Darling Wildfire (Red Rabbit #2)

19

ATLAS

We’d been going non-stop the last few days, and I was starting to feel the fatigue.

Then this morning, I’d received a text from Lachlan letting me know Knox and Sakari hadn’t checked in, so it was assumed they’d been taken too. It was to be expected but it still sucked. I was headed back to Alpha One, looking forward to a quick beer and maybe some time with Nyx if I could get him away from Kaelin duty, when my phone rang.

“There was an explosion at NorTac!”

Lachlan yelled over the phone.

I could hear his bike in the background as he raced down the road.

“What?”

“Sounds like it’s pretty bad,”

Lachlan continued. “Luckily it was mostly empty. I’m headed there—”

I heard a screech of tires and then the line went dead.

“Lachlan?”

Dread coiled in my stomach. “Lach! Damnit.”

I whipped the car around, pulling up the tracking app on my phone and getting the location of Lachlan’s tracking device. He was on one of the back roads headed into the office from Alpha One. I wasn’t far.

I rounded the bend and came full speed on his location only to drive straight into gunfire. I drifted the car into the middle of the road in between Lachlan and his motorcycle that was laying in a ditch. He was behind it trying to take out an SUV with three men shooting at him.

I pulled my gun and jumped from the car as Lachlan scrambled up the bank.

“Ammo?”

He panted.

I tossed him a clip, and we popped up, peppering their car with bullets. I took out one man and motioned for Lach to flank the other two with me. As we rounded the car, the two men decided they’d had enough and put their SUV into drive, peeled away on smoking tires. The road curved quickly and they were gone.

I turned to Lachlan who stumbled, clutching his stomach. He was bleeding. I hurried to his side and he grimaced as I threw his arm over my shoulder.

“This is why I hate when you and Nyx ride those fucking bikes,”

I growled, dragging him to the SUV and depositing him into the passenger seat. He huffed a laugh as pain lined his features.

“Just adds to the thrill,”

Lachlan joked.

He was bleeding pretty heavily as I sped towards Alpha One, already on the phone with Doc who would meet us at the house. Then I dialed Nyx.

“Nyx—Lach was shot. We’re headed back to the house—”

“How bad?”

“I’m still alive,”

Lachlan groaned. “My bike isn’t though.”

“Fuck, really?”

Nyx cursed.

“Seriously?”

I snapped. “It’s a fucking bike! Lach is bleeding all over my car and you two are worried about a fucking bike?”

“Sorry Nyx,”

Lachlan said breathlessly. “He’s probably going to take yours away now.”

“Like hell he will,”

Nyx exclaimed. “Did you hear about the explosion? North is here now—”

“Yeah, that’s where we were headed. I’ll drop Lach off and then head over there.”

Lachlan slumped over in the seat as he passed out.

“Fuck, Nyx, he passed out—”

My hand reached across the console, pressing over his wound as his own hand slipped. “I have to go.”

I hung up with Nyx, frantically trying to drive and apply pressure to Lachlan’s stomach. I screamed through the gates and slammed to a stop at the front door of Alpha One. Luckily Doc was getting out of his car and rushed up to the passenger side. Together we got Lachlan out of the car and into the house.

Once I made sure he was situated with Doc in the infirmary, I headed back out to my car. I needed to get to NorTac to assess the damage and field law enforcement. I knew there was nothing I could do at home—he was in the best hands with Doc.

I sped back through the streets of the city, settling into the chaos of the moment. We knew shit would get crazy and part of me was reveling in it, knowing this was the beginning of the end. The other part was scared as hell something would happen to the people I loved. The last decade those bonds had only strengthened until I really didn’t know what I would do without them.

I hoped I didn’t have to find out.

I saw the lights and the yellow tape before I saw the building. Several blocks outside of the blast radius were cordoned off so I parked and got out. When I approached the tape, I nodded to the cop.

“I’m with NorTac. I need to speak with whoever is in charge.”

I flashed my employee card. The cop looked me up and down then lifted the tape, nodding at me to follow him. The closer I got to the building, the more it was swarming with activity. The cop was saying something to someone but I was staring at the building—or what was left of it. One entire side was gone, smoking and still crumbling as it settled. The rest of it had collapsed down and I could see they were worried about it falling over into other buildings or the street as it was listing precariously. Overall, the damage was extensive.

Message received.

“You’re with NorTac?”

I turned to the cop. One that looked like they were more in charge than the last one.

“Yeah,” I nodded.

“We’re still securing the area,”

he said. “Any idea why you’d be targeted?”

I shook my head, turning to look back at the wreckage.

“No, I don’t,” I lied.

Thank god the arsenal we kept underground wasn’t completely under the office but stretched out another block. We’d sneak in once things cooled off and move everything. Otherwise, the rest was a loss we were willing to take.

I handed the cop my business card.

“I’m available to answer any questions,”

I continued.

My mind drifted back to when I’d stood on this same sidewalk, looking at the brand new building North had just bought. Nyx and I had looked up at the tall skyscraper, watching them finish putting ‘NorTac’ on the top and feeling like we were starting something big.

And we had. Now it was crumbling down in front of me.

Only, that’s not what it represented to me.

The cop excused himself and I suppressed a smirk. While it had been a cool building, we weren’t attached to it. It was all a means to an end and this end just meant an even better beginning.