Heat wove through is blood. What the fuck was actually wrong with him that her using all three of his names turned him on?
With a sigh, he clicked the speaker on.
“Hey, Rachel,” Sam’s voice said.
“The name is Raquel.”
“It won’t matter if you’re dead.”
The same weird arousal surged. If anyone else spoke with such bluntness, he would admire it, but he definitely wouldn’t be sexually excited by it. He liked sweet women, not ball busters like Sam.
“There are two men coming up there to abduct you or maybe kill you. I don’t care. I do care about Eden and Mix, so that’s why I’m saving your ass today. Make sure you don’t have heels on and go with the nice operatives, or I’ll suggest they both leave your cranky ass there.”
“Excuse me. And who the hell is Mix?”
That was the nickname everyone called him thanks to another operative at Dillon. He’d hated it at first, but lately, he had started to like it. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone. It was definitely better than Ice.
Sam’s long frustrated sigh was easy to hear over the speaker. “Jesus, get a grip. Two men are coming to get you. Make sure you have flats on and get ready to run because you might need to do that. Too bad you can’t knock her out and just carry her.”
Raquel’s eyes widened. “Is she serious?”
“Yes,” both Eden and he said.
“Okay, the assholes coming up are locked between your floor and the one below. And I have delayed the help they’d normally get. I’d suggest you go now. I’ll switch to your earpiece.”
Then she hung up. He pocketed his phone and took lead. For once, it looked like their charge wasn’t going to argue with them.
“The stairwell is clear, so you can go down a couple of floors,” Sam said in his ear. “That floor is clear.”
With his gun out, he opened the door to the suite, then led Raquel to the stairwell. Eden protected the rear.
After opening the door and double checking that the assholes weren’t on the stairs, he motioned with his head for Eden and Raquel to follow him. They hurried down the stairs.
“Dammit.”
He paused, causing Raquel to bump into him.
“What?”
“Get the fuck out of there. They must have outside help. Someone overrode the elevator controls. They’ll figure out you’ve bugged out pretty fast.”
He started down again going as fast as he could. They were two floors down when he heard the door open above them.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going, asshole?”
Was the guy serious?
“What the hell is that? Did he actually yell at you? Amateur.”
The disdain in Sam’s voice would normally make him smile, but he had to get Raquel to safety.
A gun shot sounded, hitting the wall just above his head.
“The fuck?” Sam exclaimed, anger filling her voice. Then, muttering as she tapped on the keyboard. Ian didn’t have time to deal with her. He needed to get his charge to safety.
“What the fuck are you doing, Vic? We won’t get paid if we hurt her.”
Ian made a note of that argument between the abductors, but his focus was still getting them to safety. He busted through the stairwell door onto the floor.
