Hook (A Hitman's Bait 2)

Chapter 24

Notforthefirst time since I’d untied and released Scott, I had a moment of doubt about whether or not I could trust him. For that reason, I hadn’t given him a weapon, even though he’d asked. The last thing I needed was to worry about him aiming it at my back. As if I didn’t have enough to be concerned about already.

If what he’d said was true, then Kit was in big trouble, and I was pissed because I needed the man to get Kit out alive.

Liam had tried talking me out of this harebrained scheme Scott and I had cooked up, but for all his flaws, Scott seemed to care genuinely about what happened to Javier. I’d seen him pacing enough today to know he believed his man was in danger.

Or he was a damn excellent actor.

We’d made it on Javier’s property, but instead of moving directly toward the house with guns blazing, Scott led me toward the woods at the back of the building. I eyed his back, my finger on the trigger, ready to pull if he made any dumb move.

“You sure you know where the hell you’re going?” I asked as a tree branch scraped against my cheek. “We’re moving away from the house. This better not be a trick.”

Scott didn’t even spare me a glance. Just kept plodding along like a man with a purpose and not even the jaws of hell could pry him away.

“When you’re secretly fucking the head of a cartel, you learn every entrance and exit there is. Even the ones that nobody else knows about. A tunnel is up ahead. It leads directly to—”

A burst of gunfire erupted, and we both froze. My blood ran cold. Kit. He was somewhere in that house, and I needed to get to him.

“What the fuck!” I cried.

Scott took off at a run. “We have to hurry. They’re in trouble.”

No shit, Sherlock.

I ran after him, but he was much faster. With only the moonlight for guidance, I kept him in my sights, though. When I finally burst into a clearing, Scott was standing at an iron door.

“Where does that door lead to?” I asked.

“A secret tunnel that leads directly to Javi’s bedroom.”

He punched in a code but got an error message.

“Fuck, when did he change it?”

“What’s wrong?”

“He must have changed the code. We have to update it often to keep it secure.”

“Maybe you put the code in wrong. Try again.”

He tapped in the code again, but an error warning flashed across the screen.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” Scott ran his fingers through his hair, practically hyperventilating.

“Hey.” I grabbed him by the shoulders. “You can’t lose your cool. That’s how we’ll make stupid mistakes. We’ll get to them.”

“Before they’re already dead?” he snapped.

“This is your fucking fault.” I shoved him hard in the chest. The tension between us mounted and threatened the fragile peace of our arrangement. “If you hadn’t kidnapped Kit, none of this would have happened.”

“You both killed his fucking brother!” He swung at me, but I ducked and punched him in the stomach.

He grunted and doubled over.

“Pull your shit together, man. We need to find another way inside. You’ve just said no one knows this place better than you. How else can we get in?”

A soft click sounded, and I stepped back as the iron door swung open. I raised my gun and pointed it at the entrance. A tiny figure came into view, bathed in the moonlight.