by Anne Russo
“Are you forgetting someone?” Vince called after him while Adam dropped his head and let out a low, miserable groan in response.
Chapter 11
Over the next few weeks, Adam did his best to stay out of Ian’s way. Ian made it easy for him by spending time on extra secret assignments from Katherine. Adam picked up from the others that it had to do with them getting near a target, one they’d been hunting for the last several years. When he ran into Ian these days, Adam couldn’t help noticing his disheveled, ill-kept appearance, which Adam found alarming. Ian had always struck him as someone who took pride in his looks, the way he carried himself. Now, he had no trouble stomping around with his hair mussed and bags under his eyes. His clothes wrinkled from having slept in them. If their paths crossed, Ian created an excuse to be elsewhere.
So, it surprised Adam when one day, Ian sought him out. Adam was in the gym, working out, when Ian came into the room. Adam paused, mid punch, and waited to see what Ian wanted. Ian, for his part, stood on the sidelines, saying nothing. Adam rolled his eyes, shrugged, and returned to the punching bag in front of him with renewed vigor. Imagining Ian’s smug face with each blow.
Ian took his time approaching as Adam ignored him. Though, under Ian’s intense focus, the hair on his body stood on attention. The sensation grew as his senses followed his movement—hyper aware of him as Ian drew closer, circling him like a predator stalking a wounded animal.
“Is there something you want?” Adam snapped, catching the swinging bag as he paused, panting and out of breath.
“Yes, Katherine is sending us on an assignment. We leave in three hours.”
Adam stepped toward Ian, unsure. “Seriously? She wants you and me somewhere, alone?”
“Yes, so she indicated,” Ian replied, rolling his eyes.
“Why?”
“I don’t know why,” Ian gritted, stressing the words. “Now get yourself cleaned up and packed for at least two days.”
“Will I have to hurt someone?” Adam questioned, only half-joking.
Ian favored him with a modest half-smile, one Adam hadn’t glimpsed in a while.
“We’ll see,” he returned.
* * * *
It was well after dark by the time they made it to the secluded airstrip. There Katherine kept several private planes on twenty-four standby. On the way, Adam gazed out the window while Ian drove. Adam was frustrated that he hadn’t shared where they were going and why. So far, he hadn’t uttered a word. Adam sighed, head against the window, watching the world flying past him, black and distant.
“You should close your eyes,” Ian offered.
Adam turned in his seat, studying Ian’s profile in the passing streetlights, wondering if the man ever stopped clenching his jaw. “I’m not tired,” he replied.
Ian shot him a dirty look before turning his focus back to the task at hand. “Suit yourself.”
“Your concern for my wellbeing is touching,” Adam retorted with a snort. “I’m fine.”
Ian kept his gaze on the highway ahead, his expression unreadable.
“Where the hell are we going?” Adam added after the silence became too much.
“Miami.”
“What’s in Miami?”
“A job. A quick and easy one if you do what I tell you.”
“You haven’t told me a goddamn thing!” Adam argued.
Ian rolled his eyes and sighed loud enough for Adam to hear but refused to respond to his outburst, which only further sparked Adam’s simmering rage. He hated it when Ian dismissed him as if he wasn’t even worth his time. Furious, Adam had a sudden, wild image of grabbing the wheel from him and crashing them headfirst into a cluster of trees. He’d prefer to die in a fiery car crash than spend another second looking at that stupid, handsome face of his.
“I didn’t have to tell you anything.”
“God! You’re such a prick!” Adam seethed as his rage boiled over. “You don’t get why in the hell I’d want to know whether you expect me to kill someone? Are you that out of touch with reality?”
“Adam, stop, okay—”
“No! I won’t stop. Not until you give me some answers for once!” He was far too wrapped up in his tirade to discern that Ian had stopped trying to reason with him and gone silent instead.
“Asshole!” he snapped. “Stop the car. I mean it.”
Ian ignored his outburst and kept driving. A red haze settled across Adam’s vision, as Ian tuned him out altogether.
“I swear to God, I’ll crash this car if you don’t pull over now.”
Ian flung his head back against his seat and let out a loud, frustrated groan. Relenting, he slowed and coaxed the vehicle over to a nearby embankment. Once parked, Adam flung open the passenger side and stumbled out onto the roadway.
“Get back in the car,” Ian ordered.
Adam turned, face screwed up in self-righteous indignation. “Fuck yourself,” he hissed, slamming the door hard enough to shake and stomped off into the night.
Ian followed him onto the near deserted country road. “Get back in the car. Now.”
Adam ignored him, speeding up, muttering under his breath as he headed up a hill.
“Where the hell are you going?” Ian called after him. “Get back here!”
Whirling around, Adam stormed back. “Stop telling me what to do! You want me to go along with this shit show? Great! But stop keeping me in the dark.”
“Fine, fine, you need answers,” Ian spat. “I’ll show you but come back first.”
“I don’t believe you.
Ian drew in a sharp, ragged breath. “Just hear me out,” he tried again, but the request only made Adam renew his tirade.
“I don’t want to kill innocent people. Fuck, I don’t want to kill anyone no matter what they’ve done. So, if that’s what you expect, tell me now.”
“God, you’re a pain in my ass,” Ian muttered, then surged forward, dragging Adam toward the vehicle. “Please, do us both a favor and listen for once. There’s something you need to see.”
Ian’s entreaty had Adam’s attention. He stopped in his futile attempts to escape. Escape to, he didn’t have the faintest clue. Ahead the route was endless black and desolate in both directions, not a home or car in sight.
“What is it?” He realized he had no choice but to follow.
Ian yanked open the passenger side door and tossed Adam into his seat. Adam sulked, glaring while Ian pulled out his cell. After a few seconds of scrolling, he handed over a PDF file entitled Delgado.
“Read this.” Ian shoved the device into Adam’s waiting palm.
Grumbling, Ian retreated, kicking up a dust and gravel cloud as he stomped off into the night.
Delgado. Recognition dawned. Chloe Delgado, the woman who had kept him company at that party, Ian had dragged him to several months ago. He started reading and wished he hadn’t. In front of him page after page of crimes, too horrific to contemplate.
Chloe Delgado was far from an innocent bystander in her husband Marcus’s atrocities. No, she’d enthusiastically taken part in a long catalog of horrors from gun running to human trafficking.
Adam switched off the device, unable to read anymore. He took a deep breath, fighting waves of nausea, his limbs shaky and rubbery. He pushed open the door and called to Ian’s ominous figure in the distance.
“Is this true? How do I know you’re telling me the truth?”
Ian squared his shoulders as he started toward him. “You don’t.”
“Do I have to hurt them?”
“No,” Ian answered. “Your job is to make sure no one stops me from hurting them.”
“All right,” he announced, after a moment. “All right, let’s go.”
Ian rolled his eyes and got back in the car. He snatched the phone from his hand before peeling away from the side of the roadway. Silent as they headed out onto the dark, lonely stretch ahead.
* * * *
They dressed on the plane ride, black jeans and mat
ching black sweaters. Once landed, Ian tossed him the keys to a parked Lexus. Adam shifted behind the wheel and waited as Ian forged around the trunk, busy gathering items. Watching from the mirror as Ian slid a gun into the back of his pants. Another was strapped to the shoulder holster under his shirt.
He got in and slipped the small caliber handgun he kept in his boot into Adam’s palm. “Just in case.”
Adam glanced at the weapon in hand, fighting a grimace as he took it, concealing it under his sweater.
Ian reached over programming the address into the GPS before settling back in his seat. “Now drive,” he ordered him, so Adam did.
“Am I coming with you?” Adam questioned once they’d arrived at their destination.
Ian shook his head. “No. Wait for me by the docks. Anyone comes across that property line, you handle it. I mean it, don’t fuck up.”
“All right, fine. You don’t have to be an asshole about it.”
Ian led Adam around a neighboring home, leaving him alone where the grounds met the waterline. From Adam’s vantage point, he had an excellent view of the entire rear part of the mansion.
The street stayed quiet; he turned to the calm waters in front of him, trying to calm his anxious mind. A rolling expanse of darkness stretched ahead of him, serene in its vastness.
He closed his eyes, savoring the wet breeze against his face, the ocean’s smell heavenly. For a moment, he tried pretending that he wasn’t stalking someone’s yard while Ian snuck inside to kill them.
Adam’s eyes flew open. They’d come here to kill people. People who deserved to die for their crimes. People able to buy their way through the courts and never held responsible. His mind circled back to the PDF Ian had shown him, the list of atrocities that Chloe and her husband had committed. It didn’t make being an accessory to murder any more comforting. Still, he could live with it, rationalize it, grateful Ian hadn’t forced him to participate.
He heard a faint noise from the front of the property. Adam stiffened, realizing that Ian had taken out the guards milling around the home. The wind kicked up, and Adam shivered despite the warm Miami evening. There were no other sounds except a neighbor’s dog howling in the distance. The properties were far enough apart that privacy wasn’t an issue. The neighborhood was peaceful again until he caught the muffled sound of distant shouts, breaking glass. Adam whirled around, catching two popping noises again. Then dead silence, serenity once more.
Or so he thought until a light in an upstairs window switched on—Adam, horrorstruck—made out the figure of a teenage girl. In terror, she sat up with her pillow clutched to her chest, uncertain. The commotion had awakened her. Even from this distance, Adam sensed her panic. She slid off her bed and padded toward her bedroom door. Helpless, he watched as she gathered her courage and bolted from the room, making a run for it.
Adam panicked, as neither Chloe nor Ian had ever mentioned a kid. Adam surged into overdrive, racing toward the house, tripping over a dispatched guard. He dashed inside via an unlocked screen, plunging face first into a grisly nightmare. One shot each to the head. Clean and efficient, but even precise wounds left a mess. A virtual river of blood and gore flowed from their prostate bodies.
Marcus Delgado, killed while watching a movie on the sofa. The massive television screen in front of him was still playing. The furniture and rugs surrounding his prone body were a violent sea of red.
Chloe, slain as she stepped in from the hall. A crumpled and lifeless form in a pink silk robe, broken glass, and wine scattered where she lay.
Adam sought to steady the pure revulsion that rolled through him at the horror before him. He took a few cautious steps inside the pristine and well-adorned living room. Once a study of luxury and privilege rendered into a scene of madness. He tried to sidestep a puddle of spreading blood and knocked into the side table next to the staircase. A vase tottered and missed falling onto the marble white floors. The noise broke through the flood of panic as both Adam and the vase regained their balance.
He raced upstairs, drawing to a stop when he found Ian on the second floor landing. The girl he’d spied in the window cowered by his feet. Adam’s rushing footsteps catching Ian off guard.
He spun around with his weapon raised. For a moment, Adam wondered if he might shoot him instead. The glimpse of pure rage he caught took Adam’s breath away.
“Goddammit!” Ian swore. “I told you to stay outside.”
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t—” The apology sounded hollow even to Adam as he continued in a rush. “Ian, don’t. Please don’t.” Adam bent over, winded.
“Get your ass in the car now,” Ian ordered.
“No.”
Ian glared at him. “Fine, stay and watch,” he warned, leveling his weapon at the girl huddled on the floor.
“Don’t!” Adam cried as he charged. An act that earned him a savage shove back into the wall, knocking him into the child at their feet. Ian’s eyes blazed with fury at the stunt as Adam placed himself between them. Behind him, the girl whimpered as she dragged herself up to her knees, her sobs verging on the hysterical.
“Stop it,” Adam demanded. “Stop this right now!”
Ian raised the gun back up, steady as ever. The lines of his face were taut with near murderous rage.
“What kind of monster are you?” Adam questioned. “You’d kill an innocent child?”
Ian’s lips curved into a mocking grin as he contemplated his words. “Innocent people die every day. Now move.”
“I won’t,” Adam remained adamant. “You want to shoot someone, shoot me.”
Ian’s smile slid from his face, pure venom when he spoke next. “I will, Adam. So help me, I will shoot you.”
Adam considered calling his bluff for two seconds. And, reconsidered, Ian didn’t make idle threats. Adam braced himself for the shot though he didn’t believe Ian planned on killing him outright. Still, nothing was stopping him from putting a bullet in less vital parts. Regardless of the outcome, he had to try. He didn’t want this girl’s blood on his hands any more than he had wanted her parents. Adam resigned himself to his fate, even if it meant getting shot along with her.
“Go ahead and shoot me,” Adam answered with as much conviction as he could muster. He moved the girl along the hallway, attempting to cover her with his body as she whimpered and clung to his waist.
Ian continued advancing on them, steps strong and purposeful. “Move out of the way. I won’t tell you again.”
“No, wait!” Adam held his palms up. “Ian, please.”
Ian stopped advancing but kept his weapon leveled. Adam shook, glancing from the barrel of the gun to Ian’s eyes, both terrifying.
“Please, don’t shoot. Hear me out first. Okay?”
Ian’s head tilted as if considering the request, expression bleak yet curious. He sighed, lowering the weapon with an irritated huff. “Make it quick.”
Adam let out a shaky breath, trying to sound reasonable. “She’s only a kid, right? Tell her to be quiet. She’ll be quiet. There’s no reason an innocent girl needs to die.”
“And if she isn’t quiet?”
“I won’t stop you from finishing this,” Adam answered, surprised by how calm he sounded, rational. “I swear. But we can’t be people who kill children. If we do, we’re no better than the rest.”
Ian stepped forward, gun lowered, shoving Adam aside. Adam tried to catch his arm as he crowded the tiny girl huddled in the hall’s corner. She was down on her knees quaking, curled into a ball whimpering in fear.
“Please don’t—” Adam tried again, desperate.
Ian turned on him, glaring. “You’ve said enough. Now be quiet.”
Adam hung back, eyes glued to the weapon in Ian’s hand, his uneven breaths steadying the longer it remained at his side. Ian took the gun in hand and tucked it into the holster on his shoulder.
“Sasha, right?” Sasha struggled to meet Ian’s eyes, her entire body shaking, teeth chattering. “Look at me,” he demand
ed. “You’re home early, aren’t you?”
Sasha nodded as she forced herself to meet his eye. Shiny wet tears fell as she nodded, moving as if awakening from a dream.
“That’s unfortunate. You see, I had no intention of including you in any of this.” Ian threw a glance over his shoulder at Adam. “But to appease certain parties, I’m willing to forget you were here. That means you never saw or heard a thing. If you stick to that story, you’ll be fine, but if you don’t, trust me, I’ll find you and kill you. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, yes, I understand. I promise, I promise I won’t tell anyone.”
“Smart girl, you keep that promise, and you’ll be fine,” Ian vowed, turning to address Adam. “You,” he snapped, “let’s go before you try to convince me to adopt her.”
Chapter 12
On the flight back, they sat on opposite sides of the plane, not speaking. Shaken by the scene at the Delgado residence, Adam didn’t have much will to fight with him. An hour in, Ian received a call from Katherine and disappeared to take it up front, out of earshot from him. When he came back, he appeared out of sorts.
“Katherine has a lead worth pursuing.”
“What’s that?”
“A certain someone I owe a bullet has been lurking around again. So that means we’ll be staying overnight at the Plaza while I check it out.”
“The Plaza?” Adam questioned. “Really? You and I on an overnight trip together?”
“Stay out of my way, and we’ll be fine,” Ian grumbled. He retreated and didn’t speak to him the rest of the way back.
Ian remained determined to give him the silent treatment even once they collected the Porsche and drove into Manhattan. They checked in under their aliases, exchanging as few words as possible. Baggage in hand, they rode the elevator to their room, stewing in their respective thoughts.
Ian pushed past Adam at the door, his shoulders squared, face grim and drawn. His entire demeanor screaming, leave me alone.
Adam resented having to trot into the room after him. Annoyed, he switched on the lights, his attention drawn to the enormous king size bed in the center of the room—a single monstrosity piled with dark blue sheets and a solid white comforter.
