Hunger's Mate (19 page)

Jewel moved to the window, the one that would lead her to freedom and paused, her entire body going still, her heart slowing until she almost wasn't breathing. Four military vehicles drove through the front gate of Perryville Resorts.

Larry was in the military.

After the first four, big trucks covered in fatigue tarps followed, one full of soldiers, guns in hands. She shook her head, closing her eyes and letting her forehead rest on the glass.

“No. No. No,” she whispered.

The next seconds were crucial to her survival, she knew this without any doubt. If Larry got into this building …
when
he got into this building, because with the amount of men and firepower he had with him, he was definitely getting in. It would be over at that point. He'd search every room, every hole in this place until he found her and then …

“You're nothing without me, you know that, don't you? Nothing but a second-rate whore shaking her ass to make a quick buck. You were living in a trailer when I found you and that's all you were ever going to have out of life. You should be thanking me.”

Larry had said those words to her, while she'd been on her knees, the flat of his foot pressing down on the small of her back until she'd whimpered. She couldn't fall, couldn't falter, or break, or even beg for help. He hated when she begged for help. All she could ever beg for was him.

And he wasn't all wrong. She had been performing the private dances for money. She'd needed at least two hundred and fifty thousand and the manager of the club had shown her how to get it. Her father had needed that money for his medication and the private nurse, and then she could pay the rent for a nice two-bedroom apartment so she wouldn't have to worry about them having to sleep in a trailer again. That money would have gone such a long way. Larry's appearance at the club that night had been planned. The duffle bag of money he'd shown her the moment they were alone in that room and the offer of more were all the incentive she'd needed to dance for him throughout the night.

The building rocked at that moment, jerking her until she fell onto her knees. Her brow started to sweat as she remembered this position. She hated it. Hated each time Larry had pushed her down his way, had forced her to stay down in this subservient position while he did whatever pleased him at the time, whether that was stepping on her, or masturbating to the sight of her spread open like this and waiting for him, spurting his release all over her back. She flinched at the thought.

Or had it been that follow-up noise and jerking of the building? She didn't know and she wasn't waiting another second to find out. Instead, Jewel reached for the handle of the backpack, unzipped it, and made sure the black velvet pouch she'd wrapped in a hair scarf and then stuffed into a ziplock bag was still there. She pushed her purse inside and re-zipped the bag. Then she threw it over her shoulder and slid the door to the balcony open. Down below the soldiers had already started jumping out of the parked vehicles, running to the front doors of the building, some of them going around back.

Something else could be going on, she thought fleetingly. There could be some type of national issue, maybe there was a storm coming and the governor had declared a state of emergency and possibly called in the National Guard. Or maybe, no, she knew who and what it was. She knew exactly what was going on and as she touched her hand to the railing she knew she had to go. Now!

She had just been about to launch herself over the railing so she could climb down the drainpipe, covered almost completely by the ivy that roped along some parts of the building, when a strong arm grabbed her elbow, holding her still.

 

Chapter 13

Smoke alarms blared throughout Perryville Resorts. Every overhead sprinkler in the building had engaged, so that water showered down to the floor, producing even more thick smoke that had guests and employees alike choking. They held cloths to their faces as they followed the staff's lead out of the building. It was utter chaos and it was about to get worse.

Lifting an arm, he shot straight through the door of the room he was told belonged to Sebastian Perry. More smoke and sparks etched the gigantic hole that the UK—short for UK79865—that had been given to him by a very close friend had created. It was a deadly weapon with spot-on precision from any distance. Up close it would probably blow a man's head off, which was exactly what he planned to do if this Perry character gave him any problems about getting back what was rightfully his.

A couple of his men went in before him knocking over crap, breaking probably stupidly expensive stuff. Crowe stayed focused, looking for anyone human, anyone that could tell him where Dawn was.

“Empty, boss,” someone yelled from the bedroom.

“They're running around this place like lost animals,” another soldier joked. “All of'em scared of a little C4 and a bunch of guns,” he continued.

At that moment, shots came through the window in the room closest to the door. Crowe had just entered the bedroom to assure himself that no one was there. Now, he shrugged. “Guess all of them aren't lost animals,” he quipped, lifting his gun arm and heading out into the living room to find out who was bat crazy enough to shoot at him and his men.

As he stepped into the room, he saw at least nine men running through the now-broken-to-shit windows, guns drawn, shooting whatever they could. He simply lifted his arm, let off three shots, and watched three of the men closest to the one in the middle drop to the floor. His soldiers picked off another five of them, leaving the middle man, the one Crowe wanted. It was a gut feeling he had, but Crowe suspected this one was the leader, or at least a high-ranking official by the different-color uniform he wore and the air of authority this one had exuded as he'd made his way into the room. Not one to second-guess a gut instinct because he was rarely wrong, Crowe turned his gun directly at this one.

“Kill me and you'll never know what it is, and believe me,” he said with a smirk, “you want to know.”

*   *   *

“Let go of me!” Jewel said the moment she looked into his sea-green eyes. Correction, right at this moment they looked like a storm-ravaged sea, his brow creased, lips clenched tight as he glared down at her.

His fingers gripped her arm, causing her shoulder to ache as she attempted to pull away.

“I told you not to move,” he said through gritted teeth. “You were trying to get away.”

“In case you haven't noticed there's a mini-war going on down there,” she said with a nod toward the balcony and the many military trucks parked all over the driveway. “I'd rather not stick around and become a casualty. Now. Let. Me. Go!”

All her pulling and resisting was futile. His grip was simply too strong and he was too damned stubborn to listen to reason, as evidenced by the low growl she thought she heard coming from him, and the way he quickly snatched her away from the balcony.

In the next seconds he was pulling her along behind him so fast she doubted her feet were actually touching the ground. But the pack was secure at her back, her cell phone stuffed into her front pants pocket. For now, that and getting out of this building alive were all that mattered.

Ezra just about yanked the door off its hinges, pulling her into the hallway right behind him. People were running everywhere, wet from the overhead sprinklers and yelling in an attempt to find a way out.

“The exit's that way!” she yelled to Ezra.

“I know where the goddamned exit is,” was his quick retort.

She figured he knew because he knew just about everything that was going on in this place, even though he'd only been here a couple of weeks.

“I wasn't talking about us, I'm talking about them!” she continued to yell over the noise. “They're going the wrong way!”

He stopped abruptly and she ran straight into his back, almost falling to the floor with the force. He grabbed her around the waist then scooped her beside him as they backtracked to the part of the hallway that split. One directed them to the elevators and one to the stairs that would lead to the front lobby. When he finally let her go, she thought it was a mistake and she was ready to run, to get away from him and get out of this building until she saw his arms raised, waving back and forth.

“This way to the exit!” Ezra yelled. “Down the hall, this way to the green exit sign.”

Momentarily shocked, Jewel didn't know what to say or do for that matter. Then she started grabbing people that were too frantic to listen and turning them in the right direction. “Go straight down this hall. Follow the neon signs,” she told them.

They stood there a few seconds more, directing all that ran past them, watching as the masses started heading down the hallway, busting through the exit doors at the end.

“We gotta go,” he said to her, and she nodded her consent.

The elevator doors opened and soldiers with guns in hand came charging out.

“Get in front of me and run as fast as you can,” Ezra instructed her. “Don't look back! Just run!”

With those words he pushed her in front of him. She heard more gunshots, some sounding awfully close to her but she ran, lifting her feet and moving as fast as she could, the weight of her bag hindering her slightly, the adrenaline kicking in, edging her forward.

Jewel used both hands to push through the exit doors, taking the stairs with a burst of energy. There were still lots of people in the stairwell and she didn't want to push past them, causing more chaos than there already was. She did, however, want to turn back to see if Ezra was still with her. But she didn't. He'd told her not to look back. She needed to get out of this place, to get to her car and to get to her father. Ezra would be fine. He could take care of himself, she was absolutely sure of that fact. Still, when she reached the bottom of the stairs and edged her way outside she did stop. She turned around and felt her chest clench because Ezra wasn't there.

Her head spun one way and then the next as she tried to find him. People were everywhere, running and screaming, falling and crying out. Gunshots were still sounding, but only from the inside. The men had left their vehicles and rushed the building; none of them stood outside to guard the property. That wasn't a good sign. Jewel didn't want to move from that spot, she wanted to wait for Ezra, but the others around her had a different idea. In seconds she was being pushed forward toward the rest of the crowd, toward what they thought was safety.

This exit had taken them out the side of the building. If she ran just a few feet she'd be in the employee parking lot where her car was. She could be in it and on the road in ten minutes. Looking around once more she searched the crowd for a man who would be taller and broader than the others, whose eyes would find her in the masses, she knew without a doubt. But she did not see him.

What she did see, however, took her by surprise. Men she'd seen throughout the resort in the time she'd worked there. Some she knew from either being in the gym or helping out when they had big events to set up for. People she'd seen talking to Jacques or Mr. Perry and even going into those private meetings they held in the second-floor conference rooms. She knew most of them by name, knew their personalities and habits. Seeing them now, guns in hand, grim faces, eyes alert, wasn't the norm. Right now, in this moment they ceased being hired help around the resort and looked more like the soldiers she'd watched disembark from those trucks. They looked like they were ready and waiting to kill.

She'd just figured this situation was much worse than she'd originally thought—if that were at all possible—and decided her best bet was to get the hell out of here right now. She could blend in with this crowd and disappear just as she'd been planning to do all along and this time, there was no one here to stop her. Jewel turned, ready to break out into a run when she was grabbed by the waist and lifted into the air. The breath was knocked out of her as she was turned, her stomach flopping against something rock hard.

She was moving then. Or rather the person carrying her was moving, quickly through the crowd as if the people knew they were coming and parted the way for them. In the next instant she heard tires on the asphalt, more yelling, more gunshots, then she was tossed into the backseat, doors slamming closed behind her. The vehicle was moving by the time she'd managed to right herself and look forward. There was a partition there, blocking her view of who was driving or where they were going. With both fists she pounded on the surface, yelling to be let out.

Then the door to her left opened and Ezra slipped inside. Her fists slid down the partition to her sides because she knew the yelling and pounding was definitely futile then. Instead she twisted, leaping over the seat until she could pound her fists into his massive chest instead.

“Where were you? Where did you go? I turned around and you weren't there, you asshole!” she screamed at him.

He let her continue for what seemed like endless seconds. She knew he was letting her do this because she was well aware of how strong he was and how commanding his mere appearance could be. Still, it was a minute or so before he grabbed her wrists, pulling her up so close their noses now touched.

“I told you not to look back,” he said through gritted teeth. “You are so damned hardheaded.”

“Well, you're a jerk and a—” Her words were cut off as his lips took hers in a hungry, desperate kiss that melted every word in her mind, every plan she'd conceived, every dream she'd ever had into a puddle of molten hot desire.

*   *   *

Jacques held tight to his gun, but lowered his arm. He was outnumbered, or so it seemed. There were six human men, counting the one that looked more like a life-sized toy soldier complete with crew cut, combat boots, and fatigue wear. On Jacques's side were the only two shifter guards left standing, which actually meant there were three fully grown and experienced jaguars against six humans with firearms. They could still take them down, or do a hell of a lot of damage in the meantime.