“You really are stupid, aren’t you?” Clayton asked Norah as Carl and another guard chained her where Harley had once sat. “Where’s my fucking bracelet?”

“I told you,” she said through her teeth. “It must have fallen off when you attacked me.”

“As far as I saw it, you shot my associate here and then tried to attack me,” Clayton said, and slapped her. “I’m going to ask you one more time.” He gripped her by the hair. “Where is my bracelet?”

She smiled up at him. “Out of your hands.” Norah spit on him, and she felt the crack against her cheek again. “Everyone is going to know what a bastard you are soon.” She laughed.

“I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you!” Tom yelled, and stalked towards her.

“Easy, Tom. We need her alive,” he said, and put his hand on Tom’s chest.

“Give me one good reason. She shot me, don’t you think I should be able to return the favor?”

“Sure. Just not yet. We need time to figure out what our next move is going to be, and we may need her unharmed. For now, at least,” he said, and turned to Carl.

“No one gets in or out of this room except for me. Not even Mr. Hewitt,” he said, referring to Tom.

“Now,” he said, and turned back to Norah. “You are going to help me get in contact with your boyfriend.”

“Like hell I will.”

“It’s that, or I let Tom have his revenge.”

“Let him have it. I won’t help you with anything,” she said, looking away.

“Carl, turn the heat off. Let’s see how long it takes to break our sweet girl, shall we?”

“You got it, Boss,” he said, and switched the thermostat off.

“It’s going to get really cold down here, Norah. Really fucking cold. You’re going to be hungry and thirsty and no one is going to give you a damn thing until you agree to help us. So, last chance?”

“You’re going to burn,” she said simply, and then looked away from him, unwilling to let him see the tears that filled her eyes.

“Let’s go,” Clayton said, and Tom stood in front of her.

“I’m going to have my revenge, bitch. My revenge and then some,” he said menacingly before following Clayton out of the room.

Norah took a deep breath to calm herself. She didn’t want to die, but she could accept her fate if it meant Harley would live. That was love, she supposed, the willingness to give your life for someone else. Zach would make sure Harley was okay, and together they would turn the information over to the authorities.

If everything went well, then they would get the warrant they needed in order to come into Clayton’s house with backup. She could hope she was alive long enough for them to rescue her. She would fight if necessary and do whatever it took to survive. But if she didn’t, then at least she knew Harley would make it.

---

“NORAH?” GERRY ASKED hopefully when Zach helped Harley into the house.

“Matthews has her,” Zach said as he helped Harley onto the couch.

“Why the fuck did you two leave her there?” Gerry asked angrily, and reached for his jacket.

“Because it was the only way we could save her,” Zach said defensively. “He had us outnumbered three to one, and that was only including the men in the basement.”

Harley handed Norah’s clutch to Marissa. “Get this information over to your contact. We need backup, and in order to get that, we need anyone we can trust to see it.”

“I’ll get it taken care of.” She took it and gave him a sympathetic look. “We’ll get her back.”

“Yeah, we will,” Harley said. Faith was all he had at the moment, and he was going to cling to it. They would rescue Norah. He had no future without her.

“I’ll send a copy to my FBI contact. He’s clean and knows others who are as well. We’ll get our warrant.” Zach’s voice was confident, and it helped to lift Harley’s mood slightly.

They were finally going to bring the bastard down. Tom would go down with him, and he and Norah could escape to some beach somewhere and spend a month doing nothing but drinking margaritas and lying on the sand together.

“I’m sorry, Gerry.” Harley patted his shoulder.

Gerry nodded. “Let’s get you fixed up,” he said, and reached for the first aid kit on the counter. “I know you wouldn’t have left her if you had the chance to bring her, Harley.”

“Still doesn’t make it right. She saved us, Gerry. I should have saved her, and she saved me.”

“She’s strong.”

“Just like her dad.”

“Well, he can also be a fool, so

hopefully she doesn’t take after that part of him,” Marissa joked, and Gerry laughed.

“I’m only a fool for you,” he said, and pressed a little to hard on Harley’s forehead.

“Ouch!” he said, and winced back away from Gerry’s hand.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, and finished patching him up. “You’ll survive. Although I imagine these ribs are going to be tender for a few days. None are broken, but you definitely have some bruises.” He lifted Harley’s shirt, and Zach winced when he saw the bruises that spanned Harley’s abdomen.

“Damn, man, moonlighting as a punching bag?”

“Matthew’s men certainly seemed to think so.”

“Holy shit!” Marissa exclaimed,

looking up from her computer.

“What is it?” all three men asked at the same time.

“You two hit the jackpot.”

“What’s on it?” Zach asked, going to stand behind her to stare at the screen. “Holy shit.” He grinned at Harley. “We’ve got them. We’ve fucking got them all!”

“What exactly is on it?” Harley wondered as he stood up.

“Come and see for yourself,” Zach said, moving over so Harley could see.

Harley smiled. He was staring at a list of names and the date and location for his demonstration.

The names of every single cop, politician, judge, and citizen who was in on Matthew’s organization stared at him from a computer screen.

Fear gripped him. This was big, bigger than big, and Clayton would be willing to do anything to get it back. What would he do to Norah knowing she gave this kind of information over?

Harley’s grin faded. “We have to move fast. If I were Matthews, I’d be pretty pissed at the person who gave this information over.”

“Why hasn’t he contacted us, then?” Zach wondered. “Offered us some kind of trade.”

“Because Norah won’t tell him how to get in contact with you,” Gerry said simply. “She would rather give her life than see anything happen to any of us.”

“He’s right,” Harley agreed. “Get that information sent over and tell your friend to get us some backup. If they don’t get back to us soon, then I’m going in myself with or without help.”

“Ill go with you,” Gerry said.

“Me too,” Marissa agreed.

“They’ll get back to us,” Zach assured him.

“It’s sent,” Marissa said as she stood. “Let’s start preparing for war.”