She didn’t like thinking about what Walter Hardy had in mind for her. He was a vicious man with nothing left to lose. As Patterson had said, Hardy blamed Gage for everything that had happened to him, from the death of his son to the cops being on his trail. The powerful man had tried to take his anger out on the commander of the SWAT team, and failed. Mac could only assume that he’d decided to go after an easier target—her. Somehow Hardy knew she and Gage were together. He figured that if he couldn’t hurt Gage directly, he’d do the next best thing and hurt someone who was important to him.
That thought terrified her so much it made her tremble, but one thing helped her keep it together. Gage and his pack would come for her—no matter how many of Hardy’s men stood in their way.
* * *
Gage had been pissed as hell to find out Hardy wasn’t home. He’d really wanted to serve the man the warrants personally. But the search of the Southlake residence had still gone well. Not only had they connected Hardy to the men who’d come after him and Mackenzie, but they’d also gotten enough to put the guy away for years on racketeering charges, tax evasion, money laundering, illegal drugs—just to name a few. Gage couldn’t believe Hardy had been so sloppy as to keep records of all his dealings. It was like he didn’t think the cops would dare come after him.
He was still worried no one had seen Hardy yet, though. Gage was just about to go check to see if the deputy chief had heard anything when his cell phone rang.
“Dixon.”
“Hardy’s men grabbed Mac,” Brooks said simply.
Gage’s heart stopped. “What? When?”
“About ten minutes ago. The bastards beat up Zak to lure Mac to the hospital. We chased them for a couple miles, but they got away.”
Shit.
“I’m on my way. Where are you?”
After Brooks gave him the location, Gage shoved his phone in his pocket, then shouted for Delaney and Lowry to get in the vehicle. He saw Mason glance his way. Gage pretended not to see him. They didn’t need SWAT on the scene now anyway.
Brooks had obviously alerted the whole team, because there were several SWAT SUVs parked along the side of the road where the senior corporal had said to meet him.
The road had been blocked off around what looked like a traffic accident. A dark sedan was lying in the ditch with the driver’s side door smashed in and the windows missing. Bullet holes riddled the car, and there were four dead bodies lying in the grass, automatic weapons alongside them. Hundreds of shell casings were scattered around the area.
Gage’s whole pack was clustered around the first SUV in the line. Well, not all of them. Becker and Xander were missing. Cooper was sitting on the hood of the car with his shirt off, a stoic look on his face while Trevino dug a bullet out of his shoulder. The team medic dropped it to the asphalt to join the others he’d already taken out. Shit, there were a lot of bloody bullets lying there.
Brooks turned. There was a dark purple and black bruise running down the big man’s neck and into his collar that probably stretched across his shoulder and chest. It looked like he’d been hit by a freaking car.
“Any idea where they took Mackenzie?” Gage asked.
“We don’t know for sure. All we know is that she was taken by Roscoe Patterson.”
Brooks briefly outlined the call Mac had gotten from the hospital, the ambush they’d walked right into, and the subsequent chase.
“You rammed a car off the road?” Gage asked.
Werewolves were strong, and Brooks was stronger than most. But tackling a car? That was extreme.
“Yeah, I thought it was the car Mac was in.” His jaw tightened. “It wasn’t until I started yanking people out that I realized I’d hit the wrong one.”
“That’s when I ripped the door off the other car, but one of Hardy’s thugs got in the way,” Cooper said. “They sped off before I could pull Mac out. I tried to keep up with them, but I couldn’t. Sorry, boss.”
Gage appreciated the effort they’d gone to get her back. He knew there was nothing more they could have done. “And no one here has any idea where the car was heading?”
“No one who’s alive,” Cooper said. “We’re hoping Becker gets lucky.”
Gage frowned. “Where is Becker?”
“Trying to get in to talk to Zak,” Brooks answered. “According to the nurse at the hospital, a couple of tourists brought Zak in. We assume those tourists were actually some of Hardy’s men, and that Zak might have overheard something—either while they were beating the hell out of him, or while they were taking him to the hospital to be bait.”
Gage wasn’t sure what they could expect out of Zak. The guy didn’t exactly seem like the kind of man who could pay attention to details while in the middle of an ass whooping. “And Xander?”
“He’s there to make sure the doctors don’t try to drag Becker in for surgery,” Cooper supplied. “He got hit a few times, too. Not as many times as I was, but I think that’s because he was using me as a shield.”
There wasn’t much they could do until Xander and Becker got some information, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t search the car and the men who had been in it. Maybe they’d get lucky.
Gage was digging through some suitcases in the trunk of the sedan when three police cruisers and an unmarked car pulled up beside them.
He spotted Deputy Chief Mason’s salt-and-pepper hair in the front seat. Mike came over to stand next to Gage as Mason got out of the car. Shit, this was all he needed.
Mason’s jaw was tight
