Page 52 of Running on Empty

“Better get in there. This party is just getting started,” Ronan said, holding out his hands for me.

I was forced to let him give me a boost, using the momentum to propel me to the top of the wall, and then turn around to see him still standing there, waiting. I was supposed to reach down, give him my hand, haul him up beside me, like the teammate he was, so he could take his place by my side. His grin widened as he watched me reconsider that, thinking about how things would go if it was just me and Jax. I could even persuade Stevie to go running around the property and out the gate to find him. Ronan observed the war waging inside me like he expected it, his expression only changing when I offered him my hand.

Because that was the thing. He was my brother, no matter what happened before and after, and all my life my mother had impressed upon me how important it was to keep Ronan’s excesses to a minimum. I was my brother’s keeper and fuck knows what he’d get up to if I wasn’t there to keep an eye on him.

“Took your fucking time,” Jax whispered when we dropped down into the trees around the fence line of Snake’s properties. “We need to move fast. Those guards there.” He pointed to two men dressed in the kind of black suits only security would wear as they talked into their walkie-talkies. “They are starting to wonder what’s up. Their mates aren’t responding.”

“Well, time to silence enquiring minds,” Ronan said.

And as he screwed on the suppressor to his rifle, he became the asset to the company he always was. Stevie watched him shoulder the weapon, staring down the sight at his targets, ready to take the kill the minute they were where he wanted them. I smelled the bittersweet scent of her arousal as she truly saw the man she’d decided to mate with. He didn’t pay her any mind, his focus entirely on the job and then my hand snapped out to steady her as he let off a sharp burst of gunfire, the sound making her jump. So I could feel the rapid flutter of her heartbeat before the dull thud of the guards hitting the ground.

“Good work,” I told Ronan, patting his shoulder before the lot of us rose up. Rifles at the ready, or handgun in Stevie’s case, we stalked across the grass, keeping to the shadows where we could until we heard the crackle of our comms device.

“All good out here, son,” Blue said.

“Same on our side,” Donk added. “Time to put this fucker down.”

I could almost hear the howls of their wolves inside my head, but the staticky sound of the last guard trying to contact his colleagues cut through the air. Ronan stalked forward, plucking the device from the man’s jackets, scrupulously careful about avoiding the pool of blood growing around the guard.

“Jenkins? Jenkins, you there, copy?” came a frantic voice.

“Nah, mate,” Ronan drawled. “Jenkins is not here, but I am.”

Chapter31

Ash

“Fuck…” I shook my head at my brother’s antics, hearing the muffled shouts inside the house and accompanying squeals, but there was no time for second thoughts. We needed to get inside this house and find our quarry now. I snatched the lanyard from around the nearest guard’s neck, just in case we needed it, and then pushed my way inside the back door of the house, the thing a modern monstrosity of concrete and acres of shining glass. Great for views, not so good for a circumspect entry.

“Shit!” a couple of girls in bikinis yelped at the sight of us, a bottle of Moet and a few glasses dropping with a smash on the ground.

“Get the fuck out of the building if you want to live,” Jax snapped, gesturing to the exit he wanted them to take. The alpha bark had them moving without thought, running away as fast as their heeled mules would allow them. But another muffled shout from outside had us looking up, along with the sudden silence of the music being killed. Orders were barked, no doubt by the remaining guard.

The place was ridiculously undermanned. I’d hacked into the security feed way too easily, identifying what resources were being used on site. Either the senior Spencers had spare sons somewhere or Snake was just too fucking stupid to avail himself of his fathers’ men to protect him. Didn’t matter, just made this part of the mission quicker and easier. Ronan sauntered over to the sound system set up in what appeared to be an adjoining living room, looking out on the pool, perusing the music offerings before settling on this.

Wagner’s fuckingRide of the Valkyries. He jerked his bandana down to grin at Jax who shared his fucking glee, while I stared at Stevie.

“We’re going up now,” I told her in a calm and even voice. “We’ll take out the security guard and anyone else who wants to be a hero and then we need to interrogate Snake. I need you to stay behind us, watch our backs and let us do our job.”

“Why do you want to interrogate him?” she asked me, eyeing me suspiciously.

“Because he might have intel we can use to bring the Spencers’ entire Rush manufacturing system down. That way we can stop anyone from using it as a date rape drug again.”

“Fine, but I’m in on that.”

Like hell you are, I thought furiously.

“Once he’s secured, fine,” I replied instead.

“Fine.”

But when I turned around Ronan and Jax had already begun to move.

Guests were coming rushing down the stairs and we walked through them like they were no more than a stream of water, pushing past them, directing them to the front door where the dads lay in wait. They’d get them out of the way and most importantly, shut them the fuck up, because the screams right now weren’t helping us. But my brother’s eyes gleamed as we emerged at the top of the stairs.

When I sawSnake I felt something, a little twinge of what Jax had described. I had my rifle raised before the guard could respond, the whites of his eyes showing right before I put several bullets into his chest. But Snake? He sat on a massive leather couch, his arms resting on the back, his eyes almost rolling back in his head because of whatever he’d taken. The man was stoned enough that he just smiled when the four of us appeared before him.

“You…” He leaned forward then, elbows on his knees, trying to stare at Stevie, but failing. “Come for another round, baby?”

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