Perceive by K E Osborn

 

 

AXEL

 

“Ice is pulling in now,” Everly announces in my ear as the deep rumble of a Harley seems to shake the walls of the building.

I feel like I’ve been holding my breath, suddenly letting out a woosh of air before sucking another in. My lungs ache, though I have no idea how long we’ve been in there, tapping our feet and twiddling our fucking thumbs. Every time footsteps came and went in the hallway, my heart raced, its pace doubling until they disappeared again.

Every move we make is precise and purposeful.

We could rush in right now, hope to get Kenzi out and not get killed in the chaos, but the truth is, this mission is bigger than that. Kenzi drinking the fake liquid and having no reaction—that part is essential. It’s about discrediting Hendrix and making that room full of potential buyers think that his product is a dud, that there’s nothing to come after, nothing to buy—a total waste of their time. Not only do we not want them trying to recreate something similar, but we also don’t want them coming after Kenzi to try and do exactly that.

This needs to work if we’re going to walk out of here with the threat eliminated and Kenzi a free woman.

But holy shit, are we cutting it fucking close.

“No way,” a loud voice booms from down the hall at the loading dock.

“Fuck,” I curse, looking over at Carlos. “They’re not going to let him in.”

Carlos chews his lip for a second, his eyes quickly scanning over the space. The kid is quick, I’ll give him that. He lurches forward, snatching a dirty pair of coveralls that are hooked on the side of an old locker in the corner. They’re stained and covered in cobwebs, but Carlos doesn’t even give me a chance to question what the hell he’s going to do with them before he shoves past me and pulls the door open.

“Go with him,” Blair urges.

I curse under my breath and flip the visor of the bike helmet down over my face before rushing after him.

“Man, this guy won’t let me in!” Ice protests as we round the corner into the loading dock. He’s standing almost chest to chest with the goon who granted us access, his tattooed fists clenched at his sides. Ice is wearing a backpack, hiked high on his shoulders, straps pulled tight.

I know what’s in it.

And we need to get it inside.

Now.

“He’s with me,” Carlos announces, stepping in between them and pushing Ice back, cautiously putting some space between Hendrix’s man and my hot-headed friend. He shoves the dirty coveralls against Ice’s chest with a hard thump. “Hurry up and put these on, the show is going to start soon, and we need you ready to clean up a possible mess.”

Kenzi.

Carlos looks back at Hendrix’s man. “You want that fucking job?”

His nose instantly screws up like he’s smelled something bad. “I heard it’s going to be bad. Vomit and blood and fucking who knows what.”

My jaw clenches tight.

No fucking way. Not if I have anything to do with it.

Ice snatches the coveralls and steps around Carlos, getting in the goon’s face for a moment. “Man, I have six fucking kids to feed at home,” he lies, shoving past him, shouldering him hard, and making him stumble back. “Next time, don’t be such a fucking bastard.”

The three of us head back down the hall, only making it a few feet before the goon calls after us. “It’s starting in a few minutes. I’ll be down soon to collect the product.”

I don’t stop.

Walking faster, slipping into an almost run as we turn the corner and race down the hall to the small room. Ice holds tight to his backpack as we enter. The eyes of all the people inside turn to us, and I shake my head. There are too many of us in here. It’s going to draw attention.

“Charli, Blair… step outside and guard the door, give us a signal when the goon is coming.”

They both nod and step out, leaving Curtains, Carlos, Zeb, and Ice with me to carry out the task at hand. My stomach is rolling with nerves as Ice flips his backpack up on the counter, zipping it open. “I grabbed as many as I could, it’s not a heap, but hopefully, it should be enough to get us by.”

“We don’t have much time. We need to fill these with water and swap them out on one rack, then put the contaminated vials back in the backpack to conceal the evidence.”

Carlos nods, grabbing the rack, and starts pulling the contaminated vials out one by one. This shit is toxic. One drop can kill. But this amount could wipe out half the state—if not more. We have to be so fucking careful.

The problem is…

… we don’t have the time to be careful.

My woman’s life depends on us getting this right.

As Carlos grabs the contaminated vials, Curtains and I take the empty, clean vials and start filling them with water. It’s streamlined as Ice and Zeb replace now empty spaces in the rack. We work fast, the entire time, my heart racing out of my chest. The chance of us getting caught is high, but we need this to work. Not just for the sake of Kenzi but also because of all the criminals out there who are willing to do anything to source a contaminant like this one that’s so readily accessible to them.

We’re getting close to the end when two knocks tap on the door, a clear signal letting us know the goon is coming.

“Do we have it all?”

No one answers before the goon steps through the door with an unimpressed expression on his face and says, “All right, give it here.”

Carlos hands him the rack, and the goon grunts, snatching it from him. “Stay here. Keep this shit safe. As soon as we have a buyer, they’re going to want to come down and collect it all.”

“All of it?” Carlos questions.

“Yeah, so be fucking careful with every one of those vials.” He turns on his heel and stomps out of the tiny room.

It feels like the air has been sucked out with him.

“Did we get all the vials or not?” I snap, turning on Ice.

His eyes are wide.

My body feels like it’s shutting down, but at the same time, I can feel my feet moving toward the door.

“I don’t know. I think so.”

“You think so? How many vials did they give you? And why the fuck is Curtains still holding onto one?”

Curtains grimaces. “This is a water vial… fuck! I don’t know why it’s left over… or if it’s meant to be in that rack he just took or not.”

My hands instantly run through my hair as I spin back to Ice. “How many fucking vials did they give you?”

“They said twelve.”

“Did you count them? Are we one under, or were they one over?”

Ice’s face pales as he shakes his head. “I didn’t fucking count them, brother. We were in a hurry, remember?”

The goon is already at the end of the hall.

While ripping off my helmet, I race out the door and turn the damn corner. I reach for my gun, but I’m suddenly driven straight into the drywall with a hard thump, forcing the air from my lungs. For a second, I struggle before Blair fights back, ripping off his helmet and pinning me back against the wall, then getting right up in my face.

“I have to get to her,” I grunt, shoving against him only to once again find myself pinned. “We don’t know if it’s all clean.”

“You go out there now, and this whole thing is going to be ruined. We need to keep our cool. We need to trust we got them all.”

I grit my teeth. “And what if it was Tanner? What if she was up there about to drink some shit that will most probably kill her?”

“Tanner wouldn’t want me to risk this whole mission and possibly lose Hendrix, just for her.” I want to argue with him, to tell him that’s a load of bullshit, but the truth is, I can already hear Kenzi’s voice in my head telling me not to let that bastard get away with everything he’s done.

She doesn’t want him to hurt anyone else.

She doesn’t want him to have the opportunity.

Even if that means something happening to her in the process.

He’s not getting away this time.

“Axel, your team needs to get out the door now and get your gear on, fast,” Everly urges.

Blair and I both take a long, deep breath and step back. Charli and Zeb join us, the group of four moving quickly to the rear door where we had entered.

Luca and Tanner are waiting, instantly helping us slip on our vests and tactical gear.

“You and Blair are going to head around the side and take the large windows looking into the presentation room, just in case someone tries to throw themselves out of it,” Luca explains, patting me hard on the back before giving me a shove toward the exit. “We’ll get her, man.”

“They’re dragging her onto the stage, one of Hendrix’s men has the vial,” Kace describes in my ear, obviously from somewhere inside the building.

Where? God knows.

He and the rest of SO7 and SO9 are moving in, including another team which is named the TO4.

Temporary Operatives.

They are a group of specialized military trained personnel and work almost like the federal government’s S.W.A.T. team. They come in when numbers and skills are needed to help complete our missions. But they’re kept in the dark regarding information for the most part.

They don’t ask questions.

They know who’s bad.

Who’s good.

And they have the skills to get the job done quickly.

Blair and I move smoothly around the edge of the building, each foot placed with precision, my fingers squeezing the hard metal gun in my hands. We find the window and duck below it, pressing our backs to the building and bracing, breathing hard.

“She’s drinking,” Kace announces softly.

“How does that taste, Mac?” Hendrix roars in delight from inside, his voice booming so loud it feels like the walls are shaking. The smattering of laughter that moves through the crowd is dark and makes my stomach twist and my finger tighten on the trigger of my gun.

There’s a pause.

A heavy, chest-crushing pause as I wait for not just her fate…

… but mine.

Because if Kenzi doesn’t come out of this, neither will I, and these people are about to find out just how far I’ll fucking go to make sure she gets the revenge she deserves.

“Tastes like you fucked with the wrong people.”

And there’s my girl.

I can’t help but grin at Blair, whose shoulders slump dramatically.

Probably because he knew if shit went south, he was going to have to be the one to try to stop me from losing it, and I have no doubt that plan could have involved seriously injuring me before I got myself killed.

“Our girl is good,” Kace confirms with a heavy sigh. “Good work, guys.”

A heavy murmur moves through the crowd, angry voices rising, protesting, growing louder and louder.

“That’s our cue! Team one, move!”

Blair and I hold.

This situation has the potential to go south quickly. Who knows how many of these assholes have weapons, and we don’t have enough intel to know just how dangerous each of them is, so we need to move strategically. We don’t want to fill the room with our men, then be shooting across, possibly injuring each other.

We need to know where our people are.

At all times.

And know for sure they aren’t in the crossfire.

“Let her go, Hendrix!” Kace orders, the heavy breathing coming across his radio letting me know he’s in the room. Inside the action. The voices around him yell, scream, and curse the teams as they work to restrain the rest of the crowd. “It’s over. Done.”

“It’s never done, you idiot!” Hendrix roars.

“Let. Her. Go.”

“You underestimated me again,” Hendrix cackles. “You thought you could save her. Come in here, and I’ll hold my hands up. Surrender. But while you were looking at the lengths I’d go to keep her, you failed to see just how far I’ll go to make sure that if I can’t have her… no one can.”

Turns out, he’s right.

“Bomb!” Kace manages to scream, but his voice is cut off by an explosion that tears through the air, the walls, the earth.

And suddenly, it’s not just one person I love in the firing line of Hendrix’s rage.

Because as the building explodes, caving in on itself, I have to wonder whether anyone is going to make it out alive.

 

 

KENZI

 

Fight!

I need to fight!

“You, stupid bitch,” Hendrix curses, hauling me from the stage out the side door of the building while chaos continues to rage around us.

People shouting.

Gunshots.

Explosions.

The ringing in my ears is almost unbearable.

My feet catch on the concrete path, making me stumble as he drags me out past the garden. Even through the destruction, I don’t miss the sound of helicopter blades whipping through the air, a few seconds later coming into view across the well-manicured gardens and grass.

No.

No fucking way.

I can’t do this again.

I can’t let this asshole take me.

I can’t put the people I love through this shit for a second time, wondering whether I’m alive or dead and continuing to risk their own lives on a hope that they might see me again.

I tug and pull, fight against his hold but Hendrix grips tighter, pulling me faster.

“Should have killed you years ago,” Hendrix roars, his fingers digging painfully into my skin. He pulls me with him onto the grass as a couple of his men throw open the door of the helicopter.

He had this planned.

He knew it could possibly go wrong, and he had a plan-fucking-B.

I need one too.

My muscles tighten for a second and I hold my breath before using every ounce of strength to throw my body into Hendrix, sending him flying from the grass path into a large, blooming rose garden.

My shirt catches on one of the bushes, but I manage to keep my balance and pull back out of his reach. The roar of pain that leaves Hendrix’s mouth is music to my ears as the thorns rip at his clothing and skin, though I can’t wait around to enjoy it, my legs already pumping hard away from the helicopter that Hendrix’s men are now spilling out of. They raise their guns, but shots fire from behind me somewhere, forcing them to take cover.

I don’t stop.

I can’t.

The forest surrounding the edge of the venue is mere feet away. However, it is deep and dark and unpredictable. It’s the only way out. I can’t take a chance to look behind me, even though I hear voices screaming my name, the one that stands out over the rest keeps me pushing forward into the shadows.

“You’ll die in there, Mac!” Hendrix’s cutting tone is one I’ll never get out of my head. I’ll hear it forever, in my dreams, in my nightmares. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Sticks snap under my feet, the noise and chaos behind me slowly fading into the background as I duck and dodge through trees and thick brush. “Shit!” I curse, a sharp twig scraping across the bare skin on my lower leg, the pain forces me to stumble, my chest hitting a tree hard and knocking the wind from my lungs.

I brace myself, my chest heaving, fighting for each breath.

For a second, I question my moves. Wondering whether I should head back the other way, try to find Axel or one of the boys, knowing full well they’re here.

Somewhere.

Looking for me.

Trying to get me out of here safe while risking their own lives if they even still have them.

Those explosions were large and destructive, made to murder.

Tears begin to burn in the back of my throat. The thought of losing Axel now, after he’s just come into—or back into—my life. After I’ve found the place I finally fit. The place that finally feels like home after thinking I’d never know that part of my life.

Four years ago, I didn’t simply lose my memories.

I lost who I was.

And while I may not ever be that girl again, the woman I am now is much stronger and a fighter. And she will not give up on the future she deserves.

Gritting my teeth, I shove off the tree. Each breath becomes harder as I push forward, the trickle of blood now moving down my leg a strange sensation, given the rest of my body feels completely numb. The adrenaline winning over every other feeling as I move further and further into the dense forest.

An arm swings out just as I’m about to pass a thick tree, collecting me right across the chest and forcing my shoulders back. My feet fly out from under me, my back hitting the rough ground, stunning any words from me. I groan, coughing and choking for air while dirt wafts into the air like someone hit a powerpuff.

“Get up, Mac.” Trevor’s voice is one I know well.

Hendrix’s sidekick, an asshole who will do anything to please his twisted boss.

One hand grabs the front of my shirt while another twists in my hair. I kick and swing my fists, losing a shoe as my foot connects with Trevor’s leg. He pulls harder, and I cry out as pain shoots up my spine and into my neck, the bastard twisting it at an awkward angle.

“I won’t go back to Hendrix,” I hiss, spitting in Trevor’s face, though it seems to delight him even more.

Sick bastard.

“That’s fine…” Trevor laughs. “Mister Yamamoto paid me more to bring you to him alive. He sees something. Potential.”

Lights flash in the distance and, for a second, Trevor frowns and turns toward them.

I take the opportunity to pull my knee back and driving it straight up into the guy’s balls. He screams like a fucking girl, his grip on my body loosening. When he bends forward, cradling his privates, I swing my elbow, clocking him in the side of the face and sending him sprawling onto the dirt.

I don’t wait to gloat, even though I want to so badly.

The sun is almost set, and the darkness of the trees is now impacting my vision.

I might not have much light left.

And when it gets dark and cold, I’m going to be even more vulnerable and even harder to find.

So I keep running.

And running.

 

 

AXEL

 

“Everybody, check in!”

Kace’s voice screeches in my ear, a pleasant reprise from the fucking ringing. I shake off the rubble and glass, gripping my gun. “I’m good.” I cough, choking on some of the dust filling the air. I check around me, Blair pats himself down, checking his weapons while the TO4 appear to be getting to their feet also.

One at a time, the team checks in.

“Luca!” Noah calls desperately. “Luca!”

“Shut the fuck up, man,” Luca finally grumbles over the comms.

“Where the hell are you?” Noah demands sternly. “You were right next to me, I thought I’d lost you beneath the wall.”

“I’m under the table with the dick statue.”

Typical.

“I need to find her. Where’d she go?” I call, scrambling through the now destroyed window and scan the room, my eyes pausing on anyone who looks remotely like Kenzi. It’s not easy, though. The destruction is endless, walls down, the ceiling still falling in, the rest looking like it could collapse at any moment while Carlos and Curtains try to pull a couple of waitresses from underneath the debris.

Agency operatives are everywhere, trying to help those bleeding—staff and criminals alike.

It’s carnage.

“Hendrix pulled her out this way,” Kace announces, rushing past me to a door just off the side of the stage. I automatically fall instep behind him. “Watch your back.”

The murmur of voices in my ear and the pat on my shoulder tell me the team is right behind us, our small train of operatives ducking and diving through the carnage.

Kace eases out the door, his gun at the ready. The second I step out behind him, my heart drops at the sight of the helicopter

“Turn it off,” I scream at the pilot who quickly complies and raises his hands, his eyes wide. “Where’s the girl?”

“She took off into the trees,” he calls back. “The tattooed guy and his friends went after her.”

All I see is red. “Fuck!”

It’s getting dark, the sun setting quickly and casting the once stunning forest of trees into a dark shadowy hell.

“Everly, get Falcon and his men out here. See if they can head into the forest and find Kenzi before Hendrix and his goons do,” Kace orders, waving us toward the trees, only to hold his hand up a second later, pulling us to a halt. “Does anyone else smell smoke?”

“Shit,” I hiss, a hazy red glow catching my eye off to the right of the building. “No fucking way!” I try to make a run for it, but Kace and Tanner catch me, pushing me back.

Luca slams his fist against the wall. “He’s trying to flush her out.”

“Call the fire department,” Kace orders.

“Got you,” Everly replies.

Though, for all I know, it’s too late.

I’m literally watching my future burn to the ground.

“Get your night vision goggles on,” Kace orders as we stalk toward the tree line, Reid and his team joining us. “No flashlights, it will help us determine the difference between our guys and theirs. Everly, let Falcon know.”

“Ready?” I question impatiently.

Kace meets my intense gaze, narrowing his eyes. “You need to focus. Don’t let your emotions get in the way.”

“I won—”

“Luca, you’re with Axel,” he orders before I can object. “Everyone else, spread out. Move fast.”

My blood pumps hard, wooshing in my ears as it rolls in waves through my veins. My heart beating faster and faster the further Luca and I move through the woods.

I can’t help but mentally curse myself.

I should have known better than to underestimate Hendrix and the shit he will do to win.

We should’ve been better prepared.

Should have expected he would have had a strategic fallback plan if things turned to shit.

Instead, we somehow expected to bust in there and break up his party and wait for him to throw his hands in the air and give in.

We’ve fucked up.

And it may have cost us.

But above all, it may have cost me everything.