“Dallas SWAT,” Alex announced. “And yes, we can.”
Alex didn’t give the security guard a chance to reply or pull his weapon but simply strode over and punched the guy in the face. Despite being fired up, Alex forced himself to hold back. If he hadn’t, the guy would be dead, and since he didn’t know how involved the security guards were in this scheme, he didn’t want that on his conscience. As it was, the man still flew backward a good ten feet before hitting the floor and sliding another ten.
Alex glanced over his shoulder at his teammates. “Try not to kill anyone if you can help it, but don’t let them slow you down.”
He pulled his weapon and headed straight down the main corridor, following Kelsey’s scent. Remy fell in beside him. They didn’t get more than twenty feet when Alex picked up the smell of four men coming their way.
“We’ve got company,” he whispered.
He and Remy stepped out into the crossing of two main corridors just in time to catch a pair of men in white lab coats coming toward them from the left. A third doctor, this one accompanied by another security guard, came from the right. Unlike the guard at the front door, this one wasn’t in the mood to talk. Instead, he drew his weapon and started shooting. The doctor beside the security guard froze, but the other two immediately turned and hauled ass down the hallway.
The guy wasn’t a great shot, so he didn’t hit Alex or Remy, but soon enough, he’d get lucky. Alex hadn’t wanted to harm any of the security guards until he knew exactly how they were involved, but it looked like he wasn’t going to have a choice. He lifted his weapon, ready to put a bullet through a part of the guard that wouldn’t kill the man, but just then, the remaining doctor turned and shoved his way through a door, giving Alex a quick glimpse of a set of stairs and a fresh burst of Kelsey’s scent.
“She’s upstairs,” he growled at Remy.
“Go!” Remy ordered. “I’ll back this guy out of your way.”
Before Alex could tell his friend that wasn’t necessary, Remy stepped around him and walked straight toward the guard. The guy got off another shot, this one burying itself somewhere in Remy’s shoulder. Remy didn’t slow down but simply lifted his gun and started popping shots into the cinder-block wall inches from the guard’s head. The man ducked away from the exploding concrete, then began backpedaling down the hallway as Remy put round after round into the wall near his head.
Alex didn’t hang around to see more. He hit the stairs at a run, just as more gunfire erupted throughout the building. It sounded like Brooks and Max had run into trouble too.
Kelsey’s scent grew stronger with every step. Alex shoved open the metal door to the second floor just in time to see the doctor and another guard dragging a very woozy Carla Jones toward the elevator at the far end of the hallway. The guard turned, holding Carla in front of him while he drew his weapon and aimed it in Alex’s direction.
Seeing the man with one of the kidnapped girls put an end to any uncertainty in Alex’s mind about the guards’ involvement in the situation. Alex’s bullet went through the part of the man’s shoulder that wasn’t hidden behind the girl. The guard went down, taking Carla with him.
That left the doctor standing there alone. His eyes widened in fear as Alex advanced on him. The gun probably didn’t scare him nearly as much as the sight of Alex’s fangs and glowing gold eyes. Alex didn’t give a damn. Closing the distance between them, he dug his claws into the man’s lab coat and smashed him against the nearest wall before tossing him down the hallway.
Bending down, Alex gently picked up Carla from the floor, moving her off to the side so he could sit her up against the wall. She was heavily drugged, so she was pretty much out of it, but her eyes still widened when she caught sight of his face.
“Shit,” he muttered.
Alex closed his eyes and took deep, slow breaths, trying to get his shift back under control. He’d done it. He’d found the girls. He could calm down now.
He was almost there when he heard pounding coming from either side of him. He opened his eyes and saw two girls peering at him through the slim glass insert of the doors they were locked behind. Sara Collins was on his left, Abigail Elliott on the right.
Alex was up and moving, still fighting to get his fangs and claws to behave themselves. He reached the door on the right in two strides and slammed his shoulder into it. The minute it flew open, he had an armful of frightened girl trying to attach herself to him like an alien life form.
He put his hands on Abigail’s shoulders, gently trying to get her to arm’s length so he could check for injuries, but now that she’d latched on to him, she refused to let go. She didn’t seem injured, but she was definitely in full-on panic mode, and the terror burning brightly in her eyes was heart-wrenching to see.
Murmuring something he hoped would calm her down, he wrapped his arm around her and led her across the corridor so he could rescue Sara. Fortunately, Max came running out of the stairwell just then and helped get the terrified girl off him.
“I got her,” Max said softly.
Alex took advantage of the assistance, gently disengaging from Abigail so he could smash open the other door. Thankfully, Sara didn’t latch on to him like Abigail, but instead hurried down the hallway to check on Carla. Alex quickly moved to the next door down the corridor, knowing from the scent coming from underneath that it was Kelsey’s room.
But when he burst inside, Kelsey wasn’t there.
His heart beating faster, he ran out and kicked in the next door, then the next, even though he knew those rooms were empty too.
Alex raced back down the hallway. Carla was still out of it, and Abigail seemed too frazzled to help, but Sara looked reasonably calm.
“Where’s Kelsey?” he asked urgently as he dropped to a knee beside her.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. They came and took her out of here on a stretcher five minutes before you showed up. I don’t know where they took her.”
Alex growled, his fangs sliding out again. Fuck!
Getting to his feet, he turned toward the door to the stairwell before looking back at Max and the three girls. Sara might be able to walk out of here on her own, but the other two sure as hell couldn’t.
