Into the Mist

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Through hazy vision, Tyana saw two sets of cats’ eyes close to her face. She felt a warm tongue on her cheek and soft fur rub against her nose.

“Go,” she whispered. “You have to get out. They’ll kill you.”

She pushed at the jaguar with her uninjured arm and was stunned at the weakness of the gesture, how much of her strength it sapped to make such a small movement.

“Ty, Ty, speak to me.” D’s frantic voice shot through her ear, and she winced.

She tried to push herself away from the wall, tried to get herself up off the floor.

“Go,” she told the cats as she fell back, her strength spent.

To her relief, they loped off.

“D, the cats are out. If the Falcon secondary is moving in, make damn sure no one shoots them.”

“I don’t give a damn about the fucking cats,” Damiano bit out. “Can you move? Can you get the hell out?”

Shit. She couldn’t even lie to him because he’d see she was still stationary.

“No,” she said quietly. “I’m down.”

More sounds echoed through the hallway. Loud footsteps. More than one person. A lot of them.

“D, is the Falcon secondary moving in?” she asked, unable to keep the fear from her voice.

Before he could respond, she looked up and saw four men round the corner. Not Falcon. Her heart sank. Her rifle dangled uselessly from her hand. She couldn’t even lift it.

Eli shoved himself off the ground, trying to shake off the effects of the paralytic. His mind was clearing now. Fear replaced the fog.

Two men, guns up, sprinted toward him. He recognized them as members of Falcon. The ones who’d shown up in Germany. Neither was Damiano which only left Jonah and Mad Dog. The man in front clearly had to be Jonah.

As he rose to meet the potential threat, two cats burst from the exit he and Tyana had come through.

Falcon halted, their guns up and trained on the cats. But they didn’t immediately shoot.

The cats collapsed on the ground and began their excruciating shift. Eli stumbled over to their naked bodies.

“Tyana. Where is Tyana?” he demanded.

Ian stared at him in confusion. “I don’t know,” he said in a weak voice.

The two men from Falcon knelt over Ian and Braden. They dug fatigues out of their packs and thrust them at the naked men.

“Get them on,” Jonah barked. “Then tell me where the fuck Tyana is.”

“She went back in after you,” Eli explained to the men as they dressed. “You came out. She didn’t.”

Jonah cupped a hand to his ear then cursed. Mad Dog paled.

“She’s taken another round. She’s down,” Jonah reported.

He dug into his pocket then thrust a small ear piece at Eli. “Put this on. You won’t have voice, but you’ll be able to hear. We’re going in after Ty.”

Eli pushed the receiver into his ear and immediately heard the voice of another man urgently asking for Tyana to report her condition.

“We’re going too,” Ian said. “If she went down saving us, we’re not leaving her.”

Jonah didn’t argue. He and Mad Dog tossed the two men extra guns.

“Jonah, she’s on the move.” The voice crackled in Eli’s ear. Damiano. “Not under her own power. They’re Esteban’s men. They’re moving her.”

There was another moment of silence. “Lower level. They said lower level and goddamn it, Jonah, I’ve lost her location. She’s not showing up anymore. You need to move.”

“All right, we’re going in,” Jonah said to the four men. “Fan out. Damiano has lost her location. He mentioned a lower level so we have to find our way down. We don’t have time to waste.”

“Jonah, Falcon secondary has secured the south wing,” Damiano reported.

“Have them close in on our location from the opposite direction,” Jonah said. “I want no stone unturned.”

As he turned to go into the building, Eli reached out and grabbed his arm.

“I can shift. The drug has worn off enough. I can go into places you guys can’t. I need voice, though.”

Without hesitation, Jonah reached over and tore Mad Dog’s receiver from the front of his vest and slapped it on Eli’s chest. “Go,” he ordered.

Eli summoned every bit of his mental energy and evaporated into a fine mist. He streaked into the building and disappeared into the ventilation system. Behind him, he heard the steady footsteps of the others as they ran inside.

Damiano was about to go mad. He itched from the inside out. It took every ounce of his strength not to give in to the urge to shift. To become a predator and go after the ones who held Ty.

Only the fact that he knew he was her only voice, her only comfort, prevented his complete loss of control.

The men who’d taken her were angry. They argued among themselves, cursing the fact that Esteban had disappeared when the compound was attacked. Damiano flinched when he heard Ty cry out in pain.

God, what were they doing to her? He needed to see. He needed her location. He felt so goddamn helpless.

“Bitch won’t live long enough for us to use her as a bargaining tool,” one of them complained.

She cried out again, and one of them laughed cruelly.

Damiano summoned every bit of control. He had to help her. Just like he had in Prague. He wouldn’t let her suffer like this.

Tears streamed down his cheeks as he drew in a shaky breath. “Ty, listen to me.” He purposely made his voice soft and low, soothing. “I want you to go to our place. You remember it, don’t you? Remember back at the orphanage, we’d go to our special place where no one could touch us. No one could hurt us. It was just you and me in the most wonderful place we could imagine. Go there now, Ty. Do it for me.”

“I love you, D,” she whispered in a choked voice. Was she choking on her own blood? Had she taken a hit to the chest? “Tell Jonah I’m sorry.”

Jonah and Mad Dog paused for just a second as Damiano’s haunted voice filled their ears. And then Tyana’s apology. Grief, thick and relentless grabbed hold of Jonah. For the first time in two decades, he faced losing someone important to him. He’d sworn after Adharji that he’d never let anyone close again. Would never allow himself to bleed over anyone. But Falcon was his family and Tyana, Mad Dog and Damiano had, despite his best efforts, become all-important. He wouldn’t lose them. Not now. Not ever.

“We won’t lose her,” Jonah vowed. “Do you hear me, D? We won’t lose her. You tell her that. Tell her we’re coming for her and goddamn it, she’s not allowed to die.”

Eli streaked downward, to the lower level of the building. He’d found the single elevator shaft in the center of the facility. There was blood in the shuttle. Tyana’s blood.

Through more vents he floated until finally he heard voices. He moved silent as a whisper down into the room. Tyana lay on the floor, her leg bent at an odd angle, one arm bloodied, the other carelessly thrown aside. Her eyes were open but glassy and fixed on some distant object.

Four men stood to the side arguing. Eli did a quick survey of the room. A lone assault rifle, one the men had laid against the wall, was a few feet away. He would have to be fast. Shift and shoot.

Ignoring the rage that consumed him, and the worry over Tyana’s so-still form, he wrapped around the rifle, a single thin plume of smoke.

With a jolt, he commanded himself back to form, holding the image of the transmitter in his mind. Screw the clothes. If they came, they came, but he needed that transmitter.

His hands gripped the gun just as the shocked stares of the men found him. He laid down a round of fire into their midst. Three fell while the fourth rolled away. He came up firing.

Heat singed Eli’s arm, but he ignored it and pumped three rounds into the fourth man’s chest. He sagged like a deflated balloon.

“Damiano, can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I read you. What the fuck is going on in there?”

“I’m with Tyana. I’ve taken a hit. It’s not bad. I need cover getting out of here.”

“Is Tyana alive?” Damiano demanded.

Eli knelt, afraid to touch his fingers to her neck. He felt the faintest flutter, slow and unsteady. “She’s alive. For now. But fading fast. Get a chopper in here as fast as you can. She needs to get to the hospital yesterday.”

He quickly relayed the information on his location to Damiano, and then he gathered Tyana in his arms. He hoisted her up, and she sagged limply, her head dangling over his injured arm.

He adjusted his hold on her so that her head sagged against his chest instead, and he rested his chin on top to keep her in place.

God, there was so much blood.

“Don’t die,” he whispered. “Don’t die, Tyana. Not for me.”

Ian and Braden gained more strength as determination fueled their movements. Whatever the reason for Tyana saving them, she had, and they wouldn’t let her go down for that.

They sprinted down the hallways, glancing right and left, looking for any movement, any sign of blood. As they rounded one of the corridors, Ian stopped cold. Braden collided with him, nearly knocking him off balance.

Esteban stood in their path holding an assault rifle trained on Ian. Rage billowed over Ian, lighting fire to every one of his nerve endings. This was the fucker responsible for his and Braden’s condition. The bastard had kept them caged, taunting them endlessly until they’d shifted. There was no telling what he’d done to them while they were in shifted form. It was probably a blessing that they had no memory of being cats.

“You’ll never live,” Ian taunted.

Esteban smiled, an eerie, empty expression that suggested he wasn’t all there. There was a bloody gash on his neck that looked remarkably like it had been inflicted with claws. It wasn’t a new wound. The blood had congealed and dried, dark red, on his skin.

“Which one of us got you, Esteban?” Ian asked. “Looks like you pissed the cat off one too many times.”

“I don’t need you,” Esteban spat. “It’s never been about you. You’re both expendable.” He raised his gun. Braden shouldered his rifle in response and Ian gripped his tighter.

“Which is it going to be?” Ian asked quietly. “You don’t have to die. Put the gun down.”

Esteban laughed. “Nice try. You won’t get any information from me.”

He fired the rifle, and Ian jerked, expecting the pain to lash over him. To his horror, Gabe’s body materialized in front of him, his face a mask of agony. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he stared into Ian’s eyes. Like a puppet being cut free of his strings, Gabe sagged to the floor.

“No!” Esteban screamed. “What have you done? You stupid fool! You were stable.”

Esteban fired his weapon again as he began to run. The shot went wild as Esteban dove into one of the rooms.

Ian didn’t even bother pursuing him. His attention was focused on Gabe’s fallen body. He sank to his knees and pressed his hands over the gaping wound in Gabe’s chest. Braden hit the floor beside him. “Ian. Braden.” It came out as a trickle, as if the names barely managed to escape.

Shit. Shit! They were stuck in here with no means of communication. Panic settled hard into Ian’s stomach as more blood ran through his fingers.

“Don’t talk, man. We’ll get you out of here,” Braden said.

“No. Listen to me. I have to tell you something. I need you to listen closely.”

Gabe’s hands curled into Ian’s shirt, and he pulled him nearer with flagging strength.

“Tyana didn’t betray us. I did.”

“What?” Ian demanded. “Gabe, you’re not making any sense. Shut up and let us get you out.”

Gabe shook his head and moaned. He coughed and more blood spilled over his lips.

“I have a sister. Katie. On my laptop. Information about her. What you’ll need to find her. They threatened her.”

“Sister?” Ian exchanged confused glances with his brother. Gabe didn’t have a sister. None of them had family. It was a prerequisite to join the team when they were still in the military.

“Promise me,” Gabe said, his grip tightening around Ian’s shirt. “I don’t deserve anything from you guys but Katie is innocent. They want her. I’m stable…”

Ian pressed harder on the wound, despair tightening his throat as he realized nothing he was doing was staunching the blood flow. “We’ll find her, Gabe.”

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Tell Eli…so sorry. They said they’d kill her if I didn’t give you guys up. Realized too late. They wouldn’t kill her…they want her…like me…she’s all I had.”

His eyes seemed to fix on a spot beyond Ian and Braden, and then they slowly closed and his head fell to the side.

“Son of a bitch,” Braden hissed. “Goddamn it, no!”

Ian moved his bloody hands to Gabe’s neck, desperately feeling for a pulse. Grief and anger ricocheted through him when he got no response. No flutter to tell him Gabe was still alive.