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removing the massive guy on the floor. Sad really. But not his concern, he had a small window to work with before the patient was no longer viable. And since he valued his brilliant mind, he needed to use it wisely.
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    “Tar! Hey, you in there?” Mitch nudged his onetime best friend. Whoever Tar ran into did quite a number on him. The anonymous tip Mitch received probably saved Tar’s life. He hopped up in full combat mode as Mitch gently persuaded, “McNeil. You’re fine. No one here to harm you, man…only help,” he reassured.
    Tar locked a hard gaze on his. “She’s in danger. Did you get her out of there?”
    “Keeley was with you when this happened?”
    “Fuck. She’s still there!” he roared and went straight to the metal cabinets lining the wall. Grabbing a Bersa Thunder 9MM and some ammo, spare magazines, and a hip holster, he began to gear up. On the other side, he clipped on a Glock Field Knife with a 6.5-inch blade. With his black BDU’s and combat boots, he looked like a mercenary just begging for a fight. His snug black Sport Tek shirt hugged each hard-defined muscle in his upper body. He then buttoned up a thick shirt over it, not unlike what he’d worn in the field nearly two years before. He placed the black cap on his raven hair. The only color on him was his vibrant green eyes, and they screamed battle ready. He was a dark knight ready to slay any damn thing that stood between him and Keeley. Tar acknowledged he was on borrowed time. Whether the drugs did their job and thoroughly took Keeley’s mind or the so-called caregivers sold her to the highest bidder, she was in grave danger. Every tick of the second hand on his black dive watch told him, she was moving further and further away. Unacceptable. Defeat was not in his vocabulary. Any more so than letting her down was an option. His stride held a purpose that even Mitch saluted as he passed by before turning and joining his friend.
    Tar never said a word. The unspoken code was one he could never forget. It was never an I but a we when you were part of such an elite team. And no one went out there without backup. Period.
     
    *****
     
    The clinic held a haunting quality to it as they entered from a side door. It was too quiet. Hairs rose on the back of Tar’s neck as he let his senses tell him what he needed to know. The smell of copper told them there was blood close by. Mitch signaled he was taking the left hall as Tar continued to the right. Didn’t take long for them to meet up in what was once a room used for surgeries. Mitch was all too familiar with the makeshift operating equipment. “Tar, whoever was here is long gone,” he pointed out what they both knew.
    Tar leveled a look at him. “We search everywhere. Nothing goes unturned.”
    “Copy that.”
    Deserted in an obvious hurry, Tar was hoping for a clue to Keeley’s whereabouts, but nothing was showing up. After a thorough search, they came up empty-handed. Tar bowed his head while the setback burned his gut, threatening to empty its contents. Mitch placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find your girl.”
    On the tip of Tar’s tongue were the words he never wanted to speak, yet it was fact. “We’ve lost all traces of her.”
    Mitch swallowed hard, knowing full well what that implied. Keeley was either dead, lost to a drug she might never recover from, or sold as a sex slave. And none of those options sat well as bile rose, hot and fast, up Mitch’s throat. He vomited to the side as Tar turned and marched away. Mitch knew it wasn’t lack of compassion. Tar was about to lose his shit, and he needed to reel in the beast that was right at the surface. As Tarius rounded a corner, a silver rod caught his eye. He got down on his haunches, recognizing the design on one end. It was a spiral like, reminding him of a vine. Blood on the other end told him it didn’t just come loose. Someone removed it with force. Keeley had one like it. She wore