Storm by Aria Ray

Chapter Eighteen

Storm

When I woke up the next morning, Zoe was still asleep. I had my arms around her, and her legs were wound around mine. The sheets were all tangled around us. She would remember everything this time. I remembered every moment of being inside her, and I wanted more.

While she slept, I touched the side of her face. She looked even more beautiful now in the dim morning light filtering through the curtains.

What am I doing? I couldn’t understand it. Somehow, I had managed to fall asleep and wake up next to a woman I fucked last night, but I still couldn’t get enough of her.

We needed to talk. We needed to figure out this weird thing going on between us.

Just as Zoe’s eyelids started to flutter open, the room was filled with a loud banging sound. She gasped, her whole body jerking awake, as I jumped out of bed.

“Storm,” she whimpered, as I grabbed my weapon off the floor.

Shit. I should have been more careful last night.

“Come on, boss, wake up!” Grit’s voice growled from the other side of the door before he pounded on it some more.

I glanced toward Zoe, making sure she was presentable, as she pulled the sheets around her naked body. I pulled on my pants and went to answer the door.

“They found one of the guys,” he said as soon as I opened it. “Hacker caught one of them on CCTV. The fucker just walked into a convenience store. Come on, we have to go now.”

“Go ahead. I’ll follow you.”

I shut the door and started grabbing the rest of my clothes off the floor. Zoe had already jumped out of bed. She was putting on her clothes, too.

“You have to stay here,” I commanded.

She had put on her tight jeans and the vest again.

“No. I have to go with you.”

“I don’t know what this chase is going to lead to.”

“But I can’t stay here. I’ll be safer if I’m with you. You know that.” She wasn’t asking me. She was telling me.

I stared at her. There was no way I would let anything happen to her, but it could be dangerous if she came with us.

Zoe walked past me and stepped out of the room.

“We need to catch up with Grit, come on,” she said and started running to my bike. She was leaving me no choice; I had to take her with me.

The conversation I wanted to have with her would have to wait.

It was probably for the best since I didn’t know what I was going to say anyway.

Hacker sent us the location of the convenience store, which happened to be pretty close to the motel. So, when we got there, the purple car was still parked in the parking lot.

We kept an eye on it. None of us spoke to each other as we waited. Then a man emerged from the store and got into the car.

It was our guy.

The chase began, but we needed to stay off this guy’s radar. While we weaved through traffic, keeping a safe distance from the vehicle, Grit and I exchanged positions so he wouldn’t notice us in his rearview mirror.

Zoe sat behind me the whole time with her arms tightly wound around me. If she was nervous, she wasn’t showing it. Maybe she wanted to prove to me that she was up for this. She had never experienced anything like this before.

We rode through the town, hanging back while carefully following the car to a more discreet location. At one point, we had to stop because we couldn’t get too close. We knew where the car was going. In the distance was an abandoned warehouse. That had to be where he was headed.

“Are we going to confront them?” Zoe asked, looking at Grit and then me. “My sister could be in that warehouse, right? She could be in there.”

I turned to her, making sure she was looking into my eyes.

“We need to back off now, until everyone gets here. We can’t just go in. We’ll be heavily outnumbered.”

Grit was already on the phone with the guys who were supposed to show up. Hacker was working on acquiring a blueprint for the warehouse, so we knew what kind of structure we were dealing with. Once the guys arrived, we would secure all the entry points to make sure the warehouse was fully sealed.

Zoe’s phone rang and she stared at the screen with some dismay.

“It’s my dad. I don’t want to speak to him right now,” she said.

“It’s Saturday. Today is the day for the drop off,” I reminded her, “It’s probably for the best if you take this call and find out what he has to say.”

The color drained from Zoe’s face as she answered her phone.

“Hello, Dad.” I heard her say and then she walked some distance from us.

Grit turned to me and shrugged.

“This could be it,” he remarked. “Alison could be in there. So could Daniel and all the other missing kids from Griffinsford.”

“Or it could be a dead end,” I replied gruffly.

Grit wanted to find Alison, just like Zoe did, but someone had to be realistic here.

“And I’m interested to see who turns up to collect the ransom today,” I continued. “It’s possible that the head of this ring might show his face today for the sake of big bucks.”

Grit was nodding as Zoe returned.

“My dad said he’s managed to collect the money. All of it. I don’t know how, and I didn’t want to ask him. He spoke to Mom and convinced her that giving the money is a good idea. They don’t want to risk these men hurting Alison even more.”

She was angry, shaking her head violently. Her eyes looked wild and confused.

“He should take them the money,” I said. Zoe jerked her head up at me, like I was betraying her.

“They’re not going to return Alison. She’s in the warehouse. She’s here. I can feel it. They’re just going to make a run for it with the money. They’ll make their own demands.”

“My guys are watching the scene. They’ll be there to apprehend whoever turns up. Your dad won’t actually have to hand the money over. This is exactly what we want, right? To find out who did this to Alison and Daniel.”

Zoe’s lips quivered, but she nodded her head.

“I hope you’re right,” she said and then looked at the warehouse again. “I just hope she’s in there right now, and we can get her out.”

I wanted to say something encouraging, but I didn’t want to make any promises to her that I couldn’t keep.

So, I said nothing.

Forty minutes later, we were still waiting for the rest of the MC to show up at the warehouse.

Grit and I had formulated a rough plan based on the blueprint Hacker had sent us. It wouldn’t be too hard to cover all the bases once the others showed up.

Zoe had grown increasingly restless as we waited. I realized this was a bad idea. I couldn’t function because of my need to keep her safe. We couldn’t storm the warehouse while she was around, even if the other guys arrived now. I needed to get her out of here first.

Then my phone rang. It was Breaker.

“Yeah?”

“Nobody showed up,” he said, and it sounded like he was disappointed.

“For the drop off? Nobody showed up?”

“Except Zoe’s Dad. He was there with a bag full of cash. He waited there fifteen minutes and then he left. Nobody showed up to collect.”

“For fuck’s sake!” I cursed and then ended the call.

Zoe and Grit were both staring at me, waiting for an explanation.

I shook my head. “The drop off didn’t go according to plan. Nobody showed up. Your dad didn’t get to make an exchange.”

Obviously frustrated, Grit grinded his teeth. A lump formed under each ear, flexing every time his jaw moved while a look of horror spread over Zoe’s face.

She had been dead set against the ransom idea. Now that it hadn’t worked out, she felt like she was losing all control. I could see it in her eyes.

“I’m taking her back to the motel. You keep an eye out here,” I said to Grit.

“No. I’m not going anywhere!” she hissed.

I stood by my bike, waiting for her to get on. This time I wasn’t taking no for an answer. She’d already pushed it too far.

“You’re going to do as you’re told. Get on the bike. Now,” I growled.

We didn’t make it to the motel. Before we were even halfway there, I had to pull over because Zoe was sobbing.

I parked on the side of the road after checking around first to make sure we were not being watched. We were already some distance away from the warehouse, so it seemed like a safe place to stop.

Zoe had been clinging to me, sobbing, her body shaking. I needed to check on her.

“Hey, look at me,” I growled. She had her face covered with both hands and she kept them pressed to her eyes when I tried to peel them off.

She didn’t want me to see her cry.

“We’re nearly there, right? Tonight, we’re going to find out if Alison is in the warehouse. If she is, we’re bringing her out of there. I promise we’re going to bring her out.”

Slowly, Zoe dragged her hands away from her face. Her cheeks were puffy, and her eyes looked swollen. I reached for her, cupping her cheek with one hand. When she parted her lips, her eyes darting all over me, I wanted to kiss her.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Storm. I have a bad feeling about everything. What if Alison isn’t in the warehouse? Why didn’t they come for the ransom after sending all those threatening letters and photographs for so long?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

“What if they’ve found out about us?” she asked. Her lips quivered violently, and it looked like she was going to break into another volley of sobs. “If they know we’re working together, trying to rescue Daniel and Alison, they might have already made a run for it.”

“The warehouse is occupied at the moment. Even if the main brains behind this operation have fled, they have left people behind, people who will give us the information we need.”

“And what about Alison? What about Daniel? What if they’ve hurt them as punishment?” Zoe shuddered, and I stroked her bottom lip with my thumb.

“I’m not coming back empty-handed, Zoe.”

“I don’t want to go back to the motel,” she argued.

“You can’t be there when we take control of the warehouse. Anything could happen. Your life would be in danger, and I need to focus on finding Alison and Daniel.”

“Then leave me here.”

“Here?” I looked around in confusion.

“This way I won’t be too far from the action. I just want to be close to her. I don’t want to waste any time. If you leave me at the motel, I’ll just go crazy.”

I had to kiss her. I needed to feel the sweetness and warmth of her mouth on mine. I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to me. She didn’t appear to be the least bit surprised when I pressed my lips to hers. She opened up for me like our kisses were the most natural thing in the world to her. My hands slid down to cup her ass and keep her pinned against me.

It was the only way for me to say how much I wanted to make things right for her.

When I returned to the hideout, the rest of our reinforcements had already arrived. My guys had taken up position, so we all had a clear view of the warehouse. The assholes in the warehouse had chosen a location in the middle of a wooded area with lots of trees acting as our cover.

“That was quick. You made it to the motel and back in under half an hour?” Grit asked when I joined him. We were both crouched behind a tree, keeping an eye on the warehouse.

With the rest of my men spread out around the wooded area, I was starting to feel more confident in the promise I had made to Zoe.

“I didn’t take her to the motel. She’s waiting a little ways down the road. She didn’t want to be too far from the action.”

Grit smirked and shook his head.

“You can’t tell just by looking at her, but that chick sure knows how to pack a punch,” he remarked.

I didn’t want to ask him exactly what he meant by that. I didn’t want someone else telling me just how perfect Zoe was in every way. I didn’t need any more proof of that.

I grabbed the binoculars from my back pocket and held them to my eyes. Just as I did, the shutters of the warehouse were pulled up and two men emerge. They looked like the same guys from the surveillance footage at the airport. More than likely, these were the kidnappers; the men who took Alison and probably the same ones who took Daniel.

“They’re leaving the premises,” I said. Grit grabbed the binoculars from me and looked.

I heard the crunch of twigs under heavy-duty boots behind us. One of our guys was creeping over to us.

“What?” I growled at him. I was losing my patience with everything and everyone. I just wanted to get Alison out of there so I could keep my promise to Zoe. Everything else was just useless interference.

“One of our guys, closest to the warehouse, says he overheard the two men who just came out. They were talking about getting rid of a girl. Don’t know which gir—”

“Wait,” I cut him off before he could continue. They were talking about Alison. They had to be talking about her. “We’re going to wait till those two motherfuckers leave, and then we’re going in.”

We waited until the car left the premises. The two men, who were obviously the ones in charge, had left. I wasn’t worried about finding them again. We had their images. They’d signed their own fate.

All my men here were experienced in this kind of shootout, so we used a series of silent nods as signals and charged the warehouse.

I led the way, shooting at two guards who had taken up position at the main shutters. I hit one who collapsed to the ground while the other one shot back.

He got me in my shoulder. The bullet pierced muscle, and pain radiated down my arm. It hurt like a bitch, but I’d endured worse. Adrenaline had already kicked in, as I stormed the warehouse. The rest of the men followed. The two guards wouldn’t survive the shots that we rained down on them.

Grit helped me lift the shutters, and we were finally inside.

We heard the sound of a car behind us. The two men who had just left the scene probably heard gunfire and decided to return and check out the situation.

Bad idea.

My men would get them before they even had a chance to exit the vehicle.

We were inside the dark warehouse. The blueprint was in Grit’s pocket. Before we entered, we thought we’d had a pretty good idea of what the inside was going to look like. Now, it seemed rearranged.

The light was too low, and we didn’t know where we were going. Grit and I held our weapons out. The burning sensation in my shoulder was growing more intense, but I couldn’t relax my grip on my weapon.

There were no sounds inside the warehouse even though the shots continued to ring outside.

“Check the basement,” I groaned at Grit.

We had arrived at a door that looked locked. It seemed like the most appropriate entrance to the basement. Grit shot the lock, and it split open instantly.

He opened the door to a set of stairs leading downward, undoubtedly to the basement. If Alison and Daniel were here, this would have to lead us straight to their location.

Grit went first, and I was about to follow him when I caught movement from the corner of my eye. The shadow of a figure moved on the other side of a floor-to-ceiling window.

I pointed my gun at the window which appeared to be broken.

“Move and I’ll shoot,” I shouted.

“Storm, it’s me.” It was Zoe’s voice.

I couldn’t believe it. I stood frozen for a few more moments, thankful I had called out before shooting first. I hadn’t expected her to walk all the way here just to take a peek inside the damned warehouse.

“For fuck’s sake, Zoe!” I growled. and lowered my gun.

She came closer to the window so I could see her face clearly.

“I’m sorry. I—”

“Do you realize how fuckin’ dangerous this is?” I snapped, “I almost shot you.”

“I’m sorry, but I had to come here. I couldn’t wait there by myself any longer. I’m sorry.”

More shots rang outside, and Zoe winced and ducked. I ran up to the window.

“Stand back,” I growled through clenched teeth before using my elbow to shatter the glass. Then I held my hand out to her while trying to ignore what felt like a hive of stinging bees swarming where I’d been shot.

“Come inside before something happens to you that I will never forgive myself for,” I said.