Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(51)

“We’re protecting our client, and doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. I just need to study the grid and get my bearings. They’ve already gotten through the gates that’re supposed to be locked.” He studied the map and my phone, bouncing back and forth between the two. “And I bet they have him in an area like this one.” He pointed to an image of a series of concrete walls off a raised platform. Beneath the picture was a caption saying the area had been converted in the sixties as a nuclear fallout shelter. “There’s even a bathroom down there. It’s isolated and has everything they could need for a short time. It’s more perfect than one of these old buildings.” He pointed to a dilapidated brick business up the road whose lights had gone out long ago. He continued to scroll through images and brief articles. “We’ll use this northern access point. And, it’s going to be dark down there. We’ll have to borrow some thermal vision goggles. It’ll be easier for us to see them if we follow heat signatures.”

“Vance,” I sighed.

“It’s going to be fine. We’ll be together, and there aren’t two better people out there who can do this.”

With every ounce of my soul, I believed him. “Okay, then let’s go back and get what we need.”



. . .



Vance and I studied all the maps Google had to offer until we had them memorized. We put Kevlar vests on underneath our shirts and borrowed thermal vision goggles from the B&B supply room. We met down in the hallway outside of the women’s locker room and returned to the car.

“I’m guessing there are only two or three people holding Oliver, tops. Anymore and they’d have too many cooks in the kitchen,” Vance said.

“And more people to split the pot with.”

“Right,” he agreed. “I have zip ties to immobilize them once we take them down,” he patted a pocket on his pants. “We won’t know until we get there what kind of weapons they have though, or how they’re holding him. The only thing we can do is get there and check it out.”

“Got it.”

“We’ll have the element of surprise too. I don’t think there’s a chance in hell they think we’re coming. That combined with our fighting skills, and they ain’t got nothin’ on us, baby.” He twitched his confident brows.

I grinned. “No, they don’t.” He started the car, and I checked the pulsing beacon on my screen. “Still no movement.”

“Good.” Vance drove us back to the same spot. “I’m going to park over there.” He pointed up the road to a gravel parking lot surrounded by a chain link fence. We’d park at the curb where a street light stood, but no light shone from its broken bulb. “The gate should be over there. We’ll have to walk about a quarter of a mile once inside the tunnels to get to where they have him. The acoustics down there will be loud so minimal talking.”

“Agreed.”

Vance parked and took a cleansing breath, letting it out slowly. “You scared?”

“Hell no, I’m not scared. Never.” I twisted my diamond stud earring and squeezed the back on a little tighter. I’d like to say I was fearless from my hours and hours of training, that I had prepared for any situation life threw at me, but the truth was this situation made me a little nervous.

Vance held my head in his hand, and he wore an almost imperceptible grin. “Liar. We can handle anything when we’re together, right?”

“Without a doubt.” I nodded, but it didn’t slow my rapidly beating heart.

“I won’t let anything happen to you, ever. I’ve got your back.”

“And I have yours.”

All the spit in my mouth had evaporated. He studied my face, and I studied his as an empty feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. This was the most dangerous situation we’d ever walked into.

“We should go,” he said.

I inhaled a sobering breath. “Yep, let’s go.”

We walked along the side of the road; the cool air stung my nostrils. We slipped into the grass and slid down an embankment out of view. My gun was strapped to my side, and a smaller pistol was attached to my ankle. We arrived at the portal.

On one side we faced the concrete monster and a foreboding set of doors, to the other was the interstate where cars innocently drove by. I held my phone in my hand and watched for any movement from the tracking chip in Oliver’s pocket. Still nothing. We silenced our phones, I dimmed the light on my screen, and we checked the sound in our ear pieces. Vance slowly opened the doors to the abandoned tunnels, and I held the cut chains dangling from the doors.

When I stepped inside behind Vance, I lowered the goggles over my eyes and surveyed the area. Everything around us was various shades of gray. The concrete walls radiated stagnant air and were covered in spray paint. We walked in a few more steps. The ceiling was high and arched for the subway cars that never made their virgin trek, and a dark tunnel led to our final destination.

Vance whispered in my ear. “You lead. I’m right behind you.” I held my thumb up but barely heard him over the pounding of my heart. This space was the exact place where children’s nightmares were created, and maybe even a few of my own. At any moment a ghoulish clown oozing green slime from his teeth could have jumped from the shadows, and it wouldn’t have surprised me.