Neil (The Uncompromising Series Book 2) (16 page)

Candle smiled. “You know what’s gonna happen if you take that step, sweetheart?”

I tried to swallow.

“You will miss the shot,” Viking answered.

Candle didn’t even glance at him. “He’s wrong,” he answered confidently. “You’ll rush the elevator, probably even dive, and I’ll fire. Yes, I’ll miss you on the first shot because your boyfriend will throw your old man in front of you and he’ll go down. But I’ll already have two more shots off before Tanner drops. The second will sink into your boyfriend’s head and the third will burn like fuck as I shoot you in the leg. Then I’ll throw you in the van and watch you bleed until you tell me where my shipment is.”

My heart stopped.

Viking glared at Candle. “I will kill you first.”

Candle shrugged. “Doubtful. But I’m up for seeing who’s the better shot.”

“Neil,” I begged.

“Elevator,” he repeated.

Candle swung his calculated gaze from Viking to me. “Guess you better ask yourself if you wanna see your kid again.”

There wasn’t a way out. I couldn’t clear the elevator. I couldn’t save Viking. I couldn’t even tell Candle where his guns were, but he didn’t know that. God help me, I took a step forward and prayed like hell that André and his men would figure out what happened before Candle killed me.

“She does not know where the guns are,” Viking barked.

“You think I’m stupid?” Candle sneered.

“Do not take another step, Ariella,” Viking warned.

Fuck
. “There’s no way out, Neil.”

“Five more seconds,” Viking said confidently.

Candle glanced at the stairwell and frowned. Then he looked pointedly at the LC nearest to him. “Take them both. I don’t care if you have to shoot them.” He turned to get back in the van.

Neil moved so quick it was a blur but the sickening crunch as his forehead slammed into Jason’s skull echoed off the concrete walls a split second before he fired a warning shot at Candle’s feet.

Two LCs rushed Neil, their guns aimed at his head.

Blood spurting from his face, Jason crumpled to the ground. The stairwell door burst open and André, Tyler and two other guys rushed out. Their automatic weapons aimed at the LCs, they spread out so quickly, it had to be a practiced maneuver.

The two LCs rushing Neil halted.

Candle casually glanced at each of André’s men as two more Luna and Associates guys came down the ramp, weapons drawn.

André aimed his weapon at Candle. “You’re trespassing.”

Tyler whispered behind me, “Get in the elevator, babe.”

His gun in his hand at his side, Candle glanced at the two men who’d come up behind him. “So sue me.”

“Leave,” André warned.

Candle turned back to André. “Give me what I want and I will.”

Slow and careful, I moved a tiny step backwards.

“Good,” Tyler whispered. “One more.”

André didn’t take his eyes off Candle. “I don’t have what you want. Last chance. Leave on your own while you still can.”

Candle laughed. “You think you have the advantage?”

“I don’t think, I know.” André lifted his head from his sights just long enough to incline it at his men. “We’ve got automatic weapons, tactical gear and better training—you do the math.”

“Now,” Tyler whispered to me.

I stepped back and my heel hit the threshold of the elevator.

Candle’s arm shot up and he fired.

Tyler grunted and all hell broke loose.

Firing whatever weapon they had, every LC rushed us like they didn’t care if they lived or died. Tyler shoved me to the ground and dropped to one knee in front of me. Blood pouring from his left shoulder, he hefted his weapon single-handedly and started picking off shots.

Viking kicked one of the LCs closest to him in the groin as he reached for the second one’s weapon. Thrusting up, Viking held the LC’s gun firm as he trained his gun on his thigh and fired point-blank.

Scrambling backwards on my ass, I desperately pounded on the hold button. Bullets whizzed past me and ricocheted off the metal elevator. I curled my arms over my head but it was too late.

Fire ripped into the flesh of my back.

My body jerked and excruciating pain like I’d never imagined radiated out. I screamed and Viking turned.

Furious gray-blue eyes met mine and everything went slow motion.

A Lone Coaster behind Viking swung his rifle in a wide arc like a baseball bat.

I opened my mouth.

The LC’s gun made contact with the back of Viking’s head.

A strong hand wrapped around my ankle and yanked.

My forehead slammed into the closing elevator door.

Everything went black.

U
NBEARABLE, POUNDING PAIN THROBBED THROUGH
my head like the worst kind of hangover.

Oh God. Conner.

I had to get up but I couldn’t open my eyes.

“Conner.” My tongue thick, my mouth dry, I struggled with the single word.

“Ariella.”

Shit, that was loud. Too loud. I started to shake my head but pain shot through my skull. Somebody whimpered.

“Open your eyes, Ariella.”

Ariella
? Ariellas were Disney princesses or girls with tiaras or some shit like that. I hated tiaras. And princesses.

Goddamn it, my head hurt. And my neck. And my back. Jesus, taking Conner to the park today was going to be a bitch.

“I know you can hear me,” the voice boomed.

I tried to reach for my ears to block the awful noise and pressure tightened around my wrists.

What the hell?

“Acknowledge me,” he demanded.

He
. It was definitely a he. Only a man would be that shitty when you had a hangover. What the hell did I drink? I licked my lips with a scratchy tongue and forced some words out. “Stop… yelling.” Rough and hoarse, I didn’t sound a thing like me.

Foreign words floated across the musty-smelling air. The sound was so intoxicating, I opened my eyes, but flinched at the sudden onset of light.

Pain shot up my back and I gasped.

Then I stared.

He was huge. And chained to the ceiling. And shirtless.

Oh my God, he was so fucking huge.

Short little breaths of panic started punching out of my lungs like bursts of fire.

“Breathe,” the chained giant warned.

Breathe?
Breathe
? “I can’t… move.”

Emotionless gray-blue eyes cut to my hands. “You are tied down.”

He had an accent, a thick accent, but the thought disappeared the second I glanced down at my lap.

Oh my God
.

My wrists bound, my ankles bound, my waist bound, my chest bound, I was duct taped to a chair.
I was fucking duct taped to a chair.
“Conner?” I barely managed.

“The child is safe.”

The child?
No. No, no, no, not the child—
my son
. “Safe?” What did that mean?
Safe
wasn’t fine.

“Ariella. Breathe.”

Breathe?
Three breaths whipped through my oxygen-deprived lungs and fury sank into my bones. “WHERE IS MY SON?”

A door burst open behind me and slammed against the wall. Unbearable noise echoed through my head and I squeezed my eyes shut.

Hot breath descended over my face a split second before a handful of my hair was grasped and yanked. My head fell back and my eyes popped open in alarm.

Blond, blue-eyed, a vicious snarl twisting his lips, a man in a leather vest with no shirt and too many tattoos barked in my face, “
Where are the guns
?”

I started to shake. “Guns?”

He backhanded me.

Chains rattled and the muscled guy roared, “
Stop
.”

I fought a whimper.

The blond ignored the chained guy and raised his hand again. I didn’t think, I reacted. The bloody spit flew from my mouth and landed on his cheek.

A sickening laugh filled the dank room and the blond tightened his grip on my hair. “Glad to see you’re awake.” He wiped my spit off his face. “This is going to be so much more fun now.” He pivoted and punched the chained guy in the stomach.

Despite the bruises darkening his ribs, chained guy didn’t even recoil.

The blond bastard grinned at me. “He’s been holding out all night. I think he was waiting for you to wake up, sweetheart.” He winked. “I’ll give you two some time to catch up, get your stories straight.” He strode out of the room and slammed the door on his way out.

“Do not tell him a thing,” chained guy warned.

His issued command like he was in control of a situation fucked five ways from Sunday momentarily took me out of my panicked state. “Who
are
you?”

It was as if a wall descended over his features. Every single hint of anger in his expression shut down and he went perfectly still.

If I wasn’t taped to a fucking chair, I would’ve squirmed. “What?”

He silently studied me. “Are you dizzy?” he asked matter-of-factly.

Was he kidding? “I’m sitting down.”

“Is your vision blurred?”

Fighting back panic, my head pounding, my scalp tingling, my attitude decided to kick in. “You’re shirtless, not a whole lot of blurry going on with those muscles,” I snapped.

He didn’t even twitch. “Does your head hurt?”

“You some kinda doctor?”

“No.” He switched to another language and muttered a string of foreign words.

“What language are you speaking?” Where the hell was he from and why the hell was I here?

“Danish.”

Panic swam up my throat. “
We’re in Denmark
?”

“No. Florida.”

Okay, ohmigod, take a breath, Ariel. Calm the fuck down.
The blond didn’t have an accent. Muscle Man probably wasn’t lying. I could deal with Florida. I lived in Florida.
Breathe, breathe, breathe
, I silently chanted until I could pull it together to ask the most important question.

“Where’s Conner?”

Muscle Man didn’t hesitate. “With Talon.”

Talon?
No. “You mean Tanner.”

“No. The boy is not with his father. He is with… my friend, Talon Talerco.” Muscle Man inhaled. “How much do you remember?”

“I don’t remember you.” But he sure as shit seemed to know me. “Why did you hesitate when you answered? Is Conner safe?”

Despite being chained with his arms stretched high above his head and a thick rope around his neck, he nodded. “No hesitation. He is safe.” The rope moved and he inhaled sharply.

I followed the length of it down his chest, down his body… Holy.
Fucking shit
. “Do
not
move your feet.”
Ohmigod
. “You have a—”

“I know.”

“
It’s a noose
.” A real noose. That was horror movie shit, not real life. Real people didn’t get trussed up like fresh kill or taped to a fucking chair in a windowless warehouse like a drug cartel movie. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Muscle Man wasn’t supposed to have a rope strung between his neck and two giant concrete blocks on either side of his feet. He shouldn’t have been standing on his very, very tiptoes on the board holding those blocks. And that board shouldn’t have been precariously perched on a section of PVC pipe like a goddamn seesaw.

The whole contraption sat on a fucking stool just high enough that if the board dropped, his feet would be suspended three feet off the ground. That was hanging height, and a man that big shouldn’t have his fate determined by a single piece of wobbly wood.

“Ohmigod, if you move at all, like
at all
, you’re going to tip the board.”

And if he tipped the board, the concrete blocks would fall and tighten the noose around his neck. And just to add another level of hell to the whole mess, there were zip ties around his ankles—bloodied, cutting through the flesh they were so tight,
fucking zip ties
. The plastic was forcing his feet together, making it even harder to balance the board. If he moved even a fraction of an inch, he was in deep shit. Deep,
deep
shit and I didn’t want to be alone with Blondie if Muscle Man died. No fucking way.

“Ariella.”

“Do
not
tip the board.” I didn’t know what the fuck was going on but this guy was my only hope. He was bigger than Blondie in every way and if he couldn’t survive this, whatever this shit was that was happening, then what the hell kinda chance did I have? “Don’t even move your toes,” I warned in a panic. If that board tipped, those blocks were going to choke him to death.

“
Ariella
.”

My head popped up.

His haunting eyes stared into my soul like he knew my every thought. “I am not going to tip the board.” His gaze cut into me and demanded attention. “You are going to do that.”

The panicked stream of consciousness running through my head halted to a dead stop. “No, no way. I’m not tipping shit.”

He stared at me like he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“I’m tied to a chair.” My hands numb, I struggled against the duct tape.

“We do not have much time.”

“Time?” Was he blind? “What the fuck else do we have?” I was so fucking close to the edge I couldn’t stop swearing.

“I am going to tell you what to do.”

My voice rose to a high pitch. “And why would I listen to you? I don’t even know you.”