A Covert Affair (Deadly Ops #5)(79)

Dax, Freeman, and Bell all fell in behind him as they moved back to the stairwell. Elliott had scrambled the video capabilities, so while the enemy couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see the enemy either. One of the other teams had already found ten women, each in individual rooms. They’d been terrified but were now just sobbing messes. And no one knew how many guards there were.

Nathan and his guys had already secured three armed men, but none of them were talking. And he wasn’t waiting on them to go after Amelia.

He thought about how eerily quiet the place was as they moved up the stairwell in a well-trained unit. Taking point, he eased open the door when they reached the next level. Just like with the last level, it opened up into a long hallway. Their job was to sweep individual sections of each level.

M4 raised, he motioned that it was clear and he was moving forward. As he stepped out into the hallway, a blur of motion from one of the doorways caught his gaze.

A blond, pregnant woman stepped into the hall, saw him, and darted back into the room she’d come from. So far all the rooms had been locked.

“Potential civilian sighting three-quarters of the way down,” he murmured, moving to the first door. He didn’t have to worry about instructions; they all knew what to do. He started the clearing of rooms at the beginning, and the other three fanned out down the hallway. Then they’d move inward, meeting at the middle.

As he progressed from room to room, he didn’t have to pick any of the locks. They were all unlocked. The back of his neck tingled as he reached the third door. Something was wrong. These rooms were empty but clearly had been lived in.

His gut tightened. Everything was too damn quiet tonight. What if the women had been moved? What if Amelia was gone?

He shoved back that thought as he eased open the next door. For a moment, he froze. Collette Mercado was lying on her back with blood pooling around her body. She’d been stabbed right through the heart with a piece of glass. He moved inside and cleared the bathroom before checking her pulse. It was clear she was dead, but he checked anyway.

“Primary tango down. Body’s cold.”

Burkhart’s voice came over the line. “Repeat.”

He repeated what he’d said to confirm it. “I’m marking the door with a red X.” They all carried two sticks of chalk with them to mark off cleared areas. On silent feet, he stepped back into the hallway and marked the door.

Dax pointed to the door Nathan had seen the blonde come out of earlier. Keeping alert of his surroundings, Nathan hurried down the rest of the hall as both Freeman and Bell confirmed that they’d cleared their rooms.

When Nathan reached the room, Dax pointed at Nathan’s weapon. Then he motioned for him to hold it down. After he did, Dax opened the door. Ten pregnant women were all huddled in the room, sitting or standing and looking at them as if they were monsters. He scanned the faces, looking for Amelia. When he didn’t see her, he had to shelve that disappointment.

“We’re here to help you.” He kept his voice low as he stepped inside. He was dressed in fatigues and armed with an extra pistol, ammo, grenades, and tear gas. He knew his presence likely wasn’t going to comfort them, but there was no way around it.

When he stepped farther inside, some of the women cowered back in fear. The sight twisted him up inside. He held up his hands. “I know this has to be terrifying, but we are here to help you. Right now we’re still securing the facility, so we need you to stay put. My man here”—he motioned to Dax—“is going to stay with you until we’ve secured every one of those monsters who works here.” He couldn’t keep the heat out of his voice.

His words seemed to have a calming effect. Surprisingly.

The blonde he’d seen earlier stood from where she’d been perched on the edge of the bed. “There’s another woman on this floor. She’s new, I think. She killed . . . she helped us escape. She gave me a key and told me to free the others while she went to find help. I told her where I thought the office on this floor is. Her name’s Amelia, but we haven’t seen her again.”

Amelia. His heart rate kicked up. “Where’s the office?”

After she gave quick directions, he nodded at Dax. “I’m going after her. Keep these women safe.” In the hallway he looked at Bell. “Stand guard.” Because no one was getting through that door. Then he nodded once at Freeman. “With me.” He was going to find Amelia no matter what.

“Who knows you’re here?” the doctor, whose name Amelia still didn’t know, asked her with a growl as he shoved his gun into her ribs.

“I don’t know.” She didn’t bother to keep her voice down as he pushed her through a swinging door into what was a midsized cafeteria.

“Don’t lie to me.” He wrapped his fingers around her upper arm in an unforgiving grip.

She winced, tears stinging her eyes. “I really don’t know.”

He looked around the empty cafeteria, his eyes wide, a frantic light to them. “Then why can’t I get in touch with anyone in the building? And why’s the security been shut off? You’re working with someone,” he muttered, tightening his grip and dragging her across the floor.

Maybe if he thought she was working with someone, he’d have a reason to let her live. She still couldn’t figure out why he was keeping her alive—and she didn’t plan to ask. It was possible he wanted to use her as a human shield.