EOINTHE  HALL   I’D   COME   DOWN   HAD   BEEN   EMPTY   AND   DARK,  THE   DOORSall open, but I’d checked each room, anyway. There’d only been three, and they’d been empty.Just as I was nearing the end of the hall, I heard a gunshot, and then a second one.Shit.I quickened the pace. We’d lost the element of surprise, but no way in hell were we going to turn and run. We’d find Aline or die trying.And then I heard it. “Help!”Aline was screaming.I couldn’t say how I knew it was her since I couldn’t really compare a single scream to what she’d said in the ransom video, but I knew it was her. My pulse sped up, and I walked faster, every one of my senses on alert.She screamed for help again, and I went around just in time to see a man in a uniform shove a slender figure through adoorway. Aline.Anger flared, and I didn’t think, just pulled the trigger twice. One shot hi

EOINThis wasn’t exactly how I’d imagined the rescue going.Everything going to hell, that I’d almost expected. No matter how good Cain and the other guys were, we’d all known that getting in and out without anyone knowing we were there would be virtually impossible. We had five trained people with weapons, radios, and a basic idea of what we were walking into. What we didn’t have was outside support.If any military team, specialized or otherwise, had tackled a similar situation, they probably would’ve had blueprints and eyes in the sky or on the ground to see what the people inside couldn’t. Chances were, they wouldn’t be running through a door, civilian over their shoulder, without knowing whether or not there’d be guns waiting on the other side.The danger and the not knowing were just part of the job. Cain hired only experienced ex-military for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest was because we understood the risks we’d take for jobs like this. Granted, this wasn’t t

ALINEAs  I locked  the  door  to  the  bathroom, I had  a  moment  towonder if the man whose name I still didn’t know could hear that I’d done it, but then I decided I didn’t care. This was the first time in days I’d felt even remotely safe.I grimaced as I pulled off the clothes I’d been wearing for almost a week and tried not to think about how awful I smelled. Heat flooded my cheeks as I realized that my rescuer had had me right next to his face. I pushed that thought out of my head, and then I heard a man’s voice close enough that my pulse spiked.“This is Eoin McCrae in room one fifteen.”I knew that voice. I closed my eyes in relief. Eoin. That was his name.The next thing he said had my eyes opening and my jaw dropping. I listened harder, fury rising in me as every word painted a vulgar picture of me and why I was here. I turned on the water, hoping to drown out his side of the conversation. I’d alread

ALINEThe sandwiches were good, and as soon as I took the first bite,I was ravenous. I knew I had to pace myself, though. If I ate as many as I thought I wanted, it’d only just come back up again. I finished most of the first one before setting it back on the tray.That was when the guilt hit me.The others weren’t getting to eat sandwiches and stretch out on a soft, clean bed in clean clothes. The best I could hope  was that they’d get something to eat in the morning, and no one would hurt them because of me.The food I’d just eaten churned in my stomach, and for a moment, I worried that I might be sick right here and now. I closed my eyes and focused on taking slow, deep breaths until the nausea passed.It wasn’t my fault that they were still being held prisoner. I’d tried to go back for them, but Eoin had literally carried me away. I’d never be able to find the building again on my own. I couldn’t even giv

ALINEI  was  cold.  So  cold.  The  sort  that  burned  as  it  froze.  My  teethchattered, and my body shook.I was naked, and the room was icy. Wind blew through, but there weren’t any windows.It was dark. No sun and no artificial light. I shouldn’t have been able to see anything. The blackness around me should have been my entire world, but all it wasn’t. I could see everything all too clearly.The colors bright and stark.The details of each and every horror.Hammond laid curled on the floor, his fingers and hands broken, blood pooled around his head. He wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing. His eyes were open, but they didn’t see anything. He’d never see anything anymore.Dana was next to him. She’d been crying and screaming at them the whole time they’d been killing the doctor, but now she was quiet. She was still alive, but the look in her eyes said something was dead inside her. They’d