Chapter 31
KIM
"We're heading back," Atlas announced. "To our house."
"Good call." Lake squeezed the edge of the armrest, his knuckles white. "Guy can call back some of our security for a local search."
The longer time went on, the more the rage burned in my chest. It warred with helplessness, but I shoved that down. We were only helpless if we did nothing.
And we weren't doing nothing.
We were hunting, using all the resources at our disposal to find Beasty. It was just a matter of time before we found her.
Atlas' phone dinged. His brow furrowed as he picked it up from the console and opened the screen.
"Fuck!" He swerved so hard, a car honked its horn. He righted, but we jolted toward him.
"What is it!" I yelled, at the same time Lake cursed, and Joaquin shouted Atlas' name.
"The security footage. They're at Snatched. They have Beasty with them. She's...." He cursed and shoved his phone at Lake. "Check that. But it looked..."
Lake opened the phone and started tapping commands. Changing angles, backing up the footage, speeding it up. I pressed up against the back of his seat as Joaquin leaned into me. We were both watching the footage with him.
Gio appeared first. Guy confronted him, but Gio shot him.
I swallowed.
Guy was the best fighter we employed. The strongest mentally, the quickest physically, and none of that mattered after one shot. He jerked back and fell like a sack of potatoes.
Then Adrian strolled into the frame, carrying a limp Beasty over his arm. There was even a pep in his step.
I sat back and pressed the heels of my palms into my eyes. This wasn't happening again.
The parking garage was happening all over again. Beasty was limp. I was paralyzed. I watched as that fucking man lifted her by the hair. Held a blade to her throat.
An enraged whimper escaped my throat. No! This wasn't then.
I fell back against the seat as Atlas floored it.
"We should still have a skeleton staff there with security. Where the fuck is everyone?" Lake yelled, not mentioning Guy.
Joaquin was practically in my lap as he watched over Lake's shoulder. He sucked in a breath. "They're not alone."
"Who is it?" I pushed down the memories and focused on the now—on the burning rage I'd never felt before recently. I shoved forward so I could see too.
A dozen men combed the halls. A few of our guys were slumped over with a blood pooling underneath them.
"They hired mercenaries?" I shouldn't be shocked. This was exactly what I'd expect from Gio and Adrian.
"Doesn't matter." Lake was sending off messages one after the other. "We have the bigger resources. We have more people. They won't walk out of there alive."
He sounded so sure. He was in his zone, organizing, protecting…compartmentalizing. But there was only one thought circling my head.
Would Beasty?
If she didn't, I wouldn't. There was no life without her.
The Snatched parking garage had a handful of cars scattered across the parking spaces. The one pulled up right to the door was probably Gio's. The others had to be our guys. From what we'd seen on the footage the men who came with Gio had snuck onto the property from somewhere else.
"What the hell?" Lake murmured as we got out.
We gathered at the back. Atlas had the hatch open, handing out our vests and weapons, peering over Lake's shoulder to the footage on his phone.
"The dancers are here."
I froze in the middle of strapping on the vest. "The guards or the actual dancers?"
"Both," Lake murmured. "I'm behind about ten minutes, but they snuck in through the side entrance."
"There's no time to watch. We have to go." After shoving as many guns as I could into my holster, I started running toward the doors.
We forewent the elevator and took the stairs up. That way the bell wouldn't alert anyone in the hallways a few seconds before we arrived. Let them be surprised when we slammed through the doors from the stairwell.
There was so much adrenaline rushing through my blood that I took the stairs three at a time. By the time I reached the first floor, I wasn't even tired. If it was possible, I was even more energized.
There was just one chant running through my head.
Save Beasty. Save Beasty. Save Beasty.
"Are they still in the Whip Room?" I called over my shoulder. The others were only a few steps behind me.
"Last I saw, yet. But I'm eight fucking minutes behind."
We didn't have time to wait. From what I'd seen, Gio and Adrian had settled in, they wanted a show and they were going to get one.
Bursting through the doors, I skidded to a halt. Lake pushed against my back, and I stumbled several steps forward, nearly tripping over the two men on the ground.
One was ours, and one I didn't recognize. At the end of the hallway, Sarah Harris, along with Holly and another dancer struggled with a man in black.
The girls didn't have weapons, but there were enough of them that they controlled the man's wrist, forcing his gun to point at the wall.
The man cursed, knocking them off, but they just redoubled their efforts and jumped back on him before he could take aim.
I raised my gun. "Girls! Down!"
They turned their heads at the same time, and as if they coordinated it, Sarah, Holly, and the other dancer dropped to the floor, leaving a confused man standing with his gun pointed at the ceiling.
I didn't hesitate.
I shot him straight in the chest. He grunted and fell back against the wall. As I got closer, I aimed at his head, just to be safe.
Pieces of brain matter splattered against the wall, and I turned away, refusing to give him any more of my focus. Otherwise, I'd get queasy, and there was no room for that. Not with Beasty so close.
The hallway on either end was clear, but there were residual sounds of fights close by.
"What happened?" I asked when I reached them.
Lake stopped next to me and barked, "Why the hell are you here with the club closed?"
Sarah stepped forward, all business. "Holly came by to get her wallet. She forgot it here and saw what was happening. She tried to call you, and when she didn't get you, she sent out an alert to the rest of us."
"You didn't call the police?" Joaquin stepped forward.
Sarah gave him a wry look. "The NDA you had us all sign said that the police were not to be called without your explicit permission."
"We wanted to help Cressida. She's in the Whip Room!" Holly was already backing down the hall leading to the specialty rooms.
That was all it took to shock us back to what was important. Saving Beasty.
We ran, feet pounding, hearts racing, guns raised.
In front of the restrooms, Brian traded punches with one of the intruders, but when I rounded the corner, I nearly missed a step. Desiree clung to the man’s back, squeezing her arm around his neck in a familiar move. Guy must have stowed her away in Snatched. And started teaching her self-defense.
Lake and Atlas helped take out both mercenaries, but I kept running. I would not stop.
Then I reached the closed Whip Room door.
There were no scratches or dents, nothing to hint that my beating heart waited on the other side.
Yet it was the last obstacle between me and Beasty.
The animosity clawing at my chest toward this piece of wood was irrational, but I leaned into it, let it fuel me.
I would save her.
As the others caught up to me, I didn't wait. I rushed in, and Lake cursed behind me.
But it was the slow clap that scared me.
We'd just walked into a trap.