Page 43 of Out for Blood
I tap my earpiece, keeping my voice calm. “The rescue crew is coming in now. The perimeter’s locked.”
She doesn’t meet my eyes, but the slight inclination of her head tells me everything. “Perfect. I don’t want anyone escaping.”
“They won’t.” I reposition my focus to the hallway, the dark stretch beyond the door. “But we still have to clear the other rooms. No assumptions.”
That gets her attention.
She surveys the room, already cataloging exits, angles, and threats. “You take the left. I’ll take the right.”
Of course.
I edge in front of her before she can move past me. Not aggressively, just showing her I’m here.
“You’re not running this solo.”
Her eyes flare with heat and defiance. “I’m not running. I’m finishing it.”
I catch her wrist, lightly to stop her, not cage her.
“Reap.” Her name comes out through my teeth, not meaning to. “We do it together.”
For a second, something shifts behind her eyes. Not weakness, Cassidy wouldn’t know what to do with that. A brief, fragile reminder that she isn’t fighting this battle alone anymore. That the weight she’s been carrying for so long doesn’t rest solely on her shoulders, someone else is here, more than willing to help bear the weight.
“Fine,” she responds, but it’s not resistance anymore. “Together.”
I let her go, but I stay right where I am.
“The rescue crew hits this floor in under a minute,” I update her. “We conduct a fast sweep of the rooms, clear each space, and regroup with them as we return.”
She’s already in motion when I finish.
Of course she is.
I draw even with her as we approach the hallway, staying shoulder to shoulder.
“You ready?” I ask, more out of habit than anything else.
“I’ve been ready.”
I observe her for a half a second too long, taking in the steel in her posture and the way she carries it like armor, like she has to.
I nod once and move with her in the hall.
But the truth sits heavy in my chest.
I never know if she’s ready.
And that uncertainty is the part that gnaws at me.
A normal bedroom door comes up on our right side, both of us armed and ready for the unexpected.
We stop at the door, and I lift my finger to my lips and then hold up three fingers with my Glock at the ready, counting down…3…2…1. Cassidy is armed with her knife in her hands.
I inch the door open and hear grunting sounds before I can comprehend what is going on.
What comes into view is a man raping a woman, he stops to tamper with the controls of the anesthesia machine behind them, which is tethered to her by the breathing tube down her throat, then continues with this vile act.
They are positioned sideways across the hospital bed, in a single, exposed horizontal line, nothing obscured from our view.
