Chapter Thirty-Four
A hood had been pulled over Fisher’s head and he, along with Justice and Steel, were hauled into the back of a van-type vehicle.
Justice sat next to him with his arm lodged tightly against his. He’d known it was Justice because the man had pressed his thigh against his and left it there.
Putting down his weapon had been one of the hardest things he’d done, but Fisher hadn’t wanted Justice to be hit by gunfire.
If he’d been alone, he would have already been out the back window, but both Justice and Steel were in his way and there was no way he was leaving Justice to take a bullet.
Their captors didn’t speak and he didn’t know how many there were, maybe five?
When the vehicle stopped some ten minutes later, they were taken inside a building. The air felt cooler there. A metal door clanged shut and he suspected they were inside a warehouse.
Something sticky squelched beneath the soles of his boots and he wondered if this was the end.
He was shoved into a room and pushed down into a hard metal chair. Next to him, a chair scraped and then he heard Justice clear his throat.
At least they were together.
An hour ticked by before someone new entered the room. The man’s boots were a slow thud on the floor.
When his hood was yanked off, Fisher blinked against the overhead bright lights.
“What the hell?” Justice said and Fisher jerked his gaze to his partner. Other than ruffled hair, Justice was no worse for wear.
Fisher swept his gaze around the room and spotted two cameras in the ceiling corners and he wondered who else was watching the show.
“We meet again,” the man said to Justice.
“Who is he?” Fisher murmured.
“Crow.”
“You work for Tanis,” Fisher said from between his clenched teeth.
“That is a misconception.” Crow looked them over before pointing at him. “You’re Fisher.”
“So?” Fisher narrowed his gaze.
“Take the zip ties off,” Crow ordered, and one of the several men in the room stepped forward to snip all three of them free. All guards had automatic rifles pointed at them so they weren’t out of here by any means.
Fisher rubbed his wrists, welcoming back the circulation.
“What the hell do you want?” he said.
“I need your help to take down Tanis,” Crow said and pulled a metal chair over to sit in front of all three.
“We’ve got it handled,” Justice said and Crow shot the man a disbelieving look.
“Why?” Fisher said before Justice could do something stupid like try and take on all these guys. He’d been wrong, there weren’t five, there were seven and that was not including Crow and any others outside.
They were geared and he suspected they were military and probably active, but he couldn’t be sure.
“I’m looking for a boy who was taken by Tanis roughly six months ago.”
“Have you checked the basement? The fucker always has one,” Fisher said, crossing his arms.
“No, I didn’t. I needed Blue to get me down there,” Crow responded, aiming a dark look at Justice and Steel. “But Blue is dead.”
“If you had been more forthcoming, we could have worked something out instead of you skulking in the shadows,” Justice growled.
Steel remained quiet as if assessing the room and how best to take out the enemy. However, Fisher suspected that this group may not be their opposition.
“Why me?” Fisher was dying to know.
“Because one of the last orders Blue and I received from Tanis was to bring you back.”
“Did Tanis kill Ryan?”
“He sent Garrett,” Crow said. “My team and I were on our way to that house to help.”
“You were hours too late,” Fisher snapped.
“With Blue dead, my inside information dried up,” Crow growled.
“Do you know if Garrett took Mikey?” Fisher said.
“Mikey?” Crow frowned.
“Yeah, he’s nine and he was in that house with Ryan.”
“So, we have another boy to save, don’t we?” Crow responded.
“Who do you guys work for?” Steel spoke up for the first time.
“That’s on a need-to-know basis—”
The room door slammed open, cutting off Crow’s words.
Fisher jumped in his chair at the noise and gaped when the familiar figure of a man came in hot.
It was Stone.
He’d expected Real or Savage, but Dave had sent in the big guns.
Crow snapped to his feet and the other guards in the room lifted their weapons, all pointed at Stone. Not that that intimidated a man whom Fisher knew couldn’t be.
“I ought to knock you on your ass,” Stone growled, walking up to Crow and fisting the front of the man’s black vest.
“Stand down,” a smooth, authoritative voice said and Stone released Crow and swung around to face the newest threat.
“Major,” Crow said and saluted with a snap.
It was hard not to miss the newest arrival’s effect on the people in the room. The major oozed power and everyone including Justice, Steel, and Stone snapped to attention except for him.
With dark hair, a chiseled jaw, and gray eyes, the man giving the orders was stunning. With added muscle and a tall physique, the major cut an imposing figure.
“Who are you?” Fisher asked because why not?
“Address him as sir,” Crow snapped with a glare.
“You can call me Viper,” the man said and then directed his next words to Crow. “Will called Dave.”
“And?” Crow frowned.
“We’re working together to figure this shit out,” Viper said.
Stone gave Viper an abrupt nod. “Then let’s take this to a conference room instead of an interrogation,” Stone rasped.
Several minutes later, he, Justice, and Steel were encased in comfortable chairs, given food and water, and the whole lot of them were devising a plan to get Tanis to open that bunker.
“You have a history with Tanis?” Viper inquired.
Justice tensed beside him and shot Viper a death glare and Fisher placed his palm on the man’s thigh beneath the table.
“I do,” he said and then continued when Viper stayed quiet. “I can get Tanis to open that door, but it’s going to be because he is going to put me inside that room,” he said.
Justice linked their fingers beneath the table and squeezed his hand.
“When he opens the door and puts me inside, he will follow me in. If it’s anything like when I was growing up, then he’ll have cages.” Fisher tensed, he couldn’t help it, and Justice rubbed a thumb over his hand.
“Can you get the upper hand?” Crow asked.
“I can try. He’ll have another guard and himself and they will both be armed. He won’t trust me.”
“No,” Justice finally growled and Fisher knew it was coming. He could tell by the tension in the man’s grip.
Viper shot Justice a quelling look, but Fisher knew that wouldn’t stop Justice when he got his head into something.
“If we had another person to take the focus solely off me, it would help,” Fisher said. “But I don’t see anyone—”
His words were cut off by the opening of the conference room door and another darkly dressed soldier popped his head inside.
“Sir?”
“What is it?” Viper snapped with annoyance.
“We have a situation,” the man said.
“Let me go!” a young voice shouted.
Fuck.
Fisher briefly closed his eyes when Boston was pushed into the room.
“Why are you here?” Viper snapped at the teenager.
“I’m not alone!” Boston hissed, all youth and angry bravado.
“Who did you bring?” Fisher asked Boston, but the boy pressed his lips tightly together and shook his head.
“Talk, kid,” Viper growled.
“Screw you!” Boston kicked at the man holding him by the scruff of his neck. The big soldier grunted, but held firm.
“Boston,” Fisher said, getting the attention of the struggling boy. “These guys are working with us. Who came with you?”
“Azrael,” Boston whispered, biting his lip.
“Great,” Justice muttered.
“This might just work in our favor,” Fisher said when an idea started forming.
“How so?” Crow was the first to jump in.
“I go in and take Boston with me. He might give me the distraction I need to take out Tanis.”
“He’s fucking sixteen,” Steel pointed out.
“So?” Boston sounded belligerent and scared.
Fisher thought quickly. “Then how about Azrael?” The youth had a slender build that Tanis liked and Azrael looked young enough to pull off being younger than he was.
“Another kid?” Viper asked.
“He just turned eighteen,” Fisher said. “And it’s desperate measures. We need to get Mikey and your Steven out of there.”
“Don’t ever let Real know,” Steel muttered.
“Do you think you can pull it off?” Viper asked.
Fisher squeezed Justice’s hand beneath the table. He was proud of the fact that the man had kept his cool and not tried to control everything. He knew it was going to be short-lived when he next spoke.
“I’ll die trying.”
And right on cue, all hell broke loose.