Chapter 57

“Jarrett! Don’t!”

Ignoring Ven’s increasingly irritated calls, he thundered down the hall, peering into every open door along the way, opening the ones that were closed to him. By his third intrusion, other cops started to drift closer. He didn’t care. They were not going to stop him from finding Eli and making sure he knew Yager’s insane plan.

When he rounded the second corner, Ven darted around him and slammed her palm against his chest. “Goddammit, Kessel, do you know how many guns there are in this place? You act like a threat, and they are going to treat you like one. Hell, I’m ready to shoot you at this point.”

His solar plexus hurt from how hard she’d hit him, but the additional bodies circling around him, like wild animals prowling ever closer to their prey, stopped him from grabbing her wrist and pushing her out of his way.

“You heard Stuart,” he said, pitching his voice lower. “I am not going to let him use Eli like that.”

“You don’t have a choice.”