"Pressurized entrance?"
"Even a hidden panel?"
A thousand shades of blue gave away the rapid shift of Rhett's thoughts. "Wouldn't put anything past the bastard. Your theory makes the most sense, Moon. It's probably operated with a second door inside the first, so the first wall only opens far enough to let a man through."
Rebel's teeth locked. "This is why the mouse cam never returned anything to us."
"Nothing we could use or see." Rhett returned the feed to the live stream. His face was clamped in tension as he stated, "Try to get as close to that wall as possible, Brynn. Pretend your shoe broke, or fake a fall."
Brynna sneezed again, before stepping forward.
With every tap of her heels on the tiles, he couldn't get over the intuition that they were sending her to her doom-at the hands of that sick fuck.
Suddenly, the image whipped around again. They caught a glimpse of Brynna's wrist, with Adler's hand clamped around it, before the front of the man's wrinkled shirt filled the view. "There's nothing that will interest you down there, Miss Diamond. Now come with me, if you please."
"But-"
"Now."
"I have to pee!" As she readjusted her shirt, Adler punched the air with a rough grunt. A couple of catsup stains on his shirt looked like congealed blood-or maybe it was congealed blood-as she stepped all the way into his personal space. "And perhaps take care of a few … other things."
Adler's growl instantly went all appeased hound dog. "Well, why didn't you say so?"
Rebel was about to question Brynn's punt from the ninety, when he saw her clear at least half the hall's length before dashing into the ladies room. He let her hear his complimentary hum. "Very nice move, Little B."
"Yeah?" She disguised the whisper by whapping the stall door closed. "Well, what the hell do I do now? Walk out of the bathroom naked?"
"Don't you fucking dare," Rhett gritted.
"You guys … I'm getting nervous."
Her voice trembled. Her helplessness jerked hard at Rebel, transforming the bile in his stomach into a strange sensation through his whole body. The feeling was so foreign, he had no identifier for it. He was frustrated, furious, and close to dizzy from the agony of containing himself to this hiding place. Uselessness wasn't his goddamn forte, especially when his very bones craved to rush the complex at a full run, guns blazing like a fucking cowboy.
"Stay calm, minette."
"You're doing really great, sweetheart," Rhett added.
Her wince was soft but sharp. "Homer baby's been shooting me some weird looks. The boobs aren't working their magic anymore. Do you think he's figuring something out?"
"Brynna Cosette." Rebel knew if his growl didn't work, the middle name would. "Listen to me, all right? Breathe. Keep your eyes open and your thoughts clear. We'll make this work."
"That's right," Zeke concurred. "Stay calm and stay safe. If you think things are hinky, get the fuck out of there. Don't jeopardize yourself for this. We'll just go to Plan B."
"Then Plan C, if we have to," Rhett emphasized.
"Try to get him upstairs." The suggestion came from Garrett. "The scan didn't detect as many heat signatures up there."
"Which might just mean the bodies up there aren't warm." Brynn's soft giggle was sprinkled with enough hysteria to stress the fuck out of Rebel. Well, more than he was. He caught Rhett's new glance, filled with a strident message. We have to calm her down. And yeah, if that meant resorting to Dom tones in voices, then that was what would happen.
"No." Rebel went for it. "That means that more of Adler's team might follow him there, making it easier for us to get inside the building undetected."
"Okay." Her voice still shook but the lilt on the second syllable was all confidence. Good. That was damn good-because the orders he had for her next would demand it.
"Brynna, I won't cover this in pixie dust. The second we're in, we might not be so incognito. Make sure that pistol I gave you is at the top of your purse-and be prepared to use it if you have to."
"On his head." Rhett leaned over the monitor, as if she'd be able to see the urgent lines on his face, the anxious glints in his eyes. "You put that bullet right between his eyes, peach."
"Yes, Sir," she whispered.
"Just save his balls for me." The slow, furious snarl was Shay's alone. "I'm going to filet them, barbecue them, then feed them to the coyotes out in Red Rock."
"And Zoe's going to help you." Her heartfelt assurance to the man, even from the middle of a situation where her next steps would take her deeper into danger, tempted Rebel to roll over in the grass, stare up at heaven, and implore the angels, How did you get it so right with this woman?
She was, singlehandedly, the most incredible woman he'd ever met.
The woman he'd fallen hopelessly in love with.
Staying motionless in the grass sure as hell wasn't a problem now. The realization struck him like fucking Saul on the road to Damascus, blinding and paralyzing, sucking every molecule of air from his lungs. Thank God Brynn didn't need him on the comm during the thirty seconds it took to act out her bathroom break excuse, flushing the toilet and washing her hands.
And thank fuck all he received from Rhett, once he could lift his head again, was a stare of complete agreement.
He narrowed his own gaze, hoping the guy read his return message. As soon as this is all over, the three of us are going to talk. About everything.
Thank God he hadn't squandered the moment.
Because in the next one, coherent thought fled his brain-
Just as all semblance of logic fled his senses.
As terror like he'd never known flamed through his body.
On the monitor, Adler awaited her in the hallway-with a lord's polished posture, a gentleman's sedate smile-and a monster's evil glare. Before he even spoke, one conclusion was horrifyingly clear:
Brynn had been blown.
Her gasp betrayed how thoroughly she understood the reality, too-right before Adler made a brief motion with his hand, ordering a pair of men forward who looked recruited right out of the WWF. He still didn't seem to know about the camera. A good thing, since it gave Rebel the precious seconds he needed to reach into his bag for his RPG launcher.
On the monitor, Adler smirked at a now-squirming Brynna. "You know, Miss Diamond, we live in an age of such amazing technology. Even from a hidden security camera, one can generate a high-quality image within seconds, then run it through facial recognition software. And then-Voilà! One has the naked truth about their seductive little … guest." The man's face darkened again. "Hmmm. No. That's not right, either."
Adler motioned again. A loud rip distorted the audio, along with what sounded like Brynn's scream. The monitor was black for a second. When the visual feed returned, their view was a drastically different angle.
They looked at everything from the floor-including the two huge guards dragging a flailing-and nearly nude-Brynna down the hall. Somehow, they'd let her keep her panties and stockings. The corridor was strewn with the garments that didn't make the cut.
"Ahhh." Adler's voice was still disgustingly clear on the audio feed. He'd remained behind, chuckling at the destruction he'd ordered. "Now there's the naked truth."
Rebel mounted the RPG gun to his shoulder. Squeezed the trigger tighter … tighter …
"You can barbecue the bastard's balls, I-Man. I'm going to spit-roast his dick."
Chapter Eighteen
‡
Noise.
Noise, damn it.
Scream, Brynna. You have to scream!
Her mind bellowed it from somewhere beyond her body, almost like a sensei evaluating a student. She'd kicked and screamed and twisted against the meat slabs who'd grabbed her, even landing some blows that had them resorting to language more colorful than their grunts-but that had justified them to pinch and squeeze in very specific places. Locations that didn't require imagination about what Adler had permitted them to do with her.
Oh, God.
What they were going to do with her …
Because of that, she couldn't reconnect. Couldn't reach far enough to grab her mind and shove it back into her body. Maybe she didn't dare. Letting go of her mind … it didn't have to be such an awful thing. She'd learned. She'd been damn stubborn about it, but she'd learned. Rhett and Rebel had been the teachers with the strength, determination, and patience to bring her into the light of that recognition. Caring for her enough to make her really see … to let her really fly …
To give her the beautiful wings of her submission.
A sob spilled from her as the truth finally ripped into her.