Fun. Dawn stared at the girl as though she had lost her mind. “Cassie, I’m going to work.”
“For now.” She tossed her head, throwing the long, loose curls behind her shoulder as she moved for the door, ethereal in her long gown, like a precocious fairy. “You’re working for now, Dawn. But…”
Cassie glanced to the window once again before turning back to her. “It’s time to wake up.”
With those last words eerie Cassandra Sinclair slipped out of her bedroom and closed the door behind her, leaving Dawn alone.
Just as Seth had left her alone.
Time to wake up, her ass. Well, she was sure as hell awake now and madder than hell. Men. She hated men. Men were a plague on the female species and their arrogant, know-it-all attitudes were hampering her job on every side. And now. Now, to add insult to injury, her own brother, Callan, was joining their detestable ranks.
Dawn slammed into the communications bunker set into the mountain that rose above Sanctuary and slammed the heavy metal door behind her. Inside, radar, infrared, electronic maps and locator pinpoints beeped and flashed along the walls. There was a map of the mountain, the town, the surrounding lands and even a display of the cave system that ran within the mountains surrounding them. One of those systems was incomplete and getting more incomplete by the day.
“Micah, move into position.”
Dawn’s head swung around at the sound of Callan’s voice, a spurt of surprise filling her that he seemed to be overseeing a mission. Callan rarely had time to involve himself in the actual missions that Breeds now hired themselves out for. Yet it seemed he had made time for one. She moved closer, remaining quiet as she stared at the image displayed on the viewing screen in front of him.
The girl that had been kidnapped in the Middle East, she remembered now. She was the daughter of one of the Tyler Clan’s friends, family of Callan’s mate and wife, Merinus. A Breed unit had been sent in to rescue her.
“Flint, you have a go,” Callan murmured into the communication link, a slender mic that curved around his cheek and attached to the ear-bud receiver at his ear.
“I have a visual.” The Breed’s voice echoed hollowly from the communications speaker at the side of the viewing screen.
Onscreen another image popped in alongside the main image. The image was hazy, but they could see the inside of a cell and the small, huddled form of the young woman.
“Guards are out.” Another voice came through. “I’m on the locks.”
Dawn watched as the small team moved with coordinated control. The cell door opened slowly and the young woman’s frightened whimpers into the filthy mattress where she was huddled echoed through the intercom.
Dawn flinched at the sound, echoes of it drifting through her head. She could feel her chest clenching at the remembered feel of her dreams, and that very sound tearing from her own lips.
“You’re safe.” Flint McCain moved into position beside her and quickly tested the area and the woman for explosives. “We’re clear.”
He turned the girl over, putting his fingers to her lips before she could cry out. “Your father sent us. Can you walk?”
Her clothing was torn. The T-shirt was ripped down one shoulder, and her jeans were crusted with dirt and what appeared to be blood along one side.
She nodded quickly. Her face was heavily bruised, one eye nearly swollen shut as she tried to scramble to her feet.
Her leg gave out from under her. Before she could cry out in pain, a black-clad hand covered her lips and the Breed pulled her against him.
“They’ll tie you to my back,” he whispered into her ear, the words drifting through the intercom. “Then we’re good to go, okay? Your dad is waiting back at base. Just a quick little run around the block then we’ll jump into a jazzy little jet we have waiting. We’re out of here.”
He kept talking as two other Breeds quickly strapped her to his back; then they were easing out of the block cell and fading into the night.
Callan pulled the earpiece from his ear, tossed it to the table and turned to his brother-in-law and the head of Sanctuary’s security, Kane Tyler.
“Keep me up to date,” he told Kane quietly. “I want to know the second they reach base. Have them cancel layover there and head straight back here. We’re going to need them.”
Kane moved into Callan’s position with a nod of his dark head, his expression intent as he watched the images that flipped in and out in their own small boxes within the screen.
“You’re with me,” he told Dawn as he turned away.
He was angry with her. She always knew when Callan was angry. Before, the thought of that anger would have had her heart knocking in terror. Now it had her lips tightening in frustration. She didn’t have time to deal with his irked mood.
“What the hell is going on?” she hissed as they made their way through the long steel-and-cement bunker beneath the ground. “I was halfway through those caves when you pulled me out. Do you have any idea how long it’s taken us to clear out those explosives and lay the sensors through there?”
“I’m aware of the order I gave you a week ago to find another project,” he growled as they turned from the main bunker and headed down a short corridor to another large map and imaging room. “Do you think we need to lose six of our women, our sisters, to those f**king explosives, Dawn? Son of a bitch, what the hell has gotten into you?”