Page 69 of Gabe

My stomach twisted with dread. It was too quiet, and we were making our way through the building too easily. Something was wrong.

The hallway had a few doors, but one was obviously more important than the others based on the way it was positioned as the center of attention. Just to be sure, we checked the two smaller doors to reveal a supply closet and a small, thankfully empty, bedroom.

The three of us huddled around the outside of the last door. When I put my ear up to the surface, I could hear faint movement inside. Someone was definitely there, but they weren’t making enough noise for me to tell what they were doing.

There was no way to open the door without being noticed. Our only chance would be to burst inside quickly and take out whoever was inside before they could react.

At least Sebastian didn’t try to fight me on entering the room first. With a silent nod of acknowledgment, he positioned himself beside the door where he could quickly turn the knob and get out of the way.

With gun in hand, I silently counted to three. Sebastian turned the handle with the hand not clutching his crutch and I kicked the door open.

Inside, I found a rather boring looking office with three people standing around. Looking down the sight of my gun, I found a familiar face on the other end.

“Frankie?”

“Gabe?”

We both immediately lowered the guns we’d been pointing at each other, too stunned to do anything more than stare for a moment.

Our shock was interrupted when Sebastian barreled past me into the room.

“Newt!”

A pair of equally familiar blue eyes peered around an opening in the wall that seemed to lead to a small, attached room. At the sound of his name, Newt stepped into the open and wrapped his arms around Sebastian as the two of them practically fell against each other.

Whispered words were past back and forth in their embrace, but I couldn’t hear what they said. Although, I wasn’t trying to listen anyway. I was too busy staring at Frankie who was nervously scratching at the back of his head.

“Sorry about…” He vaguely waved the gun around, then realized what he was doing and set the weapon down on the desk. “You know. Almost shooting you. That would have been a bad reunion.”

He started laughing, but was cut off as I pulled him into a tight hug.

“Don’t do that again,” I said as I buried my face against his hair.

“What? Almost shoot you?”

“No. Don’t get kidnapped again.”

Frankie wrapped his arms around my waist and held tight enough that I would probably have bruises there tomorrow. “I’ll try, but getting kidnapped wasn’t really a choice. Otherwise, I would have chosen differently. It’s not an experience I recommend.”

Pulling away from the hug just enough to look him in the eye, I searched him for any sign of injury. I didn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean there weren’t hidden wounds I couldn’t see.

“Are you all right? Did they hurt you?”

Frankie leaned his head against my chest, so my shirt muffled his words. “One of the security guys held my head under the water. Like I didn’t need any more reason to hate swamps. It was gross. And terrifying. I’m never going anywhere near a swamp ever again.”

Rage boiled under my skin at the thought of anyone laying a violent had on the other man. As much as I wanted to run off and kill every member of the building’s security, I also didn’t want to let Frankie go.

In the end, the desire to keep Frankie in my arms won out and I stayed right where I was.

“I killed a few people on the way in here and dumped their bodies in the water. Maybe the person who hurt you was one of them.”

Frankie laughed until he cried. The tears didn’t seem like happy ones, but I didn’t say anything as I continued to hold him.

A clatter of metal and wood caught my attention. Sebastian’s leg had apparently reached its limit and Newt was helping him sit on the desk. His crutch had banged against the furniture since he refused to let go of Newt, resulting in an ugly tangle of limbs.

Finally able to concentrate on more than just my relief at seeing Frankie alive, I took a better look around the room and flinched when I recognized the third person standing just a few feet away.

“Ozias Wren?”

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