My jaw tightened. I could practically see Carrie standing in front of him, her blue eyes filled with confusion because I was always there. I never missed anything Carrie invited me to. I pulled my cell away from my face, an internal war raging inside me. I had a duty to my team, to my family, and nothing, not even the loss of that fiery burst of a color, could get in the way of that. “I’ll be there. Do I need to bring anything?”
“A better attitude wouldn’t hurt,” Grayson deadpanned.
“I’ll try.” Before he could get a response out, I hung up, tossing the phone onto my bed. I put my hands on my hips, chest heaving as I tried to get a grip on reality.
Had I crossed a line with her? Yes. I should’ve never gone into Astoria for a drink. There were plenty of bars in Portland.
You didn’t go to Astoria for the bar, Mitchell. The sooner you stop lying to yourself, the better off you’ll be.
The voice of logic inside my mind, a driving force for me since I was a boy, was right. As always. I dropped my head, eyes on the floorboards beneath my boots, chest heaving, my blood going hot. For the last week, I’d been shoving down the truth, afraid to face it. I knew why I’d gone to Astoria. When the mission was finished and I’d brought the private jet onto the taxi way, I knew I needed to step into that damn town. Eighteen months had passed since the day Margo, Sarah, and Carrie were kidnapped by the Black Mist, the gang that owned Las Vegas. Logically, I didn’t know why I needed to cross the town’s border, but theneed was overwhelming. I’d landed on our airstrip just before ten, two hours before the day came to an end, and all I could think about was Astoria. About the green-eyed, tattooed, angry woman I’d found curled up on the floor of a fish shed, stuck in a sense of shock…
The sky was dark above me as I stalked toward the small wooden structure in the middle of the docks, the waves choppy, the salt air cold and brutal. My body ached, my eyelids heavy. The only thing that kept me going was the unbearable anger in my gut. I’d just spent a week underground, watching a man who tortured Carrie for weeks getting ripped apart by one of the most ruthless criminal organizations in the country.
Up ahead, I saw my target: a young, frail man who had no business being wrapped up with the Black Mist.
My feet picked up speed, my boots hitting the wood of the dock as he ducked into the shed. I heard his voice next, yelling at the women to get up. He was terrified, and for a good reason. He knew something was wrong. His boss hadn’t been answering his phone calls. Then again, why would he? Hisbody had been beaten to near death, and his most trusted men? They had run, most likely scattering across the globe.
“Get up!” the young man screamed as I stepped up behind him. I saw Carrie’s snow-blond curls over his shoulder as Sarah’s whimpers filled my ears.
“Please,” she rasped.
“Get up!” the man ordered loudly, his voice shaking.
“Going somewhere?” I drawled.
The man—no, boy—whirled around to face me, a scream coming from his throat. The air on the back of my neck stood up as my eyes dropped, finding Rossy’s barista curled up on the floor beside Carrie, her green eyes locked on the wall in front of her. A muscle jumped in my cheek as I spotted the dried blood on the side of her head.
“Your boss is a sneaky son of bitch,” I said, taking a step closer to the fucker who hurt my girls. The end of his AR-15 was pressed into my chest now. I didn’t care. There were plenty of things to fear in this world, but the person in front of me wasn’t one of them. I lifted a finger, gesturing to the bruise on my cheek. “He’s got one hell of a right hook.” I paused. “Well,hadone hell of a right hook,” I clarified as the boy’s eyes dropped to the dried blood on the ends of my sleeves. “I crushed his fucking hands with a cement block,” I finished on a growl.
“Stay away from me!”
I did my best to ignore Margo in my periphery as I leaned in. “You have two options: drown or leave peacefully.” This guy was still young enough to get out from under the thumb of the Black Mist, to start anew. “Start a new life, kid. It’s not too late.”
There was a flash of regret in his eyes, underneath the mountain of fear. “I -I never wanted to do this,” the poor son of a bitch said, tripping over his words. “That Brandon guy tried to strike a deal with Jack. H-he told us about your money, and Brandon still owed Jack,” he explained to Carrie, not to me.
“Where is Brandon?” Carrie asked, her voice was steadier than I expected it to be.
“Dead,” I clipped. I bit down, grinding my teeth in an effort to not look at Margo. Every cell in my body wanted to put a bullet in this fucker’s head for hurting her…but I couldn’t. He was too young. Stupid, yes, but there was still time for him to change, to be what the world needed him to be.
“You sure?”
My eyes met hers as the guy in front of me began to tremble, his hold on his weapon faltering. I could easily disarm him, but I needed him to make that choice. “Carrie, I saw it with my own fucking eyes,” I assured, impatient. We could debrief later. Right now, I needed to get them out of the cold. I lifted my chin to the kidnapper. “Give me the gun and leave.”
He didn’t even take a moment to think it over before he nodded, practically shoving the weapon into my hands. I stepped to the side and he bolted. There was a large possibility that I was going to regret not killing him, but I could worry about that later. I’d get Jake to track him down so we could keep an eye on him for a bit.
“You girls all right?” I asked, glancing at Margo. She was still staring straight ahead, knees underneath her chin, rocking back and forth.
Fuck.
I moved to Sarah as Carrie answered, “We’re okay, Hayes.”
Doubtful.
As soon as Sarah was untied, she shot up and headed outside. I did the same with Carrie, doing my best to ignore the pit in my stomach as she thanked me, tears shining in her eyes. I gave her a simple nod before lowering myself in front of Margo.
“Temper,” I called softly, hating the way she was staring right through me. I heard Carrie go outside, leaving me alonewith the woman who’d been running through my mind for the last few weeks. “Look at me, sweetheart.”
She spoke then, her voice soft, almost broken. “I’m nothing.”