Chapter Five

Kane

I turned, hands in the air automatically and to my utter astonishment, met the gaze of the missing kid. She didn't take her finger off the trigger of what looked to be some sort of hunting rifle that was way too big for her, and I wasn't thrilled to see her fingers trembling a little. "Rain" I tried.

"How do you know my name?" she snapped out. But she hadn't shot me yet, and as I'd broken in, she could easily. I heard a doorbell ring and knew it was Diesel. "That's my partner."

"In crime?" she asked sarcastically.

"No, Rain, we're just looking for you."

"Really?" she sounded bored. "And who sent you?"

"Your mom," I answered. "Who is terrified you've gone missing."

Rain scoffed, then tightened her hands. I knew the weight of the gun would be getting to her.

"Where's your grandmother?"

She didn't answer, but we both heard a door close and footsteps clicking across the hall. "There, that's the suitcases…" Her words trailed off as she walked in and saw me. "Rain," she said carefully. "Give me the gun."

"No, Nana. Go get in the car."

The doorbell rang again. "That's my partner, ma'am. We've been sent to secure your granddaughter."

She frowned. "But she's not in any danger with me." She genuinely seemed to believe that, so I took a gamble.

"Ma'am, did you know your son escaped prison yesterday?" The cops had supposedly been over.

She jerked a nod, but I saw her eyes widen maybe two sixteenths of an inch, and I catalogued the same tight press of her lips, the slight paling of her cheeks, and I realized we'd been wrong. Mrs. Saunders wasn't helping her son, she was running from him.

Knowing I was now a hundred percent out of my depth, I wished Rawlings would stop fucking about with the doorbell and just come in and take over. Or come around to the back. The sliding door was still wide open. He had to know I'd gotten in.

"Ma'am, we need to get you both to safety. It's likely he's heading this way."

"Don't you think I know that?" she snapped. "What did you think we were doing?"

I stopped. "But the cops would have put you in a safe house, or…" But they hadn't. There wasn't even a uniform guarding the property, which made no sense to me, but what did I know?

Nana scoffed. "Of course, they would." Then she sighed. "Look, I know you're just doing your job, but I have to protect my granddaughter, so—"

"But why do you think running away from her mom will achieve that?"

She looked at me incredulously. "That idiot didn't even accept protection yesterday. She would have sent Rain to school today. Did you know that?"

I glanced at Rain and saw the gun tipping a little, the weight obviously getting to her. "Ms. Peterson wasn't told about Mr. Saunders" escape until this morning, after her daughter left the house."

Mrs. Saunders all but rolled her eyes. "Is that what she told you?"

"No, ma'am, that's what she told my boss. She called our company for help because she served overseas with one of us and the cops wouldn't believe her when she was terrified Rain had been taken by her father, after they only told her this morning he escaped yesterday. She's going out of her mind with fear and worry."

I glanced at Rain. "But what I'd like to know is how you knew?"

Mrs. Saunders glanced at her granddaughter, looking confused. "Rain? You told me your mom said it was nonsense. That neither of you was in danger."

The gun wobbled a little more. I was pretty sure I could disarm her, but it was still a risk. The gun looked as old as fuck and could hurt her if it went off even accidentally.

Where the fuck was Rawlings?

I saw the problem as both women's gazes changed minutely. One in panic and the other in glee. I knew who it was before I turned and found an automatic pistol pointed at my face. We were clearly going three for three and I was tired of this shit. I'd had fewer guns pointed at me inside.

Why the fuck couldn't I have had enhanced hearing?

Then I saw the reason that Rawlings had stopped trying to get the door open, as another guy hauled him half-conscious into the room. A third guy slid the door closed and pulled the curtains closed behind him, and just as he reached out I caught sight of the edge of a tattoo peeking out from his cuff. I couldn't see much of it, maybe what looked like the point of an arrow, slightly faded at one corner, and the letter U that a tiny scar snaked through.

They obviously didn't care about the cameras. Not that it mattered as one set was on a loop and one was internal, but surely Danny would expect an update? And the man Ricky, Ringo, whatever his name was, was over fifty minutes away, which meant I could be stuck without help for a good hour, maybe up to two. And I doubted these guys would hang around that long.

The second man dropped Rawlings like a stone, then whistled as he took in the room. "Nice." I watched him as he sauntered over to an old-fashioned cart with some crystal decanters of liquor on it. He didn't bother with the equally fancy glasses, just tipped the decanter up and chugged.

I took in the pants, the same exact ones that the third guy was wearing, and even though they wore hoodies, I knew that both were prison guards. Which made my life easier or harder, depending on if they could be swayed.

No, harder, because they'd clearly been bought.

"Well done, Princess," Saunders said quietly and took the gun from her and passed it to the third man.

Well, that answered that. I knew from the way Grandma reacted that she'd been fooled as well. Rain looked like she wanted a fucking cuddle, but Saunders dismissed her easily, and turned to me.

"Who the fuck are you and why shouldn't I put a bullet in you?"

I had many answers. I knew he could see my scar, and he wasn't worried about being able to kill me. Maybe the surrender in front of a child with a forty-year-old gun probably told him if I could disarm her I would have done.

"I work for a private security company. We were tasked with finding Rain Saunders."

The guy with the liquor scoffed. "Because they knew the cops were too incompetent to."

Saunders nodded, then he looked at his daughter. "We're leaving."

Her eyes brightened a little after being ignored, and she nodded determinedly. "Nana put the cases in the car."

He threw back his head and laughed. "Nana? We're not taking that geriatric bitch anywhere."

The second man slammed the decanter down and eyed the old lady. "I suppose if I closed my eyes…"

Thankfully, Rain didn't understand, but from her disgusted expression, her grandma certainly did.

"No time," Saunders snapped. "You can get all the dried-up pussy you want when we get to Nuevo León."

That had to be Mexico, but it wasn't my lack of geographical knowledge that bothered me. It was the fact that he'd named it in front of me, which meant he didn't intend on either me or Rawlings being able to repeat it.

Then a fourth man slipped into the room, and I knew instantly what the scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face was hiding. No wonder Saunders wasn"t scared. He"d brought his own extra protection. I followed the man"s gaze to the guard still swigging the liquor and turned so I could see a little more of him. Man was a stretch. He didn"t look much older than eighteen, if that. Where the fuck had they gotten him from? I noted the baggy jeans and the slight loosening of the pocket seam. Not uniform pants.

And what abilities did he have?

Well, fuck. This, I always intended to keep to myself. Archie had warned me. The first time I had done it, he'd practically dragged me from the dining hall and back to his cell. He'd said no matter what anyone else did, I always had to keep this a secret. I glanced surreptitiously at Rawlings and saw his eyes open and knew I was doubly fucked. He would know.

"Go get in the car, Princess," Saunders ordered and raised his gun.

She didn't obey. "But Nana."

I saw the instant his gun turned to the old woman and knew. Shadows poured from my fingers so fast the room turned black. I had moved and grabbed the grandmother and Rain and we were out of the way before the other guys started firing. We were out of the door a second later, and I could hear the sirens as the cars barreled toward us.

Danny. Thank fuck.

Of course, as soon as the cops pulled up, I was forced to the ground. and not exactly gently, and had my arms pinned behind me. I sighed. I had no idea if the guards had all been caught, and I didn"t see the enhanced anywhere. At least Nana and Rain were safe.

Just another day in paradise for me.

The cops weren't in a hurry to release me. Rawlings told me after I'd spent four hours in a holding cell—and apologized because he'd been at an ER—that it had taken their lawyer to make it happen. He told me Rain had been secretly communicating with her father when she visited her grandmother, and Rain had been fooled into believing her dad was set up, and that her mom didn't believe him. He'd convinced her to come to Mexico while a new lawyer took his case on to prove he was innocent. Apparently he'd been driving a wedge between Rain and her mother for months, all because she'd been convinced her dad was innocent. Saunders was a manipulative fucker and even managed to convince Rain that her mom resented her for having to leave the service to look after her.

The enhanced had disappeared, along with one of the guys involved, and the driver, but Rawlings was going to make finding who the enhanced was a priority. And Saunders was back in lock-up.

I'd been expecting Rawlings to mention what I did in the house, but he hadn't and I sure as hell wasn't initiating it. We eventually arrived back at the apartment after witnessing quite a reunion between the grandmother, Rain, and Katy. Something told me they'd be okay. Rain might have tried to pit her grandmother and mom against each other because she'd fed into the lies daddy-dearest had spewed, but neither adult was without blame. They seemed to be determined to start afresh, and that included Grandma practically begging the two of them to move in, and Katy graciously agreeing.

Yeah, they'd be okay.

I was done and ready to crash when we finally got back. I didn't even care that we were met by the guard dog as we walked in, or wonder where Rawlings had gotten the phone he handed me.

Or at least that was my plan until Rawlings caught my arm to stop me from heading to my room and looked at Danny. "Explain," he clipped out.

I frowned and glanced at Rawlings, and he looked furious, but not at me. I shot a look at Danny. Danny looked defiant, but his chin lifted and his pupils dilated a fraction. Not enough that anyone else except me would have noticed, but I immediately knew he was pissed.

Danny stared at Rawlings. "Explain what?"

Rawlings tipped his head and considered Danny carefully. I could practically see Danny wilt beneath his gaze and shift from foot to foot. I didn't like Danny being put under such uncomfortable scrutiny.

"Rawlings—" I started.

But he shook his head once. It was an order that I either obeyed or walked out under. I hesitated.

"I'm ashamed of you," Rawlings growled out, all his focus on Danny, when for a heart-stopping moment I'd thought he meant me. "Because you could have, should have, had one of our operatives out of holding within twenty minutes, but thanks to whatever the fuck bias you have, you left it to me four hours fucking later to get Kane free."

How the fuck I stood there and didn't react, I never knew. And it wasn't that I was angry. I was confused. Nothing that had happened had been a surprise. I was an ex-con. Of course, they would treat me as one. And if I was honest, I also thought Rawlings was pissed at me because I'd taken the girl and the old lady out and left him. The last thing I expected was him to be angry at Danny

"Why the fuck is he even here?" Danny yelled.

The silence after that hurt and I had no idea why. It hurt when I expected nothing less. I'd conditioned myself to this. "I'm gone," I choked out. I didn't know where, and I didn't care.

"You're fired," Rawlings growled out, but I wasn't surprised. I knew. Except when I finally looked up to tell him I would grab my stuff, he wasn't looking at me.

His murderous gaze was aimed straight at Danny.