Chapter 15 Rob
ROB
I tapped Derek’s shoulder, letting him know I was ready to move. He tapped Sinner’s shoulder, and Sinner kicked in the door, weapon raised as he stormed the building.
I was last through the door, turning to the right to clear the room.
Storm rushed past me, his tail wagging as he looked for someone to take down.
But just like the previous three buildings, it was completely empty.
I made my way to the back of the building, checking the small offices, but came up empty.
Sighing, I walked back out where Sinner and Derek were gathered. “Nothing.”
“It’s a whole cluster of buildings. Something’s interfering with the tracking location,” Derek sighed. “They’re here somewhere. We just have to keep searching.”
“It’s gotta be a magnet.”
“Yeah, well, unless you know where that magnet is, our only choice is to keep searching. This was their last known location, so we clear every fucking building until we find them,” Derek snapped.
I stormed back to the entrance and flung the door open. I was pissed at myself. This was my thing, and yet, in the field, I felt absolutely useless. I didn’t have my equipment, and with this raging headache, the things I would normally think of were all squashed and mashed inside my brain.
Nothing was working as it should.
“We still have four more buildings to clear. They have to be in one of them,” Sinner said, clapping me on the shoulder.
I was tired of waiting. I stormed off to the next one, not even bothering to wait for my team to catch up.
It was irrational and stupid, and I was bound to get someone killed, but I had to find her.
Storm was in agreement, running along next to me as a low growl emanated from his throat.
For a wild animal, he was pretty awesome at this whole military thing.
He was the only thing keeping me level right now. I had bonded with him in the forest, and with Krista already missing, I needed something familiar other than Derek and Sinner.
With every second that passed, I felt this tightening in my chest. Not because I loved her or because I even wanted to sleep with her again. But because I was failing, and I didn’t fail at anything.
I kicked in the next door, only to find yet another empty warehouse. “Seriously, what the fuck is the point of warehouses if they’re all empty!” I shouted into the empty space.
“Dude, you need to calm down,” Sinner said.
“Calm down?” I laughed, holding my arms out wide. “We’re in the land of empty warehouses. In what world does that even make sense? How does someone make money when they store nothing? Hey! Here’s a building that holds nothing!”
“He’s losing it,” Derek muttered.
“Nope, he lost it long ago,” Sinner sighed. “The only thing we can do is hold on for the ride.”
“Except there is no ride,” I laughed. “This is it. We’re on the never-ending rollercoaster of nothing! We won’t ever find anything, and we can’t fix anything because there’s nothing to fix because there’s nothing around!”
“Should we shoot him?” Derek asked.
“What good would that do? Then we’d just have him yelling while in pain.”
I rushed forward, grabbing the gun in Sinner’s hand, though he wouldn’t let go. Pointing it at my head, I taunted him. “Go ahead, shoot me. Maybe it’ll clear out all the shit in my head!”
“He’s lost it,” Sinner nodded.
“No, what I’ve done is had a moment of clarity.
Because ever since I woke up, I’ve had this raging headache that won’t go away.
I can’t think straight. I can’t get a handle on anything.
And all I really want is some fucking sleep, but I can’t get that because I lost Parker’s sister.
And if he finds out that I lost his sister, I’ll sleep for a really long time, but I’ll never wake up! ” I laughed. “Because I’ll be dead!”
“Yeah, we caught on to that,” Derek murmured.
“So, either way I’m screwed.”
“You’re not screwed. Maybe delusional, but not screwed,” Sinner said calmly. “Though I would recommend getting at least a week’s sleep before you talk to Parker again. You’re fucking losing it, man.”
“Oh shit,” Derek sighed. “This is because of the L word.”
“This is not the L word,” I argued. “Trust me, we’re nowhere near the L word.”
“Yeah, I think you are. You don’t talk like this unless the big L is staring you in the mirror.”
“No,” I hissed. “It has nothing to do with this. I don’t even believe in it!”
“Well, if it’s not the L word—”
“It’s not!” I snapped, turning for the exit.
“Where are you going?” Sinner called.
“To check the other warehouses! We still have three more to go through.”
I stomped across the gravel to the next warehouse, not being nearly careful enough for the kind of operation we needed to be performing, but I couldn’t help myself. I was a wreck.
And right now, I was putting my team and the women in danger with my actions.
But, as it turns out, I didn’t need to worry about a damn thing. The door to the next warehouse flung open and the ladies strode out in a plume of smoke.
I rushed forward with Storm, grabbing Carmen by the arms and shaking her just to be sure she was real.
“Are you okay?”
“Of course I’m okay,” she said, staring at me strangely.
“But—you were taken!”
“Uh-huh. And now I’m fine.”
Storm ran around us, barking and growling. I was certain he was about to run into that building and tear someone’s head off.
Derek swung Claire up into his arms, kissing her hard. It looked a hell of a lot more romantic than me shaking Clarissa. Fuck, I was screwing this all up.
Sliding my hand around the nape of her neck, I yanked her against me and crushed my lips to hers. She gasped against my mouth, then shoved me back a step and slapped her hand across my face. My head jerked to the side, surprised by the reaction, though I really shouldn’t have been.
“What the hell was that?” she shouted.
I rubbed my stinging cheek, trying to piece together exactly what went wrong. “We found you.”
“Um…hello? You found us because we came out of the building.”
I glanced behind her and frowned. “Why is the building smoking?”
Rolling her eyes, she huffed in irritation. “It was supposed to blow up. We…We were supposed to walk out with flames roaring behind us. It turns out, we didn’t have everything we needed for an explosion.”
“But how did you escape?”
She glanced at Claire, then back to me. “We used our wits.”
“You outsmarted them?”
“Something like that.”
“And…I’m confused. You convinced them to let you go? Or you fought your way out?”
She cocked her head to the side, her eyes narrowed on me. “Does it really matter how we got out?”
Sighing, I knew it didn’t. She was safe, and I should be thanking my lucky stars.
But deep down, my gut churned. I was supposed to be the one to rush in and rescue her.
And now, when I talked to her brother and told him she was fine, I’d have no rescue story to go along with it.
I was insignificant. She’d dealt with the kidnappers all on her own, and I was just a side note in her story.
Grumbling, I grabbed her hand and turned to leave, dragging her behind me. “Let’s go.”
Storm yelped a few times, but followed, pissed that he wasn’t getting any action.
“Hey! Could you maybe slow down a little? Smaller person with tiny feet!” she shouted.
“We need to get out of here before they come after you.”
She chortled at that. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”
I spun around, pissed at her. “Why?”
“Well, because…well, they’re dead. Or sort of dead?”
My jaw clenched in irritation. What the hell kind of answer was that? “Either they’re dead, or they aren’t.”
“Oh, they’re definitely dead,” Claire chuckled. “I used that move you taught me. You know, the neck snappy thingy. It wasn’t as easy as I thought. I kept having to try again and again.” She winced. “I think he was in a lot of pain when I was un-aliving him.”
“Well, he did kidnap you,” Derek said thoughtfully.
“Still, it felt wrong to keep wringing his neck like that,” she sighed. “You definitely need a lot of strength.”
“So, is he actually dead or does he just have a really sore neck?” I snapped.
“Oh, he’s dead. I may have bashed his head in a few times just to be sure.”
“Did you check for a pulse?”
Claire cocked her head at me, her smile fleeing her face. “Yes, I checked his pulse. It wasn’t there.”
I scoffed, not really believing he was dead. Turning back to the building, I marched toward it, determined to prove them wrong. “Come on, Storm!”
Why?
Because I was an ass, and I was butthurt that I didn’t save the day. I should be glad. I should be fucking ecstatic that they were alive, but instead, I was brooding.
And no one liked a brooder.
Flinging the door open, I walked into the smoke-filled building, coughing as I waved away the thick haze.
It was impossible to see anything in here, especially since they seemed to have started a fire that smoldered like hell, but didn’t produce any flames.
I couldn’t even tell where it was coming from.
When the smoke started choking me, I had no choice but to leave.
I whistled for Storm and got out of there.
I slammed the door behind me, hacking and spitting the acrid taste from my mouth.
Derek stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and a grin plastered on his face.
The women looked annoyed with me. And Sinner…
Fuck, I wanted to punch him in the face.
“Let’s go,” I said, stomping past them.
“What? No bodies to prove we took them out?” Callie called after me.
I ignored her and kept walking.
“What the hell is your problem? You dragged me into this, and now you’re pissed at me. Why?”
Still, I kept walking.
“Is it because I was taken? Because that wasn’t my fault! None of this is my fault!”
I spun around, nearly crashing into her. My heart was hammering under my skin, and the tight leash I had on my anger was quickly fraying.