Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
NATHAN
One of the first rules they drill into you when you get into this business is simple: Don’t act on instinct.
The second is harder: Don’t confuse love with judgment.
I break both every time I look at the building.
I told Dyer I would do whatever it took with or without his help to get Thea out, but every scenario I run through my mind only leads to one ending—with us both dead.
I can’t ignore the level of security inside and I can’t risk putting Thea in further danger than she already is.
He won’t kill her, not yet, but my fears of what he could do that are much, much worse are warring against my mind.
“She’s cracked his certainty,” Dyer says. “He won’t tolerate that for long.” We’re watching the feed through Thea’s button cam as she eggs Harrison on in the hallway, knowing she’s about to be taken away, and that’s what breaks me. I’m already moving as soon as he gives his orders.
“Negative,” Dyer snaps. “Not yet.”
I round on him. “He’s done playing.”
“And she knows that,” he counters. “Which means she’s buying us seconds, not minutes. You go in now, you blow the entire operation.”
“She’s being isolated,” I say, pointing at the screen as she is being dragged away.
“That’s your line in the sand and you know it.
I told you, I’m going in with or without your help.
” I pull my weapon free, thumb brushing the safety as Fletcher joins me in solidarity.
The screen shows nothing now but shadow and motion, and the sound of Thea’s whimpering cracks my chest open.
I don’t wait for permission. We step out and rush across the roadway, heading for one of the back entrances we had scoped out, still unsure of what or who is on the other side, but no longer caring.
Fletcher tries the door, but it’s locked.
Fortunately for the both of us, he’s particularly skilled with cracking a lock and it’s only moments before we hear the click of success.
I look at Fletcher and he nods, holding up his hand.
Five…four…three…two…one. I push open the door, its silence leaving me saying thank you to no one in particular.
We’re in a hallway, although it’s hard to tell if it’s the same one Thea was in moments ago.
We’re about to round a corner, passing other doors that lead to the loud conversation of people inside the auction, when a guard comes around at the exact same time.
Shock followed by resolve crosses his face and he attempts to reach for the radio at his hip.
But before he has a chance to call for backup, Fletcher’s hand comes up and the man goes down without a sound.
We may have silencers on our weapons, but they’re not foolproof and I’d rather avoid drawing attention for as long as we can.
I have no idea where Harrison went, but there is no doubt he is still in the building.
He knows someone is onto him now and there is no way he’d let his guard down.
Grunts followed by cries come across our ear pieces and there is no mistaking who it is on the other side—Thea.
They’re hurting her. My rage boils anew and I see red, matching the expression on Fletcher’s face.
Down the corridor we just entered, footsteps approach, and I pull us into another room as two men pass, laughing about something mundane as though this is just another day for them. Disgusting.
I’m about to say fuck it and start opening fire on anyone who steps into our path when a voice sounds from behind us.
“Ah, so this is the cavalry.” The hair on my arms stands as I recognize the oily voice.
I don’t answer. I can’t afford to—I still don’t know where Thea is and I can’t scare off my only chance at getting her out of here efficiently and safely.
I turn slowly, huffing at the uncanny coincidence that we stepped into a room with the snake himself.
It’s dark, with no windows to speak of, and I can only just make out his silhouette against the wall across from us.
Fletcher raises his gun but Harrison holds up his hand.
“Ah, ah, ah…It would be a shame for you to do something so reckless. After all, my men are on the other side of this line” —he raises a burner phone— “and they have explicit orders to neutralize your dear Thea if one of you decides to get trigger happy too early.”
I clench my jaw, the evidence showing a call in progress. “But you see, I’m a reasonable man. I don’t particularly like violence, so I’ll give you one chance for both of you to get out of here with your heartbeats still intact.”
“And why would we believe a monster like you?” Fletcher’s growl reverberates around the room.
He chuckles as though Fletcher just said something mildly amusing instead of profoundly dangerous. “Monster,” he repeats, tasting the word. “Such an emotional label. I prefer pragmatic."
“You traffic children,” I say flatly. The words scrape their way out of my throat, battling against the bile that threatens to rise with each passing moment. “There’s nothing pragmatic about that.”
“You must think you’re special,” he says quietly. “That makes you dangerous.” He lowers the phone just enough to remind me he still holds all of the cards. “She walked into my house wearing a lie and a borrowed face. People don’t do that unless they’re very stupid or very certain.”
My stomach knots, and I realize what’s coming. That I’ll have to comply and give him the answers he wants or he will take it out on Thea. “She didn’t infiltrate anything. She was doing what she does best…paying attention.”
He laughs again, but this time it’s sharp.
“I had quite the interesting conversation with her, you know. About my predecessor and the events that led to his demise. It’s astonishing, really, how a man as powerful as The Wraith fell so easily and then not even a year later, she shows up asking the wrong questions with the wrong eyes.
I’ll make this very simple for you and communicate it in a way that a three year old could understand.
” He takes a step forward, just enough for the light to catch the edge of his face.
“You confirm that it was yourself and your colleague here who sent her in, or you tell me who you work for, and I’ll let her go.
One way or the other, I will get what I want. If not…”
“You don’t want to hurt her,” I say, pitching my voice low. “You want information. If you hurt her too badly, you lose your leverage and any hope”
“She’s strong, I’ll give her that. But strength breaks. Everyone does, eventually.” His eyes flick between Fletcher and I, something unreadable crossing his face. “You didn’t come here to stall. I’m not even sure if you came here for me, but it begs the question all the same. Why send her?”
He’s trying to catch us off guard, get us to admit that it was us who sent her in here, but if we admit that here and now, we risk the whole operation coming down.
There’s no way he’d let us leave. The way I see it is we’re all dead men walking—Fletcher, Dyer, Thea, and myself.
We have no good options; he’s backed us into a corner. “She didn’t come here by accident.”
Fletcher takes a half step forward but I put an arm out to stop him.
“There it is,” he says softly. “That hesitation. That’s not a professional concern. That’s attachment.”
My jaw tightens. “You don’t get to speak her name like you understand anything about her.”
He hums. “I think I understand enough. That she’s clever, observant, and very determined to poke at things that don’t concern her. People like that don’t usually last long in my world.”
It was at this moment that I understood that rage wouldn’t help her. Neither would threats, because Harrison fucking Clark thrives on both. I do the only thing I can think of.
“You want to know why she’s here?” I ask.
His head tilts, attention sharpening like a blade being drawn. “I do.”
“Because children disappear,” I say. “And because men like you assume no one is counting.”
For the first time since we stepped into this room, his practiced smile fades. “Careful,” he mutters. “You’re treading close to something you can’t walk back from.”
“I already crossed that line the moment you laid a hand on her,” I say. “So here’s how this is going to go. You call off your men. You let her walk out of this building. And then you can turn that phone on me and ask whatever questions you want.”
Fletcher sucks in a sharp breath beside me and I can sense the scolding he wants to give me burning at the surface of his skin.
“And if I refuse?” Harrison asks.
“Then you kill her,” I say evenly. “And I make sure the rest of your life is short, public, and unforgettable.”
Beats of silence pass between us before he speaks again. “Well, that explains it.”
“Explains what?” Fletcher snaps.
Harrison leverages his gaze on me. “Why she was so willing to suffer.” My blood turns to ice.
“She believes you’ll come,” he continues. “Belief like that is rare. Powerful. But the question is, are you worth it?”
Every rule I’ve ever been taught screams at me not to answer. I step forward anyway. “Yes.”
I already know Fletcher is furious with me, but he ought to understand this better than
anyone after what he went through to get Dylan back.
Harrison’s men take me away, and Fletcher was actually free to go, but I have no doubt he’s going to have a tail on him from the moment he exits this building.
Men like Harrison Clark don’t take to being threatened lightly.
That’s why I knew he was bluffing about letting Thea go, but as they drag me into the room where she’s being kept, I find solace in the fact that I can keep a closer eye on her.
I have no idea what will happen from here, but we sent her in here, the blame is on us alone, and I won’t let her suffer through whatever comes alone.
As they secure me to the chair across from her, I get my first good look at her.
Her head is lolled forward, hair covering her face, and I see droplets of blood dripping onto the floor.
Is she knocked out? What have they done to her?
The only saving grace is that her clothes are still intact.
For now, the voice inside my head says. Fear unlike I’ve ever known ricochets through my body as I realize what sort of things they could do to her to get the answers they seek from me. Then her head moves.
“N-Nathan?” she stutters as she looks at me through a black eye that has already formed and a cut on her eyebrow. That’s where the bleeding is coming from. Other than that, she seems to be in one piece.
“Thea, I’m—”
“No talking!” one of the guard’s yells as he slams the butt of his gun into the back of my skull, causing my vision to blur as pain lances around my head.
I catch the sound of a scream while I try to gather my bearings.
Thea. She’s crying, begging them to just let us go, but her pleas fall on deaf ears.
The blow has left my ears ringing, but it also buys me something I wasn’t expecting.
Time. Not much. Seconds, maybe. But Harrison has now entered the room and is watching our reactions, not just answers, and that means he’s slowed the pace to savor the control he desperately loves.
Her crying has quieted into shallow, uneven breaths and I wonder briefly if they hit her, too.
But I know at least she’s still conscious, still with me. I force myself to go still.
That’s the hardest part of this. Not fighting, not lunging, not giving him the satisfaction of my rage. He feeds on emotion, desperation, on proof that he’s winning. “Easy,” he says mildly, as if I’m a horse that might spook. “This goes much better when everyone cooperates.”
“You want your answers,” I say. “Then you don’t touch her again.” He arches a brow. “You don’t set the terms here.”
“No,” I agree. “But you do want information. And you won’t get it if she passes out or bleeds out.
” I glance pointedly at the blood on the floor, calling out the lie that he doesn’t like violence.
Just because he doesn’t get blood on his hands himself doesn’t make him any less responsible when the orders come from him.
“You’re careful. You don’t waste assets. ”
I can tell by the look he leverages my way that he doesn’t like being read. However, he offers some reprieve when he says, “Loosen her restraints, enough that she is comfortable, but not so she can get up and walk out.”
“Good,” I say quietly. “Now ask your questions.”
Thea turns her head toward me, fear bright and naked in her eyes. But beneath it, there is something else. Resolve. Trust. Despite the fact I’m the reason she’s here.
“Don’t,” she whispers. “Nathan, don’t—”
I cut her off, voice hoarse. “I’ve got you; I won’t let him break you.” But the concern that lingers on her face isn’t for herself or the fact that she knows Harrison will make us pay with her blood, it’s for me. After everything she’s been through, she’s still putting others first.
I intend on showing her that she doesn’t have to be the shield anymore. That for once, she gets to be the one protected. That she can choose herself, and that this time, I will be the one who stands in front of the blade.