Asp

by Kris Michaels

  “We are still working that. Are you in a secure location?”

  “Yes, sir. For now, but there is a female, American civilian with us, the granddaughter of the man who found me.”

  “Fuck me,” Anubis mumbled the comment, but Asp caught it.

  “Omega team made it to the farm. Someone beat them to the house. It was a recovery operation, not a rescue.” Archangel’s words sent a frigid chill through Asp’s soul. Some bastard had killed Lyric’s father and grandfather. He closed his eyes and torqued his jaw shut, screaming silently.

  Alpha broke in, “Hold where you are. Do we have their coordinates?”

  “Within a meter of where they are standing,” Bengal confirmed.

  “Alpha, order Omega team to proceed to Asp’s location. They will take charge of the civilian. Pearson, you are a free agent. You can go with Omega.”

  “With all due respect sir, fuck that and fuck you if you think I’m leaving this shit half done.” Billy sneered at the phone.

  Alpha replied instead of Archangel. “Then you fall under Guardian’s umbrella. Fuck this up, and you’ll be on your own when the CIA comes asking questions because you and I both know they are all about covering their assess.”

  “Affirmative. Don’t fuck up. Got it.”

  If he hadn’t just been told Lyric’s family had been murdered, he might have found Billy’s attitude funny. The man was walking a thin line. Nobody screwed around with Alpha or Archangel. If Billy didn’t watch his step, he’d find out firsthand what happened to people who fucked with the Kings of Guardian.

  “Asp, we have a plan. Thanatos and Lycos are holding near the encampment. Tango and Foxtrot teams are landing in country as we speak. We can’t set off alarms by using helicopters to retrieve the civilian, so Omega team will be traveling on foot to your location. The bastard posing as Layman can’t be afforded the opportunity to escape. We need information.”

  “Roger that sir, what’s your plan?” Asp leaned over the phone and listened. As Archangel outlined the plan, he lifted his eyes to Billy. The man nodded. After Archangel finished, Billy spoke. “It can be done, sir. The security is getting better as Flowers brings in more mercs, but they know me. They trust me.”

  “Alright. Call back in when Omega Team departs your location. We will work the details from there. Archangel out.”

  Asp heard a series of clicks and was about to disconnect when Anubis’ voice came across the connection. “This civilian, do you want me to bring her to the ranch?”

  Asp closed his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I do. And if I don’t make it back...”

  “You’re making it back. Kadey thinks you have a birthday present for her. You can’t disappoint my baby girl.”

  Asp nodded, not that Anubis could see him. He picked up the phone, took it off speaker and held it to the side of his face. Billy lifted a chin and headed back into the cavern. Asp walked past the waterfall and looked out through some marmalade bushes. “Her name is Lyric. She’s mine, Ani.”

  “Then she’s coming home. She’ll be here waiting for you when you get back. Take care of this shit, Asp, and we’ll take care of her.”

  “Her father and grandfather?”

  “I’ll handle the arrangements.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You never have to say those words to me. Whatever it takes.”

  “As long as it takes.” Asp disconnected and automatically popped the battery out of the phone. He had to tell the woman he loved that her family was dead. He lifted his eyes to the sky. His life had cost them theirs.

  Chapter 19

  Lyric clung to Isaac. She’d cried until she had no more tears. Her father and grandfather had been murdered. Murdered.

  Isaac held her and let her cry. His hand brushed small circles on her back. Soothing and grounding her.

  “I’ve lost everyone.” The words fell from her lips, the agony imprinted on them dripped with despair. Somehow, they’d ended up on the ground. He leaned against the cave wall and held her in his lap. Her body trembled from her anguish. Her eyes were swollen from hours of crying, and it was painful to open them. The ache in her head matched the ache in her heart—dull and throbbing with moments of intense pain. She clutched at his shirt and pulled it. He glanced down at her. “Do you know who did it?”

  “We have some assumptions. Omega Team will know more. I’ll find out everything I can.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m so fucking sorry. If it hadn’t been for me, your family would be safe.”

  Billy’s voice floated to them from across the cave. “That’s not true.” He shifted along the wall where he was resting against his backpack. “I was the one who shot you. If you want to push the blame further up the hill, Halo committed the atrocities that brought you here. Back it up further and the CIA fucked us all and before that it was the insurgents in Iraq that lobbed bombs at us. There is no one action or person who is directly responsible for her family’s deaths. You didn’t order the men who killed them to do it. Taking the blame for the evil other people did is useless, and it will only drive a wedge between you.” He stood up and lifted his weapon onto his shoulder. “Lyric, I’m so sorry for your loss, but Mac, you didn’t cause this. This tragedy is a result of events that started years ago. Don’t torture yourself over things you can’t change.” He walked toward the front of the cavern. “I’m spending the night under the stars. I get claustrophobic.”

  She drew a shaky breath. “As much as I hate to admit Billy is right, he is. It wasn’t your fault. We would make ourselves crazy with what-ifs, and I cannot lose you, too.” She snuggled tighter into his chest. “What’s going to happen now?”

  “People from my organization are in country now. Five men are on their way here. They will take you to safety in the US. My friend is taking care of arrangements for you grandfather and dad. His name is Kaeden Lang. He’s going to take care of you until I join you.”

  “You’re going to stay here in Colombia?” Fear slid over her skin like oil being poured out of a cask. The cloying feeling was impossible to wipe away.

  “I have to stay. There is something Billy and I need to do.” He kissed her forehead again.

  “What? This thing you have to do, will you be in danger?” She pushed away from him so she could see his face, to see the truth in his eyes.

  He gave her a sad smile and pushed the hair that had fallen out of her braid behind her ear. “Yes, but you know what I do, what I am. I regret I didn't keep that knowledge from you.” He trapped her chin lightly between his thumb and forefinger lifting her eyes to meet his. “But I’ve trusted you like I’ve never trusted another soul. Nobody else outside a handful of people in my organization know about me. I won’t start lying to you now. Every operation has risks. I mitigate those risks as much as possible.”

  She let him press a soft kiss against her lips before she slid both arms around his neck. She’d lost everything. She couldn’t help clinging to the man she loved. He was her lifeline in a raging storm that threatened to overwhelm her. Isaac kept the storm at bay. He provided her shelter. “You better be careful.” She pulled on his shirt as she spoke.

  He twisted her, so she was straddling his lap. “I promise I will always be careful. I find it is necessary now that I’m in love with you.”

  “I love you, too.” Lyric closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his. “My dad and grandfather would have loved you.” Tears formed in her eyes again. She swiped them aside and snuffled. He cupped the back of her head and kissed her. She trembled under his lips. As he pulled away, she tightened her arms around his neck.

  “Isaac?”

  “Yeah, babe?”

  “Will we ever be able to be happy? Are we dreaming of things that don't exist?”

  “I’m not going to sugar coat it. Life is going to suck for a while. But when I’m done here, we’ll find a normal. We’ll find a way and make it through this, and we’ll come out stronger on the other side.”

  Lyric tucked herself under his chin and
closed her eyes. Her world had spiraled out of control. She’d lost her family, and her only anchor in life was the man who held her in his arms. Grief overwhelmed her. In a few short hours, it had become an anguish laced backdrop to the uncertainty of her future. She was so damn cold and longed for any solace to mend her shattered heart. She let her tears fall as they came, the possibility of holding them back long abandoned. Her sanity and cornerstone was the man holding her. She sobbed again when her father’s smiling face flashed through her mind. She was unable contain the pain. Lyric held on to him as gut-wrenching grief ravaged her once again. Somehow, she managed to send out a plea to her lover, “Hold me. Please don’t let go until they come?”

  “I’ll hold you as long as it takes, babe. I promise.”

  The sound of footsteps and muffled whispers woke her. She managed to open her swollen eyes, lifting the heavy lids to no more than mere slits. She was still wrapped in Isaac’s arms. He rubbed her back. “It’s time, babe.”

  She shifted in his lap and turned toward the front of the cave. Five men stood at the entrance to the larger cavern. Lyric took in the weapons and uniforms. They weren’t like the FARC forces. These men wore matching uniforms. Their weapons were numerous and modern. Each man carried himself with a purposeful ease that reminded her of Isaac. “Your people?”

  He nodded before he cocked his head to the back of the cave. “Why don't you go wash your face and take a minute. I need to talk with them.”

  Lyric lifted from Isaac’s lap and grabbed the glow stick lying beside him. He held her hand until her steps pulled them apart. The men didn’t talk while she was present. Either out of respect or caution, she didn’t know and couldn't find it in herself to care.

  It took a tremendous effort to leave Isaac and to walk outside to the waterfall. She splashed her face several times before she scrubbed it, trying to erase the effects of a night spent mourning the death of her family. Her eyes began to tear up again, but she fought them. No, no more tears, she had to pull herself together, but how was she supposed to do that? She tipped her head back and looked heavenward. The sun peeked through the foliage meaning she’d made it through the night. A butterfly flitted across her vision, fragile and beautiful. Lyric watched it float to a leaf, where it landed and fanned its wings in time with a slow beat that only it could discern.

  She admired its beauty and immediately felt guilty for taking a small pleasure. She closed her eyes and fought back another wave of grief and tears. That was the way of things, wasn’t it? Life continued even when bad things happened. She drew her legs up and hugged them as she opened her eyes and stared at the swirling water. The world should have stopped when her family died, but it didn’t. The universe should have screamed at the unfairness of the acts of violence, but the only screams had been hers. She pulled a leaf off the bush near her. Perhaps what Isaac did, the monsters that he removed, perhaps his missions were good things, some small redress by the universe in the face of all the injustice.

  In reality, his impassioned admission of his profession had been an abstract thing. Something she heard but her brain and heart had yet to rationalize. Now she understood the reason for people like Isaac. He made the world safer. Not completely safe. The world would never be safe because there were monsters who prayed on people like her grandfather and her father, but the monsters wouldn’t be able to touch her. Not any longer. Isaac would make sure she was safe. Lyric drew a deep breath and glanced up at the sky again. She sent up a silent prayer that the universe would keep Isaac safe while he hunted his monsters.

  Asp waited until Lyric was gone. He'd spent the night holding her while she grieved. Now it was his time to take matters into his own hands.

  "Who killed them?"

  As one, five heads swiveled to look at one man who responded, "We don't think it was the FARC. Whoever took them out was invited inside the house. There were no signs of forced entry. The father put up a fight. His knuckles were scraped and bloody. The old man was tied and gagged. They made him kneel, and they put a bullet through his brain. From what we could deduce it was done prior to killing the father, so probably as an incentive for him to talk. There were three, forty-five caliber casings—one next to the old man and two on the floor in the kitchen where her father was killed."

  "Any idea who it was?" He needed any information he could get because before he left this country, the bastard or bastards who’d murdered Lyric's family would be dead.

  "Guardian is working that. They have contacts down here, and there is another team collecting intelligence. Alpha told me to tell you he'd try to have answers for you when you were done with your mission." The man smiled and rubbed the back of his neck before he shook his head.

  "What else did Alpha say?"

  "He said you better not get your ass killed."

  "Not my plan." Asp threw a look back toward where Lyric had exited. "I need some time with her. Give your men some time to rest."

  "No hurry. We'll get her off this rock. We've been directed to take her straight to the airfield and get her out of the country. Archangel is worried that if someone was crazy enough to commit double homicide they may have a reason to take her out, too."

  "I appreciate that. Is someone going to stay with her?"

  "We all are. She has a five-man body guard, assigned by Archangel himself. We are to take her to the Complex in South Dakota."

  Asp finally was able to take a full breath of air. Anubis and Sky would watch out for her. He'd be able to concentrate on his mission and not worry about her. They could come back and bury her family. There would be time to mourn after the danger threatening the country was put to rest.

  "Alright. Thank you." Asp took two steps towards the rear of the cave. "Make sure we have some time alone?"

  "Nobody will bother you. I have orders to debrief Mr. Pearson. Take your time."

  "Thank you..." Asp grasped the man's hand and looked at him expectantly.

  "Leif. Leif Nilsson." The man gave his hand a squeeze. "Whatever it takes, brother."

  "As long as it takes." Asp dropped the man's hand and headed out to see his woman, perhaps for the last time.

  Chapter 20

  Asp stepped into the sunlight and listened to the sound of the water falling from the stream overhead into the enclosed area behind the cave. He pushed past the bushes and found Lyric sitting beside the water, her legs tucked close to her chest and her eyes staring sightlessly at the small pool at the base of the waterfall.

  "It is hard to believe they are gone." She spoke without moving.

  "It is." When he lost his parents, he went through the same thing. Even if he wasn't able to see them, he'd checked up on them and made sure they were comfortable and safe. He would have found a way to help them out if they needed it, no matter what the CIA had directed.

  "I'm all there is left of my family."

  Asp sat down beside her. She leaned into him and dropped her head on his arm. "No, someday we'll have children. Your family will live on through us."

  She sat silent for several minutes. "So, you want a family?"

  He put his arm around her and ran his hand up and down her arm. "With you? Yes." He didn't know how that was going to be possible, but he'd figure it out. Even if he had to leave Guardian and go sell insurance, or do clerical work in a cubical, he'd make it happen.

  "Boys or girls?"

  "Five of each," Asp grunted when her elbow connected to his ribs. He chuckled and leaned down to kiss the top of her head. "Okay, four of each."

  "How about we start with one and go from there?" She gave him an illusion of a smile. Her eyes were puffy and red. Dark circles cut half-moon trenches above her high cheekbones and accentuated her pale, drawn face, but she'd never looked more beautiful to him.

  He gave her a sad smile and winked. "Deal."

  A smile ghosted across her face before sorrow swamped her expression again. "You'll need to head out with the team soon."

  There was so much he wanted to say. He regret
ted the fact that he wouldn't be taking her down the mountain, that he wouldn't be the one to take her to safety. Entrusting her to strangers, even his brothers in arms, left an acidic taste in his mouth, and it burned all the way to the pit of his gut.

  "You said Isaac Cooper wasn't your real name."

  Asp shrugged. "It is as real as any other I've used."

  She glanced up at him. "I like it. I think you make a wonderful Isaac."

  "Then I'll be Isaac. For you and for our family."

  "Billy calls you Mac."

  "Caught that, did you?" He pulled her closer to him. "It was another name, from another time. I've used dozens. I like Isaac because that was who I was when I met you."

  She turned and lifted onto her knees and then straddled his lap, looking at him. "I'm afraid you won't come back for me." She looked down and played with the button on his shirt.

  He nudged her chin up with his index finger. "You're going with Omega Team, and they are staying with you all the way to my friend's place, Kadey's dad. They live in the middle of nowhere, but it is safe. When I finish here, I'll come for you."

  "The people you are going after, the monsters. Are they the ones who killed my family?" She blinked back the tears that banked in her eyes.

  He'd be lying if he didn't admit the expression on her face damn near gutted him. It was a cross between hopeful and terrified. He lay back and took her with him. Her forearms rested on his chest as she looked down at him. "I don't know. We are working on finding out what happened." He ran his hands up her arms and cupped her face gently between them. "I will make sure that whoever did this pays."

  She stared at him, not blinking. Finally, she closed her eyes and nodded. She lay down on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her.

  "How long until I have to go?" Her soft question barely reached his ears.

  "You have as long as you need."

  She lifted her head to kiss his jaw. "I'm scared you won't be able to come for me. Will you make love to me, one last time?"