Cade
I ran after the black SUV pulling out of the lot, but it was too late. They’d taken her. Was it Chavez’s men? Who else would have reason to take her?
I took my phone out and dialed Levi as I slid onto the back of my Harley.
“Slater.”
“They took Piper. I’m going after them.”
The engine to the Harley roared to life, making it difficult to talk on the phone.
“The alarm sounded when they crashed the gate. You in pursuit?”
“Yeah. I’ll keep you posted.”
“We’ve got GPS on you, brother. We’ll follow.”
I disconnected the call as I left the lot, heading in the direction of the SUV. I’d have to make up lost time, but hopefully I could catch up. After three minutes of running red lights and pissing people off left and right, I finally pulled in three cars behind the vehicle a few blocks down the road. I’d memorized the plate number as they’d raced out onto the street, so I knew I had the right car.
Once I was behind them, I didn’t want to call any attention to myself, so I kept my distance. I wished I’d had time to grab a shirt, but when I’d heard Piper’s frantic scream, all thoughts had flown from my mind. I could only think about getting to her.
They took a hard left at the next light, just as it turned yellow. Dammit! If I ran it, I risked calling attention to myself, but if I didn’t, I’d lose her. There was no other choice. I turned the gas up and flew through the intersection to the soundtrack of blasting horns and creative curses. The SUV took a right, and I wove in and out of traffic to catch up. By the time I caught them, the traffic had thinned out as we approached a run-down part of the city. Boarded-up windows and signs hanging by a lone nail shouted neglect and ruin.
The city was hard at work, revitalizing certain parts that needed attention, but this was clearly one section of the street that had yet to receive any of its funds. Sweet Auburn boasted an edgy shopping area at the end of the street with art stores and cultural dining. It was a shame that in order to get to it, you had to pass through an armpit section of the city.
The SUV took a left into a drive hugging the side of an old, historical building that had clearly seen better days. The massive structure with its whitewashed stone walls boasted of a grander time. Even now, there was a sense of elegance about its disrepair. The building was obviously abandoned, except the guards at the entryway doors told an entirely different story.
I drove past, barely glancing in its direction, so as to not show too much interest in the place. When I was a block away, I swerved into a parking lot and dialed Levi.
“You got my location?”
“Yeah—empty parking lot on Auburn Avenue.”
“Exactly. A block down on the other side of the street is an old building. Actually looks like two buildings connected together. Fencing is up. Landscape is overgrown. Obviously abandoned.”
“Except it’s not?”
“Precisely.”
“Got it. I’ll have Ryder run it and see what we find. Until then, get back here so we can plan a way to rescue your girl.”
The way Levi said “your girl” made my stomach flip. It might be a girly reaction, but damn if it didn’t make me the happiest man alive to think of her as mine. I disconnected and put the phone away in my pocket, taking a different route to the gym to ensure I wasn’t being followed.
The thought of leaving Piper in those men’s hands made my skin crawl, but I knew it was best to get back to the team and regroup and have a plan to bust her out of there.
I made the short trip back to the office, and when I walked into the conference room sans shirt, Levi just lifted one brow. “Want to get a shirt on?”
“I will after we discuss this. What’s the plan?”
“The plan is for you to get a shower. You stink. And put a damn shirt on. It’s going to be a long night, and Ryder’s still working on the layout of the building and who the owner is. We’ll also have satellite images we can work from, but for now, I need you ready to go.”
I started to protest, but Levi held up his hand. “You want to be ready when she needs you. Go. Clean up.”
Resigned, I walked back to the dorms and took a hot shower. I didn’t linger even though the hot water felt good on my sore muscles. I still had angry welts from Piper’s blows to my chest and face, but I was glad she’d marked me. Somehow it made me feel like she was with me, in a messed-up, delusional kind of way.
Pulling on jeans and a T-shirt, I shoved my feet into my biker boots and pulled my wet hair back in a tie at the nape of my neck.
I’d only been gone fifteen minutes, but when I walked into the conference room it was a hive of activity. Oscar and Cruz sat next to each other, scrolling through images on the laptop in front of them. Ryder was pounding the keys on his own laptop, and Levi was perusing through some documents on the table. They all looked up when I walked in, pity in their eyes.
“We’ll get her back. Stop looking at me like that.”
“She means something to you, doesn’t she?” Oscar was always the sensitive one of the bunch, but don’t cross him or he’d flay you open in an instant.
“Yeah. I should have never let her go that easily. But that’s a sob story for another day. How are we getting her back?”
Levi set the papers in his hands down on the table and looked up. “Ryder?”
Ryder typed a few seconds more and then paused, glancing around the room as if just realizing where he was. “Right. The building on Auburn Avenue is abandoned. Rumors have been whirling around for months about the new owner. Possible restoration of the building. What it was going to be used for. But nothing has been confirmed.”
“Who owns it?” I couldn’t care less about the plans for the building. I just wanted to know who had Piper and how we were going to rescue her before it was too late.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know? How can you not know? There are records—right?”
“Yeah, and those records lead back to the name of a dummy corporation. With very little effort, the strings untangled, and it was clear as day that this corporation doesn’t exist. I’ve got to dig deeper to find out who really owns it.”
“How long will that take?”
Ryder shrugged. “Hours. Days? I really don’t know. It all depends on how deep it’s buried.”
“Dammit!” I slammed my fist down on the table, wishing it was the face of whoever had taken Piper.
“Look, Cade. I know you’re pissed. But we’re doing all we can. Since we don’t know who owns it, we don’t really know what we’re up against. Cruz, anything on the satellite images?” Levi pushed his hands through his hair, obviously also worked up at the news. No one liked going in blind. But I’d go in alone if I had to. I wasn’t waiting days for the creeps that had Piper to kill her.
“There are guards at all the entrances. Looks like two front entrances and two back, as well as a basement entrance behind the building. There are two guards posted at each set of doors. That’s ten men.”
“Ten against four. Not bad odds with the benefit of surprise on our end.” Oscar looked excited for a fight. He was always chomping at the bit to use the weapons he’d hand-select for our ops. His expertise in weaponry was a real asset to the team, but also made him just a little bit crazy and risk-oriented.
“That’s only what we can see from the outside. No idea how many are inside.” Cruz shot Oscar a chastising glare, but Oscar just grinned wider. Crazy fool.
“What do you think, Levi?” I knew ultimately the call would be his.
He blew out a long breath and stood, pacing the floor. “If we get caught and these are Chavez’s men, our cover is shot to hell.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he lifted a finger to quiet me. “On the other hand, I don’t know Piper well enough to know what she could withstand if Chavez wanted answers. She seems like a tough cookie, but she’s never been tested under duress.”
“She’d never rat us out.”
“Under normal circumstances, I’d agree with you. But Chavez is known to take torture to a whole new level.”
None of what Levi was saying was news to me; however, it took on a whole new meaning when thinking about Piper being involved.
“We can’t risk it. We need to get her out and fast.” Levi checked his watch. “It’s after two in the morning. Let’s get the plan in place, then we’ll catch a few Zs. After that, we suit up and go in at nightfall.”
I sighed in relief. I hadn’t known if Levi would risk the team. Hell, I wasn’t sure under other circumstances if I’d be willing to risk our entire team for a woman who’d just joined us. But it wasn’t just any woman. It was Piper.
“Ryder, get me any schematics of the building you can. Likely places they’d hold her. Any old pictures and all exits. We also need to know what kind of security cameras they might have.”
“I’ll see what I can find. As far as cameras, unless they’re hooked up to an outside agency, it will be difficult to find that out. I can, however, take the electricity out for the block at the time of the raid. If the cameras are high tech, they’ll have a backup source to them. If not, they’ll go down with everything else. I suggest keeping your masks over your faces at all times, just in case.”
“Good deal. Go get some coffee and some energy food. We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”
***
The fiery sun slowly dipped below the horizon as the sky blazed a brilliant pink and purple trail in its place. I tightened the Kevlar vest across my chest, taking care with the knife wound that still throbbed slightly underneath.
Levi clapped me on the back as we sauntered towards the black van Ryder would be hunkered down in while we ran the op. He’d be our eyes and ears as much as possible. Once we entered the compound, we’d use our night-vision goggles to see, but they weren’t the same as being able to see in the light. Still, we’d have them, and presumably our enemy wouldn’t.
“If you see Chavez, leave him be. We still don’t have the information we need about the mole or enough evidence to take him out of the game. After tomorrow night’s buy, we should have plenty to turn him over to the DEA.”
“Roger.” The men’s voices echoed the word as they stood outside the van waiting for Ryder to get into place. The van would drive them and park a block away. The team would then make their way to the building and split up. Oscar and Cruz would take the back, while Levi and I would head up the front.
Oscar had a nice surprise he’d built just for the occasion. My eyes drifted to the case of beer and box of cigars he was carrying. He caught me looking, and his face brightened into a smile that screamed, I should live in a psych ward!
I chuckled and turned away. Clearly, Oscar loved his explosives. Maybe a little too much. He was certainly creative with them.
Ryder climbed in, taking a seat in the chair bolted to the floor at the back of the van where several monitors were attached to the inside wall. He plugged in his laptop, connecting it to the monitors, and the three screens came to life. One showed the schematic of the inside of the buildings.
We’d determined that they were most likely holding Piper in the basement. Call it a hunch, or intuition, but we were following our gut. Nine times out of ten, we were right. I prayed this time would be no different.
We poured into the van, Levi and I in the back on the floor, while Cruz drove the van and Oscar rode shotgun. Ten minutes later, we were all in place ready to storm the historic building.
Oscar jumped out of the van first, since he would go and prep our arrival with his little gift. He tugged a ball cap down low on his face and threw on a button-up shirt over his Kevlar and tactical gear. He had a messenger bag slung across his chest to help his disguise.
“See ya in a few!” His grin was so wide, I was afraid his face would split in half.
The rest of us piled out of the van to get into position, ready to go as soon as Oscar’s surprise did its thing. Levi and I stood at the corner of the building next to the parking lot, while Cruz rounded the back to meet up with Oscar.
“Approaching the guards now. Thirty seconds.” Oscar’s voice rang out through the comm devices, and I readied myself for the explosion.
Oscar pressed the button on his comm to allow us to hear what was going on. And I almost laughed when I heard his words.
“Hey, amigos. Got some beer and cigs here for your boss.”
“We didn’t order beer and cigars.”
“Yeah? Oh, well, maybe I got the wrong address. Stuff’s already paid for and this is the address it was supposed to go to. My lucky day, huh? Free beer and cigs.”
“Wait right there. Maybe I was mistaken. It’s paid for, you say?”
“Yeah, man. Paid in full. They even tipped me.”
“Fine, we’ll take it. Maybe the bossman did order it.”
We could hear the shuffling as Oscar passed off the goodies. “You should check out that box of cigars, though, man. Those are top quality.”
“Yeah, whatever. Now get outta here.”
“Yes, sir!” You could hear the smile in Oscar’s voice and the slight increase of his breathing as he jogged away. The perfect cover since he needed to get out of there quick before the explosives went off. “Fifteen seconds.”
I counted silently in my head, but before I reached fifteen, Ryder’s voice sounded in my ear.
“Um, guys?”
“Yeah?” Levi answered.
“The building isn’t owned by Chavez.”
The bomb went off.