Untamed (16 page)

The nerve of that man. He was egotistical, and his macho, caveman tendencies probably worked on some women, but not her. Screw him for not believing in her, screw him for thinking she was incapable of doing this, and screw him for making her want him to care. She bit back her scream of frustration as she stomped into the conference room.

She met Ethan’s gaze. “
If I have to teleport back, I’m using Cathy as my signature line to return. Wherever she is, that’s where I’ll be returning.” She glanced at Jonah. “Do you have the tracking software up and running?”

He nodded.

Cathy threw her arms around Tara and whispered, “Be safe and get the hell out if things are too hot.”

“Don’t fail me now
,” she whispered to the powers that be. Tara swallowed around the lump in her throat and made a cross over her chest. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the General’s signature life line frequency and drew herself to him. She felt the shimmy just below the surface of her skin, and the popping filled her ears as she reached for the tendrils of the General’s life line and grabbed hold.

Chapter 16

Brody jumped
into the SUV and jammed the keys into the ignition. He hit the Bluetooth and dialed. Jonah answered on the first ring. “I’m headed into town. I want real-time updates and an address when she turns up on radar. There is no way she is doing this shit by herself.”

Jonah cleared his throat. “She should be reemerging any minute. I’ve got to go.”

The line went dead, and Brody hit the steering wheel in frustration. If there was ever a time that he felt useless, it was now; it was today; and it sucked. Brody threw the vehicle into gear and pushed the accelerator down harder, pushing the limits of the SUV even with no destination in mind. There was no way to know where the hell she was and if she was even okay. His heart raced with nervous energy that had no outlet. Brody rubbed his neck and shook his head.

“Why her?” he asked into the empty SUV. He had no answer. His heart felt
as though it was tearing from his chest. If Jonah didn’t call him back soon with the location, Brody might just turn back around and go strangle the Phantom. Just as the thought entered his mind, his cell beeped with an address from Jonah.

Brody’s mouth parted when he
immediately recognized the address. It was the same building that the first of Mr. Black’s goons had occupied. And not only that, it was still ten to fifteen minutes away. Brody did an illegal U-turn and just prayed he got to her in time to keep her alive. She was going to be the death of him. He knew that now and there was no changing the facts.

****

Every time Tara teleported, it felt as though she was being squeezed into a too-small tube and popped out the other side, and this time was no different. When her chest felt as though it was expanding again, she knew she’d arrived at her destination. She quickly opened her eyes to access her location, only to find that she’d landed in a dark room where she couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face. The air was stifling. The room felt as if it was a hundred degrees, making it hard for her to breathe. Sweat trickled down her neck and over her brow just in the few minutes she stood there. Her heartbeat quickened and sounded loud to her ears. She held out her hand, and the flashlight she wished for appeared. She flicked the switch, hoping a little light would give her an indication of where she’d ended up. She moved the light around and discovered a bucket and cleaning supplies. She lifted the light to find herself surrounded by four walls and a mop.

“Figures
,” she whispered into the darkness. “A damn closet.” 

F
licking the light off and sending the flashlight away, she reached for the knob and whispered a prayer that she would be as tiny as a bug or, better yet, invisible….not that she expected it to happen, but a girl could dream.

She inched the door open and
cringed when it creaked. She peered out into the bright light of what appeared to be an almost bare room with a bed shoved in the corner and a big lump lying on top of a mattress. A big unmoving lump dressed in fatigues.

The floor and walls were filthy. Clearly the cleaning supplies
in the closet were just for show. She held in her nervous snicker. Her hands shook as she stepped out of her hidey-hole. There was no way she was going to be able to get the General out of here. All she’d be able to do was conjure an arsenal and hope like hell they made it out alive. She hurried to the bedside as the General moaned and turned on the cot.

“General,” she whispered.

His eyes opened. The stress lines on his face deepened as he looked at her.

She moved to help him sit up
, and that’s when she saw the blood on his shirt.

“You’re hurt?” Immediately
, she held out her hand, and bandages appeared. She shoved his shirt up and tried to be gentle pulling the material away from the dry, caked-up blood holding it in place, but she still heard his gasp when she’d finally reached the spot. She dressed it as best she could; using the basic skills she’d seen her grandmother use. “I’ve got to get you out of here.”

He wiggled the handcuff around his wrist
that was keeping him secured to the cot. “I don’t suppose you brought a key, did you?”

Tara grinned
, held out her palm and one appeared. She shoved it in the lock and twisted until the handcuff fell free from his wrist, leaving the other end dangling to the bar that held him captive.

“Nice trick.
How about an extra gun?”

She held out both
hands, and a fully loaded Beretta appeared.

He pulled out the clips
, shoved them back inside, and asked without even looking up, “How did you get in here, and where is the rest of the team?”

She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I teleported
, and I’m afraid that I’m all you’ve got.”

He paused in his gun check and glanced up at her. “Can you teleport out?”

She nodded. “Yes, but I won’t leave you here.”

The General rose to his feet. “I
f I tell you to, you will.” His deep, commanding tone might intimidate lesser people, but not her and not in this situation. She’d never be able to face Gracie again if something were to happen to this man. Nope, he wasn’t going to win.

“I’m afraid that will be one order I’ll be forced to ignore.”

He growled.

“You can reprimand me later.”
She held out her hands and produced another bulletproof vest and handed it to him. “You might need this.”

Determination coursed through her veins as her heart quickened. Maybe she cou
ld pull this off; maybe she’d actually learned something from Brody during all those hours of practice. Only time would tell. She pulled out the Beretta that Ethan had stashed in her shoulder holster and waited for the General to get situated.

She heard male voices out in the hallway
. Unsure if he heard them, she grabbed the General and pulled him, shoving him back against the opposite wall. She tightened her grip on the gun, aimed her sights at the door, and waited. If anyone came through she would be shooting first and asking questions later. She might have been training for this moment, but she didn’t have to like it. She wouldn’t normally hurt a fly but, in this case, to protect someone she cared about, whose life hung in the balance, she would.

The voices grew
louder and closer. Her heart skipped a beat when she recognized not one but both voices out in the hall. The one was Mitch, the asshole from the bar that had attacked her by the car, but it was the other voice, the more familiar voice, made her pause.

“Peter,” she whispered
. It didn’t make sense. What the hell was her ex-fiancé doing wrapped up with these people? He didn’t have any special gifts.

“We had a deal!” Peter’s voice boomed down the hall. “I’d give you the Phantoms in exchange for the girl.”

“When we find the girl, you can have her. She’s useless to us.”

“You burned down her fucking restaurant with her inside. You tried to kill her!”

She heard the sleazy bastard laugh. “I said you can have the girl. I didn’t say I’d deliver her alive.”

Tara clenched her grip on the gun. If she made it out of this alive, she was going to kill him. Make him wish he’d never met her. She should have expected it
. Hell, the asshole had already betrayed her once, but this….this was the ultimate betrayal. He was in league with people who were trying to kill her. Physically take her out. It was no longer just her emotions the fucker was playing with; it was her life and the lives of her friends. The asshole was going to pay.

She stood from her crouch and put her hand on the knob. She was going to shoot the bastard and anyone else in the hall. She was going to
kill them all. The General grabbed her arm and held her rooted on the spot.

The intercom blared to life. “We have incoming.”

She turned to the General. “How the hell are we going to get out of here?”

He glanced up at the tiled ceiling a
nd disappeared into what appeared to be a bare bathroom. He grabbed her by the arm, pulled her inside, shut the door, and flicked the lock. Like that was going to stop the guys with the guns. It was false security. Even she knew that.

He pointed to the ceiling. “I hope you aren’t afraid
of confined spaces.” He stood with one foot on the toilet and the other on the side of the tub. He held out his hand. “Screwdriver.”

“Phillips or flathead
?”

His brow hitched
. “Flathead.”

She nodded
, and a screwdriver appeared out of thin air. He went to work on removing the screw securing the ventilation shaft cover in place and grinned when it fell open, still attached on one side with the hinge. He held out his hand to her and pulled her up next to him. He cupped his hands. “It’s time to get this show on the road.”

She stepped into his cupped hands
, and he hoisted her into the ventilation shaft. She moved quickly out of his way, knowing he was a big man and would need a bunch of space; that was… if he could climb up himself. Wounded and all, he’d be hurting when he did. He grunted and appeared seconds later. He pulled the vent as closed as possible and secured it by wedging the screwdriver in place to hold it closed. 

He moved close to her ear and whispered
, “No talking, they’ll hear us through the vents.”

He motioned with his head, shimmied around her
, and started crawling through the shaft. She stayed right on his boots. She scurried to keep up with him. He was amazingly fast for such a big guy on his hands and knees with a bullet wound in his chest. Not only was he quick, his sense of direction must have been working double time. He paused in front of another vent. She inhaled the smell of fresh green trees and felt the wind on her cheek, and she grinned. Her eyes widened and her hand flew to her face. She twitched her nose and prayed a sneeze didn’t give them away.

After she conjured a few more tools and the screws were released, they
eased the vent open, and the General hopped down and held out his hands to catch her so she could get out. Once down, they pressed their backs against the wall and moved to the corner of the building.

She peeked around the corner,
and her eyes widened in fear. Her hand flew to her mouth to cover the gasp that left her lips. Standing at the door to the compound were Brody and Veronica, surrounded by Peter and the asshole from the bar. Brody was standing there as though they were acquaintances. He wasn’t shooting his guns, wasn’t hollering; he was just talking. Veronica moved to his side. slid her arm around his, and escorted him into the building with the other two jerks following behind them.

“What the hell.” She was ready to come out of hiding and shoot his ass too. Never had she felt more betrayed, not even by Peter. Brody was playing both sides of the fence. How could he? Her heart felt
as though it was crushing into a million pieces. Her throat turned dry, even as the blood in her veins felt as if it were boiling from the inside out.

She pointed toward the door and glanced up at the General. “Did you see
that?”

He nodded
, grabbed her by the elbow, glanced both ways, and whispered in her ear. “Run for the SUV.”

He gave her a stern look that
wordlessly implied, “Don’t screw with me.”

She shook her head
to clear thoughts of betrayal and lifted her gun, ready to take out whoever stood in their way. They ran as fast as they could away from the building and toward the driver’s side of the SUV, both crouching low as they rounded the vehicle. He pulled open the driver’s side door and shoved in behind her as she crawled over into the passenger side. He quietly shut the door behind them. “Keep your head down. This could get messy.”

He turned the key that Brody had left in the ignition, gripped the wheel
, and gunned the gas. Seconds later bullets were flying around them. One hit and cracked the front windshield. It didn’t shatter. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Bullet
proof.

He pushed her head back down as he rammed the closed gate
, only letting her up when he had to use both hands to skid the vehicle onto the pavement.

She glanced
into the side mirror. No cars or men were chasing them. They were literally home free, minus the one man she loved… And yes, god damn it, she did love the bastard, but she should have known better. It was as though she had “cheating bastards” tattooed on her forehead. She attracted only the scum of the earth who knew how to break her heart and hurt her in a way that slowly destroyed her faith in all men.

She spoke
only once as the General drove. “We’re in the catacombs.” Those were the only words she whispered while the General pushed down harder on the gas, pointing the vehicle in the direction of the base. She didn’t even glance at him to see if he’d heard her. She kept her focus on the passing trees. Soldiers didn’t cry. Not that she was one, but still, she wouldn’t shed a tear in front of the General. No, she would wait until she was alone and only then would she allow herself to feel the heart-crushing blow of what she’d seen.