Chapter 19
Samand I didn’t speak much along the way. Nerves, I suspected, considering my heartbeat grew louder and louder with every passing mile. I’d thought I could handle this, but my pulse said otherwise.
We hit the city’s outskirts and the urban sprawl gave way to the untamed beauty of the bayou. I hadn’t realized how badly I would react to all this. Perhaps I should have stayed home with Avery and handed this task to Jaden or Josh.
No. It had to be me. They were slayers, yes. But I had the added bonus of being a werewolf. They didn’t. And if something happened to either of them, I would never forgive myself.
“Hey,” Sam’s voice invaded my thoughts.
I blinked and glanced his way, noting how tightly he gripped the steering wheel.
He spared a glance at me before turning his eyes back onto the road. “You okay?”
My nod was too fast, too forced, too jerky. Cramps twisted my stomach and my hands were clammy and shoulders tight. No, I wasn’t fine. But I couldn’t tell him that. I was supposed to be leading this damn mission.
“Talk to me,” he said, his voice soft.
In the years since we’d met, I’d come to think of Sam as a brother, but we’d never exactly had a heart-to-heart before. That’d always been Lucy’s job. But seeing as how she wasn’t here…
I bit my lip, then finally admitted, “I’m scared.”
“Well, I’d be surprised if you weren’t,” he said.
I slid my fingers through my hair, pushing it all back from my face. “I have no reason to be scared. Adrian held me prisoner, sure, but no one hurt me.”
“No one hurt you?” Sam swung his head toward me, surprise widening his eyes. “Maddie, there are other forms of harm beyond the physical. Adrian held you prisoner for three days. You barely slept, they barely fed you. You maintained wolf form practically the entire time, which is exhausting. And you had to watch them torture your mate. Do I also need to remind you that they injected you with liquid silver? These people were about to kill you when you escaped. You have every reason to be afraid.”
I shook my head. His response made sense logically, but there was a part of my brain that kept reminding me that what I faced was nothing compared to what Avery and Gabriel had gone through. Avery didn’t want to talk about it, but I’d been there. I’d seen her room, smelled her blood, and seen the stark terror in her eyes. She’d endured far worse than me.
“Look, it’s alright to be scared. No one is going to hold that against you. Just make sure that you don’t freak out and lose sight of our mission, and everything will be fine.” Sam glanced at me again with a small, encouraging smile. “I’d also like to remind you that this time, we know where you are. You’ll be in communication with everyone. So if something goes wrong, they know where to find us. Plus, I’m here,” he said with a shrug and a grin. “I won’t let anything bad happen to either of us.”
I blew out a stuttering breath and nodded, repeating everything he’d just said silently in my head until my pulse started to slow.
I wasn’t alone. Everyone knew where I was. I would not wake up in a cage. Not again.
“There we go,” Sam commented when my heart rate returned to normal. “You okay now?”
I gave another nod. “Just…make sure I keep my promise to Gabriel and I’m there when he wakes up tonight.”
“I can do that,” Sam said as he took a turn and headed deeper into the bayou. Thanks to Avery’s details and instructions, he knew exactly where to go. We had no intentions of parking in front of the warehouse, though. We wanted to remain as unseen as possible.
“We’re getting close,” I said in a quiet voice. “Let’s find somewhere to park and go the rest of the way on foot.”
Sam nodded, already slowing the van as he looked for a suitable place to pull over. Once he found a secluded spot hidden from the main road by a thick cluster of trees, he parked and killed the engine.
For a moment, we just sat there, and I took a second to gather my thoughts. I could see the warehouse ahead, but it looked different in the sunlight. Almost normal. It didn’t match the memories, but then again, I hadn’t stopped to study the warehouse’s exterior that night.
Without a word, I opened the passenger door and stepped out into the humid air. The sounds of nature rose to my ears, reminding me of our wild dash through the bayou. Hopefully, that wouldn’t happen again.
After grabbing the equipment from the back seat, Sam climbed out and circled around the van, coming to a stop next to me. He flicked on the RF detector, then dialed into the call. I did the same, breathing a sigh of relief when his voice filtered through my earpiece, telling everyone we’d arrived.
“Roger,” Josh said, his voice loud in my head.
I adjusted the volume, then nodded at Sam, signaling that I was ready.
“We’re approaching the warehouse,” Sam reported when we started forward, keeping off the road in case anyone spotted us. The ground was soft underfoot, the earthy smell of the bayou mingling with the slight tang of saltwater from nearby marshes.
“From here out, we need to be careful,” I said, my eyes peeled on the warehouse. “There were at least four human guards when Gabriel and I were here. They may have brought them in specifically to guard us, since I’m not a vampire, or they may be regular day time guards. We won’t know till we get inside.”
“How do you want to handle them?” Sam asked.
I considered his question. They were human, but as far as I was concerned, these humans had signed their death warrants by working with Nash.
“We take them out if we have no other choice,” I told Sam.
Sam nodded, his expression grim but determined.
We moved silently, using the natural cover to our advantage as we navigated the terrain. The warehouse loomed ahead, its single door entrance gleaming in the sunlight. Once we were close enough to the building, we paused, taking a moment to survey the area for any signs of movement or security measures.
Sam met my gaze, and I tapped my ear, then shook my head, wordlessly telling him I didn’t hear anyone. We both glanced at the RF detector to find it quiet, offering a small measure of relief, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
“Front door?” Sam whispered.
“Front door,” I echoed, knowing it was only the way in. Either that or the window we’d climbed out, and I didn’t love that idea.
With a shared nod, Sam and I hurried toward the front door. It seemed too straightforward, walking up to the entrance of the place that had held me captive, but we didn’t have any other options. Sam jiggled the handle, only to find it locked. But apparently, he’d prepared for the possibility, and pulled a small kit out of his pocket. He crouched in front of the door and got to work. A few seconds later, he pulled it open and peeked inside.
Huh. Guess my brother-in-law knew how to pick locks.
We crept inside the cool and dark interior, and I had to blink to help my eyes adjust. Once I could see again, I took in our surroundings to find that we’d entered the holding cells area of the warehouse.
Sam and I stood in the hallway, staring at the many closed doors. I’d have to look in each one again. I couldn’t leave without knowing there wasn’t anyone new trapped here. But we also needed to find Nash’s office, all while ensuring keeping out of sight of any guards.
Sam tapped my shoulder, and when I glanced his way, he pointed to our left, where he’d spotted a staircase, something I understandably hadn’t noticed my first time here. That explained where Elias and Adrian had gone after visiting us in our cages.
Sam signed that we should go upstairs, but I held up a hand, then pointed at the doors. I had to know. He grimaced, but nodded. I gestured to the right side, then pointed him to the left.
I reached for the first door, then took a deep breath. I’d hoped I’d never have to look in one of these again. But here we were.
Quickly, methodically, and silently, Sam and I checked the rooms. Every time I opened one, the smell of terror and blood assaulted me, but I pushed that aside and opened each and every door, including the one that had held me and Gabriel. Our scents were faint, but still present, and it made me shudder.
We reached the last room, and I turned to find Sam standing in the one where we’d found Avery. When he didn’t immediately leave, I stepped inside, then froze. The room still reeked of her, but it was the message painted on the walls in blood that made my heart stop dead in my chest.
She’s mine.
My breath quickened, but I didn’t make a sound. Instead, I gripped Sam’s arm and hauled him out, quietly closing the door behind us. Once in the hallway, I shook off my fear, then forced us back to the upper-level stairwell.
We took the stairs two at a time, careful not to make any noise. At the top, we emerged onto a landing that led to a single door. I paused just beyond it and listened, but heard nothing. No guards, no machines, nothing. The warehouse was completely and utterly silent. And I wasn’t sure if that boded well for us.
Sam slowly opened the door, and we stepped into what had to be Nash’s office. It looked ransacked. There was paperwork scattered everywhere, and a filing cabinet hung half-open. No sign of a computer, laptop, or phone though.
“They cleared out,” I whispered. Inside, I was screaming. The bastards had left and taken everything with them. Because of course they had. Only an idiot would have believed we wouldn’t come back for them.
“Just bring back whatever you can,” Josh chimed in through our earpieces.
I started gathering up the papers and searching the room for anything and everything that might seem helpful. We had to find this prick before he found Avery, and before Adrian and Elias found Gabriel. It was as simple as that.
Once I had an arm full of paperwork, I straightened and found myself staring out a window that overlooked the storage half of the warehouse.
“Sam,” I called, gesturing at the window. “Look at this.”
He joined me, his gaze following mine.
“That’s maybe half the cages I saw when we were here.” When no one spoke, I asked the first question that came to my mind. “So where are the other half? Did he sell them already? Or is he just moving them because we escaped?”
“Neither option is good,” Sam replied.
A sudden clatter from below jolted me and Sam into action. Cursing, we ducked out of sight, and I tucked the papers aside in case I needed both hands to fight. After a few moments, in which no one came rushing upstairs to attack us, I rose on my knees and peered out the window. The bay door stood wide open, filling the warehouse with blinding sunlight. A large truck sat just outside the doors, and there was a crew strolling inside, heading straight for the forklift.
My heart skipped a beat, and I lowered back onto my haunches, staring at Sam in disbelief. This was exactly the break we needed. If we could question these people, we might find out where they were moving the cages to—and, by extension, Nash’s location. Because I would bet my last dollar, wherever the cages were, Nash was.
“We need to get down there,” I whispered to Sam, urgency lacing my words.
He quickly informed the rest of the group what was happening, then crept through the office, ensuring to keep out of sight of the window, just in case.
We descended the stairs as quietly as we’d come in, then slipped out the single door and circled around the back of the warehouse. Hugging the exterior wall, we moved into position, but kept out of sight. The murmur of their voices and the clang of metal on concrete reached us, telling me they didn’t suspect a thing.
Finally, something was working out to our benefit.
I stole a quick glance around the corner and noted three men. Human, from the smell of it. Returning to Sam, I held up three fingers, and he nodded.
I quickly stripped out of my leather harness, so as not to frighten the normies, and set it aside. Sam did the same, placing the stakes next to mine. Once we looked like regular Joes, we casually rounded the corner. Being that they were human, the crew didn’t notice our approach until the last second, when we stepped inside the bay doors. All three turned to us with identical shocked expressions, but not a single one shouted out for help. They simply stared at us.
“Can we help you?” one finally asked.
I took in their uniforms with the company name sewn into the shirt, and smiled politely. “We just want to know where these cages are going?”
One mover, a burly guy with a thick beard, said, “What business is it of yours?”
I almost laughed. They had no idea who they were dealing with. I ran through my options in my head. Option A, I could threaten and terrify them into answering my questions. Or, I could take option B, which was a more traditional approach, one with a higher success rate than scare tactics.
“Would a hundred bucks buy us the answer?” I asked.
The guy’s bushy brows shot upward. He shared a glance with his two co-workers, who both seemed intrigued by my offer. He grabbed a nearby clipboard and flipped through the pages. “Looks like we’re taking them to some new storage facility across town.”
“Where?”
“Someplace out by the old mill. Here’s the location.” He handed me the clipboard, and I quickly memorized the address, a spark of hope igniting within me. This was it. This could lead us right to Nash.
“Who hired you?”
The mover shrugged. “Some guy named Nash.”
“Have you seen him at this facility at all?”
“He came by last night. I think he’s one of them vampires, if you ask me. Has that hungry look in his eye, y’know?”
“What time last night?” I pressed. I needed more to go on than “at night.”
“I don’t know,” the man drawled. “But it was before our work day ended, which is usually around eight. Now, mind letting us get back to work? We wanna finish this up before it gets any hotter out here.”
I fought to contain my excitement as I handed the clipboard back. “Thanks. Oh, and I’ll give you another hundred if you pretend you never saw us.”
All three stared at me as though I were insane.
“Uh, yeah, deal,” they muttered.
I paid them, then Sam and I quickly rearmed ourselves and returned to the office to retrieve the paperwork. We had the location, but we still needed the paperwork so Aimee could track down Nash’s buyers. Once I had that all in hand, we ducked out of the warehouse and returned to the van.
“I can’t believe it,” I said as we climbed in. “If they’re telling the truth, we know exactly where Nash will be tonight.”
Sam grinned at me. “Let’s get back to the others and see what else we can find.”