Chapter 5 #3
Brinley was breathing hard and her eyes were even larger in her face than normal. Shadow quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her against him.
She immediately began to struggle. As she opened her mouth to scream, he clamped a hand over her lips to keep her silent. She fought like hell, and he couldn’t help but be proud of her for that, even as he did his best to subdue her.
“It’s me, Shadow—Dash! You’re okay.”
His words immediately had her stilling in his grasp.
A shout from inside had him moving instinctively, pushing Brinley to the ground behind a series of tall bushes to the left of the doors.
She was wearing a forest-green top with her jeans, and he was relieved the color was muted so they’d blend in better with the foliage.
He came down on top of her, covering her body with his own.
He didn’t need to tell her to stay quiet, she didn’t seem the least bit interested in talking right now, her breathing too hard, and he could feel her heart beating as fast as a hummingbird’s wings.
The doors to the conference center flew back with a bang and a man shouted before shooting off a few rounds.
Turning his head so he could see what he was dealing with, Shadow mentally swore.
The guy wore all black and had his face covered.
But it was the red viper patch on the sleeve of his shirt that had Shadow’s muscles tensing.
He and his team had been briefed on this particular group.
The Red Vipers were a mercenary group that did political hits for money.
They also had their fingers in human trafficking and smuggling.
They didn’t care who they hurt or killed in order to complete a job.
They worked for anyone and everyone who could pay their price.
They had no loyalty to any one country or political denomination or religion, which was what made them so dangerous.
That, and the fact that when they accepted a job, a part of their MO was to take as many hostages as possible. Mostly women and children, who they then sold to whomever could pay the asking price.
There was no doubt that they were here for the VP and/or his family, but targeting a beauty pageant also gave them access to a large number of beautiful women who would likely earn them a pretty penny in trafficking circles.
Shadow felt sick, but at the moment, all he could do was gather intel, then try to save as many people as possible.
The man stayed outside the doors, his rifle at the ready as he guarded the exit, making sure no one else was able to escape.
There was no way Shadow could move enough to grab his phone from his back pocket, and he couldn’t use his watch to send a message to his team or to the Secret Service agents around the property.
All he could do was lay completely still in the bushes and pray the man didn’t decide to search the immediate area for anyone who might’ve exited the building before he could stop them.
The screams and cries from inside were audible now, along with gunshots. Whatever was happening inside was bad. Very bad. Shadow hoped Echo and Zero were all right, and that they’d been able to get Ayla to safety before the exits were locked down.
A full minute went by, with Shadow lying over Brinley as the Red Viper member stood watch at the door.
Then he tilted his head, a move that Shadow recognized as him listening to someone talking through an earpiece, before he abruptly turned and reached for something in the bushes on the opposite side from where Shadow and Brinley were hiding.
When he straightened, he held a length of chain in his hand, and Shadow realized that if he’d chosen the other side of the sidewalk to hide, he and Brinley would be in a world of hurt right about now.
But luck had been on his side. Now, the viper went back inside with the chain, and Shadow could just see him through the glass, wrapping the length around both push bars and locking the links together with a heavy padlock.
The emergency exit doors were now chained shut, keeping everyone out—and the hostages in.
It wasn’t a good development, but trying to look on the positive side of things, the viper couldn’t actually get to them quickly if he saw them now. He could still shoot out the glass though, which kept Shadow in place for longer than he would’ve liked.
Once he was sure enough time had passed, and the viper had likely gone back to his fellow terrorists, he slowly crawled off Brinley, helping her sit up.
“You okay?”
She nodded, but didn’t speak or move.
Worried he might have hurt her, or that she might’ve been hit by a stray bullet, Shadow put a hand on her shoulder. “Brinley?” he asked in a whisper. “Talk to me. Are you all right? Were you hit?”
She turned her head and looked up at him.
Her hair had begun to escape the confines of the band she’d tied it back with, her green shirt had dirt smeared on the front of it now, as did her jeans.
Her lip was bleeding, where she’d perhaps injured it when he took her to the ground or where she was biting it to keep silent.
Either way, the sight of the small amount of blood had Shadow’s stomach turning.
Which was surprising, considering how much blood he’d lost—and drawn—throughout the many missions he’d been on in his lifetime.
“I’m okay. It all happened so fast.”
Shadow nodded. It usually did. That’s how groups like the Red Vipers worked. Shock and awe. Overwhelm their victims so they didn’t know what to do or where to run until it was too late.
“I need to get you somewhere safer.”
“There are still so many people inside,” she whispered.
Shadow stared at her for a beat. Most people would be begging to get as far away from the danger as they could. But this woman…she seemed more concerned about the contestants and spectators trapped in the building.
“There are,” he agreed. “And I’m going to help them, but not until I make sure you’re safe.”
Just then, they heard yelling from the main part of the hotel. Shit. It sounded as if the Red Vipers had more manpower than Shadow would’ve expected.
“The safest place for me right now is with you.”
He looked at Brinley in surprise. She seemed to have recovered a little from the shock of what happened.
She wasn’t wrong, but Shadow was very sure he couldn’t do what he needed to do with this woman at his side…
simply because he’d be too worried about keeping her from falling into the clutches of the assholes who were known to sell captives, most of whom were never heard from again.
Without taking his gaze from hers, he reached for his phone. After unlocking it, he tried to call Echo, and wasn’t surprised when he got no response. He sent a quick group text to his team.
Shadow: Red Vipers
That would tell them everything they needed to know for now. Then he called Grinder.
“Sit-rep,” his teammate bit out as a greeting.
“Don’t know how many tangos. The conference center has been taken and by the sounds of it, the main hotel has been breached. I have no doubt they’re going to take as many women as possible for their trafficking operation.”
“Shit. We’re all hunkered down in the hotel room with the VP and his wife. We’ve got them covered. Echo and Zero?”
“No word. Stay put. I’ll see if I can find out what’s happening inside. Keep trying to get intel from Zero and Echo. We have to make sure Ayla’s protected.”
“You need me to join you?”
“No. Stay there. Assuming Roling is the target, they might bring a full force to the room to kill him.”
“Ten-four. Out.”
“Ayla,” Brinley breathed. “They’ll kill her.”
“They might try,” Shadow agreed grimly. “Come on, let’s head around to the back side of the property. Keep your head down and stay quiet. If I tell you to stay, you stay. Understand?”
He knew his tone was harsh, but he didn’t try to temper it. This was a life-or-death situation, and if he saw the Vipers taking the VP’s daughter out of the building, he’d need to act fast and do what he could to stop them.
“I understand,” she whispered.
What he did next was so out of the ordinary for him, it surprised even Shadow. But he couldn’t have stopped himself if someone was holding a gun to his head.
He leaned down and kissed Brinley.
It was hard, rough, and brief. He pulled back and stared into her eyes for a moment, seeing the same worry, desire, and desperation in her gaze that he felt coursing through his veins.
Without a word, he took her hand and curled it around the waistband of his cargo pants, then pulled a sidearm out of the holster at his calf.
He felt her grip tighten as he eased out of the foliage and headed toward the back of the conference center.
He had no idea what the next few minutes would bring, but if the woman behind him was hurt because of something he did or didn’t do, he’d regret it for the rest of his life.