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Once I knew Carlo was okay, I walked over to Ahmed, needing to verify for myself that he was dead. I rolled the body over, and a chill ran through me. “It’s not him.”
“What?” Rhys called.
“It’s not Ahmed. He must have… I saw him. He was wearing this hat.”
“He used the smokescreen to get away,” Rhys said.
“The car.”
Rhys nodded.
“Fuck, he’s long gone by now.”
“We need to regroup,” Rhys said.
“How did I fuck this up?”
“You didn’t.” Rhys wrapped an arm around me. “He was a step ahead of us, but we are going to get him.”
I hoped to hell he was right.
“I’ll do a perimeter check while the rest of you head back to our vehicle,” Devil said. Rhys nodded, and Devil slipped away toward the back door.
I followed Rhys, Blade, and Carlo out front, expecting to meet up with Darren once we were outside.
28
DARREN
The son of a bitch who’d been watching us at the hotel was trying to escape. No way in hell was I going to let him. I kept my back to the wall as I made my way to the door, then launched myself after him. He was headed for the SUV, but I put a bullet through his head before he even reached the parking lot.
He hit the ground, and I pressed against the side of the building waiting to see if anyone else was going to try to get out this way.
I sensed someone behind me, but it was too late. A garrote went around my neck and tightened to the point that I felt the cord cutting into me as I fought to draw in air.
“Drop your gun. Then don’t move and don’t make a sound.”
I obeyed. There’d be a time to fight, but this wasn’t it.
“Start walking.” The man jabbed a pistol into my back as he held the cord around my neck with one hand.
I contemplated my chances of freeing myself, but my captor could easily shoot me before I could loosen the garrote.
He marched me to the SUV and ordered me to open the door and get in the back. I did as I was told, even though all my instincts told me to put up a fight. I had no idea where he’d take me and neither did Fox or anyone else.
Once I was in the vehicle, he set the pistol down. I immediately kicked out at him, but he pulled a syringe from a compartment in the floor and jabbed it into my thigh. He pulled the garrote so tight I had to focus my energy on fighting it before it cut so deep into me that I would bleed out. The cord dug into my hands, and I felt blood run down them as the world began to swim around me.
My captor loosened up on the wire as my eyes began to close. I made one last effort to stay awake, shoving at him and trying to sit up. He backhanded me. I slumped over, and everything went dark.
29
FOX
Darren wasn’t outside when we exited the building.
“He probably went ahead to meet us,” Blade said, clearly understanding how worried I was.
I rushed ahead, running to where we’d parked, which was stupid since I couldn’t be sure Ahmed wasn’t still close by.
Darren wasn’t there. I tapped my earpiece. “Dare? Where are you?”
No response.
“Dare! Check in.”
Nothing.
The rest of the team was watching me warily as Devil caught up to us. “Have you seen Darren?”
“Not since he left the building. I found the body of the man he went after and dragged it inside, but I thought he’d gone on with the rest of you.”
I fought for calm. Darren was probably fine. His comm just wasn’t working. He would be fine. He had to be fine.
Blade took my arm. “Come on. Let’s look for him.”
“Carlo and I will stay here,” Rhys said.
Devil nodded. “I’ll search in the other direction.”
Where the fuck could he be? “Darren. Answer me, dammit.”
Blade pulled the comm from my ear and stuffed it into one of his pockets. “You don’t need that now. We’re going to find him.”
“What could have happened to him. We took out everyone except…” My heart seemed to stutter. “Ahmed found him. He’s got him.”
“That’s a possibility, but we still need to search the area.”
We reached the doorway Darren had exited through. There was no sign of him or what had happened to him in the immediate area.
I was fighting panic. I could not lose Darren. Ahmed was not going to hurt him. I was not going to be responsible for someone else I cared for getting hurt or… worse. “I have to find him.”
“Fox.” Blade’s stern tone had me turning toward him. “I know you’re scared. If Carlo was missing… I’d be going crazy, but the more you can stay calm, the more we can analyze this rationally, the better chance we have of saving him.”
