He was together. Never more confident in his girl, and never more ready to pull the trigger if she needed it. Though she was in the warehouse now, he could feel her, sense her. He didn’t need to see her to know she was mentally the one in control this moment. After all, she’d just played Antilla’s emo-card and was now one captor less. Two was better than three, even if David had been the weakest link.

“Cash, can you hear me?” her voice whispered into his ear.

The sweet question stirred his soul. Concentrating for all he was worth, he took a moment to feel the quick fire of pride flow through his chest.

With a deep breath and intense focus on an old tree leaning over the metal-topped building, Cash aimed. The silencer did its job: a muffled shot, but nothing that would register as gunfire in the warehouse.

A small branch landed on the metal roof.

“Hi.”

The word melted through him, earpiece to his toes. He smiled, loving that word. Hi.

She continued, “Second bomb. My parents’ house.”

On it already. Giving her another confirmation that he was there for her, Cash slid another round forward, cradled Miss Betty to him and bam. More tree debris landed on the roof.

How about that shot, baby?

The fuzzy feelings drained away as he listened to a man grunting around her, moving something metal.

Cash pulled back from Betty. “How we going to get her out of there?”

“Are you sure she wants us to get her out of there? This probably isn’t her first time tied up.”

“Jared, I will kill you.”

“What? Calm your trigger finger. I meant in the captive sense. Not whatever your perverted mind came up with.”

“Uh-huh.”

Jared laughed. “We’ve had direct orders to kill Smooth, so we’re not only in backup mode, but we have to trust our girl to either kill them or ask for help. She knows we’re here. She said, “hi,” not “help.” We’re five hundred yards away and can get there quick. If Smooth was going to kill her, he’d have done it by now.”

Voices buzzed in their earpieces. Jared and Cash paused, listening.

Don’t touch me. Untie me first, you prick. Smooth laughed. The sound of Nicola struggling stopped Cash’s heart.

“I’m getting closer. If she wants help, she can look over her shoulder and nod.” Cash was on his feet, ready to shimmy down the building. “Don’t lose that gun. I have a sentimental attachment to it.”

Pushing from one covered spot to the next, he was at the warehouse door lightning fast. He pulled the transmitter’s earpiece out, keeping Jared in his other ear. The real deal was happening on the other side of that door. He wouldn’t need the transmitter.

Cash slid through the door. It squeaked, but Antilla and Nic didn’t notice as Smooth cut through her zip ties with a pocket knife. At once, she popped to her feet, striking him in the throat.