Elite Metal-ARE-epub (27 page)

“Mama told us never to talk to strangers, Thomas.” The little girl’s voice was scared but steady.

“I know but at least he knows our names.”

“I came with your mom. I need to get you out of here fast so I can get to her. Can you tell me where you are?”

Whispering reached him through the pipe and then silence.

“My name’s Chrome and this is my brother Steele.”

“Hey kids. We have to get to you. Are you in a room of some kind?”

Silence and then two little voices spoke up at the same time. “Yes.”

“Hang tight. We’ll find you.” Steele turned to Chrome. “It has to be some kind of underground bunker or storm shelter. It’s probably not huge. Let’s spread out and find the door. Should be ground level. We don’t have much time.”

He didn’t have to finish the sentence to know what he talked about. Who knew what was happening with Korovin and Cammie.

Did he already know he’d been made?

Did he know she’d brought in someone with her?

Had she already been forced to hand over the database?

Fuck
.

They fanned out and within no time they’d located the door. They must have interrupted the jackass trying to leave because the lock was on the two latches but not locked. Steele yanked it off and opened the double doors. “Go get ‘em. Hurry. I’ve got your back and I’ll radio Alayna to get to the pick-up location. She’ll take the kids back to Elite. Then we’ll—“

“No. You both take the kids back and I’ll get Cammie.”

“Aren’t you ever going to learn you can’t do everything on your own?”

Chrome grabbed his shoulder. “I promised Cammie that the kids came first. I vowed on the ink on the fallen brothers on my back that their safety came first. Alayna’s still injured. I need you to take care of the kids. I’m asking you for help, brother. I’m asking you to protect them until I can get my girl back and we can do it ourselves. Please.”

Steele clenched his teeth so hard Chrome thought his jaw was going to crack. He nodded once and remained silent.

“Radio Alayna. I’ll be right back.”

He used his flashlight and went down a dozen steps until he came to another door. Locked. He shined his flashlight in the tiny window at the top and two dirty kids covered their faces. A quick visual of the room revealed no one else inside with them.

Unlocking the door and stepping inside he didn’t know what to expect.

Two six-year-olds throwing themselves at him, and practically climbing his body wasn’t even in the top twenty.

They hugged him and he held them close, kissing the top of each of their heads. “You guys did awesome.”

“We’ve been so scared,” Thomas confessed.

“The test of a true hero isn’t how they react in an easy situation but a hard one. And you guys yelling for help led us to you. You did great.” He checked quickly to make sure there wasn’t anything additional he needed to grab and then headed back out the door.

“Where’s Mama?” The little girl wanted to know almost on the verge of sleep.

As if he didn’t already love them just because of their mom. Their trust of him, after all they’d been through clenched it. Who knows if they’d slept hardly at all.

“She’s in another building with the head assh— Uhh…bad guy. I need you guys to go with my brother—”

“Is he really your brother?”

“No, he’s—”

“Adopted?”

Chrome caught Steele’s smirk as he cleared the stairs back out on to the ground. “Exactly. We have a whole family and none of us are blood to each other, but—”

“Mama says, blood doesn’t mean everything. And when someone adopts someone else it means they picked them super special. It’s a choice and that person’s even more important because of it.”

“Sounds like your mom’s a special lady.” Steel spoke and Chrome was glad because his throat had tightened up, making it impossible for him to speak due to emotion.

He swallowed and focused on the task at hand. He had to try to keep his heart out of the mix. Fat. Fucking. Chance. “This is Steele. Steele this is Thomas and Teresa.”

“We need to go with you so he can go get our Mama.” It wasn’t a question but an order.

“Absolutely, Sir.” Steele saluted Thomas with a wink before taking them both. “Take the comm link off my ear. Alayna’s ETA is less than five minutes.”

Chrome took it, put it on and opened the secure channel. “Alayna, this is Chrome, copy?”

“Loud and clear. ETA three minutes. Go get your girl.”

Chrome kissed the kids’ heads one more time and turned away.

“I don’t like leaving you alone.” Steele called after him.

“Get my kids safe.”
Mine.
He knew it was true already. Didn’t make sense but love rarely did. “I know you’ve got my back. If you lose comm with me then you know there’s trouble. But I’m not letting anything happen to Cammie. She’s everything.”

He didn’t look back.

He couldn’t and walk away from the kids again.

Light from the buildings came into view and he picked up speed.

The love of his life was somewhere in those buildings and Korovin had a date with the devil. Chrome had no problem being his chauffeur and knew one way or another Korovin wasn’t walking out of those buildings alive.

He’d would make sure of it.

Chapter Nine

Didn’t take long for him to locate Cammie and Korovin. And they were the only two people in the largest warehouse.

He’d gotten eyes all around both buildings and inside the second one. Ghost town.

The fact that Korovin thought he was so good he didn’t need any back-up other than Mr. Six Feet Under in the woods meant one of three things.

He had an over-inflated ego the size of Texas so he was positive he would win against anyone who showed up. He was completely sure Cammie had come alone and he could handle her. Or he had other reinforcements on the way. None of them great options so he had to work fast.

An unlocked window on the south wall in the shadows stood open just enough for Chrome to squeeze through and drop down on the other side.

Korovin’s smug voice reached Chrome as he peered around some tall crates and palmed his gun.

Slaaapp
. “You actually believed I’d bring them here with me. Seriously. So naïve.”

Every shade of red washed over Chrome’s vision as Korovin grabbed Cammie by the hair and drug her to a laptop set up on a crate. “Give me the database.”

“Why the hell should I do that? Maybe I didn’t bring it with me.”

Korovin slapped her again, then hauled her close as he pulled a gun from a side pocket in his pants. “Because it will take effectively two and a half seconds for me to radio my second, to give the order to kill your little brats.”

Not fucking likely
. It was all Chrome could do to stay hidden. He had to save her. Failing her or her kids wasn’t an option.

“Where’s the fucking database?” Korovin yelled in her face, digging the gun in under her chin.

“In my purse!” Cammie screamed as Korovin pulled her off balance and tossed her to the floor.

“Get it, bitch, and I swear to God I’ll make you pay if you fuck around with me any longer. You’re not running this show.”

Chrome sighted the back of Korovin’s head but he was at a bad angle with Cammie on the other side of him. He couldn’t make the shot.

Fuck
!

Cammie struggled to get up onto her knees and she crawled to her purse a few feet away. Things were strewn all over as if she’d dropped it at some point. She looked at a few items and then held up a USB stick.

“Bring it up on the laptop.”

She stood, swayed but stayed standing and slowly made her way to the laptop. She glanced up, catching sight of Chrome. To her credit she didn’t break down. She didn’t cry, or smile or anything. But she held her hand up with her fingers splayed in front of her dark pants.

What are you doing, baby?

Korovin shoved her in front of the laptop and dug the business end of his firearm into the back of her head. “Hurry the fuck up.”

Cammie slid the stick into place and hid her thumb on the hand closest to him.

Four
.

A motherfucking countdown?

“Password protected. Very cute. I’m going to enjoy you before I put a bullet in your head. Too bad I can’t add you to the breeding program. No matter. I don’t have to be gentle with you this way.”

The word gentle had never sounded so disgusting.

Three
.

Her fingers stumbled on the keys as she tried to type in her password one handed. “Password, incorrect.” The computer voice filled the warehouse.

Two
.

“Looks like you’re more defective than I originally thought.”

One
.

Cammie whirled around, knocking Korovin’s arm out to the side, just as he fired.

The explosion of the bullet hitting metal kicked Chrome into high gear. Cammie kneed Korovin in the junk and dove to the side. She covered her head just as Chrome squeezed off a round…right into Korovin’s wrist.

“Aaaaahhhh,” He screamed like a little bitch, dropping the gun and cradling his arm to his stomach.

Chrome decked him once and was pretty sure he heard bone crunch.

Korovin’s head hit the concrete and he stayed down.

“Cammie? Baby girl?”

She stayed coiled up and flinched when he touched her.

“It’s me baby. It’s me.”

Her eyes opened and she pushed her hair out of her face. She moved to see around Chrome and yelled. “Behind you!”

He turned to the side just as Korovin grimaced with a smile and raised his gun with his other hand. His teeth were bloody.

Chrome got his shot off first. Right in the chest. Korovin’s smile faded as he registered the pain and his arm dropped beside him. Blood stained his shirt and he crumpled to his side again. He sucked in a wheezing breath. “You’ll never find the kids.” Another gasping inhale. “Never find them.”

“The kids are already safe, asshole. But I can’t say the same for you or your boss.” Chrome lined up the muzzle inches from Korovin’s forehead.

“Red Wolf,” he choked as his lungs filled with blood. “You’ll never beat him. You’ll never win.”

“Bet me.” Chrome bit out and pulled the trigger.

He didn’t wait to see him fall. Not even as long as it took the echo of the gun shot to stop bouncing around the warehouse. He went back to Cammie, where she sat staring at Korovin’s dead body. He scooped her up and headed outside. He’d come back for the laptop and search the rest of the place when she was safe outside.

Cammie leaned into him for a second and then sat straight up, trying to scramble out of his arms. “The kids? Where are the kids?”

“Got em, baby. Got em. They were in an underground storm shelter in the woods. Steele showed up, saved my ass and after we retrieved the kids he and Alayna took them back to the compound.”

“They’re safe?”

Hope shown fiercely in her eyes as the shakes set in.

Chrome opened the comm link. “Alayna, copy? Status on kids? I have an angry Mama Bear ready to tear through this place to get to them.”

“Both asleep in the back with Steele. Shaken, dirty, hungry, but other than that. Fine. We’ll be back at the compound in less than thirty.”

“Thanks. For everything, Alayna.”

Momentary silence. “Roger that, Chrome.” She cleared her throat. “Get your asses home safe.”

“10-4,” and she terminated the connection.

“Yes, baby girl. They’re fine. Or they will be as soon as we get you to them. They’re safe and so are you.”

She broke down and she’d earned it. He held her and sent up a little prayer of thanks.

Hitching sobs shook her small frame as he carried her outside. He couldn’t bear to hear her cry so he decided to go with distraction again. He had a question for her until he could properly distract her later. “You trying to disarm Korovin. Where’d you learn that?”

“Self defense.” Her voice was shaky at best. Shock was settling in quick.

He carried her to her vehicle but the tires had all been slashed. He’d never had more precious cargo and needed to think quick.

Another SUV was parked a hundred feet farther down the road, the keys still in the ignition. A plan formed quickly in his head and he got Cammie belted into the passenger seat. He palmed her cheeks and kissed her.”

But she pulled away. “Sorry, I—“

“No explanations needed, Cammie.” Though fear settled in his gut. “I have to go back for just a few minutes okay? You stay here. If there’s a problem, honk the horn. If there’s trouble you get in the driver’s seat and leave. No questions. Got it?”

Cammie wrapped her arms around her stomach and looked at him in…apology.

Huh?

“I’ll be fiiiinnneee,” she stuttered. “Just hur…ry.”

He shut the door and turned on his heel to get the rest of the mission done. Didn’t take long for him to snatch the laptop, Korovin’s cell and the contents of her purse and toss them in the back seat. Then he went and grabbed Maxwell’s body and hauled it into the building next to Korovin. He made sure and put him on the right.

Poetic justice and all did it for him.

He snatched Maxwell’s cell too, and shoved it in his pocket.

Cammie stared at him from the front window of the SUV and she offered him a small smile as he threw her vehicle in neutral and pushed it next to the main building. He shoved himself underneath the chassis and wired her gas tank to blow via a remote detonator.

He was thankful they were so far out. Pretty much everything should burn to ash before the fire department or cops arrived.

They’d still find her vehicle but the rest would be a mystery. Faking her death and getting rid of the rest of the evidence was a two-fer with a C4 kiss my ass right where it puckers.

Knowing she was going to have to start over with two kids made him sick to his stomach, but he shoved it down behind a wall made of ice so he could get the job done.

If she left with the kids…

When she left with the kids, the job was all he was going to have again, so he decided he better do it right.