He turned and walked out of the barn, but he left the lights on. His goons eyed her in the cage before they followed.
Joey sat down heavily. How was she supposed to give him something that she didn't have?
Chapter Twenty Six: The Battle Begins
Drake Hale
Drake and Colton moved cautiously through the compound. He couldn't help but feel apprehensive about what they were doing. Finding the right place had been too easy, and the last thing he wanted was for Colton to end up hurt.
Colton suddenly backed away from where he'd been peering around the corner of a building. "Three guys just walked into that barn. I think one of them was Percy."
Drake moved forward, but Colton stopped him. "Wait. We need a plan."
"We have one. He's in the barn, we go beat his ass until we find Joey."
"Slow down, cowboy. We need to be smart about this because there's no doubt that we are way undermanned. We have no idea how many of his goons he has here, but I feel like the answer is all of them." He sighed. "Now, how about we start at the house? If he's in the barn, maybe she's in there and we can just grab her and get out."
Drake considered the option. "You might be on to something." He veered course and headed for the house. "Come on. Let's see if she's in there."
It didn't matter to Drake where they started looking first as long as they did something to try and find Joey. It was eating away at him now knowing where she was, and he couldn't think of any intelligent reasons for why she'd be held in the barn. He couldn't really think clearly at all, so he was happy to let Colton take the lead.
The back door was unlocked, and they quietly made their way down the hallway to the kitchen. Drake stopped and listened, but silence was the only thing that he heard. They made their way through the living room and dining room, and while there were signs that people had been there, there was no one around.
Colton glanced back at him. "It looks like they need a maid. Maybe that's why they took Joey."
Drake nodded. He knew his brother was trying to keep him calm, but it wasn't working. "She'd shove those dirty dishes down their throats."
They found the back staircase and headed up to the second floor. There were a couple bedrooms that they searched before they found the office. Drake made his way to the desk and then let out a low whistle.
"Look at this shit."
Flyers were stacked on the corner of the desk. As they sifted through them, they found several different ones.
"What the fuck are those?"
Colton cussed under his breath. "It looks like these are just mockups of what they envision. You know, like the little posters that they put around town for the circus or the rodeo." He shuffled through the stack. "This is some kind of bullshit though. I feel like it gives us a good idea of what our future fate is if this asshole has his way."
Each glossy poster showed photos of scenes that would normally be affiliated with a rodeo, however, instead of horses, the competitors were riding dragons.
"What the hell is that?" Drake picked up one of the posters. "I would hope he was thinking of filming a movie, but somehow I doubt that. This is like some kind of Renaissance Rodeo."
"Not a movie. A new kind of rodeo. Look." Colton held up a piece of paper with the actual ad on it. "New and improved, one of a kind, never been seen before." He snorted. "He'd probably like your renaissance name."
"He's just like that damned uncle of Danny's. He wanted us to be some kind of Jurassic Park display except with dragons. This idiot wants us to be dancing chickens in the arena."
Colton crumpled the paper into a ball. "Tells me that they're related somehow. Maybe not actual relatives, but they're connected somewhere along the line."
"How does he think we'd cooperate with that?"
"I don't know, but I damn sure intend to find out. This shit is starting to get annoying."
A quick search of the rest of the house didn't turn up any people, including Joey. Drake stood and stared out one of the windows. "It looks like there are three barns. She has to be in one of them."
Colton agreed. "Probably the one I saw those jackasses walking into. That would make the most sense." He patted Drake on the shoulder. "Sorry. I guess I should have listened to you."
"It doesn't matter. At least now we found this shit so we know what his end game is." Drake turned away from his view. "No time like the present." Every second he was away from Joey was one more second that she was in trouble. The thought of her being scared or hurt was almost more than he could handle.
They retraced their steps and hurried out the back door. Drake looked all around, but no one was in sight. He glanced at Colton who gave a nod before they hurried out into the open to cross the distance to the barn.
