“I’ve got more,” Rael offered.
I was about to take him up on it when I noticed headlights coming our way. “Shit. Move the bikes and hide.”
We didn’t waste time and were out of sight before the black Mercedes-Benz with tinted windows pulled into the Clown Motel parking lot. Two guys dressed in black emerged from the vehicle. They spoke in low tones, gesturing to the second floor. I caught the flash of something metallic in the light, clutched in one of their fists.
A gun.
The hair on the back of my neck prickled with apprehension as the two goons climbed the stairs and then paused at the top. One of them pointed to room 214 as I left the shadows and approached from below. Listening in on their conversation, I realized they were speaking Russian.
Motherfucker!
There was a loud bang, and then I heard what sounded like an eerie wail. The commotion forced my Reaper to surface, and I took the stairs two at a time. Someone was running in the opposite direction along the second-floor walkway, but my only concern was Tawni. Whoever they were, they weren’t a threat. My Reaper dismissed him as I pounced on the first guy, landing a sharp right hook with a quick snap. He went down hard and didn’t move, out cold.
The other guy was rubbing his eyes and cursing in Russian. I could smell the pepper spray and knew she had doused him in it. It must have worked because he couldn’t see a damn thing. I turned to the right and roared like a wild beast when I saw Tawni on the ground. He must have hit her before I made it to the top of the stairs. Rolling her onto her back, I checked for a pulse, relieved when I found the steady thrum in her wrist.
“Is she okay?” Ex asked, binding the wrists and ankles of the first guy.
“I hope so.”
The second guy tried to fight off Rael, and he chuckled, swinging his fist into his gut. Took about two more hits for the idiot to give up. Rael slapped a piece of duct tape over his mouth and hoisted him up over his right shoulder.
“Gonna give Grim a call,” Exorcist informed us. “I’ll have Shadow bring a cage for these Russian fucks.”
Rael shivered and palmed his dick with his free hand. “I’m gonna enjoy playing in the dungeon tonight.”
Ex sent him a glare. “Don’t start your freaky shit right now.”
Ignoring both of them, I scooped Tawni into my arms. As I stood, I noticed another vehicle headed in our direction from Hwy 95. “We’ve got company.”
“Shit!” Rael cursed, hurrying down the stairs as Ex followed.
I was right behind them, barely making it back into our hiding spot before the second car arrived. Holding Tawni tighter, I breathed through the urge to stand up and confront the new arrivals. My Reaper wanted to hurt someone for daring to harm Tawni. She was marked. Didn’t take a genius to figure out that the Black Market Railroad thought she was a loose end just as I feared.
My entire body stilled as I listened to the men who emerged from the car arguing with one another. They gestured to the empty Mercedes and the open doorway to room 214. More goons in dark suits. Fuckers thought they intimidated with their sleek cars and expensive threads. Didn’t mean shit. Not to me.
Scanning the area, they must have decided it was too risky to stick around. That was when I noticed something familiar about one of the guys speaking to the others in a mixture of broken Russian and English. A voice I hadn’t heard in seventeen goddamn years. One that was familiar but only because the memory was so deeply rooted in hatred and revenge.
The unmistakable voice of the man who took everything from me. The one who buried me alive the Halloween night that his men touched Tawni. He left me for dead but never expected that I would rise again to seek out my plan of ruthless vengeance.
Sid Bullard.
Dead. Man. Walking.