by Kaylea Cross
He’d known too much. Then he’d panicked, and talked too much. So she’d slit his throat and left his severed tongue lying on the floor for talking too much.
Rahman’s killer had hated him too. Janelle felt a rush of pride and affection.
Ah, Kiyomi. So full of fire and resolve even after all you’ve been through.
Was it any wonder why she was Janelle’s favorite? And if Janelle was right about everything she’d hypothesized so far, then now that Rahman had been dealt with, Kiyomi would be going back to the UK as soon as possible. To where she and the others seemed to feel safest right now. Janelle’s hired team had failed, but this might give her a way to finally track her prized target.
“So we’re not implicated in any way?” the woman asked her. “There’s no way for them to trace anything back to you? One of the men you sent is still missing. Rahman might have talked.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She wasn’t worried. Rahman never knew her identity. But for precaution’s sake, she needed to be proactive and act accordingly. “What about the surveillance team in the UK?”
“They haven’t seen anyone coming or going from the estate yet.”
“Tell them to drag it out for another few days. We may see something by the end of the week.” If the Valkyries had been staying there, it was possible that a team of them had flown to Syria to provide Kiyomi with backup.
Janelle would have to search recent flight data in and out of airfields near Damascus. “Inform me if you find out anything more. In the meantime, I’m initiating the next phase and mobilizing the others. Stand by for further orders.”
Disconnecting, she began packing up her designs. She’d always lived a nomadic and somewhat Spartan existence, never knowing when she would need to move, and not wanting to leave any damning clues behind.
The trio of framed photos on the windowsill were the only indications as to her true identity. Two were links to her past, and the most likely key to her future. The third represented the dream she’d longed to achieve for almost thirty years.
She packed them away where they wouldn’t be seen amongst her things. Moving quickly, she gathered up her sparse belongings and her weapons while her next moves formulated in her mind.
In her closet she paused, her eye catching on her reflection in the mirror hung on the back of the door. The image was still somewhat of a shock, almost as if a complete stranger was staring back at her.
The woman in the mirror bore no resemblance whatsoever to the one she was inside. In her mind’s eye she was still young and beautiful with a hard, toned body, able to seduce any man she wanted. All that might be behind her now, but the future was more promising than ever.
No one knew what she was capable of. The only ones who had, were all dead.
Her gaze hardened in the mirror. Green eyes that reminded her too much of people from her past. They turned cold as she fought the rage that had been her constant companion since childhood. Her entire life had been a competition. A fight to prove she was the best.
Eliminating competition came as naturally to her as breathing. Once she set her mind on something, nothing would stand in the way of achieving her goal, and it was no different now. If she could do what she’d done to start the Program in the first place, nothing else even came close.
Sacrifice was necessary—as long as she was the one who came out on top. And she always would, because she was a survivor.
She drove out of the garage and closed the remote-controlled door behind her. A cleanup crew was en route. By the time they arrived, she would be waiting to board her plane to the UK.
Her Valkyries were proving a difficult target thus far. That only made the hunt more enjoyable, the outcome more satisfying. Now it was time to join the hunt in person.
Janelle smiled fondly as she drove toward the freeway. She was so damn proud of them all. It would hurt to kill the thing she loved most, but nothing worthwhile ever came without loss.
As the original Valkyrie, she knew exactly what it cost to come out on top. Once she had the final piece she required, she would begin her lifelong ambition of creating a new force of the most perfect female assassins the world had ever known.
****
Was this real? Sometimes it was still hard for Kiyomi to believe.
She had never dreamed that she would ever allow her heart to get involved when it came to a man, but Marcus made it impossible not to.
In the safehouse living room she quickly packed up the last of her gear into her duffel and caught herself watching him as he did the same. The moment she looked at him, a sharp pain pierced her chest.
In the space of a few days, everything had changed for them. He’d unlocked something inside her she hadn’t known existed, and now the thought of losing him tore her up inside.
No, she told herself sternly. You know there’s no choice. It’s safer for him if you go. You knew when you first slept with him that this was only temporary.
She laced up her boots and picked up her bag. Shutting off and compartmentalizing her feelings wasn’t so easy where he was concerned. Every time she looked at him she remembered what it was like together, the way he touched her. Like magic. With him she never had to pretend, be someone else.
He straightened, duffel in one hand and cane in the other. Tall and strong. Proud. “Ready?”
“Yes—”
Trinity rushed into the room, her expression grave as she held her phone to her ear. “Understood. We’re moving now.” She ended the call just as Eden stepped into the room. “That was Megan. Some of Rahman’s people are on their way here.”
“What? How?” Kiyomi demanded.
“Probably CCTVs around his compound. We’ve got two minutes to vacate the premises.”
Kiyomi snatched the keys from the counter. At this point it didn’t matter how the enemy had found this place. “Let’s go.”
There wasn’t time to wipe down the place properly. Everyone grabbed their gear and hurried to the van. Kiyomi slid into the driver’s seat and had the engine running while the others piled in. Trinity got in beside her, Marcus and Eden in the back.
“Go,” Marcus said as he slid the side door shut after him.
Kiyomi hit the gas. “Where am I going?” she asked Trinity.
“Just head east for now.”
Kiyomi turned right and began to weave her way through the residential neighborhood. Trinity was checking the GPS on her phone. “Left at the light up ahead.”
She did as she was told, but a few hundred yards after she’d made the turn, in the rearview mirror she spotted a black SUV weaving erratically through traffic behind them. Whoever it was, was in a helluva hurry. “Someone’s coming up fast on our six,” she said, and ducked down a side street just in case.
Sure enough, the SUV skidded around the corner seconds later.
“Hang on,” Kiyomi said, and stepped on it. She veered left at the next street. The traffic was light, but a high-speed chase through an area like this was still dangerous. “Get me to a highway,” she told Trinity.
Marcus and Eden were both swiveled around in their seats, looking through the back windows. “He’s still back there,” Marcus said.
“I see him.” Searching for a place to lose them, Kiyomi was forced to slow to maneuver around other vehicles.
“Straight ahead three blocks, and then a hard right,” Trinity told her, eyes on her phone.
Kiyomi darted around a delivery truck, then slammed on the brake to avoid a head-on collision with a bus. Horns blasted as she yanked the wheel, narrowly missing both vehicles. Behind her, the SUV jumped onto the sidewalk to pass the snarled traffic.
“Two more blocks,” Trinity said.
Kiyomi saw the turn up ahead. “Get ready,” she told the others, then hit the brake and made a sharp right turn, accelerating as the back end of the van swung around. “Now where?” she said to Trinity.
“Right at the light, then first left. Highway’s right there.”
There
was too much traffic backed up at the light. Kiyomi turned into an alley before the intersection. It was narrow, with only a few inches of clearance on either side of her mirrors.
When they were partway up it, the SUV tore around the corner. Sparks flew as it lost its mirrors on the walls of the first building, but it kept coming.
“Front passenger’s lowering the window,” Marcus said. “Rifle. He’s getting ready to fire.”
Kiyomi floored it. Up ahead she could see traffic passing the end of the alley. She couldn’t afford to slow down. Had to risk a collision and burst through the intersection. “Brace,” she snapped.
She shot the van out of the alley. Swerved to avoid the truck coming right at her, then darted between two other vehicles going the other way as she crossed the intersection. Tires screeched and horns shrieked. “Left?” she said to Trinity.
“Yes, then immediate right.”
Kiyomi made the left turn, caught sight of the SUV to the left as it sped past them up a different street. Losing sight of it sent a wave of cold through her gut. “You see it?” she asked the others.
“No,” Marcus said, looking around intently.
She kept going, driving as fast as she dared. If she could get to the highway, she might be able to lose them.
The van’s tires squealed as she took a fast left. Ahead, the SUV was coming right at them. “Shit.”
Throwing it into reverse, she whipped them into the next alley she found, skidding into it backwards. She hammered the brakes. Dead end.
“Stop here,” Marcus commanded, reaching for his door handle.
She brought the van to a rocking stop. Marcus jumped out, Eden diving after him. Kiyomi put the transmission back into drive and crept forward, following them.
Near the end of the alley Marcus crouched down on one knee, gripping his pistol in both hands. Eden was off to his right, mirroring his pose. “They gonna try to shoot out the tires?” Kiyomi said to Trinity.
Before Trinity could answer, Marcus and Eden raised their weapons almost in tandem and fired a quick burst. A second later they both stood and hurried for the van, Eden in the lead, while Marcus faced the street with his weapon still up, his gait uneven as he moved backward toward them.
An instant later a loud impact reverberated just out of view. Eden jumped in the open door. Kiyomi sped forward to meet Marcus, who practically dove inside. “Go right,” he barked, reaching for the door to slide it shut.
Kiyomi stomped on the gas, yanking the wheel to the right when they reached the street. The SUV was a crumpled heap behind them, its front end smashed into the brick building. Men were climbing out of the wreckage, weapons in hand as they turned toward the van.
“Down!” Marcus commanded.
They all ducked as shots cracked into the back of the vehicle. The rear window shattered but they didn’t hit the tires. Kiyomi raced for the next road and turned a hard right, veering out into traffic. As soon as she’d steadied the vehicle she looked in the rearview.
Trinity whipped around to look in the back. “Everyone okay?”
“Yes.” Eden popped upright, then Marcus, and Kiyomi’s heart began to beat again.
She kept her eye on the mirrors as she finally got them to the highway and put distance between them and the shooters. There might be others coming. “Where to now?”
“Airport, eight miles out,” Trinity replied, dialing someone from the other part of the team.
Thankfully the rest of the journey was uneventful. The others were waiting when they arrived, and the jet was fueled and ready. “What happened with the prisoner?” Kiyomi said to Megan as they climbed aboard.
“He’s currently being transported to a secure holding facility by the Brits for further interrogation,” Megan said, then cut her a look sharp enough to slice through metal. “He didn’t know the Architect’s identity either, but the data on his phone has the same Atlanta number that was on Rahman’s. You’re lucky,” she said with a bite to her tone. “Lucky you’re still alive after that stunt you pulled, and that you didn’t blow our best shot at finding the Architect.”
Kiyomi bit back the argument that sprang to her tongue. Being defensive was a dick move right now. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
The apology seemed to take the wind out of Megan’s sails, because she closed her mouth and frowned. “Good. But you just burned up a lot of the trust we had in you.”
Kiyomi nodded. “Understood.” She would apologize to Amber, Jesse and Ty once they were airborne. “What about the address in Atlanta? Did you verify it?”
“Amber did. Briar and Georgia will be checking it out. It’ll be at least five or six hours before we hear anything. Hopefully by the time we land in the Cotswolds, we’ll know something.”
Megan moved down the aisle to find Ty. Marcus was sliding into a window seat in the middle of the plane. He grimaced, grabbed hold of the armrests as he lowered himself into it.
Kiyomi made her way over to him, shoved her duffel under the seat in front and sat next to him. “You okay?”
He nodded and slid his arm around her, pulling her snug into his side. “Be glad to get airborne and put this place behind me forever.”
“Me too.” Kiyomi curled into him and wrapped her arms around his ribs. “I’m glad you’re here with me.” She planned to stay just like this for the duration of the flight. Because once they got back to Laidlaw Hall, everything would change.
He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her in answer.
Once they were in the air everyone relaxed visibly. Kiyomi closed her eyes, memorizing the feel of Marcus’s arms around her before dozing off. She woke minutes before landing in the Cotswolds, and then it was a forty-minute drive to the manor.
They arrived just after noon, the sky a solid, leaden gray and a cold wind gusting over the hills. Marcus slowed as they approached a work crew up ahead on the side of the road, working on what looked like the water main.
Marcus picked up the handheld radio and contacted Ty, who was driving the other vehicle behind them. “Go ‘round and come in through the east pasture, just as a precaution.”
They passed through a narrow gate at the eastern entrance to the property and drove across the pastures. Several minutes later, Laidlaw Hall appeared nestled in the small valley, the golden-toned stone a welcome sight in the gloom.
A bittersweet pang hit her, part nostalgia, part grief. She’d grown so fond of this place, and now she had to leave it and its owner behind forever.
Inside, she found the hall and entry full of bags and boxes. Zack was the only one waiting there for them, as Chloe and Heath had moved into their new flat near Coventry the previous night.
Zack pulled Eden into a big hug, kissed her, then looped an arm around her waist as he spoke to the rest of them. “We got everything packed up except your bedrooms. Didn’t want to invade your privacy.”
Even though she’d known this was coming, Kiyomi’s heart twisted. Seeing everything packed up made the finality of imminent departure hit home, leaving her more torn than ever.
A sharp pain knifed her chest as she met Marcus’s gaze across the foyer, followed by a lick of panic. She wanted to stay. Didn’t want to leave Marcus.
But they’d never made any promises to each other and she couldn’t make one right now anyway—not with the future so uncertain. More importantly, she didn’t want to place him in further jeopardy, and he’d gone so far above and beyond for her and the others already.
He deserved peace and security after all he’d been through, and she could never give him that. She would only bring him more chaos, danger and pain.
Just as she turned for the stairs to go pack the few things in her bedroom, Trinity walked out of the kitchen, talking on her cell phone. She spoke to whoever it was, then motioned for the others to gather around her. “Briar, hang on. I’m putting you on speaker so everyone can hear. Go ahead.”
“Hey,” Briar said. “Georgia and I are at the target house in Atlanta. It’s
empty. And I mean, empty. No furnishings, no artwork, nothing in the drawers or closets. As far as we can tell, everything’s been wiped down professionally. Couldn’t get a single print off anything—light switches, drawer handles, fridge, nada. Whoever was here is trained and incredibly efficient because she left no trace behind. The only thing we could dig up on the house is that it’s owned by some corporation you’ll need to look into. I’ve sent Amber the details.”
Kiyomi released a frustrated sigh. Great. So even with the new intel, they’d hit yet another brick wall. “Did the prisoner give us anything else we can use?” she asked Megan.
“Nothing that helps us at the moment,” Trinity replied, then thanked Briar and ended the call before speaking to the rest of them again. “Rycroft’s got his Stateside analysts working on a couple leads, trying to find out who the woman on the last call to Rahman was, and if she’s connected to the address in Atlanta. He’s in the air right now, should be touching down soon. I’ll know more once he gets here, but we’d all better finish packing and be ready to move.”
With that Trinity turned to Marcus, smiled and held out a hand. “Marcus. I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for us.”
“It’s been my pleasure.” He shook it, paused to look at Kiyomi, then turned and headed into his study, Karas limping at his heels.
An acute sense of loneliness hit her. She fought it back, glancing around at the others. Everything was happening too fast now. She wanted to slow time down, make these final few hours last forever.
Eden and Zack were already heading upstairs, with Megan and Ty right behind them. “Are you guys leaving tonight as well?” Kiyomi asked Amber, who was next to Jesse.
“Yeah, but we’re not going to Coventry yet.”
“No?”
She shook her head. “That second cousin I told you about is a total busybody and found someone that could be our aunt. She’s apparently in London on business, and heading for a work conference in Birmingham in the morning. She contacted me via email, asking to meet up early, before it starts. I’ve only replied to her the once via the encrypted email account, for obvious reasons, but everything about her checks out on my end.”
