Page 93 of Dark ’N’ Deadly

Soft scratching came from the other side of the door, the one leading to the tunnel. The scratching increased in volume, sounding more like—pawing!

It can’t be.

The door flew open.

Tiger leaped inside, followed by Nick’s K-9, Saxon, and—holy shit—three other dogs, all baring their teeth and barking at the top of their doggy lungs.

Russo tried kicking at the dogs, but they easily dodged his blows. “Where did these fucking mutts come from?”

She didn’t know and didn’t care. If all these K-9s were here, that meant Eric wasn’t far behind.

A large brown and black German shepherd circled Russo, drawing his attention from the other dog—a pure white one—who lunged, latching on to Russo’s calf and dragging him to the floor.

“Ahhh!” he cried, continuing to kick, screaming louder as the dog must have clamped down harder.

“Sonofabitch!” Prichard hissed, then yelled in the direction of the stairs, “Get down here, now!”

As the other three dogs circled him, barking and snarling, Pritchard looked frantically around the room. He lunged for the window, grabbing something from the ledge. A crowbar. He began swinging it wildly at the dogs.

With one last effort, Tess sliced open the remaining tape binding her wrists. She jumped to her feet, ducking when Pritchard made another wild swing at Tiger with the crowbar.

She swung the little blade at Pritchard’s face, taking no small sense of gratification when he bellowed in pain.

The crowbar dropped to the floor, clattering on the concrete. Her eyes tracked the detonator as it flew from his other hand. She dove for the device, her upper body slamming onto the concrete as she stretched out her hand, catching the detonator before it hit the floor.

“You fuckin’ cunt.”

Jesse moaned, and she crawled on her knees to his side, carefully peeling tape from his mouth and cutting off the tape binding his hands. Immediately, he sucked in a long breath.

“Tess.” Jesse’s voice held a sense of urgency. “Tess!”

She twisted her neck to see Pritchard stalking toward them, holding his hand to his face, blood dripping between his fingers.

“Tiger!” Jesse shouted. “Stellen!”

Just as Pritchard lunged for her, Tiger leaped, clamping his jaws onto Pritchard’s crotch.

“Ahhhh,” he screamed, ten times louder than Russo had.

Pounding echoed on the stairs. The men outside were coming back.

The armed men.

Tess’s heart jackhammered. They’d shoot all the dogs. Then they’d shoot her and Jesse. She ripped off the duct tape still covering her mouth and screamed.

A man stormed in through the tunnel door.

Eric.

On his heels were Dayne, Nick, Kade, and Matt. Five guns blasted. Pritchard’s two other goons dropped like stones.

“Look what we have here.” Eric aimed his weapon at Pritchard, being careful to keep the muzzle away from Tiger. “Good boy, Tiger.”

With his jaws still locked onto Pritchard’s family jewels, Tiger managed a throaty growl.

Nick and Matt crossed the room to check on the two men who’d been shot.

“Aus,” Dayne ordered his dog, who released Russo, backing up but maintaining guard while Dayne flipped the man onto his stomach and cuffed him.