“A lot of people will be happy to see you.”
Someone unlocked the handcuffs holding my hands behind the chair, and my arms fell like limp noodles at my sides.
When I finally found my voice, all I could say was, “Austin.”
“He’s alive.”
My head weighed too much to lift, but my eyes snapped up to look at the man who’d spoken. Black paint covered his face, but I could see the compassion in his eyes.
Austin’s alive.
The world faded to black.
Chapter 59
Austin
Rogers and his team arrived just in time. No one else was in the room, so when the bastard pointing a gun at my head dropped dead, I assumed a sniper was responsible. The second guy dropped dead before I could contemplate who took the shot.
Barely a second later, two men rappelled into the room through a high window.
Knowing they’d need to get into the other room fast to maintain the element of surprise, I pointed at the door and said, “Nina.”
“Get a tourniquet on him,” one guy said.
“On it,” Gibson answered, already kneeling next to me. While he applied the tourniquet to my leg, he said, “I’ve got him. Go.”
The other guy walked toward the door.
“You look like shit, Boss.” I watched him assess my face through a red haze.
“You look great for a dead man.” How he understood what I’d said, I’d never know. Between the broken nose and swollen lips, I barely sounded human.
The room went dark.
“Who told you I was dead?” G asked while doing a head to toe assessment using his headlamp for light. His groping fingers found every bruise, cut, and broken bone.
“I assumed,” I coughed and tasted fresh blood, “you didn’t get up.”
He chuckled. “Not right away, but I’d never let a little thing like death keep me down.”
Our conversation was one-hundred percent inappropriate given the circumstances, but one-hundred percent necessary because there was literally nothing I could do but wait for Rogers and his team to clear the other room.
“All clear,” G relayed.
“Nina?”
“Status on Novak.”
I held my breath and waited.
“She passed out after she heard you were alive.”
I hated thinking it, but unconsciousness was probably the best thing for her.
They hadn’t put her through a lot physically, but what they’d put her through mentally and emotionally was worse.
Strong or not, she’d need therapy when this was over.
