Page 90 of Intertwined Souls

He shrugs. “You need it. Don’t let that ridiculous mind of yours overthink it. I’m giving you an opportunity to blow some shit up. Take it or leave it, girl.”

Glancing at Cade, he shrugs, so I take the small device.

Vance explains, “Press the red button in case that isn’t obvious. Wait until everyone is at the end of the driveway, then press and enjoy the fireworks.” He smirks.

Everyone loads up into the cars or get on their bikes and start heading out. Grayson stays with the victims in the van that Atlas is driving while Cade and I head over to the truck that Ryker is in with Oakley. I climb in the back with Oakley, and Cade gets in the driver’s seat.

We wait to make sure everyone leaves before heading to the end of the driveway. Cade stops, and I turn in my seat looking back at the warehouse before pressing the button.

Nothing happens at first, and then the sky lights up.

With literal fireworks.

“What the fuck?” Ryker laughs before a loud boom sounds, making all of us jump and then the warehouse blows up into a million little pieces. As Cade begins driving away all that can be seen is black smoke above the trees.

Inhaling, I look down at Oakley and gently run my hand over her forehead. “It’s over now. You’re going to be okay. I swear it.”

Grayson

One of the men that came with Vance taps on Atlas’s window where he sits in the driver’s seat. They speak for a second, and then Atlas starts up the van. The girl who Harley helped earlier turns on her bench seat, frantically looking out the window behind her.

“Hey, sweet girl, everything is going to be okay. We’re taking you to our home. It’s really big and completely safe, I promise.”

“What about Oakley?” she asks hesitantly.

“Let’s find out, okay?” I say, and she nods.

Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I call Ryker because I know I saw him come out with a girl in his arms a few minutes ago. He answers instantly.

“Hey, Ry, you’re on speaker and…” Deciding to use this to my advantage because she doesn’t seem to want to say her name, I ask, “What’s your name, sweet girl?”

“Tia,” she begrudgingly mumbles.

“Tia and I wanted to know if you guys got Oakley,” I say to Ryker.

His voice sounds through the phone speaker. “We sure did,” he chirps in a fake upbeat voice. “She is coming home with all of us. Does that sound good, Tia?”

She nods, and a very small smile forms on her lips.

“That sounds great,” I respond for her. “Thank you, Ry.”

After ending the call, Atlas nods back at me and we take off, others following after. As we get farther away, a loud boom can be heard in the distance, and the victims we saved startle in their seats. After reassuring them everything is okay, I stay quiet while they relax and a few of them fall asleep.

Since we’re all splitting off and taking different paths home just to be extra safe and not draw too many eyes, it will take us close to an hour to get back to the club. I text Nerds and give him all the current information I know about the people we rescued.

Oakley, who looks to be in her twenties and according to the texts from Ryker has been on drugs. Then Tia, the sweet younger teen who has injuries on her wrists and ankles from the restraints. Harley also said she had some cuts and bruises on her thighs. There were two others in cages that we helped out. They mostly all have minor injuries, and everyone is dehydrated.

We didn’t get the two from the cages’ names, but it’s clear they know each other or are even related based on how he ducked around us to get to her, and they have stayed holding hands since but not speaking much at all.

I hope Brielle and Doc are able to get more information from everyone so Nerds and I can work on finding out where they came from and if they have family they can go home to. But in the meantime, Nerds is filling in Doc and Brielle on the information so everyone can prepare for those that are coming and we can give them the best care possible.

We can give them a safe space to land, and that’s what we are going to do. I can’t even begin to imagine the things they’ve been through. I don’t even want to let my thoughts go there, so I need to focus on what I can do: helping them feel safe and getting revenge on their behalf.

As Atlas drives through the gate at the club, I gently wake up Tia and I notice the teen boy watching me before he turns to do the same thing to the girl who fell asleep against his shoulder.

Tia jolts up and frantically looks around, her chest rapidly rising and falling.

“Hey, it’s okay. Remember we told you that you were coming to our home? We are here now. You’re safe,” I remind her again and will keep reminding her until she truly believes it.

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