CHAPTER 32 - Bryan Trevor
Because all the little things that you do
Are what remind me why I fell for you
And when we're apart and I'm missing you
I close my eyes and all I see is you
Those Eyes – New West
I turn off the vehicle and the silence of the night settles around us.
Outside, the property looms before me—a cold white wall topped with barbed wire.
Four cameras are strategically positioned to cover the entrance gate.
A lit guardhouse in front of the wall shows two guards on duty—one standing by the gate, the other watching from inside the glass booth.
I take a deep breath, my fingers drumming on the steering wheel, feeling the tension pulse at the back of my neck and spread through every inch of my body.
We're far enough away that the guards can't spot us, especially since I killed the headlights when I first saw the glow from here.
The place is way out in the middle of nowhere—not another property for miles around.
“Yeah, this has to be it,” Travis comments, gritting his teeth.
“No doubt about it,” I respond, eyes on the red dot holding steady a few yards away.
Gavin is in there.
Noah too.
And I need to get in as fast as possible.
“How long until your friend gets here?” I ask.
“Ten minutes, max,” Travis responds, checking his phone.
“How do we get in?” Dominic asks.
“You sure you want to get involved in this?” I ask, turning to face him. “I don't plan on leaving this place standing once I get Noah and Brittany out. Whoever's in there, those two are the priority.”
“My mom's settled in at the hospital with my dad, so helping you take down this hellhole cult is the least I can do.”
“We have two options for getting in,” I respond, turning my attention forward. “First, we kill the guards and put Andrew and Darius in their place to get us through.”
“And the second?” Dom asks.
“Wait for a car at the start of the road, intercept it when it passes, take it, and pose as the occupants.”
“Good thing you went with the first option,” Travis comments, studying me.
“Good to know you still remember my decisions are always the best.” He smiles cruelly.
I connect my phone to the car's speakers and dial Darius.
“I'm a few yards out from you,” he says as soon as he answers. “The guys Luke sent are already here too”—the reinforcements my brother arranged.
I don't know what we'll find behind these walls, so we need the backup—and the arsenal.
“I want the two guys at the guardhouse dead and you two in their places. Clean and quiet.”
“They're armed, right?”
“Yeah. Approach on foot, act like you're sick, say you heard this was the house of God,” I explain, relishing the chance to use their own doctrine against them. “Come from the right so the cameras don't pick you up.”
“Once we take them out, you guys move in?”
“Exactly.”
“There's a computer inside the booth,” Dominic points out, gesturing toward the glow that gives it away.
“Check what the hell's on it,” I say—Darius can hear everything since we're on speaker.
“Give me five minutes,” he responds, and I hang up.
The silence that follows weighs heavier than the darkness around us.
I roll my neck, the muscles at the back stiff as iron, and with every heartbeat, I think of Noah.
I think about what she might be going through on the other side of this wall.
What she's endured over the past two days in there.
If he touched her…
My jaw clenches.
God, if he dared lay a finger on her, there won't be anything left of him.
It won't just be his body I break.
I'll destroy the very soul of that worthless son of a bitch.
Rage consumes me.
“Bryan,” Travis calls out, voice tense, “we go in and take down whoever's in our way, right?”
“That's the plan,” I respond firmly. “Don't spare anyone who tries to stop us, whoever they are.” My tone leaves no room for argument.
There's no more time to think.
To make plans.
Or to put anyone else first.
Time is slipping away and my woman is trapped in this hell.
Now is the time for action—to catch them off guard.
To bring Noah back where she never should have left: my arms.
When I see the car pulling up alongside us, I grab my pistol, check the magazine, and the dry click echoes through the car. Travis does the same, followed by Dominic.
We don't say anything else.
There's no need.
Two figures emerge from the shadows, moving like trained operatives.
Darius and Andrew are efficient, cold, precise.
They live for this kind of mission, and I have no doubt they'll deliver.
I watch them slow their pace, and then the charade begins.
They clutch their stomachs and hunch their shoulders, feigning pain as they approach the guardhouse.
The outside guard takes a step, moving out of the camera's range.
The one inside opens the door and says something, but his voice doesn't reach me.
One second the two guards are beside my men—the next, they're on the floor inside the booth.
Darius and Andrew take them out with silenced shots.
Fast.
Cruel.
Efficient.
Darius looks our way, a subtle nod confirming his part is done, and I turn the key in the ignition.
I pull around to the side, and the moment I stop, the two approach already wearing the dead guards' uniforms.
“A way to blend in, if we need to,” Darius comments with a mocking smile when I roll down the window.
“Can you open the gate? What's on the laptop?”
“There's a button that opens the gate, and the device has access to cameras covering the entire property perimeter.”
“No information from inside?” I interrupt Andrew.
“There's one camera with an interior view of the house.”
“What's inside this shithole?”
“Right at the entrance, two guards. Further ahead, an open courtyard. It's like a garden with a cross in the middle. I couldn't see the house, so it might be set back.”
“No other entrance?” Travis asks, and Darius shakes his head.
The back door opens and the redhead climbs in.
“We're going in,” I declare, out of patience now that Hunter's arrived. “Open the gate!”
“What if someone shows up while we're entering?” Darius asks.
“Same fate as those two!” I point to the booth ahead.
Both nod, already heading back to open the gate.
“No mercy, no hesitation. I want the two guards past the gate dead—and anyone else who tries to stop us!”
“Once we're in, do we head straight for the girls?” Dominic asks.
“That's right, but if something goes wrong, you get Noah and Brittany out while Travis, the rest, and I tear this place down.”
“Dominic, are you willing to risk your life for them?” my friend asks. “Because if you choose your own life, I'll get Brittany out myself.”
“I have no problem dying, but you can bet that's not going to happen.” He smiles confidently. “If it helps you trust me more, I've worked for some serious people, and if I need to kill someone in there, it won't be the first time—not even close to the tenth.”
“I knew you were more than a hacker,” I comment, and just as I'm about to start the car, I see a vehicle approaching.
“It's the arsonist and his crew,” Travis comments, already getting out of the vehicle.
Arsonist?
Looks like the gas cans aren't coming from any station—they're bringing the whole supply.
Travis waves and the vehicle approaches.
I watch the windows roll down, revealing four more guys armed to the teeth.
I greet them with a nod, and when I see Luke's people approaching, I start the car.
A van and two cars loaded with weapons and men ready for the attack.
I pity whoever's in there with my woman!
I kill the engine in front of the entrance and step out.
I look around with a cruel smile at the nearly thirty hooded men dressed in black from head to toe.
I raise my hand, signaling Darius and Andrew to open the gate.
Pistols, rifles, and machine guns rise, pointed forward.
The moment the gate opens, the two guards standing before us don't even have time to raise their weapons. The shot from my Sig pierces the first one's skull, and the second drops before he even knows what happened.
The smell of gunpowder fills the air and chaos explodes.
Screams echo one after another, piercing my ears. Up ahead, I spot several people kneeling.
I search for her, scanning each face, each body in motion, but all I find is a chaotic mass of people running.
More guards emerge from the shadows, more bodies hit the ground, leaving the concrete covered in blood.
I push forward, only then noticing that not everyone is running—some remain kneeling, praying.
Others stare at us in terror, screaming, calling us demons.
The realization that there are more people than I anticipated hits me hard. A human anthill that, instead of trying to flee, seems determined to defend this hell as they close in on us.
This only fuels my rage.
Gavin and Elias are surrounded by sons of bitches who share their twisted desires.
“Get out of here, spawn of Satan.” I hear the hoarse voice and turn to see a woman with a knife charging at me.
Before I can pull the trigger, she's already on the ground, bleeding out.
I don't stop to see who shot her because out of the corner of my eye I catch a bastard hidden in one of the bedroom windows with a Glock pointed at Travis.
“Shit!” I growl, spinning around.
I squeeze the trigger and the bullet tears through the shooter's arm, sending his weapon clattering to the ground. The bastard screams, but before he can recover, Travis spins and guns him down without mercy.
The body slumps against the window frame, then tumbles to the ground with a thud swallowed by the chaos around us.
More men pour out of the side corridor.
We take them all down.
I hear cries, wailing, but when my name echoes from somewhere in the distance, I spin around desperately, searching for the source.
Searching for my Butterfly.
“Bryan…” My heart pounds as I squint, scanning for her.
“I'm going to send you to hell!” someone shouts, way too close, and I spin to find a man charging at me.
I don't think before pulling the trigger.
The bullets hit his head and blood splatters across me.
I don't care.