by Brynn Hale
“What?”
“I wanted to provide a future for us. I wanted to be stable before I got out.”
I huff. “But you’ll never get out. You’ll never be satisfied with who you are until you let go of that person, Ky.” I walk into the living room and his chair slides across the wood.
His long legs move him in front of me. He knows not to touch me when I’m this way. It’ll set me off.
I slide to a stop. “I don’t think I know who you are anymore. So tell me, who are you, Ky?”
Kyler
“I’m…I’m a man who loves a woman. I’m a man who wants to give her the moon and stars. And I’m a man who wants to have a life with her, including children, if she wants it.”
“No.”
I feel like I’ve been hit by that lightning strike from God. “What? You don’t want that?”
“Oh, I’ve wanted that for twenty-plus years, but I’m not believing that you want it. I can see the confusion in your eyes. When you came back inside after that call, I could tell you’d changed. You weren’t in Kyler mode, you were in…whatever name you use with the Rebels. I’m assuming it’s not Kyler because when I called you that name two days ago, you flinched. Flinched!” She steps back. “Who are you?”
His back straightens and I see the light go out in his eyes. “I’m…I’m Bronson. I’m a soldier of fortune. I’m a tool of a company to rescue people who have money to pay to be brought out of their own mistakes. I’m a man who needs the rush and excitement of saving someone. Just like I saved you all those years ago.”
“See…that’s more like it. That’s the fucking truth. Now you need to decide who you want to be from this point on. That man, or do you want to be Kyler.” I step down the hallway but turn back to him. “But I want to be very clear, you didn’t save me. We saved each other. I’m still here for you, but you’re not here for me.”
9 Kyler
I have my gear on and sweating my ass off, like usual. St. Petersburg in the summer would be beautiful, if we six of us weren’t crammed into the back of a van.
My earpiece crackles.
“Rebels, we’re a go in ten…nine…”
I count down the seconds in my head as Halsey goes silent. And as soon as it hits zero, he throws the back of the van open and we file out, the plan in motion.
His plan. And his plan is flawless. I can see it clearly. Every move, every position, we’ve gotten it down. After what happened last time, we’ve double checked everything. Triple checked. My stomach tingles, the healing not quite done, but I’m eighty percent, which is good enough.
I take up roost with my sniper rifle on the barn to the south at a vantage point that gives me wide berth of the area.
I count the three men guarding the house. Two in the back, one in the front. And we know two are inside. I can see movement inside and we had a heat signature for three more.
“Movement inside, west side. I think it’s the mother.”
“Can’t confirm the windows are shit dirty up front,” Patton says.
“Team ready for a go?” Halsey asks, looking up at me.
My night vision goggles clear and the rush of the moment burns in my gut. “I’m good.”
“Right,” he grunts into the mic. “Sure you are…”
“Is there a problem, gentlemen?” DeSaxe’s voice comes through loud and clear.
“No problem here,” I respond and recheck my position.
“Then let’s get this done without the high school girl antics.”
Halsey does a mic check. “Call out.”
Everyone relays their name one last time.
“Check on all. Going in ten…nine…eight…”
I put my finger on the trigger and then I see something. It’s not right. There’s no movement now. And the sun catches a shiny sliver of wires crisscrossing the room. My stomach lurches when I see the “mother” has no head, but the form is solid and way too dull to be human skin.
I hit my mic. “Abort! Trip sighted. Mannequin with hot pads strapped to it.”
My mic doesn’t sound back. I glance down and my team’s moving in. They’re oblivious. This isn’t a rescue. It’s a trap. Someone is trying to take out the Rebels, just like last month. Black Ice or someone doesn’t want us to come back from the dead. They want us truly dead. Blood rushes from my extremities into my chest.
I stand and in three quick silenced shots I take out the outside guys, injured, but not enough to kill them. I won’t do that again.
Halsey looks up and shines his flashlight at me and mouths, “What the fuck?”
I slice a hand across my throat and rip my earpiece out. I call out, “Back to the van! Now!”
The second we’re inside the van, it rocks to the side and my ears pop. A massive blast reverberates from inside the house.
DeSaxe starts driving and we hit our rendezvous spot in an hour. All of it in silence. We all know. We can all feel it. All except the new guy. He’s oblivious and I can’t imagine he’s a mole.
“Hey, thanks for catching that,” he says quietly.
“Your name?” I ask.
“Dyl—”
“No. Your Rebel name,” I interrupt him.
He stills. “Oh yeah, Ridgway.”
“Well, Ridgway, I’m Bronson, and that’s Patton, Halsey, Eisenhower, and Monash. And what you just saw there was a set-up.”
His face pales. “What?”
“Mics off, gentlemen.”
We can’t take any chances that this is being recorded.
“Team, that was planned based on our exact plans. We have a mole or we’re being tapped in the house or hell…everywhere.”
Halsey doesn’t look at me.
“What do you have to say, Halsey?”
“I knew it. I tried to plan around it, but I could feel it.”
I close my eyes. Sometimes planning isn’t enough.
I stand and grab a handle welded to the roof. “Gentlemen, we get back to the compound and I’m done. I’m not re-signing, and I suggest you do the same, taking your asses far from Houston and Black Ice.”
“I have two more months.” Patton says resignedly.
“Same here,” Halsey echoes and the rest of the team offers their time left ranging from months, to Ridgway’s five. We’ll figure something out for him.
Patton grumbles, “I can imagine the lengths they’ll go to on a desertion, if they try this shit in Russia.”
I nod. “Agreed. Until that day. Head down. Don’t take chances. And if something doesn’t feel right. Decline. It’s in our contracts. We have the right.”
“And then they’ll just bring in more guys,” Halsey reminds me.
“And you’ll warn them what’s going on. They’ll need those guys to keep money coming in, but if they see any chance to take someone down, they will.
I steady myself. “The Red Star Rebels used to stand for winning and going to the nth degree to get the job done, but now we’re facing a new invisible enemy. And it’s not just whoever wants to see us dead. It’s also ourselves.”
I shake my head. “I had something better than the rush of the rescue on the outside last week, but I left it because of the contractual obligation and call of duty I can’t get past. But fuck that. The only obligation we all have is to be happy and to make our lives full and rich with people… people we love.”
Halsey stands. “I should’ve said—”
I grab his shoulder “Me, too, on the last one. We’ve both learned. We can’t keep it inside. Gentlemen, we may be dead in the eyes of the company or whoever is doing this, but we don’t have to stay that way.”
I put my hand in the middle and everyone joins me. “This is your vow to stay alive. Alive to see that person in your life who will save you.”
10 Neveah
I’m sitting on the back deck. It’s been two weeks since Kyler came and went from my life. And as much as I want to be mad at him, I can’t. At least he was honest with me and himself.
I
just wish I’d gotten to say goodbye this time.
The doorbell rings and I set my book down.
I open the front door to find a huge bouquet of flowers covering a face. “Delivery for Neveah Hart.”
I hope it’s his voice, but it’s not.
“Wow.” I lift the large card off the holding stick and open it. “I’ll be right back.” I grab my wallet and get a tip out. I read the card on the way back to the door.
Neveah,
I never knew that I had a battle inside of me, until I came back to you. You made me see that being a soldier wasn’t enough. Not even close. The rush I get from being with you, from looking into your eyes, that’s a winning mission.
I’m out of the Red Star Rebels. I don’t expect you to take me back, but I’m hoping you’ll give me a final chance. A chance to show you that I will be your partner. I will never leave your side and the life we have together is the everything I need. My life is you. My love is for you. And my heart has always been yours.
I wipe a tear but shake out of it to clear my vision and finish reading.
You have proven you can live without me, but I don’t think I can live without you, my angel.
You are my heaven on earth.
I love you, always.
I AM KYLER
I step back to the door and I suck in a deep breath. He wasn’t there before, but like a ghost, he surprises me when I least expect it.
“I don’t deserve another chance.” His eyes are glassy and his face tight. “But if you give me one, I’ll do everything I can to be the man you need. The man who will listen, just like we used to. The man who makes dinners for you and always gives you three meatballs. The man who risks his heart for you. You brought me back from the dead. Only you, Neveah.”
“You promise to live?”
He steps up the stairs to face me. “I promise. I will put a hundred-and-ten percent into every day. Every day with you.”
“Then I need to say goodbye.”
He steps back. “What?”
I reach out and pull him into the house, shutting the door. “Goodbye to the man you used to be. I will only love the man you are now.”
His head drops and when it comes back up, tears leave shiny trails down his cheeks. “I love you so fucking much.”
“Then show me…”
He’s battled his demons. He’s won the ultimate prize. My love.
And so did I.
Epilogue
Bronson
Six Months Later
I walk out to the back patio, the salty, thick scent of burgers and brats rolls off the grill and Landon looks back with a grin. It’s Christmas in Kildare, Nevada, and as much as there’s a chill in the air, we still grill. It’s a time-honored tradition of the Rebels and now that there are a few of us in the city, we continue what we started years ago.
I pull out a chair at the outdoor dining set, my wife, rubs her growing belly. She’ll be having our first child in a little over five months.
Fremont lifts his tea and shivers. “Not sweet? What the hell?”
“The northerner in me takes it plain,” Neveah says, sliding the sugar over to him and he spoons in enough to make it decadently syrupy.
“It’s because you’re naturally sweet,” I say giving her a soft kiss.
“Wow…” Patton mutters from across the table. “Never did I ever think I’d see that.”
“You’re just fucking jealous,” Breck offers, pulling his woman onto his lap and kissing her cheek. Their whirlwind romance probably set off fire alarms. I know that they caused an actual accident at one point, but the details are sketchy.
But so are our pasts.
Kildare has become the home for three of us. Landon, Breck—A.K.A. Halsey, and myself, and I can see the wheels turning for Fremont and Patton.
I manage the Kildare PD motor pool. They questioned my last five years, but I was clear—I was dead during that time—they laughed it off. I was serious, but it was an ice breaker. Neveah works for the Kildare Hospital and volunteers at the Graffiti Street Guardians MC and their shelter, the Twisted Sisterhood Sanctuary.
I’m thinking of joining the Guardians. Maybe I’ll take the MC name Bronson. Maybe not.
The Rebels are still working, for now. But the end is within sight. The battle is almost over for most.
I reach over and put a hand to Neveah’s stomach. “I love you.”
“It’s a girl,” she whispers, and I freeze.
“What?”
“I found out this morning and I wanted to wait until later, but I can’t hold it in. You’ll be guiding another female through this world soon.”
I lift her up and hug her until she giggles that she can’t breathe and it’s not good for the baby.
“We’re having a girl!” I say to the guys and congratulations are cheered all around.
There are possibilities and potential for a happy future. Something I didn’t have six months ago. I survived every day the same as a soldier of fortune. I look back now and I know that wasn’t living, nor was it anything of “fortune.”
This is living.
This is the ultimate plan.
To be loved.
~THE END~
I really hope you’ve enjoyed this Red Star Rebel.
Find out how Halsey’s bad attitude finally takes a permanent vacation?
Look for his story here:
Find all of the Brynn Hale Books
The town of Kildare appears in these series:
Graffiti Street Bad Boys
Graffiti Street Guardians MC
WildStyle Brewers
A big thank you to Raylene H for suggesting Coldplay’s “Fix You” for a song. It fit wonderfully and if you listen to the lyrics it’s mind-blowing how deep and entwined they are with the story.
Visit the Red Star Rebel Squad Series playlist here!
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About the Author
Brynn Hale is a Midwest girl who can spot--and swoon over--a hard-working guy a mile away. She believes in winks across a crowded room, guys who do the dishes, a blue-collar alpha will always win a heroine's heart, and a martini or craft beer is the perfect accompaniment to her stories.
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