Page 144 of The Auction Block

"Oh, fuck this," Dresden says, rolling his eyes. He fires two rounds, hitting the last two hitmen, both in the chest. He turns to me, and smiles. "Let's go. I want to know who's in that warehouse.”

Dresden and I run to the lone SUV still sitting out back of the event location. He jumps in the driver's seat and starts the car as I slide into the passenger's side. I pull my cell phone out, glancing at the text message Sammi sent. I give Dresden the address, and then dial Blake's number.

"Lily, where are you?" he answers, his voice panicked.

"Dresden and I are going to the warehouse. Tell Sammi. Get your ass home. Put Vlad on the phone," I say quickly.

"Lily, it's Vlad," he hisses, breathless.

"Lock that fucking apartment down until I get there."

"You got it," he says.

"Put Blake back on."

"Lily," Blake breathes into the receiver.

"I love you," I say with passion. I've never been so worried about him.

"I love you, too. Get home soon, please."

"I will, stay safe. Kiss Sorina for me."

I hang up, and stare out the window, my heart pounding in my ears. Dresden drives like a bat out of hell, and within minutes, he pulls into the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse.

We enter the warehouse, pulling our guns. The first three rooms are empty, but the fourth room has a desk, holding a keyboard and six monitors. Dresden angrily sifts through the drawers, looking for anything that might give us a clue as to where the remaining Taurus members are.

Something white, hanging from the wall to my left catches my attention. I walk slowly toward it, my stomach sinking as I read the words, "GAME OVER" written in red.

"Dresden," I say quietly, pulling the paper down.

"What," he snaps.

I turn around, holding the paper up. His eyes widen as his breath catches.

"The apartment," I whisper.

At full speed, we run back to the car. I pull my cell phone out, dialing Blake's number. No answer. I try Sammi. Again, no answer.

Fuck!

"No one's answering," I hiss.

"Fuck," Dresden screams, taking a turn too sharp.

My head hits the window and I growl. "Get us there in one piece for fuck's sake."

"Alright, I'm sorry," he yells, running his hand through his hair. "I swear to god, if anything happened to Shannon, I'll lose my shit."

He glances at me, tension pulling the corners of his eyes tight. My stomach drops, a wave of nausea rolling through me.

"I'll kill every last one of them, I swear to it," I say, pulling my guns out to reload.

†††

"You ready?" Dresden whispers to me from the right-hand side of the apartment door.

I nod, pulling my guns from their holsters. I reach out and open the door. Slowly, firearms pointed forward, I enter the apartment, Dresden close behind me. It's quiet . . . too quiet. We round the corner toward the hallway leading to the offices.