“That’s okay,” Rachel said. “We’re going to open the garage door and the moment we can run under it, we’re heading around the side of the house and the perimeter wall, then we’ll hightail it to my SUV parked down the street. Sound good?”
Mother and daughter nodded, but when Rachel turned to lead the way, Jennifer put a hand on her arm. “You need to know that you can’t trust the DAPS people. They’re not being paid to protect Addy and me. They work for my husband and, by extension, Alton Marshall. If they see us, they’ll kill us.”
Addy looked devastated all over again—maybe because she’d been holding out hope that Rachel had been wrong and that her father wasn’t wrapped up in this mess. Hearing her mother confirm it seemed to be the last straw and fresh tears filled her eyes.
“I know,” Rachel said. “We won’t let them catch us.”
The moment they were in the garage, Jennifer hit the button to raise the door. Rachel said a silent prayer of thanks when she realized it was the quietest garage door she’d ever heard—or didn’t hear. Rich people had all the nice toys.
The door was at knee level and the three of them were just about to duck under it when the scent of several men hit Rachel from outside.
Crap.They were screwed.
She was already dragging Addy and her mom back to the workshop as the door lifted high enough to reveal Theo and a bunch of his DAPS buddies. Jennifer was smart enough to grab Addy and run before the shooting started. Rachel only wished she’d put a bullet in Theo before turning and running after Addy and Jennifer.
As she followed them through the workshop and into the maze of hallways beyond, Rachel tried to keep Theo and the other men from getting too close, but within moments, she realized the a-holes were herding them away from the exits and any possible escape. Instead, Theo and the other armed goons pushed them toward the depths of the house until they were trapped in a cul-de-sac created by the intersection of three different hallways. Rachel shoved Addy and Jennifer behind her as rounds started coming at her from every direction. She dropped to a knee and returned fire, forcing herself to time her shots. Even if it seemed impossible right then, she had to hold out until Knox and the rest of her backup arrived.
Chapter 16
Diego pulled his Mazda RX5 to the side of the road a few hundred yards short of the Lloyd residence, out of sight of the gatehouse. Moments later, a big SWAT SUV pulled up behind them. Knox opened his door and was heading toward the front gate without slowing down to think about what he was doing.
“Wait a second, dude.” Diego ran around the car to catch up with him. “I know you’re freaked out, but we can’t go in there without a plan or we’re not going to be any help to Rachel at all. If anything, we’ll make things worse.”
Knox growled, grinding his fangs together hard enough to almost break them off. His fangs and claws had made an appearance on the drive over, and it had taken all his energy to not jump out and run all the way to the Lloyds’ every time they encountered the least little bit of traffic.
Before he could say anything, Zane and Trey jumped out of the SUV, concern on both men’s faces.
“What did you mean when you called and said Rachel’s in trouble?” Zane demanded. “She’s not even supposed to be working.”
“She went to see Addy,” Knox said. “Apparently her parents got into a huge fight and Addy needed someone to talk to, so of course, Rachel ran right over. She didn’t care about being off the detail. But it wasn’t until we got her text saying Conrad Lloyd and DAPS are working with Alton Marshall and they’re planning to kill Jennifer that we realized something was wrong. I’m just hoping she waited until we got here before doing something crazy.”
“Bloody hell,” Zane muttered.
Trey shook his head. “Yeah, well if Rachel thought for a second Addy was in danger, there’s nothing in the world that’d keep her from going in there.”
No frigging kidding.“Tell me something I don’t know. If DAPS is working for Marshall, she’s going to be heavily outnumbered.”
Diego and Trey nodded in agreement, but Zane was frowning.
“First off, we have no idea if Rachel is still in there. She might have already gotten in and out with Addy and her mom,” the British werewolf said. “Second, even if we go in, you aren’t. You’re not a cop, and we can’t have civilians going in there, especially if you’re with DAPS.”
Knox didn’t realize he’d lost control of his inner wolf and was moving forward to attack Zane until Diego intercepted him with a hand on his chest.
“Dude, relax. Zane won’t try and keep you out. He knows better than anyone how impossible that would be for you.”
“I won’t?” Zane asked, confused.
Diego glanced at his pack mate. “He’sThe Onefor Rachel. And before you ask, I only found out about it myself yesterday. So don’t bother trying to stop him, because it won’t work.”
The muscle in Zane’s jaw flexed, and for a second, Knox thought he was going to have to fight the guy, but then Zane turned and walked to the rear of the SUV. He came back a few moments later carrying two SWAT tactical vests to match the ones he and Trey were wearing, a radio headset, and an M4 carbine. He handed a vest, the radio, and the carbine to Diego and the other vest to Knox.
“I don’t have a radio for you, but the vest will at least make it look like you’re one of us in case any DPD officers arrive on scene,” Zane said. “The rest of the Pack is in Irving, raiding a drug dealer’s place, so we’re on our own for now.”
Knox tossed his jacket, shrugged into the vest, and cinched down the Velcro straps. His urge to take over and establish the plan for moving on the mansion was hard to ignore after so many years in the SEALs, but he knew it wouldn’t fly here, not with these guys having so much more experience at being werewolves than he did. “What’s the plan?”
“We take it slow until we have a better idea what’s going on in there,” Zane said. “We’ll jump the wall on the north side of the property, since there are fewer cameras there. Once we look around a bit, we’ll go from there.”
Okay, he could work with that, Knox thought.
