Sophie Oak - Siren in Bloom

Her stomach rumbled again. The charm. By now, Kitten would have finished up her count and gone to find Leo and Wolf. They would turn on the GPS, and they would come for her.

Despite the fact that she was pissed at Wolf, she knew he would come in with guns blazing. She just needed to give him time.

Holder seemed willing to talk for a little while. “And now, thanks to Ben here, they can find a corpse because Ben has an axe to grind with your pervert boyfriend, Leo. Leo was fucking his girl. Leo was the one she wanted. It’s funny how plans come together, isn’t it? I tried to pin Ada’s murder on Leo. I even studied that damn Shibari crap so the bondage would look right. I’ve been very careful and though I didn’t pin it on Leo back then, I can sure as hell pin this on you now.” Holder got close to Ben.

“So I get pissed off after all these years and decide to take it out on Leo’s sub?” Chase asked. “Why now?”

Holder shrugged as if it didn’t really matter to him. “Maybe you just like brunettes. Maybe you waited until Meyer found one he really loved. I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. After the cops hear about all the weird shit you guys pull on women, they won’t be so surprised you decided to rape this one and kill her and then yourself.”

Rape? She felt her strength return on a tidal wave of anger. “I’m not telling you anything. I hope that file gets out.”

She had no idea what file he was talking about, but she bet it was criminal and could cost whoever was on it some jail time.

Holder was perfectly calm as though the outcome had already been decided. “You will talk. You’ll talk, and then you’re going to make this all look good for the papers. Meyer will be caught in a shit storm after Ben here writes a long letter detailing how Meyer was involved in a drug-running deal that little Ada caught wind of. Ben will say he found out about how Meyer paid to have his little bondage girl killed.”

“An interesting story,” Chase said with a little uptick of his lips. “But I do see a few problems with it. First of all, how are you going to get me to do anything with only you and the Hulk there? It took four of your assholes to take me down the first time. And a Taser.”

Holder squeezed the syringe until a bit of the drug squirted out. “I don’t need all my men now that I have you two properly secured. Besides, I needed them back at that club. I got them in as body guards. I think Lodge might notice if the senator’s body guards disappeared.”

“I don’t think I’ll cooperate, Holder,” Chase said.

Holder laughed, the sound grating on Shelley’s nerves. “Your cooperation isn’t necessary. My teammate here will simply use your dead hand to fire a bullet from the gun that will take Miss McNamara’s life, and then you’ll be covered in gunpowder residue. Don’t worry too much about it, Ben. I’m very good at covering up my crimes. I don’t make mistakes.”

He pulled up the sleeve of Shelley’s T-shirt, the needle in his hand. Shelley shrank back as much as she could. She was terrified of that needle. She was still shaky from the last drug he’d pumped through her body. She wasn’t focused. How would she handle something else? Would her heart simply slow and stop? Would she die without ever seeing them again?

She wished she’d never walked off that stage. She should have stayed and fought it out with Wolf.

She braced herself for the strike, but Chase’s voice stopped Holder’s hand.

“You made a huge mistake, Holder. I’m not Ben.”

Holder’s eyes went wide, and he turned to the big guy standing next to him.

“Don’t look at me, boss, I wasn’t there.” The big guy got on his phone.

Holder took a step back. “You’re lying.”

Chase grinned. “Why don’t you pump me full of that shit, and we’ll see who’s lying? I’m Chase, not Ben, dumbass. I never met Ada. I wasn’t even in the same country as she was killing in. I was in Iraq. And I have zero reason to hate Leo Meyer. Good luck with that.”

Holder’s face got red, and Shelley worried that Chase had made a horrible mistake. And then Chase nodded, turning his chin up, and she saw him. A shadowy figure moved across the window. Chase started to shout at Holder, giving the man on the fire escape the ability to step up. He went to one knee, a rifle in his hand.

Leo or Wolf? It didn’t matter. They were here. They had come for her. She loved them so much. If they all survived, she wasn’t going to be apart from them again.

Holder sneered down at Chase, waving at him dismissively. “Joe, kill this asshole. If he isn’t Ben Dawson, then he’s useless to me. We’ll have to figure something out, but we can’t let him live.”

Joe pulled his handgun and, with a smile on his face, started toward Chase.

“No,” Shelley yelled, trying to move.

Holder turned back to Shelley. He pulled at her hair, jerking her head to one side. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know. I want those files or I swear to god whatever those perverts did to you will seem like heaven. You’ll beg me to let you die. Do I make myself clear?”

She winced, her scalp stinging. She tried to pull away, but there was nowhere to go. She turned her eyes to Chase, who had tried so hard to keep them both alive. He’d bought them time. He couldn’t die now.

Joe held up his gun, but Chase merely smiled at the man.

There was a loud crack, the sound ringing through the air. The shot hadn’t come from the man on the outside, but from her left. Joe’s body jerked, and the gun fell from his hand, clattering to the floor. She heard Holder gasp behind her. Joe spun around, and before he could hit the floor, Shelley saw the neat hole in his forehead. His eyes were dead and glassy as he fell.

“Drop it, Holder. Move away from her.” Leo stalked into the room, his feet moving silently across the floor. Wolf was next to him. They moved in perfect time as though they had been partners all their lives.

They were the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen.

Holder tightened his hands around her and quickly shoved the needle in her neck. Shelley screamed at the pain. She could feel the burn.

Holder stood behind her, only paying attention to the men walking toward him. He used her body as a shield. “One step closer and I pump this whole fucking syringe through her system. It’s too much. She won’t be able to handle it.”

“Yes, I can. I’ll be fine,” Shelley said. God, she didn’t want him to push that plunger down. She wasn’t sure what it would do, but she knew if Leo and Wolf dropped their guard that Holder could have a gun in his hand really fast.

“It’s a barbiturate. I already pumped her full of ketamine. Do you want to see how she’ll handle an overdose of this shit, too?” Holder asked.

“The cops are on their way,” Wolf said. His eyes found hers. “Baby, it’s going to be okay.”

“Don’t you drop those guns,” she replied. “I’ll be fine.”

“She won’t,” Holder said. “I already killed one of your bitches, Meyer. Do I need to kill another one?”

“Ben, that’s a confession. You’re good to go,” Leo said. Shelley noticed the small device in his ear. Ben was the man on the ledge. Ben was the sniper, and he had his command.

“What the?” It was all Holder got out before Shelley felt something whiz by her head and then Holder’s hands softened, and he fell behind her. The needle stuck in her neck, but Leo was at her side in a second, gently pulling it out and tossing it aside. She wanted to get her arms around him. She’d almost died. She’d almost lost everything.

There was another loud report, jarring Shelley.

“Hey, he was already dead, Wolf,” Leo said, his hand on her skin.