The Redemption Saga Box Set

by Kristen Banet

  “We’re not worried about your trip to the compound,” Jasper reminded her.

  “Yeah, I know.” She jumped out then, not wanting to get sucked into the worry. She had this. She could do this. This was her life. It was her career. Thief to assassin back to thief. Until the guys caught her, this was the only thing she ever knew how to do and she had the magic and skill to be the best at it.

  “We’re going to do perimeter runs,” Quinn said as they began to walk into the wildness towards the compound. “Sombra is on a capture, don’t kill order until the wolves and I get to her. It’s the best I can do.”

  “She needs the work and she’ll do it well. I believe in her. I just can’t take her into the compound. She won’t be able to follow me the entire time and disappear like me.” Sawyer rubbed her jaguar’s head. “Happy hunting, girl.”

  The jaguar made a noise and Sawyer almost thought it was the same sentiment back at her. Happy hunting, Magi.

  She took off, running towards the compound, leaving Quinn and the wolves by themselves. Sombra ran beside her for a moment then tore off down a different trail. Sawyer heard her for just a second as the cat climbed into a tree and disappeared into the night.

  She felt bad for any fool that came in contact with that cat. There weren’t many trees in the arid land of Southern California, but it was dark enough that Sombra could hide in any of them and no one would know.

  And it was dark enough for Sawyer to put on her mask as she ran and disappear herself. She shifted into smoke over a long stretch of barren land and slid between shrubs, dodging the flood lights as she grew closer and closer to the concrete wall of the compound. It was actually just a mansion with a high security fence. There were several things like it peppering California, which meant no one really paid it any mind. Several rich people loved to live in such seclusion.

  She was at the bottom of the eight-foot concrete fence when she stopped for the first time. A mile. She didn’t have a watch but she knew she made great time. The adrenaline of the hunt was coursing through her, focusing her. It was almost supernatural. She felt like a predator in that moment, a beast, as Quinn always used to describe her. Something about this made her feel alive in a way being an agent never had. She had loved this. The mental and physical work. She had hated the killing at the end of it.

  Looking up, she blinked to the top of the fence. She knew other Magi would feel her, but they would never find her. That’s what had made her so deadly. They could only catch the aftermath of her, but never pinpoint her location. She moved too fast for people to nail down. Very few Magi even paid attention to the magical feel of others the way she did, and almost none were tuned to it like her.

  She dropped down on the other side of the fence, landing as smoke so she didn’t risk any injury or sound. Reforming, she began to creep. She could feel them, though. Her Source reached out and found them, letting her magic know they were there. There were ten Magi guards roaming the yards around the mansion. She was at the vent she wanted before any of them knew she had snuck through without an issue.

  Sublimating, she slid in and followed the path the blueprints told her would be best to get to Alfie’s office.

  She slid in, knowing he was there doing paperwork on the other side of the room.

  As she reformed, he looked up with a frown that quickly morphed into a wide-eyed look of terror.

  “We never met, but I’m sure you know who I am,” she greeted him.

  He nodded slowly, standing up. She stepped closer, pulling out not a dagger, but her handcuffs. They had never let her carry them before, but those rules had been tossed out the window.

  “And why are you here?” he demanded.

  “I work for the IMPO. Why do you think I’m here?” She glanced quickly at the clock on the wall. She still had twelve minutes. “Obviously he didn’t send me, not like the old days. No, I’m here for my own reasons. You know where he is?”

  “I don’t.” Fire formed in the palm of his hand. She didn’t feel too threatened by it. In such a small room, full of paper, he would cause himself more trouble than her. “I never did anything to you. My part of the organization doesn’t matter. I’m sure we can cut a deal.”

  She blinked in close, snapping one of the handcuff sides on his extended wrist. The flame died out, no longer fueled by his magic. He was still stunned by her sudden move as she connected an elbow to his jaw and sent him into the wall. Before he could find his own balance, she used the handcuffed wrist to twist the arm behind his back, forcing his face into the wall next. In a second, she had his other hand and cuffed it as well. Then she dropped him on the floor, knowing he was too shocked to stand on his own.

  “I’ll give you whatever you want,” he said frantically. “Please. I have money. You and I could rule this place. We can take him down together. I know you want Axel. I know you do. Please don’t take me down with him.”

  “There’s nothing I want,” she informed him patiently. “In fact, I already have everything I need or want. The only thing between me and that life is Axel.”

  “Why not just go after him?” Alfie stared at her incredulously.

  “Because he took everything from me, and it’s time I finally returned the favor,” she whispered, squatting in front of the drug lord menacingly. “I’m going to take his pawns, bishops, and knights and then I’m going to take his king.” Him.

  “He says the queen is the most powerful piece on the board,” Alfie mumbled, understanding her reference. Anyone who ran with Axel knew his obsession with the game.

  “I am.”

  There was a confidence oozing from her that she couldn’t hold back. Alfie had been easy. She didn’t think they would all be this way. Once news was whispered in the morning that this happened, their security would ramp up. She didn’t mind. She had dealt with tough security before.

  “My men are going to come in here and get me.”

  “No, they won’t. In ten minutes, the IMPO is going to flood this nice little piece of land you have. They’re going to free the poor women you have in the basement. They’re going to arrest everyone here. Anyone who tries to run is going to meet a pack of wolves outside your fence, ready to take them down.” She smiled. “And your closest guard is…” She felt for it, closing her eyes for just a moment to focus. “Ten yards away and below us. The floor below us, probably at the bottom of the stairs.”

  “How…”

  “I was Axel’s best killer for a reason,” she reminded him. “Settle in. We’re going to be here for a moment. And when the IMPO shows up, I’m going to jump on your comms and let your boys know to just put their weapons down. We don’t want anyone dying unnecessarily here.” That wasn’t the point of the mission. They wanted to capture all of these rats and fleas without killing any of them. She had a point to prove. She could be an agent. Capture, detain, and win the right way.

  Up until the last target. Axel was already sentenced and slated for execution.

  And when she delivered that execution, there would be no one to save him.

  15

  Jasper

  He rode quietly in the passenger’s seat as they made the trip to the mansion compound. Elijah and Zander were now in the backseat of the SUV. After dropping Sawyer and Quinn off, they went to the meeting place they had designated for the regional IMPO detectives and officers to meet them.

  None of them had been happy that the team had started an entire operation without bringing them in, but at the end of the night, their team - Special Agents - outranked everyone else. The chain of command was respected, and now they needed to go in and create a huge mess for the locals.

  Sawyer had once told the team that Special Agents were known to criminals as guys who ran in, stirred up all the shit and then disappeared. Now he could really see it. That’s exactly what they were doing to the locals.

  “I was thinking,” Elijah said from the back. “The other targets might think we’re too busy cleaning up the three we hit to even consider
we’re coming for them any time soon.”

  “Exactly. They won’t think we’re leaving others to deal with our cases,” Vincent said nonchalantly, secure in his plan.

  “Which is exactly what we’re doing.” Jasper sighed. “So, Zander and I, since we have a few moments, want to say something. We told Sawyer and she’s been pretty angry with us since.”

  “Yeah, all of thirty-six hours,” Zander mumbled angrily in the back.

  “What is it?” Vincent asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

  “Zander and I are going to leave the IMPO after this case.”

  “What?” Elijah exclaimed in the back.

  “We’re tired of this,” Zander said. Jasper couldn’t see it, but he could imagine and hear Zander’s arms fly up and land back on the seat in a childish gesture of exhaustion. “We’re always getting hurt. The WMC fucks us over at every turn. We’re going to finish this, then get the fuck out before they kill us.”

  “And what are your plans?” Vincent asked carefully.

  “We think we’ll just get new jobs, try to find something we’ll each enjoy. We’ll keep living with the team, if we’re allowed to, or move close by. We’re not leaving her, just the work.”

  “But she flipped, since leaving is leaving.” Elijah hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah, I can imagine she needs a little reassurance. You two bounced on her before and it wasn’t supposed to go as wrong as it did.”

  “But you still left and it still went wrong,” Vincent finished, also thoughtful. “You’ve spooked her.”

  “We noticed. But yeah, that’s what we wanted to say before all of this went down.”

  “Waited until the last minute, didn’t you?” Elijah’s tone was teasing and also somewhat hurt. Like he was trying to hide that he was upset. Jasper closed his eyes, feeling bad, but he couldn’t do this anymore.

  “We’ve been…busy. We spent all day doing things while she slept. This is the first quiet moment, and…I was worried everyone would want us off the case before we finished it.” Jasper found it hard to admit that. “But we’re in this together. This means Sawyer is free to make her own decisions. We have to see this through.”

  “Exactly. We couldn’t leave before this was done, but we can’t keep going, after this. Jasper’s lost a leg. Elijah, you nearly died. Quinn and Sawyer got lost in the jungle. We’re all going to die before we’re forty if this keeps up.” Zander groaned. “I can’t keep…barely being on time. One day, I won’t be lucky. One day, someone is going to die, and I can’t…”

  Jasper knew how hard it was for Zander to admit any of that. The reckless man had never thought five minutes into the future or past his own immediate wants and needs. And here he was, admitting that he wanted to live longer than this job would ever let them.

  “I understand,” Vincent whispered, nodding. He kept his eyes on the road. “Of course you’ll both still live with the team. We’re family.”

  “Amen,” Elijah hooted in the back. “You can support from home, ya know?”

  “Thanks, guys. Elijah, you’ll…talk to Quinn, right?” Jasper didn’t want to hurt the feral Magi who believed in pack above all else.

  “Yeah, he and I can talk, no worries.” Elijah smiled at him. “I’ll be sad to see you both off the team, I won’t lie, but your reasons are sound and it’s not like you’re leaving us. I know we’ll never be rid of you.”

  “As long as Sawyer is with us, I think none of us will ever want to leave completely,” Zander reminded the big cowboy.

  Elijah laughed. “Yes, you’re probably right about that. Just make sure to shower that woman in some love. She’s probably going off the deep end. With her background, I can see it.”

  The SUV slowed a few minutes later, after they let the conversation drop. Jasper felt a bit better as he saw the main gate come into view. They were there. He checked the time. A couple minutes late. She would have been in just over twenty minutes by now, which worried him.

  When they stopped completely, it was Vincent who got out of the SUV.

  “Let us in. We have permission from the WMC and the Director of the IMPO to search the premises. It’s over. We’re taking Alfie in. You can do this the hard way, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

  “And who thinks he can just drive up here and say he can do whatever he wants?” one of the thugs yelled back.

  “Special Agent Vincent Castello.” Vincent didn’t back down, his chin held high. Jasper knew it was picked up from Sawyer. There was something superior and confident, to a frightening level, when it came from either of them. Sawyer had done it her entire life and, well, they were all spending so much time with her that they were bound to pick up her habits.

  There was a moment of silence as that last name settled in over the thugs at the gate. Jasper heard other SUVs pulling up behind them. They were rolling in with over thirty Magi who worked for the IMPO. They didn’t get IMAS involved, not this raid. It was too close to the city for that.

  One of Alfie’s guys raised his gun towards Vincent. A shot rang out and the guard dropped. Wolves began to howl. A screeching, awful sound came over the emergency speakers. Jasper watched as some of the guards also clutched their ears as their headpieces screamed in their ears.

  “Is this thing on?” Sawyer’s voice came over the speakers. “Yeah, perfect. I have Alfie in custody, everyone. Put your weapons down. You lost this fight before it ever happened. It’s over, and the only thing you can do now is plead out or get killed. Your choice.”

  Jasper nearly chuckled. Trust Sawyer to say that so nonchalantly to the criminals in front of them.

  It happened quickly. Some of them started running, while others began firing. Some did drop their weapons and went down, looking for protection. Bullets hit the windshield, but Jasper didn’t blink. They were trained to trust the bulletproof glass. Pushing his magic out, he created a gust of air that knocked several of them down.

  “Most of the general thugs are non-Magi,” Jasper reminded the guys in the back. “Be careful with them.”

  “Yeah, we know,” Elijah said, getting out of the SUV. Zander went next, looking for any injured. Jasper sighed, leaving and pushing back more as Zander dropped a shield between the IMPO forces and the gate. It freaked the employees out. Non-Magi knew about magic, but they never truly integrated that well with it. A thug with a gun in a neighborhood, which is where most of these men came from, was normally the most powerful guy in the neighborhood. But no one could ever expect the magic shield, or the guy who could hit them with air. Or Elijah, making their weapons too hot to hold.

  Or Quinn, as the earth shook and wolves howled and a couple of screams came from the nearby hills.

  “Handcuffs on all of them,” Vincent ordered loudly, walking forward. “We’re not leaving anyone. They probably have hostages and prisoners in the basement. We need healing services to check on them.”

  The real work began as the Magi pushed their way through the gate, walking as Zander and others kept shields up. They handcuffed those on the ground that they passed. Vincent sublimated and went after a Magi who was about to call on whatever magic he had, disarming him before the man knew how close he was.

  The raid was going exactly how they thought it would. While they were giving all the lower-ranking fools a problem, Sawyer dragged Alfie out the front door, snarling at one of the thugs who tried to stop her. She dropped Alfie unceremoniously and kicked the non-Magi thug in the gut, sending him back into the dirt as well.

  What bothered Jasper a bit was that she still wore her mask. It was eerie, not really seeing her, just a black emotionless face of sorts. He also hadn’t known she would be wearing it. He had no idea what to think of the assassin in front of him.

  This was what the WMC had wanted: Shadow doing their dirty work.

  Because of that, he felt disgusted. Not with her, never with her, but them. The people who were supposed to be leading the Magi into better futures. The WMC was rotten and he hated it. He hated that they had pulled her into
this, pushed her this far.

  “How was your part?” Elijah asked, grinning.

  “Good,” she answered.

  And when she spoke, people began to realize who was walking among them. The local IMPO officers stared at her, wide-eyed. The thugs were confused as it began to dawn on them that they were in the middle of a grudge match. Vincent Castello against Axel. Shadow coming after her master.

  This wasn’t about Alfie, the thugs, and whatever business they were a part of. They were just another piece.

  “How are you, Alfie?” Vincent asked, walking closer. “Enjoy working for my brother for as long as you have?”

  “Fuck me,” Alfie groaned. “I’ll tell you anything.”

  “You will,” Vincent whispered.

  “He’s like a leaky faucet,” Sawyer commented, shoving Alfie to Zander. “Hold him, please.”

  “Of course, love.” Zander grinned. “Well, actually. Elijah, here. I’m taking a unit down into the basement. Time to see if the rumors are true. We might actually help someone tonight.”

  “Good idea,” Sawyer agreed, nodding. “Vincent?”

  “Just as planned. Good job.”

  And with chaos around them, Jasper knew everyone on the team was feeling supremely satisfied. Raid night one went according to plan. They needed to check in with the other teams once they had a moment.

  He felt good and a little sick, an odd sensation. She wasn’t taking off her mask and he really wished she would. It would have made him feel easier about the entire thing, certainly. More like a normal raid and another day on the job. Her standing there with that black void for a face made him feel like they weren’t the good guys.

  Then again, he hadn’t truly felt like a good guy for a while. He’d tried, but this was the straw breaking the camel’s back. He wasn’t completely sure when the change had started, he just knew there was no turning back now.

  “It was easy,” she replied shrugging. “It won’t stay this way. They had no idea we were coming. The others will become more paranoid every day.”