Aidan held Cassie’s shoulder. She’d been in deep conversation with Damien and Dean for the last hour. He’d stay all day if he had to. Whatever it took to make the smile return to Cassie’s face.
Callum and Liam were in the room too, while Tyler waited in the hall.
Even with the steady conversation, he heard the noise. The vibration of a muted phone. It was quiet, almost silent.
His gaze zeroed in on Mia, standing at the back of the room.
Where the hell had she gotten a phone, and how long had she had it? According to Cassie, female members weren’t supposed to have any electronics, and men only had them for their jobs.
Quietly, Mia slipped from the room. Callum followed closely behind. Cassie, Damien and Dean stopped talking, and everyone’s gazes went to the door.
Mia moved away from Damien’s room and her voice quieted, but not enough to escape Aidan. “Elijah, where are you?”
Every muscle in his body tensed.
“It’s time, child.”
“Time for what?” Mia hissed. “You still haven’t told me what you’re doing. All you said was that you needed Cassie, but you didn’t tell me why.” Her voice lowered again. “They’re saying you want to kill her as some kind of sacrifice. But that’s not true, is it? It can’t be! Tell me it’s not true, Father.”
Aidan shot out of the room.
Cassie’s quick footsteps sounded behind him. “Aidan!”
“Mia, sometimes sacrifices are required for the greater good,” Elijah said.
Mia was halfway down the hall, facing away. Callum was already snatching the phone from her fingers, Tyler right behind him.
“Hey!” she cried out.
Callum handed the phone to Aidan. It took every ounce of his self-control not to crush the cell between his fingers. He pressed it to his ear. “Elijah.”
“Who’s this?”
“You should already know. It’s Aidan Pratt.”
Cassie stopped beside him and touched his arm.
A loud sigh sounded. “Aidan. There’s nothing you can do to stop this. I’ve known that Cassie was the chosen one since she was ten years old. That means I’ve been planning this for over twenty years. You really think I haven’t gone over every single scenario in my head during that time? Including you? I knew I’d be challenged by evil. You are that evil, my son.”
Aidan met the gazes of his teammates. They were all alert, with their hands on their weapons.
“We’re out of time,” Elijah continued. “In order to save us all, this needs to happen. Now.”
The phone went dead.
This time he did crush the phone in his hand. He didn’t need to open it to know there was a tracking device inside. “They’re here,” he growled.
The words had barely left his mouth when he smelled gas. He shot a look to his team. They smelled it too. They all looked up.
“It’s coming from the air vents,” Callum said before Aidan could.
Shit. They were on the fourth floor.
He wrapped an arm around Cassie’s waist. They didn’t have much time. “Callum, find the source of the gas and stop it. Tyler, get Mia out and alert hospital authorities. Liam, look after Damien and Dean.”
Cassie coughed. He swore under his breath before lifting her into his arms. Then he was running. Her inhalations had already changed to wheezing. Thank God it wasn’t affecting him. Yet.
He turned a corner and sped down the corridor. Nurses and doctor were stopped in the hall. Many were holding their mouths and looking around, confused.
“Get out!” he yelled.
Callum would get the alarm sounding soon. And the rest of the team would alert the authorities and arrive soon to help get people out.
He wasn’t taking Cassie out the main entrance—they were heading down a back stairwell. It was the closest exit, and time wasn’t on their side. He had no idea what was blowing through those vents, though he guessed it wasn’t lethal. Elijah wanted Cassie alive.
Still, Aidan couldn’t risk her breathing in too much of it.
He rounded another corner, and the door to the back stairwell came into view. Less than a second later, he pushed through and moved toward the stairs.
He’d taken a single step when a shot sounded from below.
Dammit!
He moved back and set Cassie gently onto the floor. Her eyes were half-closed and her breathing deep. He yanked his gun from his holster and moved to peek over the rail.
There was the sound of more bullets hitting stairs. He frowned as something bounced off the underside of the stairs leading to the next floor, then landed beside him.
Not a bullet. A tranquilizer.
He took a moment to calm his breathing and listen to the movement from the stairwell. Four men. All heavy. Probably well-trained.
Going to his stomach, he aimed his weapon. The first guy came into view wearing a bulletproof vest and a gas mask. His pistol came up, but Aidan got a shot in first, hitting the guy in the neck. He fell down the stairs.
Before Aidan could focus on the next guy, a dart hit him in the shoulder.
Fuck! He rolled back and yanked it out. Unlike the gas, he immediately felt the effects of the dart. His arms went heavy and his vision fuzzed. Alarm blasted through him. A common tranquilizer should barely affect him. They were using something else. Something stronger.
Ignoring the heaviness in his limbs, he rolled and steadied his gun again. He shot and missed. He never missed.
He fired a third time, this time getting his target in the temple. The guy dropped.
He rolled to the side as more tranquilizers shot toward him. Took a breath. His vision grayed, but he forced his eyes to remain open.
Suddenly, two men rushed the landing.
Aidan kicked the first guy in the leg, sending him to the floor. Another dart hit him in the chest from guy number four. Aidan lifted his gun and shot him in the head, just as the man on the floor got him with a third dart in the neck.
The pistol slipped from Aidan’s fingers.
“Aidan…” Cassie’s voice was weak.
No. He had to stay awake. He couldn’t allow her to be taken.
He reached for the Glock—but his vision blurred, then his world went black.
Cassie tried to strike out at the hands reaching for her, but her limbs were too heavy. A hard shoulder hit her stomach, then the man was moving. When Aidan left her view, her insides filled with acid. Was he okay? Was he breathing?
The stairs below her eyes were a blur, the footsteps dull thuds. “No,” she whispered. She had to get back to Aidan.
She swallowed, trying to ward off the darkness.
They stepped outside and moved to a waiting van at the back of the building.
She pushed at the man’s back but barely applied any pressure. Every part of her felt weak and heavy.
The van door opened, and she was placed inside surprisingly gently.
“Aidan…” She needed to get to him. He’d been shot so many times! Her heart shattered at the possibility that he wouldn’t make it. She shattered.
“They weren’t bullets, Cassie.”
At the sound of the familiar voice, she forced her eyes open. The van was now moving, and the interior was dark, but there was no mistaking him. Elijah.
“W-what?” Come on, Cassie. Get your words out and stay awake.
Elijah folded his hands in his lap. “I’ve heard the stories. That those men keep going, even after being hit with bullets. I couldn’t risk that. So I acquired a very strong tranquilizer. It would kill a normal man. Maybe even a large animal. What I really love about it, though, is that it’s fast-acting.”
She choked at his words.
“He took three hits before he went down,” the man beside her reported.
She frowned at another familiar voice and looked to the right.
She blinked three times. The gas was still affecting her, but each second that passed had her feeling a little bit better. The guy took off his ski mask.
Sampson.
It shouldn’t surprise her that he was involved. But a tiny part of her had been holding out hope that he hadn’t known what was really going on. He was former military and often worked security for Elijah, but for Mia’s sake, Cassie had hoped he was good.
“Aren’t you upset that the other men died?” she asked Sampson quietly.
He turned to look at her. “Sometimes, sacrifice is required for the greater good.”
Ice froze her blood. It was almost an echo of Joshua’s words. It was all bullshit that Elijah spewed, but she’d have thought some people were too smart to believe it.
“You seemed so normal,” she said almost absently, speaking her thoughts out loud. “And smarter.”
He didn’t look annoyed by her comment. “When I got out of the military, I wasn’t in a good place. Elijah, and our community at Paragons of Hope, saved me. I owe them my life and will forever be loyal to them.”
Elijah had preyed on this man. And he’d fallen right into the trap.
“Check her,” Elijah said to Sampson. “Remove and dispose of all jewelry and electronics.”
No!
Sampson’s hands began to pat down her body. She attempted to swat him away, but he ignored her efforts. She had no phone and almost no jewelry, just her necklace.
He paused when he found the pendant. Then he pulled it from her neck and snapped the chain.
A cry fell from her lips. She tried to grab for it. “Please, no! That’s important to me.”
Sampson ignored her, rolling down the window and throwing it out. Cool air whipped across her face. Then the window closed, and her last connection to Aidan disappeared.
She swallowed the pain before turning back to Elijah. “Where are you taking me?”
“To the location in my vision, Cassie.”
Deep breaths. In and out. “This is why my mother left you, isn’t it? You told her about your little vision.”
She couldn’t help but sneer the word.
Elijah leaned back in his seat. “Yes. I told your mother about my dream. I told her that you were the chosen one, and that when you turned thirty, your death would save us all. I was very clear that without your sacrifice, we would lose everything. I thought she’d feel proud that you were chosen for such an important role.”
He thought her mother would be pleased that they planned to murder her? This man needed help. Lock-him-up-and-throw-away-the-key kind of help. “You told her you were going to kill her daughter. Of course she wasn’t happy.”
“Your mother never could see the vision I had for our people. She was a lot like you, actually. It’s why I had to kill her.”
Cassie’s world crashed to a screeching halt. Every part of her turned to ice. “You killed her?” The words were almost a whisper.
“Well, not me. My men, at my direction.” He crossed his legs. “She took you from me. Tried to hide you. I couldn’t let that happen. The second I found you, her fate was sealed. Then I just kept on eye on you as you went through the foster care system.”
Pain and despair were tidal waves in her chest. This awful man in front of her, the man who she’d already known was as evil as they came, had killed her mother. Forced her and her sister into the foster care system, all because her mother wanted to protect her.
Tears pressed at her eyes. She wanted to drown in her devastation. She closed her eyes, trying to steady her breaths. When she opened them, it took everything in her not to leap across the van and tear the man to shreds.
“And Mia?” she asked through gritted teeth. “Is she really your daughter? Or is that just some bullshit you told her so she’d trust you?”
“She is my daughter. I was disappointed at first, that you were the chosen one and not her. After all, I’m the leader of our people. But I quickly understood that she was supposed to remain by my side. That’s why I sent Sampson to her. Encouraged him to grow close to her, remind her all about our organization. And once she rejoined, I told her who I was to her, and that was that. She was in.”
She turned to Sampson. “So he told you to go and suck this poor woman back into the organization so he could kill her sister, and off you went?”
“For the good of our people,” Sampson said quietly.
God. There wasn’t an ounce of shame on the man’s face.
Her gaze lowered to the gun strapped to Sampson’s thigh. Maybe if she lunged fast enough—
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Elijah said quietly. “We both know Sampson was in the Special Forces. Don’t make him hurt you.”
Hurt her? Nothing could hurt her more than learning about her mother’s murder…or leaving Aidan in a stairwell, hurt, possibly dead.
Anger and grief tried to swallow her, but she refused to allow it. She needed a plan. She couldn’t take on a soldier and win, not while she was still weak from the gas. But she also couldn’t allow these people to take her God knows where and kill her.
Elijah lifted a bag from the floor and pulled out a white dress. He held it out for her. “Put this on, Cassie.”
Hell no.
She didn’t reach for it. She didn’t move so much as a muscle.
Another sigh from Elijah. “If you don’t, I’ll have Sampson put it on you.”
Asshole. “No.”
Another beat passed. Elijah nodded to Sampson.
He reached toward her and grabbed the hem of her top.
“Stop!” she shouted before he could lift it. “I’ll do it! Just don’t touch me.”
God, she couldn’t stand the feel of any of these psychopaths touching her. Sampson sat back and she yanked the dress from Elijah’s hand.
With a deep breath, she tugged off her top. The dress was lace, but it was also high-necked and long-sleeved. There was a pocket section in the front, like something a housewife would put garden cuttings into.
Once the dress was on, she pulled off her shoes and jeans. She was just leaning down to put her shoes back on when Sampson whipped them out of her grasp.
“Hey!”
He ignored her.
“You won’t need them,” Elijah said.
She huffed. Probably to make it harder for her to run away.
She looked out the window, running over every escape plan she could think of in her head. She wasn’t sure how much time passed. Maybe an hour. Maybe two. But eventually they turned into a wooded area before finally stopping.
Elijah clapped his hands. “Ah, we’re here.” He turned to Sampson. “Bind her hands.”
She spun toward Sampson and immediately tried to fight him, but it was no use. He secured her wrists in one hand, his grip unbreakable. He tied rope around both wrists.
Her heart pounded, rage flowing through her veins.
Elijah pulled the door open. There was the distant sound of water. A waterfall, maybe? And there were cars. Lots of them. She recognized some. Members of Paragons of Hope were here.
Sampson started to step out. She rose to her feet and immediately tripped on her dress, falling into his side, throwing a hand to his leg to catch herself.
While she was down, she quickly slipped the knife from his leg sheath and shoved it into the pouch of her dress.
Sampson turned, and he reached to help her up. “You okay?” he asked.
That question was almost laughable. “Sure. I love being walked to my impending death.”
