Page 46 of Benny

Movement at the end of the street caught her attention and she saw Davenport’s SUV roll through the intersection ahead of them, brake lights flashing once and every trace of speculation about team dynamics vanished.

Since she’d been the first to spot him, she alerted the team. “They’re here,” she said, drawing their attention and pointed to the disappearing ass end of the SUV.

They double-timed across the old parking lot and to the back door of the single-story industrial building that looked long abandoned.

Jordan felt the change ripple through them as they moved. There was no more teasing or relationship bullshit or wondering about tomorrow.

Benny was about to walk into the same building he’d been tortured in. And Jordan intended to make damn sure he walked back out.

Maybe Davenport had been smart when he’d kept the location from them, Jordan thought as they approached the building. Because she probably would have gone in there and ripped their heads off for daring to hurt Benny.

According to Devin, who’d researched the place as they drove, the target building had started life as some kind of machining shop, which meant it had thick walls and acoustically isolated rooms designed to muffle any sounds within. Whatever noise they’d once made had apparently been loud enough that the owners hadn’t wanted it heard outside the building.

Jordan suspected that was exactly why Overlander had chosen it. The facility hadn’t been built to contain screaming, it just happened to be very good at it.

Nobody passing by would hear a goddamn thing, and now, with the neighborhood beginning to deteriorate, no one would care.

Warren and Tate, the two most familiar with firearms and, more importantly, the two most likely to heal from a gunshot wound, took point as they split into two groups, one covering the back door, the other the front.

Jordan fell in behind Tate, with Benny behind her, while Clay, Dev and Cali stacked up behind Warren at the front door.

Warren’s voice came quietly over the comm. “Three. Two. One.”

~

Warren and Tate kicked open their respective entryways, and their teams followed them in.

Davenport and a tall, distinguished-looking man stood in the front entryway. Davenport had just raised his weapon to cover the man, who looked startled at the sudden burst of activity, at the weapons trained on him by the black-clad figures.

“What’s going on here, Davenport?”

Benny recognized the man’s picture from their briefing but nothing about him besides that was familiar. This was Dr. (Colonel) Isaac Hayes.

Davenport looked completely unruffled, simply staring at the man in that cool, unreadable way of his, no expression on his face.

Devin moved to the front of the group and took over covering Hayes and, as planned, Davenport and the rest of them dispersed to clear the facility. Except for Benny, who hung in the shadows of the hallway, watching and waiting for them to bring Overlander to him.

He still didn’t know what he was going to do, but the satisfaction of both of them seeing his face and knowing that their lives were over was fueling him right now.

The chatter of the teams filtered through his earpiece and with each cleared room his stomach dropped.

“Who are you?” Hayes demanded, putting the power of his rank behind his words. As if that mattered anymore. “Where is Davenport? Where is Overlander?”

Thank goodness the facility was on the smaller side, which meant that the search was almost over before it began and they didn’t have to listen to Hayes one second longer than necessary.

Benny and Devin already knew the results of the search by the time the team filed back into the area. Overlander was gone.

Davenport’s expression was stoic as the team re-entered the entryway. “She’s gone.”

“You asshole,” Devin said, his voice tight with anger. “By keeping the location secret from us, you allowed her to rabbit. We could have run surveillance while you were picking up the good doctor here.” He gestured to Hayes with utter disdain, then looked at Davenport again.

Benny could feel the weight of his friend’s anger as he scrutinized Davenport.

“Or maybe you did it on purpose.”

Oh shit. Benny hadn’t even considered that and could tell the rest of SMS hadn’t either.

“I assure you I did not. I hate that psychopath,” Davenport said, his voice grim. “Drake wasn’t the only one she tinkered with over the last eight months. I was with her from day fucking one. I screwed up, okay? Thought I had it all sewed up.” He turned to Hayes. “But we still have him.”