overhead.
The officer whirled around, swearing a blue streak.
Stuart yelled, “What is that? What did you do?”
“I thought I shut it off! Someone elsewhere in the prison must have turned it back on. The police department will have been notified.”
Stuart said, “We’re going to have company?”
“Armed SWAT in full gear.” The officer looked at his watch. “We don’t have long to get this done.”
Stuart motioned to the gun. “Let me see that.”
The officer handed it over.
Luca didn’t know whether to step out of the room and let the door lock again, securing Jenkins inside, or figure out how to grab Kira and get her in there with them.
Stuart swung the gun up and pointed it at the officer, squeezed the trigger. He didn’t even flinch when the man fell to the ground.
Kira screamed.
The cartel guy said, “Now kill Jenkins. If he isn’t dead, then we don’t get paid.”
“How can you get paid when you’re in prison?” Jenkins yelled from inside the room. “They’re never going to let you out for this.”
Luca lifted his hands. “Everyone, calm down.” He focused on Stuart. “Let Kira go, or things will be so much worse for you when that SWAT team arrives. I don’t really care what you do to Jenkins, but you need to let us go.”
Stuart said, “I’ve got the gun. Seems to me like she’s leverage. Which means she and I should go.”
“Go where?” Luca didn’t think the guy would get far.