Chapter 94: Chapter 8

MASON

“Nate, we’re in a bind!” I blurt out. We’ve pulled over at a gas station to refuel and Sarah has gone to the restroom with a guard posted outside. Something went wrong inside and the guard couldn’t get in!

When we finally manage to break down the door, we find a second door. We search the entire area, but Sarah is nowhere to be found. Christian is losing his mind!

I glance at my dad, a sinking feeling in my gut. I know exactly where she’s been taken!

“We need to keep an eye on the house! I’m pretty sure they’ve kidnapped Sarah!” I exclaim.

My dad gives a nod of agreement and instructs them to stay put. We’ll be on our way soon. They’re not too far from the house.

We send out a mass text, and within moments, guards are flooding into the house, quickly suiting up in tactical gear. We start loading up the SUVs when my dad’s phone rings again. I watch as he runs a hand down his face, his gaze locked on me.

“The guys who left earlier just returned and dragged three girls from the car, screaming, into the house,” he says.

“One of them has to be Sarah! Now that we know they have hostages, we need to tread carefully!” I respond.

As we continue prepping, I look up to see Sasha’s eyes fixed on me. I put on my bulletproof vest and holsters, slinging my automatic on my back. I can see the fear in her eyes as she watches me. I walk over and pull her into my arms as she starts to cry.

“Sasha, I know this is a lot to take in, but this is the life we lead. There’s always danger, but we have to protect ourselves. It might seem like overkill, but the house where Donald and his men are holed up just had three girls dragged into it. We think one of them is your sister Sarah, so we need to move now!” I tell her.

“Mason, I understand this is your life, but please come back to me and save my sister! If anything happens to her…” she pleads.

I wrap my hand in her hair, pulling her into a kiss, trying to etch this moment into my memory. I can feel her trembling, her nerves getting the best of her. I can’t blame her. I pull back and watch as tears trickle down her cheeks, staining her shirt.

“I can’t make any promises, but know this: if anything happens, my family will take care of you. There’s a scanner in our room where you can listen to the radios. You can choose to listen or not, but if you hear something happen, you won’t be able to respond.”

She just nods, walking away to our room. I have no doubt she’ll be listening. God, I hope this goes smoothly! But I have this gut feeling that something will go wrong. I see the same feeling mirrored in my dad’s, Jessie’s, and Grandpa’s faces.

We finish loading up and within minutes, we have a convoy heading out of town to the rendezvous point so we can surround the house. The car ride is silent as we receive updates from the informants watching the house. We haven’t heard any noise from the house, but who knows what’s happening inside.

The drive feels like an eternity before we finally pull up to a vacant lot a few properties down. I jump out with the guys and we walk over to Cash, the head guard who’s been coordinating everything.

“Here’s what we know so far. There are about twenty-five to thirty men inside and around twenty outside guarding. We saw three women get dragged in and we think one of them is Sarah. We couldn’t get a clear view to confirm, but the clothes matched. There’s one person we recognized who went in with the men. Caden, you’ve had a lot of dealings with this person, and no doubt you’ll be ready to kill him.”

My grandpa looks as puzzled as the rest of us. Who the hell is left that we haven’t already taken care of? Cash looks straight at my grandpa and says the one name we never thought we’d hear again.

“Trent!”

My grandpa’s expression shifts from confusion to murderous rage in a split second. This bastard has been nothing but trouble, and now he’s involved with Donald. But it makes sense, who better to get insider information from than a social worker who knows about girls with no one to protect them.

Cash shows us a map of the house and all the entrances. We plan the best way to approach and storm the house. We signal for everyone to gear up and move in.

Just as we start to load up, a gunshot rings out. Everyone looks around, questioning. It isn’t us. It must’ve come from the house. My dad yells over the radio to move in now! Everyone springs into action, cars tearing off in all directions toward the property.

Gunshots ring out as we approach. I hear bullets hit our SUV, a window shatters next to me, but it doesn’t faze me. The SUV screeches to a halt and we all jump out, running toward the house. This is it!

NATE

We all jump out, my dad by my side and Mason at my other. We open fire as we make our way to the front of the house. Bodies are strewn everywhere as we hear shouting from inside. We breach the door and more shots ring out. We quickly outnumber those inside because, let’s face it, we’ve done this before!

We spread out, trying to find where they’re hiding the girls. I find some stairs leading downstairs and we grab guards and start heading down. We can hear the girls screaming from a back room. We storm in, guards grabbing the men, and soon we have everyone at gunpoint.

We tie everyone up and that’s when we see the girls huddled together. I turn to say something to Mason, but he’s not here.

“Where the fuck is Mason!” I yell into the radio as I sprint back up the stairs. No one’s responding. When I reach the top of the stairs, I bolt outside. I see men running around, checking bodies, when a guard calls out to me, kneeling next to a body. I rush over and flip the body over. It’s Mason! He’s alive, but just barely. He’s been hit and hasn’t said a word. He knew if he had, we would’ve made him stay.

I know Sasha must be listening and knows we’re looking for Mason.

“Get a helicopter here now! We need to airlift Mason!”

Within a minute, I have an ETA of two minutes for the chopper and my cell starts ringing. I glance at the caller ID. It’s Mandy. Damn it, now is not the time! I send it to voicemail, knowing I’ll have to deal with it later.

“Dad, could you take the trash down to the basement? As soon as Mason’s airborne, I’ll be on my way to the hospital in the SUV.”

He gives me a nod, then starts issuing commands. We get Mason loaded up and head back to the clearing. Before long, the helicopter is touching down and the medical team is disembarking.

They swiftly get Mason on board and we’re left shielding our faces as the chopper takes off, heading for the hospital. We pile back into the SUV and I hastily pull out my phone to return Mandy’s calls. Five missed calls already. I’m definitely in for a scolding.

“Nathaniel Caden Maxwell! How dare you send me to voicemail!”

“Mandy, sweetheart, I know! Mason’s on his way to the hospital in the chopper. Just get in the car and head there now!”

“Nate! He’s going to be okay, right?”

“Mandy, just get to the hospital, okay!”

I hang up quickly, unable to deal with her at the moment. My boy is barely hanging on, but I can’t tell her that. He’s been hit in the shoulder and chest.

What are we going to do? My thoughts are interrupted by my phone ringing. I see it’s my dad and quickly answer.

“Hey Nate, I’ve been chatting with these girls here and it turns out there’s Sarah, two other girls without family, and a couple of young boys. All under eighteen, and no one has family. All foster kids courtesy of Trent. Want to adopt them?”

“Dad, seriously! I need to talk to Mandy! Right now we’re waiting to find out about Mason!”

“Oh, he’s a Maxwell! We always pull through! I’ll tell them all yes! Let me know how Mason is doing!”

Before I can even respond, I hear him hang up and I just shake my head. Wait till Mandy hears this.

The ride doesn’t take long and when we pull into the parking lot, I see Mandy pulling in with Sasha and Mom. They get out and Mandy runs right up to me, punching my chest and kicking at me. She’s screaming all kinds of obscenities at me and people are starting to look at us.

I grab her arm and pull her off to the side, pushing her against the SUV.

“Mandy, listen for one minute! You know this line of work! You know the risks we take every day! Get a grip for one minute and let’s go see how our son is! I swear to God, if you punch me one more time! I’ve never lost my cool, but I’m about to! Oh, and by the way, thank Dad when you see him because we’re adopting four kids when this is over!”

She just stares at me, mouth agape. I take that as my cue to walk away. I head toward the entrance, leaving her standing there while Sasha is right on my heels. She accidentally kicks the back of my shoe, and I stop to turn when she quickly looks down, apologizing.

I place my finger under her chin, forcing her to look at me. “Be careful, but never look at the ground! You’re my daughter-in-law and soon to be a Maxwell. Hold your head up high!”

She nods her head. I continue through the doors when I see the doctor waiting for us. He smiles when I walk up, shaking his hand.

“I thought it was a Maxwell who came in. I knew someone wouldn’t be too far behind. The bullet in the shoulder didn’t hit anything, but the one in the chest bounced around, hitting his lung in a few spots. He’s still in surgery, and they’ve managed to stop the bleeding, but he’s still in critical condition. We’ll know more once the surgeon gets out since they’re still finding damage and small bleeds.”

I rub the back of my neck and nod my head. I look over at Sasha, who is as pale as can be. She looks up at me, wanting to say something.

“Sasha, he’s a Maxwell! He’ll pull through! We always do.”

“Code red in operating room number two. I repeat, code red in operating room number two.”

I quickly turn to the doctor when he runs off, heading toward the stairs. My heart drops to my stomach when I turn back and see Mandy looking right at me, pale as a ghost. She has that look, begging me to tell her that wasn’t for Mason. Truth is, I don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be betting right now. Our attention shifts when we hear a thud on the floor and sure enough, Sasha has passed out. I holler for help and some nurses come running over to pick her up. They quickly take her back. I walk over and sit in a chair. Eva follows Sasha while Mandy sits next to me.

“Mandy, he didn’t let us know he was hit! He jumped out of the car with us and was right next to me. I’m already having a hard enough time as it is. Please don’t make it worse!”

I see her nod her head. She sits back while we wait for news. He has to pull through! My son has to make it!