57. CHAPTER 52
AXL
Every breath makes my body hurt, but it won’t stop me from going in to get Saylor.
I have three broken ribs and whatever the hell else is wrong with me.
I refused to take any of the painkillers the doctor offered because I need my mind to remain sharp.
I still have dried blood on my face and hands. I haven’t bothered to clean them yet.
Kase is behind the wheel, and Priest is in the passenger seat. He ditched the sling, deciding his shoulder was fine without it.
Crew is next to me in the back seat with his phone in his hand. He’s trying to figure out what we’re dealing with before we arrive. The Sinclairs are in the vehicle ahead of us with my father. They’re not letting him out of their sight.
None of us fully trust him, but we’d rather keep him where we can see him.
I check the tracker. She’s still in the same location. I tap my foot on the floorboard, unable to sit fucking still when I don’t know what’s happening to her.
I’m fucking coming, baby.
“Can we not go any faster?” I ask, shifting in my seat.
“I’m following the Sinclairs,” he snaps. I’ve already asked him that a few times. “Do you really want to deal with the cops right now?”
No, I fucking don’t. I punch the back of Priest’s seat and go back to staring at her location on my phone.
“Hey, I’m in their camera system.” Crew shifts his phone so I can look at the screen with him. “It took me a minute to hack into their new passcodes, but their system is back up.”
“How many?” I lean over to look, and my ribs scream at me for it.
“I’m sweeping through the views to see what we can find.” He swipes through feeds. “Justin is on the main floor, but Saylor isn’t with him. There are two lower-level Talons at one of the doors. I recognize them.”
“Can you check the individual rooms?” My jaw is tight. “She has to be in one of the rooms.”
Crew nods and keeps tapping and swiping the screen. I watch over his shoulder, desperate to see her, but terrified at the same time.
He stops on a view and looks closer. “There she is.”
I snatch his phone from him and hold it closer to my face.
She’s sitting on the edge of a bed wearing the same hospital gown I last saw her in with a blanket pulled around her waist. There’s a chain running from beneath the blanket to a bolt in the floor.
I can’t see her face fully, but I know it’s her. She’s staring at the door.
She’s alive. She’s fucking alive.
“They’ve got her chained up,” I announce to the others. “She’s alone at the moment.”
Priest looks back at the phone over his shoulder. “Do we know how many rooms are occupied? Did they bring more women back there, thinking we weren’t watching?”
“I’m checking.” Crew takes his phone back from me, and I want to break his fucking hand for it. He swipes through more feeds. “The rest of the rooms appear empty. I don’t see any other women. Just Saylor.”
“Go back to her room.” I’m staring at Crew’s phone, waiting for him to bring her feed back up. “Something still doesn’t make sense. They know that we have already been to this building.”
“Get Fox on the line,” Priest says to Kase. “He’ll want to know what we’ve found.”
Kase voice dials Fox, and he picks up on the first ring. All of us can hear him over the speakers.
“We’re in their cameras,” I say before Fox can speak. “Crew’s got eyes on the building, and she’s alive. We need to—”
“Hold on.” Crew nudges my arm. He pulls the phone back, and I watch his face go tight. “Someone just entered her room.”
I grab the phone back from him, and we lean together to watch. The screen is small, but I can see the door closing behind the man who entered. He moves into the room with his hands at his sides, and he licks his fucking lips.
Goddamnit, it’s Ryan.
“What the fuck is going on?” Fox asks through the speaker.
“Ryan. He’s in her room.” I can’t take my eyes off the screen. Ryan is moving toward her, and Saylor is off the bed now, backing up until the chain catches. Fuck. “Goddamnit, drive faster.”
“Axl—” Priest starts.
“We’ve got to get there.” I’m going to kill every person in that building. I’m going to start with Ryan, and I’m going to take my fucking time.
“We’re six minutes away,” Kase says.
I don’t have six fucking minutes. I watch Ryan move closer to her, but I don’t know what he’s saying. He reaches up toward the corner of the room, right up at the camera. There’s something small in his hand.
The feed goes black.
“No.” I tap the screen. Nothing. “Crew, get it back.”
“He killed the feed at the source.” Crew takes the phone and starts working. “I don’t know if I can override it.”
“Get it the fuck back!” I slam my palm against the seat in front of me, and Priest doesn’t flinch.
“I don’t know if I can, Axl. I can’t—”
“Then what the fuck good are you right now?” I don’t mean it, but I don’t take it back. I yell, gripping my head to keep from punching my fucking window. The last image I have is Ryan standing three feet from my girl, and I know what he plans to do to her.
The car is quiet. The only sounds are Crew tapping on his phone trying to get a feed that isn’t coming back and the blood rushing in my ears.
“Axl.” Fox’s voice comes through the speaker, sounding far too much like his father while trying to keep me calm. “We’re almost there. Hold it together, and we’re going to get her out.”
I can’t speak. My throat is closed, and my hands are shaking. I’m looking at a black screen where my girl was thirty seconds ago.
I’ve never been one to pray. I’ve always been the king of my own fucked-up hell.
But I’m asking whatever the fuck is out there to let her be alright when we get there.
Whatever happens to her mind and body, I’ll get her through it.
I’ll make sure my heathen knows who she belongs to—the same man who loves her. But I need her fucking alive.