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“Can this wait?” I barked in lieu of a greeting.
“I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say before you go into that warehouse, guns blazing,” he drawled.
What the fuck?
“This is a ‘you help me, I’ll help you’ kind of call.”
“Details,” I demanded impatiently.
“The man you’re hunting, Jack Carlson, he’s one of my targets. I’ve got my hands full with an...unexpected situation.”
I heard a muffled voice in the background, and he covered the receiver to say something to them. But his words still came through. “You’re going to earn yourself another spanking, Audrey. Now, be a good little girl and behave.”
My eyebrows shot up, but I didn’t have time to figure out what kind of shit Merrick had gotten himself into. When he spoke again, it was unmuffled. “I’m going to send you the warehouse blueprints. Take him out for me, and I’ll owe you.”
“No,” I disagreed. “You’ll never owe me, brother.”
Merrick was silent for a moment. “It’ll make us square then.”
“Deal.”
“You’ll have the plans in thirty seconds. Send proof that it’s done for my employer. Just keep everyone out of the fucking picture so no one realizes it wasn’t me who did the job.”
“Done,” I agreed. Even though he was no longer with the Navy, I murmured, “Hooyah,” because it still represented the bond we shared.
He repeated the phrase, then we hung up just as my phone pinged with an incoming secure email.
The boys were all quiet, and Deacon was watching me with one eyebrow raised.
“Merrick needs a favor. He sent the blueprints.”
That was all they needed to hear.
We’d studied the warehouse from aerial views, and after going over the blueprints, we found two entrances other than the garage door. There were some windows as well, but they were high up near the roof, and anyone dumb enough to jump from one of those wouldn’t be running anywhere. We unloaded from the van and armed ourselves to the teeth before stealthily approaching the building.
I pointed two fingers toward the front. Cash and Stirling nodded and went that way while Deacon and I trekked to the back. The door was heavy steel, not something we could bust our way through without the right equipment. A noisy entrance would only alert the robbers anyway.
Deacon rolled his eyes after inspecting the keypad mounted on the wall. In less than thirty seconds, he’d bypassed the alarm and unlocked the door.
I owed some maintenance guy a bottle of fine whiskey because the door slid open soundlessly. We crept in and found ourselves in a large, open space, but the only light was coming from the high windows. It cast shadows everywhere, but the space felt empty.
My stomach flipped at the possibility that Cora might not be here. Deacon distracted me from my thoughts when he began to cross the room. I stayed on his six and protected his back. Once we were on the other side, he released the catch on the other door and opened it to let Cash and Stirling into the building.
Cash’s eyes did a sweep of the place, then he pointed his rifle to the left, and I lifted my chin in acknowledgment. Stirling and Deacon echoed the motion but in two other directions. We split up and silently explored the room. I almost missed it, but when I reached one corner, I spotted a crack in the metal wall and realized it was a shoddy, makeshift door. I leaned in and closed my eyes, listening for any sound. It was so soft, I almost missed it. The shuffling of shoes on the concrete floor. I assumed the person was pacing from the way they faded, then got louder before fading again. I stepped out of the shadow and waved down the boys to hurry over.
With hand signals, I told them to cover me and I was going in. Cash, Stirling, and I trained our guns on the door while Deacon wrapped a hand around the knob and held up three fingers. When he dropped the last one, he yanked open the door, and I rushed inside, followed closely by the others. A man with greasy black hair and a face that had clearly been in one too many fistfights whirled around in shock.Brick house.I trained my eyes on him and didn’t look around, knowing that I needed to keep my focus on this piece of shit before Cora distracted me.
“Drop it,” I demanded, using the barrel of my gun to indicate his weapon. He looked like he might argue at first but seemed to quickly realize he was outmanned and outgunned. His gun fell from his hands and hit the floor with a clang.
“Where’s your partner?” Cash asked coolly.
“Dead.” His expression remained blank, his eyes devoid of emotion, obviously not regretting his actions for a second.
A small whimper reached my ears, and I whirled toward it to see Cora curled up in a corner, duct tape on her ankles, wrists, and mouth. I took one step toward her, and her eyes flicked over my right shoulder with fear. I flipped around, gun raised, and put two bullets in the brick house.
A hand came down on my shoulder, and I nearly took Stirling’s head off. “Relax, man. We’re going to do a sweep and make sure we’re all clear.” I nodded, knowing it needed to be done but loathing to leave Cora for even one second. I made a move toward the door, but he pulled me to a stop. “Take care of your girl.”
5
