Whoever it was, would pay. In blood. No one fucked with him. Not even his former Bratva brothers, who had learned that the hard way.
His mind raced as he toggled back and forth through the various camera feeds, checking all views. Finding nothing else of concern, he reversed the video of the garage coverage.
Again, there was nothing. Not a single suspicious thing in the past twelve hours to indicate that anyone had been casing the building, let alone attempting to break into the garage. He needed to go back farther. But something told him he still wouldn’t find anything.
How? How had the person responsible pulled this off? Unless…
Unless it was an inside job. Unless one of his own wasn’t as loyal as he thought. Maybe hungry enough for more money, or perhaps out of jealousy, and had fed security information to one of his enemies.
He straightened, checking all the other cameras one last time. He had plenty of enemies. Including his surviving Bratva brothers, who would love to boast of killing him. Whoever was behind this was a professional. No one else could have pulled this off without his security noticing something.
Shouts echoed from the hallway overhead. He stiffened, pulse tripping when the sharp crack of gunshots rang out above. His gaze snapped to the middle screen. Two black-clad figures appeared there, rushing past the camera before he could see any details about them.
The enemy was here. And they were coming for him.
Abandoning the office, he rushed out into the hall, headed for the safe room at the end. It was hidden behind a false wall, and accessible only with a code and a biometric scanner that only his and Ivan’s palm and fingerprints had been entered into. He would be safe in there, and the cops would never find him.
More shots echoed out overhead as he ran. He heard Ivan’s voice, shouting something behind him. The clatter of running feet on the tile floor.
Coming closer.
He reached the fake wall and pushed on the hidden panel to expose the security pad. He punched in the code and pressed his palm flat to the scanner, his heart thudding hard against his ribs and a film of sweat coating his back. “Come on, come on,” he growled under his breath, waiting for the scanner to confirm his prints.
Finally, the little light at the bottom switched from red to green and the concealed door popped open. He swung it wide, was just about to step inside as the interior light flickered on.
Then he heard it. A faint whisper of movement behind him.
He froze and turned his head slightly, catching the outline of the shadow thrown against the wall.
Darting a hand inside to grab the weapon attached to the wall, he whipped around to confront the threat. Too late.
Something slammed into his back. He jerked and cried out, instinctively reaching for the wound. But there was no slickness against his fingers. Only a tight, burning circle where the round had hit him.
He leaned toward the open doorway but the attacker slammed into him, knocking him off his feet. He grunted as they flew backward into the safe room, the impact with the floor knocking the pistol from his hand. It spun across the tile floor and out the door before he could grab for it.
He rolled, knocking the person aside, and jumped to his feet as the door automatically closed, locking them inside. Shock ripped through him when he saw a woman standing on the other side of the room. She was dressed all in black, her face concealed by a balaclava.
She stood not fifteen feet away, her body so still it sent a wave of unease through him.
One gloved hand reached up and removed the balaclava, revealing stunning Asian features and deadly black eyes. “Julia sent me.”
****
Eden parked the van in an empty lot outside an abandoned building near the police station and paused only long enough to glance into the back to check the cargo. All three men were bound and unconscious. She’d sedated the driver the instant she’d finished her quick interrogation, which she’d recorded on her phone and sent to both Trinity and Amber.
The resulting confession—in which she had remained off camera—and the rest of the evidence her team would turn over pretty much guaranteed his and the others’ conviction. She hoped they rotted behind bars for the rest of their lives.
“Sayonara, assholes.”
There was no time to wipe down the van, but any DNA she or Zack had left behind would be minimal because of their gloves. Besides, the men should start to come around within the next few minutes. By the time the cops got here, they should be mostly awake and she would be long gone.
Exiting the vehicle, she used her burner phone to take a picture of it to show the plate and location, then sent it to Trinity with a message. It’s done.
Trin would take it from there, sending the evidence and the edited video from the kidnapping attempt to local police to deal with these pathetic excuses for human beings.
She jogged past the end of the chain link fence and around the corner where Zack was waiting in a rental vehicle. She pulled open the door and slid inside with a smile, but it faded when she saw the look on his face. “What’s wrong?” she asked, hand frozen on the door handle.
“Heath’s down. Car hit him,” he said grimly, firing up the engine.
“Shit. What about the others?”
“No word yet,” he said, quickly turning onto the road and heading south. “But we need to get there A-fucking-sap to back them up.”
Chapter Fifteen
Georgia jumped out of the car the moment Miguel pulled up to the curb down a side street a block from the police station, grim-faced and adrenaline still pumping through her from what had just happened a few minutes before.
Heath was being rushed to the hospital right now in the back of the van Amber and Jesse had been using as a mobile CP. Amber and Briar were both in the back with him while Jesse drove, but given his injuries, there wasn’t much they could do to help him. Heath needed emergency care if he was going to survive.
She ripped open the rear passenger door and reached for the woman seated there. “Come on.” Grabbing her hand, Georgia pulled her out and steadied her before reaching in for Holly.
Holly slid across the seat and allowed Georgia to help her out, balancing her weight on her one leg, the buggered knee meant she couldn’t walk without help. Georgia could put her across her shoulders, but that would draw unwanted attention, and Holly had been through more than enough already.
She draped Holly’s arm across her shoulders, grabbed her around the waist. “Come on,” she said to the other woman, and started along the sidewalk.
There was no one back here, and that was a good thing. Georgia had ditched the balaclava to avoid suspicion if anyone saw her, but being caught on CCTV between here and the police station was a given. She intended to only get as close as absolutely necessary.
Holly hissed in a breath and made muffled sounds of pain as Georgia hurried her along. “I know, I’m sorry,” Georgia said. “But we have to make this quick.”
“What about your friend?” the other woman asked, hurrying alongside them. “Is he going to be okay?”
“I don’t know.” None of them would know anything until the medical team assessed him at the hospital. “Come on. Keep going.”
Holly hobbled along with her around the corner. Cars zipped back and forth on the next street, and there were people on the sidewalks.