Chapter Seventeen

Rage

I pull myself out of my thoughts and focus on the here and now, which I should have been anyway. It’s not long before the team that are heading to the side door split off and go down yet another side street so that they can approach the warehouse from the right angle.

The warehouse comes into view, and I curse, “I’m fairly certain that’s one of the SUVs from headquarters.”

Cash and Trick both look to where I’m pointing down and alleyway, it’s shrouded in darkness, but it’s parked far too close to the target, if someone is at the warehouse then theres a very good chance that they spotted her as soon as she got this close, and that’s not good at all.

“She stole a car?” Cash asks with his eyebrow raised, and looking impressed.

“Looks like it,” Trick says, “we need to check it out just in case we get lucky and she’s in there.”

We all slowly approach the car just in case someone other than Emmerson is in it. Resting my hand on my weapon, I look through the windows, seeing that the vehicle is empty, and then test the door; it surprises me when I find it open. The others do the same when they realize that the car is unlocked, and we all look inside.

“There’s no way to tell if this is definitely the car that Emmerson drove here,” Cash says as he rummages around in the glove box once we have made absolutely sure that it is empty.

“And she’s not in here,” Trick adds, “we can come back and check it out if we need to but right now our top priority is locating Emmerson, let's head to the warehouse.”

Cash and I both nod and shut the doors behind us, before we follow Trick out of the alleyway. She really did park far too close to the warehouse.

As I approach the front entrance with Cash and Trick, we all keep a close eye on the surrounding area, looking out for any signs of cameras as we get closer to the warehouse, which is our target. I am surprised when I don’t spot any, and I start to hope that we got bad intel and Hunt isn’t here because that means that Emmerson is safe.

Although the area around the warehouse is fenced off, the fence is not in good condition and we manage to find a section that has already been cut, it looks like it was done a while ago.

“There’s no activity here,” I mutter, my arms relaxed by my side; I will be able to draw my gun at a moment's notice if I need to.

“No, cars, vans, nothing, at least not on this side,” Cash adds, as his eyes scan the area, looking for anything that seems out of place.

“It’s extremely overgrown too,” Trick adds, “not in the way that they are trying to make it seem overgrown so we don’t think that there’s something happening here, and it can fly under the radar for a while; it’s genuinely overgrown and tired looking.”

“So, where’s Emmerson then?” I ask, “If that SUV is the one that she used to drive here, then she has been here for a while, and she has to be here somewhere because she’s not in the car.”

“Unless they noticed her pretty quickly and grabbed her?” Cash suggests, his face falling into the blank mask that it often does on these kinds of jobs.

It’s fucking scary, and I have been seeing it for years now.

“That’s more possible than I’d like to admit,” Trick mutters.

We fall silent as we approach the building. There still aren’t any cameras that we can see, and no one approaches us. Trick taps his ear reminding us to turn on our earpieces and then using hand signals, he tells us what to do. Cash and I stand to the side, prepared to enter first as Trick stands behind the door and he counts down and then pulls it open.

With our weapons raised, we slowly move into the area, noticing that the place is set up with aisles and massive shelves that hold crates. There is no way to tell from down here what is inside them, but at least give us a decent amount of cover.

Moving swiftly and quietly, we search the area. I am about to call it and say there is nothing here and we should meet up with the others, but as I open my mouth, I hear a yell of pain.

We move as quickly as we can toward the sound while staying quiet, no one has said anything over the ear pieces, and they won’t, not unless it is really necessary or if they need help.

The shouts of pain and grunts get louder, and because of that, I am able to pinpoint the different voices; there is definitely a woman’s voice, which I am guessing is Emmerson; the good news about that is that it means she is alive, the bad news is she’s being hurt. She is not the only one in pain though as there have been a couple of shouts of pain from men too, so if it is Emmerson, she is giving as good as she is getting.

Finally, they come into view, and we get a good look at what we are dealing with.

Emmerson is in the middle of about five men; all of them are armed but, for some reason, aren’t using their guns. She looks worse for wear, bloodied, and battered, but she is still fucking standing, and that is fucking impressive. The fight must have been going on for a while, because she currently has a long metal pipe, that is almost as big as she is, and is swinging it around, easily making contact with the goons trying to grab her.

We don’t waste any more time now that we have assessed the situation, and we rush in to help her.

As I start to engage with one of the fuckers, I hear Trick’s voice come over the comms, “Found Emmerson. Sound off.”

“Just dealing with three men and two women that were guarding the side entrance,” Rafe replies, and then we hear a grunt, and he adds, “you fucker.”

“We’re dealing with a similar situation here, but we’re heading in now,” Atlas replies.

“Five hostiles, we’ve taken down two,” Trick says as he assesses the situation before swiftly taking down someone else, “three, there were no more people near the front of the building, be careful.”

“Got it,” Rafe replies.

“On it,” Atlas replies, everyone else stays muted so that they can hear us but don’t reply as it can get quite confusing with so many people. Usually, only the team leads respond unless someone has noticed something that needs to be reported.

“Rafe can you call in some transport, we’re going to need to take all of these in,” Trick adds.

“Yep,” Rafe replies shortly, and I am guessing that he is still in the middle of the fight.

“We’re coming in now.” Atlas says, “We haven’t run into anyone else, and the hostiles out the back are knocked out and secured, ready for transport. Do we know how far out it is? Does Emmerson need a medic?”

“Cash can check her over; she’s still fighting, so hopefully, nothing too serious, although we won’t know until the adrenaline wears off.” Trick replies, stiltedly this time since he is fighting hard.

One thing is for sure: these aren’t your average guys; these are trained. This means that we could have found someone that is employed by Hunt although, there is absolutely no sign of the man himself. I don’t expect there to be, he is never where he is supposed to be, even if we do have really good intel that he is going to be somewhere, in this case though, that is a good thing.

I duck another punch heading my way and then smack the gun out of the guy's hand as he pulls it out. Apparently, he has no problem shooting me, kicking it out of the way; I work quickly, trying to get him to the floor and secure him, ready to take to the Cottage, where they will all be thoroughly questioned.

A gunshot goes off, and fear floods my body, allowing the guy to get in a lucky hit; my need to find out if one of mine was hit overtakes my control, and I brutally attack the guy; his eyes widen in fear as he sees the change come over me. He is out cold in a matter of seconds, and I only just manage to remember that I need to restrain him before I check out who shot the gun.

Glancing around, as fear rides me hard, I see the others have arrived, and they all appear to be okay as I study them closely to make sure and then my eyes move to my team, I see Trick dealing with the guy that he was fighting.

My eyebrows raise as I realize that everyone is silent and staring at Cash. It doesn’t take me long to figure out why.

“You almost shot her,” his voice is void of all emotion, and he really has let his scary persona take over. It’s not very often that it comes out to play; in fact, I have probably only seen it a couple of times over the years, but it is fucking terrifying when it does.

The guy has a gun directed at Cash’s head, and I am at just the right angle that I can see that Cash’s expression matches the blankness of his voice. If we make one wrong move, the guy is going to shoot Cash. However, that is not what I am currently concerned about. The fucker holding the gun needs to tread very fucking carefully right now because make no mistake, he is the one that is in danger right now, not Cash. Despite the fact that Cash has a gun pointed at his head.

The guy sneers, “After I’ve shot you, I’ll have some fun with her and then shoot her too.”

Anger at his words burns through me, but the absolute violent rage that takes over Cash’s features is a sight to behold. Moving almost impossibly quickly, Cash disarms the guy and points the gun at his head.

“I-I I,” he stutters, but before he can get another word out, Cash pulls the trigger.

The guy's head snaps back as he crumples to the floor, blood rapidly spreading around him.

We all remain silent for a moment before Jensen can’t help but interrupt the silence.

He grins, bouncing on his toes as he says, “Damn, I love it when scary Cash comes out to play.”

His words prompt all of us into action, Rafe and Pete move to Emmerson while Ever goes directly to Cash. I would be worried about her reaction to Cash’s actions, but it’s Ever, she loves it when we are bloodthirsty, just like we love it when she is.

The rest of us give them what privacy we can while we double-check that the hostiles are all properly secured and then move to check on Emmerson, too. Cash is going to need a moment before he can head over there, and I am unsure if Emmerson saw Cash in all his scary glory; most people don’t handle that well.

Ever

C ash is still holding the gun loosely at his side, and he turns to look at me as I approach; his expression is still cold but warms as he takes in my smile. I can’t help it; I know it's not a normal reaction, but I love it when this side of him comes out to play; it kind of reminds me of Jensen’s darkness, but whereas his is pretty much out all the time, and it has an almost mischievous side to it. Cash is cold, calculating, and utterly ruthless.

I love it.

As soon as I reach him, I tug on his shirt, pulling him down so that I can kiss him. His lips mold to mine as he wraps me tightly in his arms, holding me to him like he is afraid I am going to disappear. The kiss is almost frantic, and my hands fist into his shirt. By the time he finally pulls back I feel almost dizzy with need, but this is not the time.

As I look up into his now warm hazel eyes, I smile softly, “Thank you.”

He chuckles as he kisses me gently again, “You know, most people wouldn’t thank me for shooting someone.”

“It’s a good job that I’m not most people,” I shrug, grinning widely.

He brushes some hair out of my face, and his expression becomes serious again. “Are you sure you are, okay? I really thought that it was going to hit you.”

I nod, “Yeah, it got scarily close, but I’m absolutely fine.”

“Good,” he glances over my shoulder to where Emmerson and the guys are, “I need to go over there and see what has happened. Do you think she is going to be scared of me now? I mean, she’s not an agent; she’s not used to this kind of shit.”

I shake my head, “I doubt it. She may not be an agent, but she has been with Hunt for a very long time and witnessed some pretty horrific things, some of them done to her own mother. Seeing you shoot someone who was hurting her and who almost killed me is not going to make her scared of you.”

Cash smiles squeezes me one last time, and then strides over to the group, and I follow behind.

“So,” I say when I get there, and she winces slightly.

“I know I was stupid and definitely underqualified, and I shouldn’t have run off,” she replies.

I shrug, “No, you shouldn’t have, although I would have done the same in your position.”

Her head snaps up to look at me, “You would?”

I nod and grin, “Of course I fucking would, and I would also be beating myself up about the bad decision I made as soon as it was over, just like you. Which is why I am not going to say anything about that.”

She smiles ever so slightly, “Thanks, Ever. I am so embarrassed that I thought I could handle it, but I obviously couldn’t.”

“You were blinded by rage, and revenge,” Luc replies, “don’t worry about it, we’ve all been there at some point.”

Cash clears his throat, and she turns to look at him; just as I suspected she doesn’t look scared at all, and I’m fucking glad for it. Cash still seems to think that for some reason, that side of him is going to scare me, despite how often I’ve told him that isn’t possible.

“Do we need to get you to a hospital?” he asks gently, such a contradiction to his brutality earlier that I find him even more attractive than I usually do.

I'm not sure that when they say, ‘get you a man that can do both’, this is what they mean. In fact, I am confident that this isn’t what they mean.

She shakes her head, “No, I’ve taken a damn good beating, but I don’t think anything is broken, and none of my cuts need stitches.”

“Can I check?” Luc asks.

She nods, “Yeah, go for it.”

We all step out of the way so that Luc can do his thing, and Emmerson doesn’t feel like she is being watched the whole time; no one wants that while they are having their injuries assessed.

“Do we have any idea how far out the transport teams are?” Trick asks.

Rafe nods, “They said about twenty minutes, when I contacted them, Mr R already had some on the way. That was about fifteen minutes ago so they should be here any minute now.”

“Great, thanks Rafe,” Trick replies, and then asks, “give me the short version?”

“It’s pretty straightforward, there were four people guarding the side entrance, we took them down and secured them then headed in here,” Rafe responds.

Trick nods and then looks at Atlas, Peter, and me.

“The people we ran into were having a smoke break as far as I could tell; they weren’t very aware, at least; we took them down and secured them, the same as Rafe and the others,” I explain.

“They were well trained, and they immediately fought; they didn’t ask us what we were doing here or anything like that as the average person would; they jumped straight into fight mode,” Atlas adds.

“Yeah, these guys are well-trained,” Rafe agrees.

“So, we’re thinking that Hunt most likely has something going on here then?” Riot asks.

I nod, along with the others, and say, “Definitely, and if it’s not him, then someone else who is up to no good is.”

“It’s definitely Hunt,” Emmerson says as she hobbles over to us, “Luc said I’m all good.”

Luc’s eyebrows lift, “Luc did not say that; I said that you most likely have a cracked rib, and the cut on your cheek needs to be closed with some steri- strips and is most likely going to leave a scar.”

Emmerson shrugs, “That’s what I said.”

Her response makes both Pete, and I chuckle as Luc rolls his eyes.

“What do you mean, it’s definitely Hunt?” Trick asks.

Emmerson’s eyes darken with anger, “He wasn’t here when I arrived, but these men are definitely working for him. They said that they couldn’t kill me because Hunt wants me alive and that Hunt thought I was dead, now they know that I am alive, Hunt would be very interested to see me.”

I raise my eyebrows, “That’s not good.”

She shakes her head, “No, it's not; I fucked up in a massive way more than just almost getting myself killed, and now he knows I’m alive, and he’s most likely coming for me.”

Trick shakes his head, “We won’t let that happen.”

“But how? There is no way that Mr. R will let me go back to headquarters now.” she frowns, “Which is another good thing that I’ve fucked up by coming here; I’m such a fucking idiot.”