Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Gina kept her eyes on Wave as they unloaded him from the back of the van. He hadn’t woken up, but he had moaned a few times, which meant he was still alive. They needed to get him to a hospital, but first, she had to get away from these jerks with both Wave and Cass. It seemed impossible.
Cass had been hit again, but she was conscious. They had her sitting at a table, her hands chained to the table and her legs tied to the chair. She’d put up a fight, and that’s when she’d been hit again.
Gina hated that she was the reason both Cass and Wave were in danger. If only she had the thumb drive, but she didn’t. Why did this guy think she had the drive?
Had that woman told him she had the drive? Maybe she had, and that was the reason this jerk was targeting her.
“Why do you think I have the thumb drive?” She didn’t expect a reasonable answer from Pete, but she had to get him talking. Anything to delay him from killing them. If Wave woke up, maybe he wouldn’t be too injured, and he would be able to save them.
It was a stretch. It would take a miracle for them to be saved, but maybe there was one more miracle out there for them.
“Because Anna said you had it.”
“Anna?”
“The woman you bumped into and got into the cab with. She told me you had it.”
“I don’t. Go back to her and ask her what really happened.”
He snorted. “She’s dead. I took care of her after she told me she passed the drive off to you.”
“Well, she lied. And now you’ll never find it.” Maybe it was the wrong thing to say. Pete wasn’t rational. He’d killed Anna, which showed he reacted instead of thinking. The one person who knew the location of the thumb drive was dead.
She had no idea how to get out of this, but she needed to think of something to save Cass and Wave.
Pete hadn’t taken her words well and screamed. Then he marched over to the table where he had Cass and grabbed her hair, then pulled her head up.
“I’ll gut her if you don’t tell me.”
Panic swept through Gina. She didn’t want Cass to die. How the hell could she get out of this?
A scream lodged in her throat. There was nothing she could say to save them.
Bang’s phone buzzed as they pulled into the lot across from the building where it looked like Wave was. The MPs had sent a text with a photo. Wave’s front door was smashed open, and it looked like a struggle happened inside.
“It looks like someone broke into Wave’s place. Neither Cass nor Gina is at his place. All three of them could be in there.”
“We need to go in,” Cy said.
T moved to hop out of the truck. “I’ll recon the back.”
“I’m with you,” Jump said.
Bang hated that they had to operate in the USA. This could get them in all kinds of trouble, but they needed to get Wave back just in case there were terrorists who’d taken Wave.
T and Jump had made it around to the back of the building and reported that there was a door. They needed to coordinate their breach.
“We’ll go in two minutes,” Cy said.
“Get your equipment ready,” Foster said as he strapped on his belt.
Bang had his pistol in place and two flash bangs ready to go. “Once the door is open, I’ll toss in the flash bang.”
“T, do you have your C4?” Foster asked.
“Sure do. Jump is preparing it for the breach.”
“We go in ninety seconds,” Cy said.
They moved closer to the entrance. There wasn’t any yelling or screaming inside, and they hadn’t heard any gunfire. They needed to move in smoothly and take the bastards down.
“Twenty-five seconds,” Cy said.
Bang’s stomach tightened as he prepared to go in. Ten seconds before the charge was set to blow, screaming erupted inside. For a half second, Bang thought they’d been found out.
“Plan is still a go. Don’t get distracted,” Cy said seconds before the first charge blew.
Bang tossed in the two flash bangs, waiting for them to blow and spread their confusion.
Gina was ready for Pete to do something terrible to Cass when the front and back doors blew open. Then something small was tossed in, and lights seemed to explode right in front of her.
The sound and noise dazed her. She screamed but dropped low as smoke started to fill the area. Cass was still chained to the table, but Pete had moved away from her.
She had no idea what had happened, but she hoped this had something to do with their rescue, and not another attack.
“On the ground!” was yelled to her left, and then again to her right. The people coming into the building were big, dressed in black, and scary. She saw Pete go down before one of the goons dropped to the floor.
She was still screaming when one of the rescuers moved to her, pulling her up. “No, Wave first!” she yelled as they cut the straps on her ankles.
“We’ve got him,” the guy said. Was that Jump’s voice? She wasn’t sure.
“He suffered a head injury,” she said quickly, hoping they didn’t hurt him.
“We’ll take care of him,” the man said.
She was carried outside, and then Cass was beside her, hugging her close. She clung to Cass, tears streaking her cheeks as emotions overwhelmed her.
“Is he dead?” Cass asked.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Oh God, Gina, are you okay?”
“I am, sweetie. I’m okay.”
“I thought he was going to kill me.”
Gina’s body shuddered as fear and worry rose. They could have all died tonight. Two of the guys carried Wave out and moved him toward a vehicle.
“Come with us,” one of the men called out.
Gina followed, pulling Cass along with her. She wasn’t sure where they were going or what happened inside, but she needed to make sure Wave was okay.
They were close to the car when Gina heard more gunfire pop off. She jumped and yelped, then tripped and slammed into the car. One of the guys pulled her up and then guided her toward the door of the car.
She glanced back at the building, worry filling her. “Will they be okay in there?”
“They will.” The man took off his face covering, and she could see it was Foster.
“What about—”
“Trust me, you don’t need to know more.”
She nodded, worry filling her. “Wave needs medical attention now.”
“We’ll head to the hospital. Get in the car. We need to go.”
She got in the car and held onto Wave, keeping his head steady. He was moaning and opened his eyes a few times, but he didn’t look good. Cass was on the other side of him, helping her hold him steady.
Questions floated through her mind, but she held her tongue as Bang drove them. They were headed to the hospital, and hopefully they weren’t too late to get help for Wave. She wouldn’t be okay if he suffered permanent damage.