Chapter 31
THIRTY-ONE
The house is electrified, but not in the usual way. At least not for me. Everything in my entire world rides on what happens in the next few hours, and the waiting is the worst kind of torture.
I’m ready to go, ready to butcher every fucking guard I can find. Jesse could probably take out one of the trafficking houses all on his own with the way he stalks the floors tonight.
The men of Mercy tensely bide their time around the house, waiting for word from Ryan. Weapons are prepped and the familiar taste for blood is making it hard to sit down. I need a target, someone to sink my goddamn teeth into.
For most of the men here, they’re doing their job; helping safely remove dozens of trafficking victims from Bundy’s operation in the quickest, least violent way. It’s what we do. It’s the reason we’re all here.
Only this time it’s different, because it’s Emma and Bo that they’ve hurt. It’s Lily whose death they caused. These missions are always personal, but this time it’s more.
Jesse paces next to me, freshly aware, his messy hair still wet from his shower. He’s alert and dangerous, the Glock peeking out from his low-ride holster, strapped just below his vest, as he scarf’s down his first meal in days.
“Are you locked in?” I ask.
“Yeah. I’m ready to fuck this shit up,” he says and starts bouncing on his heels. I slap him on the back and pull out my phone as it vibrates.
“It’s from Ryan,” I say, and everyone pauses to listen.
Inside is a picture, snapped on his phone of a very dead man in combat clothes, a bullet through his forehead.
“Bro, what the fuck? It looks like his dick has been chewed on.” Jesse says, peering over my shoulder.
I scroll to the text.
Courtesy of your girl. They killed him and tried to run. They’ve been moved, already gone. Will send location ASAP. Bo’s been shot, don’t have a status. Camera footage confirms both physically and sexually assaulted, just FYI.
He doesn’t mean for the message to come across callously—it's exactly how we would relay the information on any other mission. We need to know where their heads are so we can handle them appropriately.
It still fucks me up. I need to get to them now.
I look up to see everyone’s eyes on me. “Plan isn’t changing.
Head to Alpha house, let Ryan know when you’re ready and he’ll cut the lines.
Rush the building. He’s already let the victims know what’s coming so they should be able to stay calm but be prepared for them to be unpredictable.
Some terrible shit has happened in that building, and they are going to be deeply traumatized.
” I scroll the message again, fixating on the picture of the dead man, unable to look away.
“You’ll have the element of surprise, so take out the fifteen or so guards with Ryan’s help, load up the victims into the van that’s leaving immediately, and then we head right to Beta house.
Five minute drive tops and repeat. Bundy and Eric are not to be killed.
They are to be brought back here and we will deal with them when both houses are secured and empty, okay? Everyone ready?”
To their credit, nobody hesitates when they nod back at me. These are the best of the best and I’m proud to be fighting with them. Not every person could put themselves in danger to save people they don’t even know. But we will. We always do.
They stand, adjusting the straps on their vests, ready to head to the vans we’ll be using. My dad and Aiden lead them, loading up and organizing the duffel bags filled with weapons. Hopefully most will go unused.
“Son,” he says, turning to me. “Be smart. I can’t tell your mom we’ve lost you. Stay calm and fight well, okay?”
I nod, and he pulls me in for a hug. “Jesse, same to you. Keep your head, no matter what you see or what you hear.”
He’s too dialed in to respond, nodding sharply as he bounces on the balls of his feet and folds his hands behind his head.
Then they’re gone, the house quiet as the red brake lights illuminate the dark woods and disappear down the long path to the road.
“We might as well get our shit in the car so we’re ready as soon as he messages us,” Jesse says. Sitting and waiting for word from Ryan is killing both of us because the stakes are different. If my best isn’t enough—if we don’t execute this perfectly—it’s Emma and Bo who will pay for it.
Fuck, she really did a number on me. A year ago I didn’t think I loved anything, but she’s not the only one who’s changed since I injected myself into her life. Things are different and if I don’t manage to save her today, I don’t know what the fuck I will do.
Ryan’s initial message still sits open on my phone.
Fuck knows what all Emma and Bo have been put through, or what state we’ll find them in.
There’s no way I can share the update with Jesse or he’ll spiral.
Bo’s shot, not dead. It didn’t say dead.
I have to hang onto the hope that we’ll get there in time.
It’s a struggle for me to keep it together at the thought of losing him—and I’m the notoriously unaffected one of the two of us.
He’s more than Emma’s best friend. He’s just a balance. A part of the messy, imperfect dynamic we’ve forged together.
The house falls still, a quiet pounding in my ears counting the seconds that we wait for news.
For anything. I stare at the clock, knowing we should have their location within the hour.
I follow the vans in my head, trying to guess exactly where they’re at, when they’ve arrived, how quickly they should have been able to infiltrate with Ryan’s help.
The time it would take to gain control of the guards and load up the trafficked people who were housed there.
It needs to happen smoothly and quickly. Efficiently. Mercy’s men can get it done and with my Dad and Aiden leading them, I hope it’s enough to save all their lives.
But goddamn this fucking clock, the ticking grating at me like even my skin is agitated. Tension is pulled tight in each and every one of my muscles and Jesse’s head rests on the counter as his leg bounces against the stool unendingly.
I’m actually impressed with him; I did think he’d be a lot harder to regulate the last few days, but no. Bo needing him seems to have done that on his own. It was a rare swap of our normal roles for him to fucking tie me to the bed to keep me from doing something reckless.
My phone ringing burns through the silence and I answer the call immediately.
“It’s done. We’re going to Beta house now. Not a single fucking loss on our end, they didn’t expect a thing.” Rowdy whoops sound off in the background, the men clearly amped up from the fight. “Landon truly was the only rat we had. Fuck ‘em,” he spits, disgust in his voice.
I don’t have room for my hatred of Landon right now, that will come at a later time. “Did anyone get a chance to sound the alarm?”
“I don’t think so but whoever watches the camera will notice they were cut and we might have only a few minutes before they show up to fix it. We’re almost at Beta house now, so we should still have the element of surprise.”
“Okay. Let me know when it’s done. Stay safe, Dad.”
He sniffs in acknowledgement. “Ryan’s working on your girl's location now. He’s got someone strung up pretty crazy to interrogate.”
I smile for the first time. “Good.”
My phone beeps and another video comes through from Ryan.
A man in a shitty guard costume hangs upside down, a chain binding his feet to the metal beams on the ceiling.
There’s a bullet wound in both knees, and another to his lower stomach.
Blood carves its way from his mouth and nose to run down into his eyes.
He tries to blink it away but Ryan won’t let that happen.
His revolver whips across the man’s mouth, and he swings for a moment, wiggling in his binds as he cries out.
Ryan always had a gift for making people open up.
“Again, all you need to do is tell me where he took the two new marks. I know you remember them. Emma and Bo. Where did he move them? Then I'll let you go.”
The man thrashes angrily. “You’re already killing me!”
He clicks his tongue. “No, I wouldn't do that. I’ll even patch you up myself.” Turning the phone video for a moment and his face fills the screen, winking with a wry smirk on his face.
It turns back to the dangling and dying man. He sobs, saying nothing. Ryan’s gun enters the frame again, pointed at his stomach. “I’ll punch another hole right through your stomach.”
“No, wait! Wait.” He grits his teeth, an anguished yell forced through his clenched jaw. “They’re going to Eric’s house. Both of them. Please, just let me go, man. I never touched them, I swear to god.”
“Hear that, Noah?” Ryan’s voice asks as he puts a bullet in the man’s forehead.
“Car, now.” I’m already on my feet, Jesse at my heels as we rush for the door. I slide into the driver’s seat and tear us down the dirt path. Thrill mixes into my bloodstream as I swerve onto the empty road and head for the home Emma had once shared with Eric.
She’s still there, we have a location. She’ll be safe again.
She’ll be back with me.
Glancing over at Jesse, the deadly look in his eyes glows bright. Whoever is in the room with Bo when we arrive will not survive to see tomorrow.
“Jesse, I gotta tell you that Ryan said he might be hurt. Okay? You need to keep your cool if he is until we can get them out. He’s gonna need you to be in control.”
What I’m saying is we can not spend any time creatively torturing these men now. We can, however, take them to the lockup that Aiden maintains and come back for them later.
Emma needs the same. She’s had to kill, to fight. I mean, she actually chewed up that dead man’s dick. The fact she was forced to do that is killing me and while I’m so goddamn proud of her for surviving, I’m also pissed I can't bring him back to life so I can execute him again.
I have so many men I want to add to the pine cemetery I’ve started. In due time.
The car is pushed to its limits as we head straight for the house I first laid eyes on her. Where everything started. It’s all come full circle now.
The field to the left of their property finally comes into sight, and I pull off into it like I have dozens of times before. Back then, it was me who pictured desecrating her. Who wanted to trap her small, timid life in my hands and keep her stuck there to satisfy my own curiosity.
I park at the edge of the band of pines that surround her house.
We exit the car, adjust our vests, and grab our guns.
I’m fucking buzzing. Somehow, it feels like all the training I’ve had since being a small boy in a family of assassins has led right to this exact moment.
Everything balances on the edge of a knife.
Jesse stalks into the trees and I follow. It’s bare, most animals burrowed away for the winter. Dried pine needles soften our steps as the lights from the house reach us through the branches.
There’s her clothesline and the spot that Molly had started visiting me as I watched. Poor Emma. She had no idea that monsters surrounded her on every fucking side.
Here we are. So close.
“Keep calm,” I remind him, studying the yard. The windows. The vehicles lined up in the driveway. The rest of the vans would be here shortly for backup. If it looks peaceful inside, our best bet would be to wait for them to arrive.
A scream erupts through the night and Jesse shoots from the tree line straight for the porch door of the house.