Freeing Him: A Hart Brothers Novel, Book 2 (39 page)

The bartender leans over and asks, “There a problem here?”

“Not if they let the lady loose.”

“Guys, do I need to call security?” The bartender drums his hands on the bar.

“No, we’re cool here.” Stringy blond dude lets go and I release his arm. They walk away.

Once they’re out of earshot, she says, “Hey, thanks.” Her speech is slurred.

“No problem.” Even in her drugged state, she’s hot as fuck and Mr. Cocky is acting happy now. Goddamn, I need to rein this shit in fast.

She nods and turns away.

When she’s moved off, I say, “Delta Mad Dog, are you bird watching?”

“Affirmative, Lone Wolf.”

“Copy.”

Not much later, I watch as she hits the dance floor again. She picks up the beat, drops her head back, and closes her eyes. She loses herself in the sound and for a moment, she almost looks like she’s enjoying herself. The pained expression I’ve noticed her wearing most of the time disappears. All too soon, the song is over and that look on her face returns. I know that look. I know it well. I’ve worn it way too many times myself. Lost in a memory, I reflect back for a moment on things I don’t need to be thinking about. Shaking my head, I look around and realize she’s gone.

Damn it, what the hell am I doing?

“Delta Mad Dog, do you have sight on Onyx?”

“Affirmative. She’s moving to the back of the room.”

“Copy that.”

I scan the back of the room and head in that direction. I don’t catch a glimpse of her anywhere but I also don’t want to be too obvious. My senses are on high alert.

My mike crackles then and I hear Dylan say, “Lone Wolf, two birds have flown the coop. You copy?”

“Copy. I’m on the move.”

Now my pretense is over. My steps have purpose to them and they take me to the women’s restroom. Not bothering to knock, I push open the door to a group of surprised faces, none of which belong to Onyx Eyes. All the stalls are closed, so I crouch down, inspecting the shoes, looking for those telltale cowboy boots.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doin’ in here?” one of the women asks.

I don’t answer but I survey the place, looking for any escape route. There are no windows so the door is the only way in or out. They must’ve taken her out the back.

“Delta Mad Dog. Back alley.”

“Copy that.”

Sure enough, I bust through the back door, and they have her as she twists and struggles to get away. She never would’ve succeeded without my intervention, because right as I open the door, I see one of them inject something into her neck. By the time I get to them, she’s limp as a rag.

“Let her go. Now.”

They eye me for a second and take off running. I want to give chase, but my first concern is the girl. By the time Dylan arrives, I’m tending to Onyx Eyes.

“Shit. Good thing you called that, Drex.”

“Seriously. They hit her with something, though, right as I opened the door. On top of what she already took, she’ll probably be out for a while. We’d better let Colt know.”

“Right. What happened to them?”

‘They took off.”

“Damn!”

“Eagle One, Lone Wolf here. I have target. Do you copy?”

“Copy, Lone Wolf. What’s your position?”

“Alley behind Red Skies. The two birds drugged her and took off when I intercepted them.”

“Shit. Sending someone over now for pick up.”

“Copy, Eagle One.”

Dylan grabs her wrist, feeling for a pulse when our radios crackle again. It’s Colt.

“Lone Wolf and Delta Mad Dog, Eagle One here. Abandon operation. I repeat. Abandon operation. You’ve got six, I repeat, six birds of prey surrounding you, of unknown ID. Get out of there!”

“Lone Wolf here and that’s a negative. Target is down. Unconscious. Cannot abandon.”

“Drex, get the fuck out of there.”

“I said no!”

Then I turn to Dylan and say, “Leave. Now. I’ll take care of her. Just tell them to try to pick me up somewhere.” He gives me a hard look. “It’ll be easier for me if I only have her and myself to worry about. Now go.” He nods and disappears.

Whoever is closing in wants this girl, and something inside me is willing to go beyond the norm to help her. Yes, I’ve been trained for this. But there’s something else about her that begs to be saved. Call it intuition. Or call it my dick. Whatever. My arm coils around her waist and I toss her over my shoulder. She only weighs about one fifteen, if my guess is accurate.

“Eagle One, direct me the hell out of here.”

“You’ve got one block in any direction before you’re in contact so don’t use any streets. Back alleys and between buildings are your only options now.”

“Copy. Lead the way.”

And he does. I follow his directions and run as hard as I can, avoiding main streets, until he tells me I’m clear. Then he instructs me where to go for my pickup. When I get there, one of the guys is waiting in a black Tahoe. I toss my target in first and then hop in behind her as he speeds away, taking us back to our hotel.

“Fuck you, Colt!
I was
not
going to leave her there. And since when would you have done something like that? The Colton I remember would
never
have done that!”

“Careful, Drex, you’re treading on very thin ice here.”

“You think I care? What? You gonna fire me?”

His lips thin and he rolls his shoulders. “Fuck!”

“My thoughts exactly,” I say.

“We have a huge issue.”

Of all the things for him to say right now, that wasn’t one I expected. “Really?” I laugh. “Understatement of the year, Colt.”

“No, you don’t get it, Drex. Thing is, we can’t ID her. None of our databanks have a goddamn thing on her.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“Just that. She comes up as an empty sheet of nothing. She doesn’t exist. No name to go with the photo.”

Reaching into my pocket, I toss him the driver’s license I pulled from her pocket. “See if this helps.”

Colt checks it out for a second and nods. “Yeah, this should do it. But I still have a bad feeling about this.”

“Why do you keep saying that?”

“Because I’m going with my gut, man.”

The air in the room just got a little thicker. “I need to check on her. I don’t have any idea how long she’ll be out or what they gave her. I have a feeling it was propofol or ketamine. She’ll probably be out for a while. You know, enough time for them to have gotten her out of the country. Did you ID those guys?”

“Nope. We’re still trying to figure out who the hell the condors were.”

“You have photos?” I ask.

“Yeah, and video. And it’s not good.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Nothing in these cases is ever good.”

“Listen, Drex, those first guys you chased off didn’t have anything to do with the birds of prey. I want you to look at something.” He brings up the video and I watch everything go down. Six men wearing masks swarm the alley and right after, two cars pull up. They start talking, very animatedly too.

“No sound?” I ask, but I already know what that answer will be.

“That would’ve been impossible unless the back of the club was wired.”

“I know. But still. Can you close in on the cars?”

“Yeah, and we got a partial on one tag. But so far, nothing.”

“Those aren’t any of ours, right?” I had to ask.

“None that I know of. And look at their equipment. None of it speaks government issue.”

“Don’t be so damn naïve, Colt. You remember how we operated. They have AK-47s. We carried those too.”

“You’re not thinking …”

“All I’m saying is don’t rule anything out. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it doesn’t always have to be a duck.”

“I got it.” He’s frustrated. “Why would a hit team be after her? And why not just take her out with a sniper?”

“Dude, you’ve been institutionalized too long. They don’t want her dead, fool. They want
her
… or rather somebody else does.”

“Then the real question is, why?”

“That’s what we need to find out. I’m gonna grab some sleep. She’s down for the count. I’ll cuff her to the bed in case she wakes up, but I need to crash so I’m fresh when things heat up with her.”

“You’ve got her then, yeah?”

“Yep. And thanks for bailing my ass out of there.”

“Well, I should be kicking your ass.”

“No, there’s something going on with her. We’ll find out what it is.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I hope they’re correct. Because some big bad guys are after Onyx Eyes and I’m curious as hell to find out why.