Then again, they did this for a living. They lived and breathed FUBAR situations. Dresden getting ready to leave could definitely throw a kink in the works.
“He wants her for something big,” Chase said, staring hard at the side of the truck.
“Who?” Jude asked.
“Gabby,” Chase informed them. “Dresden’s been after her for a few years now.”
“Let’s chat later, ladies,” King said quickly. “It’s time to move.”
The truck stopped and they all got out, including Georgia and Fedir. They spread out, grouped loosely but very coordinated. There were no guards posted, which set Ella on alert.
It made no sense. Normally, Dresden was surrounded by guards, and Vivi had told them he’d amassed a lot of men. If he suspected they were coming, had even a hint, she would have guessed he’d meet them with guns blazing. Something was up. Something bigger than they’d guessed. She glanced across the courtyard to Brody, and he nodded as their gazes met, his mind obviously traveling where hers had.
They entered the house and split up. She got one last look at Jude.
“Safe,” he mouthed.
“Six,” she mouthed back, and then he was gone around a corner, out of her sight.
“Let’s move, Banning, Work to do,” King urged. “Where are the men, Vivi?”
“I’m searching my feed. Satellite is getting grainy,” Vivi answered.
King glanced at Ella. “Where are the cells?”
“Follow me,” Ella said, taking the lead. King and Chase followed her.
The house was eerily silent. They met no staff and still no guards.
“Vivi, any intel on guard locations?” Chase questioned the analyst.
“Negative,” Vivi responded. “House appears to be empty.”
“We need to find Anna Beth Caine. She could be in the cellars. Keeper, Brody, we’re headed that way now. You might want to hit the western wing of the house. He’s got rooms there. Dresden also has an exit from the lower level in that wing,” Ella said calmly.
“Ten-four,” Jude responded, his voice very dark and very deep. Soldier.
A shot rang out as Ella peered around a corner of the hallway that led to the stairs to the cell. She dropped to a knee, put the barrel of her rifle around the corner, and fired. The sound of a short scream indicated she’d made a hit. “One down,” she reported.
She quickly glanced around the corner, didn’t receive fire, and felt King move around her, taking point. “Down the hall, last door on the right,” she said over the ear mic.
With King in front and Chase behind her facing the opposite direction, they moved toward the cells.
“Tango,” Chase murmured. The suppressed sound of his rifle thudded behind her, and she kept moving. “Two down,” Chase reported.
King stopped in the hallway, raising his rifle to his shoulder and shooting once. “Three down.”
They moved to the door, not encountering any more fire. King took the stairs, followed by Ella and Chase. She noticed the pall first, normal for the cells, and yet…not.
Then the smell.
Someone had died very badly and very recently. The smell of death permeated the air, and Ella’s skin chilled. Please, not Anna Beth Caine.
She waited for King to give the all clear signal, and then she moved to the first cell. She threw it open and was both relieved and horrified by what met her eyes.
She heard King in her ear, heard Jude and Brody both calling her name, but she was suddenly, irrevocably in the midst of her memories and pain. Everything seemed to fade around her except for the tableau before her.
The chains.
The dirt floor.
The darkness.
Anton Segorski hung suspended from the same bolt in the ceiling Ella once had. He’d been tortured and ultimately disemboweled. Stuffed into the enormous cut in his stomach was money—hundred-dollar bills, a lot of them.
“Ella?” Jude called over the comm unit.
“I’m good,” she whispered and swallowed hard. It took another few seconds, but she got it together.
“Goddamn, who does something like that?” Chase said around a gag.
“Dresden,” Ella said succinctly. “He knew I was coming. This is for me.”
She turned and checked the other cells quickly. Nothing. “He’s got something planned,” she said and ran toward the step.
“Banning!” King called out. “Stop.”
She didn’t. Segorski had been a resource for Dresden. A way to get the Russian prime minister in Dresden’s pocket. Then Segorski had turned on Dresden and paid the price. His presence in that cell was meant as a warning for Ella.
She had to get to Jude. “Jude, what’s your location?”
King grabbed her arm, and Ella turned on him. “We have to find Jude,” she demanded.
“All we’re going to find is a bullet if you don’t slow down,” King told her furiously. “Get your shit together, Banning.”
“Jude, what’s your location?”
Static met her ears.
“Brody, what’s your location?” she tried.
Nothing.
“He’s got them,” Ella said, fear climbing up her throat.
“Team leader? Brody and Keeper found Anna Beth Caine. They handed her off to Rook and Knight and are headed across the property to head Dresden off. Knight and Rook are en route to your location. Brody says Dresden is moving and has men surrounding him,” Vivi informed their team leader.
“Goddamn it,” Chase bit out. “We cannot let him get away.”
“Why don’t we have comm?” King asked.
“Don’t know, could be interference. If you don’t hurry, we’ll lose everything and I’ll be blind,” Vivi reported. “Head to the back of the property. The airfield is about a mile from the house. You need to move now.”
Ella took off after King and Chase. She ran as the cold seeped under her overalls, past her vest, and deep under her skin. Terror shook her core as she searched the large expanse of lawn for Jude. He was her every thought. She couldn’t lose him.
She could see Rook and Knight settled into a depression about three hundred yards from the tree line. The trees formed a natural barrier around the edge of the property and were about a half-mile thick from the road to the lawn. A small plane was parked another
