TWENTY-FOUR
WADE slid through the night to where Dane was waiting, anticipation and a keen sense of vengeance racing through his veins. Finally, the bastard would be taken down and Eliza would never have to worry about him again or torture herself over the knowledge that now free, he would resume his sadistic practices.
Most importantly, he would pay for hurting Eliza and putting her through hell for so long.
“Sterling?”
The whisper came from the dark and then Dane appeared, his face set in stone, his stance one of anticipation, mirroring Wade’s own.
“Has he moved?” Wade demanded shortly.
“No. As soon as we followed him here, I set a perimeter around the house and called you. Every man I have is on this. He won’t get past us. What’s your plan?”
“Go in. Take him out. Permanently,” Wade clipped out.
Dane didn’t react to the fact that Wade was going in to kill a man.
“Is Eliza safe?” he asked.
“Yes. My men are guarding her. She’s in a safe house, and like you, I set a tight perimeter around it so no one gets close to her.”
Relief flared in Dane’s eyes. “You ready to get this over with? Your call. We’ll cover. You do what you need to do.”
There was no judgment or condemnation in Dane’s eyes. In fact, he looked disappointed that he would have no part in taking Harrington out, but he didn’t argue and Wade respected him for that.
“Appreciate that,” Wade said quietly. “Let’s roll. Have your men converge and when we have all potential exit points covered, I’m going in. I’d like you to go in with me and have my back.”
Dane nodded. “Done. No question.”
They moved stealthily toward the house. The lights were on in seemingly every room. Arrogant bastard. But it would make Wade’s job easier and the sooner he took care of the problem, the sooner he could get back to Eliza and take her home.
They paused at one of the side entrances that opened into the kitchen until Dane received confirmation that all his men were in place.
“Go time,” Dane said grimly. “Let’s do this.”
Wade tried the knob and to his surprise the door was unlocked. He and Dane slipped inside, weapons up as they scanned the interior and listened for any betraying noise that would give away Harrington’s location.
The distant sound of a television was the only discernible noise. Wade motioned for Dane to take one side while Wade took the other as they slowly moved through the house. The kitchen was empty and they checked the small laundry room off the kitchen before moving quietly into the dining room.
The house wasn’t huge and Dane’s recon had reported two bedrooms, a living room, dining room and kitchen so the only places Harrington could be were the living room or one of the bedrooms.
They paused just outside the living room, pressed to the wall next to the open doorway. Carefully, Wade eased around, taking in every inch of space in the living room where the television was on.
There was a couch and two chairs but otherwise unfurnished. It was an open space with no areas someone could hide, which meant he had to be in one of the bedrooms. Wade’s pulse accelerated as he closed in on his prey.
I’ve got you, you bastard. You will pay for all the hurt and damage done to Eliza.
The first bedroom was obviously a guest room as it was small and like the living room unfurnished. There wasn’t even a closet or a bathroom someone could hide in. There was only one remaining place, the master bedroom, and he had to temper his urge to burst in and make Harrington suffer like he’d made Eliza suffer and those women he’d brutally murdered. Never again. His reign of terror ended tonight.
The master bedroom was closed so he and Dane stood on either side of the door and Wade held up his fingers to count to three. When he reached three, Dane kicked the door open, shattering the wood, while Wade dropped low so all bases would be covered. They swarmed into the room doing a sweep with their guns only to find the room . . . empty.
Wade stormed into the bathroom but as with the rest of the house, no one was there. His stomach clenched and sweat formed on his forehead. Something wasn’t right about this entire situation.
“Radio your men. Have them report in. They had to have seen something. He couldn’t have vanished into thin air.”
Dane barked orders and demands into his mouthpiece, his expression growing darker and darker with every passing second. Fury blazed in his eyes but worse, Wade saw abject fear reflected in the other man’s gaze.
“Tell me,” Wade barked.
“Goddamn it!” Dane roared. “Nothing! We have nothing. We followed him here, watched him go inside. His vehicle is still here but that’s the last anyone has seen of him. Not a single one of my men detected movement, saw him leave, and, Sterling, regardless of what you may think, my men are the best. They don’t fuck up. Especially when it comes to safeguarding one of our own. He had to have had an escape route and he had to have planned this well in advance because he did not just walk out of here or we would have known it.”
“Shit,” Wade hissed. “Shit, shit, shit!”
Then he went rigid, terror seizing his heart.
“It was a fucking setup. It was a goddamn fucking setup. Somehow he tagged one of us or maybe he’s just a paranoid, cautious motherfucker. But he planned this well in advance and took into account every possibility and then made certain he had a solution.”
He yanked his phone from his pocket and dialed Eliza’s number.
Please be there, baby. Please answer. Please be okay.
But it went straight to voicemail, which meant she either didn’t have service, it was powered down or had been destroyed.
His hands shaking so badly that he could barely manage to operate his phone, he hit the contact button for his team leader. Jones answered on the first ring.
“Where’s Eliza?” Wade demanded.
“She’s still in the house, sir. We have every angle covered and every possible vantage point. We’d know if she left.”
Yeah, yeah. He’d heard that just minutes ago when Dane had made the same assurances.
“I want a visible confirmation,” Wade said in an icy tone. “Get the hell in the house now. I want you to be looking at her when you tell me she’s still in the house.”
“On it,” Jones said shortly.
Wade held the phone to his ear, each second an eternity as he waited for his man to tell him Eliza was safe and accounted for. He heard the door open, heard Jones’s footsteps. Then they stopped. Then they began again. What the fuck was taking so long? The house wasn’t that big.