“Oh, come on,” Joe said. “You’re telling me the king nerd can’t get anywhere without a security clearance card?”
“Eat me,” Donovan growled. “This’ll take less time. Provided it works. If it doesn’t, we’ll just blow our way in.”
Joe grinned. “I like the way you think when you don’t have your head stuck in a computer.”
“I’m so kicking your ass when this is over.”
They ran down the corridor until they came to an open door. Donovan held up one hand then kicked in the door and went in, gun up as he swept the room.
“Clear here,” Donovan said.
They continued their path down the hall, finding evidence of hasty exits. There were overturned equipment, papers scattered everywhere, even a running faucet.
When they came out of the current room, a shot sounded and Donovan went down. Joe turned, laying down a heavy spray of bullets as he hit the ground to cover his brother.
Joe nailed one in the chest and he fell heavily. The other, Joe got in the leg and he disappeared around the corner before Joe could get off another shot. He turned his attention to his brother.
“Van, goddamn it, talk to me. Are you hit?”
“Get the fuck off me. I can’t breathe,” Donovan growled. “Fucker just winged me. I’m all right. Let’s clear the rest of the hall.”
Joe carefully pushed himself off his brother but kept careful watch as Donovan picked himself up from the floor. When Joe glanced down, he saw blood smeared on the white tiles.
“You’re bleeding, goddamn it. Where did you take the hit?”
Donovan put a hand to the tear in his sleeve. “It’s just a graze. Few inches over he’d have hit the Kevlar and then we wouldn’t be having this stupid conversation about blood.”
They moved more slowly down the hall, each facing a different direction. Donovan walked forward and Joe backed his way after his brother. At each open doorway, they stopped to clear the room but left frustrated each time.
“This is bullshit,” Donovan said into his receiver. “We’re coming up empty. What about the rest of you?”
“Steele and company are engaged. Phillips is helping round up everyone running from the building. They haven’t been able to clear their section. We’re making our way back as fast as we can,” Sam said.
“Us too,” Nathan relayed.
Joe could hear the frustration in his twin’s voice and the ache. He was afraid for Shea. Afraid he wouldn’t find her but also afraid of what he’d find if they came across her.
“We have to find her,” Joe said in a low voice to Donovan.
Donovan nodded and continued their path through the maze of rooms.
They burst into a room and quickly scanned the interior. Joe frowned, and for a moment it felt like someone had punched him in the stomach. He lurched forward, ignoring Donovan’s order to be cautious.
He turned in a circle, staring, remembering what he’d seen during his brief connection to Shea. “This is it, Van. This is where they had her!”
Donovan hopped over a chair on its side and turned the corner of the L-shaped room. Joe came up beside him and froze as he stared at the cylindrical cage. And it was a cage. There were no bars but it was no less a prison.
“Dear God,” Donovan whispered.
Joe bolted forward, his hand running along the top of the enclosure where Shea lay, her eyes glassy and fixed on the ceiling. Electrodes were attached to her head, though one had fallen off and lay by her ear. The monitor that he’d seen was to her left.
“Son of a bitch! We have to get her out of here, Van.”
Joe dropped his rifle and clawed frantically at the lid, trying to figure out how it opened. “Damn it, Van, how do I get her out?”
Donovan hurried around to the work station where the computers were and began tapping furiously at the keys. Joe stalked around to the other side and cut the lines that fed from the electrodes to the machine monitoring her brain activity. Then he leaned over the enclosure, pressed his hands to the plastic and put his face over hers.
Shea, can you hear me. Talk to me, sweetheart. They can’t hurt you now.
She didn’t move. Didn’t acknowledge him in any way. He felt nothing through their pathway. Just silence and nothingness. Calm. Eerie calm.
“Goddamn it, hurry, Van! She’s not doing good. Not at all. We have to get her out of here.”
“I’m doing the best I can. I’m flying blind here. It’s a complicated system. I’ll get it. I’ll get it.”
Joe continued to stare down at Shea, his fingers splayed out, pressed to the cool surface. He only thanked God that it wasn’t Nathan who’d found her. He’d have gone ballistic and there would have been no controlling him.
Suddenly the top lifted and started to open toward him. He backed off and ran around to the other side. The locks around her neck, wrists and ankles popped open, but she didn’t react.
Gently, Joe reached in and lifted her from the enclosure. She was limp against him and her head lolled onto his shoulder. Shit, this was scaring him.
“We have Shea,” Donovan said tersely. “I repeat, we have Shea. Give us your status.”
“Go out the front,” Sam barked. “We’re engaged in heavy fire. Back is not secure. P.J. will be covering your exit. Take one of the SUVs and meet us at the rendezvous point. Once we’re clear, we’ll meet you as scheduled.”
It fried Joe’s ass to even think about leaving his brothers behind, but they couldn’t carry Shea into the line of fire. And he couldn’t send Donovan because he was Joe’s only cover, since Joe was carrying Shea out.
“You heard the man. Let’s go,” Donovan bit out.
AS Nathan listened to the exchange between Donovan and Sam, he nearly went to his knees in relief. They hadn’t said anything about Shea’s condition, but they had her and that was all that was important. She was safe. His brothers wouldn’t let any harm come to her.
“Throw a fucking grenade and let’s be done with this shit,” Garrett snarled from across the wide-open area that was at the heart of the facility. All hallways led from the huge epicenter, and it was at the center where the security forces for the lab had taken a stand.
What the fuck they had to fight for was beyond Nathan, but maybe they feared certain death if they simply surrendered. While Nathan would love to accommodate them, Resnick wanted to do it by the book. Maybe he was still angling to keep his job.
Steele and his team, along with Resnick, were closing the gap and they’d soon have the holdouts between them. Sam, Garrett, Nathan and Ethan had taken position while bullets zinged by them and kicked up plaster from the walls.
“I’m coming in behind you.”