“THIS IS BULLSHIT,” Harley said as he slammed his hands down on the table. “I’m done with the waiting game, Zach. It’s been twelve fucking hours.”
“We sent it everywhere we could, Harley. Give it a little more time.”
“She could be dead by then!” he yelled, and headed for the door.
“Where the hell are you going?” Zach stood as Harley put his jacket on.
“To do something. I’m going after her, Zach, and there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me. I don’t work for you or any-fucking-body else, and I’m damn well not going to let Norah suffer while we wait on backup that may never come.”
“You go in there now and you’ll get the both of you killed.”
“The three of us.” Gerry walked to Harley and grabbed his jacket off the coat rack.
“Are you fucking kidding me? Just what in the hell do you think you two are going to accomplish?”
“You three,” Marissa corrected, and grabbed her coat as well.
“Well, this is just fantastic.” Zach turned and walked to the other side of the room.
“We can provide support from a distance. You said there’s an exterior door that leads to the basement?”
Harley nodded.
“We’ll cover it. You go in, grab her, and get the hell out.”
“You guys are going to get yourselves killed.”
“Possibly,” Harley said. “Look, Zach, I appreciate everything. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. But I can’t leave Norah there to suffer when she is the only reason we walked out of there. I get why you can’t come. Just make sure backup gets there as quickly as it can.”
“Yeah. Try not to die.”
“That’s the goal.”
* * *
“YOU LOOK COMFY.” Tom sneered as he stalked over to where Norah lay.
“Super,” she responded sarcastically, and stretched her chained arms out behind her.
He walked around her in a circle, nodding to himself and smiling. She shied away when he kicked her in the side with his boot.
“Oops,” he said. “Did that hurt?” He kicked her again, and Norah bit back the pain. She refused to show weakness to this bastard.
“You’re a real bitch, you know that?”
“I’ve been told,” she growled.
He knelt in front of her and pulled her head back by her hair. “You’re going to pay for what you did to my arm.”
“You don’t scare me.”
“Oh, I should,” he said, and released her. “I imagine Harley told you what I am capable of?”
“That you’re a murdering son of a bitch? Yeah, he filled me in.”
“I wouldn’t insult me if I were you,” Tom warned. “I do what I have to do in order to survive.”
“Like murdering Harley’s father?”
“I didn’t want to kill him.” Tom shook his head. “Jackson was a friend of mine. I warned him to keep his nose out of what didn’t concern him; he should have listened.”
“You’re right, it’s his fault that you hired some asshole to kill him in a bank,” she said sarcastically.
“You have a mouth on you, don’t you?” Tom laughed and kicked her again. “Must be that body of yours that keeps Harley around, perhaps he has other uses for that mouth.”
“You don’t know a fucking thing,” she growled out at him.
“I know that I’m going to put a bullet in you,” he said simply. “Watch you bleed out on this floor.”
Norah looked towards the door wondering why the guard had let Tom in.
“I wouldn’t worry about him,” Tom said, and waved his hand in dismissal. “He’s no longer with us.”
“You really have lost your damn mind, haven’t you?” She wasn’t sure why the fact that Tom had killed the guard surprised her, but it did. “Appears you’re more of a loose chain than Clayton thought.”
“Clayton thinks a lot of things that aren’t true.” Tom pulled the gun out of its holster on his hip and aimed it at her.
* * *
MARISSA AIMED DOWN the sight of her rifle. “I see one guard outside of the door. It’ll be easy enough to get rid of him.”
“Wait until I’m close, I want to make sure I have enough time to get her out before anyone realizes something’s off.”
“I wish you would let me go in.” Gerry shook his head. “I know, I get it, but doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“If anything is off, I’ll signal you. There was only ever one guard stationed outside of the basement, never in. This way I can go in, grab her, and get the hell out.”
“You don’t even know if she’s in there,” Gerry insisted.
“Would you please stop arguing and just let the boy go and save her?” Marissa didn’t even look up from her scope. “Got everything you need?”
Harley tucked the mini bolt cutters in his back pocket and pulled his gun from its holster. “Good to go, on your mark.”
Marissa pulled the trigger, and Harley saw the guard fall to the ground. The sound was muffled from the silencer, and she nodded at him. “All clear.”
* * *
“YOU’VE GOT TO be fucking kidding me!” Clayton yelled when he and Carl burst into the room.
“She deserves it,” Tom said without looking away from Norah’s face.
“What, you can dish it out but you can’t take it?” she mocked. “You have no problem killing innocent people, but oh, boy, take one bullet to the shoulder and all of a sudden you’re the one who’s been wronged.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re pathetic.”
“You really do have a death wish, don’t you?” Clayton growled. “Doesn’t matter, we have to go. Chopper will be here in five.” When Tom didn’t move, he motioned for Carl to grab him.
Norah felt the pain in her arm before she even heard the sound of the gun. She cried out and looked at her now bleeding right arm. The pain was indescribable, and Tom laughed at her.
“Doesn’t feel good, does it, bitch?” He laughed.
Norah jolted when she heard the back door burst open. She couldn’t see who had come in, but somehow she knew it had been Harley. Another gunshot rang out, and she watched in horror as Carl fell foreword.
“What the fuck is it now?” Clayton yelled. Norah watched his eyes widen as he took in the scene in front of him. “Fuck this.” He ran through the door and back up the stairs into the house.
Coward, she thought to herself.
Tom held his gun to Norah’s head. “I’ll fucking kill her.”
“Put the gun down, Tom. You’re not walking out of this.” Harley’s voice was calm, but Norah could hear the anger behind his words.
“If I go down, she goes with me.”
Harley took another step closer to him. Gunshots rang out above them, and Tom was distracted long enough that Harley threw his body weight against him and sent them both to the floor.
Harley pinned Tom to the floor and slammed his fist into his face. “You’re going to pay for everything,” Harley growled, and rolled off him when he saw the blood running down Norah’s arm.
“Are you—” The distraction was just long enough for Tom to hit Harley hard enough to have him sprawling on the floor. Tom got to his feet and Harley landed a kick to his knee.