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“You can’t go down there.”
“What? Are you crazy? Fuller’s down there.”
Sloane hissed, and Sparks thrust her finger at him. “Stand down, Agent Brodie. No one’s going anywhere. Agent Maddock and Agent Daley are taking care of it. You will wait for my signal.”
“We can’t leave them down there alone to face Fuller,” Ash growled. If he had to go through Sparks, then he would. He was about ready to when she put her hand on his shoulder.
“Do you have faith in him?”
Ash frowned. “Of course I do, but—”
“You either do or you don’t, Keeler.” She moved her hand away. “You need to let him fight his own battles.”
Like hell he did. What Sparks was saying made sense, but that didn’t mean he could stand here and let Cael face that bastard on his own. Cael had been doing great in their training, but they hadn’t been at it very long. “I….” Fuck. What was he supposed to do?
“Trust him.” Sparks insisted. “And in the meantime, you can help me keep those bastards from reaching your teammates.” She nodded behind him to the hoard of goons coming their way. Ash looked down at Sloane.
“What do you say?”
Sloane looked past Sparks to the door that would lead into the subbasement, then behind him. He let out a roar and turned on his heels, charging toward the oncoming men. Ash gave Sparks one last glance.
“I hope you’re right about this.” With that, he followed Sloane and Hobbs.
CAEL HAD never hated anyone. He’d disliked some people, really disliked them, but never truly hated anyone. Until now. The thing Cael’s nightmares were made of stood toward the end of the subbasement with a handful of goons. Around them, the place was filled with moldy brick pillars, pipes, crappy lighting, fuse boxes, and a couple of old turbines that looked like they came out of the industrial age.
“Nice to see you again, kitty cat. How’s the lip?” Fuller asked with a laugh.
“Fuck you,” Cael spat out, his grip tightening on the case in his hand.
“Ooh, isn’t that precious. Now be a good boy, and hand over the case.” Fuller grinned widely as his men readied themselves.
Dex stepped in front of Cael. “If Shultzon wants it, he’s going to have to come down here to get it himself.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Fuller drawled.
“If he wants this case, he needs to give us assurances that our teammates are safe. That’s all we want. He can take whatever the fuck is in there and fuck off for all we care. We want our guys.”
Fuller appeared to think about it. He turned and tapped his earpiece, speaking quietly. Cael waited with bated breath. Please let this work. With a deep frown, Fuller turned back to them.
“You’re in luck,” Fuller said gravely, heading for a pair of steel elevator doors to their right. “The doc is on his way.”
They waited patiently for the elevator to arrive. When it pinged, the doors opened and Shultzon stepped out. The asshole had the audacity to smile at them.
“Cael, Dex. I would say it’s lovely to see you, but I doubt the feeling is mutual. Now I’m in somewhat of a hurry, so if you don’t mind.” He motioned toward the case. “And please do spare me the speech regarding my betrayal. We’ll simply have to agree to disagree on that matter.”
Dex shook his head. “How do we know you’ll release our teammates?”
Shultzon removed a small keypad from his pocket. “This here will open the cages, releasing your boyfriends. How about a trade? Their freedom for the case.”
Cael gritted his teeth in order to keep his mouth shut. That bastard had locked them up in cages?
Dex nodded. “Okay.” He turned to Cael. “You sure about this?”
Cael nodded. “Yeah.” They didn’t exactly have much of a choice. This was the only way to end this. He drew a deep breath and faced Shultzon.
“We meet in the middle. I give you the case, you give me the keypad.”
“Deal. And please make it quick, my dear boy. My ride is waiting.”
