Page 100 of Final Exit

Damn. Kade looked around again, trying to fight down his alarm. Where the hell was Bailey?

“I caught a glimpse of Faegan at one point, cowering in an office doorway,” Mason continued. “But I couldn’t get to him and he disappeared. I’m hoping one of our guys found him and has him in cuffs somewhere outside. I’m about to go check.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder toward the hole in the wall. “The building’s lighting up. You need to get out of here.” He frowned. “Where’s Bailey?”

“She was with us right before the explosion. We haven’t found her yet,” Kade said, his panic growing.

“Hang on a sec. This headset’s been spotty the whole time but I’ll give it a try.” Mason tapped his earpiece while they all moved closer to the opening in the wall, where the air was better. “Austin, this is Mason. You copy?”

A crackling noise sounded and Mason winced, then adjusted the volume. “Austin, Bailey is unaccounted for. Have you...” His eyes widened and he looked at Kade. “Got it. Right. Hang tight. We’ve got your back. On the way.”

“What’s going on?” Kade demanded. “Austin knows where she is?”

Mason waved them toward the opening. “This whole place is going up. We need to get out of here.”

“Mason.” Kade grabbed his arm. “What did Austin tell you?”

Mason glanced at Kade’s hand. “You’re gonna want to let me go.”

“Not until you tell me what the hell is going on. Does Austin know anything about Bailey?”

They stared at each other until Mason finally swore and shook his head. He looked at Jace when he answered.

“Faegan’s men are making a stand in the woods near the field. It’s hand-to-hand combat out there, guerrilla warfare. Austin and the rest of the team are in the thick of it. We need to get out there.”

Jace immediately took off through the opening, racing across the parking lot toward the trees. Brady sprinted after him.

“Mason,” Kade gritted out, waiting.

Mason let out an impatient breath. “I don’t have anything solid. But Austin says Devlin reached him a minute ago. He’d followed Faegan through the tunnels but never caught up to him. He lost his trail outside because it was too dark. But another man told Austin that he thought he saw Bailey in the woods at the western edge of the field.” His gaze slid away from Kade’s. “And that the man she was with might have been Faegan.”

Kade swore and shoved past Mason. He took off across the parking lot in the same direction where Jace had just disappeared.

Bailey stumbled against a tree, this time on purpose and not just because it was difficult running through unfamiliar woods by moonlight. She was trying to slow Faegan down in the hopes that someone would see them and help her escape. Or, even better, that she could makehimfall and wrench the pistol out of his hand. Then it would be her turn to make him squirm.

He jerked her arm and jammed the muzzle of his pistol against her right ear. She heard the cartilage crunch a split second before agonizing pain shot through her ear and jaw. She bit her lip until it bled to avoid giving him the satisfaction of her crying out.

“You’d better find your balance, MissStark, or I’ll decide you’re more trouble than you’re worth and grab another hostage.”

Fighting through the pain, she focused on not stumbling again. He wasn’t bluffing about killing her if she caused him any trouble. She’d seen the proof in that when he’d shot one of his own men who got in his way as he was trying to escape with her. The explosion had somehow knocked her into the hallway instead of back into the stairwell, and Faegan had been right there to shove her into one of the executive offices. Devlin must have seen Faegan because Bailey heard him shout from the other end of the hallway as he was following her into the office.

But Faegan didn’t slow down. He led her through that office and opened a panel in the far wall, then rushed her through a hidden office much like the one she’d seen in Boulder. Then they were running down a tunnel, lit only by emergency lights. They’d passed the cells she’d heard about, and she was relieved to see the doors were open and the cells were empty. The hostages must have already been freed.

After they’d emerged from the tunnels, Faegan hadn’t even slowed down. Even in near darkness, he’d known exactly where he was going. He forced her to run and soon they were in the woods.

He’d picked off three Enforcers who probably never saw him coming.

The occasional sound of gunfire erupted far behind them. More often they heard shouts. She would have been tempted to shout herself if she thought there was some way to avoid having Faegan immediately shoot her. For now, she would have to do whatever he told her. At least until she figured out a way to get the upper hand.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Where no one will think to look for me.” He shoved her forward, following behind her now. “Keep moving, straight ahead.”

They topped the ridge and she stopped, surprised to see they were right back at EXIT, standing at the end of the parking lot. The entire right side of the building was engulfed in flames.

“Why are we back here? You can’t want to go into the building. It’s a death trap in there.”

The bore of his pistol filled her vision. It was only three inches away. “I had to leave faster than I’d intended so some big giant of a man didn’t catch me. Everything I’ve accumulated during this mission is inside the safe in my office. I’m not losing it all to some curious firefighter once they make it all the way out here, or some police officer intent on ensuring the so-called rightful owner gets his valuables back. It was hard work getting all those Enforcers to give up the information on their bank accounts and safety-deposit boxes when we were interrogating them. There are millions of dollars’ worth of Swiss bank account numbers in that safe. So, I think you can see, MissStark, why we’re not going anywhere until I open it.”

“You were interrogating Enforcers so you could get their money? Let me guess. You figured out that Henry Sanchez didn’t have any money, so you didn’t even bother capturing him. That’s why you killed him.”

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