“Do it.”
My hand slid across the wall and the lights flickered on, showing the stacks and stacks of cocaine in plastic bags. Dev reached into his leather vest pocket and pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He placed the cell to his ear and then said, “Back the van up to the door. We’re loading up.” He ended the call and then moved us farther into the warehouse. His grip on my arm was slack, but he was clearly strong enough that I couldn’t overtake him. Regardless of the movies I’d seen, I knew that small women didn’t beat up massive bikers.
The light overhead flickered before sputtering out.
We were pitched into darkness and a sliver of the full moon managed to peek its way into the warehouse, illuminating Dev’s harsh features. I could smell the acrid stench of fear seeping from him.
There was the sound of a distant crack like a massive whip had flicked through the air, and then the thud of something striking the exterior of the warehouse followed by a shout. Another bang a split second later accompanied by a thump, and then there was nothing.
“What the ever loving fuck,” Dev snapped. His slack grip suddenly became like a vice as he hauled me toward the door.
When he yanked me toward him, I twisted an ankle, causing me to stumble and fall toward the floor.
Dev jerked me up easily with one arm as though I weighed nothing and made sure to keep a firm grip on his pistol, as he marched us out the door of the warehouse.
The two men who’d accompanied Dev were leaking blood onto the ground in pools around the stumps of their lower jaws and necks.
They’d had their heads blown apart.
A sudden wave of nausea assaulted me as the smell of blood, like old copper pennies, hit my nose and I began to breathe through my mouth and hastily closed my eyes.
Gray had done his job.
“You lying bitch,” Dev seethed as he pulled me in front of him and stuck his pistol under the base of my skull at the back of my head.
“Come out, fuckers! Come out now or she dies!”
When no one made a move, he pressed the weapon more firmly to my head and made a guttural sound like he knew he was going to die.
The bite of metal against my skin made my heart pound, but it suddenly felt like everything was happening in slow motion.
I knew Gray’s general position on the roof across the street, but like any good sniper he was impossible to see. Dev didn’t know Gray was out there, for all he knew it was two men on foot down below, but Gray hadn’t taken a shot at Dev yet. That told me he couldn’t hit Dev without injuring me.
Out of the corner of my eye, the light in the warehouse suddenly turned on, causing Dev’s gaze to stray.
I took advantage of the distraction and in one quick breath, I lifted my arms into the air, balled my fist up tight and elbowed Dev in the solar plexus as hard as I could.
“Fuuuck!” Dev screamed, firing off a shot in my general direction as he lost his grip on me.
I rushed forward to escape him.
He stumbled back, tripping over one of the bodies of his men. When he fell, he dropped his pistol and his eyes darted around in search of it, reminding me of a trapped rodent searching for an escape. He was without his men, and now he no longer had a hostage to ensure he’d leave alive. Desperation had set in.
I kept waiting for Gray to take his shot, but it didn’t come.
Something was wrong.
I felt it deep in my gut.
Had Dev’s two men—Mac and Smokey—who’d been watching from the distance found Gray? Was he fighting on the roof for his life, or was his existence already forfeit?
Dev started to laugh when he realized I was alone and unarmed, that he could now finish me off and there wasn’t anyone to protect me.
I’d been right on one account.
Dev had followed me into a trap, but the trap failed.
I had no idea where Flynn was, or if Gray was still alive.