The woman removed the photo from the glass frame and pocketed it. She sniffed once, scrubbed the tears from her eyes, and made to leave.
As she circled the bed, advancing dangerously close to the closet, Talon’s eyes narrowed. The woman sported a tattoo of an inverted triangle with a line through it on her other shoulder. The symbol for the element of Earth.
Interesting.
Not only a lover, but a fellow traveler.
Talon was still debating if he should reveal himself when another sound cut through the apartment. The woman whirled toward the bedroom door.
This place was getting crowded.
The bedroom door was suddenly flung open and three dangerous-looking men entered. Going by the woman’s look of recognition and fear, she both knew these new arrivals and wasn’t exactly thrilled to see them.
“You’ve been a bad girl, Charlie. Morgaine has been looking for you,” the biggest man in the group said, flexing his muscles.
“I told her I’m out,” Charlie retorted in a trembling voice. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“You don’t have a choice. It’s your turn now.”
Talon mentally dissected the man’s words. The leader of this cult apparently was a woman. And she was after Charlie.
The pieces were coming together in Talon’s mind. After seeing what had happened to her boyfriend, Charlie must have experienced a change of heart and wanted out before the cult could force her to take a life and sacrifice herself.
These goons were here to make sure Charlie didn’t skip out on her responsibilities.
The big man took a menacing step closer, muscles flexing—no wonder these meatheads had been chosen to represent the Fire Element.
Talon didn’t like a bully, and he liked it even less when a group of bullies ganged up on a helpless target. Every instinct in his body wanted him to interfere, and he had to remind himself of his mission. These men were here for the girl. The smart strategy was to let them grab Charlie and see where they would take her. With a little luck, they’d lead him to the leader of this cult.
A good plan in theory, but there was only one problem—Charlie wasn’t going to go along with them. Not without a fight.
As the big man zeroed in on her, she whipped out a knife. Without warning, fueled by mortal terror, Charlie’s blade slashed the man’s arm.
He cursed and recoiled, scarlet oozing from the gash in his forearm.
Talon tensed as Charlie spun toward the other men in the group, bloody knife up, eyes blazing with fear and adrenaline.
He watched as two more men closed in, dodging the rapid-fire swipes. The young woman lacked training, and she was no killer, but her rage and terror had turned her into a cornered wild cat.
She dominated the fight for a few seconds until the goons remembered that there were more of them than her. They jumped her simultaneously. The impact of their massive, musclebound bodies slamming into Charlie’s thin frame sent the knife flying.
The blade hit the carpeted floor as the cultists pinned Charlie’s flailing form against the wall. One of the men clamped his paw over her mouth, silencing her as she opened it to scream. These bastards didn’t want some curious neighbor showing up to spoil their fun.
The leader of the group, who’d wrapped a bandana around his bleeding arm, stalked toward Charlie. He scooped up the scarlet knife from the floor and waved it in front of her.
The other men eyed him with something like concern. These weren’t the brightest bulbs in the box, and they didn’t like it when their leader went off script.
Talon recognized the murderous gleam in the wounded man’s eyes. He had earned the fire tattoo for a reason. Talon didn’t know what kind of trouble this guy had gotten himself into before joining a nature cult, but he was certain the man had lived a life of violence before he channeled that rage into extremist environmentalism. He was not the sort who let a woman take a stab at him without demanding payback.
Talon could tell the lead goon had forgotten all about his mission. Only the spilling of blood could extinguish the flames raging within his soul.
That settled it for Talon. He wouldn’t be able to hang back any longer. So much for his plan of following the bad guys to their cult compound or wherever they cooked up their sick and twisted schemes.
Time to make some new friends, he thought, resigned to what came next.
Glock up and ready, he kicked open the closet door.
Chapter Six
If life bore a stronger resemblance to a 80s action flick, Talon would have popped out of the closet, fired off a groan-inducing one-liner, and gone to work on the bad guys. But this was real world, and Talon skipped straight to the ass-kicking part.
It was one to four, but Talon had the element of surprise on his side, and he planned to make the most of it. Lacking intel on the fighting prowess of these thugs, he had no idea what sort of situation he was walking into. The idea was to strike hard and strike fast, and that’s what he did.
The group of thugs never knew what hit them. By the time the cultists consciously grasped that a new player had arrived on the scene, they were already on the ground, painting the carpet red.
The blitz-like attack gave Talon a better sense of the threat level that these thugs represented. They were muscular, fast, and knew how to take a punch. These men weren’t a bunch of gym rats who solely relied on their bulging physiques to intimidate. They had training. Probably a few were ex-military, going by the way they took his first set of punches and kicks.
As soon as the cultists got back to their feet, Talon would be in for a fight for his life. Therefore, he had to take care of business quickly if he wanted to walk away from this in one piece.
Talon could have used lethal force and taken out these men while they were gasping on the floor, but he refused to kill unless he had hard proof that he was dealing with murderers—or if they posed an imminent threat to his life. That meant his best option was to grab Charlie and get the fuck out of here, which is what he did.
Charlie stared at him with big eyes.
“Who are you?” she demanded. “What were you doing in my room?”
Talon grabbed her hand. “Get up. Come on!”
The urgency in his voice seemed to cast her doubts aside, at least for now. He clearly represented her best bet of getting out of this situation.
The reluctance drained from her body as Charlie accepted Talon’s hand, and he pulled her to her feet.
Moments later, they were headed for the apartment’s exit. Thankfully, Charlie was smart enough to realize that Talon was trying to help her, and she was keeping pace with him instead of forcing him to drag her, kicking and screaming.
They burst from the apartment and rushed down the landing toward the nearest staircase. By the time they were surging down the stairs, the three cultists had picked up the chase.
Talon fought back the impulse to stand his ground and take out these guys with his Glock. Neither he nor the cultists wanted the kind of attention that screaming and gunfire would bring. It was the middle of the day, but at least a third of the residents appeared to be at home. That was Los Angeles for you, where half the city was always between gigs. The potential collateral damage was high—but perhaps having so many potential witnesses could also work to their advantage. There were too many curious onlookers around for anyone to get any stupid ideas.
Or so Talon hoped.
They reached the bottom of the stairs without a hitch. Relief washed over Talon as they powered toward the apartment building’s entrance hall. An old lady whose gym leotard was one size too tight and her make-up a coat too thick shot them a curious look as she picked up her mail, intrigued by all the excitement.
Moments later, they reached the streets. As Talon pulled Charlie toward his parked rental, he felt her stiffen.
“I’m not getting in a car with you. I don’t even know you!”
Talon’s gaze bored into Charlie while he kept a watchful eye on the building across the s
treet.
“I know what happened to your boyfriend. And I know you want out. I can help you.”
Charlie stole a nervous glance at the glass entrance of her apartment complex, where three silhouettes were outlined in the glare of the California midday sun. The cultists would be here in another minute. She had to choose. Warring emotions made her lips quiver. The fight that had flared up briefly left Charlie’s eyes, and she now appeared resigned to her fate. She allowed Talon to usher her toward the passenger side of his rental.
He opened the door for the young woman as their pursuers poured onto the street. The cultists spotted them instantly and cranked up their pace.
Charlie bit her lips and got in the car.
Talon slammed the door shut and hoped the girl was smart enough not to jump out of the car while he rushed toward the driver’s side.
His gaze remained fixed on the cultists as they closed in. Talon was no coward, and he hated running away from an enemy, but he told himself that this was a tactical retreat. There were still too many innocent bystanders milling around the apartment building who could get caught in the crossfire.
His killer instinct held in check, Talon got into the car, fired up the engine, and floored the gas. A beat later, his rental squealed out of its parking spot. The goons pounded the pavement after them, realizing Charlie and her mysterious guardian angel were getting away.
You assholes are too late, Talon thought with a savage snarl. He flashed them a grin as he peeled past the cultists, tires leaving black tread marks on the asphalt as he accelerated.
Talon punched the accelerator, and the three cultists receded in his rear-view mirror, their faces now twisted into masks of frustration.
For a few minutes, they drove in tense silence. Charlie kept stealing glances at Talon, uncertain what to make of her mysterious rescuer. Once it became clear that they’d shaken off their pursuers, at least for the time being, the inevitable questions came.
“Who the hell are you? You a Fed?”
Talon held her probing gaze, then said, “Close enough.”
“Listen, I did nothing wrong.”
“I know that.”
Charlie looked at him for a long beat. Talon twisted the wheel and pulled into an abandoned strip mall dominated by a pizza parlor, a Noah’s Bagels, and a laundromat. Two screeching teens zipped past them on skateboards.
Talon parked the rental and fixed his full attention on Charlie. She shrank back into her seat under the weight of his gaze.
“I’m not here to arrest you, Charlie. I’m trying to help you. Do you understand?”
She started shaking her head, gripped by an overwhelming sense of futility.
“No one can help me.”
“I know you never wanted to hurt anyone. Your goal was to save the planet, not murder innocent people.”
“They’re not innocent!” she said, her voice shaking with emotion. “They’re destroying our world.”
“Are those your words, or are you parroting the line Morgaine has been feeding you?”
Talon used the cult leader’s name on purpose, hoping Charlie might think he knew more than he did.
“We’ve tried to warn people, but the bastards in power aren’t listening. Change requires action.”
“So why are you bailing?”
The question hung in the air.
The young woman’s eyes had lit up with defiance again, fueled by environmental zeal. Talon realized he had reached an impasse and opted for another approach.
“Listen, I know your cause is just. But even you must realize there is something wrong with this situation. You never signed up to kill people. To kill yourself. But that’s what these guys want you to do.”
Charlie held Talon’s gaze, and he could see that she was fighting back tears despite her bravado.
“Who are you? How do know you about Morgaine?”
“Let’s just say her activities haven’t gone unnoticed.”
Charlie glared at him and swiped a hand across her eyes.
“You got to give me a little more than that. Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the guy who’s going to keep you alive. If you allow me to.”
Talon let his words hang in the air. Charlie nervously chewed her lips while she kept her body averted from him. The former Delta Force Operator sensed that the young woman wanted nothing more in the world than to tear the passenger door open and make a run for it. But Charlie also knew she wouldn’t get far. Even if she eluded her savior, the members of Morgaine’s cult would find her.
“I know you’re hurting,” Talon said, his voice emphatic. As he spoke, his mind flashed to his beloved Michelle. He understood all too well the pain of losing someone special, and he could relate to at least part of Charlie’s situation. “When your boyfriend died, you realized this whole thing was all wrong, didn’t you?”
Charlie slumped forward and hung her head. Her body language spoke volumes.
“Morgaine will find me,” she said in a resigned voice. “No can stop her.”
Talon nodded grimly. Charlie’s words confirmed his suspicions. Nathan’s death had shaken the young woman to the core.
Charlie had foolishly believed that she was a member of an activist organization when, in fact, she’d joined a killer cult that had no qualms about sacrificing innocent lives, including the lives of its members.
The cult members weren’t satisfied with raising their fists at the system while educating others about the cause. Morgaine’s group of extremists meant business and were willing to take violent actions to achieve their goals.
“You don’t owe this group anything. Morgaine betrayed you, and she betrayed Nathan.”
The mention of his name brought fresh tears to Charlie’s haunted eyes.
Talon didn’t enjoy manipulating her, but he had no other choice. “I can stop Morgaine. I can stop them all before anyone else gets hurt. But I need your help.”
Charlie regarded him.
“How?” she finally said.
“Tell me about Morgaine. How can I find her?”
Charlie shook her head and let out a nervous laugh.
“You don’t have to worry about that. Morgaine is going to find us first. There is no escape. I realize that now.” Charlie’s eyes narrowed, lips pressed into a tight line. “Whatever you’re trying to do here, I suggest you forget about it. You have no idea what you’re up against.”
“Then why don’t you tell me?” Talon said.
“I should have never joined the Children of the Green. But how could I have known how crazy things would get?”
Children of the Green. So that’s what they call themselves.
Charlie reached for the car door.
“Look, why don’t you just drop me off somewhere. Anywhere. You don’t need to get involved in this. Morgaine will just kill you, too.”
Talon held Charlie’s gaze for a beat and opted for a different line of questioning. He had to give her a chance to confide in him and build some trust between them.
Just keep her talking, he told himself.
“How did you get involved with the group?” Talon asked.
Charlie looked out the window, hesitating for just a moment as she eyed the skateboarders nervously. “Nathan was already a member when I met him.”
“So he brought you into the fold.”
“Yeah, I’d been looking to make a difference in this world. Morgaine was going to show me how I could do my part.”
“Tell me about her.”
“Her name is Morgaine LaCroix. She used to be a stuntwoman in Hollywood. The kind of woman who could play with the boys and beat them at their own game.”
As Charlie spoke about the cult leader, her fear gave way to a sense of deep admiration. Morgaine had cast a spell on Charlie.
Just another charismatic fanatic willing to lead her flock to their doom, Talon thought.
His eyes fixed on Charlie’s Earth tattoo. “How do those symbols figure into the Children of
the Green?”
Charlie held his gaze for a beat before she responded. “It’s who we are.”
Talon cocked an eyebrow.
“We’re all composed of unique proportions of the four elements,” she explained.
“So, one element dominates your personality?”
“That’s right. And Morgaine has the gift to look at us, to peer into our very souls and figure out that dominant element.”
“So Nathan was air…”
“He was a dreamer, a free spirit, his head in the clouds. I’m more grounded, practical, realistic.” She cracked a weak smile. “Those are Morgaine’s words. She felt that we complemented each other.”
“I see,” Talon said. “Why were those men after you?”
“Because I refused to throw my life away the way Nathan did.”
Talon nodded, her words confirming his suspicions. Charlie was supposed to be the next sacrifice, but she refused to do it.
“That’s why Morgaine will never stop looking for me. She needs me to complete the ritual.”
“And what happens when she completes this ritual?”
Charlie shrugged and bit her lips. “I don’t know. Morgaine wouldn’t give us all the details. But the ritual will change things. It will restore the Earth.”
Talon mulled this over. Could an occult ritual reverse humanity’s carbon footprint overnight? Would the world wake up the next day with everyone driving electric cars and switching to reusable cups when they showed up at their local Starbucks?
Talon somehow doubted it.
The storms and high winds triggered by the first sacrifices proved that this ritual’s magic was real. But that alone wouldn’t alter humanity’s bad habits. Unexpected natural disasters occurred all the time. Why did Morgaine believe that this ritual of hers could change the world? What horrors did Morgaine plan to unleash? The dark possibilities made Talon’s insides churn.
“Where is Morgaine now?” he asked.
“She owns a small vineyard in the San Gabriel Mountains. She produces wine that she sells at local farmers’ markets. We all used to pick the grapes together, help out as much as we could.” A reflective note had crept into Charlie’s voice as she recalled better times. “At first, there was a real sense of community. We all had a role to play. It was nice.”
Occult Assassin: The Complete Series (Books 1-6) Page 57
