Page 60 of Fully Loaded

“I’m relieved they don’t have her. But we need to find her before they do.”

Dani’s delicate voice coasted down the hall to his ears. Brock stiffened. A vortex of fear opened in his gut.

They had her.

Brock snapped his stare to Rhett, who raised his eyebrows in question—as if any other woman would be there right now.

Brock nodded. “It’s her.” His throat ached as he spoke the words.

Rhett’s hand rested on his shoulder. “Good. This’ll be over in a few minutes.”

He ground his molars together. At least they didn’t have to continue searching the building. All they had to do was get a leg up on them.

He eased the door shut and moved to the electrical box. Flipping open the metal door, he studied the breakers. “I say we cut the power. One of them will come to check the breakers and we can make our move.”

Rhett pumped his fist. “I like the way you think,” he said, as he covered half the breakers with one hand. “We need to make this look random, so let’s hit all the switches at once.”

Brock stuffed the knife into his pocket and covered the remaining breakers with his fingers. “One, two, three.” They flipped each fuse simultaneously and the ruckus of power surrounding them ceased. A black curtain dropped over the room.

He pulled the knife from his pocket and opened the door. “Let’s move.”

Chapter

Twenty-Two

“Don’t even think about it. Igor here”—Ubrigg nodded at the large guard—“will kill you before you can get a shot off.”

Dani shifted her gaze to the hulking mountain of a man in the doorway next to Ubrigg. He wore a black knitted cap over his forehead and black security garb that matched Romy’s.

A tremor consumed her body, rattling the metal in her hold. She locked her jaw and fought the avalanche of rage that threatened to overtake her common sense. She wanted to blow them both away. Even without Brock, she had a lot to live for. Serena and her sweet baby niece or nephew needed her.

She’d escaped once already—Ubrigg wouldn’t be dumb enough to allow that to happen again. Whatever she did, she couldn’t let them detain her. She had to walk out of this building. Now.

“C’mon, Ms. Metcalf. You’re a smart woman. Hand over the gun.”

She let the weapon hang across her chest and moved her hand away from the trigger. Raising one hand in the air, she kept her other on the base of the barrel.

“You’re right. I am smart. Which is why I’m not going to hand over the gun,” she said, cocking her eyebrow.

Ubrigg rested one loafer on the bottom step. He removed his glasses, lifted his lab coat and cleaned the lenses, then returned them to his face. Every ounce of him exuded confidence.

“I can’t let you leave. Not until I have my formula.”

A tiny balloon of hope swelled in her abdomen. Did that mean he hadn’t seen Brock? “I don’t have it. You know that.”

“Yeah, and your boyfriend didn’t show at our meeting point. Why? Perhaps he decided to sacrifice you and give the formula to another party to help destroy a portion of humanity.”

She shook her head. “He wouldn’t do that. There must be a mistake.”

“I’ve tried to call him to no avail.”

“Then someone else has him and he’s in danger.” Her voice rose on the last words. She swallowed to still the rising anxiety in her chest. If she got skittish, they might just kill her for the hell of it.

Ubrigg pursed his lips, and he rocked his knee from side to side as he studied her. “If that’s the case, you’re of no use to me.”

She straightened. “Good. I’ll see myself out.”

The beefy guard laughed, and the sound reverberated off the cement stairwell. He stepped forward and shot out his hand. His rough palm snagged her wrist, and he towed her down the last few steps to the ground floor. “Unfortunately we can’t do that, princess. Romy would like to have a few . . .” He swirled his fingers in the air. “Words with you.” She coiled away from his cigarette-tainted breath as the implication of his words fell over her like a stack of sheet metal.