Hobbs planted his feet against the balcony, and Sloane ushered everyone to the doors they’d come in from. The balcony was about to come down. They ran for the stairs leading up to the balcony, and Sloane placed Tony’s jacket on the floor to one side so he could grab the rope.
“Everyone pull,” Sloane ordered. Dex, Cael, and Rosa all grabbed the rope with him and heaved. Sloane gritted his teeth, his muscles straining. They each took one step back at a time, one foot first, then the other. If Dex hadn’t been part Therian, there was no way they would have been able to pull up Hobbs, Ash, and their two Human teammates. As strong as Cael was, Sloane would have been doing most of the heavy lifting, and Hobbs would have been challenge enough.
As soon as Hobbs’s shoulders were up, they grabbed him and carefully pulled him in through the doorway until he could rest his arms on the floor before Sloane. They all clipped their rappelling ropes to his vest and secured them around the exposed beams to each side of him. They held on to the ropes just in case. Sweat dripped down Sloane’s face. When Hobbs was secure, Sloane leaned over.
“Cal, you need to climb up!”
Calvin cursed under his breath and let out a pained growl as he swung himself and grabbed on to Ash’s vest with his other hand. He let his head rest against Ash for a second before he started to climb up Ash, then Ethan. When he was close enough to reach, Sloane grabbed him by the vest and hauled him inside.
“You’re next, Letty,” Sloane called down.
Letty climbed up Ash, then Hobbs, and when she was close, Sloane pulled her in as well.
“Ash, buddy, come on.” Sloane prepared himself as Ash climbed up Hobbs. He crouched down, feet firmly planted on the ground as he grabbed hold of Ash’s vest and pulled hard, Ash landing on Sloane as he hit the floor.
“Fuck,” Ash said, breathless. He patted Sloane’s cheek and rolled off him before pushing himself to his feet. It was a group effort getting Hobbs up. “Jesus, pal,” Ash grumbled. “How much do you fucking weigh now? Because it’s definitely more than before.”
“It’s all the training,” Calvin said as he tried to catch his breath. “He’s over three hundred now.” Hobbs flicked Calvin’s ear. “Ouch, what? It’s true. Besides, it’s all muscle, Ethan.” He rubbed his arm, and Hobbs fussed over him, checking him over and touching his arm. Calvin grumbled, but it betrayed the gentleness in his eyes. “I’m fine. Just sore.” Hobbs wrapped an arm around Calvin’s shoulders and brought him up against his much larger frame.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Sloane said, grabbing Tony’s jacket and handing it to Dex, his voice soft when he spoke. “They’re gone.”
“Is that…?” Letty didn’t finish her sentence, her eyes on Tony’s jacket.
“Yeah,” Dex replied gruffly. He turned and walked off. Sloane let him go on ahead, knowing Dex needed some time on his own. He followed several steps behind, with the rest of the team close by.
Ash walked beside Sloane, talking quietly. “They knew we were coming.”
“Yeah, they left a note.” Sloane told Ash what the note said, agreeing with Ash’s curses. “I doubt they were here long. The bloodstains on the seat looked pretty fresh. I didn’t have time to really look.”
“Fuck. Now what?”
That was a good question. They had no leads, no van, no Makhai to interrogate, and they were running out of time.
CHAPTER 9
DEX STARED down at the jacket in his hands. His father’s jacket. Had the bloodstains on the chair come from Tony? They’d looked relatively fresh. Had Tony been there, or were the Makhai just playing games? They’d known Dex would be there. That’s why they’d left the note. Taunting him. Dex pulled off his helmet and threw it against the wall.
“That son of a bitch is toying with us!”
“Dex.”
Dex kicked at the scaffolding’s metal bars. “Motherfucker! Son of a fucking bitch!”
“Agent Daley!”
Dex jerked to a halt. He blinked at Sloane, then looked around him at the gathering crowd of pedestrians. Shit. Clearing his throat, he held up a hand. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”
“Hobbs, check the truck. I’m not taking any chances. As soon as it’s clear, we head back to HQ.” Sloane handed Dex his helmet and pulled Dex to one side, turning him toward the building so his bigger frame blocked the onlookers’ view of him. Despite his closeness and his hand on Dex’s arm, it just looked like he was having a quiet word with a team member rather than a lover. “I need you to keep it together, sweetheart. I know it’s shitty of me to ask you that, but we need to keep our heads if we’re going to find Tony. Yes, this is a setback, but we’ve been in tight spots
before. We’ll find something.”
Dex nodded. He was pissed. No, he was beyond pissed. It was bad enough his father was in the hands of murderers; now they were taunting him, throwing his failures in his face. Dex swallowed hard, and he met Sloane’s gaze, allowing the love and support he saw there to wash over him, to bring some calm to his turmoil.
“We got nothing, Sloane.”
“So we go back to HQ, follow up with Sparks, see what’s happening on her end. I’m guessing the Chairman’s been in touch. Then we check in with Austen and see where he and his CIs are on locating that van. We can start with that and go from there, okay?” Sloane pulled their heads together, and Dex closed his eyes. He took a few deep breaths. When he was ready, he opened his eyes.
“Okay.”