Arrow to the Soul

by Lea Griffith

  “You already have,” Rand reminded him.

  “I’ll burn the world down for her,” he said firmly.

  Rand barked out a laugh. “Now you sound like Gretchen.” He took a deep breath and sat down behind the desk. “Bombardier has gone to ground. He hasn’t returned to Arequipa. The list Gretchen gave us has already been cut in half. The President of China was the tenth name. It’s been a month since we pulled Gretchen from that fucking pit. Her sisters move like a wildfire.”

  “They were molded to kill. It is little wonder they’re efficient,” Adam mused.

  Rand nodded and rubbed a hand down his face. “We’ll need to speak with them. See if they’ll divulge anything. And Ken…goddamn him. I can’t get in touch with him at all. Raines is doing his best to track him.”

  “There’s more to all of this than eliminating The Collective for them, Rand. I cannot put my finger on it and I’m sure we’ll get shit from Gretchen and Saya. I’ll begin tracking Ken, as well.”

  Rand’s eyebrow lifted. “Saya, is it?”

  “She is more than a killer.”

  “What happened to Aziveh?”

  Adam cursed and clenched his fists. “She is still there.”

  “But now there is Saya,” Rand said astutely.

  Adam nodded. “I’m going to check the perimeter. Maybe check in with our guest.”

  “He’s secure. I just checked—nothing is getting to that motherfucker, I guarantee it. I’m going to bed. We’ll meet up in the morning.”

  Adam walked out, looked up and down the hall, swore he smelled plum blossoms, but shook it off. She was asleep. He wanted to make sure the men were doing what they should to make everything safe. So she could continue to rest peacefully.

  •●•

  Arrow rubbed her chest, over the spot where her heart used to be. She’d been soulless her entire life and now her heart was gone as well. He still yearned for Aziveh. It was in his tone. “She’s still there,” he’d said.

  She’d come down in search of him and heard more than she was sure he wanted her to. They thought Ken had the boy. And Trident had a guest. Interesting. But his words about Aziveh ripped her two.

  What was she expecting? She was a killer. Arrow had no reasonable expectation for normality. Bullet may have found something more than death. That did not mean it was meant for Arrow.

  She headed back up to the room he slept in and crawled back into the bed. She pulled his pillow close, hugging it in lieu of him and berating herself for her stupidity.

  Then she waited for him to return.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  He came back with the dawn. Cedar and citrus and something quintessentially Adam assailed her senses and she licked her lips. She had not slept, so when he covered her body with his she didn’t hesitate to open herself to him.

  He kissed her collar bone, her neck, her ear, and finally the corner of her mouth. He didn’t speak and neither did she. She returned his kisses with her own, licking up the column of his throat, biting his jaw, and then rimming his ear with her tongue.

  He hissed in a breath and she moaned. Then when he relaxed against her, she flipped him to his back and came over him, settling her body on his, tangling their hands, and then lifting up and off, to come back down once again.

  Had he not taken her heart, it would have bled for him. Had she a soul, he would have held it in his hands. She gave her body to him in the only way she could, completely. She used everything at her disposal to show him what he meant to her.

  Everything.

  She bit at his lips, licked the injury, and she squeezed him tight inside her, stroking him over and over. It was a thunderstorm of lust. An avalanche of need. She took and she gave and when they both crested the wave of their desire, it was his name she whispered.

  And when he whispered hers in return, she exploded once again.

  As his heart beat beneath her ear, Arrow reconciled herself to the fact she loved him. Because of that she would do something she’d never thought herself capable of.

  She would give him what he longed for and hope it was with joy he remembered Arrow.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  When he woke she was gone.

  “Not a-fucking-gain,” he said brutally as he threw off the covers and dressed.

  He hurried down the stairs and heard noises from the kitchen. He needed to find her. And there she was, sitting at the kitchen table, eating pancakes, and drinking…sweet tea?

  He laughed and everyone looked at him. Adam just shook his head. Saya’s face was blank, giving no indication what she was thinking, but that wasn’t unusual. Both she and Gretchen were nearly impossible to read.

  “Carmelita,” he said to the cook. “It smells delicious.”

  Carmelita giggled and he smiled at her. “You sit, Mr. Adam, and I will serve you.”

  He took the seat across from Saya and finally, she smiled at him. His heart jumped in his chest. Adam winked at her and she lowered her gaze.

  “Bullet and I need to train,” Saya murmured as she took another drink of her tea.

  “Okay,” he responded.

  “Later, we will talk. There are things I need to tell you and things I need to know. We’ll call it information sharing.”

  “Okay,” he said again with a shrug.

  She stared at him and Adam felt like he was missing something, but then Rand walked in.

  “I heard from Ken.” He dropped that bomb and Adam’s appetite disappeared just that quickly.

  Saya went hyper-alert. It wasn’t anything on her face, it was a tactile feeling. He felt her interest in what Rand said, and it bothered him.

  “He’s in Sydney,” Rand said into the silence.

  Saya glanced at Gretchen who nodded. They got up as one.

  “Library,” Gretchen said. “Now.”

  Adam followed the women, wondering what the fuck was going on.

  Saya spoke first. “Why would your Mr. Nodachi be in Sydney?”

  “I don’t know,” Rand told the room. “He didn’t say what his business was, just that he was returning here tomorrow.”

  “Why was he in Sydney, Mr. Beckett?” Gretchen asked. Her voice caused frost along Adam’s nerves.

  “I just fucking told you I don’t know. When he gets back here, we’ll ask him.”

  Saya shook her head. “Not good enough. Bullet, what information did you give Trident?”

  Gretchen’s shoulder stiffened. “You doubt me?”

  “What is in Sydney?” Adam asked into the tension.

  Both women looked at him. In that second he felt like someone walked across his grave. “Blade,” they answered simultaneously.

  “I don’t understand—” Adam began. They gave him nothing but fucking riddles.

  Saya held up her hand. “Who are you holding in the barn?”

  Shock held him immobile. How did they get from Sydney to Blade to the holding room?

  She cocked her head. “Minton,” she breathed out. “You brought that bastard here?”

  “He’s been here before. He killed Mother on this very property,” Gretchen said in a hard voice. Then she turned to Rand. “Why did you not tell me you had Minton?”

  “Because you kill before we get an opportunity to question.”

  “She’ll come here,” Saya said to Gretchen.

  “She’s here already. Can you not feel her gaze?”

  Saya nodded.

  “Whose gaze?” Adam asked Rand and before Rand could answer, both Saya and Gretchen disappeared.

  “They’ve gone after him,” Rand said as he took off out the house.

  Adam followed him and the sight that met his gaze as he came to the barn had his heart stopping in his chest. The tiny Middle Eastern woman who kicked fucking ass in Beijing walked around Minton in the middle of a clearing to the side of the holding barn. They’d fixed the damage after Hunstall had been eliminated. It looked like the structure was still intact.

  No doubt, the woman they called
Bone infiltrated the structure with ease. The women of First Team were a goddamn nuisance. Deadly, but a fucking nuisance just the same.

  Right now, the emphasis was on deadly.

  Her sisters took up a post at three and nine o’clock. Nobody was getting past them to interfere with Bone’s dealings.

  “Don’t do this,” Rand called.

  Bone ignored him. Dmitry joined the scene, face hard, gaze trained on the slight woman Saya said killed with a lust for death.

  “Do you remember that day, Bullet?” Bone called out.

  Her voice was pure, sultry, and reminded Adam of time he’d spent in Israel long ago. Her long brown hair was curly and lush. Her frame was small, her curves subtle. She appeared too small for death…too fragile.

  “I remember, Bone,” Gretchen responded.

  “You remember the blue, blue sky, Arrow?” Bone asked.

  Morning had broken and it heralded death.

  “I remember,” Saya answered.

  Bone struck then, a swift blow to Minton’s shoulder, the one he’d been shot in. He screamed and fell to his knees.

  “Stupid bitch,” he hissed.

  “You called her a waste,” Bone spat as she continued to circle.

  “She was a fucking waste. All you bitches were a waste,” Minton yelled.

  “You spit on her, Minton,” Bone whispered and it was loud. The loudest thing Adam ever heard.

  Bone circled the man who held his head up and refused to cower.

  “I want you to suffer. I’ve waited years for you to suffer, but you’re here now, Minton, and all I want to do is taste your final breath as I snap your neck.” She threw back her head and laughed. “Would you like to fight me, Minton?”

  “I would kill you,” Minton hissed.

  “Would you kill me like you tried to do with Bullet? Or would you have someone else do the work for you? What will you do now that Joseph isn’t here to save you?”

  She danced in and delivered a front thrust kick that knocked Minton on his ass, taking his breath. The crack of ribs was loud in the quiet.

  Adam winced and glanced at Saya. She watched, face blank, eyes burning like heated amber. Sorrow rode her shoulders and he wanted to hold her, but she was death.

  “Don’t do this, Bone,” Rand pleaded. “We need the information he has.”

  Bone looked at Adam, Rand, and finally her gaze settled on Dmitry. Confusion passed over her face but then her gaze returned to Rand. “You need no information this man has. We know everything he knows. And if we deem you fit to share that with you, we will. But this man, Mr. Beckett. This man is mine.”

  “Arrow, she’s coming for you,” Minton said in a screeching voice. His breath wheezed in and out, so perhaps Bone had collapsed his lung.

  “Let her come,” Saya said softly.

  “I should have slit your throat, bitch. Yours and Bullet’s,” Minton said with menace.

  “Had my sight not always been on you, Minton, I’m sure you would have tried,” Gretchen said, and her voice sounded like Saya’s and Bone’s.

  Death. Endings. Darkness.

  Bone stood over Minton now. “I will end this, Minton, much sooner than you deserve. But I want you to say her name once. I want to hear it on your lips.”

  Dmitry took two steps forward, his entire being focused on the scene before him. Adam wanted to know why the man was so intent on what was being said. He wanted to know who was coming for Saya. He wanted Minton’s blood running over his hands.

  “Her name, Minton. Say. It.” Bone punctuated her command with a step on Minton’s hand. The crunch could be heard from twenty feet away.

  Adam winced. Minton screamed in agony. Bone hadn’t stomped on the man’s hand. Whatever she did it was effective. She’d broken his hand with little effort.

  “I won’t say it,” he sobbed.

  Bone stepped behind him and pulled him up by the hair of his head. The man was at least fifty, perhaps older. His features were nondescript. He could have been a Wall Street CEO or someone’s grandfather. Now he was just prey.

  “Give me her name,” Bone said again.

  “No!”

  Bone still held his hair as the man cradled his broken hand to his wounded shoulder. Her gaze she directed on Rand. “You thought at one point that it was my sister, Bullet, who took your wife and child. I think you discovered on your own that my sister would never take innocents. But I would give you the truth before I end this, so you have closure, Mr. Beckett.”

  Rand took a single step toward Bone, but stopped when Gretchen took a step toward him. Adam’s gut churned.

  “He is mine, Mr. Beckett, but Minton is the one who took your family from you. Off-center shots to the forehead. He has no conscience and no ability, but that doesn’t matter because he effectively ended your life that day. To Minton your wife and daughter were nothing more than revenge for the loss of poppy.” She pulled harder on Minton’s hair and leaned down to whisper something in the man’s ear.

  Minton sobbed louder and Bone smiled. It felt like Adam glimpsed hell in that smile.

  “He is mine,” Rand said.

  “No, Mr. Beckett, he is Bone’s. He took your family. But what he did to Bone was worse because she lived,” Gretchen said and Dmitry hissed in a breath.

  “Say. Her. Name,” Bone demanded.

  Minton continued to cry.

  “Arrow, Bullet, it is time for vengeance,” Bone said. “How I wish Blade was here.” Her hands cupped Minton’s head as she stood behind him. “Her name, Minton.”

  Whatever Bone wanted, he was not going to give her.

  “Then I will give it for you.” Bone took a deep breath. “Ninka!” Before the name faded away, Minton’s head was twisted completely around.

  She’d broken his neck in the blink of an eye. Much as Saya had done with Wang, but even more efficiently.

  Killers.

  Silence reigned in the clearing. Then birds began to chirp. Saya and Gretchen were both on their knees staring at Minton’s body. Bone was on hers as well.

  Dmitry’s head was bowed and when he raised his head, his eyes were pinned on the Middle Eastern woman who’d taken life as if she’d created it.

  “Do not come for me, Asinimov. I have nothing for you,” she said clearly as she got to her feet.

  Saya and Gretchen remained on their knees, heads bowed, shoulders heavy with the weight of everything they’d lost.

  Adam wanted to carry the weight for Saya. He needed to tell her.

  “I will come for you, Bone. Doubt it not,” Dmitry promised in a hard voice.

  “Gretchen? Come to me…please,” Rand said aloud.

  Gretchen glanced at her sisters, nodded, and then stood, walking to Rand who wrapped her in his embrace and turned them, walking into the house.

  “Saya?” Adam called out.

  “I am not for you, Mr. Collins,” she responded.

  “Then I will come to you.” And that’s what he did. He walked to her, glancing at Bone who watched him as a tiger watches its dinner.

  When he came to Arrow, she looked up at him and his breath left his lungs. So much pain in her eyes. He would eliminate it all if he could. But taking it away would make her different from the woman who’d captured a heart he’d thought already given to another.

  “Take my hand,” he commanded.

  Long moments passed and he was unsure if she would, but in the end she put her palm over his and he pulled her up against his body. He pulled her up where he could share his warmth with a woman who feared the darkness she walked in every second, of every minute, of every day.

  He glanced around but Bone was gone. Dmitry stood where he’d been before, watching the edge of the trees, face set in mutinous lines.

  Adam couldn’t be bothered with that right now.

  He had to take care of Saya.

  Chapter Thirty

  Arrow waited until he once again found peace in sleep. She’d lost the most vital piece of herself inside of him and it
was time to leave. She didn’t look at him. There was a fear if she did, her steps would falter and there were still so many more to take. She wouldn’t burden this man who’d come to mean more to her than any other.

  She slipped from the room as silently as she’d slipped from his arms. As she came to the front door, she felt her sister’s presence.

  “You’re leaving?”

  “It is time,” Arrow said.

  “He will hunt you,” Bullet replied.

  Arrow hung her head. “For his sake, I hope not. Besides, I am going to give him what he’s wanted for years now.”

  Bullet cocked her heard. “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “His heart,” Arrow said cryptically. “Be safe, sister. We will watch over you. After I finish my business, I will begin the next steps.”

  Bullet held up a hand and dropped it. “Be safe, sister,” she murmured and walked back up the steps.

  Arrow didn’t wait. She walked out the door, a shadow wraith in the night. She let the black slide inside her, suffocating for a few seconds before she overcame it and centered herself.

  There was more work to do. More miles to travel. She smiled up at the moon and began her journey.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  It took Arrow two weeks of intensive search to find the woman who held Adam Collins’ heart. She’d taken position on the ridge above the woman’s village and watched the last day. Her husband wasn’t stingy with his blows, and the woman, probably once beautiful, was now twisted with hate. She wore a burqa that hid her body but her eyes held the pain of years of abuse.

  Maybe once he was out of the way, the woman could find her beauty again in Adam’s arms. She knew he was below her in the village. She’d sent him the location in a coded message three days earlier.

  He’d shown yesterday, Dmitry Asinimov at his side. Though she’d expected Adam, his presence hurt Arrow and she’d wondered at her weakness. He had never lied to her. He’d been candid in the fact Aziveh held his heart. It was why Arrow ventured to this place after all.

  Children mulled to and fro, kicking dirty round balls in the dusty morning. Raised voices could be heard but it was the hut sitting on the uppermost hill that held Arrow’s attention. The man had several wives, and he beat them each accordingly, sparing none his bitter temperament. Yet still they scurried to do his bidding.