Page 42 of Operation Wolf: Eli
CHAPTER 22
Olivia
“DID YOU HEAR THAT?”
My eyelids popped open at the sound of a Mafia soldier’s voice. A headache instantly exploded behind my eyes, and I squeezed them shut again in an attempt to protect myself from the too-bright light of the bulbs. Memories rushed back to greet me—coming to Chicago to trade myself for Dad’s life, finding him dead in the chair with his throat a gaping pink maw, and the sickly sweet-smelling cloth being pressed against my face. Bile rushed up my throat, and I nearly threw up.
“Hear what?” someone else asked, distracting me a little from my grief and sickness.
“There was a kind of creaking noise. Like a window opening or something.”
Intrigued, I pushed past the sickness and glanced around discreetly. Two soldiers were near the door, arguing, and another one was standing by the stairs. They were all armed with guns. There was no doubt in my mind that there were probably more below, guarding the lower floor as well as the entrances. Despair threatened to drag me down into its dark, sticky depths.
How could anyone possibly rescue me?
“It’s probably just the wind or something,” the first soldier said with a shrug. “Not like anyone’s going to come here and find us. They told Eli they’d meet for the exchange at the Halsted warehouse, so he’s not expecting her to be somewhere else.”
The door flew open, smashing the first soldier into the railing, and a wolf-man creature rushed through the opening, his mouth gaping wide to expose razor-sharp fangs just before he sank them into the soldier’s jugular. The man’s scream was cut off, replaced by a sickening gurgle that was masked by gunfire as the man by the stairs started shooting. The first bullet ricocheted off the wall, but the second hit the beast-man’s shoulder. He howled in pain and rage, dropping the now-dead soldier, but before he could turn, another blur rushed from the door. One that was furry and four-legged, and in the next moment, the soldier was on the ground, shrieking as what looked like a large gray wolf attacked him. As with the other soldier, the shrieks died off into incoherent burbles as the animal tore out his throat, followed by silence.
A third man came through the door, dressed in black with a beanie over his head and equipped with a backpack. He was coiling up a piece of rope with a hook at the end of it as he moved and didn’t even spare me a glance. “I’m going with Jordan to take care of whoever’s left downstairs,” he said to the man-beast. “Take care of her and meet us in the back alley.”
He disappeared down the stairs with the wolf, whom I assumed was Jordan, following at his heels, and the beast-man straightened, his animal features receding to reveal a handsome man in his early thirties. As he crouched down in front of me, I saw that his eyes were a deep emerald green, and he had full, sensuous lips that looked as though they had performed their fair share of seduction. But it wasn’t seduction he was after now as he ripped the duct tape from my lips.
“Oh God!” I cried, instinctively trying to clap my hand to my mouth to ease the sting, but it was still tied behind the chair. “That shit hurt.”
“Sorry about that, sweetheart.” The man grinned, but it was flirtatious rather than apologetic. He ducked down, his blond hair swinging into his eyes as he undid the ties at my feet.
“Are you friends with Eli?” I asked.
The man nodded and then moved around my chair to free my hands. I sighed in relief as I stretched my legs out, rotating my sore ankles.
“I’m Hunter,” he said, his voice a thick Texas drawl that made me think of ranchers and cowboy hats and cacti growing under a hot sun. “The other two downstairs are Gunner and Jordan. Eli sent us here to rescue you.”
The ties around my wrists came loose, and I jumped to my feet in elation, my heart soaring as freedom beckoned. But I was still woozy from the drugs and lack of food, and I would have fallen if Hunter hadn’t caught me by the elbow.
“Steady now,” he murmured. He waited until I was solid on my feet before he released me. “Are you okay to walk?”
“I think so,” I murmured quietly, looking back down at the chair. Chills of horror ran through me as I realized it was the same chair Dad had been strapped to. “Where is he?” I asked, panic exploding in my gut. I whirled back around to face Hunter. “Where is my father?”
“He’s dead,” Hunter said quietly. “They killed—”
“I know he’s dead,” I choked out. “I saw his body myself. They brought me to him, and he was strapped to this chair.” I swallowed, unable to bring myself to finish the sentence. “I want to know where his body is,” I said quietly. “What they did with him.”
Hunter nodded, but the frustration in his eyes told me he didn’t take Dad’s body’s disappearance nearly as seriously as I did.
“We’ll try to find him, but if we don’t, we have to move on,” he said. “Eli is—”
“How do I know you’re a friend of Eli’s?” I asked. “I know you’ve just rescued me, but I have no idea if you’re actually friends with him or not. I’m not going anywhere with you until I know for sure.”
Hunter smiled. “He told me you might say that and instructed me to show you this.” He unzipped his jacket partway, and then he reached in and withdrew a long gold chain.
“Oh my God,” I whispered as Hunter carefully placed the pocket watch in my outstretched palm. “I can’t believe he parted with this.” It was the only heirloom Eli’s father had ever given him, and he never took it off his person, not for anything.
“Well, he did,” Hunter said, “and I reckon he’d do a hell of a lot more for you. But, really, we have to get going. Eli and the others are meeting for theexchangeright now, and we need to be there in case he needs backup.”
“What?” My heart jumped into my throat. “He went anyway, even knowing that I wasn’t there? Why—”
“We weren’t sure that Carideo was going to do the exchange,” Hunter interrupted. “So, Eli agreed to meet anyway, which worked out because Carideo would have kept the majority of his soldiers here otherwise. Now let’s go before it’s too late.”
