Page 72 of Cruel Savior

"What choice did you give me? I didn't want to see anyone else die."

He laughed. "You sound so weak. No wonder the FBI or CIA, or whichever one you really worked for, burned you. If, at the first sign of violence you give in, you are worthless."

While his words did have the effect of rubbing salt in my wounds, I easily ignored them. I had much bigger problems. Namely that damned trigger he had in his hand and the fact that any moment he would realize what I’d done.

I had to get my hands on that remote.

Because he didn’t know it yet, but he was already dead.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Axel

Less than an hour later,I pulled my truck to the curb and put it in park. “Is this it?” I glanced up at the low-rise building that sat on the Seattle waterfront overlooking the sound.Using the information from Izzy and Tel’s hacking skills we’d tracked Mandy to this building.

“Yeah. That’s the one. I’m already connected to her tablet. Let me see if I can turn on the audio from it and pick up anything.” Tel’s fingers flew across his keyboard as he worked his usual magic. I had to admit we’d gotten so reliant on his skills, I hoped that we never had to go without them. “A few more adjustments.”

Muffled talking suddenly filled the cab. I strained to understand any of it. “Is that the best we can do?”

“I’m afraid so. She’s probably got the damned thing in her bag and is too far away from it to pick up anything clear.”

“Okay,” I said, my gut tightening as I continued to work on picking something up. “At least we know she’s in there.”

A rap on my window had me rolling it down to talk to JD. “She’s in there, but we can’t get ears. We’re going to have to go in blind.”

He shrugged. “Won’t be the first time, probably not the last. What about security?”

“I’m going to have to come with you for that. I can’t do it from here.”

JD nodded. “All right then, let’s get it done.”

“We’re going too,” Houston announced and I gave him and Izzy both a side eye.

“Too risky.”

“That’s for us to decide, not you. We don’t need permission.”

I wasn’t in the mood to argue with Izzy or Houston. My anger had reached the boiling point a while ago and I only had two things on my mind. Finishing the job so I never had to deal with a Turner again, because this was the last fucking job our club would take from him or his family, and punishing Amanda for her bullshit.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” JD asked. “We have more than enough firepower if you want to hang back.”

I didn’t deign to give him a response to that asinine idea. I simply hopped out of the truck and headed towards the building. I was going in right fucking now.

The building entrance was easy enough. The door had already been disabled and no guard was in sight. Courtesy of Mandy, I guessed.

“Let me guess,” I said. “Top floor?”

“Yes. But you should take the stairs, not the elevator. I think this building is one of those where the top floor has a private elevator that opens into the residence.”

“Where do the stairs go?”

Tel turned his tablet around to show us the map. “Looks like the kitchen. Probably a safe bet they’re not cooking a meal together.”

I had no response. Nor did I want to think about what exactly was happening inside. She’d chosen to put her life at unnecessary risk and go in ALONE.

“We should expect they’ll be waiting on us,” JD said in a low voice as we moved up the building. People rich enough to live in this building don’t leave it open like this for anyone off the street to stroll in. This is the equivalent of a fucking welcome mat.

I agreed. But whether this was a trap or not, it didn’t matter. They were outnumbered at least three to one. We had the tactical advantage here and this was likely our only shot at getting them both.

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