"I don't know his location, I swear!!! Please don't kill me!"
Getting nowhere and sick of the man's whining, I gave Jacob a nod. One clean slice and blood sprayed the wall as the man dropped into a twitching heap.
Our aprons and gloves were saturated with the sticky liquid. The smell of iron assaulted my nostrils, bringing me back to my mother's murder. I shook my head, shaking the dark memory from my thoughts.
Thank goodness the aprons were disposable. I couldn't imagine going to the laundromat every day trying to wash them.
I stepped deeper into the house. There were four girls locked in a back room, barely dressed, shivering and chained to a rusted pipe. They were being prepped for shipment. One of them lifted her head. I wished it were Kitten, but she had already gone through the process and was with Hector.
I swallowed the scream trying to force its way out of my throat. I slammed my fist into the wall, splitting myknuckles open. Ignoring the pain and the trickling blood, we freed the girls and gave them water, protein bars, and blankets to cover them up.
Yara came in and got them moving toward her truck. She would take them back to my compound, let them shower, and dress them in items I had her pick up at a local shop. Whether the clothes fit didn't concern me. Sending them back home with some dignity was all I gave a fuck about.
Jacob started torching the building, one room at a time. As flames licked along the walls, I stood in the middle of the red-streaked floors, my jaw tightened.
There were still no answers. I had no clue where to fucking find Hector, and I was getting angrier by the minute. The longer he had her, the worse her and Becca's fate would be.
I would not stop until I tortured Hector with my bare hands. Smoke filled my lungs. We hurried from the burning building. The fire crackled behind me, spreading fast. Greedy flames devoured the shack we had just gutted. Black smog and fumes filled the air, but I didn't move. I was livid. Another fucking dead end.
I clenched my jaw so hard it clicked. My fists ached from how tightly I was squeezing them. Blood still dripped from my knuckles, but I didn't care. I felt hopeless. Defeated. No matter how much we tried to pry the truth from these scumbags, no one knew jack shit about anything.
"Atlas."
Jacob's voice cut through the haze. Calm and controlled.
"We've gotta move."
I didn't respond. Just stood there, staring at the flames, thinking about throwing myself into them. At least I would feel something other than this fucking helpless rage burning inside me.
"I don't think we're ever going to find her, Jacob. How many more places must we visit just to be told they don't know where Hector is?"
My face twisted in rage as the heat struck me in the face.
I turned to face him, my voice rising.
"Are we going to end up finding her bones once we find Hector? Will she even be there when we locate the dirty bastard?"
He didn't answer. He just watched me with those sharp eyes of his, like he was waiting for me to explode.
And it came. I lost my shit, grabbed a chair from the front yard, and hurled it into the fire. Then I kicked the truck so hard, it left a huge dent on the passenger door.
"She's gone! She's still fucking gone!" I shouted, slamming my palm against the metal again and again, until crimson smeared across the gray truck, not giving a shit that it belonged to the CIA. I was fucking going out of my mind.
"I'm supposed to be better than this. I'm supposed to find her. It was my job to protect her, and I failed, Jacob! I look at the fucking app every day hoping I'll get a signal to her location, but I never do."
My voice splintered on the wordfailed. I hated it. Hated how the sound made me feel like I had already lost.
Jacob stepped up and gripped my shoulders tight.
"You listen to me, you stubborn bastard. She is not gone!"
I shook my head, eyes wild. "You don't know that."
"No," he growled, yanking me around to face him. "But neither do you. Pull yourself together. We don't stop. We don't fucking quit. You need to keep your temper under control."
I ripped my arm away and paced in circles as the fire still crackled around us. My chest was heaving.
I couldn't catch my breath. I loved the fucking girl, and my heart was torn. Completely shattered.
