Page 129 of Hard Rain

The back of his neck tightened.

Axel turned in a slow circle, scanning every face in the ballroom.

Then the balcony.

The stairs.

The bar.

There was no blond hair anywhere.

No blue eyes finding his across the room.

No Whip.

Boone came over the radio again.

“Bain?”

Axel ended up at the private doors on the west side of the ballroom.

He didn’t bother answering. He drove his shoulder into the doors, forcing them open.

Boone’s voice became little more than background noise. A red haze crept into Axel’s vision, but his focus sharpened.

Inside, an end table lay overturned.

He stalked deeper into the hallway.

A guard stepped forward. “Sir—”

Axel drove a fist into the man’s throat.

“Bain, talk to me,” Boone’s voice came across the radio, commanding but steady.

Axel stepped over the choking guard and shoved through the next set of doors.

“They took Whip.”

It was all he managed before disappearing into the room beyond.

HELL BREAKS LOOSE

There was no Whip.

Axel shoved through another set of double doors, his heartbeat pounding loud enough to drown out the gala behind him. Kitchen. Hallway. Empty.

Nothing.

Just static he was having trouble hearing past.

“Bain.” Boone’s voice crackled through his earpiece. “Outside. Now.”

Axel kept moving.

“Bain. That’s an order.”

“No.”