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“Ahhhh, stop!”
“Where are they?” Bear questioned, applying more pressure.
“I don’t know and I’m not talking without a lawyer.”
Bear chuckled darkly. His Winnie was missing and he’d do anything to find her okay. “Do you think I look like the person who is going to call a lawyer for you? Who shot you?”
“That bitch. I came out to make sure no one escaped. She came out of the lean-to and shot me.”
“Cannon, tie him up and we’ll talk with him later. War, come with me.”
Bear ran into the lean-to and stepped around a four-foot cement wall blocking the back third of the structure. He leaned down, swept some straw away and punched in the code. Winnie had to be alive. If she’d been burned, the thermal imaging would have shown something. He waited for the beep indicating the hatch was unlocked.
“Come on.”
Bear opened the hatch and shimmied down the metal ladder. He grabbed a flashlight and a two-way radio from the shelf. The hatch had dropped them down into the cement tunnels that ran from Franks and Daughters Bail Bonds property to the edge where the gym sat. Although motion sensor lights were supposed to come on as they passed different sensors, he wasn’t taking any chances.
He flipped the two-way on.
“This is Bear. Code Chandler. I say again. Code Chandler. Holding at Crossroad.”
“Code Joey. Evac site homestead.”
Bear let out a breath. Code Joey was targets neutralized and medical needed. He grasped War’s arm and shoved him into the waiting golf cart. The cement tunnels were ten feet wide which allowed the golf carts to turn around. He pressed the pedal to the floor. The golf cart jerked and took off. He was never so grateful for Jesse souping the carts up. He’d thought about running but with the added speed, taking the cart was faster. Plus War was a mess.
Not that Bear was any better but he had to believe Winnie would be okay until he saw her. He couldn’t let his mind drift to all the horrible things that could have befallen her or he’d break down crying. His throat hurt trying to keep the tears in. He had to concentrate on getting there. The next crossroad should be the homestead. He just had to keep it together a little bit longer.
He stopped the golf cart and used the two-way to notify the homestead of their arrival. “Code Chandler. Entering homestead.”
He didn’t wait for a reply but punched in the code and shoved the hatch open as soon as it beeped. He clocked Remi and Winnie sitting on the medical beds but he only had eyes for Winnie. She had soot or dirt smeared on her face and a haphazard bandage on her arm, as if she’d done it herself.
Bear ran over and tried to pull Winnie closer for a hug. She batted his hand away. Her face tilted up to him and she shook her head.
“Bear, I’m barely holding it together. If you hug me, I’ll lose it. I can’t. I have to stay strong until we’re alone.”
He nodded at his badass little sunshine and realized the fire had cemented what he felt for her. He wanted her in his life. The worry about what his incubator would do hadn’t gone away but he needed Winnie. He craved taking care of her and making sure she was okay. He wanted to protect her.
“Ambulance is here. Everyone is going to get checked out, no exceptions, but I want security,” Locks directed. Now that Bear knew Winnie would be fine, he could check out the rest of the room. Locks had been standing in the doorway to the medical room in a bulletproof vest, holding a handgun with a rifle slung over his shoulder. Sarah and Beth were working the computers and monitoring the screens showing the homestead and surrounding area. “Jesse, what have you got?”
“I finished the upgrade on the first SUV. I could drive separately with War and Bear while Remi and Winnie go in the ambulance. You, Sarah, and Beth along with some of the MC could stay here. This was a coordinated attack. If I’d planned it, the burning of the gym would be wave one to get everyone distracted before I hit with wave two. Everyone needs to be on alert.” Jesse’s no-nonsense directions were exactly what Bear would have planned. He had no problem following her directions.
Flick and his partner came in. His eyes glanced around the room, cataloguing injuries. Bear knew the women would be okay when Flick’s shoulders relaxed at the injuries.
Winchester stood up and Bear immediately grabbed her arm as she swayed. She was tough but he wasn’t having her fall just to show how tough she was.
“I’m not going to fall but I wanted to thank you. Your analyzation of defenses for the gym which had us adding the hatch in the office is what saved us. If only we’d used you to help with our security protocols on adding new security people.”
“Explain,” Bear growled.
“Don’t use that tone with me when my head is hurting. A new guy who was wearing one of our security shirts hit me over the head and knocked me out. I may be all sunshine and roses but I have no problem kicking you into next week when you piss me off.”
Bear tried to control his anger but he wanted to go back out to the guy in the field and kick his ass now that he knew Winnie was okay. Hopefully, War would choose to offer him accommodations at the clubhouse until they could get more information from him.
“Winnie, we haven’t hired any new people in security in the last thirty days. You’ve met all of them,” Remington rasped out.
“This guy said Dad sent him and asked to help. When I turned to show him the boxes to move, something hit the back of my neck and head, and it was lights out. Luckily, the hot embers hitting my arm woke me up, otherwise the hatch wouldn’t have mattered.”
Winnie’s words fed the fuel of his anger. They’d get the women checked out and then he was going to have a chat with the one they’d caught, then he’d start sifting through how someone got past security and with a shirt that should only be available to employees of the bail bonds and security company.
