“He has speakers in here,” Holden whispers.
Les’ whole body is rigid. “Come get me, and you can,” she taunts. “I came all this way, and you’re going to hide?”
“I’m not hiding, Precious,” Jay purrs. “Take a closer look at the monitors.”
We walk as one to the big wall, and each camera on those monitors is pointed at the homes of our loved ones. My dad’s, Evander’s, Gerald and Boone’s.
Les doesn’t react. “We already know you’re a stalker, Jay. Now come on out.”
He chuckles. “I hate to disappoint, Precious, but you wasted a trip.”
“He’s here,” Les hisses under her breath. “Send a team to search upstairs.”
I give a signal, and Ghost disappears with his team. “We need to search the rest of the house.” We don’t even spare a glance at the screens, acting like we don’t give a shit, so he won’t react and blow them up like I’m sure he’s planning. We got them all out before coming here, knowing Jay would have plans in place.
We search every corner, crack, and room with no sign of him. We make our way through the room with the big windows, and I can see Les shiver from head to toe. There is only one place left to look. The basement.
I steel myself, sliding my hand across the picture that triggers the lock. The door pops, and Dex slides it open. The smell hits us first, pure piss and something rotten. I look at Les and Zane standing side by side, locked into some trance. Les turns her head to look at me and nods, signaling they’re ready. Now more than ever, I wish I can see her eyes instead of the blacked-out ones in her mask.
The hallway is narrow, so we fall into a single file with me, Zane, Holden, Les in the front, Gage, and Leo in the middle, with Dex protecting us from the back. When the room Zane and Les were locked in comes into view, we hear an awful screeching noise, then a bang so loud it shakes the walls.
We flip around, and a metal door is blocking us from Gage, Leo, and Dex.
“Are you guys okay?” Les yells frantically.
“We’re fine,” Gage yells back. “We’re going to find a way through. Get thatmotherfucker!”
“Watch your backs!” I yell.
“We will,” Dex says. “Now go!”
Les bows her head, then jerks her shoulders back, turning to us. “We have to move.”
I nod, and we make our way toward that room, the smell of death getting closer and closer.
“Oh fuck. That’s awful,” Holden chokes out.
“This hallway looks bigger,” Zane mutters, gesturing toward the end of the hallway.
Les looks around. “Because it is.” She gestures with her gun. “That’s the same door he just trapped the guys behind.” She looks at me. “That means there are more rooms down here than this one.”
“Which means he can be any damn where,” I grit out. I jerk my head to the first door. “Zane and I go in.” I hold up a hand when Les opens her mouth. “We don’t know who’s in there.” It can be anyone Jay could use to hurt Les. Zane jerks a nod, stepping beside me, gun ready. “You look like such a fucking cop right now,” I joke, trying to break the tension in his shoulders.
“Keep it up, and you’ll find out how fast I can slap handcuffs on your ass,” he jokes back, his shoulders dropping a little. Shaking my head to rid myself of that mental image, I put my hand on the door, count down, and jerk it open. I can’t stop the gag when the smell hits us right in the face. We sweep the small room, working our way toward the curtain. Counting down again, I jerk it open.
“I guess that explains where Mani went,” I say. Mani is lying there, a bullet hole between his eyes.
“Jay must have taken him out when we figured out he was the fucking mole,” Zane answers, nodding his head toward the door. “Let’s move on.”
“Nice detective work, Zane.” Jay’s voice crackles through the speakers again. “You have to admit, three years of undercover work is one for the record books.”
“Fuck off,” Zane growls. “Where are you? Two big of a pussy to come out and face me?”
“Is that any way to talk to your partner?”
“You’re not my goddamn partner! Where are you?!” Zane bellows.
“RYDER! ZANE!” Les screams, the sound abruptly cut off.
