Savage

by Michelle St. James

  She covered her mouth with her hand, and hurried for the hall.

  39

  Farrell froze as the sound of gunfire traveled over the lawn and into the stables. He glanced at Mr. Sinclair, putting a bridle on one of the horses for Lily.

  “Keep her with you,” he said. “Don’t leave here until I come back.” He lowered himself so that he was eye level with Lily. “Stay here, love. Everything’s okay. I’ll be right back.”

  He crossed the barn and drew his weapon, then looked out over the lawn. What he saw froze the blood in his veins.

  Men — lots of them — emerging from the woods, converging on the house. The house where Jenna was, right this very moment, waiting for him and Lily to return.

  He swore, hurrying to the back of the barn. He wasted no time explaining to Mr. Sinclair. He lifted Lily into his arms instead, looking into her eyes.

  “Do you like to play hide and seek, Lily?”

  She nodded. “I’m a good hider.”

  “You are?” he asked. “Well, I won’t believe it until I see it! Why don’t you and Mr. Sinclair hide, and I’ll come find you?”

  He set her on the ground and met Mr. Sinclair’s eyes. The other man wasn’t a stranger to Farrell’s line of work. All his men had been trained to handle themselves in the event of a security breach — but Farrell had never expected the old man to be the only thing standing between his daughter and certain death.

  “Can you protect her if it comes to it?” Farrell asked.

  The old man nodded. “Got a weapon in the back, per your instructions.”

  “Good.” He looked at Lily. “Remember the rules: you can’t come out until I find you. You must stay very, very quiet until then.”

  She nodded. “I’m very quiet. The most quiet!”

  He nodded. “Good. Go hide with Mr. Sinclair now.”

  Mr. Sinclair took her hand, and Farrell watched them disappear into one of the stalls. Then he exited around back and sprinted for the house.

  * * *

  Jenna stepped into the hallway and ran into a brick wall. She almost screamed in the moment before a hand clamped down over her mouth. She looked up to find Leo looming over her, a semi-automatic weapon at his side.

  “How many did you see?” he asked.

  She tried to remember to breathe as she thought about it. “Four. No, five. I think. They… they shot someone. One of the men.”

  Leo nodded. “Where is Farrell and Lily?”

  “At the stables.” Panic welled inside her at the thought. Lily was all the way across the property. “I have to get Lily.”

  He grabbed her arm, held her in place. “That’s the last thing you should do. She’s with Farrell. She couldn’t be safer. If you go running outside, you’re giving whoever is out there ammunition.”

  “I can’t just leave her alone out there!” Jenna cried.

  “She’s not alone,” Leo said, his voice like steel. “She’s with her father. And no one is better equipped to protect her. Now go back into this room and hide. And don’t come out until you hear me or Farrell tell you it’s safe.”

  She wanted to protest, but it seemed foolish. They were under siege from an unknown enemy, probably someone who wanted the papers her father had hidden. Arguing would only waste time. She had to be smart for Lily, allow Leo and Farrell to do what they did best.

  “What can I do?” she asked.

  “Nothing. Just stay quiet, and stay hidden,” he said.

  She nodded and stepped back into the bedroom. She looked for a place to hide, calming herself by thinking of Farrell and his utter love for her and Lily. He would keep them safe.

  He had to.

  * * *

  Farrell carefully opened the door to the mudroom at the back of the house. The washing machine was going, its rhythmic vibration strangely comforting against the backdrop of what was unfolding.

  He’d managed to skirt the stables, staying in the shadows on his way to the house. The men hadn’t been in sight when he’d made a run for the house. It should have made him feel better, but all he could think about was the fact that Jenna was inside and the men who were after them were closer to her than he was.

  He held up his weapon and flattened himself against the door, then peered into the hall. It was empty, and he stepped into it, moving quietly toward his study and the cache of weaponry he kept there. When he reached it, he was surprised to see someone bent over the gun safe.

  “Freeze, motherfucker.”

  The man lifted his arms. He lowered his weapon, breathing a sigh of relief. It was Leo.

  He ran into the room. “Where is Jenna?”

  “Upstairs,” Leo said, rummaging through the ammo. “I told her to stay put. Where is Lily?”

  “Stables. Hiding with Sinclair. What are we looking at at?”

  “Hard to say. I’m guessing at least eight men, maybe more. Bastards have already killed one of ours,” Leo said.

  His words were cut off by the sound of gunfire in the entry. They both turned toward the door with weapons raised.

  “What about the staff?” Farrell asked, running down his list of information necessary to formulate a strategy.

  “Also hiding.”

  “How many men do we have on the ground capable of putting up a fight?”

  “Assuming that gunfire was directed at one of ours? One, maybe two.”

  “Fuck.” The people who were after them could only be there for the research papers. Either that, or they wanted to silence them about what they’d seen. Either way they were in trouble. Farrell cursed himself for not hiring more men, for taking his safety for granted simply because they were far from the city and the house was registered under one of his many corporations. How had they found him? “We’ll have to trust the men who are left to handle themselves. Whoever is behind this is going to look for me or Jenna.”

  “So we either hole up here and defend our position,” Leo said, “or we go after them and take our chances.”

  “I’m not crazy about moving around the house with our guns drawn and the staff and Jenna out there. We told them to hide, but if they dare to come out…”

  “Right,” Leo said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen.”

  “Agreed. They’re going to come for me. Let them do the dirty work while we consolidate our position.”

  Leo reached for another box of ammo and slid down behind the desk. “Sounds good to me.”

  * * *

  Jenna sat inside the wardrobe, listening for clues about what was going on outside the room. The silence was punctuated by muffled sounds of gunfire, and she squeezed her eyes shut, praying Lily was hidden and safe, praying Farrell and Leo were safe, too. She sent mental messages to Lily, wanting her to know she was loved, that everything would be okay. Then she prayed that whoever was with her was telling her these things, too.

  Who had come here after them? Who had dared to breach Farrell’s private residence? Who even knew it existed. She tried to remember if she’d said anything to Kate or her mother. But no, back in London she hadn’t even known where they were going.

  She froze as someone kicked in the door, then covered her mouth with her hand as footsteps entered the room. They circled around the bed before changing direction, growing louder as they approached the wardrobe where she hid.

  * * *

  They’d been sitting on the floor behind the desk for less than five minutes, listening to the sound of footsteps running through the house and the distant shouting of the men who had breached the compound, when glass shattered behind them. The piece of furniture that had once been their fortress now had them pinned under the assault, and they turned toward the window together, firing back as they scooted around the sides of the desk.

  “How many?” Leo asked.

  “Two, I think.”

  Farrell thought about Jenna and Lily, in hiding, fighting for their lives in the one place they should have been safe. He wanted to burn the house to the ground in his pursuit of the me
n who had done this. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to stay calm. This wasn’t a time to be rash. He would be patient. Wait for them to come to him. Then he would destroy them all.

  * * *

  Jenna held her breath as the footsteps came closer. The wardrobe was solid wood. She couldn’t see a thing beyond the darkness, had no way of knowing if her pursuer was as close as he sounded. She suddenly wished she had a weapon, and she knew then with absolutely clarity that she would have killed anyone who stood between her and Lily. Would have killed anyone who tried to hurt her daughter.

  Maybe she and Farrell weren't so different after all.

  She was still puzzling over the revelation when the wardrobe doors were pulled open. For a split second, she was blinded by the sudden light. Then she was being pulled roughly from the wardrobe’s interior by a man in black with a gun that looked like it could cut her in half.

  * * *

  Farrell held his gun in the ready position, wondering why the gunfire from outside had stopped. It had been silent for nearly five minutes, but rather than relief, he could only feel fear.

  It was too quiet.

  He had too much to lose.

  “What the fuck’s going on?” Leo asked from the other side of the desk.

  “I don’t know,” Farrell said. He dared a glance around the desk, trying to see into the hall beyond the study. “Maybe we should check it out.”

  It was the worst kind of situation. Innocent people secreted throughout the property. An unknown number of soldiers, obviously trained for tactical engagement, swarming the house and grounds. Minimal back up for he and Leo.

  He wanted to put his hand through something. Or someone.

  He was preparing to move for the hall when a voice stopped him cold.

  “I told you to leave it alone.”

  Farrell froze. He knew that voice. It was as familiar to him as his own. He stood, gun still in his hand, and looked at the black-clad figure, face hidden by a ski mask, standing in the doorway.

  Standing with Lily, shaking and obviously terrified, across from the desk.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Adam?”

  * * *

  Jenna was dragged down the stairs like she weighed nothing. She didn’t even think about fighting the man. She needed to find out what was happening to Lily. To Farrell. She was terrified, but her body responded to the threat by pushing adrenaline through her veins, and she was suddenly relieved to be out of the wardrobe heading for some kind of knowledge about the situation she couldn’t have while in hiding.

  She couldn’t see the face of the man holding her — it was hidden behind a ski mask — but he had an iron grip on her arm, and she resisted the urge to cry out as they hit the first floor landing. He tugged her purposefully toward the back of the house, like he knew exactly where he was going. Exactly what he was looking for.

  They stepped into Farrell’s office, and she then she had reason to cry out. Farrell was standing near the desk with Leo, both of them with a gun pointed at them. But as bad as that was, it was nothing compared to the sight of Lily, held by another masked man, a gun aimed at her little head.

  * * *

  Farrell tried not to show any emotion as Jenna was shoved into the room by another gun-wielding soldier. She hurried to Lily, pulling her toward her seemingly without a thought for the guns pointed at both of them.

  He was going to kill them. Every one of them.

  “Drop your weapons and kick them toward me,” Adam ordered.

  Leo looked at Farrell as if for permission. Farrell hesitated, then saw the fear in Jenna’s eyes and nodded. They both dropped their weapons and kicked them toward Adam.

  “I told you to leave it alone,” Adam said again, peeling off the mask with his free hand. “Why can’t you ever fucking listen? You always think you know better than everyone else. Why is that?”

  “Because I usually do,” Farrell said, refusing to give Adam the satisfaction of groveling.

  “This time you were wrong,” Adam said.

  “Can’t be right all the time,” Farrell said.

  “Where are the papers?” Adam asked.

  “Let Jenna and Lily go and I’ll give them to you,” Farrell said.

  Adam shook his head. “Can’t do it. I’m taking orders from people a lot more powerful than me. Even more powerful than you. I’m not leaving without those papers.”

  “And I’m not giving you the papers unless you let my woman and child go.”

  Adam clicked off the safety on his weapon. “You’re not in a position to negotiate, but if you get the papers, I’ll let the girls go free.”

  Farrell took inventory of the situation. The chances that Adam was telling the truth. The distance between the two men holding Jenna and Lily. The distance between him and Leo and Adam. The kind of weapons the other men were carrying. The chances of being interrupted by yet more men. The weapons he kept in the top drawer of his desk.

  It wasn’t foolproof, but if they were very fast, they could do it.

  He let his eyes drift to Leo, thought he saw a light of understanding in the other man’s eyes, then turned back to Adam.

  “I’ll get them,” Farrell said. “But I have to get in my desk. The key’s in my pocket.”

  Adam hesitated, glanced at the two men holding guns on Jenna and Lily, then waved Farrell forward. “Do it.”

  * * *

  Jenna watched the exchange, trying to figure out what was going on. She’d only met Adam once, when she’d first started dating Farrell. He’d been working in Parliament as an intern, but even then she’d smelled the naked ambition on him. She had no idea what he had to do with the papers her father had hidden or the bioweapon research at Stafford, but he was obviously involved somehow.

  She watched him talk to Farrell, saw Farrell’s eyes, full of knowledge she was trying to understand. She almost thought he was communicating with Leo, but they hadn’t spoken a word to each other.

  And it didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting Lily out of here alive. She would happily offer up the research papers if it meant saving her daughter, but she had a feeling it wasn’t that easy, and she didn’t want to make a mistake. Hand over the one thing that might be keeping them alive.

  She was surprised when Farrell agreed to Adam’s terms, and even more surprised when he moved toward the desk.

  Especially since the papers were, at this very moment, in her room upstairs.

  And then she understood. She put her hand solidly against Lily’s back, rubbing to keep her calm. Then she watched as Farrell pulled a key from his pocket and moved to the desk.

  * * *

  Farrell moved slowly, trying to buy Leo more time to prepare, hoping Jenna would see what he was trying to do. He put the key in his desk drawer, unlocked it, slowly opened the drawer.

  He reached inside, casually, easily. Like he was really going after something like a stack of papers.

  When he got there, he closed his hand around one of the weapons and everything seemed to slow down. Leo reached into the drawer at the speed of sound, grabbing the other weapon. He only had a moment to feel relief that Jenna had pushed Lily onto the floor, thrown her own body over their daughter.

  Then he raised his weapon and fired at Adam’s head. He froze, a look of surprise appearing on his face at the same time the bullet hole in his forehead started to bleed.

  Two more gunshots rang through the room, and the men who had been holding Jenna and Lily dropped to the floor. He looked over at Leo, still holding the gun.

  “I don’t hear anything,” Farrell said, listening.

  “Me, either.”

  Farrell nodded, put down the weapons. “Clear the house.”

  Leo breathed a sigh of relief. “You got it.”

  And then he was running for Jenna and Lily, pulling them both into his arms, trying to beat back the knowledge that he had almost lost them for good.

  40

  Jenna put the last of Lily’s things in her pink s
uitcase and zipped it closed. She’d left the clothing Farrell had purchased for Lily, both because it didn’t seem right to take them and because she knew Lily would visit him in the months ahead.

  “There we are.” She forced a smile for Lily even as her heart felt like it was hemorrhaging, spilling every bit of hope she’d accumulated onto the floor.

  “Why are we leaving, Mummy?” Lily asked. She was sitting on the bed with one of her dolls. “I haven’t gotten to ride the horses yet.”

  “I know,” Jenna said. “I’m sorry. You can ride them the next time you visit.”

  “What about Daddy?” Lily asked. “Is he coming with us to London?”

  “Not this time, love. But you’ll be seeing him soon.”

  Mrs. Pendleton stepped into the room, and set about straightening Lily’s bed. She was still pale and drawn from the shootout that had occurred on the grounds two days before, but Jenna had to give her credit for her stiff upper lip. She had insisted on returning to work, going about the business of running the house.

  If only Jenna could be so stoic. She’d tried. Had told herself nothing mattered but the fact that Lily was alive and well. Had reminded herself that it was Farrell who had saved them by killing the men who’d been pointing guns at them.

  Intellectually, she knew it was all true. She understood it wasn’t Farrell’s fault the men had come here in the first place. If anything, it had been her stubborn insistence on finding out what her father had been hiding.

  But none of it seemed to make a difference, and she’d spent the last two days jumping at every loud noise, laying awake in the dark, trying to shake the feeling that this would be their life if she stayed with Farrell. Maybe not right away, but eventually there would be another threat, and that threat would come from men prepared to take on Farrell Black. Violent men who would be met with equal violence by Farrell in his efforts to protect Jenna and Lily.