32. Kane

Five civilian vehicles and four patrol vehicles rolled into the parking lot of the run-down motel just outside of Pinebrook. Kane felt the surge of adrenaline running through him that he'd always felt before a Special Ops job while in the military. He drove his SUV, carrying Damian and another one of his brothers' men. The ride was silent, and Kane knew that the other men were feeling the same tension within themselves.

As soon as they pulled into the lot, Kane saw the classic BMW that Haylee had described.

Jackpot.

Once parked, Luke's officers spread out all around the motel building, which Kane guessed had about twenty-five rooms in the single-level U-shaped building that surrounded the parking lot on three sides. Kane motioned for Damian and one of Damian's men, Seth, to follow him behind the corner of the building where Tim's room was. Criminals often tried to escape out of the back, and while he had promised Luke that he wouldn't lose it on the guy, he would have loved to be the one to catch and restrain him until cuffs were on. And possibly accidentally bang his head into the ground a little bit while in the process.

Because it was still early and a weekday, the motel was quiet. They didn't see any guests walking around the property, and he didn't suspect there were many occupied rooms based on the number of cars in the parking lot. The men were all quiet as they found their places, not wanting to warn Tim that he was about to have his door busted in.

Kane pressed the button into the radio that Luke had given each of them to indicate that they were in place. As soon as he lifted the button, they heard yelling from the front of the building. Kane left the other men and ran to the front to see what was going on, only to find a man, who he assumed was the motel manager, in the parking lot, screaming at everyone to get off the property. The scowl on Luke's face as he stormed over to the man had the guy shutting his mouth quickly. Luke slammed the warrant into the guy's chest and told him to get the fuck back in the building and don't come back out.

The man turned white as a sheet and turned to retreat back to the office when a gunshot went off at the back of the building. Feeling that rush again, Kane and Luke sprinted back to find Damian and Seth crouched down, looking up to the broken glass window.

"Everybody okay?" Kane asked.

Once he was able to confirm there were no injuries, his attention went to the broken window. He couldn't see anything inside, which told him Tim wasn't near the window, but that didn't mean he still couldn't fire his gun in that direction. Luke motioned for everyone to stay low.

"Get the fuck away from here before I blow this place up!" a male voice screamed from inside the room.

"Tim Parker! Come out with your hands up!" Luke shouted back.

"You aren't taking me out of here! Go away!"

Kane was aware that since they knew Tim had a gun and had already opened fire, they had to try to get the rest of the motel evacuated before they could enter the room. It would become a waiting game until that happened. He had already seen several cars leaving the parking lot after the first shot rang out. He knew one of the officers was already working on clearing the building.

"Everyone stay in place until we finish evacuating. We have a person inside the room that is assumed to be Parker," Luke said over the radio.

They stood at their posts for what seemed like an hour when in reality, it was only a few minutes, waiting until they got an all clear from someone in the front of the building. Black smoke started billowing out of the broken window, causing the men to back up slightly. Kane looked to Luke, who was radioing to dispatch for a fire crew.

"We need everyone out of the rooms immediately. There's smoke coming out of Parker's room," Luke said into the radio.

Another shot rang out, breaking the window on the side of the building. Kane saw the two men that were standing guard get low to the ground before they confirmed on the radio that they weren't hit. The sound of sirens from a fire truck could be heard in the background, drowning out whatever Tim was yelling from the room.

The fire crew wouldn't be able to enter the motel until they got Tim out because he had a weapon and was using it to try to harm them. Kane knew that eventually the heavy smoke inside would force him out of the room. It was only a matter of time before he wouldn't be able to handle inhaling it.

Despite the heavy smoke coming out of the windows, he didn't see any flames. Several of the officers were now pushing back a small crowd of people staring at the scene unfolding, most of them with their phones out, presumably videotaping for social media. Kane rolled his eyes in frustration at the nosy crowd. The look on Luke's face told him that he was just as annoyed.

The fire truck that pulled up blocked the view of the crowd, much to his relief. Luke walked over and spoke with the fire crew, letting them know they couldn't enter the building until they had the suspect out. They nodded and stood by the truck waiting.

"Get everyone away from here! I'll blow this place up!"

"Come out with your hands up!" one of the officers yelled back.

"Fuck you!"

Suddenly, a deafening explosion inside the room, toward the front of the building, had everyone dropping to their stomachs. Once Kane's vision came back to focus, he saw the men around him were fine, and he got to his feet.

"Suspect running," came over the radio.

Taking off toward the parking lot, Kane looked in every direction and spotted the man running away from the motel. He took off with several other men behind him. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins, but even though he was keeping up a good pace, Tim had gotten a head start while all of them had been rattled by the explosion.

Tim ran into a field of hay that had been recently cut, with hundreds of hay bales spread throughout the field. Kane followed, weaving through the large bound rectangles of dried grass. While Kane knew he was in shape, he was large and muscular compared to Tim's lean body, which seemed to be able to run at a ridiculously fast pace. He knew it was now or never to get this man so his girl could rest easy. That thought pushed him to run faster than the others. He was just thankful it wasn't scorching hot out and the air was easy to breathe.

As Tim ran closer to the road at the edge of the field, Kane shouted for him to stop. Tim turned back toward him and fired a shot before running onto the road. Suddenly, as he looked back at Kane, he collided with the side of a red SUV, dropping to the ground immediately. Kane caught up with him quickly, kicking the gun from the stunned man's hand.

Luke ran up next as Kane threw the man on his stomach, pulling his arms behind his back with force. Luke put a pair of handcuffs on him so tight the man groaned. When he and Luke straightened up at the same time and looked into the windshield of the SUV, they were stunned to silence, both their expressions turning into utter disbelief and anger.

Fear and fury turned Kane's blood cold as he stared at two pale-faced, wide-eyed Littles. Almost unable to control his urge to drag Haylee out of the car and paddle her butt right in front of everyone, he took the deepest breath he could and stormed to the driver's-side door at the same time that Luke stormed to the passenger side, yanking the doors open.

"What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Doing. Here?" he ground out.

Haylee looked up at him with saucer-sized eyes, looking as though she might be ill. Her mouth opened and then closed, and then opened again.

"Thank God you're okay. I-I was so scared. We saw a video on F-facebook of gunshots, and we were scared that you or Luke might have been hurt, so we came to make sure. I'm sorry, but we couldn't just sit there if one of you had been hurt. And look, we helped bring Tim down," she added hopefully.

Luke stood on the other side of the car, listening to Haylee ramble, his expression stone-cold as he scowled at Ally, who was staring down at her hands in her lap. Kane realized Haylee was in shock as she continued talking, but her eyes looked up at him blankly as she spoke.

"Is he dead? Did we kill him?" Ally asked quietly.

Kane looked across at Luke and knew he was just as relieved as he was that the girls were safe.

"Where is Keith?" Damion barked from behind Kane.

Haylee shrunk back into the seat slightly and looked up at Kane. "Uh…"

"Haylee Ann, where is Keith?" he asked in a low voice that made her worry her bottom lip.

A truck pulled up behind the SUV, and Keith jumped out with a look that could kill on his face as he strode over to Kane.

"God dammit! Where are they? Fuck!" he shouted, causing both Haylee and Ally to startle.

Haylee began to cry.

Luke pulled Ally from the car, scolding her loudly as he swatted her butt several times before directing her to a police cruiser. Damian started talking to Keith, who was still shouting something about being fooled by a couple of Little brats who needed their asses belted.

Kane leaned into the car so his face was near hers. His heart had finally begun to beat slower, knowing she was safe and out of harm's way. He was absolutely furious with her. But he needed to take care of her first. He could see all the emotions of relief, sadness, fear, and anxiety in her expression, and her breathing was becoming heavier and quicker. If he didn't intervene, she would have a panic attack.

"Haylee, look at Daddy."

Instead of obeying, to his surprise, she shook her head as she twisted her hands together.

"Baby alligator, look at me," he said again, this time using his finger to lift her chin.

Her wet blue eyes stared at him as more tears fell.

"I'm sorry I was bad, but I couldn't bear the thought of losing you." Her lips trembled as she spoke.

"You aren't going to lose me, baby. I'm right here. Now, I need you to breathe in and out slowly because you're panicking."

When her breathing slowed, Kane reached over her and undid her seat belt, pulling her from the car into his embrace. She wrapped herself around him and sobbed loudly as her entire body shook.

"It's okay, baby. Daddy has you. You're safe now."