Page 66 of Hard Game

Carmen looks around us, snapping her fingers in front of me. “Get a grip of yourself, Detective Diess; you’re speaking gibberish. Can we get some medical help over here, please?” Carmen calls out, waving her hands at one of the paramedics.

“I don’t need medical help! I know it was you,” I snarl, stepping closer to her. “How could you? All those women…”

Carmen grins in my face, and vomit rises in my throat. This can’t be happening. My boss is complicit in a trafficking ring. “Prove it.”

Then, a paramedic takes me by the arm, attempting to pull me to an ambulance. I resist, kicking off and screaming Carmen’s name when she looks at me and shakes her head sadly.

“I don’t know what she’s been through, but maybe she should be sedated?”

“Fuck no! I know what you did! You bitch!”

Another paramedic joins the other, but then I see two officers striding toward me with stern expressions.

“Go with her to the hospital,” Carmen tells them before looking at me. “You’re on leave as of right now, Diess. You need help, and I’ll make sure you get it.”

“You’re a part of this! You did this! How could you let all these women…” I resist the officers as they drag me to the ambulance, kicking and screaming. “You tried to kill Elijah!”

Tears stream down my face as my hands are cuffed behind my back, and it’s then that I see Maddox in the distance, lurking behind the trees. He’s got Alastor with him, and my heart jumps in my throat. I can’t alert anyone to his presence, so I scream into the darkness instead. “Carmen Torra is part of the Lockwood Ring! She knew everything! She tried to kill Elijah Jonewood!”

“That’s enough!” One of the officers says as a needle pierces the skin on my arm. “Night, sweetheart.”

I fight it with everything I have, praying Maddox heard me and saw them sedating me.

Please, Maddox.

35

MADDOX

Heading back into the building is like diving head-first into a fire. Women are screaming as they try to escape, and the darkness isn’t helping them; it’s scaring them. But Tassa had to cut the electricity to let them free, so it’s a small price to pay. Police bark out orders through the air, and I make my way to the room where the cages are, fighting a tidal wave of women as I do.

“This way! Follow the sound of my voice!” An officer commands from behind me, and women moan and shove one another as they fight for their lives.

I finally enter the room, the stench of rot and decay greeting me like a lifelong enemy. Somewhere on this platform are Tassa and Alastor, and I need to get the bastard before one of his minions helps him escape.

“Get the fuck off me, you psycho bitch!” I hear Alastor grunt from my right, and I grin.

There he is.

I keep my back to the wall as I make my way to the sound of his voice, stifling my amusement as I hear bone cracking bone. Tassa isn’t taking any prisoners.

“You sick fuck! You killed my Zia!” Tassa sounds like a demon in the darkness, and I know if I don’t get to her soon, she’ll kill Alastor, and I need that bastard to suffer.

“Tass,” I hiss, knowing she won’t respond. She’s in a zone, a murderous, red room where only she and Alastor exist. She wants to end his life, and if I don’t get there—shit!—I stumble over a body and curse as the platform shudders below me. I brace myself until it steadies, inhaling and exhaling to calm my racing heart. “Tassa!”

“I’m ending everything right now, Maddox,” Tassa seethes, and Alastor gasps for breath.

I move forward and make out the outline of Tassa on top of Alastor, her fingers wrapped around his throat. I can’t see how she’s got him pinned to the ground, if she’s injured him, or how because she’s a small thing that would need help. Knowing Tassa, she’s gutted him like a fish, and he’s slowly bleeding out.

I can’t blame her if she has.

But I reach down, lifting her off him with both hands, my boot replacing her hands on his throat.

“No!” Tassa screams, her strength surprising me. Her adrenaline must be sky-high because when she bucks against me, I almost lose my balance. “He’s mine!”

“Tassa, for fucks sake, we need him!” I growl as she kicks the railings, forcing us backward. I slam into the wall and groan, but I release Tassa and lunge for Alastor, who’s trying to escape. My arm wraps around his throat, and I squeeze, forcing him to his knees.

“I’m not telling you anything, motherfucker!” Alastor rasps, fighting me.

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