“Ada,” I called out, still running.“Where’s Ada?”
Knight’s head snapped up, his tattooed eyes finding mine with an expression that stopped me cold.Concern.Anger.And something worse.
“Jag,” he began, rising to his feet.
I pushed past him, scanning the gathered faces for Ada’s.She wasn’t there.Instead, my gaze fell on what Knight had been examining, an area sprinkled with broken glass and tire tracks where someone peeled out on the asphalt, those fucking cookies scattered across the ground.The empty container and the lid lay nearby where it had been dropped.
“Where is she?”I demanded again, my voice a growl.
Knight hesitated, then wordlessly handed me his tablet.The screen showed security footage from the front of the compound, time stamped just fifteen minutes ago.Ada’s jogging toward the gate.Then a shadow moving from a small outbuilding on the other side of the path toward her.
I watched the screen in helpless rage as Rat Man appeared behind Ada, wrapping a hand over her mouth and dragging her toward a beat-up sedan.The silence made the scene all the more frightening, but I could see Ada’s struggles.Christ, how she fought!She struck out, kicking and thrashing.But Rat Man was bigger, stronger, and had the advantage of surprise.As Rat Man backhanded her before shoving her into the car from the driver’s side then climbing in after her.The whole attack took less than thirty seconds.Then they were gone, Rat Man’s car peeling away with her trapped inside.
“I’m tracking the car now,” Knight said, his voice tight with barely contained fury.“City wide CCTV puts it heading west, toward the river.I tracked it from here to there.They haven’t stopped and with Ada being with him and not bound yet, I doubt they will.No one else was in that car.”
I couldn’t speak, could barely breathe through the rage filling my lungs like concrete.My hands shook as I handed back the tablet, not trusting myself not to smash it.
“How the fuck did he get so close to the fuckin’ gate?”I finally managed, the words coming out through clenched teeth.The rage inside me I usually kept tightly controlled threatened to burst free.If that happened, I’d be mindless and unthinking.I’d gone down that road on a couple of occasions.Beat more than one person to within an inch of his life.Those times were nothing compared to what I felt now.
“Used a delivery truck as cover,” one of the prospects explained, pointing to tire tracks nearby.“Same service coming through here all the time to some of the newer warehouses by the dock.Car was parked on the other side of the truck, and it’s been sitting there since Tuesday.”
Gunnar pushed through the group, phone in hand.“We’re mobilizing everyone.Cain’s got his ExFil boys setting up roadblocks on --” His phone chimed, cutting him off.Gunnar glanced down, then froze, heat creeping up his neck, anger plain on his face.
“What?”Knight demanded, stepping forward.“What is it?”
Gunnar’s hard gaze met mine with a look of pure, unadulterated rage before he read the text aloud.“Give me your skin, Gill, or every bitch and brat in that fucking place dies.Starting with the one I took.”
The message sank in like a blade between my ribs.My vision tunneled, darkening at the edges.
“He wants Gunnar,” Knight translated unnecessarily, his voice tight.“In exchange for Ada.”
Knuckles pushed through the gathering, Cain at his heels.“What’s happened?”
Knight quickly filled them in, his words clipped and precise.With each detail, the look on Cain’s face darkened further, his eyes shifting to his son with a calculating intensity.
“He doesn’t want you, Gunnar,” Cain muttered.“He wants to punish me.”He scrubbed a hand through his steel gray hair sharply.“I’m so fucking’ tired of this fuckin’ bastard,” Cain muttered.“Shoulda put him down years ago.”
“No time like the present,” Gunnar said.“Got no problem pickin’ up your slack, old man.”
“I’ve about had it with your ‘old man’ shit, boy.”Cain gave him a warning look.
“He wants me,” Gunnar continued.“He’s got me.But on our terms.”
Knuckles nodded, already barking orders to the gathered men.
“He’s not far away,” Knight said as he pecked on his tablet.“Once the car stopped, I found it with the closest camera.He’s still got her in the car, but looks like he moved her from the front seat.All I could see was him pulling her out of the passenger side.The camera view didn’t give me a good view, but they’re in the parking lot next to the docks.”
As the men scattered to their tasks, Knuckle landed a heavy hand on my shoulder.“We’ll get her back,” he said, his voice low and certain.“But you need to get your head straight first.Blind rage is not your friend here like it was before.”
I stared at him, wanting to argue, but I trusted Knuckles.He knew my past.He’d been the only person in my life to keep his word with everything he promised.That fact helped me cut through the haze of fury.He was right.Ada needed me thinking clearly, not charging in half-cocked and getting myself killed before I could save her.
“What’s the play?”I asked, forcing my breathing to steady.
A ghost of a smile touched Cain’s lips.“Now you’re asking the right questions.”He glanced at his son, then back to me.“Rat Man thinks he’s calling the shots.Let’s show him how wrong he is.”
The phone buzzed in my pocket.I pulled it out, heart stopping when I saw Ada’s name on the screen.I answered, putting the phone to my ear.“Ada?”
“Help me, Jag.”Her voice was nearly a whisper.“Please…” the word broke as she sucked in a sob.
