“Don’t even talk about my friends,” Ash growled.
When he saw his father lift his own gun in retaliation, Ash shoved the table on its side for cover and ducked behind it as his father fired several rounds at him from across the room.
There was a split second pause in the shots. Ash darted up from behind the table to shoot at his father again. Quickly, his father ducked behind the kitchen island, successfully dodging the bullets.
They shot at each other back and forth, each of them ducking for cover after each set of rounds.
“You might as well give up now,” Voss called out to his son. “You know you’re no match for me.” A few more shots were fired.
“Your mind games won’t work on me this time,” Ash yelled back. “I’m no longer that sniveling little boy trying to gain your approval.”
Voss sent a few more rounds. “I see you’ve recently grown a spine,” Voss mocked. “But I have yet to see your skills live up to the talk.”
“If you’re so tough,” Ash spat, “maybe you should stop hiding behind that gun and come fight me like a man.”
“Gladly,” Voss yelled back. “Maybe you should come over here and make me.”
The anger burned through Ash’s bones. A lifetime of suppressed rage boiled to the surface.
He rolled swiftly away from the table where he hid and landed behind a group of kitchen cabinets, bringing him a couple feet from Voss. The shooting stopped for the moment, but they each kept their guns aimed.
“I wasted my entire life trying to make you proud,” Ash said in his rage. “I did everything you ever asked of me. But all you ever did was kick me to the curb. After everything I did for you back in California, you just left me there. You literally shoved me from your sight, leaving me to rot in jail.”
“You’re whining like a coward,” Voss criticized. “I tried for years to teach you to be a man. But time and time again you were nothing but a disappointment.”
Ash stood from behind the cabinet, no longer willing to hide. He held out his gun, grip steady and firm. “All those years you spent making me feel like dirt, like nothing, when all along you... you were the worthless sack of slime.” Ash took another deliberate step, his eyes wild. “Never again,” Ash swore. “Never again will I let you trample over me. Never again will I lie down and take your heartless scorn. I will not cower in the corner and take it. I will not lie down and die.” Ash stepped forward, right into his father’s face. His jaw clenched. He jerked his gun to point it straight at his father’s head as his final words shook with fury. “I will make you pay.”
Voss’s eyes were black and cold. “Do it,” he snarled. His hand flew up and clenched the barrel of the gun. “Do it, Ash. You say you’re not a coward, so prove it to me. Prove it to me right now!”
Ash’s eyes glared with rage. He remembered every cruel word his father ever spoke, every moment of misery that thrust him into despair.
A sudden growl tore from Ash’s lips as he lunged forward.
His father jerked up his hand, knocking Ash’s gun away.
Ash threw an angry punch. Nothing gave him more satisfaction than the sound of his father’s nose as it cracked beneath his knuckles.
“I wasted my life trying to please you,” Ash seethed. “But I couldn’t care less what you think of me anymore. I have people in my life who care about me now. People who believe in me and want me to succeed.”
Suddenly, his father’s fist came back at him strong, followed by a swift kick to Ash’s gut. Ash grunted and stumbled backward from the blow. He lost footing and landed on the floor.
“You mean those three weaklings lying on the ground over there?” his father retorted with a scoff. He laughed callously and shook his head. “All I see is a simpleton farm-boy, an eccentric screw-up, and a weak, goofball excuse of an agent.”
Ash picked himself up off the floor and took a firm step forward. “Any one of them is twice the man you’ll ever be.”
His father scowled and lunged toward him. Ash spun his body, thrusting up a kick that tore across his father’s knee, forcing his father to flip forward and hit the floor.
“I can’t believe I ever listened to a word you said,” Ash yelled. “My whole life all you did was try to convince me that I’m nothing, that I’m not worthwhile. But finally... finally I realize how miserable and pathetic you are.”
His father’s eyes raged with anger. He grabbed a chair leg from the floor that had been thrown by the briefcase explosion and swung it like a club at Ash. Ash’s arm shot sideways, blocking the swing. In retaliation, his father threw a right hook, but Ash threw up his hand to block it.
With all his strength Ash jabbed his fist upward, bashing up on his father’s jaw, sending his father’s head flying backward.
“I can’t believe all the horrible things I did to my own friends, and to the people they care about,” Ash continued forward, “I tortured Hamlin and his family, all in the name of trying to make you proud. I can’t believe I ever listened to anything you had to say. But I’m stronger now... I’m stronger than you ever gave me credit for.”
Ash didn’t stop. He threw another quick punch at his father’s face. His father jerked up his arm to block then gripped the nape of Ash’s neck and shoved Ash’s head against the refrigerator door.
His father’s mouth twisted with disgust. “Hamlin has all of you completely brainwashed. Somehow he has you believing that he was the victim in all this.”
In his wrath, his father reached furiously at a knife block on the counter and drew out a large blade. He took a swing with the knife, but Ash jumped back out of the way. His father came at him again, thrusting the knife over his head, but Ash chopped his father’s arm, sending the blade flying across the room. Then, Ash lunged forward and grabbed his father’s chest, shoving his father over the kitchen island. Kitchen utensils scattered across the room as his father landed down to the floor on the other side.
“Hamlin is a good man,” Ash growled. “I’ll regret the things I did to him and his family for the rest of my life. I can’t believe I actually hurt good, innocent people like them to help a repulsive man like you.”
His father’s lip curled with loathing. “Hamlin ruined my life,” he spat. “I won’t sit here and listen to you defend him.” Then, Voss jumped to his feet and charged straight for Ash with all his force, throwing the weight of his body into him, causing Ash to fly back. As soon as Ash’s back slammed against the kitchen counter, his father grabbed at his hair and shoved Ash’s head through a glass cabinet. Shards of glass shattered around Ash’s face.
Ash’s teeth clenched as he pulled out one of the shards. “You had me believe that compassion is a flaw,” Ash snarled, “but as it turns out, that’s exactly what gives me so much strength.”
There were no more words, just pure physical rage. Ash spun back around and grabbed at the back of his father’s head, forcing his father’s forehead to slam down on the solid countertop. All the years of pain bled out in a single moment. With his grip on his father’s collar, Ash used the momentum and flung his father’s body powerfully across the room, forcing his father to thud across the hard floor.
Just as his father struggled back to his feet, they both spotted the gun on the ground right between them. At the same time, they charged toward it and dived forward, but his father’s hand reached the gun a split second sooner.
Ash was just about to take a swing to knock the gun out of his father’s grip when the sound of another voice in the room stole their attention.
“Don’t move,” Rayne commanded. Suddenly Jax was on his feet, gun aimed at them next to Rayne, followed by Honeycutt and his gun a second later.
Before Ash could react, his father’s grabbed Ash in a chokehold from behind, quickly pointing the gun at Ash’s head.
“Don’t think I won’t do it!” Voss threatened. “Put down your weapons.”
A high pitched voice suddenly sounded in the room. Sadie ran forward from the hall. “No, stop!”
she screamed. “You can’t. He’s your son!”
Her presence threw everyone off guard in the room. It was just enough distraction for Ash to slam his head back against his father’s forehead, and then jab his elbow into his gut, allowing Ash to grab his father’s wrist and slam his hand against the edge of the table, knocking the gun right out of his father’s grip.
Jax rushed to Ash’s side, quickly forcing Voss’s hands together in front of him to cuff them with a zip tie.
Ash panted, trying to catch his breath as he stared his father down. Rayne and Honeycutt stepped forward, keeping their guns aimed while Ash continued to peer at his father with every ounce of strength he had left. I won, Ash’s eyes said to his father. I won, and you will never tear me down again.
27. THE DARKNESS
Something urgent burned inside me. I had to wake up. For some reason, the team needed my help in there.
I struggled to find my strength, willing myself out of the deep sleep. I wasn’t sure how I was even doing it, I just desired with all my heart to wake up and somehow my body started to listen.
My eyes blinked a few times as I tried to garner the energy to move. I knew I was forcing myself awake prematurely, but for some reason I just knew that it was what I needed to do. I may not have been at full capacity, but it would be enough.
I took a few deep breaths and pushed myself up in the back seat of the SUV, sitting there for only a second. Then, I made my way out the car door and tried my best to hurry down the dark road in the direction the team had taken.
Luckily, I still remembered the last moments of my vision which revealed the number of the unit just above the garage where Voss had entered. My muscles weren’t quite awake yet. I staggered along the pavement until I found the number I was looking for.
I opened the door cautiously. The building was open and dark but I could see the outline of Voss’s sleek car across from me. A set of stairs stood on the right side. As far as I could tell it was the only way inside. I hurried quickly to them and made my way up.
My heart started to beat in my chest. Not only was my body struggling for strength, my nerves were on edge as well. Something told me I wasn’t going to like what I would find once I was inside.
The front rooms and hallway were dark. I crept through them slowly, taking quiet steps. There was a light at the end of the hall and I could hear banging and crashing noises coming from the distance.
Part of me wanted to turn back. I promised Rayne I would stay in the car. I didn’t know what I was headed for. But something in me couldn’t stop. A force inside me compelled me forward.
As soon as I reached the opening where the light and noise had come, a flash of dread clenched through my body. Voss’s sickening black eyes focused on mine. His hand held a gun pointed right at Ash’s head.
An awful pit twisted in my gut. His own son—he was ready to kill him.
I cried out in terror. “No, stop! You can’t. He’s your son!”
For a split second, everyone’s eyes jerked to look at me. Rayne and Jax both stared at me, stunned.
Ash didn’t hesitate. He seized the chance and slammed his head back against Voss’s face. He grabbed Voss’s wrist and knocked the gun out of his hand.
Rayne’s face continued to stare at me in worried horror, while Jax’s attention went back to the action. Jax hurried forward to grab Voss’s hands and secured them with some kind of plastic band.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Was that it? Did we really just capture Voss?
Finally, Rayne seemed to come to his senses. He gestured to Honeycutt and they both moved toward the others, still aiming their guns.
Out of everyone, I was surprised to feel Ash’s essence the strongest.
Usually I focused on the people I cared about most, but in this case, Ash’s being seemed to call out to me. His own father had used him as a human bullet shield. I felt strongly that if it had come down to it Voss would have done whatever he had to in order to make his escape, even if it meant the death of his own son.
The thought made me sick. I couldn’t imagine how awful it must have been for Ash to grow up with a father like Voss. For the first time, something inside me ached for Ash, for all the horrible things his father had put him through.
Relief poured out from Ash’s being. He finally stood up to his father after all this time. Ash finally felt free.
Once Voss was secure, Rayne rushed to my side. “What were you thinking,” he said, tone full of concern. “You were supposed to stay in the car.”
“I was worried about you,” I explained. “What if you had gotten hurt?” Suddenly, I saw a trail of blood streaming down from the back of his head. I reached my hand up to touch it. “You’re bleeding,” I said in alarm.
“I’m okay. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
My brow creased, not sure I believed him.
“I promise,” Rayne insisted. “I’m fine.”
I shook my head. “No, you have to let me heal it.”
Rayne closed his eyes then leaned down and kissed me on the forehead. “When we get back to the car, okay? Then you can take a look at it.”
I pushed out half a smile, appeased for the moment. “When we get back to the car,” I agreed.
Beside us, Jax shoved Voss forward toward the hallway. Honeycutt followed closely by as they escorted Voss out of the room.
Ash limped a few steps forward, but I could sense that he wasn’t badly injured, just a few cuts and bruises. His face looked tired but relieved.
We followed the other three out into the hallway.
Ash was relieved, but why didn’t I feel relieved too?
We had just taken down the most terrible criminal from all Ambrosia. Why did I still feel so uneasy?
The team made their way down the stairs in the garage, giving each other high fives and pats on the back for a successful mission.
Voss was surprisingly calm. Something about him seemed focused. For a man being dragged to a prison sentence, he didn’t seem all that worried.
The team continued out the door to the street, but something didn’t feel right to me. I concentrated on Voss, searching inside his essence, sure that there was something more he was up to.
As if he could sense the inner intrusion I was making, Voss suddenly glanced back directly at me. A wicked smile crept across his face and he lifted his hands up in front of him. I knew something was wrong, but it was too late to react. Voss tapped some kind of button on his watch, and the next thing I knew, a hot blast of air erupted behind us as the back of the building exploded.
A jolt of pain surged through me as my body slammed down to the ground from the force. It wasn’t enough to make me break anything, but the entire team was knocked off their feet.
I looked up to see Voss burst his wrists right out of the plastic band, freeing himself from his cuffs. Voss grabbed Honeycutt’s gun and tried to wrestle it away. They grappled for only a second, and then Voss hit Honeycutt in the face with the butt of the gun, giving Voss the chance to take it and run away.
The sounds of thunderous bangs hit my ears, as a rampage of bullets pierced through the air.
Without hesitation, Rayne fired back. Voss’s leg buckled beneath him from the shot, but he continued to try to limp away. Voss held up his gun to shoot at the team again, when a second bullet struck him in the chest. My head jerked to the side and saw that Ash was the one who took the shot.
Instantly, Honeycutt and Rayne pounced forward and tackled Voss to the ground.
A wave of relief almost spread through me, when a terrible scene played out before my eyes.
Jax’s eyes rolled back as his hand clutched at his stomach, blood pooling out through his fingers. I screamed out his name. Jax toppled to the ground.
Rayne and Honeycutt wrestled with Voss in the background, but all I could think of was Jax.
“No!” I cried out. “Jax!”
My body was weak. I stumbled to his side and fell to my k
nees. Jax choked as blood seeped from his mouth.
My hands shook as they ran across his stomach. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” I vowed frantically. “I can do this. I can heal you.”
Without another thought I closed my eyes. There had to be enough energy left inside me. I had to save him. This was Jax.
It was so hard to stay calm.
You can do this, I kept telling myself. You can do this. Just like always, just like at the testing center.
My body trembled as I tried to concentrate. I just had to find the negative energy and take it into me.
I felt Ash’s presence suddenly beside me.
Ash took one of Jax’s hands. “Come on, buddy, hold on,” he said urgently. Then, Ash’s face went cold. “I’ll never forgive my father for this, never.”
As I took in Ash’s pain, a wave of anger poured over me. This was Voss’s fault. Jax was lying here covered in blood because of Voss.
He couldn’t get away with this. Voss had hurt the one’s I loved too many times.
I wouldn’t give up, no matter how weak I was. I threw my hand back down to Jax’s body and pulled at the dark energy with all my might.
I continued to struggle, but I could feel the tainted energy breaking free. I had to heal him. Voss couldn’t get away with this. The anger gave me another burst of determination, and I continued to hold on.
Then, something strange began to take over. The injured energy wasn’t surging into me like normal; instead it was being directed away. It was going into another body instead—it was going into Voss’s body.
It was like all the hurt and pain he had caused me was taking over. Somehow, the injury was being healed in Jax’s body and being focused back onto Voss.
A fury grew inside me. I wanted Voss to feel it. I wanted him to suffer like he had made me suffer, and so many other people suffer, innocent people who didn’t deserve the pain.
Voss had used me so many times, like I was some pawn in his little game. He kidnapped me and bled my Watermark dry. He used my mother as bait and shot Doctor Jensen right before our eyes. He dragged me up to a roof and triggered a bullet through my head, point blank. He planted a car bomb, intent to kill my father, and killed Agent Duke instead.
Flood Rising (The Water Keepers, Book 4) Page 23
