Page 55 of Deadly Oath

But I’d rather handle this myself. And considering how poorly this place seems to operate, I just might be able to.

I move silently through the shadows, my gun at the ready. I can smell the sour stench of cigarettes and alcohol, mixed nauseatingly with the fresh scent of sawed lumber, a mixture that shouldn’t gotogether. Every few seconds, I pause to listen, sounds from further in, guiding my direction.

As I round a corner, I hear muffled voices—male voices, laughing at something. My blood boils at the thought that Sabrina might be in there with them, being used for some form of entertainment. I move closer, hugging the wall, leaning forward slightly to peer through a crack in a partially open door. There are three men inside, all armed, lounging around a table littered with empty beer bottles. No sign of Sabrina, which gives me a quick jolt of relief.

I weigh my options, watching the men. It’s clear they didn’t hear the shots from the front of the warehouse. I don’t know how many men Craig—the boss running this operation—]has here, but I could probably take out this lot quickly and quietly. It’s risky, if it raises any kind of alarm. I could call in backup, but that carries its own risk—if they’re alerted, it could spook them into bringing the rest of the place down on me.

Better to do it myself, I think—and however much of that comes from my desire to handle all things having to do with Sabrina myself, and myself alone, I don’t know. But the decision is made as I take a deep breath, steeling myself and kicking the door open, already shooting before the men even have a chance to realize what’s happening.

The first two go down before they can even reach for their weapons. The third gets a shot off, the bullet going wide in his panic before I put a bullet through his forehead, sending him crashing down onto the table in a pool of spreading blood.

Shit.The silencer muffles the bullets, but that was loud. I flatten myself against the wall, waiting for footsteps, but there’s none.

I give it another moment, then move away from the door, back into the hall. My heart is pounding, adrenaline coursing swiftly through me as I pause again, listening. There’s nothing—and then there’s footsteps.

I step forward, just in time to see the man I found outside Sabrina’s house, the one I tased at the jail, leveling a gun at me as he grins at me eerily in the shadows.

“Oh, I’m gonna?—”

He never gets to finish his sentence. I drop him with a single shot, satisfaction burning through my veins as I step over his body, my boot squishing in the spreading pool of blood. “Good fucking riddance,” I mutter as I keep walking, keeping to one side again as I go.

As I make my way deeper into the warehouse, I hear faint sounds. A feminine voice, one that I’m sure I recognize, and my grip tightens on the gun. It’s Sabrina, I feel sure of it.

I follow the sound, moving as quickly as I can. I hear her voice louder, hear the threats that Craig is making, and then her defiant, hoarse pronouncement.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Craig chuckles, coming into view as I move towards the doorway, his back and the backs of his three men facing away from me. I slowly get into position, watching as Sabrina glares at him with that defiance that I know so well. The sight of her face sends an odd, warm feeling through my chest that I hadn’t expected, cutting through some of the bloody rage I feel for a brief moment before it all comes flooding back in.

“Oh, we would,” Craig tells her. “We already have.”

I step forward, into the doorway, my voice clear and sharp as I speak up.

“If you wanna die clean, you won’t lay another finger on her.”

Craig’s men turn, all of them reaching for their guns, safeties clicking off in a chorus as they raise them towards me. Mine is already leveled at them, and I chuckle, a smirk on my lips as I look at the three rangy men in front of me. There’s no way they’re getting out of here alive.

Craig slowly turns to face me, his expression narrowing as he takes in my uniform. He doesn’t know who I am, not really, and that’s my intent. I’m just the law right now, and that’s one thing he tries to stay clear of.

“Well, well,” he says slowly, a smirk that’s only slightly tinged with fear spreading across his lips. “If it isn’t the knight in dusty polyester.”He sneers at me, but I see his gaze flick to the door, wondering where the rest of his men are.

“They’re dead,” I tell him flatly, and then the instant I see the three men in front of me start to react, I drop to one knee.

Their bullets go over my head, in the same instant that I fire three rapid shots, sending them crumpling to the ground. I dodge to one side, flinging myself away from all three of them as two of them reflexively fire again, fingers convulsing in their death throes. A bullet whizzes past me from Craig, burying itself in a pile of lumber behind me, and as anotherpingsoff of the metal, I hear Sabrina scream.

I dodge forward, and Craig fires, missing again. “You fucking?—”

His angry cry is cut off by a bullet to the kneecap. He screams, falling to the dirt as his gun flies out of his hand and spins away. I stride forward, kicking the weapon out of reach before shooting him in the kneecap a second time. He lies there in his own spreading blood, moaning in pain as I turn to Sabrina.

She’s wide-eyed, staring at me with a chalk-white face as if she’s never seen me before. “Are you hurt?” I ask sharply, and she shakes her head rapidly, swallowing hard.

“Kian—”

I circle around behind her, seeing her stare at Craig’s bleeding body while I cut the zip ties loose from her wrists. “Are you going to leave him like that?” she whispers as her wrists come free, her voice cracking, and I slide one arm around her, aiming my gun with my other hand.

“Don’t—”

Craig’s plea is cut off as I put a bullet through his head. Sabrina screams, burying her face in my chest, and as if on instinct, I put both of my arms around her, holding her close.

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