Darling Wildfire (Red Rabbit #2)

106

KAELIN

Vetticus’ men dragged me into a room with a bank of monitors along one wall.

The screens showed the game and all the angles of the action. Demetrius and several other men in rich looking suits stood on one side of the room watching a larger monitor with localized action and running bets on the side.

“Escort these men out,”

Vetticus snapped.

The guards led the men out, all except Demetrius. He lingered, his face carefully blank.

“Trouble?”

“Nothing to be concerned about,”

Vetticus said, his attention still on me.

“My men are here—let me help,”

Demetrius continued. “They know North—they know his men—”

“Very well,”

Vetticus said impatiently with a wave of his hand. “North’s men are missing from the cells. Have your team help find them. Unfortunately, we couldn’t include them in the game, but have them taken alive—I still have something planned for them.”

Vetticus walked over to me and without warning, threw his fist into my stomach. I doubled over and fell to my knees, coughing. Vetticus bent down.

“You’ll give me back control of my drones now,”

Vetticus hissed.

He grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head up, only to slam his fist into my jaw. He let go and I fell onto one hand. I tasted blood and when I looked up, I could see Demetrius’ fury like fire in his eyes. Vetticus hauled me up by my neck and I saw Demetrius’ hand twitch towards where his gun was under his suit.

Vetticus turned to him. “What are you still doing here?”

I discreetly gestured to Demetrius to leave, hoping he wouldn’t react. He needed to maintain his cover a little longer. Just until we had the situation under control.

Demetrius’ attention flickered from me to Vetticus and he stared at him with a calm coldness I would have been frightened of if it had been directed at me. I knew the only reason he was staying his hand was because of his respect and trust in Theron. Otherwise, I was under no illusions that Vetticus would have been a dead man. As it were, Vetticus just stared, an annoyed look on his face.

“Very well,”

Demetrius said. “My men will take care of your…problem.”

He gave me one last lingering look before he headed for the door. Once he was gone, Vetticus shoved me towards the computers.

“Fix it,”

he barked.

“It’s not that simple,”

I ground out, touching my split lip.

I looked at the screens, watching the game in play. The drones had all fallen out of the air and were laying around the map.

“I don’t care—just do it,”

Vetticus snapped.

“It was a kill code,”

I insisted. “I can’t just wave a magic wand and restart them.”

Vetticus shoved his gun against the side of my head.

“You have fifteen minutes,”

he threatened. “I trust you’ll figure it the fuck out.”

As soon as I started typing again, Vetticus pulled up his security cameras around the estate. It was obvious he didn’t care about the game anymore. All over the screens were dead bodies littering hallways, the grounds and other areas of the house. Vetticus threw a chair across the room in rage. When I jumped at the violence, he came and stood over me.

“How much longer?”

I didn’t answer and Vetticus growled impatiently under his breath but my fingers were still going across the keyboard so he didn’t react. I was busy searching for the backup I’d stored just in case I wanted to use the drones later. West and I decided they were better off dead just in case there were other access points for controlling them. However earlier as I was planting the kill code, I’d decided to back things up just in case I needed to restore them to life.

“Find him!”

Vetticus shouted in his comms unit, turning away from the monitors to pace around the room. “I don’t care—he’s injured and bleeding—you’re telling me he’s taken out half the guards?”

He seemed to be listening and then cussed out whoever was on the other end. “I don’t care about the game! His men are loose in the house—you need to find them!”

Vetticus paced behind my chair, which only added to my nerves. I was trying to stall, code and watch the security feeds to see what was going on. As soon as fifteen minutes was up, Vetticus grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head backwards.

“Time’s up,”

he snarled.

The drones twitched on the screen in front of us and I took my hands off the keyboard.

“It’s done,” I said.

“Good—there!”

He pointed to one of the security feeds. “Send the drones there.”

It took me a minute because of the tactical gear but I could see it was Graham and Lachlan. Dread settled in my gut.

“What part of that didn’t you understand?”

Vetticus ground out. “Send them.”

I pulled a few drones and sent them towards the house. Soon they were flying through the hallways. I pulled them up short in front of the men. I stalled, hoping they would move. Graham looked up at the drone warily while Lachlan watched the other end of the hallway.

“Shoot him,”

Vetticus demanded.

“No,”

I balked and tried to push away from the computer.

Vetticus slammed my head forward on the desk and pulled me back up. Blood poured from a cut on my nose.

“Do it, now!”

He roared.

“I can’t—”

I whimpered.

I could feel the anxiety creeping up. It became hard to breathe. My hands shook as I placed them on the keyboard.

“Do it now!”

He pressed the gun to my head again. “Don’t overestimate what you’re worth to me.”

I typed in the code as slowly as I could.

“Now!”

Vetticus demanded.

“Fuck…”

I cursed quietly in frustration.

My finger hovered over the execute button and a sob escaped. I was full on crying now.

“Do it!”

Vetticus shoved me forward again. My shoulders shook, the screen blurred.

I brought my finger down on the button, but before I could push it the door slammed open.