Laurann Dohner - Wrath

Lauren eased around the side of the building and crept toward one of the windows of the office area. She hesitated, lifted her head and peered inside. What she saw made her gasp. Brass and Shadow were facing a wall and John T had a gun pointed at their backs while Mel and Brent stood close by, arguing. She could hear their raised voices but couldn’t understand the words. Where’s Wrath? Where’s Kim, Gina, and John B?

Lauren ducked and kept low to prevent being seen through the windows. She practically crawled toward the back of the building until she reached the alley. She gasped. Brian was sprawled on his back on the ground next to the back door. She ran for him. Fresh blood was smeared on his forehead. Someone had hit him with something but he was breathing. Her hands shook badly as she searched his pockets and located a cell phone, glad he had one.

The top number said BASE when she checked recent outgoing calls and she pressed it to have the cell dial it. A man answered on the first ring.

“Hello?”

“This is Lauren Henderson. Is this headquarters?”

The man hesitated. “Who is this and how did you get Brian’s phone?”

“He’s bleeding on the ground.” She rattled off the address and name of her work. “They have Brass, Shadow and Wrath inside. My coworker has a gun pointed at Brass and Shadow. I haven’t seen Wrath yet but he was inside. Should I call 9-1-1?”

“No,” the man ground out. “We’re on our way. Stay with Brian. Is he breathing?”

Lauren checked Brian over again, verified his chest rose and fell and took a calming breath, trying to control her panic. “Yes but he’s out cold. He was hit in the head by something but it’s not here next to him and I don’t see anything with blood on it. We’re in the alley behind the building.”

“Don’t move and stay on the phone. Do not hang up. We will have teams out to you in minutes.”

Lauren left the phone line open and tucked it into Brian’s vest so it wasn’t in sight but the guy could still hear what was going on. She had no intention of just standing there to wait for help to arrive when Wrath could be in danger. She got to her feet, rushed to the other side of the building and crawled past the windows until she reached her office.

Lauren listened, heard nothing, and raised her head enough to stare into her office through the window. Wrath remained in the same seat he’d been sitting in when she’d left her office but it appeared as if he’d fallen asleep—his head was tipped back and his arms dangled limply over the arms of the chair. A red-tipped dart stuck out of his chest. She could see it move as he breathed, which assured her he was alive but obviously drugged.

Adrenaline rushed through her. Wrath needed help. She had no idea how long it would take for someone else to arrive. No way was she going to just stay there and do nothing. The screen came off easily and she gently rested it against the side of the building. Her gaze lifted to the inside lock, knew that window well since it stuck often when she opened it, and gripped the metal side with her fingers. She wiggled, tried to be quiet about it, and focused on her open office door. There was no movement but she’d have to hide if someone came.

The lock popped and she paused, straining her ears for any sign that someone inside could have heard it. She faintly heard yelling but couldn’t make out what was being said. No one rushed into the room so she eased the glass along the track to get it all the way open. Wrath was so close. She had no idea what to do once she reached him, but maybe she could barricade her office door to lock them both inside until help arrived.

The voices were loud enough with the window open that she could distinctly make out her coworkers’ angry shouting. She lifted up to the waist-high opening, raised a leg and jerked her skirt out of the way. Climbing in wasn’t easy but she managed and dropped to her knees to crawl behind her desk to hide.

“What the hell are we going to do?” Mel demanded.

“Just calm down,” Brent said. “I keep telling you that I’ll think of something.”

“It’s probably your fault!” Mel yelled. “Did you get drunk and tell someone who you really are? Damn it, Bill. I told you that you were putting us all at risk but would you stop being such a selfish prick? Hell no!”

“I didn’t.” His voice dropped and she couldn’t make out the rest of what he said.

“They found us!” Mel shouted. “You said no one would be able to trace us here and I trusted you.”

“They did find us.” It was John T speaking and he was obviously mad. “Let’s just think of what we’re going to do now. I say we kill them and get the hell out of here.”

“And go where?” Glass broke, Mel was so irate, she’d probably thrown something. “We sank all our money into this place for our cover identities. They probably froze our account at the bank. We’re screwed! I’m going to have to call my sister and you know how much I don’t want to do that. I wanted away from this shit. I never wanted to see one of those bastards again and now we have three of them. In…our…offices!”

“Enough!” John B roared. “They offer reward money for them. We have three. Everyone calm down. I can’t think when you’re shouting. We can use them to get fast cash and start over somewhere else.”

“Who is going to exchange them? Huh?” Brent yelled. “Not me. That’s stupid. They’ll just set a trap and we’ll go to prison forever. They aren’t really going to pay us.”

“We’ll get them out of here and it will buy us some time to think of a surefire way to get paid by the NSO to return these three. We’re smarter than those bastards. We just need to get out of here before more arrive.”

“Don’t move or I’ll shoot you!” John T yelled.

“Calm.” Brass’ deep voice barely reached Lauren since he wasn’t shouting. “The NSO will pay for us. Just don’t harm the women.”

“See? I told you they were sappy enough to protect innocents. You move and I slit the receptionist’s throat. She isn’t a part of this and she’s two months pregnant. Fight us and she dies. I can take out Gina too before you reach me.” John B snorted loudly. “The NSO will pay us. We just need to get out of here. Bill, where are more darts? We’ll tranquilize these two, tie up the women, and split.” His voice rose. “More of them could be on the way. These three could be scouts or something. They are hunters, right? Shoot them with darts, we’ll carry them out and figure the rest of this out when we’re safe.”

“Please,” Kim begged. “Let me go.”

“Shut up. I didn’t bring enough darts.” Brent sounded furious. “You told me there was one of them. Not three.”

“He came in alone!” John T yelled. “If I’d known there were more, I would have told you on the damn phone.”

“Don’t move!” John B yelled. “I swear he’ll shoot you both and you won’t get another warning. These women will die too. Do you want their blood on your hands?”

Lauren’s heart pounded and she knew she had to do something. She lifted her hand to call 9-1-1 from the phone on her desk but memory of the phone system stopped her cold. Every phone would show a line in use by flashing red. She couldn’t risk making a phone call but her coworkers were planning on taking Wrath and she couldn’t allow that to happen.

She pushed on her desk to test the weight of it but it didn’t budge. It was the only thing big enough in the room to keep them from breaking down the door if she barricaded it. That plan wouldn’t work though because they could as she had—go around the building, and come in through the window.

“Move,” John T ordered. “In that back office now. Keep your hands above your heads, move real slow. If you even twitch, I’m going to shoot you.”