Savage Redemption

by Alexis Morgan

  “What is it, Kat?”

  The dim glow of the dash lights painted his handsome face in harsh lines. It was as if he were bracing himself for the worst.

  “I know the timing might seem pretty convenient, but—”

  Before she could finish, a deep rumble rocked the transport as the road exploded right in front of them. Another burst of fire behind them sent the vehicle skidding off the road and over onto the shoulder.

  “Get down and hold on!” Conlan shouted as he fought to regain control.

  She did as he ordered, fear tasting bitter. If only the idiot who was screaming would shut up! Then she realized it was her.

  “This is going to get rough, Kat,” Conlan warned her through gritted teeth.

  A bright beam of light silhouetted the transport, but this time without the explosion. It came from high above, the searchlight beaming down from a helo. The mercenaries were back. At least she assumed that’s who it was. It seemed unlikely Ambrose would’ve ordered an attack against the two of them with no warning.

  “We’re going off-road.”

  She braced herself, grabbing onto the handle above the passenger door and planting her feet on the floor. It didn’t help much, but it was better than being thrown against her shoulder harness. Her incisions throbbed as the jostling put a lot of stress on her newly healed wounds.

  Conlan maneuvered their transport down a low slope, narrowly missing a rocky outcropping that had her ducking for cover. At the bottom, he steered the vehicle toward a narrow dirt road that headed right across country toward a stand of oak trees. As soon as they reached the questionable cover of the woods, he backed off the gas and continued on at a more reasonable pace.

  “Kat, do you have any idea where we are?”

  She fought down her fear, forcing herself to think clearly as she looked around. “Yes, I do. I’m pretty sure these woods run straight through to a river crossing up ahead. My sister’s property starts on the other side of the bridge.”

  The whirring noise of the helicopter could still be heard overhead. It was moving in circles, hunting for them. For now, the thick canopy of the trees overhead protected their transport from view, but once they hit the river’s edge, they’d be out in plain sight.

  “Think they’ll follow us onto the estate?”

  Conlan shrugged. “Hard to tell. I don’t know if they’ll chance offending the vampire clan that owns it, but for sure they’ll be waiting for us once we try to leave. If we slip through their fingers now, they’ll run the risk of us giving the information to the Coalition.”

  He stopped talking long enough to concentrate on easing the transport through a particularly rough stretch through the trees. Once they were rolling along again, he picked up where he’d left off.

  “Eddington clearly wants your research. But I’ve got to tell you, I wonder if there isn’t more to it. Maybe something in those files that would tie the fire at the lab as well as your friend’s death to Eddington and his friends.”

  The helo’s spotlight was flickering through the trees overhead. “How do you think they found us?” she asked, trying to stay calm.

  “Same way Ambrose will. Tracking the chip in Dwayne’s transport. I’d guess there’s a pack of Coalition chancellors headed straight for us, too. In fact, I’m sort of counting on it.”

  Great. If they weren’t dodging bullets from the bad guys, they’d be ducking the ones from the good guys. She had to laugh, although she was pretty sure there was a large dose of hysteria in it.

  Conlan was grinning, too. “Yeah, it’s one helluva party, don’t you think?”

  “You’re crazy, you know.”

  He whooped and laughed as they hit another deep rut. “Yeah, I am, but that’s what makes me so lovable.”

  Before she could respond to the truth of that statement, they broke free of the woods and headed straight for the bridge. She angled around to look behind them. The helo hovered over the trees, looking like a huge insect waiting to pounce. Or maybe one of those predators that hunted in packs. Had those mercenaries been chasing them or actually herding the two of them?

  “What’s going on back there?” Conlan asked.

  She checked one last time. “They seem to have backed off for the moment.”

  “Good,” Conlan said, but he didn’t slow down. “Now tell me which way to go.”

  “When the road splits up ahead, stay to the right. We’ll go about another five miles before we come to where another road intersects this one. Take a left, and then I’ll tell you where to go from there.”

  Memories of that night, including the explosion and the resulting fire that had lit up the sky for miles in all directions, washed over her. The pain never faded, always feeling like shards of glass jabbing her in the heart. She blinked several times to clear the tears.

  “That night I left you, Meg died instead of me. I slipped out to retrieve the flash drive from where she kept a mailbox, intending to bring it back to you, trusting you’d know what to do with the information. When I got there, the box had had been pried open, and it was empty.”

  She’d handled the whole mess wrong. “Without the data, I couldn’t prove my innocence, and you would’ve had no choice but to carry out the execution order. Looking back, I still should’ve gone straight back to you. But the guy behind the counter told me the box had been vandalized right after my sister had picked up her mail... and I panicked.”

  It was hard to breathe, all the memories churning up the old pain. “I called Meg and told her to take the girls and go into hiding. She was supposed to leave the flash drive for me and go, but instead she waited for me. If I hadn’t taken the girls and their suitcases outside to her transport when I did, they would’ve died, too. I hid the flash drive on the estate, took the girls and ran.”

  Conlan immediately reached over to take her hand. “Don’t think about it, and don’t blame yourself. You’re not the villain here, Kat. Eddington and his people are. Remember that.”

  “But if I hadn’t—”

  “No buts, damn it. Kat, all you were guilty of was being young and naive.” His voice rasped with emotion. “Those bastards preyed on your innocence. You had no way of knowing what they were up to. That institute had a solid reputation.”

  “I wasn’t so innocent in what happened to you. After I called to warn Meg, I took off without even thinking about what that would do to you.”

  He didn’t deny it, but then, it was the truth. She’d known what would happen to him if she left, and she’d done it anyway. Regardless of her reasons, she’d caused him so much pain. “How can you even stand to be near me?”

  “Because you mean something to me, Kat. You did three years ago and you do now. I’m here because I want to be. I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to accept or if it makes you feel guilty, but deal with it. Once this mess is finally over, you can walk away with a clear conscience.”

  His face looked as hard as his words. She’d hurt him again without meaning to. There was only one thing she could say that might make it better.

  “And if I don’t want to walk away, Conlan? What if that’s the last thing in the world I’d want to do?”

  He slammed on the brakes and turned to face her. “Don’t say things you don’t mean, Kat. My friends think I’m a fool for helping you, and maybe I am. Believe me when I say that I don’t want or need your pity.”

  “But, Conlan, that’s not what I meant.”

  He drew a deep breath as if praying for patience. “Look, can we just concentrate on making it through the next twenty-four hours? Once we’ve retrieved the flash drive, we still have to run the gauntlet back to civilization.”

  “Okay, but we will finish this discussion, Conlan,” she insisted.

  They rode on in silence. Finally, she pointed ahead. “There’s the crossroads. Turn left and then into the driveway. We should be there within ten minutes.”

  As he drove, Conlan was craning his head, looking in all directions. “It seems odd that no
ne of these fields have been planted this year. Why aren’t there any other houses in this area?”

  “All this surrounding land belonged to my brother-in-law, who was the last in his direct family line. When he died in a farming accident, ownership passed to my sister to hold for my nieces.” She bit her lip. “However, since I’ve kept them under wraps for three years, I heard the vampire clan that owns the rest of the estate filed a petition to claim ownership. The case must still be pending if they haven’t moved anyone in to work the land.”

  Conlan was frowning big-time.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked,

  “Well, if there were other people around, it would make it harder for the mercs to have set a trap for us. On the other hand, it makes it unlikely that any innocents will get caught in the cross fire if they have.”

  She didn’t want to believe they were walking into danger, but that sense of foreboding had only worsened as time went on. “How would they have had time to set up a trap? They only just found us back there.”

  He glanced in her direction. “If we’d stayed on the road to the main entrance to the estate, how much faster would we have gotten here?”

  She did a mental calculation. “About twenty minutes maybe. The roads are better, and the driveway is closer to that entrance.”

  “So by forcing us off onto that dirt road, they slowed us down. If all they’d wanted was to kill us, they could’ve been waiting at the river or even shot through the trees. Instead, they waited until we were well on our way to your sister’s place by that dirt road and then pulled back.” He clenched the steering wheel with a white-knuckled grip. “I might be wrong, but I have a feeling someone is waiting for us up ahead.”

  “So why are we still going there?”

  Conlan slowed the vehicle down to a crawl and drove off the road, aiming for a ramshackle barn that looked as if it would fall over in a good stiff breeze.

  “Because we need to end this one way or another. Besides, right now I’m thinking they’ve got someone watching the main entrance to the estate to see if we’re going to make a break for it in that direction, as well as still watching the road behind us.”

  While he carefully maneuvered the transport through the open door of the barn, she asked, “Why are we stopping?”

  “It would be smarter to make our final approach on foot. They already know we’re coming, and the transport makes for a nice big target.”

  Conlan stared out the window for several seconds before finally turning to look at her. “I’ve got a real bad feeling about what’s waiting for us at the end of that driveway, Kat. I promised to keep you safe, and that means keeping you out of the line of fire. I want you to tell me where you hid the files and then wait here for me to come back. Then we’ll call Ambrose and tell him what’s going on.”

  She gave him a measuring look. “I can’t believe you even suggested that, Conlan. This is my fight. Period. End of discussion.”

  “Kat, please—”

  “No, Conlan. I know we don’t know what we’re facing, but I won’t be left behind.”

  He shot her a disgusted look and pulled out his phone, probably calling either Ambrose or Rafferty. She didn’t care who he talked to as long as he quit trying to leave her behind. While he waited for his friend to answer, she leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes and prayed. Please, God, let this end tonight, and keep Conlan safe from harm.

  Chapter 17

  Conlan counted off the rings, reaching eight before Ambrose finally answered.

  “Where the hell are you?”

  He smiled at the rough concern in the other chancellor’s voice. “I’m guessing you know exactly where we are, Ambrose. What you really want to know is why we’re sitting here in the middle of nowhere.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Kat hid copies of her research near her late sister’s place. We were on our way to retrieve it when we picked up some company. Eddington must have deep pockets to keep funding this much firepower. Mercs equipped with helicopters and rocket launchers don’t come cheap.”

  “I’m guessing they’re the ones responsible for those new craters in the road. Until you called, Rafferty and I were trying to figure out if you’d been vaporized by one of those shots.”

  Conlan pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke, trying to forget how close those rockets had come to doing just that. “We think they were actually trying to herd us. When the second shot hit right behind us, we cut across country to a back road that delayed our arrival by about twenty minutes. Probably so their welcoming committee could get in position.”

  Ambrose let loose with an impressive string of curse words, all shouted at top volume so that Conlan had to hold the phone at arm’s length. Even Kat was smiling at his creativity. When his temper wound down a bit, Ambrose spoke again.

  “Rafferty and I are coming in behind you, and my men are driving around to the main gate. You stay parked right where you are until we get there. Then we’ll come at them from both directions.”

  As appealing as that scenario sounded, it wasn’t going to happen. Not with an all-too-familiar sound growing louder by the second.

  “Sorry, no can do, Ambrose. The helo is back. I’m guessing we’ve taken too long to reach the farm, and they’re getting antsy.”

  “Then hold out as long as you can. We’re on the way.”

  Conlan hung up and opened his door. He paused long enough to ask, “Kat, I don’t suppose you’d wait for the second wave to arrive?”

  Kat was already climbing out of her side of the transport and came around to his side. “Give me a gun and let’s go.”

  He retrieved his pack from the backseat. “Let’s get out of this place. It won’t take those guys up there long to figure out where we went to ground. I wouldn’t put it past them to blow this barn all to hell and back just for grins.”

  They slipped out the smaller door on the far side of the barn, glad that the sun was down. Conlan took Kat’s hand and led her across a field of overgrown grass, knowing her night vision was limited. When they reached the questionable safety of a stone wall, he knelt down and pulled out his spare gun for her.

  He gave both it and his own weapon a quick check and pocketed extra clips. He passed the rest to Kat, although he hoped like hell she wouldn’t need them. Before they could move on, the sound of shouting could be heard coming from near the barn, followed by the sound of running feet. A few seconds later there was a whoosh and then the whole place exploded, lighting up the night.

  Kat’s face was pale in the glow of the fire. “So much for our means of escape. At least they checked to make sure we weren’t in there beforehand.”

  He didn’t bother to point out that the only reason they’d done so was that they needed Kat alive long enough to retrieve the missing research. As soon as they did, both of them were instantly expendable. Hell, he already was.

  “Ready?”

  She nodded. “Do we still have a plan?”

  He wished they did, but that would have to wait until he saw what they were up against. “Survive?”

  Kat laughed. “Good one.”

  He had to taste that smiling mouth one more time. “Come here and kiss me.”

  She stepped into his arms, the way she fit against him perfect as always. Kat cupped his face with the palms of her hands as she raised up far enough to brush her lips across his. He closed his eyes and soaked in the sweet warmth of her touch. But soft and gentle wasn’t what he wanted. Not now. He deepened the kiss, trying to tell her everything he felt but had no words for. If their kiss tasted a little too much of desperation, that was to be expected. It also made it that much more precious.

  Time to get moving. “Stay low, follow me and do what I say.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  * * *

  Cyrus stared out into the darkness. “Where the hell are they?”

  The sergeant in charge of the mercenaries shook his head. “We haven’t located them as yet, sir. They abandone
d their vehicle in a barn. I sent men in to make sure that chancellor hadn’t left the woman behind before we blew it up. They won’t get far on foot.”

  “Fine. Post guards. I don’t want them slipping up on us in the darkness.”

  That the merc immediately looked to Richie to confirm the order made Cyrus furious. He was tempted to remind the idiot who was paying his salary; however, now wasn’t the time to get into an argument about the chain of command. Nor would he admit that he’d made an error in judgment by insisting on coming rather than sending in Richie and the mercenaries to deal with Kat Karr and the mongrel helping her.

  At one time he’d had high hopes that Kat would join the cause, but she obviously had the same taste for trash as her dead sister. It clearly wouldn’t be enough to rid the world of vampires and their chancellor spawn. There’d have to be a purge of tainted humans, as well. To be sure, there would be protests from even among his fellow purists. However, eventually the survivors would understand that it had all been done for the benefit of humanity.

  He would be a hero, even if they didn’t know it.

  Looking around, he shuddered, the darkness giving him the creeps. Humans had always been at a disadvantage once the sun went down. Not for one second did he forget that they were intruding on a vampire estate. He’d gotten permission—of a sort. They’d agreed he could confront a human woman on their land because he’d assured them the outcome would help clear up the title for them to claim the farm for their own use. On the other hand, he’d also promised it would all be handled quietly without bringing the whole affair to the attention of the Coalition Council.

  Blowing up that barn could hardly be considered quiet. Then there was the small problem of Ambrose O’Brien already being involved. That bastard had the ear of every prominent member of the Council. There was no way this was going to go unnoticed. All Cyrus could hope was that the research was far enough along that the scientists working for the purists could replicate it quickly. How sweet would it be to implement it before the vampires and their kin could interfere?