Deadly Holiday (Southern California Violent Crimes Taskforce #6.5)(7)

A scream sounded from the other side of the door and an icy chill ran down Cooper’s spine. What the hell…?

Celina’s face paled as more screams split the air, followed by yelling. “Oh God. What’s going on?”

They raced to the metal door and Cooper’s heart dropped to his still cramping stomach as he peered through the round window. Celina gasped and he grabbed her before she could barrel into the main room. Ronni crowded in to peer out the window too, nearly pushing them both aside.

Men dressed in camo pants and dark colored shirts were everywhere, herding frightened guests to one side of the room. Semiautomatic weapons hung at their sides, occasionally shoved in the face of a guest when they refused to do as they were told. Who the fuck were these guys, and what did they want?

Amid the chaos, one man stepped forward, and Cooper instantly recognized him from the mug shots in the folder sitting on his desk; Basilio Ortega.

“Ortega’s here.” He jerked back before he was seen. If that son-of-a-bitch so much as touched a single hair on Novia’s head…

“Holy shit.” Eyes wide, Celina batted his restraining hand away, her voice a piercing whisper. “What the fuck is he doing here? Cooper, Novia’s in there.”

Ronni and Cooper both reached for Celina’s arms, once more stopping her from flying into the room in full battle mode.

“We can’t go in there half-cocked.” Cooper fought to keep his shit together. He couldn’t lose it, not when Celina and Novia needed him the most. “Let me think for a second, will you?”

The Beast in him rose up and he welcomed the calming, methodical presence it brought. As The Beast he could handle anything. He would handle anything.

It didn’t take two guesses why Ortega was here. Jana. The little girl was sick and possibly dying.

As if the man needed even more reason to be dangerous. “Are you both packing?” he asked the women.

“Really, boss?” Ronni slipped a hand beneath her skirt and withdrew a gun. “I’m always packing.”

“I’m covered too.” Celina confirmed, patting her upper thigh. “And I’m going to kill every one of those bastards.”

God he loved her.

Cooper toed off a black boot and withdrew the gun he had stashed there, shoving the boot back on. What he wouldn’t give for a pair of jeans and a t-shirt about now. “Okay, so we’ve got fire power. Now we need to be smart and get help in there.” There were highly trained agents in that room who wouldn’t go down without a fight, but they wouldn’t take a chance when there were so many innocent people involved.

There was a back door next to the walk-in freezer, but Cooper stopped Ronni before she could open it. Already he could see men up and down the hallway through the small window on the door, and he pressed the women against the wall to keep them from being spotted.

“We can’t get out this way. We’re going to need a Plan B.”

Carefully avoiding the window on the door, they returned to the middle of the kitchen.

Three windows, but they only opened part way, not nearly wide enough to accommodate any of them to fit through. Frustrated, Cooper’s eyes traveled over the ceiling and walls, landing on a large ventilation duct half hidden behind a prep table. He quietly moved the table out of the way, and began to pry the cover off the vent. “Celina, you’re on lookout. Punto, find something to get these screws out.”

Ronni handed him a butter knife. The tip just barely fit into the screw head, making the process possible, but slow going. After several tense seconds, he finally managed to get the last screw off and removed the cover, setting it aside.

“Ladies first.” He motioned for Ronni to climb in, scowling when she shook her head.

“Celina first.”

“We don’t have time to argue, Punto. Get in.”

She hesitated a second longer, her eyes darting to Celina, but she gave him her hand and allowed him to help her squeeze inside and out of sight.

One down, one to go. With Ronni safe, Cooper turned to Celina.

Her eyes were serious, and his stomach bottomed out. “We’ve got incoming,” she whispered.

Shit. They’d run out of time. “Davenport, get the fuck in there now.”

Her eyes widened before narrowing dangerously and he knew he would pay for that later. Fuck it. If it got her moving, then he would say it ten more times. Getting the women, especially his woman, to safety was a top priority, even if Celina didn’t agree. She hated it when he got all overprotective on her, but tough shit. She was the mother of his child and the woman he would be marrying tonight if they got out of this goat fuck alive. Until then, she could just be mad at him.

He was already going over a myriad of possible situations when he saw the firm set of her jaw, the determination in her gaze. No. No. “Goddammit, Celina, don’t you dare.”

“I love you.” Her face wavered, and she swallowed hard. “Get Ronni out of here and get some help. I’ll keep them off your back.” Celina was gone before he could argue.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This was not happening, not now.

A shout came from the other side of the doors and he caught Celina’s calm, clipped tone as she claimed she was the only one in the kitchen. Her lie would buy him a few extra seconds before they checked things out for themselves. He needed to get his ass moving. Cooper backed into the ventilation shaft and pulled the table over as close as he could manage before setting the cover back into place.