Page 53 of Alex

“Yeah, have fun with that.” Alex kept his tone bored as he watched Simon and his goons leave. That had been a very enlightening little chat and he knew he needed to find Evelyn and finish this once and for all. “Oh, one more thing,” Alex said as the three men turned to leave.

Simon turned back impatiently his hand in his pockets—the fool. “Yes?”

“I’m going to need that stick.”

He moved so fast Simon never saw it coming. Snapping the ties that the idiot guards hadn’t made sure were secure, he spun, grabbed the gun from the waistband of the closest guard, and looped his forearms around Simon’s neck in a choke hold while holding the gun on him.

Alex backed towards the door as he kept a close eye on the guards who both had their hands up. He had seen another man downstairs and two on the gate. Not great odds, but he’d certainly faced worse.

“You and I are going to take a little walk,” he said to Simon who was breathing hard before focusing on the first guard. “You, take the sheet off that bed.”

Obeying him the guard walked to the bed and ripped the sheet off.

“Now, strip. Both of you.” The men blanched at the order. “Now.” He made sure they saw him removing the safety on the gun. Both guards began to strip until they were standing in their boxers.

“All of it.” The men glared at him but pushed their boxers off. “Now kneel and wrap your arms around each other.”

“No fucking way.” The smaller guard made a move towards Alex.

Alex fired a round into his foot and the man screamed. He now had less time and the remaining guard downstairs had probably been alerted.

“Do it or the next one goes in your dick.” He looked the man in the eye, so he knew he meant every word. No man would risk his junk getting shot off no matter how big of a badass they were, and these two were far from that. He watched the men get down in the position he had instructed. Keeping the gun to Simon’s head he focused on him next. “Tie them together and use their shirts to gag them.” He chanced a quick look out the door for the third guard as Simon tied the men together.

“You won’t get away with this.” Simon’s voice held much less conviction than it had before.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. Now throw me the data stick.” He held his hand out. Simon removed the stick and tossed it to Alex. “Let’s go.” He turned to leave almost barrelling into Liam’s smiling face.

“Mate,” he said with a smile as his eyes landed on the red-faced guards, “that’s just cruel.” He laughed loudly and shook his head.

“Where’s the other guard?” Alex asked trying not to let his suspicions get to him.

“Reid took care of him. Blake and Pax took care of the guards on the gate.”

“Gunner?”

“Took a round to the shoulder but he can still drive one-handed.”

Alex felt relief course through him. “Let’s go. I have the file.” He shoved Simon at Liam who soon had him cuffed and knocked out with a brutal uppercut to the chin. Bending, Liam threw him over his shoulder and Alex followed down the stairs but not before closing the bedroom door and snapping the handle off. He had no beef with the guards, they were doing a job—a shitty one, true—but he saw no reason to kill them.

They jogged down the long drive as the sun was rising on the horizon. The deep dark blue of the night giving way to the bright yellow and orange of a new day. When they reached the front gate Blake, Gunner, and Reid were waiting with Pax who stood a little behind Blake.

She looked stricken and he felt a moment of sympathy for her. She loved Evelyn and considered her family much like he did his teammates. She wouldn’t have done this intentionally. He couldn’t offer her anything though, he was barely holding it together himself.

He climbed in beside Gunner who was wearing a sling and sour face, clapping him on his good shoulder. “Through and through?”

“Yeah. Be good as new in a few days.”

He knew Gunner was downplaying the pain of getting shot. No matter what the movies said, getting shot hurt like a mother fucker and he knew Gunner was in pain but was still determined to help.

“I want a sitrep on Siren right now,” he demanded turning to Blake once Simon was secured and everyone was in the vehicle. Alex used her code name to maintain his distance and whisper-thin control.

“The signal on the tracker you gave her is out. We have Decker running the satellites to see if we can get some images and Will is running the cameras on all the ports from Marseille to Genoa. We will find her, Alex.”

Alex swallowed his fear of not knowing where she was and fought the guilt he felt. He had promised he would keep her safe and here she was, again missing at the hands of a fucking sociopath.

“We’ll talk when we get back to base. I want to know exactly how this fucking happened.” He smashed his fist on the dashboard causing the others in the car to look at him in shock. He didn’t act that way, throwing punches and breaking things. Jack—yes. Alex was the cooler of the two, the more relaxed second. While he did have a temper, he never got physical, but this was different. He looked at Simon who was the cause of everything that had happened. “I want him stripped and put in a shed out the back.”

“Sure thing, boss.” Liam cast a glance at Reid after he spoke. Alex knew they were concerned for him. He was holding it together—barely and he was acting a little out of character. He let the look go though.