Chapter Forty-Nine - Joshua
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Joshua
The second the gun fires, I wrap Elise in my arms. I catch sight of Ryder coming from my right, and beyond him, I see the culprit.
Mason.
I spare him only a fraction of my attention, but it’s enough to catch the crazed look in his eyes.
I’m pulling Elise with me behind the metal crates when three figures surround me. My hand reaches for my gun before I process who’s formed a protective ring around us—Elise’s brothers.
The only Consoli brother I’ve met is Logan.
He and his father met me to discuss the negotiation terms, and it’s no secret that he isn’t my biggest fan.
Despite that fact, I know I’m not their target.
We may not be allies, but right now, we have a common enemy—and that’s enough to know they won’t shoot me in the back.
The fact that their sister is in my arms helps, too.
Just seconds after Gabriel Consoli’s death, I’m crouched behind the crates, setting Elise down, and allowing her brothers to defend our position.
I get my first good look at her, and my heart drops at the sight of complete horror and disbelief.
“Elise,” I call, but she doesn’t so much as meet my eye. “Please, baby. I need you to look at me right now.”
No response.
The shouts and bullets that fill the room seem to get louder with every passing second, and I don’t have time to be sensitive.
With my hands on her shoulders, I shake her hard. “Elise! Listen to me!”
She blinks, and her terror-filled gaze locks with mine.
“Are you okay?” It’s a dumb question, considering the situation and the fact that she is most definitely not okay, but it’s all I can manage right now.
For all my training, being gentle in a hostile environment was never a skill I picked up.
She nods, and I don’t push for anything more.
“She okay?” one of Elise’s brothers, James, I think, calls.
“In shock, but alright for now.”
Ryder slides behind the crates, joining our small group. Elise shrieks in surprise before I clamp my hand over her mouth.
When she sees it’s him, she relaxes, but not much.
“Who was it?” she croaks. “Who killed Dad?”
James moves to sit beside her, cutting his eyes at me as he passes, but I don’t intervene.
He wraps an arm around Elise. “You were right. It was Mason. He came through a side door, shot Dad, and then soldiers from either side started shooting, but no one knows who’s on what side since Mason seems to have compromised a handful of them. It’s just open fire right now.”
Logan mutters a curse from beside me.
The oldest brother, Damon, who is already coated in a sheen of sweat, sags against the crates. “What now?”
I don’t miss the glare Logan throws him before answering. “The traitors are starting to congregate around Mason. We’re outnumbered, especially with soldiers from our sides joining him. We need to go before they make their way over here.”
With a nod, I push past James and pull Elise into my arms. None of them object, not that it would matter. I don’t care if we’re facing ten or ten thousand men—I’m not going anywhere unless she’s by my side.
I look to Ryder, who’s diligently protecting our right side. “Think you can get us out of here once we’re inside?”
“The only exit I know is too close to be safe.”
“I can get us out,” Elise’s small but firm voice says from beside me.
A barrage of bullets hits the metal crates, and we all flinch away.
The sound brings our grim reality to the forefront of my mind.
I’ve found myself in countless situations like this, but I’ve never had to worry about the woman I love being here, too.
I want her to be as far from this place as possible, but that’s not an option.
I pull my radio from my pocket. “Don, you in?”
The response comes only a moment later. “In, but Kade took a bullet to the shoulder.”
Damn it.
“Making a move to get out. West side, heading toward the southwest door. Cover and follow.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Consoli brothers, Ryder, and I shift into formation as though we’ve worked together for years and not minutes. It goes without saying that Elise needs to be in the middle, and by the time we’re ready to go, we protectively surround her.
Elise and Ryder look to me for the order to go, but I nod to Logan. Letting him take the lead is a small price to pay to ensure my focus stays on Elise and her safety.
Logan nods, wordlessly accepting the responsibility.
“Don’t break rank, and don’t stop, no matter what,” he commands.
He flicks his wrist, and we’re on the move.
There’s no way for our group to move inconspicuously, and Mason knows it. As we run, another wave of bullets flies in our direction, but I take the lack of gasps and groans to mean we’re in the clear so far.
Once Logan reaches the door, he throws it open, and one by one, we sprint inside.
As Elise and I enter the hallway, I reach for her hand, and we take the lead. Her brothers throw disgruntled looks our way, but we ignore them.
We follow as she weaves through the hallways with ease, listening for anything that may indicate we’re not alone.
We round a corner, and Elise smiles as an intersection comes into view. She slows and turns to face the group just as footsteps echo in the halls behind us.
“Do exactly what I say. Boys”—she looks to Ryder and her brothers—“go left here. The staircase will lead to the exit. Joshua and I will go right and get them off your trail.”
Every one of us, myself included, opens our mouths to argue, but Elise lifts a hand with more authority than most of my soldiers possess. “Only I know where to hide to get them off your trail. If we don’t do this to split them up and buy time, they’ll pick us off once we’re outside. Go. Now.”
I can’t think of anything I want more than for Elise to be safely out of this building, but I bite back my protest. At least she didn’t try to get me to leave with the others.
She must know I wouldn’t have gone.
Logan snaps to attention first, grabbing his brothers’ arms in either hand and pulling them backward.
Ryder begrudgingly follows, but I reach into my pocket before he gets far.
“You’ll need this,” I say, tossing his phone to him.
He catches it as he turns to follow the others, and they all seem to send the same silent message: be careful.
With that, Elise pulls me down a hallway, and I follow as she presses us against the wall. Though we say nothing, both of us seem to understand the need to wait until Mason’s soldiers are closer to make our move so we can lead them away from the others.
The thudding of feet gets closer, but I let my eyes fall on the girl beside me. Her clothes, arms, and face are streaked with blood, and I hope it’s not hers. I haven’t had the chance to assess her injuries, but I take it as a good sign that she’s still standing.
The shouts of Mason’s soldiers are muffled, but it’s enough for me to know they’ll be able to hear us, too. In perfect synchronization, we push off the wall and speed down the hallway.
The plan is working.
We’re running at full speed when Elise suddenly jerks my arm toward a small, hardly noticeable door on the left wall.
Before opening it, she raises a finger to her lip, uncertainty swimming in her eyes.
Does she think I plan on talking?
The scent hits me first. The absolutely putrid smell fills the small janitor’s closet, and it’s one I recognize all too well. Before Elise shuts the door, light from the hallway illuminates the space just enough for me to see the horrific scene.
Two bodies lay lifelessly on the floor, cleaning supplies spilled around them and blood covering the floor.
The most alarming part is that Elise isn’t shocked.
Damn it.
The footsteps are too close for me to say anything, but I nod toward the corpses in silent question.
She only nods.
Damn it.
I can’t ask the extensive list of questions bouncing around my head, so I settle for pulling her into my arms.
“They went down this hallway. Check every cell! They couldn’t have gone far.” Mason’s voice booms from directly outside the door, and I’m certain that if I hadn’t been holding Elise, she would’ve jumped a foot in the air.
Neither of us breathes as we listen to the faint noises from the other side of the door. They don’t seem concerned with the janitor’s closet, but they’re still too close for Elise and me to sneak out.
With nothing else to do, I close my eyes and focus on pinpointing the exact number of soldiers on the other side of the door. If it comes to a fight, Elise and I should know what we’re up against.
By the time I open my eyes, Elise’s head is cocked to the side.
“How many?” she mouths. “Five?”
Was she counting, too? Pride swells in my chest, and I can’t believe I ever made the mistake of underestimating her.
“Seven,” I mouth in return.
Her brow furrows, and I lean forward to kiss her forehead, but the voice outside our door halts my movement.
“Sir, we have eyes on the group exiting the perimeter. Your sister isn’t with them. Should we follow?”
“Yes! I’ll find her myself.”
Elise is as tense as a live wire, and I want nothing more than to burst through this door and inflict the most excruciating pain on Mason.
The last set of footsteps fades out of range as Elise whispers, “I think it’s safe—”
“How did you do that?” I hiss, nodding toward the corpses.
“A knife and desperation. Now, can we—”
“Did they do this to you?” I ask, making a show of looking over her blood-stained clothes.
She groans in exasperation. “Mason’s the one who raided the warehouse and took Tripp. I killed him and these guys on my way to find you while Ryder got Lyla and Rachel out of here. Anything else you’d like to ask, or can we get back to saving our asses?”
Mason raided the warehouse? He would’ve had access to my house’s location and security measures, and I cut off all communication. I wasn’t keeping tabs on him to know what he was doing.
I gave him the perfect opportunity.
I take a second to process the information, but I can’t help the swarm of images that flood my mind at the sound of Ryder’s name on her lips.
Obviously, the video was fake, but that doesn’t ease the anger boiling violently in my blood.
I reach for the doorknob when the next part of the video comes to mind.
“What’s wrong?”
“The flash drive,” I murmur.
“I almost forgot about that,” she says. “That was his backup plan.”
I nod. “He must’ve known there was a chance this ambush wouldn’t work. The drive ensures he still has power when all this is over.”
“We need to find it,” she says, and the conviction in her voice is nothing short of inspiring.
“It’s not that simple.”
“I know where his office is,” she tells me. “We can start there.”
Maybe it’s her confidence or the simple fact that I went hours tonight thinking I’d lost her, but I rest my forehead against hers and let myself hold her.
Though we both know time is not something we have an abundance of, Elise doesn’t protest. She melts in my arms, and it’s the best feeling in the world.
“Joshua, I’m so s—”
“I know, Princess.”
And I do. We both said a lot of things we didn’t mean in my office today, but that doesn’t change how I want her.
How I need her.
“I’m sorry, too. We’ll figure it all out when we get home, okay?”
Instead of answering me with words, her lips find mine.
I can feel every bit of the pain her eyes reflected, and she can feel every ounce of my frustration. It’s a furious kiss—one that carries the weight of a thousand words unsaid.
Despite the unresolved problems between us, when we pull apart, I know we’ll be okay. We’ve come too far for her brother—or anyone for that matter—to come between us.
“You ready?” I whisper.
She nods, and we’re off.
Elise silently peels the door back, and I check that we’re clear before moving out of the closet.
The halls are eerily quiet, a fact that keeps both Elise and me on edge as we make our way upstairs. When we reach an intersection, I peer around to confirm we’re alone. When I’m sure we are, I reluctantly nod for her to take the lead.
Before she can step past me, I hold my spare gun out to her, and she takes it without hesitation.
“Do you know how many men we’re facing?” I ask. It’s not comforting that we haven’t run into anyone yet.
“No idea. All I know is that before you got here, they were all called to the ‘workroom,’ whatever that is.”
I tuck that piece of information in the back of my mind.
Somehow, our luck holds, and we make it all the way to an office on the upper floor without an encounter. I only hope this doesn’t mean everyone is after the rest of our group.
I stand at Elise’s back as she opens the door, and we slip inside undetected. The same scent as before reaches my nose, and once the door is locked, I turn to find Nate’s body lying only a few feet away. Blood covers the floor around him, and I can see the headshot wound from here.
“We have one fight, and you go on a damn killing spree,” I mutter.
She narrows her eyes at me. “That wasn’t me. It must’ve been Ryder.”
I shake my head in answer, and we get to work rummaging through the office. We turn over every file and sift through every drawer until there’s not an inch we haven’t searched.
“Damn it,” I grumble.
“What?”
“Mason has the flash drive on him.”