Page 69 of Operation: Discovery

“Gunner Aims. I’ve been in here for about three days. Weak. Need water.” He coughed.

“Sounds legit,” Brendon said, noting that a fake hoarse voice was often a giveaway. This guy was either a really great actor or was genuinely in need. “How many are back there?”

Gunner answered, “There were three of us. She drugged the other two right before the shooting started. I lucked out. She didn’t make it to me before she had to run. I think they’re dead.” He coughed again.

Brendon rolled toward the voice and found Gunner shackled to the metal post of the shelving unit. The other two were chained to the wall. “I don’t believe in luck,” Brendon said, handing him a bottle of water from the pack attached to the back of his chair.

“Thank you.” He opened it with his teeth, spit out the plastic top, and guzzled the water in seconds, closing his eyes as a few trickles ran down his neck. He finished and sighed. “I thought I was going to just slowly die of dehydration. When I heard the shooting and Ramona ran, I figured I was a goner.”

Brendon looked at the wall and noted that there were three other chains that had no prisoners. “Anyone else locked up in here that we should be looking for?”

He nodded. “There was one guy who was originally one of them, but he screwed up and she was punishing him. There was a woman who just showed up today, but I don’t think she survived. I’d be surprised if she did.”

Brendon’s chest constricted and rage tensed every muscle in his body. “Why do you say that?”

Connor interrupted, “We don’t need to know. All we need to know is where she takes people when they aren’t chained up here.”

“The torture office. Most of us didn’t have to go there, but some did. She’s evil.” He shook his head and sighed. “It’s down that hall to the left. The room at the very end.”

“You can stay here with Gunner if you want. I’m going.” Brendon backed up to turn his chair around.

Connor called to Gunner. “I’ll look for keys in that room. We will be back for you. We will not leave you behind.”

If Gunner replied, Brendon didn’t hear it as he rushed to the room at the end of the hall. When he got there, he slowly opened the door. The first thing he saw was a solid tubular metal chair that probably weighed over a hundred pounds. Tipping it would be impossible. On each of the legs and arms were shackles, and a thin shackle was in the middle of the back of the chair to go around the neck.

His rage chilled to fury when he saw the carnage in the room. Gunner hadn’t exaggerated when he’d called it the torture room. What had Dee endured? Was she dead, as he’d guessed? Connor came in behind him and stopped cold. “Good gravy.” He swung the light back and forth.

No one was in the room and Brendon wasn’t sure if he should thank God or be terrified of the fact that Dee wasn’t there. Where else could she be? He rolled around to the other side of the room where a long metal table had been set up with an IV tree and many empty, ready-to-be filled IV bags waited.

“She spilled all this blood but gathered some, too.” He nodded to a cooler in the corner.

Connor used the end of the flashlight to open it without touching it. Inside was packed with ice, with another plastic cooler nestled in the ice, creating a barrier for the bags of blood to keep cool but not frozen. “But why?” Connor asked.

“I don’t know that we’ll know until we catch one of them.”

Connor’s phone buzzed and he answered, “Connor.”

Brendon barely heard Teddy on the other end. “We’ve got the three guys who were shooting. No sign of the nurse. We’ve found Dee. She’s alive, barely.”

Brendon headed for the door. “You can look for the key if you want. I’ve got to get to her.” He raced off without waiting for Connor to give the okay.

ChapterTwenty-Eight

Brendon raced down the hall, heading for the sound of distant voices, and hoping that all the echoes didn’t lead him astray. He was panting by the time he found Teddy, Sam, and Edwyn hovering over another metal table.

Dee was laid out, badly beaten and cut in multiple places. Her skin had a deathlike pallor. “We need an ambulance.” His words were stronger than he expected them to be.

How could this be happening? Dee had just come back into his life a few weeks before, but in that time, he’d grown to love her again. Maybe he’d never really stopped. Maybe it had been his fears of failing her all this time that had gotten in their way. She deserved the best and he now wanted to be the best for her that he possibly could.

“Give him some room, men,” Teddy ordered. “If anyone can give this gal the will to fight, it’s Brendon.”

He came forward and gently touched her cold hands. Far too cold. “Did someone call an ambulance?”

Sam nodded, holding up his phone. “They are about two minutes out. I’m going to the front door, so they don’t have to look for us.”

“Watch yourself. That woman is still on the loose and she obviously she has no conscience,” Brendon said.

He was afraid to touch Dee with too much pressure and cause her more pain. He lightly threaded his fingers through hers. “Dee, I’m here. This is Brendon. I’ve got you.”

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