Sid (The Protectors Series) Book #4 (22 page)

“I’ll be damned.” Duncan peered in, but kept his eye on their backs
, ready for anything. “Pretty good find for a girl.”

“I
saw light in that crack along the wall. Then I remembered the movie
Desperado
with Antonio Banderas,” Lana replied, stepping out of Sid’s way.

“That movie sucked.”
Sid used his elbow to push the wall apart wide enough to fit through.

“Yeah, but I didn’t watch it for the thumbs
-up-or-down rating,” Lana shrugged. “Antonio was a hot badass in that movie.”

Sid snorted
, rolling his eyes. “He’s a pussy who would piss himself if a real gun was pointed in his face.”

“Yeah, but he’d look good doing it
,” Lana replied with a grin.

“What
, pissing himself?” Sid growled, not liking her crushing on another man.

Lana frowned, wrinkling her nose at him. “Shut up.”

Sid snorted, shaking his head. Squeezing past them both, he leaned his head out of the stall. “Remember my warning. You run. I hunt, and it won’t be pretty.” When both men nodded, Sid’s head disappeared back into the stall. As he pressed past Lana, he stopped. “Remind me later to chew your ass out for breaking the mission.”

Lana moved her mouth
, repeating what he said while making a face at him when he turned away, then glared at Duncan, who was grinning at her.

“Anyone care to tell me who we’re after?” Duncan looked away from
Lana in time to see Sid’s back stiffen. “Who is it, Sid? Is it that disfigured fucker you think could be Kenny?”

“I don’t think
. I know it’s Kenny,” Sid replied. He stopped Duncan from forcing his way in front. “Slow down and use your brain. This time, the bastard will die, but we are going in with a clear head. Got it, bro?”

“Yeah, I got it
,” Duncan growled, his eyes glowing black. “He’s mine.”

Sid nodded. “He’s yours.” Then he looked at Lana. “You’re in the middle. Do not break formation
, Lana.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo
,” she frowned at him. “I got it. Just go already.”

He took one last look at Duncan and frowned. “Jesus
, this is going to go bad. I just know it.”

Chapter 22

Adam headed out of the club
, making his way around the building. Jumping the fence, he rushed next to the building until he was at the end. His eyes searched the parking lot, but he didn’t see her.

“Come
on, Jill, open up so I know where the fuck you are,” Adam hissed. He then stiffened, hearing someone come up behind him. Turning, he was grabbed by his jacket and punched in the face.

“That was for Tessa
,” Jared growled, slamming him against the brick.

“Shit!” Adam spat blood. “Let me go. I have to follow Jill
. She could be in danger. I swear, as soon as this is over I’ll hand myself in, and you can beat my ass.”

Susan rushed around the corner
, pushing them both against the wall. “Here they come. Slade and Damon are following on their bikes.”

Sure enough
, a black Mustang GT cruised through the parking lot, passing where they stood in the shadows. Slade and Damon soon followed, Damon’s head twisting to look in their direction.

“I can’t believe Jill fucking sold me out
,” Adam said without anger, but rolled his eyes in disgust.

Jared ignored him.
“What the hell happened with Lana?” Jared glared down at Susan.

“I don’t know.” Susan frowned
, looking a little panicked. “Some guy said something about her sister and she was gone. I tried to follow, but got separated in the crowd.”

“Dammit!” Jared cursed
, still holding Adam against the building. When Adam started to struggle more, Jared put his forearm against his throat. “You don’t want to push me, Adam. Your sister is the only reason you’re still alive right now.”

“We have to follow her
,” Adam croaked from the pressure on his throat. “I promised.”

“Slade and Damon have her. Nothing will happen to her
, and I’m not leaving until I find out where Sid, Duncan and Lana are.”

“I’ll go back in and search.” Susan started to rush away, but Jared stopped her.

“No, we’re not separating,” he instructed before returning his attention back at Adam. “You need to get your head out of your ass right now. If you want to find Angelina, then you are going to have to trust us and work with us. I have no clue if Duncan and Sid are in trouble, and I need to find them. Now, can I trust you?”

“Yes
,” Adam finally said when Jared eased off his throat.

Jared gave him one last hard glare before letting him go. “Don’t make me regret this
, Adam.”

Rubbing his throat
, Adam spit more blood out of his mouth. “You won’t.”

“Good, now stay together.” Jared headed around the building. They had to help Susan over the fence, but once over
, they made their way inside.

Adam looked around
, his eyes stopping on a bathroom door that had a big dent. He observed that no one was going in or out, a little too suspicious on a busy night at a dance club. He headed towards the bathroom when he noticed a guy heading inside the men’s. The man only made it halfway in before he turned and walked right back out. Adam immediately called out to Jared,

“Over here.”

All three stood outside the door, and Susan and Jared pulled their guns. Jared walked up and kicked the door open. Adam glanced around to see if anyone noticed, but no one cared. They all seemed happily dancing and drinking to the music. Once inside, two men stood against the wall, looking scared to death.

“What the fuck happened in here?” Jared asked them, but his eyes scanned the bathroom.

“We were told not to move and to tell everyone the bathroom was out of order,” the one with an obvious bloody broken nose answered.

“Who told you that?” Jared demanded.

“I don’t know, but he said it was VC Warrior business,” the other replied. “They disappeared through there.” He pointed to the last stall.

Adam slid
past them and headed toward the stall. Knocking the door open, his eyes widened in surprise. “Well damn.” He turned to look at Jared. “There’s a door.”

Susan passed
through the door. Jared started to follow, but stopped, turning back to the two men. “Stay right there. Don’t move.”

“Dude
, they are going to have to pry my ass off this wall,” the one with the bloody nose responded.

“Good.” Jared gave them a glare for good measure
. “Cause if we have to hunt you, it won’t be pretty.” He disappeared into the stall.

Both men stood still as stone. “I have to piss.”

“Well, good luck with that, man, because I am not moving a fucking muscle. I don’t think they’re kidding when they say don’t move.” Bloody nose tried to snort, but got choked up.

“Yeah, think I’ll hold it.” He stayed against the wall, but crossed his legs.

******

“God damn
, it stinks in here.” Sid wrinkled his nose. The small hallway behind the walls of the dance club was dark and narrow as hell. He could feel Lana’s hand on his back and knew she couldn’t see anything.

“Where in the hell does this lead?” Duncan kept his voice low,
and then cursed when his head hit something.

“Don’t have a fucking clue, but this is the only way that bastard could have escaped.” Sid ke
pt his guard and gun up. “You okay, Lana?”

She didn’t answer for a second
, causing Sid to slow down. “I’m fine; it’s just there’s a lot of dead people talking to me at once.” Sid did stop and she ran into him. “Keep going and turn left at the end of this.”

“Are you really talking to dead people right now?” Duncan asked
, not sounding especially thrilled about the idea.

“As much as this creeps you guys out, aren’t you all dead
?” Lana whispered over her shoulder.

“Kind of dead
,” Duncan replied, sounding offended. “We are kind of dead.”

Sid chuckled
, “Yeah, we’re non-creepy dead.”

Lana rolled her eyes
, wondering if they went into all unknown danger jokingly. A warning screamed in her head. “Stop.”

“What is it?” Sid’s voice was no longer light
; it was dark and dangerous.

“As soon as we turn
, there is going to be a big room at the end of the hall, but there is something before that. It’s a…” Lana frowned, tilting her head.

“
A what, Lana?” Sid whispered over his shoulder.

“I don’t know
. I lost it.” Lana gave him a small push. “Just go and be ready. I’m seeing danger signs so be careful.”

They made it to the turn
. “I see a door,” Sid informed them, taking another step just as the floor disappeared under him.

All three of them clawed air as they fell. Sid and Duncan landed on their feet. Lana wasn’
t so lucky, landing on her side. The air whooshed out of her as her gun skidded across the floor.

Sid and Duncan scanned the area as Sid rushed over to Lana. “You okay?”

Pushing herself up, she took a raspy breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just knocked the air out of me.”

“So you think maybe those danger signs had anything to do with the floor disappearing?” Sid helped her to her feet
, handing her gun to her.

“That
’s a big possibility,” Lana smirked. “Now, how we are getting out of here?”

“Same way we came down, but this time we’re going up.” Sid glanced at Duncan. “Once I’m up
, toss her to me.”

“Toss me where?” Lana frowned
, and then stepped back in awe as Sid took two running steps, jumping straight up through the hole. “You can’t be serious.”

“You ready?” Duncan walked directly under the hole
, crooking his finger at her.

“No.” She frowned, but walked toward him. “What if you miss the hole when you throw me up there?”

Duncan pulled her in front of him, putting his large hands on her waist. “You’ll be fine, maybe a little headache.”

“Do you guys have comed
y class during your training?” Lana glared at Duncan over her shoulder. Before she knew what was happening, she was flying straight up into the air, right into Sid’s arms.

Duncan landed next to them. “Good catch
,” he nodded. “Now, let’s find that son of a bitch so I can kill him again.”

“One thing I can say is being on the job with you guys is a little more exciting than the police force.” Lana limped along behind Sid. “So
, what’s the plan once we bust through that door?”

“Shoot anything that moves
,” Sid replied, stopping in front of the door. “You ready?”

“No, but go for it.” Lana positioned herself. Light from underneath the door gave her some sight.

“I’m always ready.” Duncan positioned himself beside Lana, giving her a wink. “You’ve definitely earned my respect, lady.”

“Well
, if I live through this, that will mean a lot to me,” Lana nodded at him.

“Are you two finished?” Sid asked. “I mean
, I can wait to kick the door in, while you two finish your fucking conversation.”

“Is he always this touchy before kicking down a door
when he doesn’t know what’s behind it?” Lana used her shoulder to wipe the sweat running down her face.

“Yeah, he gets a little moody
,” Duncan nodded.

“
Aren’t your dead people telling you anything, Lana? Like maybe, what the hell is behind this door?” Sid growled.

“Yeah, they’re saying we’re fucked.” Lana looked at them both when they turned their heads to stare at her. “I’m kidding
. They’re silent. Can we please go before I decide to go back the way we came, minus falling through the floor?”

“Don’t get killed
,” Sid warned her.

“Ah
, okay.” Lana rolled her eyes. “That’s the plan, boss.”

Sid’s lips curved up at the corner before he turned his head
back around, lifted his foot, and kicked the door so hard, it flew off its hinges, flying across the room. All three ran into the room. Guns ready as they went in different directions, their intent was to make themselves a harder target.

“Oh
, my God.” Lana looked around; the room was stacked with cages. Women were cram--packed inside each one. It was dark and smelled strongly of fear and urine. In the back of the room, stood the scarred man. The women cried out, reaching through the bars toward them in hopes of being rescued. In all her years on the police force, Lana had never seen anything close to this and prayed she never would again. Anger swirled in her stomach, making her want to throw up.

“Nowhere to run
, huh, Kenny?” Sid held the gun on him, his eyes scanning around, making sure he was the only threat. “Brought an old friend of yours with me.”

“Fuck you
, Warrior,” Kenny spat out.

Sid stopped Duncan from rushing toward Kenny. “Chill
, bro,” he whispered. “Soon.”

Duncan pushed away. “I’m good.”

“How’s my kid, Duncan?” Kenny’s laugh chilled the air. “You still with that bitch? My leftovers.”

Duncan growled low in his throat, but stayed rooted where he stood. “This time you will die
, motherfucker.”

“You better hope so
, because I’m planning on seeing my kid and paying back that backstabbing cunt,” Kenny hissed, his face turning into a mass of rage.

Duncan was across the room before Sid could stop him. He grabbed Kenny by the throat
, repeatedly punching him in the face. The women cried out in fear.

“Ah, you going to stop him before he kills him?” Lana walked up next to Sid
, who stood watching. “We do need to ask him questions. We also need to get these girls out of here.”

“He isn’t going to answer anything no matter what we do to him
,” Sid replied as he walked up to Duncan. “Bro, hold on a second. Let’s see what he has to say.”

“I don’t give a fuck what this son of a bitch has to say.” Duncan gave him one last punch before dropping him to the ground.

Kenny dragged himself to lean up against the wall; his face a mass of scarred blood. “Fuck you!” He spat blood.

Jared, Adam and Susan ran into the
room, guns drawn. Seeing things under control, they dropped their guns.

“What the fuck is that?” Jared looked at Kenny. “Is that Kenny?”

Sid nodded. “We need to get these women out of here. Susan, call 911. We need all the help they can send.”

“On it.” Susan glanced at Lana as she made the call.

Adam walked to the cages and looked at each girl, looking for Angelina.

“Keep an eye on Kenny and Duncan
,” Sid instructed Jared. “Once we get the women cleared, we’ll question him, but I seriously doubt he’ll tell us anything. We’ll probably get more out of the women than him.”