“You dare,” Maverick growls, voice unrecognizable now, “use my name to slaughter people?”
Clinton tries to scramble away, but I grab him by the collar and drive him face-first into the marble.
Blood splatters across the floor.
Spike is on his phone, voice hard as he blasts out the warning. It’s not a call, but a voice-activated warning system that will be sent to everyone.
“Code black! Code black! All positions bunker now! Snipers, return fire. Get inside the walls!”
My phone vibrates, but I know it’s Spike’s warning.
“Take him,” Maverick snaps.
Two guards rush forward. I shove Clinton into their grip so hard he nearly drops.
“Basement,” Maverick orders coldly. “Alive.”
Clinton spits blood. “You’re Shadows? I knew there was something off about you two. You’re working with these killers?”
“Take him,” Maverick repeats.
The guards drag Clinton out as Maverick snatches the man's phone from the desk and dials back immediately.
No answer.
He dials again.
Nothing.
He looks up at a camera in the corner of the room.
“Have the jet ready,” he says too fucking calmly for the situation. “Engines on. We leave in five minutes.”
“Yes,Don,” Stefano’s voice comes through a speaker.
The library doors burst open, and Skip rushes in first, breathing hard, a limp Martello thrown over his shoulder like a sack of trash. Bones follows, Foster right behind him.
“Why the hell is our SOS going off?” Skip demands.
“They’re firing on the compound,” Spike says, his voice flat. His wife and son are in the middle of that war zone right now. His sister…my woman. Every single precious soul we swore to protect is a target inside the walls we promised would protect them.
Skip freezes, then drops Martello.
The unconscious man hits the floor with a sickening thud.
“Handle him,” Bones tells the nearest guards. His voice is ice.
“Put him with Clinton,” Maverick says. “Let’s go, brothers. The jet’s ready.”
Nobody argues.
We move fast.
Down the corridor…Out the doors…Into the armored vehicle.
The drive to the private runway feels like it takes a lifetime and a heartbeat all at once.
I’m calling everyone.
