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36
River
“What doyou mean you know where he is?” Gage asks. He’s frowning, but there’s a spark of hope in his eyes that I’m telling the truth.
“I saw the window when Julian was gloating,” I tell him. “I could see a highway sign. Only two buildings here have a view of the highway.”
I explain to him about the one building being boarded up, and how Julian would probably have been too desperate to try to un-board it. Which leaves one building for us to check.
Gage looks at me with intense respect on his face. There’s stark relief in Ash’s eyes, and Knox looks like he’s ready to break into that building and start killing people.
I feel the same way.
We get back in the car because it’s faster than walking, and I get us to that building in record time, parking a little ways off so we can scope the place out.
Julian’s had enough time to set something up if he wanted to, so we have to play this carefully, even though I know we all just want to run in and start shooting.
There’s a guard posted outside the building, and it hits me that this must be a spot that Julian knows well. It’s not random that he chose this place. This is probably the spot Lorenzo used for his trafficking business. That’s why Julian brought Priest here. Because there are already guards around this place.
Knox is already moving before any of us can come up with a plan. He moves more quietly than I would’ve thought possible for someone his size, slipping up behind the guard before the man has time to turn around and see him.
The guard has about two seconds to struggle before Knox snaps his neck and leaves him in a heap on the ground.
We move up to his body, and Ash rummages around until he comes up with a key card.
“Good work,” Gage murmurs. He takes the card from Ash and slips it into the lock on the door. The sensor light on it flashes green, and the door clicks open.
We slip inside, trying to be quiet and not give ourselves away just yet.
It’s a big fucking place. There are corridors crisscrossing through it, and lots of random rooms and alcoves and dead ends.
We can’t move as fast as I’d want to like this, since we don’t want to tip anyone off that we’re here, and it’s frustrating.
Every time we open a door and find nothing but boxes or bags and tarps behind it, it’s like a knife in my damn heart.
But as we move toward the back of the building, the sound of Julian’s voice becomes audible. He’s talking to someone. Monologuing, really, which means he’s probably tormenting Priest. The thought of it makes my heart leap right back up into my throat, and I grit my teeth as we keep moving forward.
After another moment, Knox peers around a corner up ahead of us and holds up a hand to stop us.
“Guards,” he murmurs in a low voice when we gather around him. “At least five of them, lined up in the hallway with a door at the end. That has to be where Julian is holding Priest.”
We’re outnumbered, so we’ll need to be quiet about it as we take out the guards. We coordinate our attack with a few whispered words and silent gestures, working out a strategy to take as many of them down in quick succession as possible. If we can get them all before any of them can sound the alarm, we might still be able to take Julian by surprise.
Knox will go first, and he plasters himself to the wall next to the corner he peered around, readying his weapon and steeling himself. He’s usually the type to go in guns blazing, no hesitation, so I know he’s nervous about this. It’s his cousin’s life on the line, the only one of his “brothers” with whom he shares actual DNA, and I’m sure he’d give anything to switch places with Priest—to be the one Julian took, if it meant Priest was still free and unharmed.
We’ll get him out. We can do this.
Gage takes his place right next to Knox, and Ash and I ready ourselves behind him, weapons drawn.
My gaze shifts to Knox, and his eyes glitter in the dim light as he holds up a hand, counting down with his fingers.
Three.
Two.
One.
Moving as a unit, we stream around the corner. Knox takes out the first guard, while Gage goes for the second. Ash and I race past them, heading for the third and fourth guards. Our attack is so sudden and unexpected that we manage to take out all four before they can raise the alarm, but the fifth man ducks out of the way as Knox drops the body of the first and moves to attack him.
