Luca’s voice came over the comms, calm and precise.“I’ve got him, pinned him before I left.The SUV stopped.I’ve messaged the location to your phones.You can be at their site in ten minutes.I will meet you there”
“Bullshit, we’ll be there in five,” Hogan snapped.He chambered a round, eyes burning.“We’re leaving now.”
Kai was still out there, cuffed in that SUV, but the odds had just shifted.And for the first time tonight, Hogan believed they might just drag him back alive.
Chapter Thirteen
The chair was coldsteel, bolted to the concrete floor, cuffs biting into Kai’s wrists.He knew this place—DEA black site, one of their buried little secrets—and the familiarity made bile crawl in his throat.The stink of bleach, blood, urine, and fear was thick, a reminder of how many lives had been chewed up here.
Carter paced in front of him, a smug-ass grin plastered across his ugly face.“You see, Kai, I managed it all.Two years in the shadows.You thought you were smart, thought you were watching.But I’ve been right here, pulling strings, and none of you ever came close.”
Kai let him talk.That was what men like Carter did best—monologue their way into a hole.He leaned back against the hard chair, wrists burning, head tilted as if he was bored.Inside, he was wired tight, counting heartbeats, certain his team would come.His man would come.
The comm bead behind his ear, a gift from the Pathfinders, was still broadcasting clearly.Hogan’s voice had been a constant for the last twenty or so minutes.Sometimes low and rough with encouragement, sometimes savage with rage, promising him vengeance and slow-burn payback, then dropping suddenly into words thick with love.When Kai was struck, and a grunt or cry escaped his gritted teeth, Hogan begged them to stop, whispering words of care.It was obvious he needed that connection as much as Kai did, and the others had gone quiet to give it to them.
“Kai,” Hogan’s voice murmured in his ear now, harsh with control.“Hold on.We’re close.”
Kai’s lips twitched, almost a smile.He worked the words to acknowledge he heard into what he said to Carter, voice dry and mocking.“Close?That’s generous.You’ve been sloppy, Carter.All this bragging, and for what?A little empire built on borrowed time.”
Carter sneered, stepping closer.“Borrowed?No, I’m cashing in.This—” he waved around the room “—this is where I lay it all on your shoulders.Every deal, every corpse, every double-cross.You’ll take the fall, Agent Kealoha.And me?I walk out clean.”
In his ear, Hogan growled, “Breaching now.”Then there was a muted explosion, the sound shaking the walls.
Kai’s gaze sharpened on Carter.“You hear that?”he asked lightly, spitting the blood that still coated his lip from before.“That’s inevitability.You’re not walking away from this, Carter.You just haven’t realized it yet.”
Carter’s smile widened.He leaned in, hot breath against Kai’s face.“You can’t scare me with ghosts, Kai.This is my game now.”
“Funny thing about games,” Kai murmured.“There’s always someone better waiting to play.”
Static fuzzed in his ear and Hogan’s voice pressed through, tight and clipped.“We’re outside in the hallway.”
Kai’s chest surged with anticipation.He kept his face flat, giving Carter nothing.But inside, every muscle coiled, waiting for the storm.
Then it came—shouts, the staccato burst of gunfire rattling the walls.Boots pounded, men screaming.The fight was short, brutal, muffled by concrete, but every sound lit fire through Kai’s veins.His team was here.
The door slammed open.Hogan entered first, Bateman right beside him, weapons raised, faces carved from fury.Behind them, smoke and noise spilled in.
