Savage Redemption

by Alexis Morgan

  She guzzled the last bit while he did the same. One more look around the room. Nothing was out of place or shouted that they’d been there. Conlan had found the switch that cast the staircase in dim light. He had his gun in hand when he motioned for her to go first.

  She sat down on the edge of the opening and stepped out onto the ladder, holding on with both hands. Before she descended more than a handful of steps, she heard Conlan let out a string of curse words. She looked up to see that the light had turned to red and was pulsing only slightly slower than her heartbeat.

  Rather than dwell on what might be happening in the restaurant, she concentrated on hustling down the ladder so that Conlan could join her. It was a long way down, but she made it safely. Conlan paused halfway down to hit another button. As soon as he did, the opening above slowly disappeared. All they could do was wait and wonder if it would close before someone walked in and noticed what was going on.

  The room they were standing in wasn’t really cold, but she shivered anyway. Careful not to jostle Conlan’s gun hand, she eased closer to him. He immediately wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

  He whispered, “We’ll wait here for a few minutes. If the danger passes, Dwayne will let us know. Otherwise, we’ll follow the tunnel out of here.”

  “Where does it go?”

  “It comes out underneath another property Dwayne owns. He’ll catch up with us there when he can. If he can.”

  The joists overhead creaked and groaned as someone walked over their heads. Several someones.

  “Move into the tunnel.”

  Conlan’s words were little more than a breath near her ear. She didn’t want to leave the safe harbor of his embrace, but she’d promised to follow his orders. She swept a cobweb out of her way, ignoring her usual squeamishness when it came to creepy-crawlies. A few spiders were small potatoes compared to the real killers of this world.

  Now they could hear the mumble of voices. The discussion above had obviously escalated into a full-blown argument, but it was impossible to make out anything but the tone of the voices.

  The footsteps finally moved on, maybe checking out the other rooms off the same hallway. If any of them had secret escape routes, they didn’t lead to this place. Finally, silence settled in above them again. Conlan motioned for her to remain where she was before he began climbing the ladder again. When he got as far as he could without opening the door again, he cocked his head to one side to listen long and hard.

  He climbed back down and headed straight for her. “Time to get the hell out of here. Even if those guys have left the building, one of them probably stayed behind to watch it. We’ll pick up Dwayne’s transport and swing back here. If we can spot the watcher, we might get some answers out of him.”

  * * *

  Cyrus downed a couple of pills, hoping they’d do something about the fire in his stomach. He deliberately kept his assistant waiting. If he had to be miserable and frustrated, he wanted to share the feeling. Finally, he took a seat and stared across the expanse of his desk at the younger man.

  “Richie, for your sake, I hope you have good news for me.” The younger man was back to squirming uncomfortably in his seat, so the obvious answer was no. How had he ever thought the fool would make a suitable assistant? Not only was he incompetent, but he lacked the kind of focus and courage it would take to reach their mutual goals.

  Right now the only reason Cyrus could think of for letting Richie continue to breathe was that if the situation continued to deteriorate, he might just need a scapegoat. One who could die without being missed. He poured himself a tall glass of his best scotch and a much shorter one for Richie.

  Cyrus leaned forward, steepling his fingers, and waited for Richie to come up with an answer.

  When the fool finally spoke, the words came pouring out fast and furious. “One of our men almost had Kat Karr in his custody this morning, but she threw scalding coffee in his face. By the time the others joined in the hunt, she’d disappeared. They’re still searching the area, but there’s no sign of either her or Shea.”

  “Any idea where they’d been hiding?”

  Richie swallowed hard and nodded. “Maybe, but we have no proof at this point. As you suggested, we did a title search in the Coalition records and found out Rafferty O’Day’s wife owns a condo in that neighborhood.”

  A flash of defiance flashed through Richie’s eyes so quickly that Cyrus wasn’t sure he’d actually seen it.

  “I had dutifully relayed your orders not to risk making the situation worse by attacking the place directly. As a result, our men had no choice but to cruise the streets, hoping to catch sight of either Kat Karr or Conlan Shea.”

  He stopped to sip his scotch before continuing. “As soon as they recognized her, they made an attempt to apprehend her.”

  “And yet these expensive, top-of-the-line mercenaries you hired couldn’t manage to grab one human woman. Amazing.”

  Not to mention infuriating. He would’ve been better off hiring a bunch of children to pick her up. All those expensive weapons and equally costly gear Richie had insisted were necessary were turning out to only be a huge financial drain with no return on his investment. Maybe it was time to call them off and try some other tactic. He wouldn’t hesitate for a second, but unfortunately he’d yet to think of a better plan.

  His assistant sat up straighter, his expression insolent. “Perhaps they would’ve had more success if we weren’t tying their hands. It’s difficult for even the best-trained troops to succeed when too many restrictions are placed on how they can do their job.”

  Then the young upstart actually held up a hand and started ticking off all of his grievances. “Don’t breach the perimeter of the O’Day estate even though our men were fired upon first. No direct assault on the condo in New Eire because it belongs to Rafferty’s wife. We would’ve had as much luck in picking up the Karr woman by mailing her a polite note.” He snorted. “It’s no wonder the vamps own everything when the human leadership is made up of such gutless wonders!”

  “Enough!” Cyrus roared. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with, young man. We cannot afford to bring down the full weight of the vampire clans on our heads at this crucial point in our mission.”

  The other man sneered. “They hate each other more than they hate us. They’d just as soon see Rafferty’s estate go up in flames.”

  Cyrus slammed his fist down on the desktop. “You don’t get it at all, do you? Yes, the vampires do have their petty squabbles. But I can assure you that nothing will unite them like an attack on one of their own. If we had raided the O’Day estate to remove Kat Karr and her nieces forcibly, we would have every member of the North American vampire clans gunning for us.”

  He fought to regain his composure. “I, for one, do not care to end my life as a banquet for an irate vampire. Once we retrieve Kat Karr’s research, we’ll have a weapon that will restore the natural order of things where humans rule and those bloodsucking abominations will slither back into the gutter they crawled out of.”

  All right, that was more than he’d meant to say, but he felt better for venting some of his frustration. Time to get focused again.

  Richie slumped back in his chair. “I’m sorry, sir. Of course, you’re right.”

  “Apology accepted,” Cyrus said, only slightly mollified. “What are your men doing now?”

  Before Richie could answer, his phone rang. “Sorry, sir, but this is from the mercs. I should take it.”

  He walked out of the office. Why? He had to know he’d just have to repeat everything the man said once the call ended. Not for the first time, he had to wonder where Richie’s true loyalty lay. Only time would tell. For the moment, all Cyrus could do was cross his fingers and hope this whole mess got resolved, and soon.

  Richie was already back, a smug smile on his face. Whatever the report had been, it had obviously pleased him.

  “My men have Conlan Shea and Kat Karr trapped in a
restaurant. They have all exits covered and are preparing to do a room-to-room search to find them. Once they have the two targets in custody, they’ll call back for instructions.”

  For the first time in days, something was going right. Cyrus poured another drink of scotch and this time offered Richie the good stuff. Both men sat back in their chairs and waited for the phone to ring again.

  Chapter 15

  “Do you think your friend is all right?”

  It was tempting to tell Kat what she wanted to hear, that Dwayne would be safe from retribution for harboring them, but Conlan preferred not to lie. He settled for a version of the truth.

  “I hope so. It’s unlikely that they can find a direct link between me and him, so they have no reason to think that he’d stick his neck out for us.”

  “But...?”

  “Something or someone is driving these mercs hard. If whoever is footing their bill pushes hard enough, the situation could escalate quickly.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  The tunnel widened back out enough that Kat could walk beside him. She caught up with him and shot him a bleak smile. “Thanks for not lying to me, Conlan. I know you’d really rather pat me on the head and tell me it’s all going to be all right.”

  “I’m still hoping that’s true.”

  She caught his hand with hers and gave it a quick squeeze. “Me, too.”

  The tunnel made a sharp turn just ahead. Time to do some scouting. “Wait here for a second. I want to see where this leads.”

  At least she didn’t argue. Instead, she leaned against the wall and dropped her pack to the ground. It was obvious the stress of the day’s events were weighing heavily on Kat. It spoke to her incredible strength that she’d survived three years of this kind of tension with her spirit intact. It made him want to hurt somebody bad for doing this to her.

  With luck, he’d have a handy target for his anger soon. He eased up to the last turn and peeked around the corner. Clear. The stairs up ahead led to a regular door. Good. With the time it took for a secret door to slide open, they’d be more vulnerable to attack.

  He’d check it out first, though, unwilling to expose Kat unnecessarily. Climbing slowly, he listened hard for any sign that someone was waiting upstairs. With his gun drawn, he turned the knob and cracked the door far enough to see through.

  Good, no one in sight. He pushed the door open farther and was relieved to see that the room was indeed empty. It held little more than a twin bed and a chest of drawers, neither of which looked as if they’d been used recently. Certainly the air in the room had a musty smell to it.

  He didn’t want to leave Kat alone for much longer, but to be on the safe side, he crossed the narrow room to try the door on the opposite wall. It led to a short hallway. It was one of the narrow homes that were common in the area. If the layout were typical, there’d be another bedroom on the second floor, with a kitchen, bathroom and a living room on this level.

  He went back to the steps and walked halfway down. He called her name softly. “Kat, it’s clear. You can come now.”

  It didn’t take her long, although she took care to move as quietly he had. He led the way back into the bedroom. She looked around with curiosity. “Who do you think lives here?”

  “My guess would be Dwayne offers it to friends as a safe house for a price.”

  She crossed to the single window and pulled the curtain aside far enough to look out. “Any idea where we are? I lost track of directions as soon as we left the restaurant behind.”

  “We’re about three blocks due east of where we started. I want to check out the transport Dwayne said we could borrow to make sure it runs before I leave you to go do some hunting. If I don’t return, you call Rafferty and do exactly what he tells you to.”

  Kat immediately frowned. “You’re not planning on leaving me behind.”

  That clearly wasn’t a question. Damn, he didn’t want to fight about this. “Kat, it’s better if I go alone. Those guys are watching for a couple, so they won’t pay as much attention to me. Not to mention that I’ll have a better shot at catching one of them if I don’t have to worry about keeping you safe at the same time.”

  She nodded slowly, clearly not happy. “Fine, but don’t stay gone long, and don’t take stupid risks.”

  Conlan shoved his gun back in the waistband of his jeans and held out his arms. When she walked into his embrace, it was a perfect fit. They held on for several seconds, content to let touch and proximity say what neither of them had words for—or at least he didn’t. Not ones he was ready to say.

  She was the one who broke it off. “Go. Hunt. Get back here.”

  “You’re a bossy little thing, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah, but you like me this way. You wouldn’t want a woman you could walk all over. In fact, I suspect you and Joss are such good friends for the same reason. She won’t let you get away with anything.”

  He gave in and grinned. “Busted.”

  The fact that they were both teasing didn’t make the truth of her statement any less true. The least he could do was admit it.

  “Yeah, I do like you, Kat.”

  Then before he could give in to the urge to admit how much he liked her, he headed for the garage.

  * * *

  Outside, the day had grown warmer, but not so much that his jacket would look odd. He’d been carrying it when they entered the restaurant, so hopefully any of the mercs who were watching wouldn’t immediately recognize him. Besides, the jacket hid the gun he had stuck in the back of his waistband.

  There was no one else around except for one elderly gentleman who was approaching from the other direction. No threat there. Conlan took what he hoped looked like a casual stroll down the street toward Dwayne’s place. At least with his shades on, it was more difficult for anyone to notice that Conlan was scoping out the area.

  The parking lot was empty except for the transport he and Kat had left behind, and the closed sign was hanging in the front door of the restaurant. Damn, he’d really hoped the bastards would do a quick check of the customers and then move on when they didn’t find him and Kat still on the premises. He just hoped like hell that they were doing a more thorough search and not trying to beat the truth out of Dwayne.

  He’d planned on passing by the restaurant from across the street, but now he wanted a clearer look through the window. He sidled by, pretending to check his phone for messages as a reason to pause near the front door. Inside he could see several of the mercs spread out around the room. No sign of Dwayne or any of the other staff. He wished he could believe they’d managed to escape, but it was unlikely Dwayne would’ve been able to shepherd them all out in time.

  “They closed the restaurant for health infractions.”

  Conlan jumped and spun to face the old man he’d spotted earlier. At least it wasn’t one of the mercs sneaking up on him. A guy could end up dead with careless mistakes like that.

  “Did you say something, sir?”

  The old man repeated himself, speaking more loudly, as if Conlan were hard of hearing. “I said they kicked us all out of Dwayne’s restaurant and shut the place down tight. Said they worked for the Coalition, but they don’t look like any inspectors I’ve ever seen. Besides, inspectors carry clipboards. They don’t go around sporting sidearms.”

  He peered through the door. “I’ve already called the authorities. They should be here any minute.”

  Conlan tore his attention away from the restaurant long enough to listen. Damn it, judging by the sound of approaching sirens, the old coot really had called it in. Time to move on before the mercs realized what was going on and scattered like cockroaches and saw him standing out there.

  On the other hand, this just might play in Conlan’s favor. While they were busy dodging the cops, one of them might get careless enough for Conlan to pick him up. But he couldn’t walk away and leave the old man standing in the line of fire.

  “Sir, I’m thinking the smart thing
would be for both of us to put some distance between us and what’s about to go down here. If those guys inside come out shooting, it’s best to not be anyplace close.”

  His companion thought it over and then nodded. “Good thinking, young man. I do believe it’s time for my afternoon nap. You have a nice day.”

  “Yes, sir, I’ll try.”

  Conlan started off in the opposite direction, but he stopped to look back one last time to make sure the man kept shuffling down the street. The first police transports were pulling into sight. He kept walking until he reached the back corner of the building. Just as Conlan expected, the mercs were already bolting out the back door of the restaurant and pelting down the alley behind the building.

  He watched as several jumped into a black van while the others scattered. He picked out the likeliest target and paralleled the merc’s route from a block over until they’d put several buildings between them and all the police action centered on Dwayne’s place.

  The mercenary eventually holstered his weapon and stuck his hands in his pocket, doing his best to look like just another guy caught up in his own thoughts. Conlan cut down the next alley and waited for the merc to pass by before falling into step behind him. There was nothing wrong with the man’s instincts, because he immediately spun around to confront Conlan.

  That was okay. It gave him an up-close-and-personal view of Conlan’s gun aimed right at his head.

  “Turn around and hold your arms out at shoulder height or I pull the trigger. Follow directions and you stand a good chance of surviving the day mostly intact. That’s the deal. Your choice.”

  The other man glared at Conlan, his hands flexing as if he were calculating whether he’d be able to draw his own weapon in time to keep Conlan from firing.

  “Are you really stupid enough to try it, asshole?” Conlan injected some of the cold authority he used to use bringing down perps back in his Coalition days. Evidently he hadn’t lost any of his talent for convincing criminals that he was an even bigger badass than they were, because the man’s shoulders slumped. He turned and raised his hands.