Page 49 of Vengeful Lies

That was fine with her. She didn't want to watch this even as she knew it was necessary.

Cade’s life was hanging in the balance.

It didn't take long for the first scream to hit the air and all she could do was slump against the wall, wrapping her arms around Becca as they held onto each other and prayed for the answers they needed to save Cade’s life.

Chapter

Thirteen

September 7th

8:49 A.M.

“What the—” The man with the gun was startled when he saw Cade standing before him.

There was no time to waste if he wanted to hold onto his chance of escaping. He didn't know how much of the hour was left, but he had to have waited a solid thirty minutes at least before enacting the first stage of his plan so he didn't have much time left to waste.

Because he was still hoping not to alert anyone remaining in the building that he was staging an escape attempt, instead of firing one of the weapons he’d taken from the guards he’d killed, Cade swung out using his claimed weapon more like a club to knock the man sideways and unbalance him. Then he reached out with one hand, grabbed the man’s weapon with his free one, and yanked as hard as he could while sidestepping and tossing the man down the stairs.

Each thump he made as his body connected had Cade wincing.

Not because he cared if the man was hurting, but because each sound seemed so loud to his ears that he was sure it must be echoing through the entire building, a beacon calling in anyone within hearing distance.

But nobody came.

At the bottom of the stairs, the man lay still. Possibly not dead, but hopefully incapacitated enough that he wasn't going to be a problem.

Not wanting to waste precious seconds by running back down the stairs and checking on him, finishing him off if need be, Cade instead headed out through the door and then paused to close and lock it behind him. If the man was still alive this would at least keep him contained.

With the door safely locked, he took a second to rest his aching leg and check his surroundings. From what he could see, he was in some sort of small office building. The basement wasn't big enough to be an underground parking lot or anything, but he was standing at the bottom of a stairwell like one you'd find in an office building.

This had to be the ground floor because he’d just come up from the basement, so he moved carefully, ignoring the throbbing in his leg, and moved so he could see how many flights of stairs went up above him.

It looked like five which meant this building wasn't anything too large.

What he cared more about, though, was how many people were currently still inside and where it was located.

It couldn’t be overly remote given that most office buildings were in central locations, but he needed to be sure. Given how badly his leg was hurting, he couldn’t hike a huge distance to get himself back to civilization.

Then a picture of his daughter’s smiling face and Gabriella’s tinkling laugh flitted through his mind and Cade knew he wouldabsolutely walk a thousand miles if that was what it took to get home to his girls.

Heading for the door that would lead out of the stairwell, Cade inched it open just enough to peer through and saw a large lobby area with several doors leading to other rooms.

There was also a door leading outside.

Since he could not know if any of the other rooms were occupied, he would have to risk making a run for it. There was no cover out there. As soon as he stepped through this door, he’d be an easy target, but it wasn't like just staying there was an option.

Three of the five men he knew had abducted him were either dead or contained in the basement, but that still left two others.

Even injured, he wouldn't hesitate to take them on and do whatever it took to win.

Fighting wasn't the issue, it was being shot in the back while he made a run for freedom that had his heart knocking on his chest.

He and Gretel had gotten together while he was in training, so even from the very beginning of his career he’d always had every reason in the world to make it home alive. It meant he’d long since developed the skills of being careful in any situation, no matter how dangerous it might be.

Never had the stakes felt so high.

Dying now would leave his daughter an orphan, and he had a feeling Gabriella had done so much more than any of them realized to protect his daughter. They both needed him and the thought of failing them left him barely able to breathe.

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