Wild Ways (32 page)

His only chance to save Mollie and the other women was to pick off the bikers. A surprise attack, one by one in quick succession. Chase had warned them about using unnecessary force, to protect both him and the agency from any fallout. Which made the Taser a good option. They had all trained on them back at headquarters. The concept of shooting someone without the intent to kill was novel after years at war. Julian remained close to the wall as he neared the end, where a man stood guard.

“What’s that?” the guy said. “Thought I heard footsteps.”

Julian slowed his pace and breathing so he could hear better over the breeze. At least two men that way. A
click
signaled the advent of a flashlight. The beam swept down the length of the wall.

“Probably the wind,” the other guy said. “Guess they finished off that asshole.”

The other guy laughed. “Did you hear him screaming like a little girl?”

Julian lay facedown among several short bushes. He didn’t want to chance his eyes catching the reflection of the light. Thank goodness for his dark hair and olive complexion. Some of his comrades in the SEALs had been as white as beacons.

The light faded, and the two men went back to chatting.

Julian remembered some of the other side of the wall crumbling away in places. He started heading back, looking for any kind of breach. And he found one. It looked like a bush in the dark, even tapering at the top. It was almost broken through, but not all the way. He pulled at the crumbling concrete and made the opening big enough. Lying on the ground, he pushed slowly through. Yes, darker here. At the far end, he saw the silhouettes of the two guards pacing back and forth. To the left, the lights.

Suddenly the music got loud, then tapered. A man’s voice announced that they were starting the party.

Hell
.

Julian shoved himself the rest of the way through, the rough concrete scratching his skin. He did a crouch run to the nearest bush. Dirt stuck to his wet skin, but he didn’t take time to brush it off. He dashed to the next closest bush. Men’s laughter floated over the music, which was now at medium volume. Terrorists were easier to understand. Many were indoctrinated against Americans and others from a young age. They believed in some ideal, as warped as it was. But to hurt women for
fun
, Julian couldn’t comprehend.

As he moved from bush to bush, he drew close enough to see two partitioned areas, though they were open at the back. On the right, a woman was cuffed to the wall, in a skimpy costume like the ones the exotic dancers had worn. On the left—Mollie! Cuffed to another woman he thought was her sister.

His heart shot right up into his throat. Down the center, he saw that there were
several “rooms,” reminding him of the emergency section at a hospital. A man walked into the cubicle on the right and drew the curtain closed, but it didn’t conceal him from Julian’s vantage point. The woman started crying as he picked up something from a cart nearby, his low voice menacing. Julian wasn’t close enough to use the Taser, which shot probes about fifteen feet. His finger shook as he fought wrapping it over the gun’s trigger. The man waved the item in front of the crying woman’s face—a surgical blade. He started cutting the woman’s neck, blood dripping down her collarbone. Julian aimed and fired. Blood splattered the curtain, and the man collapsed. The woman screamed, but that wouldn’t attract any attention. They were expecting it.

Mollie and Di both stared across the way, though they couldn’t see what had happened. Julian edged closer but stopped when another guy sauntered to the end of the hallway. He peered into Mollie’s cubicle.

“I get two for one, right?” he called to someone out of view.

“Yep,” a man answered. “Just do the dark redhead first, Crimson said.”

Son of a bitch. It was all Julian could do to not waste the guy right there before he even stepped into their breathing space. But he had to hold back until the creep was out of view of anyone down the hall. Damn, but he wanted to pick him off right then and there. Because any man who would pay to torture and rape women deserved to die in Julian’s book.

The man pulled out a twelve-inch knife and murmured something to the women as he pulled the curtain shut. Julian dropped him with his gun. Mollie instantly looked in his direction, and the relief he saw on her face was worth everything he’d just gone through. She nudged Di, nodding toward Julian.

“That’s the man I was telling you about,” he heard her whisper as he stepped into their cubicle.

Di looked at him as though he were some angel. “You were right.”

He didn’t have time to ask what Mollie had said. He went to work cutting the ties around Mollie’s wrists, then he picked Di’s cuffs.

He couldn’t help pulling Mollie close. “You all right?”

“I am now.”

Mollie gripped his arms and gave him a hard, quick kiss. “Thank you for not dying.”

Not for coming for her; for not dying. It made his heart go
blip
. “I do my best, ma’am. Stay here,” he said, stepping back. “I’m going to work my way through the cubicles and neutralize any biker I find.” He handed her the other gun. “There isn’t a lot of ammo left in the magazine, but shoot any bastard that comes in wearing a vest. Wait until he gets close, though. There’s a woman across the way.”

Someone was crying on the other side of the dividing curtain, pleading for her torturer to stop. Julian peeked around the back edge of the curtain, cringing at the sight. One of the girls he’d seen dancing the night before, in the same schoolgirl costume, was bent over a school desk, and the man tore her panties down and was unzipping his jeans.

“Ever been taken in the ass, little girl?” he was saying, aiming his pencil dick at her.

Julian pressed the button on the Taser. It fired, and the prongs nailed him. He jerked, his eyes rolling back in their sockets, and he dropped. Julian moved forward and coldcocked him with the gun, knocking him out for longer than the minute and a half the stun would give him. He pulled up the girl’s panties and whispered, “I’m here to help. Stay quiet.”

He moved to the opening and peered out into the hallway. The music didn’t cover the sounds of the women’s cries coming from the other cubicles. It sickened him, but he had to keep his focus.

He spotted Damon at the far end, asking two other guys, “Where’s Scotch and the others?”

Julian aborted his move across the hallway and ducked around the edge of the next curtain. Another disgusting sight, this guy pistol-whipping the woman and calling her filthy names. He was so into his dark fantasy that Julian was able to come within a foot of him and give him a taste of his own fun—name-calling not included. He pressed the Taser itself against the man’s neck, sending him to the floor amid a barrage of
crackling.

Julian put his hand to the woman’s shoulder. “Shh. We’re going to get you out of here.”

And he moved on. He needed to take out as many of these guys as possible before they realized what was happening. The guy behind curtain number 4 met the nice little Taser, too, but Julian didn’t have time to knock him out. Footsteps pounded on the ground.

“Pike’s seizing!” a man shouted. “I think he’s having an epileptic fit, man.”

“So’s Captain,” another man said. “And he’s bleeding.”

“We’re under attack. Get that son of a bitch.” Damon maybe.

Advantage over. Julian pulled up the next curtain and nailed the guy with the Taser as he started running out of the cubicle. He heard the
whoosh
of fabric as curtains started flying open.

Julian doubled back to Mollie and Di. When he came around the edge of the curtain next to their cubicle, the sight of Damon aiming his gun at them shorted his heartbeat. Julian started to pull the trigger.

“Drop it or they die right here,” Damon said, automatically aiming the gun at Julian.

He saw Mollie bring her gun up a second before Damon’s face blew apart. She was thrown back with the recoil. As she took in the blood and gore, she screamed, a shaking hand going to her mouth as Di huddled next to her. Men were coming from the far end now, drawn by gunfire. Julian jerked on the wire to the lantern above, killing the light.

“Drop to the ground,” he whispered. “Press against the wall and feel your way toward the back end. There’s a gap several yards down. Crawl through to the other side of the wall, hunker down. Jump off the seawall if you have to. It’s dark and you’ll be out of the line of fire.”

Di was whimpering, and Mollie shushed her.

He sensed a presence before he saw movement in his peripheral vision. “Drop it
or I shoot them,” a man ordered.

One of the patches had his gun aimed at the women, though Julian was inches from the line of fire. It was a semi-auto, so within seconds he could kill all of them. Julian was fast, but he’d never bring his gun up in time.

“I got ’em!” the patch shouted, turning his head a fraction of an inch.

Julian started to bring his gun up, and the guy jerked back to firing position. “Uh-uh.” He flexed his finger. “Say goodbye.” Blood splattered the side of his face, and he collapsed. The shot was silenced. Not his gun. Not Mollie’s.

Julian turned to find three skulking shadows approaching from the empty end of the corridor to the right. He held his gun at a safe angle, ready for the guys that the dead man had alerted to rush in from the left. Risk’s mug emerged from the shadows first, then Sax, and finally Chase. Relief poured through him.

“Thanks,” Julian whispered.

Risk nodded his chin toward Chase. “Dude shoots pretty damned good for nonmilitary.”

Chase
had shot the guy?

Brick brought up the rear, wincing in pain. “Where’s Birdy?” He obviously found her, because his face lit up.

Two more patches came flying down the hall and met an unhappy surprise. A thundering sound bounced off the walls. Harleys, a bunch of them. “Oh, hell. They’ve got reinforcements,” Julian said.

“No,
we’ve
got reinforcements,” Sax said. “The Purgatory Posse.”

“Big Juan!” Mollie cried, a smile on her face.

Sirens wailed, moving in fast. Blue and red lights flashed in the distance. “
And
the police?” Mollie asked.

Chase gave her a crooked smile. “We deliver it all.”

Several bikes roared down the corridor. The Grim Reaper on the front of their vests identified them as the Posse. “Who’s Julian?” the guy on the lead bike asked.

“Me.”

He hitched his thumb behind him. “My guys have the Kings who were out that way under wraps.”

“Good job,” Julian said. “Can you stay and watch the ladies at this end?”

“You bet.” He killed his engine and dismounted.

Brick rushed over to Di and swept her into his arms. She looked like a rag doll, falling limp in his hold.

“Let’s clear this place,” Julian said to his team. “Hold all Kings, and verify that it’s not the Posse before shooting. There’s a woman in each of these cubicles, and I want them out of there ASAP.”

“Copy that,” Risk said.

Mollie clutched Di’s hand. “We’re going into the next cubicle with Katie. We’ll duck behind the desk and wait for you.” She patted the gun. “And I will check before I shoot.” Julian turned to Risk, but he didn’t have to ask. He was stripping off his shirt to offer as a coverup. Brick took off his and covered Di. Mollie gratefully shrugged into Risk’s shirt. Julian had no shirt to offer.

Julian and his team moved down the hallway, checking each cubicle for anyone hiding out there. He could hear his comrades’ grunts of disgust as they saw what the women had been subjected to.

“Clear on this side,” Risk said.

One of the cops shouted for someone to stop. Another one rushed around the corner of the wall and came to a stop at the sight of Julian and his team.

Chase said, “I’m the one who had your chief call you out here. I’m Chase Justiss. These guys are with me.”

But the cop’s attention was on the woman in the first cubicle, who was sobbing. But alive and mostly untouched.

“Holy …” he said. Then he took hold of his mic at his shoulder. “Chief, you’d better get a bunch of uniforms out here. And ambulances.”

“Take pictures,” Julian said. “For evidence. Because I’m unlocking these ladies now.” He understood how important it was to preserve a crime scene, but he couldn’t
stand for them to be bound anymore.

The officer shook himself out of his shock. “Yes, sir.”

“You’re a mess,” Risk said, assessing Julian in the lights.

“No doubt. Thrown off a van, beaten, and near drowned. All in a day’s work.”

Julian followed the officer who was snapping pictures and unlocked the women’s cuffs. Chase and Sax stripped off their shirts to offer the ladies. Taking their lead, some of the Posse guys who were assisting removed their shirts, too. They offered comfort to women who were crying and scared.

Once they reached the last woman, Julian glanced back. “Look, I’m going to—”

“Go to her,” Risk said. “I get it. Believe me, I get it.”

Julian ran back to the cubicle where Mollie waited. Brick was still holding Di, cooing and whispering to her. Mollie was talking to the young woman in the schoolgirl uniform. When she turned and saw him, she threw herself into his arms.

More sirens pierced the air, and before long medics and cops swarmed in. The scene became chaos once again. At least no one was shooting.

Di could barely stand when the medics examined her. She was shaking, jumpy, yet she looked exhausted.

“Are you on anything?” the medic asked.

“Th-they k-kept giving me s-stuff,” she said. “To keep me c-calm.”

Mollie looked torn as the medic led her to the ambulance. “Go with her,” Julian said. “I’m going to be tied up here for a while, I imagine.” There would be a lot of questions. He’d killed people.

“I want to go,” Brick said, starting to follow.

“Meet us at the hospital. I’ll take care of her from here.” Mollie’s voice was sharp, brittle as she faced Brick.

She was looking at Julian when the ambulance door closed a minute later. It was over. Relief softened her features. But Julian wasn’t sure what the future would hold. He was going to have to wait until the fallout stopped … well, falling.