Then the line went silent. Mere seconds after the call ended, a beep alerted Drake to the incoming text with the account number.
He wanted McDuff’s blood. The man was going to die, even though Drake had made it sound as if McDuff would walk away if Evangeline was returned safely. The minute he touched what belonged to Drake, he’d signed his own death warrant.
“We now have two hours, but I don’t trust that little bastard,” Drake said behind clenched teeth. “I refuse to leave her there a minute longer. He doesn’t know we’re here. He thinks I’m chasing my tail in the city and nowhere near Brooklyn or his fucking butchery. I’m not waiting one goddamn second longer. With or without you, I’m going in.”
“And get Evangeline killed?” Silas’s slashing gaze pierced through Drake. His enforcer was smoldering with rage, every muscle in his body coiled like a deadly snake ready to strike.
“We’re almost in position,” Maddox said, holding his hand over his earpiece to hear more clearly. “Let’s go. We need to find the best way in from this side. The others are taking their spots now. Jax did recon so we’d know what we’re up against.”
“Did he get a bead on Evangeline?” Drake demanded. “Did he see her? Is she all right?”
“McDuff has her tied to a chair in the room where the beef is hung in the back. He said she looked okay, just scared to death and freezing her ass off. Motherfucker has her in the cooler and keeps telling her he brought her there because with the bone grinders no one will ever find any sign of her body. That he’ll chop her into tiny pieces and feed her to the buzzards.”
“He dies,” Drake said in a voice almost too quiet to be heard.
“Oh yeah,” Maddox vowed.
The men scrambled out of the car. Drake was thankful for the cover of night as they darted into the shadows cast by the building. There was a window that, if their scan of the building specs was correct, was closed off from the cooler where sides of beef hung. And where Evangeline was being kept.
Silas took a step back and then ran up the wall, hooking his fingers on the ledge of the window before expertly swinging himself up so he clung to the window frame. He worked with the window a few moments before it slid upward with a noisy creak.
He froze, as did Maddox and Drake, and waited several long seconds to see if their cover was blown. When no one appeared, they breathed a collective sigh of relief. Maddox spoke softly into the mic, telling the others they were going in and for them to do the same.
The idea was to surround the cooler and plan the best method of attack, one that ensured that no harm came to Evangeline and that she wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire.
Silas eased inside the building, took a few moments to ensure that they were undetected and then leaned out the window and motioned Drake and Maddox up.
“Here,” Maddox said, making a step for Drake with his hands. “I’ll give you a boost up.”
Drake put his foot into Maddox’s hand and on the count of three he jumped, along with Maddox’s forceful push, and it propelled him up the brick wall to grasp the ledge with his fingers.
He swung himself up and then he and Silas leaned as far as they could out the window, hands extended to grab on to Maddox’s. Seconds later, they pulled him through the window and shut it firmly behind them.
Now that they were in the same building where Evangeline was being held, it was all Drake could do not to charge into the other room and take out every single one of the bastards. Every nerve in his body was firing. At the moment, he could take on thirty men and rip every single one of them apart with his bare hands.
They crept into the hallway, on alert for any movement, anything that would betray their presence. Drake had confidence in all his men. He trusted them with his life. But the stakes had never been this high before. They were all fighting, not just for Drake’s safety and his life. They were fighting for his entire world.
Evangeline.
At the end of the hall where Silas had crept on stealthy feet, there was a muffled sound and then a body hit the floor without a shot being fired. Silas motioned to Maddox, and Maddox dragged the body into the room where they had entered through the window.
“Let’s go,” Maddox said grimly. “Justice said things are getting heated inside the cooler. McDuff is pissed.”
Drake’s heart lurched, and they turned and ran.
There were four possible entrances to the cooler, and after taking down the guards circling those entrances, Drake and his men crouched at the doors, surveying the number of heavily armed men.