Page 95 of Sutton's Shadow

Wyatt nodded and Jude just grunted. They all checked their weapons before getting to their feet.

Wade stopped him and met his gaze. “Where’s your head?”

“I’m good to go.”

“Are you sure? Because if you go in there in a rage, all hell could break loose. I need to know you can keep it together.”

“I’m good to go,” he reiterated, getting a little pissed off at his old teammate for questioning his mission readiness.

Wade studied him for a few seconds longer before nodding. They crept toward the house, breaking off into pairs to take down the two guards patrolling on opposite sides of the house. Wade snuck up behind the guard in the front of the house as Wyatt covered him. With one well-placed powerful punch, the guard was down. Wade pulled him into the bushes before zip tying him up, immobilizing him.

With a click from the radio they’d borrowed from Nighthawk, Wyatt knew Jude and Logan had subdued the second guard.

He and Wade were going to climb through a window on the west side of the house while the other two would climb the lattice to the second floor. Wyatt peered over the ledge of the window they’d chosen. The room was empty. Sliding his knife between the two panes, he deftly opened the lock, then pushed the window up an inch at a time to cause as little sound as possible.

Another click on his radio told him Jude and Logan were inside and beginning their search. With his window open, he climbed through, one leg at a time, then crouched down next to it while he waited for Wade. The room must have been a living room, even though there wasn’t any furniture at the moment. The enormous fireplace was blackened with use, and there was an inch of dust on the mantel.

Once Wade was in, they made their way across the room, their steps silent on the hardwood floors. They were well trained for this, and most enemies never saw them coming. He hoped this situation was no different. The next room was the kitchen. Two men sat at a table, stuffing their faces with sandwiches. They sat on opposite sides, with one facing the archway to the living room. Wyatt and Wade had no choice but to rush the guards. With their speed, they subdued the guards with ease, Wade only taking a glancing blow to the jaw before he had his man down.

Moving quickly, they cleared the rest of the floor. No sign of Sutton or the men who’d entered the house earlier.

“Basement?” Wade whispered. Wyatt nodded.

Together, they headed to the door off the kitchen. Wyatt opened it wide enough to see a set of stairs through the crack. The rumble of low voices carried up the steps. He listened to ascertain how many men were down there. He could make out two distinct voices and figured that at least the behemoth was there as well since he wasn’t in any other part of the house.

Remembering the “toy” he’d brought, he grabbed it out of a pocket in his vest, along with his phone. Setting the mechanized spider on the ground, he pulled up the controls on his cell. He’d developed an app to go along with the device so he wouldn’t have to use a computer out in the field.

The thing skittered quietly down the stairs; he was thankful he’d now spent weeks programing it to handle terrain like stairs.

At the bottom, the camera feed on his screen showed two men arguing. He could just make out the behemoth in the corner.

They would have to face three men. There was no one else there.

Except for Sutton. His hands tightened on his phone as he took in her condition. Tied to a chair, she sagged, utterly defeated. A white-hot rage shot across his vision at the bruises on her face.

The embers that had been simmering inside him flared to life when the dark man backhanded her. The smack of skin on skin and a cry of pain had his entire body tensing. Wade’s hand clasped his shoulder, grounding him.

He wanted more than anything to rage down the stairs and take out every man down there, but he couldn’t risk Sutton. He had to be smart about this. He nodded to let his teammate know he had his shit together.

As they listened, it seemed there was a disagreement between two of the men. Something about damage to the merchandise. Wyatt’s gut clenched, figuring the merchandise they were talking about was Sutton.

And the damage?

Fuck.

He didn’t even want to imagine what that could be if there was more beyond the bruises he could see. If he thought about how badly she may be hurt, he’d chance losing it and putting his friends in even more danger.

Logan and Jude joined them at the door, determination etched into their features. “We got this,” Jude muttered.

Pocketing his phone, he directed, “On three.” Wyatt counted down with his fingers before rushing down the stairs, his friends at his back. Jude went for the behemoth, Wade the designer suit, and Wyatt charged the dark man. Logan covered them from the outskirts. They were all taken by surprise with no time to draw weapons.

Wyatt’s punch sent the dark guy to the ground, and that’s when he saw all of Sutton. Still tied to the chair, her hair tangled in disarray, her lips cracked and bleeding. There were bruises on her jaw, but the biggest injury, at least that he could see, was her eye, which had swollen shut.

His anger swelled, the flaming fingers of rage thrashing at his calm. The telltale sign of tear tracks tore at his heart. She’d been beaten and scared, and he hadn’t been able to protect her from it. She met his eyes briefly before glancing away, more tears welling. A pinch in his chest ached as he stared at the top of her head. She was alive but seemed so far out of his reach.

A shout drew his attention before a foot hit his previously injured leg. It buckled, sending him to the ground. The pain was excruciating, but he pushed it aside to focus on the man sneering at him.

“She’s not yours any longer,” he taunted. “She has the sweetest taste.”

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