Meanwhile, I look back at the room. The two men and two women exit, but now they wear bright orange tee-shirts with a smiley face on them. In addition, they escort three women out of the room. They wear the same shirts but are dirty, disheveled, and wear no shoes.
What the hell?
I follow their movements, but instead of heading to the elevator, they take the stairs. Whoever those people are, they know something about Sybil. And if they’re taking the stairs, I strongly doubt they’re walking down twenty-five flights.
Which means I know exactly where they’re headed.
As I close down my screen, several of the technicians call out to Bert. All I hear is something about bright orange shirts. I race to the rooftop with no idea what I’m going to do, but I stop in my apartment and grab my gun.
I’m prepared for anything.
8
LIAM
Jinx and Lily follow us into the room.
I take out one guard. Wolfe gets another. We expect two but find six instead.
The remaining men rise from their game of cards, reaching for their weapons. Lily and Jinx don’t hesitate. The girls are fucking fierce. Together, they take down two men, leaving only two standing.
Or rather, two rushing toward me and Wolfe.
They completely ignore Lily and Jinx, which is an epic mistake.
Jinx moves into action. In a flowing dance of death, the men go down. We work seamlessly as a team, which is amazing considering neither Wolfe nor I have ever operated with a female before. To my surprise, it’s just like working alongside Max, Knox, Axel, and Griff.
Who knew?
“Where are the women?” Jinx scans the room. Two doors lead out of the room. One goes to a bathroom, which is empty. Jinx heads to the other door. “Found them.”
I yank the duffel bag off my shoulder and toss it on the table. We work on borrowed time. Once open, I yank out a stack of bright orange shirts with a garish white Be Happy smiley face smack dab on the front.
Our goal is no longer about stealth.
It’s about blending in.
Wolfe heads into the room with the women. Rose Hunt, Julie Gant, and Lori Black are filthy, scared, and afraid. They huddle together, unsure if we’re there to help, or to harm.
But they’re alive and not too damaged to move.
Jinx hands each girl a shirt, calming the girls and soothing them by explaining who we are and what’s happening. None of the women wear shoes, which complicates things.
We’ll make it work.
All the women look comical because the extra-large shirts hang down to their knees. Wolfe gives me a look as he dons his shirt.
“We need to move.” I keep my voice low, for Wolfe’s ears only.
“Copy that.” He glances at the women. “Ten seconds.”
“Gotcha.” Jinx helps Rose Hunt with her shirt while Lily moves to the other women.
While Wolfe gets the women ready to move, I watch over our sleeping guards. When we head out, Wolfe’s on point and I take the rear. Jinx holds hands with Rose. Lily has Julie Gant on her left and Lori Black on her right.
“Which direction? Up or down?” Wolfe asks for direction.
“Back to the roof,” Mitzy responds.
“So, we’re really doing this?” I ask.
“Trust me.” Mitzy’s voice is terse. Strained.
Wolfe looks back at me and shakes his head. I’m with him. What Mitzy plans is absolute insanity.
“We know.” Jinx squeezes Rose’s hand, lending support.
“I’m scared.” Rose sniffs, but she’s steady on her feet and ready for whatever comes next.
The woman is a fighter.
All three women were brutally taken and traumatized. They’re strong where it counts.
Wolfe counts us down. On his mark, we move as a group, heading back to the stairwell and up the flight of stairs.
I remove the duffel bag from my shoulder, pull out the white masks, then tie the door closed. It won’t stop anyone, but it’ll definitely slow them down. Tucking the masks under my arm, I take the stairs two at a time.
Wolfe steers the women through the maze of the machine room, then stops at the service door where we entered. A deep thumping bass sounds from the other side accompanied by the stomping and clapping of dancers.
While I hand out the masks, Wolfe peers through the slats of the service door. “Fucking amazing.”
We exit onto the rooftop bar and come to a halt, stunned by what we see.
A flash mob has taken over the entire roof. They wear identical orange shirts with that damn garish white smiley face on it. In addition, they wear white masks as they dance to the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. It’s absolutely chaotic and perfect.
We move into the sea of orange, the four of us with our three rescues. We do a bit of rearranging. Wolfe takes Rose’s hand. I grab Julie. Jinx and Lily put Lori between them.
Definitely not a stealth op.
We move into the crowd, dancing with the flash mob as we make our way across the roof to the elevators.
“If you like this,” Mitzy’s voice rings in my ear, “you’re going to love what’s downstairs.”
Halfway across the dance floor, the elevator doors open and half a dozen security guards pour out.
“Time to move.” Wolfe presses forward.
The dance steps are easy. Wolfe is a bit awkward. Lily and Jinx carve up the floor. Rose, Lori, and Julie stumble through the steps, still in shock and unsure about the rescue.
My attention sticks to the guards. When they head to the periphery, moving away from the elevator, I breathe in. They were probably sent to keep an eye on the crowd and make sure it doesn’t get too crazy.
We make it to the elevators, unmolested, when all of a sudden, every cellphone goes off. The crowd shouts and moves en-mass for the elevator. We push in, keeping our group together, where we hide in plain sight.
People jostle one another. As a big man, I keep my elbows in while protecting my charge. I accidentally bump into a woman beside me.
“Sorry.” My gruff apology is met with a piercing glare from the beautiful woman.
She stands out because she’s not wearing an orange shirt like everyone else. Or a mask.
And the stare she gives me is filled with unrestrained hatred.
I do a double-take because her eyes are the color of sapphires.
Fucking stunning.
I shift Julie to my other side, protecting my rescue.
The people inside the elevator vibrate with excess energy. It’s a palpable force. Everyone wears a white mask. We’re all in the same garish orange shirt.
Except for the woman with sapphire eyes.
Her attention bounces around the crowd, but I swear her look lingers on our rescues.
I pull Julie in tight, sheltering her within my protective umbrella. With a step to the left, I move away from the unusual woman.
That creates a hole in the crowd, which an excited partygoer immediately fills. The man shouts, holding up his phone. “It’s going viral!” He shows Wolfe his screen. “Look.”
I peek and see a video of hundreds of people on the rooftop dancing.
“Ten thousand views and climbing,” the man says. “We’re going to break the record.”
Everyone shouts at his comment. Record? It’s insane, but I wouldn’t put it past Mitzy to try to break a flash mob record in the middle of an operation.