out of the loop until it was done. The last thing I needed was Liam O'Brien weighing in and fucking everything up for us. He would have agreed to help get Tatum back, I was fairly certain of that. His attachment to the idea of family being the most important thing in the world would have driven him to do that much. But the O’Briens were about as subtle as a porn shoot taking place at a kids’ party. And that just wouldn’t have worked against Troy Memphis. He was a sneaky bastard and we’d needed to play him at his own game if we wanted to get the jump on him and rescue our girl.
Besides, it was only right that this fight remained our own. The Night Keepers didn’t need help from anyone else. We’d made an oath to protect Tatum and we’d keep our damn word on that.
I gave the smoke a couple of seconds to thicken up, yanking the gas mask from where it hung at my belt and pulling it on for the first time as I admitted, in this instance, I actually needed the damn thing.
The moment it was secure, I vaulted over the reception desk and took a pot shot straight at a figure I could just make out moving within the pink smoke. The satisfying sound of a body hitting the ground followed, letting me know we were down to two guards now.
The only light in here was from the streetlamp beyond the glass front of the building, but that was plenty for me. I knew how to move in the dark.
I slipped over to the wall, straining my ears to listen over the lingering ringing in them from the explosion and the sound of a scuffle had me whipping around and shooting another guard straight in the face.
The pink smoke swirled all around me as I dove into it, my grip on my gun tight as I hunted for my prey. I only had two bullets left before I needed to reload, but that was going to be enough.
My heart beat to a solid rhythm, my breaths coming slow and deep as I fell into that primal, base piece of my being. I was nothing more than a beast hunting out enemies in the dark. Just a creature bound to protect its mate beyond all other desires.
I rounded the elevator bank, its doors firmly closed as the fire alarm continued to blare out.
"I need back-up on the ground floor," a voice came from somewhere deeper into the smoke. "Armed assailants. Secure the asset."
A growl spilled from my lips and I ran forward, not caring if I was giving myself away as the crackled response from another voice came over the radio, confirming that there were more guards heading our way.
I fired a shot based on the sound of where I'd heard that voice, but my hearing was still off from the explosion and a moment later the guard returned fire.
A bullet hit me square in the chest, pain ricocheting through my body as I staggered but managed to stay on my feet. My second bullet found the target, but I kept my aim low and the guard screamed in pain as he was hit.
I forced a breath down into my lungs through the burning agony of where the bullet hit and stumbled forward a few steps as my body yelled at me not to move. But fuck that. Tatum needed me.
I found the guard within the smoke, kicking his fallen gun away from him as he tried to grab for it with one hand while pressing down on a seriously bloody wound in his gut with the other.
My second kick caught him in the jaw and I was on top of him the moment his back hit the ground.
"Clear," I called out to the others, ignoring the pain in my own body in favour of inflicting some on the piece of shit beneath me.
I holstered my gun and pulled the hunting knife into my grasp instead.
"Have you found her?" I demanded, looking back towards Saint for my answer.
I wrapped one hand around the guard's throat as my weight pressed down on the bleeding wound in his stomach and he tried to scream.
"The whole thing is coded," Saint growled, the sound of furious typing still coming from beyond the desk.
My gaze fixed on the soon-to-be-dead man beneath me as I squeezed hard enough to cut off his air supply. "We're here for the