He reached for it at the same time that Frankie ran back in the kitchen, guns in both hands.
“Guys we have company, doesn’t look like our people,” Frankie balked. “Two guys on bikes were heading toward the house from the woods.”
My heart jumped in my throat and I dropped the mixing spoon.
Oh God no…
What was happening?
Jack whipped out his phone and spoke to someone really quick.
“Ra. They’re here. We have to get out of here,” Jack cried. He moved to the cupboard and pulled out a gun.
Just then though, a loud smash echoed in the sitting room and two men ran into the kitchen.
Jack fired a shot from the smaller gun and took them out.
He then grabbed my hands and put me behind him while we moved forward, Frankie next to us, just in time to see more guys filling the house.
Jack shoved me in the corner and opened the door to the basement.
“Go down there and stay there until I say,” he ordered.
I did as he said, following exactly what he said.
I opened the door and ran down the stairs.
After five minutes I wasn’t sure what was worse for me, being upstairs and in the action where maybe I could have helped, but also get myself killed. Or being down here and listening.
Gun fire clashes, then thuds would echo over the roof as bodies went down.
People would scream in pain, scream to take cover, then scream as they died.
It went on like that for maybe fifteen minutes, but it felt like forever.
It was like a forever of the horrible sounds above me, then something changed. The sounds were still there but I swore I heard the door open from the back of the house.
I did. Next came heavy footsteps. Several people came in then my heart squeezed when the door to the basement opened.
I didn’t think Jack would be coming down here with the gunfire still going. So it could only have been someone else.
I ran behind the washing machine and hid there. It was the best place I could find with so little time to react. I hadn’t expected anyone to come down here, but why wouldn’t they?
I was so stupid.
Now was not the time to be stupid either dealing with these people.
The Ra…
Christ, what would they want? What the hell would they want? Xander didn’t have the prints but maybe they thought he got them.
Balthazar knew that Xander knew where to find them so this was retaliation.
Shit.
A pair of legs came into view where I could see.
There was another and another.
Then damn it, another, but these legs wore suit pants quite unlike the other guys who wore cargo pants.
The suit guy moved forward and it was like he just knew where to look. Maybe I was completely obvious.
Maybe I was foolish. I should have covered myself or something. It would have been better than perching behind the washing machine.
Because that was the first place Balthazar Kane looked and the smile that filled his face when he saw me made my blood freeze.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Xander
No!
Not again.
I was too late.
I was too fucking late.
Wes and I pulled up at the house and it looked like disaster had struck. There were military officials outside, walking around. They tried to stop me but I pushed ahead, running inside.
I got to the living room and found a battered and bloodied Jack on the floor, with paramedics tending to him. He was out cold. No sign of Jia.
I rushed up to Jack. He looked bad.
“I’m sorry we have to tend to him.” The paramedic said to me.
Frankie came around and Wes joined us.
“I’m sorry man. We were ambushed,” Frankie began. He looked like he’d taken a beating too. But the beating he got wouldn’t have been enough to give him the sadness in his eyes. “Xander it was Ra guys and they took Jia. We thought she was in the basement. I was out here covering your old man.”
I walked over to the wall and threw a punch into the concrete.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Not your fault. Not yours.”
“Xander calm down. Please.” Wes winced.
I looked over to Jack, he started coughing when he came to. I rushed back to him and he saw me. His left eye was so swollen and bruised he couldn’t open it, but he reached out to me.
“Boy they took her. It was Balthazar. He was here.”
My skin buzzed from the trauma. It was all just getting worse and worse.
Balthazar was here, so Wes was spot on in his assumption of what would happen next.
Fuck. It was all so fucking convenient that I wasn’t here.
“I’m sorry Jack. Fuck, I’m sorry.” Once again I felt useless. Fucking useless as shit.
“Save the sorrys boy. I’m okay but we have to get her back. You find out anything useful from Dorian?” It was typical Jack to be in business mode even in this state.
“It was Ethan. It was him all along. He played me, he played me for years too. He and Balthazar were in cahoots. It’s on him why Claire died, Jack.”
Jack growled and tried to get up but the paramedic pressed a firm hand down on him.
“Ethan!” Jack cried. “That fucking dog! He’ll pay.”
Pay?
He was the reason why Claire had been killed and now the same thing could happen to Jia. I didn’t doubt that one bit. Right now though it didn’t look like I was in any position to be making any threats.
What the fuck was I going to do?
Balthazar had Jia.
Balthazar had my girl.
We sent out a search party.
The best kind of people that Jack had at his fingertips.
No one found a trace of them.
It was like Jia had just disappeared. Completely gone. What I called off grid. I shouldn’t have been surprised. Wasn’t I used to dealing with Balthazar and the Ra? I knew how the fucking man worked. I knew how he treated people he kidnapped.
I kept seeing images in my mind. Images of Claire’s body. Her being shot, blood splattered then the explosion. Death.
That was what this meant. And time was passing.
I’d looked with the guys too, we went further than the state line and decided they had to have gone out of state.
They really had all the power. Jack told me the place had been flooded with men. Men came on bikes and cars, but there was no trace, nothing picked up on any camera.
I knew what that was, they’d made sure they screwed with all cameras that could pick them up on their route. That was the best explanation I could come up with. It had to be that because that was unheard of.
Time was passing and we were nowhere nearer than we’d been when I first got back to the house.
I didn’t sleep and when morning came the next day I couldn’t believe Jia really wasn’t with me. I couldn’t believe it.
In my cynical mind I cursed myself. Her father wanted to send her to Italy with Armand so she would be safe.
I stopped that from happening. My intervention stopped her from being somewhere she would have been safe.
I was here sitting on my ass without a paddle of an idea on what to do next other than try the most lamest of things.
I tried calling Ethan.
I’d done it yesterday too.
I tried calling him as a last resort. Not really thinking I was going to get an answer.