by Maddie Wade
“Now you call her a mistake?”
“No, the kiss was a mistake, because she’s too good for me,” Zin growled as Kanan dropped and tried to throw him.
Both men stopped as the sound of a gunshot went off in the room. Jumping apart they turned to the source of the sound and faced a furious Roz, with a 9mm Sig Sauer in her hand.
“Have you two girls finished your squabble?” she asked nastily, a sneer on her beautifully cold face. Both men looked at each other and grudgingly nodded.
“Yeah, as long as he stays away from my sister,” Kanan shot back.
“Yeah well, the feeling’s mutual,” Zin fired back. Roz lifted an eyebrow at Zin then.
“Can you handle Dumb and Dumber?” Zack asked Lucy, as he pointed at him and Kanan.
She grinned at them and then looked at Roz. “Oh yeah, we can handle them,”
“Good. You take point on this, and you two,” he pointed at Zin and Kanan, “how about you stop the pissing contest and start thinking about this woman you both say you care about so much.”
Zin felt contrite and ashamed of himself as he thought about his behaviour. He put his hand out to Kanan, “Truce?”
Kanan took the hand and shook it firmly. “Fine,” he answered.
“Right. Suit up. This is fucking with my honeymoon. I should be inside my wife not hanging around with you morons,” Zack grumbled as he grabbed a flame cheeked Ava and kissed her soundly.
Much banter and ribbing could be heard as they made their way to the weapons room and waited for the info to come through. Zin was quiet as he followed them, his emotions were fucked on this mission, he needed to stop thinking of Celeste as the pretty, funny girl with the mouth-watering tattoos and the hair that smelled like flowers and start thinking of her as a mission.
The problem was a mission didn’t give him the desire to strip her clothes and fuck her all night until she screamed his name. Only his sexy pixie did that.
Chapter Four
Lying on his stomach Zin surveyed the area around the warehouses they had been sent to. It was about ten miles away from the Estate and three miles from where the camera lost them. The area felt abandoned as if all life had fled the place. The metal structures were sound, if a little weather-beaten, but the potholes in the surrounding roads were large, one even had a patch of dandelions growing out of it. It felt forgotten and a bit dismal. Discarded in favour of new shiny structures on the south side of town.
They were picking up five heat signatures inside the building they were monitoring on the east corner and two perimeter guards. He didn’t recognise them as any of the men from the Divine Watchers, but they seemed to have a short shelf life, so that wasn’t what pricked his attention.
It was the fact that these men didn’t seem as trained or as focused as the others. One had come outside to chat with the guard at the front and was having a smoke as he did a perimeter walk. He watched the man take a piss against the side of the building and heard the male snort of derision over the headset. Looked like Kanan agreed with him about their training. You never left yourself open to attack like that, especially not with the family jewels on display.
The day was hot, and the heat from the asphalt under him was warm, but Zin still felt a slither of cold go down his spine as he thought of Celeste inside, injured, and scared. He refused to think of anything worse because when he did his control started to slip, he had already snapped one pair of binoculars in half.
Lucy and Roz were taking the lead on this, and he watched through binoculars as Roz and Lucy came into view. Right on cue, they sauntered over to the three men, hips swinging sexily, seductive flicks of their hair to make the men look, and look they did as the two scantily clad women approached.
This was too good. These men had no idea that they were being stalked by two of the deadliest women on the planet.
“Hey boys!” Lucy giggled, giving them a finger wave. The men crowded around the two women, and Zin felt a flicker of unease as he lost sight of them momentarily. Over the comms, he could hear the conversation.
“What are two pretty little girlies like you doing out this way?” the one with the cigarette in his mouth asked.
“Our car broke down a mile down the road, and we can’t get a signal. Could you help us?” Roz asked in a sickly sweet girlie voice as she rubbed the arm of the door guard. Zin could have sworn he heard a growl over the line and resisted the impulse to smile at Kanan’s discomfort. Serve the fucker right.
Watching in fascination, he waited for the go sign, and it came seconds later. The men turned as one to follow as Lucy walked away giving them a perfect view of her ass in the tiny things she had called shorts
Roz struck with a speed and efficiency that was a joy to watch. Taking a stiletto knife from her waist, she threw it with deadly accuracy, the knife landing in the skull of the man drooling at Lucy. Lucy turned and punched the second man in the throat as he went for his gun. With a strike and twist he was down and lying next to the two Roz had taken out. The entire thing had been soundless and taken less than a minute.
“Time to roll boys,” Lucy said as she dragged the men around the corner from immediate sight.
In a crouched run, Zin crossed the open expanse of space from where he was covering them and joined Lucy, Roz, and a frowning Kanan.
“Did you have to be all over him like that?” he barked at Roz, who arched a perfectly plucked brow at him.
“Really? You want to go there now?”
“Fine,” Kanan said petulantly.
“Right, we have four heat signatures inside. Two in the front and two near the back. I expect Celeste will be in the room in the back,” Lucy instructed. “Roz and K, you take the front, and Zin and I will go after Celeste.” She gave K a hard stare, and he nodded.
“Fine,” he growled.
“Good. On my signal.”
Zin felt the calm descend as his body relaxed and his brain emptied of everything except the mission.
Holding up her hand, Lucy held still and then gave the go sign. Running in behind Roz and Kanan, he and Lucy ignored the noise from the front and made their way to the back of the building.
There was little furniture except for a folding table and chairs, walls in plain corrugated metal, and high beams were overhead. The first door they came to, had no lock and was empty. Zin could hear noises and gunfire from behind them but had complete confidence in Roz and Kanan. He was a bit of prick but an excellent operative.
They came to a second door and as he went to touch the handle a man jumped out from a room opposite. Lucy turned and took him down as Zin exploded through the door.
The room was pristine white from floor to ceiling and in the centre, was a hospital style gurney that was tipped on its side. Stepping inside the room, his weapon up, he moved slowly around the bed.
What he saw nearly stopped his heart. Celeste was lying on her side on the floor, face pale, her beautiful bridesmaid’s dress ripped and dirty. Crouching beside her and with infinite gentleness, he felt for a pulse.
The emotion that flooded his body when he felt the small flutter would have made his knees give way had he been standing. Glancing up he saw the morphine drip that pumped poison into her and quickly closed it off.
Pushing back her satin soft hair from her face, he noticed her shoulder was at a strange angle and deduced she had dislocated it. At least the morphine would help with that. Turning her to her back, he cradled her to his chest as he disconnected the cannula from the back of her hand, leaving the needle in place in case they needed it. He then lifted her gently into his arms, holding her injured shoulder against him to keep it stable.
Anger and rage rushed through him as he looked at her face. She had been minutes away from death and had suffered immeasurable pain at the hands of Rhea Winslow. That bitch had to die, and he would take great pleasure peeling her skin from her skinny bitch body before he ended her sorry life.
Lucy rushed in and stopped. She looked at the arm hanging
limp as he carried her and asked. “Is she—?” but she couldn’t finish her sentence.
Zin shook his head as he strode to the door. “She is fine, but it’s close, and she has dislocated her shoulder.”
Lucy nodded and twisted to Roz and Kanan as they ran in.
K ran to him and looked down at his sister. He went pale until he felt the pulse at her neck and dropped his head to hers on a sob. Quickly pulling himself together he kissed her cheek. “Let’s get some fluids into her to counter-act the morphine in her blood until we can get some naloxone into her to block the morphine receptors,” Kanan said as he dropped to his knees and pulled a bag of saline from his medical kit.
Dropping next to him, Zin gave him access to the IV in her hand but refused to put her down and jostle her arm again, which he knew was bullshit but luckily nobody outright called him on it.
Hooking up the IV quickly, Lucy grabbed the bag as Zin carried her to the SUV with Roz and K covering them. It was a half mile trek to the vehicle they had stashed and as they arrived Celeste was thankfully starting to come around.
Relief flooded him as he felt her squirm and her eyelids flutter as Lucy opened the door and Zin slid in with her on his lap. He felt her panic as she struggled against him and then cried out in pain as her shoulder jarred against his chest.
“Shhh Pixie, I have you,” he murmured against her hair causing the soft tendrils to tickle his nose.
“Zin?”
“Yes, Duska?”
“I knew you’d come,” she slurred.
“Of course, I came,” he murmured as he ran his hand down her arm.
Kanan leaned in and took her pulse a frown marring his face. Zin tried not to smile, but he couldn’t stop the slight tilt at the corner of his mouth.
“Zin?”
“Yes?” he murmured.
“Do you like my tattoos?”
“Yes, Pixie, they are very beautiful,” he replied as his gaze shot to K who shrugged his shoulder.
“I told a lie!” she said in a stage whisper.
“That’s okay.”
“It was about you,” she paused, “and me.”
“Oh?”
“I told that horrid white woman you had licked all my tattoos.”
Zin fought to contain the bubble of arousal and humour that flooded through his body at her words. He saw K cover his eyes and groan as Lucy and Roz laughed. Celeste seemed to settle for a few minutes, and Lucy got into the driver’s seat.
“Zin?”
He almost laughed. “Yes, Pixie?” he replied.
“Do you think Liam likes me?”
Zin felt every muscle strain with sudden suppressed violence at the thought. “Not if he wants to live,” he murmured seriously.
“That’s mean.” She paused before continuing as if the effort to stay awake was too much. “I’m going to buy a boyfriend pillow and call it Zin then,” she said and then went quiet. “It can go with my vibrator. I called it ‘Viper the vibrator,” she giggled.
Kanan shot him a glare turned to Lucy with a look of revulsion. “Please, I beg you, kill me now,” he implored her.
Lucy burst out laughing and undid her window. “Hey, Roz?”
Roz turned after swinging her leg over her bike.
“Can you give K a lift back? His sister is talking about her vibrator, and he is threatening to shoot himself,” she laughed.
Roz chuckled as she looked at K. “Gotta Love opiates,” she grinned and nodded her head at Kanan who burst out of the car like his ass was on fire.
Lucy started the car and backed up. A few minutes later they were on the main road, and Roz and Kanan were tailing them, offering protection from anyone trying to follow them.
“I kissed him and ruined everything,” Celeste said against his chest so quietly he almost missed it.
“You didn’t ruin it,” he whispered.
“Now I’m going to die, and he hates me and doesn’t want me,” she sobbed.
Zin knew the tears were from the drugs and she probably wouldn’t remember it anyway, but her profound sorrow hit him in the chest and caused a pain he hadn’t felt in years. Regret filled him for the way he had treated her. He should have done this with more finesse so that she didn’t get hurt. At least he could protect her now.
“I won’t let you die Pixie. I promise nobody will ever hurt you again.” His eyes raised as he felt Lucy look at him in the mirror and he saw sadness in her face. Sadness, and a little censure. The sadness he understood but not the censure.
The vehicle bumped and hit a pothole and Celeste whimpered in his arms. He tightened his hold and rubbed his cheek over her head before dropping a kiss on it, and all the while he tried to ignore the urgent, clawing feeling of mine that fought for him to listen to it.
Chapter Five
Sliding out of the SUV gingerly so as not to knock the women curled into his arms, Zin walked smoothly towards the magnificent entrance of the Cunningham Estate. The door was held open by Kanan who was looking on anxiously at his sister.
Ignoring the gaggle of women who appeared at the bottom of the stairs, Zin swept past them and took the stairs two at a time, following Kanan who had arranged for the room next door to Doc Turner be readied.
Doc Turner had treated Nate and later Lauren when they had been hurt. On his retirement and with the recent loss of his wife, Zack had asked him to become the resident doctor for the team off the field. The experienced and genial casualty doctor had readily agreed and taken up the post about six weeks ago.
Pushing through the door behind K, Zin gently laid Celeste on the big bed and stepped back so the doc could do his thing. She hadn’t said more after admitting how scared she was, her silence was disconcerting, and he almost wished she had continued her embarrassing babble.
Doc Turner hooked her up to a blood pressure monitor and stuck a clip on her finger to monitor her heart rate and pulse. He added an oxygen mask to help stabilise her breathing. After taking her temperature, he fired questions at him about what he had found when he entered the warehouse. He then gently examined her shoulder. “It may have been dislocated partially, but the joint is in the socket now and seems stable. She should probably get an X-ray on it soon though.”
Zin felt Zack come in behind him as he stood leaning against the wall, his boot resting on the wall, arms crossed over his massive chest. Zack assumed a similar pose as they waited to see how Celeste was fairing.
“What is this?” Doc Turner asked with a sense of urgency as he leaned in close to Celeste’s neck. Zin dropped his arms and moved closer as did Zack and Kanan. Turner pointed to a slightly red mark on the side of her neck that looked like a needle mark. Turner felt around the site, gentleness evident in his touch. When his fingertips brushed the back of her neck, he sucked in a breath through his teeth.
Lifting her hair away he examined it more closely and then tipped his head back. Zack, K, and Zin looked at the doctor expectantly.
“She seems to have an implant or something in the back of her neck. It’s fresh if the marks on her neck are anything to go by.”
The Doc walked to his supplies set up by the opposite wall and started setting up a speed IV with a naloxone infusion. Zin had seen it before when he worked undercover for a Mexican drug cartel, the grandfather of the man he had ‘worked’ for had end stage pancreatic cancer and had overdosed on morphine. Whether it had been an accident, or intentional nobody ever knew, but he thought the latter was more likely.
“Is there any way to find out what it is?” Zin asked.
The doctor looked at him seriously over the top of his glasses. “Maybe. We can use an ultrasound machine to scan her when she wakes up. For now, the priority is getting the morphine out of her system. I’ll set this up and monitor her for the next twenty-four hours,” he said in a sure manner which made Zin feel secure in the knowledge that he knew what he was doing.
“Will she be out for a long time?” Kanan asked as he looked at his sister with tenderness and regret.
“She’ll be out for the next few hours at least, but I’ll stay with her. Go do what you need to catch the arseholes that tried to hurt this little girl,” the doctor said gruffly.
“Call me when she wakes up,” Kanan and Zin said at the same time, their gazes clashing.
“I’ll call you both,” the doctor said with a twitch of his lips.
Zack turned to the door and opened it but turned back. “I need a full tox screen done and a full report on her injuries asap, Doc,” he demanded in such a way that it didn’t sound like a demand. It was one more of Zack’s clever tricks. Making you feel like you had a choice when you didn’t.
Following Zack down the stairs Zin thought of what he had seen and realised he had procrastinated enough, he needed to know so he could deal with it.
“Zack, can I have a word in private please?” he asked as he stopped at the bottom of the stairs with his hands on his hips.
Kanan brushed past him and then stopped dropping his head. He turned abruptly and thrust out his hand. “Thank you for looking after like you did in the car.”
Zin took the outstretched hand and gripped it. “No thanks needed. As I said I care about Celeste.”
Kanan’s jaw tightened, and a muscle twitched as he gritted his teeth. “Yes, I understand.”
Zack slapped his friend on the back and chuckled. “There you are buddy, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“Fuck off Zack,” Kanan hissed, but the fight wasn’t there.
“Zin you want to talk, let’s go for a walk on the grounds. It’s probably the quietest place right now with all these people everywhere.” Zack strode towards the front door, leaving Zin to follow or not.
Time to pay the piper!
The grounds around the Cunningham Estate were a typical English garden design. Stone water fountains with statues of Angels, clipped and shaped topiary hedges, and lush green lawns that any groundsman would be proud of. Zin wondered who did all this work. “Who has been keeping up the gardens?”
