Chapter 12
1970 Words
Chapter Twelve
The warehouse location turned out to be a cluster of buildings and warehouses located in the industrial district just outside the city. Sadie and Declan had taken the bad guys SUV. Broken window and all.
Even with the minor damage, the vehicle was much less conspicuous then the Sanctuary’s van.
Declan had found a side road that looped around the industrial area to a nearby hill which overlooked their target. In the dark, the pair were invisible. Unfortunately, the cloudy night didn’t offer much in the way of detail for the buildings.
“I can’t make heads or tails of this,” Sadie said, frustrated. “Do you really think this is the place?”
“I think he was telling the truth,” Declan said.
“But doesn’t this seem too, I don’t know, exposed?”
Declan shrugged. “It’s kind of genius, really. It’s hidden in plain sight. No one would notice trucks coming in or out. It’s as good a place as any.”
“Kind of like a needle in a haystack.”
“More like a needle in a stack of needles. We know the address and we still can’t confirm which one is the target. Whoever is running things here is smart.”
“Can you see anything?”
“My night vision is pretty good,” Declan said. “Even in human form.”
“Great, but do you see anything?”
Declan squinted in the darkness. “The place is pretty dead. But there seems to be some movement around one of the buildings.” He pointed.
Sadie looked in the direction he indicated, but she still couldn’t see anything. “What kind of movement?”
“Just a few guys hanging out in front of one of the warehouses. But they look like they’re carrying.”
“How many is a few?” Sadie asked, hating not knowing what he was seeing.
“Enough to be a problem. Although whatever deal is going down tonight, it doesn’t look like it’s started yet. There’d be more people. More activity. I think we showed up just in time.”
“It looks like luck is on our side for once,” she said.
He turned to Sadie. “Listen, I know I can’t convince you to sit this one out. Just promise me you’ll stay by my side.”
“I promise.”
“When we get close enough, I’m gonna need you to use that tranquilizer rifle. It’s our best bet of getting in quietly. Can you handle that?”
Sadie smiled. “Yeah, I can handle it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Uh, yeah. I’ve taken down scarier things than these thugs. I got this.”
The way he looked at her then made her insides flip. It was a turbulent mixture of emotion. Amusement, pride, desire. And above all, she thought she saw affection. No man had ever looked at her that way.
He saw her as the woman she’d always wanted to be. Strong and brave. Sexy and fierce. When he looked at her like that, she believed she was all those things. Maybe she was that woman at the moment. If so, it was because of Declan.
Around him, she wanted to be better. She was better. He gave her a reason to be the best version of her she could be. Sadie cared what he thought about her. She didn’t want to disappoint him or fail him. She wanted to be the woman he believed she was.
“You’ve got a warrior’s spirit,” he said. “I’ll give you that.”
She blushed at the compliment. It was almost like he could read her mind or sense her emotions. She stood up straighter, drawing on a well of strength she didn’t know she had. “I fight for what’s mine. You threaten me, you threaten my home, you better watch out.”
He brushed his fingers over her cheek, sending little jolts of warmth through her. “My little lioness,” he said, almost purring. “Are you sure you don’t have some shifter blood in you?”
“Pretty sure.”
“Well, you’re as ferocious as any shifter I’ve ever met. Let’s go put an end to this.”
They moved quietly through the shadows, flitting from building to building, making a beeline for their target. Sadie’s heart hammered in her chest. All her tough talk earlier felt like lies now that they were on the move.
This was real now. People were going to get hurt. She desperately hoped that didn’t include her and Declan.
She trusted the man with her life. Her strong lion. Her brave warrior. But he was hurt. Poisoned by the bastards who’d turned her life upside down. Weakened and slowly dying, he wasn’t working at full capacity. It made her worry he wouldn’t make it through this.
It also reminded her there was more at stake here than just a return to normal life.
In the few short days she’d known Declan, she’d grown attached to him. Already, she couldn’t imagine a life without him. With any luck, they’d make it through this to find out if they had a future together.
Her whole life, she’d been saving animals. Sure, Declan was a shifter, but it was similar. It was like she’d been preparing her entire life for this challenge. The man she’d come to love needed her help, and she was going to save him, no matter what.
Declan placed a hand on her shoulder, interrupting her train of thought.
He made a few hand signals. The kind you see in movies. He might as well have been using actual sign language. She shot him a befuddled look and shrugged, mimicking his silent attempts at communication.
He shook his head and leaned in close, his mouth so close to her ear she could feel his breath tickle her skin. “They’re just around the corner. I’m going to circle around behind them. Count to sixty, slip around the corner, and make every shot count.”
She nodded and he slipped away, disappearing into the shadows. Sadie began to count.
Declan jogged swiftly around the building. He took deep breaths, keeping his pulse even and steady. That was easier said than done considering the weakness threatening to overwhelm him.
He could feel the poison coursing through his veins. A toxic taint that made him feel dirty. Unclean.
The worst part, aside from the specter of death, was that he was weak when he most needed to be strong. This whole mess had become bigger than he’d expected. It wasn’t just about helping a friend. It wasn’t just about taking some bad guys down. Now he needed to put an end to this to save the woman he cared about.
Sadie was a beacon of light in his otherwise dark life. He’d never met anyone like her. She made him feel things again. She made him care. She made him love.
Meeting her had been like a punch to the gut. So beautiful. So compassionate. So strong. She’d saved his life. She’d taken care of him. And what had he brought to her life in return?
People shooting at her, taking over her home, and disrupting every aspect of her life. He hated being a burden on her. He had brought this trouble into her life, now it was his responsibility to fix it.
But even then, even if they were successful, what then? His whole life had always been a fight against one thing or another. Always conflict. Always strife. That wouldn’t change once this battle was over.
There’d be another fight. And another. She deserved better than that. She deserved better than him.
The best thing he could do was remove himself from her life. When all of this was over, if it was ever over, he would have to disappear and leave her alone. It was the right thing to do.
He pushed those dark thoughts aside and focused on the countdown. According to his watch, he had about twenty seconds to go. Just enough time to position himself at the corner of the building, just around the corner from the trio of smugglers standing between him and his friend.
He could hear them laughing and joking. Not a care in the world. That was good. If they had any idea Declan and Sadie were lurking around, they wouldn’t be acting so nonchalant.
Sadie swore she was a good shot with the tranquilizer rifle. Declan trusted her. All she had to do was take down two of the three. Hell, even if she only took down one, he could probably dispatch the other two quickly and quietly.
And that was the key. He needed to be silent. Other people had to be inside. They couldn’t be alerted to their presence.
He checked his watch again. Almost time. Three, two, one.
Show time.
Sadie poked her head around the corner. Three men stood about a hundred feet away, standing in a loose cluster. They had handguns holstered on their hips, like gunslingers. Only those guns fired bullets. All she had was tranquilizer darts.
Her shots needed to count. If she missed, they’d have a chance to fire back. And that would mean the end of her. And Declan.
She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Shaky hands could literally be the death of her. She raised her rifle and took aim at the nearest bad guy.
She fired.
The rifle made a muffled whoosh as compressed air propelled the dart towards its target. A little red puffball bloomed from the man’s throat.
Bullseye.
The sedative would act fast. This guy was no longer a threat. But there were two more mean bastards to worry about.
She took aim on the next closest. He was just reacting to his friend’s sudden and unexpected loss of motor functions. His hand flew to his hip, unholstering the pistol in one smooth motion. Sadie fired off another shot just as the man turned in her direction.
Her shot went wide.
The man raised his pistol at her, homing in on the kill shot. Instinct flared, and Sadie dropped to one knee. She fired from the hip.
The dart hit the man square in the chest. He looked down at it dumbly. The hand holding the pistol drooped to his side. He staggered drunkenly, no longer a threat. That only left one more.
But the last man had his gun pointed right at her.
Declan ran towards the last man standing. Sadie had done her job perfectly, dispatching the two other men. Now she was in the line of fire.
He couldn’t let her down. Not now. Not after they’d come this far. He pumped all of his remaining strength into his legs, pushing himself past the limit.
Declan collided with the man and knocked him to the ground. His gun went skittering across the pavement, out of reach. Declan slammed down on the man’s back and struggled to get a hold of him.
The man fought like a demon, resisting every attempt to pin him down. Confusion rocked Declan. Even in his weakened state, he should have been able to overpower the man easily in a one on one fight.
Unless he was weaker than he realized. And if that was the case, he was in real trouble.
He’d planned on taking the man out quickly, silently. But in a prolonged fight, Declan didn’t know if his strength would hold up. Especially considering just how strong his opponent was.
The man bucked beneath him, throwing Declan from his back. He came down on the hard ground with a thud, the air knocked out of him. The son of a b***h was strong. Too strong. Something was definitely wrong here.
Declan got to his hands and knees before a violent kick struck him in the ribs, knocking him back to the ground. He could feel the world rocking on its axis, as if his brain were rattling around in his skull.
He caught a glimpse of Sadie, her mouth hanging open, her eyes wide with horror. The sight of her pained him to the core, making his soul ache. Failing was one thing, but to fail in front of her, to fail her, it was too much to bear.
Do it for her, he thought. Get up and do the only thing you’re good for.
He summoned the last vestiges of strength and kicked out at the man’s legs, sweeping his feet from under him. Declan pinned him to the ground and punched him. Over and over. Blinded by rage.
The man gasped, blood on his face. “Declan?”
The sound of his name cut through the anger fogging his brain. Declan looked down at the man, recognition slowly dawning on him.
“Garrett?”
- Writer
