Page 85 of Savage Escape

“Nope.” Kade smirked grimly. “You want me to carry you?” he teased.

“You’re hilarious.” Nate’s eyes narrowed as he heard the distinct sound of helicopter blades whirring from the roof above. “Marskib’s making a run for it. You got a chopper on standby?”

“We’ll catch him before he gets that far.” Kade signaled the team, and they moved toward the exit. “Let’s make this quick.”

Nate limped behind them, pushing through the pain and the dizziness still clouding his mind from the electrocution. He wasn’t about to let Charles Marskib slip through his fingers—not after the taunts about Caden. The thought of her, and what this madman had done to her, fueled his determination to see this through.

As they hit the stairwell, Nate’s heart raced faster. “He’s obsessed with her,” he muttered to himself as they ascended the steps. “He’s not gonna stop, no matter how many times she escapes.”

“Obsessed with who?” Dax tilted his head and swept the staircase with his automatic.

“Caden. He’s obsessed with Caden.”

“Then let’s make sure this is the last time,” Maddox replied, his tone dark with purpose.

They burst onto the rooftop, the wind whipping against their faces. There, standing near the helicopter pad, was Marskib—his cold, smug expression faltering as he saw Nathan emerge from the stairwell. The chopper in the air hadn’t landed yet.

“We can either do this the hard way or the easy way, Charles.” Nathan recited the man’s earlier words and smirked when the other man looked enraged. “You can surrender your arms and come quietly or you can?—”

“Fuck that!” The man raised his handgun and aimed it directly at Nathan’s chest. Before he could get a shot off, one of the Savage Security team took him out with a quick shot to the torso. Kyott and the goon dropped their weapons and put their hands up in surrender.

It didn’t take long for Charles Marskib to die.

Nathan watched as Marskib collapsed, a look of disbelief frozen on his face. The shot had been swift, surgical, and final.Nate didn’t feel the satisfaction he thought he would—not yet. Marskib’s obsession with Caden still echoed in his mind, the way he spoke of her as if she were some twisted possession.

Kade knelt down, checking Marskib’s pulse out of protocol, but shook his head once. “He’s gone.”

“I’ve got to find Caden.”

“Find? She’s here.” Maddox secured Kyott while Kade secured the goon.

“What do you mean?”

“Who do you think blew up the building?”

33

CADEN

Rolling. She just kept fucking rolling. She couldn’t find purchase—she couldn’t find a grip. But all kinds of things were finding all the soft bits on her.

Rock met shoulder. Tree bounced off her back. Dirt in the face. Another rock to the gut. Sapling right in the midsection.

All Caden could do in defense of the onslaught was curl into herself and try to protect her head as she rolled and rolled.

Fuck.

Reid was not going to be happy about this—if she had to go on bed rest again, she’d go fucking crazy. Every movement—every lurching roll down the goddamn mountain sprouted a new bruise or dent or fracture—fuck, she couldn’t tell what body part was taking a hit; everywhere hurt all at once. She’d be lucky if she didn’t bash her skull in on one of those lovely boulders that were doing absolutely nothing to break her fall.

There was a drop—no, a fucking cliff. The sudden thought rang in her head and sent a lightning bolt of fear down her spine. Cold sweat broke out all over her. Blood surged in her head and her heart said fuck this and tried to beat its way out of her chest. There was a cliff somewhere down there—to thethereshe wasrolling and tumbling towards. She was going to roll right off the damn thing if she didn’t find a way to stop.

Curled into herself as she was, it was relatively easy to reach the knife in her boot but less easy to keep a grip on it without gutting herself.

Caden plunged it into the ground. It didn’t stick.

A rock slamming into her prone stomach winded the thief and sent her head reeling for too long. Too fucking long—it was taking too fucking long to stop.

She could see the drop-off.

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