Lilly's Torment(39)

There she was! He traced to her location, opened his eyes, saw her, and  grinned. "Be right back," he mouthed before he looked around. Tipping  his head, he nodded and then he was gone again.

"I found her. She's out at the fucking kill site by the Veil. It's an  old ramshackle building, probably an old house. In the basement of it,  and get there fast. Because I plan on killing anything that gets near  her." Then he was gone from the agency and, in a blink, beside her  again.

"Shh," he said, touching her cheek. Digging out a blade, he flipped it  open and moved behind her to slide it through the heavy-duty tape  holding her to the chair. "Slow your breathing, love, you're going to  hyperventilate at this rate."

She couldn't believe that he was there. How was he there? Was this some  kind of trick? When her hands were free, though, she touched him and,  feeling the realness of him, pulled him close and held him tight. She  still had duct tape over her mouth and around her legs, but her arms  were free and right now that meant she could hold onto Artaxias.

When he freed her legs and then carefully cut through the tape on her  mouth, she waited until it was off to swallow hard. "How did I get  here?" she whispered now. Her nose was runny, eyes filled with water,  but he was there and he wasn't letting her go. "Last thing I recall, you  left me to go to a call and I started work on my computer and then  nothing." Once more, she wrapped her arms around him tightly. "I haven't  seen anyone. I woke up like this," she whispered against his ear.                       
       
           



       

His hand rubbed up and down her back slowly. "I've got you," he  murmured, rocking her back and forth. "The cavalry is about twenty  minutes out, though. So we need to be very careful. We also need to see  if we can get out of here. Finding out who took you and why would be  helpful as well. Especially since, for all intents and purposes, you  vanished from just outside the cafeteria. Your scent didn't. Ansell  tracked you right through the building and out a side door. But somehow  you avoided every single camera in the place."

"How in the hell is that possible? That place is wired like mad. No one  can get through the cameras … " She trailed off and then whispered,  "Unless someone was there to route through the cameras, shifting or  turning them away from where I was walking. But then, that would mean  someone inside of the facility is helping whoever it is killing these  people."

"Exactly," he told her quietly. He cupped her face and kissed her  gently. "We'll figure this out. The place is off the grid, so we know  it's someone inside. Someone with the skills to do this. The captain  already has someone looking into it. We don't know what set you off or  how yet, but I'm betting it was the same person that was keeping you off  Big Brother's watch. And since access is limited to your domain, they  likely got to you through the computer. Do you remember anything,  anything at all after I left? What you were working on? What you might  have opened, file-wise?"

Lilly had to think for several minutes. A frown crossed her brow, but  finally she said, "An e-mail. I got an e-mail from … " She had to keep  thinking. Her head started to hurt, her lip hurting from her biting it  so much. "From … " she whispered and felt the buzzing in her head, the  pain blossoming in her head as she tried to think of who it was that had  e-mailed her.

"Stop." He shook her slightly. "It's okay. We'll find it, baby." He  hauled her into his arms and hugged her tight. "But now, we need to  focus on getting out of here." He pulled out a gun and handed it to her.  "You ready? And love, if you need to shoot someone, shoot to wound. We  need people alive to question and get answers from. We have enough  corpses that are just giving us more questions."

She nodded and licked her lips. "Damn, and I was hoping to be able to  shoot to kill." She, however, followed along behind him, her hand  touching his back simply because she had to touch him. She needed to  touch him. "Out of here." She was all for that one!

"Sorry, love, not this time. Maybe when it's all said and done, I can  get you on the firing squad for this assholes," he said in a low murmur.  Easing open a door, he stuck his head out and then swung it wider.  Reaching back, he caught her wrist and tucked her fingers in at the back  of his jeans. "Hold tight and keep an eye out behind us. Take out gun  arms and legs. Try to avoid the femoral, though, if at all possible."

"I will work on it," she promised him. "And don't worry, I'm not letting  go of you for anything." He was there. He was real, and he was hers.  "Never, ever again will I let you go. I mean it. So get used to having  me around."

"Not a problem for me," he said. Squeezing her wrist lightly, he let go  and squared off. "Ready?" he asked, shooting her a quick look. At her  nod, he lowered his center of gravity a little. "We're going to move  slow and smooth. Check all the doors twice and do a full sweep as we go.  You watch our backs in case there's a sleeper here. We have to get up  to the main floor and then out of the house. It's old and it's going to  make noise, but we're going to go as quiet as we can. Keep your ears  open, and if you hear anything, give a yank. Until we're out, we're  going to stay quiet unless absolutely necessary."

She nodded to him and took a deep breath. "Are there reinforcements on  the way?" she asked hopefully. "Because I have no idea how many people  are here and how many people have come and gone." She just knew she woke  tied to a fucking chair.

"The whole lot of them. That's where I disappeared to before I came  back. I had to tell them where you were," he said softly. "Now focus,  love, we're on our own for another few minutes and I really don't feel  like sitting down here. That whole sitting-duck shit is not for me."

She couldn't agree more. Sitting duck was not a look that either of them  wore well. Sucking it up, she nodded again. "All right, let's get this  over and done with. Let's get our asses up the stairs and into the sun,  or night, or whatever time of day it is."

"Full quiet, then. I need to be able to hear a heartbeat or a breath.  And not just yours," he said with a crooked grin. Then he fell quiet and  signaled them forward. Moving slowly, he checked each doorknob they  came across. They were in a hallway of sorts, coming up to an open  space, hopefully where the stairs were to take them up to the next  floor.

Lilly shut her mouth then. She followed along behind him, her weapon  sweeping out to ensure that they weren't being followed, her training  kicking in where it needed to. She watched the shadows as she moved,  ensuring that her mate's back was protected as they did move, and prayed  that they got the hell out of there before the conditions worsened for  them.                       
       
           



       

He tapped her wrist as they came to the large space. No one was there.  Hell, if there was anyone in the place, she'd be surprised. It was  freakishly quiet. But they gained the stairs and he paused again.  Turning his head, he leaned in, his lips to her ear. "Stay at the bottom  until I get up top. To one side, keep watch. Stairs are bad-you know  it, I know it. One creak could warn someone if they're up there to what  we're doing. When I make it to the top, I'll signal you up. Come up  slow, stay to the side where the creak will be less obvious. Then we  start a sweep on the main floor and head for the nearest exit. Door or  window, I don't care."

Lilly nodded. "Got it. Just be careful. I mean it. Not a scratch," she  muttered to him and put her back to the wall. Nodding, she smiled. "Go,  go so we can get the hell out of here," she whispered softly to him.

Smiling, he gave her a wink and then lifted his weapon up. He put his  back to a wall and moved slowly up the stairs. At each step, he paused,  eased his weight forward, and then moved up the step. He was testing  them, trying to see if there was a squeak before he let out a  full-fledged one. It was slow, all the slower because she just wanted  out of there. Then he was at the top, leaning over to peer under the  door. He gave her a thumbs-up before he turned the knob and moved out of  sight around it. A moment later, he was back and signaling her up,  finger to his lips in warning, of course.

She moved up just as he had, silently, on the steps. She kept her feet  moving and as close to the wall as possible. Making it to the top, she  pressed her back to the wall and looked up at him once more. One single  nod was all she gave to signal that she was ready to move through the  door and into God only knew what.