Chapter Twelve

Cameron

Jax was at my back, both of us waiting for Shaw to let us know it was safe to go into the building. I watched Anatoly's men as they silently stalked through the door, faces masked, guns at the ready. It was like watching a SWAT team go in, but these men were deadlier. They didn't give a fuck about right and wrong. Didn't care about what was humane.

They only cared about the mission, which was to get the victims out alive.

To get Abbie out alive.

Konrad slipped in behind them, Shaw at his back. Arlo glanced at me from the other side of the door we were waiting at, Ace at his back. I clenched my jaw before rolling it around, my skin crawling with impatience. I wanted my hands on her. Wanted her in my arms, where I knew she was safe. Where I knew no one could ever touch her or take her from me again.

Gunshots exploded through the building and my earpiece. Ace flinched back from the noise, his lips screwed up in distaste. Arlo glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. When Ace gave him a single nod, letting him know he was still good, Arlo turned to watch the door again.

Screams echoed. Shouts rang out. "Fuck," I heard Shaw snarl. "Now, GOAT," Shaw said, calling me by my club name, which they'd given me as a sort of joke as the "Greatest of All Time" since I was the only one out of the six us to go to college. "Downstairs. Go down the third hall. Second room on the right. Just… brace yourself, brother."

I swallowed thickly, my feet already moving as I slipped silently into the building, Jax right behind me. Arlo and Ace stayed where they were, Ace moving to the other side of the door so they could keep watch and take out anyone trying to escape who wasn't a victim. Arlo and Ace were supposed to be ready when Jax and I came back with Abbie so we could get her to the clubhouse as quickly as possible… or a hospital if she really needed it.

I hoped like fuck she didn't need a hospital.

The gunshots and screams were just about fucking deafening as they bounced off the walls of the building, echoing up from below us where the auctions were taking place. Jax and I quickly descended the stairs, coming to a small room. Five halls were off to my left, and two halls were on the right, all of them looking more like tunnels than actual hallways. I headed for the third one on the left, shooting one of the men running down the hall. He was wearing a white lab coat that quickly turned red as his blood spilled down from the large hole in the back of his head.

I quickly headed down the hall, keeping my eyes peeled for anyone else. Stepping over the man's dead body, I headed for the second door, pushing it open.

No.

No. No. No.

"Abbie," I rasped, slinging the strap of my rifle over my head so the gun could rest against my back. There was another woman in the room, but her throat was slit, blood running down her neck to the table, where it slowly dropped to the floor to meld into the puddle of red already there.

Rushing forward, I took in Abbie's injuries. Her head was strapped to the table so she couldn't move, but when her eyes landed on me, she sobbed, her face crumpling as tears rushed down her cheeks. Tears blurred my own eyes, but I forced them back.

I couldn't cry. Not here. Not now. She needed me to be strong for her, and I needed to get her the fuck out of here.

Abbie was naked, bruises littering her skin. Dried blood flaked on the inside of her thighs, and her skin was melted into the number thirteen on her shoulder. My hands trembled as I began unbuckling the straps holding her to the table.

"Cameron…" she sobbed, her shoulders shaking.

"I'm here, little devil," I said softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead before I moved to her ankles, quickly undoing those, too. Then, I slid my arms beneath her naked body, lifting her from the table. "Hold on to me if you can and hide your face. I'm getting you out of here."

She wrapped her arms around my neck, her fingers pressing into my skin. Her nails were broken, and they began to bleed from her tight grip, slicking up my neck. Once her face was tucked into the curve of my neck, I nodded once at Jax, letting him know I was ready to get her out of here.

Jax stepped out of the room with his semi-automatic rifle at the ready, his boots silent as we moved back up the hall. Suddenly, he stopped, and I did, too. Abbie trembled in my hold, and I tightened my arms around her, listening for whatever Jax had heard.

There it was. Footsteps. Jax jerked his head toward the room next to me, and I followed his silent command, quietly slipping inside, out of view of whoever was coming around the corner. Abbie sniffled, her tears soaking my skin. But otherwise, she remained as silent as I needed her to be.

Jax fired, and I heard a body smack to the floor a moment later. "All clear," Jax told me.

I slipped out of the room, following him out of the hall. He put his finger to his earpiece. "Digg, Babe," he said, calling for Arlo and Ace respectively, "we need the van. Target acquired."

"Got it," Arlo responded before it went silent again. The racket that'd been surrounding us was slowly dying down, but my gut told me it wasn't over. Not yet.

"Be alert," I told Jax. "Something's not right."

He nodded. "Yeah—I've got the same feeling," he rumbled.

Just then, men rushed out of the first hall. I ducked back into the hall we'd just left and set Abbie on the cold, cement floor. She made a small, frightened noise, her glistening eyes staring up at me in terror. I pressed my finger to her lips. "Silence," I whispered. I grabbed my pistol from my belt and handed it to her. "If it's not me, Agony, or one of my brothers, shoot. Understand me?"

She nodded. I slung my assault back around, joining Jax in the fray of bullets and shouts, our backs to the wall closest to the hall Abbie was hunkered down in. Konrad and Shaw rushed up a hall, some of Anatoly's men at their backs. It was fucking mayhem. Bodies were dropping. My fucking ears were ringing. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins. Where the hell were all these guards coming from?

"Get her and go!" Konrad barked at me. "Now!"

I didn't question him. I just slung my rifle back around to my back. Jax covered me as I turned into the hall, grabbing Abbie from the floor. She clutched the pistol, her eyes wide and fearful, but without a word, my brave woman wrapped her arms and legs around me, clinging to me as I rushed for the stairs, Jax at my back. When we got upstairs, Arlo had the van backed up, Ace waiting inside with the doors open.

"Get her to the clubhouse!" Shaw barked in my ear. "Bender and I have got this."

"Understood," Ace responded as I jumped into the van, Jax hot on my heels. Ace and Jax slammed the doors shut, and my knees slammed into the floor as Arlo rocketed away from the building, my body curling around Abbie's to protect her from the fall.

"Here," Ace said, handing me a blanket. Abbie wasn't letting go of me—that much was clear—so I wrapped it around her the best I could before clutching her to me, burying my face in her greasy, dirty hair.

"It's over, little devil," I rasped, my voice hoarse. "I've got you."

And as if those words opened the gate to her emotions, she wailed, sobbing and falling apart in my arms in a mixture of relief and sadness for everything she'd gone through.

All I could do was hide my face in her hair as I bit back my own tears—my own agony.