CHAPTER SEVEN
Jaxson
The breadth of my shoulders fill the confined space, my breathing even as I look through small slats of the vent I hide behind. My eyes scan the vacant courtyard that’s just outside the gym, a sense of calmness resting over me despite the fear and rage I harbor deep inside.
I sense Sawyer and Cade in their positions, feeling their presence even if I can’t see them. It’s a flash of déjà vu, bringing me back to a time when we always knew the other was there, watching our back. Only this time there is so much more at stake.
“Entrance two has been silenced and stripped of weapons.” Christopher’s voice fills the earbuds. “There were two of them.”
“Alive?” Ryder asks quietly.
“For now, but we’ll see if that lasts.”
Ryder grunts. “Keep it that way. Stay where you are. I want you covering that exit.”
“Copy. I’m in the northeast hall and all is clear.”
Knight checks in next. “Entrance three has been taken care of.”
“I just got word that SWAT showed up,” Nick announces, his voice barely above a whisper.
About fucking time.
“They’re covering the helicopter and perimeter, waiting for our signal.”
We found the helicopter when we made it on the roof, something that was hidden from down below due to the structure of the building. The two men that waited next to it were dismantled of their communication devices and cuffed.
“Entrance one and four are taken care of,” Ryder says, sounding out of breath.
“I have five,” Cooper says. “There were two here as well.”
“I have six and seven,” Nick says. “Reid, you guys should be safe to get into position.”
The three of us push out of the vents that circle the courtyard and slide out from our spots. We curl behind the walls on either side of the gym doors. Cooper joins us, moving up behind me.
Holding my gun up, I peek in and spot two men on the right. Their weapons are trained as they walk a straight line back and forth between the children. Seeing the fear on the children’s pale faces, fuels the deep-seated anger inside of me.
“I have two in sight,” I relay, looking for Julia and the kids.
“We have three in ours,” Cade says.
“Half of SWAT is waiting on the east doors that lead inside the gym,” Nick says. “I’m going to give them the signal. Once they enter, move in and make sure they’re covered.”
“Copy,” Cooper responds.
Sawyer makes eye contact with me from across the way. “Do you see them?”
I shake my head and try my damnedest not to think too much about that, knowing I need to keep my head straight.
Within seconds, SWAT busts in through the emergency exit of the gym, sending us forward. Screams erupt through the air as everyone is ordered to drop their weapons.
One of the men close to me lifts his gun, pointing it at the swarm of cops. I don’t give him a chance to fire, the butt of my rifle slamming into his temple. The rest of them are thrown facedown and cuffed.
“Daddy!” The sound of Annabelle’s terrified voice stops me in my tracks, my eyes searching amongst the chaos.
“There!” Cooper points across the gym where all the kids are standing together, holding hands.
We push forward, dodging all the small bodies in our path. I catch a crying Annabelle, scooping her small body into my arms and bringing her in close.
“It’s okay, baby,” I soothe, burying my nose into her soft brown hair. “Everything is okay now.”
“You need to get Mama,” she cries.
My eyes wander, looking around for her. “Where is she?”
“They took her,” Beckett says.
Every muscle in my body tightens, panic threatening to choke me.
“Who did?” Cooper asks before I can.
“One of the men,” Parker tells us. “They dragged her out by her hair.”
Ice forms in my veins, my mind reeling as I realize we must have missed one.
“He was hurting her, Daddy,” Annabelle sobs. “You have to hurry.”
Without a second thought, I thrust Annabelle into Christopher’s arms, hating to have to let her go. “Take her outside with the others. I’ll be there soon!” I push my way back through the crowded gym, raising my mic to my mouth. “Stone, have you seen Julia?”
“Isn’t she with the kids?”
“No. We’re missing one of the bastards. Someone has her.”
“Jaxson, wait up!” Cooper yells, catching up to me in the hall.
My quick feet never falter. “You should be with Beckett.”
“Cade has him. He and Sawyer are coming back once they get the kids outside to the girls.”
We come up to hallways on either side of us, and I catch the gun in my peripheral vision before seeing the person behind it. My instincts are quicker than his. Knocking his hand away, I disarm him and take him down, shoving my rifle against his throat. “Where is my wife, you son of a bitch?”
“Go to hell!”
I apply pressure, cutting off his air supply. “You have seconds to tell me where she is or I will cut out your fucking heart and feed it to you.”
Nick and Ryder come charging in the front doors the same time we hear a scream.
“No! Run, Connor!”
My head snaps left, the sound of Julia’s voice throwing me into motion. Pushing to my feet, I leave the guy with Ryder and head in the direction of her office, passing both Cooper and Nick. Our boots pummel the tile floor, guns drawn. Halfway there a shot fires off, followed by a second one.
Dread curls its lethal fingers around my heart when I see Julia stumble out the door, her blood-soaked hands covering her stomach.
I have no time to comprehend anything, not even the shouted orders behind me as I lunge for her. My feet leave the floor, gun aiming into the open room. There I come face-to-face with the enemy, his pistol trained on my wife.
I fire off several shots, driving a bullet into the center of his forehead. My arms come around Julia as I take her to the ground with me, shouldering the brunt of our fall.
While the others rush inside the room, I sit up and cradle the top half of her body. “Julia, baby, can you hear me?” I look down at my hands, finding them coated in blood.
“Jax?” Blood spews from her mouth as she tries to speak.
“Shh, don’t talk.” I cover her gaping stomach, trying to stanch the blood but there’s too much. “Get paramedics in here now!” The order barely makes its way past the restriction in my throat, my eyes burning, blurring the woman I hold.
Cooper drops down next to me, trying to help me stop the bleeding.
There’s so much fucking blood.
Her breathing is labored; face pale as she peers up at me. “I’m so scared,” she cries.
“Don’t be scared, baby. I’m here.” I kiss her cold, wet cheeks, trying to calm her but everything inside of me is falling apart for a second time today. “It’s going to be okay. You’re going to be okay.”
The reassurance is more for myself than her and for the first time in my life, I could very well be lying to her. Every second that passes, more of her blood spills, and I feel her slipping further away from me, taking my mangled heart with her.