Talon (Uncompromising #1)(101)

My heart leapt when he’d mentioned the baby seat and I had to fight not to tune out everything André said after that.

“Remember our positions.” André handed us each an earpiece. “Neil, you’re point. Doc, left of front door.” André glanced at his watch. “Give me thirty seconds to get around back.”

I fitted the ear mic in. “Copy.” I nodded, itching to kick the fucking door down and get to Siren’s kid.

“Neil?” André glanced at Neil but he was already getting out of the SUV.

Completely ignoring André, Neil walked toward the house and right up the middle of the driveway to the bikes. Raising his huge booted foot, he kicked over one of the Harleys.

The crash echoed through the silent night like a fucking RPG explosion.

“Fucking hell.” André broke out into a sprint toward the back of the house.

Neil swung the M-16 off his shoulder and held it pointed at the front door.

I ran toward my position.

It took seven seconds.

The door burst open and two men ran out.

Neil fired a warning shot.

“Carajo,” André’s cuss came through the ear mic. “Entering back.”

The two men, one with a shotgun, one with a revolver, instantly froze.

“Drop them,” Neil warned.

“Fuck you!” the shotgun guy yelled.

Neil fired at his feet, missing him by an inch.

The guy with the revolver took aim and I moved.

Two paces and my muzzle was on his temple. “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

The other guy swung around and the unmistakable sound of a shotgun shell being chambered echoed through the night. Then the asshole made a crucial mistake. He took his eyes off Neil. I glanced up just as the stock of Neil’s rifle slammed into the back of the guy’s head.

I turned back to Mr. Revolver as the guy holding the shotgun hit the pavement. “Wanna join him?”

He lowered his aim.

“Nice and slow, drop the gun.”

The gun clattered to the ground.

“One down,” André whispered through the mic.

That left the kid and probably the woman. “Where’s the kid?” I pressed the muzzle harder into the guy’s head and he pissed himself.

“I d-d-d-don’t kn-kn-know.”

“Wrong answer.” I nodded at Neil.

I heard the muffled thump of wood hitting flesh and bone as I sprinted into the house and took the stairs two at a time. Leading with my rifle, I cleared the top of the staircase as a disheveled woman stumbled into the hall with André on her heels, his rifle pushing into her back.

André inclined his head at a closed door. “She’s in there alone. Door on the right.”

My pulse rocketed to a new level and I sucked in a breath. Swinging my weapon to my back, I reached for the knob and opened the door.

None of my training prepared me for what I saw.

Curled in a fetal position on the floor in the corner was a baby girl. Naked except for a diaper, she was caged in a dog crate.

A motherfucking dog crate.

Rage spread through my veins and turned to a boil so volatile, I thought my jaw would crush my back teeth.

Quietly crying, her hair a matted mess, she cowered in the back by a dirty blanket. The stench of human waste filled the room.

I dropped to my knees and forced my voice to a gentle cadence. “Hey, baby girl.” With rage-shaking hands, I lifted the lock and opened the door. “I’m not gonna hurt you, sweet girl.”

Jesus fuck.

I slowly reached in and brushed her hair off her cheek. “Maddie, do you wanna go see your mama?”

Her gaze met mine.

I didn’t need the picture. Giant blue eyes the exact shade of her mother’s, fine blonde hair a dirty mess, this tiny, fragile, little girl reached out for me.

My heart shattered, breaking into a million pieces.

My hands went under her arms and my fingers overlapped on her malnourished back. I lifted her out of the cage and the shocking nothingness to her weight made my stomach roll over and lurch. I hugged her to my chest and kissed the top of her unwashed head. Words that would never make up for the abuse she’d suffered bled out of my mouth.

“Good girl. I gotcha now, sweetness. It’s gonna be okay. You’re okay, baby girl.” Siren was never, ever, going to find out about the crate. She would never forgive herself. I was taking this shit to my grave. “You’re never gonna be put in a cage again,” I promised.

Tiny little arms trustingly went around my neck.

It happened so hard and fast, I never had a chance.

I fell in love.

My eyes closed and for one single moment, all I felt was the heartbeat of this small, helpless life in my arms.

“Baby girl,” I whispered, fighting back tears. “Let’s go see Mama.”