Ball & Chain (Cut & Run 8)

He and Ty had been through many fires together. They’d had a few fights. After the year they’d spent not communicating at all, Ty had been the one to reach out to Nick, first saying that he missed him and then adding that he needed help from someone he could trust. Nick hadn’t hesitated. He never did. Ty was his best friend, and no matter what they did to each other, they would always be brothers. His loyalty was reciprocated too, with Ty jumping to his side whenever Nick needed him.

Nick wasn’t sure he could forgive Ty for all the lies he’d uncovered in the past year, though. He hadn’t been able to get over it even while they’d been deployed, and now that they were here, embroiled in someone else’s problems again, Nick couldn’t reconcile the anger and betrayal. Not this time.

He came to the last riser of the staircase, and his thoughts were interrupted by another thump and a quiet whimper. Something about the sound—a sound he heard in his dreams, a sound he’d made hundreds of times as a boy—made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He took the last few steps two at a time. He moved quickly and silently in the dark, taking care the floorboards beneath his feet didn’t creak. He got to the nursery door and nearly tripped over the body of the Snake Eater on the ground. It was Hardin. Blood was streaming from a wound on the man’s forehead. Nick checked his pulse and found nothing. He put his palm over Hardin’s staring eyes and closed them.

“Hooah, soldier,” he whispered. He patted the dead Snake Eater down, but his weapon was gone. Nick reached for his own gun and raised it toward the door.

He hesitated only another second before he pushed the door open. The nanny was standing near the massive fireplace with her back to the door. The five Grady cousins were all cowering in the corner, the oldest boy trying to shield the younger ones with his small body. He was no more than ten.

“You can’t take her!” he shouted at the nanny.

Maisie backhanded the boy so hard he stumbled to the side. He quickly recovered and put himself back in front of his cousins with a determined snarl, blood dripping from his lip.

Nick saw red and shoved into the room. The woman turned when she heard him, startling and taking a quick step back. Nick stalked toward her, not slowing when she pulled a gun with a silencer from the folds of her dress and pointed it at him. She wasn’t even holding the damn thing the right way. He flinched when she pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. She’d forgotten to take the safety off.

She fumbled with the weapon, still backing away from him, her face contorting in terror. She screamed for help, the shrill cry enough to pierce eardrums. She finally managed to get the safety off, and she fired rapidly, a frightened spray of bullets from a person who’d obviously never handled a gun before. One of the shots burned as it went past Nick’s ribs. She nearly stumbled over her own feet when the shot didn’t even slow Nick down, and Nick was on her before she could even think about reloading the gun. She tried smacking at him and kneeing him in the groin, both moves he easily deflected. He held her gun hand by the wrist and wrapped his fingers around her throat, picking her up by her neck until her toes were barely able to touch the ground.

She fought to bring the gun up, choking and sputtering. The way she fought, she certainly wasn’t the one who’d taken out the Green Beret at the door. She wasn’t alone. Just as he thought it, Nick heard the heavy footsteps of someone coming down the hallway. Her partner must have been doing a perimeter check, leaving her to retrieve Amelia alone.

“How many?” Nick asked, letting her toes graze the floor so she could breathe to answer.

“They’ll get what they want no matter what you do,” she managed to say. “Half a million pounds for one little girl. I couldn’t say no. No one could.”

Nick loosened his grip, setting her back down. He yanked the gun from her hands and tossed it away, still glaring at her with murderous intent. He waved a hand at the children. “Fireplace,” he snarled.

They hustled to obey. Nick told them how to open the secret door. Then he raised his gun.

Maisie took a halting step back and stumbled over a toy on the floor. “You’re not a killer. Not like them. I can see that!”

“Is that right?” Nick asked with a slow smile. He began backing toward the fireplace. The footsteps grew slower and quieter as they approached. He couldn’t risk a gunfight with an unknown number of assailants and five children in the room. He’d have to retreat.

“Maisie?” a man whispered from behind the half-open door. The accent was Scottish.

Nick waited a breath, until he could feel the wall behind him, until one of the kids reached up and took his hand. Then he raised his gun and fired at the man in the doorway.

Ty had to fight the urge to dive to the ground when the anguished screams and booming gunfire echoed through the house. Everyone froze, struck momentarily dumb by the unexpected sound of battle. Ty’s eyes met Zane’s for a brief moment before they both lunged out of their chairs and sprinted out of the dining room for the stairway. They met Kelly on his way down, out of breath and panicked.

One look at him and Ty knew something was horribly wrong. “What is it, is it Nick?”

Kelly shook his head jerkily, his eyes straying to the people in the foyer. “Not Nick.”

“The kids?” Deuce blurted.

A tray of coffee crashed in the foyer. Concerned cries echoed off the marble of the great hall. There were gasps and murmurs as the panic and confusion became contagious.

“What do you mean, what happened?” Deuce demanded. His limp was almost absent as he rushed up the steps.

“They’re gone,” Kelly whispered. “Nick and I split up. When I came back he was gone, and when I heard the shots I went up to the third floor, but the room’s empty. There’s no one there but two dead bodies.”

“Where’s Nick?” Ty asked again.

Kelly opened his mouth, but no words came out. He managed to shake his head and spread his hands wide. “He’s not up there, he’s not down here. He’s gone too. Maybe he went after whoever took the kids.”

Zane cursed under his breath, the sound sending shivers down Ty’s spine. “Do you think Nick got lost in a flashback?” Zane asked.

Deuce grabbed Ty by his shirtfront. “You said we could trust him!” he shouted.

Ty gripped his arms and shook him violently. “Stop! We’ll find them. Come with me and keep your mouth shut.”