Page 88 of Until Ace

I don’t waste any time. I stand up, wrists still cuffed but not to the chair.

And I run.

* * *

Ace

Hand planted against my chest, Nico shoves me back. “Stop! You can’t go in there.”

Red mist dances around the edges of my vision. “The fuck I can’t. That’s my woman in there.”

“I know. Trust me, I know.” His eyes bore into mine, telling a story without any words. “But it’s not safe for Mandy. You need to think. Besides, you can’t cut through red tape. You have to play this by the book.”

Fuck.

He’s right. I know he’s right.

I just don’t care.

“The fucker has her in the same fucking room.” I throw my arm out, indicating the said room. “He thinks he’s being poetic or some shit, sending me a message.”

All Nico does is lightly push me back again. Shaking his head, he looks over in the direction of the open door that Larkin walked through not even a minute ago.

The moment he appeared at the scene, it all made sense.

How they knew where we had the witness.

How Jim was coached to look for shift changes.

The shining fact about everything is that, by some giant stroke of luck, he didn’t know who was working undercover.

No one did, except the captain.

And Larkin came to work for the district after I went in, so our paths didn’t cross until I was pulled out.

“I don’t give a fuck about working this by the book,” I rumble. “All I want is Mandy out, safe and sound. If no one else does, I don’t care.

“And what about when all this shit is over?” Frank comes to stand by me. I look at him, ready to tear him a new one, but he puts his hand up, silencing me. “What about when she’s out, life moves on, but she can’t, because her man is sitting behind bars, while the fuckers who orchestrated this are roaming free on another technicality?”

I open my mouth to tell him off, but movement catches my eye.

I turn and spot her.

There she is.

Running out of the room, barefoot, her hands behind her back, her hair flying out around her.

I push Nico off me and start toward her, too far to help when she trips on something and goes down. Without her hands to soften the fall, she faceplants onto the pavement, and her pained cry echoes around the parking lot.

“Go, go, go!” someone yells behind me, and a swarm of officers heads toward the motel room. I don’t care what happens next. My only focus is Mandy, who’s trying to get her knees under her, but she loses strength and stays lying down, her whole body visibly shaking.

I rush to her and kneel down. “Mandy?” But she just whimpers. “Cobi, over here!” I yell over my shoulder, trying to get Mandy up. She has scrapes all over her face, and her wrists are raw, but thankfully her clothes seem untouched. I don’t dare think what I would’ve done if they violated her on a different level. This is enough for me to want to go hunt them down and kill them over and over again.

“Fuck,” Cobi explodes as he skids to a halt and sees the state Mandy’s in.

“She’s handcuffed,” I tell him, turning her head and moving her hair out of her face. “Give me the keys so I can get them off.”

Cobi tosses me the keys, but my hands shake too much to ring the lock. “Here, let me,” he says, crouching down and opening the cuffs.