Page 84 of Caged Hunger

“Leave him chained up. I’ll finish him when I’m done,” Tony ordered, grabbing a gun from one of his men and cocking a bullet into the chamber.

The rest of Tony’s men hurried after him, checking their weapons as they went and making sure their magazines were loaded and ready.

Basher watched the men slowly pull the barn doors open, then step outside like they were checking out a friend who had stopped by for a spot of tea.

Now was his chance to get out of these fucking chains.

But how…?

31

CAMERON

“Yoo-hoo!” Ace called out once again, standing a few feet away from the partially open barn doors, trying to get the men inside’s attention.

Cameron watched from behind the fence. He was off to the side, out of everyone’s view, hoping to sneak inside once the chaos started. He was tasked with saving his man. Ace and the rest were… the distraction.

“Helloooo? Is anyone home?” Ace called out again, wrapping his hands around his lips as he put on the performance of a lifetime.

The ratty old doors before them slid open slowly, spilling light from inside the barn out onto the dirt around them.

The night hung heavy and humid, the heat from earlier in the day leaving the air slick and oppressive. Somewhere out in the darkness, beyond the fences and fields, the scent of cattle drifted lazily across the property.

It was the perfect place to dispose of a body.

Cameron hated to think about what these men had planned for Basher.

The thought put knots in his stomach. Cameron wasn't the violent type, and he hated the idea of hurting anyone. But love changed people. And when it came to protecting Basher, there wasn't much he wouldn't do.

Taking a deep breath, Cameron glanced down at the gun in his hand. Marcus had given him a quick crash course on how to use it, though he prayed he wouldn’t have to.

But if using it meant saving Basher’s life, there would be no hesitation.

No second thoughts.

“Ah! There you are!” Ace continued. “I was about to send up a flare, just in case you boys were hard of hearing or something.”

A man dressed in a fancy suit stepped out of the barn, surrounded by at least twenty men.

Okay. So the scary bad guys outnumbered them, but that’s why they had Lucas… their apparent secret weapon.

“And who might you be?” the man in the suit asked, stepping forward and raising his gun.

“Oh, I’m Ace! I’ll be your negotiator here tonight.”

The man in the suit looked at the men standing around him. “My negotiator?”

The crew all laughed, clearly amused by Ace’s last statement.

“Yes. I’ll be the man negotiating things tonight. It appears that you took someone who doesn’t belong to you, and we are here to ask for him back.”

“We?” the man in the suit asked. He looked around the wide-open space, no doubt wondering where all the people were who had come to negotiate Basher’s release.

Ace nodded. “Yes, me and my crew.” He gestured around him, knowing full well that the man in the suit couldn’t see Marcus or any of the other guys from the crew. Everyone was hiding.

“Look, I don’t know who you are or what you think you are doing here, but I’m Tony. Tony Caplan, son of the head of the Caplan crime family. So I suggest you go back to your freak-show cave and continue to live out the rest of your life as some toothless Joe’s fuck toy.”

Without warning, a streak of silver sliced through the night, missing Caplan’s face by inches. The mobster froze as the object struck the side of the barn with brutal force, driving itself deep into the old wood. It quivered there, embedded less than a foot away—a silent reminder of just how easily it could have found flesh instead.