Page 32 of Under Control

They ended up in a dark office. Espinosa pulled her tablet out of her pocket, probably to use its flashlight feature, but Alex shook his head vehemently at her. Clearly she knew nothing about sneaking around places.

A few muttered curses wafted down the hall. Alex tested the door and was happy to note that it didn’t creak. Whoever was in here, they were going to have a really, really bad day soon. He kept hold of Espinosa’s hand and led her slowly towards the voice, which was coming from another office.

Unfortunately, this door wasn’t as silent as the previous one, and it opened with a very loud creak.

“Fuck! Who’s there?” the dude on the other end shouted, dropping his flashlight. It rolled across the floor, stopping so that the guy was illuminated.

“Well, well, well,” Alex said in his most menacing voice. “Looks like you’re a bit trapped here, buddy.”

The guy scrambled for the flashlight. Alex let go of Espinosa and lunged forward, crossing the short distance and landing a hard kick to the guy’s side, making the guy cry out in pain. The flashlight fell from his grasp again, and it rolled into a cabinet.

Espinosa hit the light switch.

Alex didn’t wait for the guy to catch his breath. He pulled him up and slammed him hard into a desk, then grabbed his arms and twisted them up. The guy was pretty skinny, not enough muscle on him to pose a threat to Alex. Actually, if it were Tracht with him instead of Espinosa, this could have been a pretty fun time.

Fucking Espinosa.

“What the fuck! What the fuck! Help!” the dude shouted. Alex rolled his eyes and pushed the guy’s arms even higher up his back. The guy started sobbing.

“Shut the fuck up,” Alex growled. “And answer a few questions for us.” He nodded at Espinosa, who looked terrified.

She did at least follow his orders. “We’re here about the container.”

“Oh god! I’m sorry about it! I swear, I had no clue they were coming! Please tell Iglesias I’ll make it up to him!” the man babbled.

Iglesias, huh. That had potential. “Iglesias really ain’t happy,” Alex growled. “Wants to make sure you didn’t sell him out. How much info did they steal?”

“No! I swear, I came back to wipe the memory banks! If you let me up, I can show you!”

Alex couldn’t see another way, so he grabbed both wrists with one hand and lowered the guy’s arms. He used the other hand to grab the dude’s neck from behind. “Don’t try anything funny,” Alex said, and he got such a kick out of the way the dude shivered.

Problem was, the moment the guy got a look at Espinosa, he figured it out.

“You—you aren’t with Iglesias!” The guy tried to twist his head to get a better look at Alex, but Alex squeezed real tight, and that stilled the bastard.

“Sure, we ain’t with Iglesias. But we really, really want to see all that info. Maybe tell us where we can find Iglesias too. So why don’t you show my friend here how to access your data?”

“Do as he says,” Espinosa said with obvious distaste. “He’s a violent monster.”

“See, this is why I think you’re such a bitch,” Alex said to her. “Always judging me.”

It was kind of freeing to cuss all he wanted. But he’d rather have Tracht around and not cuss than whatever this weird feeling was right now, having fun but not. Being worried, like he used to get worried about Nick. Except a million times worse.

“Uh, uh. The…the cabinet. There’s a switch under the middle drawer, I couldn’t find it—”

Espinosa went over to the cabinet the guy had been standing by and fumbled for the switch. As soon as she hit it, the bottom of the drawer slid out, revealing a thin data storage unit on top.

“Thank you for this. Now, where did you say Iglesias was?” Espinosa asked, pocketing the device.

“No! If I tell you, he’s gonna kill me.”

“Look, buddy, I’m in a really shitty mood. I’ve got steel-toed boots and leather gloves, and I’ve got a fucking nasty whip in my pocket too. I was gonna save it all for Iglesias, but if you wanna be my warmup…” Alex growled, squeezing the twerp’s neck so hard that the guy began struggling for air. Yeah, Alex knew exactly what that felt like, and he had no fucking sympathy for somebody who was keeping him from Tracht.

He let go and shoved the guy to the floor. “Now. Iglesias?”

The guy sobbed and gave them an address.

“It better be the right one,” Alex said. “’Cus I don’t want to have to find you and beat you up again.”

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