Page 89 of Montana Freedom

It reminded me of when we’d gone in to take out Evelyn’s stalker, and it had been a mistake. Something in my instincts was tingling, but I didn’t know what. Liam and Noah had approached Simon’s other hideout easily too. And the mission from my own past—

“Be careful,” I said. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

The trees were clear, and other than these buildings, the nearest ones were another five miles away.

“Yeah,” Grant said. “This feels wrong.”

“Nothing’s changed,” Phillips said. “Everything shows six alive inside the buildings and no more.”

Phillips and I were together, heading for the power source. Liam and Noah had paired off, heading for the front, and the last group of three was circling to the back entrance.

“There,” Phillips said. On the wall of the building in front of us was the power box. Outside.

“This is too easy,” I said. “Something’s wrong.”

We got closer, bracing ourselves against the wall. Our entrance was ten feet to the left. “Everyone in position?”

“Ready,” Noah and Grant said at the same time.

“Pulling the power.” I flipped the power to the building, and sparks shattered out of it, a whining sound whirling through the wires. Behind us, an ear-piercing screech made us cringe, and a firework went straight into the sky, exploding in a giant red burst behind us.

“Fuck,” Phillips said, but we were already moving, busting down the door into darkness, and…he was standing there. Simon and two of his men.

I shot a dart into the one on the left. Phillips took the one on the right, and I stopped short of shooting Simon Derine. Because he had a gun pointed straight at Emma.

In a cage.

She was in a fucking cage.

It was only adrenaline that kept my mind clear. The flashbacks were hovering at the edges of my vision.

“Emma,” I said. “Are you all right?”

“I’m alive.”

“Yes,” Simon said. “She’s alive. And you came running, just like I hoped.”

“Simon Derine,” Phillips said. “You’re under arrest.”

He laughed. “Sure about that?”

Light blazed to the left, and for a long moment, I thought it was fire. Just like that day I’d burst into the room and it exploded in flames, killing everyone but me.

It wasn’t fire. It was headlights and gunshots.

Bullets hit the wall, and Phillips and I dropped to the floor. The doors burst open with Liam, Noah, and the rest, running in and dropping too.

“The firework,” I said. “The fucking firework.”

The next buildings were five miles away and had been abandoned. They had beenabandoned. Every scan told us that. But it had been a signal. Somehow, they’d been hidden.

The guys made it to us, and we all managed to get into the next room, which put more walls between us and the firing guns. “Emma!” I called, lunging for the door.

“She’s not in there,” Noah said. “No one is in there.”

Shit. He’d taken her and run, and we were pinned down from the outside.

“He had her at gunpoint,” Phillips said. “Could have made you do whatever he wanted. But he still took her and left.” He stood, looking around frantically. “Daniel, he said you came running just like he wanted.”

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