If the Fox fucking hurt her. . .
“Easy, man. We need to do some recon first.” Reyes placed his hand on Duke’s shoulder. Squeezing.
“Easy? How can I be easy? He sent us on a fucking goose chase for hours. Five places. Each time another stupid fucking note from him with another fucking clue. Guy’s a fucking nutcase. I’m going murder him. What if he’s. . .”
Hurt her.
He swallowed heavily.
“Don’t say it,” Reyes told him. “Don’t even think it. Sunny will be all right.”
She better fucking be. He didn’t know what the point of this fucking was. Taking her. Sending them chasing around the city, looking for her. First, they’d gone to a bar called the Fox and the Ferret, then a stripper joint called Foxies, then a popular nightclub called Fox’s Hole. Fucking bastard thought he was hilarious.
At each place another of the Fox’s fucking notes had been given to him. Delivered by nameless, faceless little pricks who had brushed past and tucked them into his pocket. He’d managed to catch hold of the last messenger, but he’d was just a kid and he hadn’t been able to give them any information. He’d been handed the job by a nondescript looking guy who’d paid cash and given them a description of Duke so they’d know who to give the note to.
The last set of directions had been different. A set of co-ordinates leading to what looked to be an abandoned cabin about an hour out of the city.
“I’m never fucking letting her out of my sight again.”
The house was in the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by woods on three sides, it was quiet and ominous. Dawn was just streaking across the sky, making his gut tighten further.
They needed to find her.
A low whistle sounded giving them the all-clear. He jogged his way up to the front door, jiggling the door handle.
Locked.
Drawing back, he was about to ram it, when Reyes grasped hold of his arm. “Wait. Thing’s made of steel. There’s no getting in that way.”
“I’ve checked all the windows. Bars on all of them,” Razor called out.
Bars on the windows? A steel door? How the fuck would they get in? He looked around, noting the unusual number of potted flowers on the small porch.
“Check under the pots,” he said urgently.
“What?” Razor asked.
“Under the flower pots. Sunny used to keep her keys to her house under a flower pot on her porch. The key to here might be under one.”
“Here!” Jason held up a set of keys he’d found under a pot.
Fuck. It was disturbing to realize that the Fox had been watching her that closely. How had Duke not noticed him? How had he failed so spectacularly to keep her safe?
Never again. If he had to tie her to him to keep her safe, he would.
Jason unlocked the door. Reyes and Spike grabbed Duke when he would have stormed inside. He growled at them both, trying to shove their hold off.
“Hold it together, Duke,” Reyes said quietly. “Let Jason check the place first, make sure it’s not a trap.”
Jason was ex-military. It was probably a good call but it still chafed to stand back and wait.
Razor was behind them all, watching their backs.
“Clear,” Jason called.
Spike and Reyes immediately let him go and he strode in. “Where is she? Is she not here?”
“There’s another locked door back here. Steel again. There’s a deadbolt on this side,” Jason called out urgently.