by Marie Harte
“No problem.” Brent ran his own business, so precluding any client meetings, he never had any issues with time.
Addy walked into the back and sought the break room, where she expected to find Solene. Except she didn’t. Addy froze.
Tied up and gagged, lying on the ground, were two of Solene’s employees, Marge and Annie. Tears streaked down their faces and they looked beyond scared.
Addy hurried to pull her phone out of her purse and call Noel when a hand knocked it away and someone yanked her by the hair out of the room.
“Ow. Stop it!” She hoped Brent heard her. “Let me go! What are you doing? Where is Solene?” she yelled and gripped her bag tightly.
The grip on her hair ceased, and she turned around. But when she spotted the intruder, she froze. Terror filled her. The man from the restaurant in Seattle, the one Noel hadn’t killed, stared at her with evil glee.
“Well, well, the pretty bitch I never got to play with. Been spreading your legs for Ice, huh? Who knew the prick had it in him?” The man laughed, an ugly, wheezing sound, made uglier by the cruelty in his face. “Your fuckbuddy killed my brother. Now I’m gonna kill his whore.”
Addy couldn’t move. “W-where’s Solene?”
“The blonde piece of ass with the mouth that never quits?” He snorted, and she realized he was wearing the same type of maintenance shirt the handyman had sported. He moved with a severe limp that had to be hurting like the devil. “She’s tied up in the back. We’re saving her for something special.”
We’re saving her. More than just him, then. Addy threw off her panic enough to shout, “Brent, run! They have guns. Call the police!” just as Deacon burst through the back door and knocked the man away.
Addy ran down the hallway, needing to find Solene. Instead, she encountered two more maintenance men holding knives, walking toward her. Feeling silly for not remembering it sooner, she dug into her purse, pulled out a Taser, and tagged one of the men.
He went down seizing, and she threw her bag at the other while yelling for Solene.
“Addy? I called the police…” Brent entered into the hallway and pulled her behind him just as the other man reached them. Then Brent shocked her by decking the guy.
Deacon popped out of the room. “Solene?”
“Another one?” Brent looked as if he planned to move toward Deacon.
“Wait, Brent. He’s a friend.” She was breathing hard, looking over Brent’s shoulder. “I don’t know. Down the hall?”
Deacon shoved the man Brent had hit back down. Then he snapped the man’s arm and kneed him in the chest, causing him to shriek in pain and remain down. Deacon kicked the knife away and disappeared down the hall. She heard muffled shots she knew came from a silenced gun.
She and Brent stared at each other.
“Who was that?” he asked. “What the hell is going on?”
“It’s a long story.”
Understandably, he seemed a little wild around the eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded, and they hurried out of the daycare, into his nearby business a few doors down. They sat, stunned.
“Ah, police should be here soon,” he said.
“Good. Thanks.” She refused to cry. Noel would want her to be strong. She knew she should call him, but she’d left her phone behind.
“So much for lunch.” Brent rubbed his stomach. “Is it weird I’m still hungry?”
They both laughed, she a little hysterically. His cell phone buzzed.
“Oh, when you’re done with that, can I make a call?” she asked.
“Sure.” He nodded and answered it. “This is Brent Morgan.” He watched her while he talked, and she thought he’d taken the incident much better than she had. “Yes. It’s all working out. We’re good. Thanks. You’ve been a big help. Make sure we don’t leave any threads behind. Sloppy work won’t get the job done.”
Brent smiled and disconnected, then handed the phone to her. “Here you go.”
She dialed Noel’s number.
“Who is this?”
“Noel, it’s me. It’s Addy.”
She felt his sigh through the phone. “Thank God. Where are you?”
“I’m in Brent’s office down from Solene’s daycare. Deacon’s in there. There were people with guns and knives. I saw the man from Seattle. He…” She glanced at Brent, saw his encouraging nod. “He had some of Solene’s workers tied up. I couldn’t find Solene, but Deacon went after her. Noel, there were men there in maintenance uniforms. The guy from Seattle was dressed like Solene’s handyman.”
“We know. Look, sit tight. Can I talk to Brent?”
“Sure. He called the police, they should be here soon.”
Brent took the phone. “Hello?”
“Brent, this is Noel. Addy’s friend. Look, can you guys just sit tight? I’ll be there in five minutes. We have a situation, and I’ll explain it when I get there.”
“Oh, don’t worry, Ice. Addy and I are good friends. Don’t you worry about anything. I’ll make sure she’s safe and sound. You get your little friends together. Make sure Shadow and Destroyer take care of the cleanup. Wouldn’t want to involve the locals, now would we?”
Addy frowned. “What—?”
Brent held up a finger to stop her from talking. “Now we’ve got things to do. See you soon, loverboy.” Brent hung up and pocketed his phone. Then he grabbed his keys. “Well? Come on, Addy.”
She blinked. “What was all that about?” She had a very bad feeling about Brent, especially seeing the cold, yet satisfied look on his face. She backed up a step and stopped when he invaded her space and put a hand at her throat. The sure suddenness shocked her. As did the notion she didn’t know this man at all.
“Uh-uh. Come on, Addy. We’re friends, remember? Time to go to lunch so we can talk about our future.” He grabbed her by the arm and jerked her with him out the back, where a dark blue sedan waited. She’d never seen this vehicle before.
“Let me go, Brent, if that’s even your name.”
He laughed. “Aren’t you smart? Did Ice fill you in on a contractor’s life? When he was humping that pretty pussy, did he spill the beans?”
She cringed.
“Don’t worry. He can have you. You’re not my type. I don’t take leavings from the minor leagues, anyway. I’m a top tier kind of a guy. I only sleep with angels.” He found that hilarious and laughed as he shoved her toward the trunk of the car. He opened it and tossed her inside. She banged her head, hard, and tried to focus her vision when the trunk slammed shut, locking her in.
Terrified, she cried, praying Noel would find her in time. Because Brent looked exactly like a killer, no softness or vulnerability in his gaze. No, he looked like a psychopath. Nothing like her assassin with a heart of gold.
She could only hope she wouldn’t be the weakness that got Noel killed, because Brent had every intention of stringing out his torture. She could feel it.
* * * * *
Noel’s worst nightmare, that Addy would be dragged kicking and screaming into his world and be hurt because of him, had suddenly come true.
Brent Morgan. How the fuck had he missed Brent being in on everything? The man had checked out from the get-go. Noel had to concentrate, because the images of her being tormented haunted him. He called Hammer.
“Yo.”
“Brent Morgan, Addy’s friend. He’s our guy.” He described the call. “He has to be Business. Either a handler or contractor. He knew all our codenames. And he’s got Addy.”
“Shit. Look, Deacon has the daycare handled. Solene’s good. I got the baby, and I’m ready for bear. Go get her. I’ll look into this Morgan guy.”
Noel parked on the side of the road, no longer in a hurry to reach Solene. He pulled up the tracker app he’d used on Addy. The small tag on her earrings, a precaution in cas
e she lost her phone. Since hers appeared in the daycare and she’d called from Brent’s cell, he couldn’t count on her phone’s location.
But her earrings told another story. He followed them as they continued to move away from town, into what felt like the middle of nowhere. He drove faster, determined to save his woman. Or die trying.
As he drove and the minutes ticked away, he continued to coordinate with Hammer. Brent Morgan was thirty-five. An accountant and financial advisor who’d moved to the island three years ago. He kept a low profile, did some traveling because he apparently had a house in the Cayman Islands, money inherited from his deceased parents, but otherwise flew under the radar. Nothing he didn’t already know.
What was the motive? He didn’t recognize the picture Hammer had sent him, nor did the man’s name come up through Big Joe’s connections. Angel. X6TFL. Brent Morgan. What the heck was the connection? Not Mexico… Or could it have been the Sinaloa job? But that made no sense. They’d rid the world of drug runners and sex slavers. None of the Business had been in on it except Deacon and Hammer, with Noel offering peripheral backup at best.
Unless Deacon and Hammer weren’t on the up and up?
No. They had solid alibis, for one. And two, he knew those men. They might be a pain in the ass, but they weren’t traitors or villains.
“He’s deep in the woods,” Hammer said through the car speaker. “Near a house registered under another name,” Hammer said. “Oh, and Deacon’s on his way.”
“Solene’s good then?”
“She’s pissed as hell. Just fine. The cops arrived. No idea how we’re going to spin this.”
“We’ll worry about it later. I have to save Addy.”
“Yeah, you do.” With Hammer’s help, they triangulated Addy’s position.
Noel pulled into the area a half mile down the road. He took out a pack, filled with the supplies he’d need and that he kept in a hidden compartment in his car at all times. Then he set off with his phone on, his headset in his ear, ready to explode into action and deal with Brent once and for all.
* * * * *
Addy sat in the chair and didn’t move. With a gun trained on her, and with no urge to have half her face blown off, she ignored her bladder and remained motionless. The run-down but cozily furnished cabin in the isolated woods would have been an ideal retreat under other circumstances.
Across from her, sitting in a plush chair with his legs crossed, Brent braced his elbow on the arm of the chair and kept his small pistol aimed at her.
“So, um, are you going to tell me why?”
He shrugged. “Why what?”
“Why did you do this? Why be my friend for years if you didn’t even like me?”
“Honey, I like you.” She hated hearing him call her “honey.” When Noel did it she felt loved. Right now, she felt revolted. “You’re bait, plain and simple.”
“I thought we were friends.”
“Were? Addy, we are friends.” Brent’s smile looked more than off. That lack of expression in his eyes made him seem creepy. Serial killer-like.
“Then why all this? Why the baby? Why try to kill Noel?”
“Let me tell you a story.”
Finally. Some answers. She just hoped she’d be alive to tell Noel.
“A long time ago a boy was living in the streets, trying to stay away from his drug-addled mother and all her boyfriends who liked to visit—who liked to play with her children, the younger the better.
“This boy was smart. He knew his sisters and baby brother would distract her boyfriends while he did his best to get rid of them. So he used his siblings as bait, and while Mom’s boyfriends got busy, he slit their throats.” He paused to glance down at his phone. “He made a good bit of money, because Mom was pretty and her babies were beautiful. Neurotic, seriously screwed-up by this point, but so pretty.”
Brent smiled, and she saw a hint of that beauty under the cruel man. “It’s a harsh tale. Nothing like the little angels in your classrooms.”
“I’m sorry, Brent.”
He shrugged. “Life isn’t always pretty. The story has a good ending. The boy was so good at his job, he grabbed the attention of a local gang. He played them all, taking over the neighborhood. And that attracted even better attention. A program not acknowledged by the government yet does government work. They legitimize murder and violence, all to help America stay beautiful.” He smiled. “I went to work. I did better and better. I rose up the ranks. And I scored Big Joe as my handler.”
He sat up, lowering the gun. “Did you know he works with all your friends? Ice, Shadow, and Destroyer?”
From the names, she gathered who they were. Ice was obviously Noel. Shadow, Deacon. And Destroyer had to be Hammer.
“Big Joe’s a big wig in the organization. I think he might be the owner, but no one can say for certain who really bankrolls what we do.” He rubbed the gun against his leg. “Or I should say, what we did.”
He stared at her. “You know you’ll never be able to tell Noel this. If he even makes it this far to the cabin.” An explosion outside punctured his words, and he gave her a big grin. “Yes, he’s out there. Wonder if he can make it through my maze? Anyway, if your lover makes it this far, I’ll shoot you. And it will hurt, Addy. So much.” He tsked. “Like they hurt Angel.”
“Who is Angel?” Hadn’t Noel mentioned her name on one side of the baby’s locket?
“A good friend of mine. I loved her. I hated her. But I didn’t kill her. Oh sure, I wanted to. But she disappeared, and then Big Joe had her taken out. But he had help.”
He just watched her.
“You think Noel and the others did it?”
“I don’t know. I think they might have.”
“But why are you doing this to them? You’re the one hunting Noel down. The one who sent all those men to try to kill him?”
“It’s fun, and he really needs to keep on his toes. He’s taken to relaxing on the island a little too much. A contractor has to be sharp, Addy. Noel’s not doing too badly though. He took out my men in Seattle when he landed. Then he destroyed the ones sent to take you last week. And just a few days ago, he killed my other team. Of course, they were all amateurs, but still, Noel isn’t doing half bad. Sloppy though. He should never have left you all by yourself.”
“He didn’t.”
“But he did. He was too slow, not where he needed to be.”
Another explosion outside. Brent checked his phone and frowned. “He’s getting closer.”
Addy started crying. “Brent, let me go. I’m not part of this.” And if she got free, she’d find a way to warn Noel away, to keep him safe, somehow.
“Shh. Don’t cry.” Brent brought her a tissue and dried her tears. Then he stepped back and aimed the gun at her.
“Brent?”
“We all have a part to play, Adeline. Now play yours.”
He fired, and the ice in her leg turned to a conflagration of pain that had her crying out despite her effort to not give Brent the satisfaction.
“That’s just a love tap,” he chided. “Let’s try again.”
This time he aimed higher, at her midsection. Addy lunged out of the chair, needing to protect herself.
Another explosion, this one so close it rocked the house.
But it didn’t stop Brent from firing. And it didn’t stop the pain from dragging her down, down, into the dark.
Chapter Fourteen
Noel didn’t have much time. He knew that. But Deacon’s help made all the difference. While Deacon set off the many traps in the woods, Noel had made a beeline for the cabin.
He’d left Deacon his pack and only had his Jericho to take care of Brent Morgan, a man who still didn’t seem to exist. Noel had left his phone with Deacon, on the off chance Brent had a way to keep track of it.
But that put him
out of communication. He had no idea what he’d be getting into.
He approached the cabin and belly-crawled the short open distance between the tree line and the side of the home. He saw a side window, presumably leading to a basement.
Hammer hadn’t found any layouts of the place, but he’d cautioned Noel to be wary of booby-traps and alarms.
Noel thought he could squeeze through the window, but the wires there told him he had to forego it. So he set an explosive at the window and moved on. He carefully did a perimeter run of the house, alert for any sign of trouble. Nothing. Listening close, he heard a low voice. He drew closer to the underside of a window, where a small hole afforded him a better view.
Glancing through the decrepit wall, he saw Addy siting in a chair, Brent Morgan across from her holding a gun.
He listened while the bastard explained himself. None of it made any sense. Angel and Brent? A prodigy of Big Joe? None of the guys had anything to do with Angel’s demise.
That we know of.
Had Big Joe used them to dispose of her without them knowing? And if so, what did that mean for the baby or Angel? Was she actually dead, then?
To his horror, Brent stood over Addy and drew his gun. Move, Addy. Get out of there!
“We all have a part to play, Adeline. Now play yours,” Brent said, then fired.
Noel hit the trigger on the bomb, counted down the three-second delay…
“That’s just a love tap. Let’s try again.”
Addy moved just as the bomb blew. Noel straightened and fired through the window, careful not to catch Addy in the crossfire. But the bastard must have been expecting him as he dove out of sight. Noel rocketed through the glass, catching himself on the jagged edges. The pain didn’t matter. Addy lying on the ground, bleeding, unmoving, mattered.
He became Ice because he had to. He felt a bullet tear through his side as he launched himself at Brent. They fought for the gun. Brent was good, but Ice was better. Noel disarmed him and tossed the gun to the ground.
Brent drew a knife from his back holster and lunged. Noel fought back, taking a few slices to his arm and hand but not allowing himself to feel anything.
