Page 82 of Explode
“I’m afraid that’s confidential information. But I assure you, it’s veryimportant, and urgent,” Jack replied, his voice calm, unwavering.
There was a long pause before The Stag’s voice sounded again.“Chief Thorne, sorry to disturb you, but there are a couple of Feds here. Says it’s urgent.”
Another pause, and all of us in the van held our breaths, waiting tosee if Thorne would go for the bait. A smile spread over all our faces when The Stag spoke again. “Boss says go on up.”
The rumbling of the car along the driveway filled the van, and Ipictured Jack driving up the driveway that would lead to the courtyard.
“Fucking amateurs, they didn’t even check our ID,” Seb chuckled, andI couldn’t help but smirk. Thorne’s arrogance really would be his downfall.
Less than a minute later, the car came to a stop.
“He’s at the door,” Jack said, his voice low.
The sound of car doors slamming came next before a voice I neverwanted to hear again spoke.
“Gentleman, to what do I owe the pleasure of this late night visit at myhome?” Thorne said, and it was hard to miss the skepticism in his voice.
“Chief Thorne, apologies for disturbing you, but we’ve had someintelligence about the whereabouts of Miles Wolfe and Riley Bennett. A colleague of ours, Special Agent West, asked us to update you immediately,” Jack said, the lie coming easily off his tongue.
Thanks to Ash’s contact in the bureau, we knew Special Agent Westwas one of the Feds Thorne had made connections with, and by name dropping, it would add credence to Jack’s lie.
“Well, in that case, do come in. You have no idea how badly I’ve beenwanting to get my hands on those two,” Thorne replied, unmissable glee in his voice.
For someone who spun a web of lies, he wasn’t so fucking clever atdetecting when he was being lied to.
The sounds of footsteps echoed from the radio, followed by the thudof the front door closing. More footsteps followed, and I tracked in my head which room Thorne was likely taking Jack and Seb to.
“Do you know where Wolfe and that little whore are?” Thorne asked,my hands clenched into a fist at him calling Riley a whore.
“Yeah, we know where they are, fuckface,” Jack said, before a scufflesounded and then the thump of a body hitting the floor.
“He’s down,” Seb panted. “Go, go, go.”
We didn’t need to be told twice. Tank fired the van to life and floored itfrom where we were parked. It took a minute to reach the turning to the driveway, and a Stag came into view.
Miles’ bullet hit him in the head before he even knew what washappening. Another Stag appeared, firing a round which narrowly missed the side of the van, but my bullet hit him directly in the chest, taking him down.
Within seconds, gunfire filled the air. Stags came from all directions,firing their weapons. We were outnumbered, but that didn’t stop us. What we lacked in numbers, we made up for in skill.
Every one of our bullets hit their targets, while the Stags shots wentwide, with the exception of one that hit the windshield, and if it wasn’t for the fact the van was bulletproof, we all would have been sprayed with glass.
When dead bodies of The Stags littered the ground, Tank floored thegas, and the van sped up the driveway. Miles, Oz, and I took out another three Stags when they came running out of the woods that surrounded the house, no doubt on perimeter patrol.
As Tank pulled into the courtyard, two more Stags appeared, butbefore any of us could take a shot, Seb shot from the front door, hitting his targets with ease. Tank stopped the van, and as we all piled out, every one of us scanned the area for further threats, but none came.
“He’s out cold,” Seb said, keeping his gun raised, but flicking his headtowards the house.
“Keep your eyes peeled for more Stags,” I instructed. “We’ll get himsecure and get the fuck out of here before anyone realizes he’s missing.”
“And search every inch of the house, there must be something herethat will give me a damn clue as to how to breach the fucking security system Hendrix has,” Miles added.
The second I walked into my family home, I was hit with memories,like always. Only this time, they weren’t memories of my father being cruel, of him beating my mother, or Theo and me hiding in the panic room. No, they were memories of Riley. The morning I woke to find she’d returned from France. The minute she stepped out in her wedding dress.
I’d never wanted to live in this house after my father died, but at thatmoment, I was hit with the image of me and Riley living here, making itourfamily home.
Shaking the thought from my head for now, I followed the sound ofmovement coming from the lounge. Miles followed behind as we entered to find Jack tying up an unconscious Thorne, a bright red mark on his neck where Jack had jabbed the syringe to drug him.
The sight of Thorne alone made my hand twitch with the need tograb my blade and slice him open.
