Page 81 of Fiercely Protective

The fury raging inside me grew with every second that I didn’t have her with me. I had searched everywhere for her, but she was nowhere near the club.

Blaze walked to where I was standing, both of us still wearing the wet clothes we had on earlier. “The fire chief confirmed that the sprinklers were tampered with; this was an intentional act. I paid him a cool grand to keep the information under wraps. I have one of the men handling things. He will take care of hiring a cleanup crew. I checked the cameras and I think you should see them.”

I followed Blaze into the IT office where one of the men had the security cameras pulled up on the monitors. My eyes were fixed on the screen where Bri was sitting at the booth before the fire alarms were pulled. One of the waitresses brought her a glass of water but from the video, I could see Bri’s eyes were focused on someone or something across the room.

“What the hell? Go find that waitress and bring her to me. Now!” The man I had directed the order to didn’t hesitate. He rushed from the room.

“Zoom in.”

Even in the video, I could see the concern on her face.

“Where the fuck is the damn waitress?!”

“She is right here, boss.”

I turned to see a short little blonde clutching her hands together tightly. She looked as if she would burst into tears at any moment. “You took my wife something to drink. Was there anything said or unusual when you were at her booth?”

I stalked toward her, and she backed away as if she were afraid.

“I took her a glass of water. She didn’t say anything to me but before the alarms went off, she did tell one of the menstanding guard that a man was staring at her. When she tried to show them where he was, he had already disappeared. She seemed nervous. Then the alarms went off and everything went to hell from there.”

“Is that all you know? Did you see what happened to her after the alarms went off? The direction she went or if anyone was with her?”

She shook her head and clasped her hands nervously in front of her.

“Go, but if you think of anything else, I want to know. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Mr. Delaney.”

She didn’t waste any time getting the hell out of the office.

“Fuck! I found her on the camera, boss. Someone took her.”

I moved back over to the monitors and watched him replay the video. Bri had run outside with the crowd, the fear still evident on her face when a man wearing all black came up behind her and grabbed her. His hand covered her mouth as he dragged her away from the camera angle.

While my blood turned cold, and anger was threatening to consume me, I felt a rush of relief when I saw the security footage. I turned to Blaze. “Bring the car around.”

“It’s already waiting out front.”

I threw open the door to the office, almost knocking down some workers in the hall as I made my way to the front. Blaze was behind me.

“Where are we going?”

“To the safe house. I know who took her.”

Blaze easily caught up to me. “Do you want to share?”

“She is safe, thankfully. Michael has her. He was wearing a crucifix around his neck, and I noticed it on the camera. However, this was an orchestrated attack, and I don’t know if it was meant for me or a means to get her.”

“So, why was the priest at the club?”

“After his self-defense session with Bri this morning, I asked if he would be willing to step back into our world long enough to keep her safe. He said he would think about it; I guess he made his decision.”

Blaze scoffed loudly as he opened the car door and got in the driver’s seat. “You don’t think he will be a bit rusty. Are you sure he is prepared to send souls to the devil without taking the time to try to save them first?”

“You sound offended, but you will be dealing with other matters. Michael is the only other one I trust with her. Besides, before he gave up this life, he was very efficient. He just doesn’t have the bloodlust that you do. I am confident that given the situation it will all come back to him.”

“I hope you are right, but I have my doubts. But I suppose who better to protect an angel than a priest.”

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