“Don’t know,” Blade replied like it was an actual question instead of a rhetorical one. “But I don’t hear them in there. My ears are still ringing so I can't get a read on how far away they are.”
Damn explosion was messing up everything.
If it wasn't for that, he and the others would have either found or not found whoever had been in the building thenreturned. Now they were separated, lacking vital intel, and both Cassandra and Rose were in more danger than they’d been in before.
With a roar, Steel suddenly leaned down and began to fling large chunks of concrete out of the way like they were mere pebbles, and less than a minute later, the man was slamming his foot through the wooden door, splintering it.
As Steel stepped through the ruined door, Dragon hurried to follow, desperate to prove Blade wrong, find whoever was in there with his little rabbit, and tear the man to pieces.
But just like Blade had said, the room was empty.
Panic threatened to overwhelm him. The need to scream out his rage into the universe and punish anything and everyone for tearing Cassandra from him was almost all he could think about.
Only one thing kept him from tumbling over the edge.
The fact that he was to blame for what happened.
Ignoring his instincts and bringing Cassandra along had been a mistake he might not get a chance to rectify.
Since tearing himself to pieces wasn't possible, he grabbed hold of every emotion raging inside him and stuffed them down deep.
No time to feel.
No time to lose.
The girls were gone, but they hadn't been for long.
“How did someone get two women out of this room, without disturbing the rubble by the door?” Lion asked no one in particular.
“They wouldn't have gone without a fight,” Thunder added.
“Even if they were unconscious, he would have had to carry them over that debris,” Voodoo said. “It’s like they didn't leave the room through the door.”
“Don’t think they did,” Blade called out, and Dragon looked over to see that his teammate was standing on the opposite sideof the room, where it was obvious now that he looked that there was a second entrance.
“How did we not notice that before?” Steel growled.
“Because we were distracted,” he said without hesitation. There was no point in making a mistake if you weren't going to admit it and learn from it. Cassandra and Rose should have stayed in the car if they’d come at all, but it wasn't just their presence that had them all on edge.
It was that they wanted this so badly.
For a decade, revenge had been all that had kept them alive. They dealt with the anger that constantly bubbled inside them all by promising it that one day it would be unleashed on the man who had played God with their lives.
Now with that revenge within smelling distance, everything was heightened, and they’d learned to rely so much on their enhanced skills over the last ten years that the bleach and the white noise generator had messed with all of them.
“Look,” Lion said, holding up what appeared to be a syringe, and they all looked over to where he was kneeling, not far from the secret door they hadn't noticed when they first cleared this room. “Same as before. Whoever this was came prepared to kidnap someone.”
“Then whoever was in here wasn't the person who ordered this place cleaned down, or set up the white noise generator,” Thunder said.
“Could one of the mercenaries have figured out the link from the payment to this place same as we did?” Voodoo asked.
“Makes sense,” Blade replied. “And it’s the only reason someone would come with a vial of sedatives ready to use. Especially since we already know Dr. Gardner wants Cassandra alive.”
“But there were two of them,” Lion reminded them. “Two women, but only one syringe. How did he get both of them out of the room if he could only sedate one?”
“Potential signs of a struggle,” Thunder replied somewhat hesitantly, his gaze darting between him and Steel.
“Rose would have fought,” Blade added.
