Page 91 of H E R

The doors slide open and gray cement walls loom before us like the gates of fucking hell. My thoughts evaporate, forcefully set aside so that I can concentrate. Niki is here somewhere.

The cellar is a fucking maze, with short ceilings and narrow halls. The ground is a mixture of dirt and sand and wireless construction lights are placed three to four and a half meters apart. Charles stops and presses his back against the wall. I mirror his movements and he turns and begins communicating with hand signals.

Up ahead, nine, maybe ten meters.He mouths the next words and my entire body tenses–Carlton and Justice.

I lean forward and notice that in four paces, the floor changes from dirt to cement. I nod at Charles and we move forward. He signals directions to stay low and to allow him to enter first. I nod in agreement. The closer we get, the louder the voices become. At first they were muffled, the sound waves guarded by the stone walls. Charles signals for me to stop and he moves to enter the room.

I roll my shoulders and keep my breathing steady. I’ve been on hundreds of missions, but none felt like this. The danger of losing Niki feels worse than death itself. I walk further, ignoring Charles’s command, and hear Carlton’s voice.

“Did you actually think I didn’t know it wasyou?”

“If you knew it was me, then why go through all this invite shit? Why give it any more attention or thought?”

Carlton laughs and then coughs dramatically. He’s got a sickly knot of phlegm stuck in his throat. “Justice Blog,” he guffaws and almost chokes again. “That little blog of yours has been a thorn in the sole of my foot for some time now. But then I was told exactly who you were, and well… I had to have you.”

The fucking nerve of this son of a bitch. I want to see her, make sure she’s okay. I hold my breath and slowly peel away from the dark. The need to have her in my line of sight is too much. My eyes dart quickly to scan the area and then they settle on her. I have a side view of a large room that resembles a garage.

Carlton takes a step forward, forcing Niki to take one back. “I do love a good chase,” he says between garbled grunts.

There’s silence, and Niki’s face contorts to express disgust. I hear a click of a gun and my muscles coil. I want to barge between them, but the control in her voice halts me.

“Don’t fucking move. You think I won’t shoot?”

Three men lie motionless on the ground. Two are breathing erratically, one complaining still. Another is in agony and practically whining. His leg is broken, and he lies on the ground face down, blood pooling near his misshapen leg.

Niki’s got a gun in hand. Her target–Carlton’s head. Her arms are steady, posture firm–unceasing. For a tiny person, she looks like she’s ten feet tall. Confidence oozes off her and my dick jerks. I shake my head. Only Niki could manage to elicit such feelings during the most inopportune moment.

Charles moves into view and Carlton gasps. “Finally! Where the hell have you been? This bitch knocked your men out.”

Niki practically growls at Carlton. “Your first mistake was to underestimate me.”

He ignores her and points a commanding finger at Charles and then at Niki. “Finish her!”

“Your second mistake,” Niki smiles, “was to assume I worked alone.”

Carlton’s eyes bulge, realization settling in. He swallows and tugs uncomfortably at his tie. He loosens the first button and glares at Charles. Niki takes a step forward. She doesn’t even look at Charles or bother with scanning the room. She trusts him implicitly. Who the fuck is this guy?

“Restrain him.” Her voice is ice and laced with venom as she barks her command at Charles.

Without a word, Charles holsters his gun and glances at the men on the ground. His foot taps each one and then digs in his jacket pocket and produces zip ties. His men glare at him in question. The one with a broken leg is quiet, probably passed out, succumbed by the pain.

Carlton reaches for him in disbelief but Charles swats his arm, a low tsk sound escapes his lips. “Don’t move or she’ll shoot.”

“I didn’t think you were the type of man who’d give up their career over some pussy!”

Charles snaps. He grabs Carlton’s shoulders and shoves him to the ground. Then he comes around and delivers a punch to his face. Charles grips him by the shirt and pulls him up. Then he tugs his arms forcefully behind his back to collocate the zip ties securely around his wrists. Three minutes passed as I stood frozen, enthralled by Niki’s command of the room. She managed to single-handedly disarm and knock out two men, mangle one, as well as hold her own against Carlton. I step into view then and Niki taps at her ear, stunned. She doesn’t see me just yet.

Her voice is low and cautious. “Jason, is that you? I’m okay, in a basement somewhere. I’ve got Carlton. We’ll find the victims next.”

Niki catches movement in her peripheral and whips her head in my direction. Her brown eyes grow wide at the sight of me, her lips breaking into my favorite smile. “Dylan is here, he’s safe,” she breathes. “For now.”

I frown. It’s obvious from her first statement that she was worried about me, but her second remark is laced with anger. I want to wrap her in my arms.

Carlton groans painfully. “You?”

I shake my head. “Nah, this was allher.”

Niki smiles wickedly as she faces Carlton. “I had help,” she shrugs.

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