Chogan returned his attention to the window, watching as the dirty blond in the tethered blue jeans and torn leather jacket held a tight grip on Keisha’s arm. Gun pointed at her body, hard look on his face. The enemy they didn’t know had been expertly profiled because he knew this was the one cop who would pull out all the stops to gain favor with the men who owned him.
“Come on out Miss Olivia. You come out and she’s free to walk.” He yelled in a staunch New Yorker accent.
“Please, let me go!” Chogan heard Olivia’s voice. She was begging for release just as he knew she would. She was begging him to let her go out there and save the sister who never even cared about her. He would not let her sacrifice her life. This man would kill her. There was no deal making in his mind and Chogan knew that. This was end game to this man and there was no way in hell they were going to lose it.
He only saw one man, but that wasn’t to say their assassin might not be out there somewhere—either on the grounds, or watching from the woods.
“Livvy, please?!”
Between her wretched sister and the crying from the woman on the floor inside with them Chogan was still able to focus. Strong warrior, years in the military, he could handle this; and handle it he did.
“Take the shot,” he spoke into his com.
“No!” He heard Liv yell. He couldn’t explain yet. One loud pop had his woman sobbing loudly but he watched the space in front of them. D-camp was already dragging Keisha toward the front door.
“Coming in,” Chogan said to Skip. Trace was supposed to be on the door, but since he had to hold Liv down there was no way he could do a quick open for D-camp.
It wasn’t until the door slammed shut that Trace released his hold on her, and it was then that he saw her getting up swiftly and running to her sister, realizing finally that it wasn’t her sister that he had been ordering killed.
“You’re alive,” she threw her arms around her and held her. He watched her worry over the woman as if she were a child and he understood why. She hadn’t seen her sister in so long and to see her again like this had her heart near breaking. He had done this. He had kept it from her and he knew his reasons were right, but he wasn’t sure she could forgive him.
“You’re alive. You’re okay,” she surveyed her sister and Chogan was doing the same from a far. There wasn’t a scratch on the woman. He was surprised that the cop hadn’t beaten her into submission.
He saw her Olivia’s eyes connect with his. He felt the tightness in his chest as if a boulder had fallen on his heart. ‘Thank you,’ she mouthed silently to him and the weight eased a little. He could only nod, silently thanking the gods she hadn’t hated him for his actions. He was sure she knew how much he hadn’t told her because they were ready for this, because he had given the order for her to be held down. There was no way to pretend he didn’t know this man had her sister.
“You!” Keisha pushed her away and Olivia stumbled backwards and would have fallen on her behind had Trace not snaked an arm around her waist to stable her. He and his men felt confusion. They had just saved her life. What the heck could she be this pissed off about?
“Why can’t you just die already?”
“Wh—what?” He watched Olivia’s spine and shoulders stiffen as if she were prepping for battle. This was the kind of relationship they had, and apparently years apart couldn’t even fix that. “These guys just saved your life, Keisha.”
She laughed sarcastically. “These guys just messed up my life. I had a deal with that Brit that I get you to come out the house and he would pay off what I owe to Cordova.”
“You…you were going to set me up?”
“He just wanted that cop to bring you back to wherever he is. I don’t care what he does to you. He promised to pay off what I owe if I did this. I owe a lot of money to the wrong people.”
“Again, Keisha?”
“They increased my limit like they always did so I could keep playing. That casino truck is awesome. We go all over the U.S. playing the games and avoiding the cops. Never been caught yet. Sadly,” she said as if she couldn’t even fathom the wrongness in her words. “They increased my limit until I hit three million down and cut me off. They wanted payment I didn’t have and they wouldn’t let me play to try to get it. I’m in deep and if I hand you over to that cop who would take you to that Brit he said he would pay it all off for me. Cordova is not a man who won’t hurt you for his money you know.”
“You never learn do you? You never learn, Keisha!”
“I learned. I mucked it up last time with Mom and Dad, but the props it gained his mistress’ little brother with the gang for knocking off our parents was enough to get him to erase my debt.”
“You had Mom and Dad killed?”
She laughed. “I’m the one who told them what trains were best to take, what times of day…you know, Chicago was my hot spot during my college days. They trusted me. Had I known Dad’s life insurance and will left everything to you, and that he had taken a severe cut in the policy while dropping Mom from it I would have tried to get it so you would be on that train with them.”
He watched anger take over his men’s faces as if they wanted to kill the woman. What he hadn’t seen was the rage inside Olivia that erupted like Mt. St. Helen as she gave a hard right to her sister’s face, knocking her out cold.
He heard the sob that tore from her throat and he resisted pulling her into his arms. He didn’t have to wait. She turned directly toward him and nearly ran into his arms. He wrapped both of his arms around her and held her tight. His gun still in hand with the safety on he looked at his men and gave them one silent order—clean up and prepare for the final war, and in that order they knew what he meant. D-camp dragged—dragged, not carried—Keisha down to the basement where Chogan knew he would tie her to something she wouldn’t be able to get away from until they could figure out what to do with her. Turn her in to the cops or give her back to this Cordova guy and let him handle her were definite options right now.
Skip and Trace secured the house and checked everything to make sure they were alone, while D-camp, once finished with Keisha, took care of the body outside. Chogan estimated hours, not days, before the final battle commenced. They had to be ready, and he couldn’t help with the prep if he kept holding her in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he loosened his grip. She stepped back and looked up into his eyes.
Her lips trembled as she shook her head no. “You saved her even if she didn’t deserve it. I thank you for that. And you saved me from doing something stupid,” she nodded. “You saved me from sacrificing my life to save hers. I more than thank you for that, Chogan. I’ll sit here while you work okay? I’ll be right here.” She sat down at the table and he nodded. He believed her and since he didn’t have a shadow of a doubt within him he left her at the head of the dining table so he could finish helping with the prep work finalizations.
“Um…” Chogan looked around the table, Liv still sitting there silently as her sister yelled out insults from the basement. “We’re almost good to go then.”
“Yeah.” Trace’s voice held a hard edge. All the men were getting tired of Keisha but they were all trying to hold on to their anger for two reasons; the first being that distraction could get them all killed, the second being that they were all more worried about Liv now. She had gone quiet, drawn within and the thanks she had given to him seemed lost to her now. Chogan wondered if she was rethinking her stand she took before he went out to secure the grounds.
“Liv,” Chogan tried to get her to speak and she ignored him. He didn’t know what that was about, but she was definitely ignoring him.
“So what is it that you’re all doing again?” She looked at Trace and he looked hesitantly at him expecting the all clear. Chogan nodded. She could have asked him, but she wasn’t talking to him right now.
“Just testing things, making sure they’re working.”
“Oh,” she nodded. “So what’s this her
e?”
“Standard revolver. It’s not my favorite, but I won’t put a weapon on the sideline,” he said as he cleaned the gun.
“And this?” She traced her fingers over another weapon and Trace stopped what he was doing to look and answer.
“This one?” her fingers graced yet another weapon. This was like schooling Liv on weapons of choice that he was going to be sure she didn’t feel the need to use anyway—not to mention the fact she wasn’t trained to handle them.
“Taser,” he said. “It was a gift, one I never use, but you never know when you might need it.”
“Taser,” she nodded. “I see.” She said as she grabbed the weapon, stood up so quickly her chair almost hit the ground and walked away just as suddenly. He and the rest of the guys were behind her fast, but not fast enough. By the time they got to the bottom of the basement steps, Liv had already discharged the weapon finally silencing her sister.
He watched as she turned the Taser to the side and looked at it, shrugged and handed it back to Trace. “It works,” she said as she swiftly ascended the stairs.
“Oh hell,” Chogan said as D-camp checked her sister’s pulse line.
“She’s alive,” he said with a hint of regret in his tone. Chogan understood the anger in all of them, but he also knew killing her sister would change Liv in more ways than one. Death by Taser might be rare, but it did happen. Add untrained handler to the mix and anything could have gone wrong.
He went up the stairs looking for her and when he didn’t see her in the dining room he kept going to the second floor. She wasn’t in the bedroom either. The front door hadn’t opened and closed; he would have heard it if it had.
“Liv?”
“In here,” her soft voice called to him from the entertainment room and he went swiftly to her. She was on the couch with her head resting on the arm and her legs resting outstretched on the couch.
“Liv?”
“I hate that woman. I mean I hate her. Before, when I thought my parents’ death was just senseless violence I could deal with it, but now…this. How does something that evil come from such goodness, Chogan? How? How does that happen?”
“Liv,” he placed his hand over her hand that was resting on her stomach. Thankfully she hadn’t pulled it away from him.
“Live or die that woman is nothing to me now.”
“You’re not going to die.” He bit his jaw trying to curtail the anger he felt building. She wasn’t going to die on him. He would not lose her.
“I wasn’t talking about me, Chogan. I know you won’t let me die.” Her softened eyes looked up into his and he could see her complete surrender to him. She had given him everything, every part of her heart, her mind, her body, she was his completely now; he had no doubt of that.
“Maybe the doctors gave my parents the wrong baby. Yeah…that’s it. Because there is no way that spawn of Satan came from my mother and father’s DNA.”
“Liv,” he used his hand to brush the fallen spiral of a curl out of her face. “I know this hurts. I know it’s a lot right now. I’m here for you. We all are.”
“I know.”
“When you wouldn’t look at me, you wouldn’t talk to me…I was worried about us.”
“Don’t worry. I’m yours and you’re mine. I wouldn’t look at you because I knew you would see my rage in my eyes. Maybe I knew you would try to calm me and then I would have taken it all out on you. It wasn’t your fault and I didn’t want to make it your fault. You should thank me.”
“I should thank you?” The shock resonated in his voice loud enough not to need explanation.
“Yep. I shut her up for you.”
“What?”
“Oh please, like I didn’t notice the way your hand was tightening on your weapon. I saw that even if you didn’t know I saw it. You and the guys looked like you were restraining going down there and shooting her.”
He heard the laughter outside the door.
“I knew they were there too. Guess you rubbed off on me.”
“In more ways than one,” he grinned and winked at her. “Come on in guys. We know you’re out there.”
They stepped inside and all shoulders shrugged as he shook his head. “Sorry about that, Olivia. We wanted to check on you and make sure you’re okay.” Skip’s voice was honest enough. His team really did care about her.
“Thanks guys…for everything, and especially for watching his back. I really couldn’t bear to lose anybody else I love.”
Chogan placed a kiss on her forehead. “Thanks,” he said. “For making sure none of us committed outright murder.”
She laughed a real laugh this time. “God, I’m sorry,” she said between trying to catch her breath. “You guys are all awesome. I needed to laugh. Thanks, especially to you,” she sat up and wrapped her arms around him. She whispered softly in his ear. “Later you and I can, you know,” her teeth nipped his ear as she purred softly. He felt his body go live with sexual need. This close, her sweet citrus scent and soft feminine form had him hot and wanton.
“I like it hard, but I loved it soft too.”
His hand squeezed her waist hard. “There was nothing soft about it.”
She giggled. “Not that, my love. The way you made love to me…softly…I liked that too. We should do it again.” Her voice was a soft whisper but he knew the men could tell, if not from her, but from him, what words were most likely being exchanged even if they couldn’t hear them. He saw them, out the corner of his eye, exiting and D-camp sliding the door closed behind him.
“We can’t do this right now,” he strained to get those words out.
“Yes we can,” she said as she pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him. The woman could unbalance him, which was something nobody had really been able to do, but she had. She had mounted him just as swiftly and gotten his arms pinned above his head just as quickly. He could get free, but gods, he didn’t want to.
“We can do it right now, right here. In fact,” she slid the tip of her tongue over his lip. “I’m going to do it just fine,” she kissed him lower as her fingers tugged at his shirt as she tried to pull it from tucked in his pants.
“I’ll do it better than fine,” she said as she tackled the zipper on his pants. The woman was setting him on fire and all he wanted to do right now was strip her bare and sink into her. He gritted his teeth to control himself. She needed this control. She needed this and he would allow her to have it—for as long as he could anyway.
Chogan had gotten minimal sleep and Olivia knew part of that was because he was finely in tune with her body and every time she woke up he seemed to wake up too, but part of it was the fact that he and the men were rotationally keeping watch. Add her witch of a sister into the mix and things were more than uncomfortable for all of them. She had offered to test out the Taser again, and while Skip looked as if he were contemplating voting a yes on her doing it, the guys turned down her offer.
D-camp had been great. He was the one who took Keisha food. Olivia had figured she would do it, even though she wanted nothing to do with that woman, but the guys thought better of it. If Keisha needed anything it was D-camp who took care of it. Olivia was sure they picked him, not just because he volunteered, but because he was the only one of them Keisha was afraid of so she didn’t feel free to pull anything with him.
The day had been quiet, for the most part, and Olivia had sat off to the side downstairs and fell asleep in the chair a couple times. She had told Chogan the altitude would wear her down for a while and it was definitely doing that. The only difference now was that instead of sleeping all the way through like she had before, stress was keeping her limited to short bursts of nap time.
By nightfall things started to go downhill fast. Alarms started being tripped and the guys were back in high alert mode—if they had ever left it that is.
Chogan’s connections with this Autumn Kitsap had cleared the way with the local law. They knew about the dead cop, but due to Autumn and whateve
r powers she held, federal calls went to local powers that be and local law stayed off the property. To have such connections and such power amazed Olivia. She knew Chogan had made a lot of friends, allies, maybe even something stronger, but this was just amazing. He was calling in favors, and he was doing it for her. No man, since her own father, had cared that much about her safety, her life, and her happiness.
Chogan didn’t need to tell her to stay put because she wasn’t moving anyway. She was busy watching these men and their expert skills put to action, but mostly she was watching Chogan. He enthralled her. This was her man, her warrior, protector, lover and mate.
“Two in the west,” Skip said. “One just went off closer to the house.”
“That’s him,” Chogan said. The men didn’t question his assessment and while she wondered how he knew the one closer to the house was the assassin she didn’t ask.
“I’m on this,” Skip said and Tracer went with him. D-camp took the basement and Chogan gave her one look that told her he was vowing to end this here, now, tonight, and that she would be free afterwards. He vanished, not in one of those fantastical ways, just in the way a man on a mission would vanish—silently, cautiously, and determined to get end-game their way.
But now she sat there alone, wondering what she should do. Should she move? Should she find a safe hiding place like she had done on that day that sealed her fate and pushed her into hiding? Chogan hadn’t told her to stay put, but she got the feeling he wanted her to stay where he knew where she was so she sat there, trembling with fear for the men who were protecting her, for herself, and for the possible love she could lose. Chogan wouldn’t let her die, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t end up sacrificing his life to save hers.
She wrapped her arms around her knees. The only thing keeping her from burying her head upon them was her realization that she needed to be able to see what was coming at her. The thought hit her that she needed to be able to run too and she couldn’t do that as she sat.
The thought hit her, but a little too late. She hadn’t even gotten her feet off the couch when she saw that brute of a beast come from the shadows. His gun drawn and pointed at her with an eerie smile on his face. He had won. And if he had won then that meant Chogan and his men had either lost, or were too far away to help her.
Kill List (Special Ops #8) Page 12
