dead, but he wanted her in his arms now, so he could examine every goddamn inch of her for the slightest injury and then skin whoever had put it there.
Slowly.
"No one would blame you." Jasper held out his pistol, butt first, offering it to the doctor. "Ten seconds, and you're gonna make yourself useful."
"I'm not stupid." Jordan pulled a semiautomatic from the small of his back. "I don't wander around unarmed."
Dallas barely heard them. He was a rubber band stretched too tight, seconds from shooting forward or snapping back on the idiots trying to hold him in place. Clutching his gun in one hand, he rested the other on the hilt of his knife.
Eight...seven...
Lex was in there. His heart was in there.
Five...
He needed to tell her that.
Three...two...
God, let her still be alive to tell.
"One," he growled, and started running.
Doc and Jasper kept pace with him as he raced across the open area. They found proof of Cruz and Bren's handiwork as soon as they cleared the edge of the building. Two men lay dead, and a third leaned over them, his fingers pressed to one bloody neck as if seeking a pulse.
He was still reaching for his gun when Dallas slit his throat.
True to Bren's promise, most of the guards were down, and they only ran into stragglers as they followed Cerys's directions through the labyrinthine halls. Dallas plowed through them, Jasper at his side. One guard, two, four--
They rounded a corner, but the man at the other end wasn't a guard. He was too damn old, for one, though he held a gun in both shaking hands.
"Drop it," Jasper ordered flatly.
The old man's hands wavered as he stared at Jasper's wrists. A moment later, the gun clattered to the floor. "She had those," he said in a shaking voice, pointing to Jas's cuffs. "Lady Jade's friend. Are you here for her?"
The name meant nothing to Dallas, but it wasn't hard to guess that this was the driver from Two. "You picked up a woman tonight?"
He nodded and edged carefully to the side, both hands held upright. "A friend of the lady's, she was."
"And she's through here?" Dallas gestured to the huge double doors.
Another nod.
He couldn't hear anything on the other side. No sounds of fighting or fucking, just a chilling sort of silence that could mean anything or nothing. For all he knew, the damn room was soundproofed so no one would know what Fleming's high rollers got up to on the other side.
Only one way to find out. Dallas passed his knife to Doc and pulled his favorite pistol. "On three?"
Jasper counted it off under his breath, then splintered the door's latch with one solid kick. Lifting his weapon, Dallas spilled into the room only to freeze three steps later.
A gigantic man he vaguely recognized was holding a gun to Lex's head. Finn, a silent, severe hulk who ran drugs for Mac Fleming.
Beyond that, all Dallas could register was the blood. It covered Lex, slicking her skin and drenching the ruffled white negligee she wore. His heart seized until he realized there was too much blood for her to be sitting upright, tense and alert and noticeably fuming.
Not hers, then. A brief glance at the woman sprawled beside her made it clear it wasn't hers, either. Her white gown was splattered, but her worst injuries seemed to be the vivid red marks around her throat.
As if he could read Dallas's thoughts, Finn sighed. "If this woman belongs to you, she's been busy," he said, gesturing briefly with the gun. Dallas looked to the left and saw Woods sprawled on his back, glassy-eyed, with a giant shard of glass sticking out of his throat.
"He had it coming," Lex spat.
"No argument here, dollface." Finn dug through his pocket without taking his eyes off Dallas and came up with a bent cigarette. "But you put me between a rock and a real damn hard place. Also known as my boss and yours."
"I'm not her boss," Dallas drawled, fighting to keep his temper leashed. One wrong move could end Lex. "But I am thinking I might shoot your balls off if you don't point that gun someplace else."
Snorting, Finn lit his cigarette. "If I point it someplace else, I'm dead. Lackeys have eyes too, O'Kane."
"Easy answer?" Lex rose slowly, her hands held out to her sides. "You weren't here. Woods brought plenty of guards, and something else needed your attention. Business, or even some pretty little thing with a powerful need to