Redemption Road (Vicious Cycle #2)(13)

Once the man was still, I jerked my knife out of his neck. Since I could always use another weapon, I took his rifle and swung it over my shoulder. Just as I started out of the bedroom, a low moan caused me to whirl around. The room had appeared empty when I looked inside. As my gaze flicked around the room, another moan came from the other side of the room. With my finger on my gun’s trigger, I started slowly across the marble floor. When I got around the side of the bed, I was met with the sight of a pool of blood and a female body.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered at the sight of the crumpled form in front of me. Shifting my guns, I dropped to the floor. It was a woman wearing only a man’s white dress shirt. Besides the blood, her body was black and blue with bruises. Someone had done a real number on her. It was obvious she had been left to die.

My hand froze after I’d reached to push the strands of auburn hair out of the girl’s face. Sarah had auburn hair. Was it possible that I had unknowingly found her? Could it be this easy?

“Sarah?” I questioned. “Sarah?” My tone had grown frantic. Her swollen eyelids fluttered at the sound of my voice. “Are you Sarah Edgeway?”

“Annabel,” she whispered.

It felt like a harsh kick to the gut that it wasn’t Sarah. But at the same time, I knew I had to save this girl. Drawing her to me, I slid one of my arms under her back and the other under her legs. When I eased us off the floor, she cried out in pain. “I’m sorry. I’m going to get you help. I promise.”

She surprised me by opening her eyes and gazing up at me. “J-Jesus?” she croaked.

It took me a moment to process that with my unkempt hair and beard I’d made her think of the religious figure. At the hopeful look in her bloodshot eyes, I felt terrible for having to let her down. “No, I’m Rev,” I said lamely.

My words seemed to be of little comfort to her as she grimaced in pain. “Hurts.”

“I know. Stay with me. I’m going to get you out of here.”

When I got to the doorway, I stuck my head out and peered left and right. It appeared to be clear, so I started out of the bedroom. Cradling the girl in my arms made it a little more difficult to make our way through the maze of rooms.

Just as I got to the doorway of the house, the stinging bite of a bullet pierced my left calf. “Motherf*cker,” I groaned before whirling around. The moment I saw it wasn’t one of our guys who might’ve shot in mistake, I started firing. I clipped the guy in the shoulder, sending him crashing to the ground.

Throwing open the front door, I waited for any gunfire in response. When everything remained silent, I eased out onto the veranda. Peering into the night, I saw one of the relief vans sitting outside the gates. My left leg dragged slightly behind me as I hustled as fast as I could. I was halfway across the courtyard when an explosion rocketed through the compound, sending me crashing to the ground.

The next few seconds ticked by agonizingly, as if the world had slowed to a crawl. The blast had robbed me of my hearing, and I struggled with the feeling of having cotton in my ears. Gradually, I heard a chorus of agonized screams along with various voices yelling.

“Come on, Rev,” someone said at my side. I glanced up to see Chulo standing over me. He grabbed my arm and helped hoist me up. I then bent over and picked up the girl. “Fuck, man. You’ve been hit.”

“It ain’t bad. She’s in worse shape,” I replied.

“You sure you got her?”

I nodded. “You just cover our asses, so I don’t get nailed again.”

“You got it.”

Carrying Annabel with my wounded leg seemed to take forever to get through the gate. Just as we reached the van, Breakneck came running over to us. “You found her?” he asked, his face lighting up.

His question caused my chest to tighten in agony. I didn’t know how I was going to kill his hope. Finally, I shook my head. “No, man, this isn’t Sarah. I found her in Mendoza’s private quarters. She’s been beaten almost to death.”

Breakneck’s face fell. “It’s not my Sarah?”

“I’m so sorry. Maybe one of the others has her.”

Shouts and gunfire tore our attention to what was happening beyond the gate. Our group of men came around the corner of the house. Some were running, while others were barely limping along. Most were covered in blackened soot and ash.

“What the f*ck happened?” I demanded.

“The bunker where he kept the girls . . .” Bishop shook his head. “It was rigged with explosives. The second we got through the alarm system, someone blew it all up.”

I closed my eyes. It was a f*cking coward’s defense strategy. Destroy the evidence of your crimes when you were about to get caught. In this case, Mendoza sacrificed the lives of the young women for no reason at all.

When I opened my eyes, I saw that Breakneck was staring wide-eyed at the flames billowing into the night sky. It was painful to watch as the realization washed over him. An agonized cry tore from his lips as he sank to his knees on the ground. To come this far only to lose Sarah in the end was brutal.

“Okay, boys, let’s get the f*ck out of here before the reinforcements arrive,” Chulo ordered.

With anguished eyes, Breakneck whirled around. “No. We can’t leave. Sarah’s still in there.”

Bishop placed a hand on Breakneck’s back. “I’m sorry, man. She’s gone.”