79. Hendricks
HENDRICKS
The mill is thirty yards in front of me, and Mandy is somewhere inside it.
Every instinct I have says go.
I don’t. Going in before the team is in position could get Mandy killed. So I’m crouched behind a piece of rusted machinery with Jake, waiting for the rest of the team to get into position.
“I’ve reestablished Mandy’s comm,” Harper says. “I’ll pipe it in.”
I exhale.
Mandy’s voice is muffled as it crackles through my earpiece. “Really? Because I thought it was a pretty straightforward sentence.”
Relief hits me so hard it almost hurts. Still fighting. Still sassy. Still Mandy.
Then the unmistakable sound of a fist hitting flesh.
Everything inside me stops. I hear Lily’s gasp through the comms but it barely registers.
“Hendricks,” Jake says, putting a hand on my shoulder, like I’m going to go berserk.
It’s a definite possibility.
Through the earpiece, I hear something scrape across concrete. Then a grunt—Mandy again.
Luke mutters something vicious behind me.
I stare at the mill. He’s hurting her. She’s letting him hurt her.
For one second, I don’t understand why.
Then I do.
The comm. She knows we’re following the signal, and she’s giving us time to get to her.
Jesus fucking Christ, Mandy.