Savage Redemption

by Alexis Morgan

  Conlan frisked the guy, relieving him of two guns and a couple of knives. He might have more weapons, but none he could easily access at the moment. There’d be time to do a more thorough search when they were back at Dwayne’s house with the doors locked and the shades pulled down.

  He gave him a shove in the right direction. “Start walking.”

  His prisoner was still trying to talk his way out of the situation. “You don’t know what kind of trouble you’re buying here, chancellor.”

  “Save your threats. After all, I’m not the one in custody, am I? Now turn left and aim for that brick house on the left.”

  Kat must have been watching out the window, because as soon as they reached the house, she had the door open. She immediately backed away, wisely putting plenty of room between her and their new guest.

  “You’re her.” The man stumbled to a halt. “Damn it, we did just miss catching the two of you, didn’t we? Can’t believe we were outdone by a female and a damn mongrel.”

  Kat obviously took offense. “It wasn’t the first time and won’t be the last. And Conlan isn’t a mongrel.”

  He’d been called that before and knew the guy was hoping to rattle them so he could make a break for it. Although he ignored the name-calling, Conlan’s heart warmed to hear Kat defend him. He circled around the edge of the room to hand his gun to Kat. “If he moves, shoot him. We can always catch another one, and the second guy will be more cooperative when he sees his buddy’s dead body.”

  Kat smiled. “Fine. I’ve been wanting a little payback for them shooting me the other day. Think he’s the one who pulled the trigger? If so, I think he deserves to have a scar to match the ones they gave me.”

  Conlan loved her attitude. “Anything you want, sweetheart. You don’t even have to aim for his shoulder. A little lower would have more...um, lasting impact.”

  “Oh, good idea.”

  The guy winced when Kat immediately lowered the sights on the gun considerably lower. Conlan finished checking him for weapons, finding another smaller gun, a garrote and two more blades.

  “Think I’ll keep these,” Conlan said, smiling as he pocketed the knives. “They must pay you guys well to afford such quality weapons. Of course, if I end up using them on you, I’ll have to bury them with the body. What a waste of good steel.”

  “Get screwed, chancellor. I’m not some poor civilian you can intimidate.”

  “No, you’re not. You’re a soldier wannabe who’ll work for any scumbag with enough money to pay your salary.” Conlan snarled, his fangs at full length as he punched the guy in the gut hard once and then a second time before the merc could draw a breath.

  “Now listen up. The only reason I’m not ripping your throat out right now is that I’m going to ask a few questions. Your job is to answer them. Even an idiot like you should be able to follow directions that simple.”

  The guy started to shake his head, so Conlan gave him another reminder, this time to his kidney. Then he relieved him of his wallet and looked through it. As he did so, he turned his back on the prisoner in casual disregard for any danger the guy might present, a clear insult. Sure enough, the guy fell for the ruse and charged forward, bellowing in fury. A few seconds later, he was flat out on the floor with Conlan’s newly acquired knife pressed against his throat and a badly damaged wrist.

  “It says here your name is Francis McAdams. Gosh, your parents must have hated you. I figure you go by Mac, so that’s what I’m going to call you.”

  Conlan’s smile was nowhere near friendly. “Okay, now that I have your attention, let’s get started. Who hired you?”

  The merc’s eyes were wild as he cradled his broken wrist with his other hand. “Some guy.”

  “Tsk, tsk, Mac.” Conlan gave him a disappointed look and squeezed his broken wrist. “Mac, I’ve got to tell you that you’re not helping me here. What guy?”

  Mac whimpered in pain. “We only know him by the name of Richie. He supposedly reports to some bigwig in the Coalition.”

  “So you’re trying to tell me that a bunch of clowns like you are actually working for the Coalition.” He patted Mac on the cheek with his free hand. “Sorry, Mac, but I’m not buying it. The Coalition does its own hunting with Ambrose O’Brien leading the charge. I happen to know he’s cooling his heels out on Rafferty O’Day’s estate right this minute while Miss Karr and I take care of a few things.”

  He pressed harder with the knife blade. “You’re going to have to do better or bleed.”

  The merc was smart enough to read his own death written in Conlan’s eyes, because he started talking like he’d never, ever shut up. It all added up to what Conlan had been suspecting all along. Eddington’s interest had nothing to do with his role on the Coalition Council. He was paying the mercs out of his own pocket, but all they’d been told was to bring Kat in alive. Conlan was considered expendable.

  When Mac started to repeat himself, Conlan stood up. “Watch him while I find something to tie him up with. Then we’ll give Ambrose a call and let him know where to pick up this trash. I’m sure he’s going to want to hear all of that firsthand.”

  As soon as he had Mac trussed up, Conlan picked the man up and tossed him across the room onto the sofa. Then he and Kat gathered their stuff and headed out to the garage. Dwayne’s transport wasn’t much on looks, but the man definitely put money where it counted. The engine roared to life and then purred with power as they pulled out onto the street.

  “Okay, we know who’s after us, but there’s nothing we can do about it until we’ve got something to bargain with.”

  About a block away, he called Rafferty’s number. The vampire answered on the first ring. Conlan put him on speakerphone so Kat could hear both sides of the conversation.

  “You ready to come back yet?” Rafferty’s temper and his concern came through clearly.

  “Getting there, boss. We need to retrieve something first, and then we’ll hightail it right back to the estate.”

  “Why can’t you tell Ambrose where it is and let him do it?”

  Before he could answer, the man himself came on the line. “Damn it, Conlan, I’ve cut you all the slack I can. I don’t want to have to come after you, but I have to order my men to start looking for you. Give me your word you’ll both head back here now, and I’ll buy you enough time to turn yourselves in. Let me handle Eddington and his people.”

  It was damn tempting, but Conlan was afraid that the chief chancellor’s unwavering loyalty to the Coalition would force him to use it against Kat. Considering her past, his superiors might order him to carry out the execution order before they had all the facts. That wasn’t going to happen, not if Conlan could help it.

  “Ambrose, straight up, can you guarantee nothing will happen to Kat if you take her into custody?”

  The silence on the other end of the phone was answer enough. “That’s what I thought. Do what you have to, but we’re not coming back until we have something solid to bargain with. As a token of good faith, I’ve left you a present.”

  He rattled off the address. “His name is Francis McAdams, and he’s one of the mercenaries who’ve been hunting us. After a small amount of coaxing, he admitted that Eddington hired them to bring in Kat, but not on behalf of the Coalition.” Conlan paused. “Evidently the councilman has his own agenda. His men invaded a neighborhood restaurant this morning and told everyone they were from the health department and shut the place done.”

  Conlan crossed his fingers that Dwayne would forgive him for bringing his home and business to the Coalition’s attention. “I need you to make sure that the owner, Dwayne Frey, and his people are all right.” He let some of his anger show through. “All Dwayne did was feed us a meal. If they hurt him, I want those sons of bitches strung up by their—” Remembering Kat was hearing all of this, he stopped and tried again. “I want them strung up. Period.”

  Ambrose didn’t hesitate. “I’ll check on him. And the info about the mercenaries and Eddington giv
es me something solid to work on from this end. Hold on a second.”

  There was some muffled mumbling on the other end of the line. Finally, Ambrose came back. “Rafferty said to tell you that Finn tracked that blocked number. I’ll be sending some of my men over to check out the house and then the restaurant. After that, though, they’ll be coming after you. I will also order them to take their time and be extra thorough when they check the place out.”

  In other words, his old friend was still trying to buy Conlan and Kat some time. “Thanks, Ambrose, and the same to Rafferty. Meanwhile, Kat and I have a couple of stops to make. Depending on how things play out, we’ll be back in touch.”

  “You better be. And, Conlan, just so you know, Rafferty and I are drawing straws to see which one of us gets to kick your worrisome ass around the block first. Got that?”

  “Yeah, I do.” Conlan laughed, although Kat was looking at him as if he’d just sprouted a second head. “In fact, I’m looking forward to it.”

  Because that would mean he was still a free man and Kat was safe. He disconnected the call and tossed the phone onto the console. “Okay, Kat. It’s time to go retrieve the flash drive. Where to?”

  Chapter 16

  Cyrus gently set the phone back down in its cradle. The conversation had not been a pleasant one, but that was to be expected under the circumstances. He could hardly blame the rest of the membership for being furious with how things were going right now. However, threatening to make sure the Eddington family would no longer have a representative serving on the Coalition Council was unacceptable. He had to do something to fix this.

  He’d already sent for Richie, who had returned to his own office to wait for a final report on the fiasco at the restaurant. No way that news was going to be any good. Cyrus would hear him out. Once the younger man finished making all of his excuses, Cyrus would command him to join their men out in the field to oversee their efforts to deal with Kat Karr. At this point, the outcome could be kill or capture; Cyrus no longer cared which.

  Richie came sauntering in, a new confidence in his attitude. So perhaps the news wasn’t all bad. However, Cyrus wasn’t going to get his hopes up unnecessarily.

  “Report.”

  “They picked up her trail right outside of New Eire. She’s making a run for the estate where her sister used to live. If you’ll recall, that’s the place you ordered bombed, but obviously Kat wasn’t inside when it happened, and neither were her nieces. All you succeeded in doing was killing an innocent human and driving Kat underground.”

  Okay, enough was enough. Cyrus leaped to his feet, his hands clenched in fists. “That woman wasn’t innocent. Remember, she’d coupled with a chancellor to breed two more mongrels. She was guilty of harboring a known felon, but also of polluting our species by contaminating her pure human DNA with one of those freaks.”

  He shuddered. The thought of humans mating with vampires or their spawn—the chancellors—always made him queasy. It was bad enough the bastards already were hoarding so much of the prime land within their estates and kept accruing wealth at an alarming rate. But even worse, they were busy spreading their contagion, seducing human men and women, living off their blood and producing more of their kind.

  At the last meeting of the purists, he’d overheard one of the younger members quip that soon humans would be on the endangered-species list. Cyrus hadn’t found that amusing, not in the least. The last Coalition census had shown that while both the human and vampire populations had remained stable, those half-breed chancellors had almost doubled in number. If that continued, eventually the majority of the Coalition’s citizens would carry the vamp gene. He shuddered at the thought. His children and grandchildren deserved to live in a world where they weren’t seen as the weaklings.

  All the more reason to locate the research Kat Karr had stolen and implement the plan to use it before it was too late.

  “Richie, have the helicopter pick us up. I will not allow any more failures. We’ll wait until she retrieves her research, and then she and her friend both die.”

  His assistant made the call but then asked, “Are you sure you want to go, sir? It could be dangerous, and I can keep you apprised of the situation by phone. As long as you maintain your distance from the actual dirty work, you won’t jeopardize your position on the Coalition Council.”

  Cyrus considered the suggestion. Richie was right, of course. As a member of the Council, he really should avoid direct involvement, but it was a little too late for that. He might feel differently if he still trusted his assistant as much as he used to. Lately there was something about the man that bothered him. While he didn’t expect everyone to be as dedicated to the cause as he was, he had his suspicions that Richie’s interest was founded in greed rather than any desire to save humanity.

  “No, I think I should be there, despite the risks. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to attend to. Notify me when the helicopter is here to pick us up.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Cyrus watched Richie walk out the door, still wondering just how far he could trust him.

  * * *

  In the three hours she and Conlan had been driving, the sun had dropped out of sight and night had fallen. They’d left New Eire behind and were headed toward the estate where her sister had lived with her husband. It was still several miles away. Kat was tired, but at least she’d been able to doze off along the way. Conlan had been running at full throttle since before sunrise.

  “Why don’t you let me take a turn driving? I know this area better than you do anyway.”

  “Actually, according to the GPS, there’s a small town up ahead. I was thinking about stopping there for the night.” He offered her a tired smile. “I don’t know about you, but I’m running on empty.”

  She studied their surroundings. “We’re actually closer to the turnoff to the estate. From there, it’s only a short drive to my sister’s property.”

  Conlan stifled a yawn but nodded. “Okay, then I vote we keep going if you’re up to it.”

  “I’d just as soon get this over with.”

  But not simply because of the proximity of their destination. The sense of impending doom seemed to worsen with every passing hour. Maybe it was all in her imagination, but she was wearing her neck out turning to stare out the back of the transport. So far there’d been no sign of pursuit, but that didn’t mean those mercenaries weren’t closing in.

  Not to mention the Coalition was now on their trail, as well. She figured that by now Ambrose’s men had found their prints all over the transport she and Conlan had abandoned at the restaurant. It wouldn’t take a genius to realize they’d picked up other transportation and that Dwayne had provided it. She sure hoped he didn’t suffer any consequences because he’d facilitated their escape. If necessary, she’d run interference. “You’re thinking pretty hard there. Care to share?”

  She sometimes forgot how well chancellors could see in the dark, a trait they shared with vampires. “I was thinking about Dwayne and hoping he didn’t run into trouble with Ambrose and his people over helping us.”

  Conlan took her hand in his and gave it a quick squeeze. “That’s sweet of you to be thinking about him. I know you haven’t had the best experience with

  Ambrose, but he does have a strong sense of fair play. If he can figure out a way to cut Dwayne some slack, he will.”

  “If not, then we stole this transport.”

  She lifted her chin, intending to show that she was serious about what she was going to say. “I overpowered Dwayne and held him at gunpoint to force him to give us the keys.”

  “And what was I doing while all this went down?”

  She knew he was laughing at her, but she gave him a serious answer. “Subduing the mercenary. You couldn’t do both at the same time.”

  “Okay, fair enough. As long as I get to be all manly and help save the day, I’m happy. I was afraid you were going to say that I cowered in the corner, terrified of what you might do
next.”

  Okay, that had her laughing, too. “Yeah, like you’ve ever cowered in your life. I can’t imagine you being scared of anything or anyone.”

  His smile immediately disappeared. “Oh, believe me, I’ve been scared, Kat. Like three years ago when I woke up and you were gone. I couldn’t breathe for the fear that I’d never find you again. Or when they slammed a cell door in my face, and I knew my life was gone. I wanted to die right then and there.”

  He might as well have shoved one of those fancy knives he’d taken from Mac right through her heart. “I could say I’m sorry every minute of every hour for the rest of my life, and it wouldn’t be enough, Conlan.”

  He glanced at her briefly and then turned his attention back to the road. “Trusting me to help fix this mess has gone a long way toward healing those wounds, Kat. A week ago I would’ve sworn the last thing I’d ever want would be to tangle my life up with yours again.”

  “But...?” she prodded when he didn’t go on.

  “But I’ve come to realize that I wasn’t living, not

  really. It was as if I’ve been waiting all this time for the chance to finish what I’d started. What we’d started.”

  “Conlan, I—”

  “No more apologies, Kat. All I ask is that you see this through this time. We clear your name, and you can go back to your nieces. They need you.”

  They did, but that wasn’t enough. She had everything to gain, and Conlan had already lost too much because of her. What could she say to that kind of sacrifice?

  There was so much about the man sitting next to her that she admired, liked, even...loved. That was nothing less than the truth, and yet she was still too much of a coward to admit it. Or was she? He deserved the truth, and she’d promised to give it to him. This trust thing went both ways. Somehow the shadowed interior of the transport felt right for the kind of confession she was about to make.

  “Conlan, there’s something I need to tell you.” She waited to make sure she had his full attention. “It’s something I’ve known for some time, but I’ve been afraid to admit.”