Seeing him, I drop my bravado and start crying, “I’m sorry. I choked out there. I don’t know what happened.”
“Shh, you did great, no one wins them all.” His words and his warm embrace heal the rest of my wounds. With him by my side I can keep going.
If the Cape Fits
Sitting around the table in Marcus’s suite listening to them go over the plan for the third time. We need to know our responsibilities for this plan to run without incident or injury. After my epic failure earlier I’m chomping at the bit to prove myself to the team. I want to be the primary on this mission, I would love nothing more than to beat that guy from the gala into submission.
“Imari will be the primary for this mission,” Mason states.
“Are you serious? Why is she in charge?” I can’t help my outburst, Imari in the lead, this has to be a joke.
I glare at Imari, she pouts like my words have cut her, her eyes tear up. “Look! She’s crying. Crying! We are about to go out on a mission of life and death and she’s fucking crying. This is unbelievable.”
“Enough!” Marcus yells.
“Shut up, Nyx. Stop being such a bitch.” Asher’s eyes are alight with rage.
Is he seriously defending her? I stand up, saying, “What the fuck did you just say to me?” Asher stands up, ready for a fight. I will knock him on his ass if he says one more word to me.
“Stand down, now!” Marcus orders.
I shake my head but sit back down. “This is complete bullshit.” I deserve to be the one who takes him out, not her.
“Don’t give a shit about your opinion, the mission goes as planned; no deviation. Imari gets this guy.” I’m about to protest but the evil eye I’m getting from everyone around the table shuts me up. Crossing my arms over my chest I sit back and listen, not caring that I’m being a dramatic pain in the ass.
“You’re a team, you will support each other and have each other’s back. Whatever bullshit this is about, no one cares, get over it. We need everyone focused.” We nod in agreement.
Imari steps up to the front of the room. Pictures of the same building from my file pop up on the screen. “You’ll recognize Leo Jakar’s brothel from your files. Entrance points are here, here and here,” she says, pointing to their locations on the screen.
“The guard detail usually sits at around twenty but if you follow the plan we shouldn’t need to come in contact with too many of them. They aren’t our primary target but beware, their job is shoot to kill.” She states.
This is freaking surreal, why am I sitting here listening to her and why does she actually sound like she knows what she’s talking about?
“There can be up to twenty girls being held here, on the fourth floor. The first three floors are where security is at its highest on the entry points but on this floor,” she says, pointing to a schematic. “There are no guards once you get past this access panel. No one gets access without a card, guards included.”
“So we are what, liberating hookers? Why? Aren’t they just trying to make a living?” Adam asks with a chuckle.
Imari grows livid. “Being sold into sexual slavery is not prostitution! They are locked in rooms, men are buzzed in and out, they have no life other than waiting for the next man to rape them! Does that sound like making a living to you?” Asher appears at her side resting a hand on her shoulder to calm her. She hugs him close for a minute before settling herself.
“I was born and raised inside that building. My mother is still there. I was sent to the Academy because I killed a man and escaped. I was lucky that the trackers flagged me before Jakar could find me. Our objective is to get in, kill Jakar, and get as many girls out as we can, my mother included.”
We all nod. Seeing the emotion in her makes me realize how personal this is for her. I never knew what she had gone through. I watch her closely going through the next step of the mission. This girl, I hated more than anything has been damaged more than I have. I felt a connection to her, like we are finally fighting on the same side. Damn, now I feel like such a bitch.
Marcus steps up, thanking her, “We’ve been through this enough. Go in quiet, avoid guards, eliminate Jakar, rescue slaves, and then get the hell out. This has to look like a revolt from the inside, we are ghosts, you got that?”
A murmur of yes sir echoes through the room.
“What if the guards spot us? Do we engage? And to what extent? Are we killing them?” Silas asks.
“You aren’t going to do anything, you’re going to sit in the transport and wait for our call,” Marcus explains. “The rest of the team knows what lines they should cross and when. Let’s head out.”
It’s go time.
***
We are dressed in black combat gear, looking bad ass. Imari isn’t dressed like the rest of us. She has a black wig, slightly dirty lingerie, and a large purse slung over her shoulder. She’s undercover as a prostitute coming back from a night of work. The compound has a few willing girls, who will turn tricks in exchange for drugs. Everything is riding on them letting her into the building.
I stand with the rest of my team, waiting in a filthy alley, my back pressed against the cold brick of the building, watching our target from across the street. My heart is racing with adrenaline. Imari is a few feet away with Mason, they are whispering and pointing to the entrance sitting forty feet away from our hiding spot, guarded by two solid men holding very serious guns. I close my eyes. What am I doing? I’m not a soldier, I’m just a girl trying to do the right thing. I don’t want to get shot.
Imari starts walking toward the men with a stagger to her step, mimicking a sketchy strung-out hooker. The men nod to her and talk for a few minutes before they let her inside. Just like that.
And now we wait.
Five excruciatingly long minutes later we hear our signal, a small whistle coming from further down the alley. Imari is there holding the door open for us. How the hell did she do that? We check to make sure the street is clear before crossing to her side.
Once inside she breaks into a jog, silently guiding us through a maze of passages and staircases until we come to the door that will lead us to our primary target, the fourth floor. On the right side of a sealed doorway sits an access panel. A hand scanner not a key card like our intel said. “Adam can’t hack a hand scanner. What are we going to do?” I ask.
“Shit, how are we going to get in?” Asher asks.
“I got it covered, move,” she says, pushing us aside, pulling something from her shoulder bag, pressing it to the scanner. With a beep, the light turns green and the door slides open. We all stand there stunned as she walks through the door.
“How did you do that?” I ask in a whisper yell.
“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to, let’s go.” We shuffle behind her in muted shock.
“How did you get us in? What is that thing?” I try to reach for her bag but she pulls away.
“Don’t look, you’re just going to freak out.”
“Why would I freak out? Oh my god, Imari, is that a hand? A fucking severed hand!”
“Well, yeah.” Holding it up like it’s the most normal thing in the world to be carrying around a dead person’s hand.
“Why? Where did you get it? Whose is it?” I ask in a rush.
“Oh my god, she cut some guy’s hand off!” Ianna says from behind me, glad I’m not the only one freaked out by this.
“Hey! He had it coming. Look, we have a mission to do and cutting off that guy’s hand was part of it.” She announces while waving the hand around as she talks. Which would be funny if it weren’t so freaking morbid.
“Why weren’t we in on that part of the plan? I think you cutting a guy’s hand off should have been at least discussed,” Kai asks. This is a surreal conversation to be having in the middle of a break in.
“Because you would have freaked the hell out, obviously,” she says, waving her hand at us addressing the fact we were all, in fact, freaking out.
“Why are you so calm?” I ask.
“It’s just a hand.” she shrugs.
“This is so fucked up.”
“Our lives have always been fucked up, Nyx.”
“True story,” I admit, then high five the severed hand she holds up.
“Okay, stay quiet. We need to stay under the radar. Lead the captives the way we just came, and out to the transport as quickly and quietly as possible. Let’s move out,” Imari orders, before leading us in.
It’s quiet on this floor. Ten closed doors in front of us, five on each side of the hall. Imari loses no time, taking out her radio she says, “Adam, now.” Ten beeps echo through the dark hallway as each locked door on this level is deactivated. Running to the first door, she turns back to us, saying, “Get the rest, dispose of any clients in the rooms.”
“How?” Ianna asks.
“Knock them out, fucking slit their throats, I don’t give a shit, just make it look legit. Get the girls out. Nyx, you and Ash are with me for back up. Kai, Ianna and Endyra gather the girls. Silas and Adam are waiting outside the East entrance, down that corridor. They are keeping their eyes open for any activity on their end and will be ready to back us up if things go sideways.”
Imari’s mom is in the third room we enter. She’s sitting on the bed, arms crossed, looking angry for the interruption by her daughter she hasn’t seen in years. Imari runs to her side. “Mom, I’m here to get you out, but we need to leave now, before he finds us.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not going anywhere, you know my place is here, with your father. I would never abandon my family, like you did.” The cold indifference in which she speaks to her daughter shocks me.
Her words hit Imari like a physical blow, silent tears start falling as she pleads with her mother, “Please, come with me.” Again she refuses, this time walking over to her nightstand, she reaches under the drawer and before we know what’s happening the whole building erupts in sirens and flashing lights. So much for being undetected.
“Shit! We need to go. Leave her,” I plead, pulling on her while she’s staring at her mother, speechless. I try to think of what to say to get through to her. “All of those girls will be recaptured and punished. Imari, if we don’t leave now this was all for nothing.” She blinks a few times, watching me, she seems so lost and scared.
Leo Jakar, looking beat up and sweaty, enters the room with two armed guards at his side. “Imari, my pet, we didn’t get to finish our earlier conversation,” he says holding up his arm, the end is wrapped tightly in a bandage but blood is quickly soaking through. She cut his hand off. Damn, she just got way cooler in my eyes.
Imari pulls on her mother’s arm one last time, begging, “Mom, please, come with me.”
When she still doesn’t budge, Asher yells, “Imari, now!”
Ignoring Jakar, she keeps pleading, “Mom, please.”
Her mom pulls out a small hand gun, pointing it at Imari. “You never should have betrayed us.” A single shot rings out, Imari cries out, falling to the ground, holding her leg.
Jakar grabs her by the hair, pulling her to her feet. “Did you really think you could take me down? You will never escape, my child, I own you,” he seethes in her ear, making my skin crawl.
Asher’s fists burst into flames, unable to contain his rage any longer. Imari whimpers, tears running down her face, she has given up. My stomach rolls at the sight of him touching her and saying these things to her. I have to do something. Lunging at one of his guards, knocking him to the ground. Asher is quick to attack the other, knocking him unconscious in seconds.
Imari snaps into action and jabbing her elbow into Jakar’s nose. He staggers back a few steps as blood starts streaming down his face. This stuns him long enough for her to break free of his hold. Grabbing his gun Imari raising it, takes aim on Jakar. Her mother screams, throwing herself in front of this monster, begging to save his life. Imari is cool and calm firing one shot into her mother’s skull then turning to Jakar.
He looks shocked but schools his features, with a smile he says, “You are the monster I made you. You will never be free.”
A scream rips out of Imari as she unloads every bullet into Jakar, even after the gun is out of ammo she keeps pulling the trigger until Asher takes the gun from her. She collapses in his arms crying, “I’m free.” He picks her up and carries her out of the room. Where we meet the rest of our team with the remainder of the girls down the hall. By now the alarm has alerted all security and with no word from Jakar, they will be coming to this floor in waves.
“How are we going to get out of here?” Asher asks.
Imari climbs out of his arms, with a blank expression, she pulls the hand out of her bag again. Goes to the access panel at the end of the hall, Kai comes to her side and between the two of them they manage to silence the alarms. The green light flashes on the scanner as the door clicks open. We maneuver the girls out the door and down the stairs. Sixteen in total, all malnourished and shivering in fear. No matter how many times we tell them we are here to save them, the darkness the world has shown them so far has them trembling in fear but beaten into submission.
As we are rounding the last set of stairs, guards erupt into the stair well. Trapping us.
“Fucking hell! Will this night ever end!” Mason yells pushing through the girls. He points to Ianna. “Get them back, we’ve come this far, were not losing them now. Asher, Nyx, let’s take these fuckers down,” he says extending his hand and using his powers to buy us some space by pushing the guards down the stairs ten feet away. He’s so damn cool.
Snapping into action, I jump into the fray. Singling out a guard I let the flames overtake my arms and connect a right hook, before letting my fire chaser take over. The moment Asher and I set ourselves ablaze a few of the guards scream and run, only to be beaten down by Mason. The five remaining raise their guns, unfazed by our show of power. As we charge at them, the sound of gunfire echoes loudly through the small space causing my ears to ring. Looking behind us, I see Imari standing with a gun still poised, ready to shoot. She fires twice more as I stand watching her, stunned. She is so much stronger and incredible than I ever gave her credit for. How could I have been so wrong about her? She’s fearless.
“Let’s go!” Mason shouts when there are no guards left standing. We guide the girls over the bodies through the exit and out to the transport where Adam and Silas are waiting for us. I can only imagine what we must look like. We are covered in blood, Imari is still clutching that damned severed hand. I see the horror play over his features but he schools them just as quickly. He helps us load everyone on the transport, when I pass him he cups my cheek, searching my eyes for something. I give him a quick nod, letting him know that I’m okay. We aren’t in the clear yet, there is no time to stop now. Asher and I take point on either side of the alley, grateful the chaos inside wasn’t noticed out here on the quiet city street. When the bus is loaded we climb aboard and disappear into the night.
Sitting here, I try to get my heart beat to slow down, try to wrap my head around what we just did. All the laws we broke. I expected to feel more excited after the mission was accomplished, having saved completed it almost as planned but I can’t help but feel what we did tonight, started something much bigger. Jakar was just one madman in a long line and we have only just begun.
The transport drops us off at the airstrip before taking the girls to a safe house. Our bags were packed and waiting for us on the jet. Before I have even begun to accept what we did tonight we are airborne. We will be in a different time zone before the police find out the brothel was attacked. I can’t sleep on the short flight, I don’t think any of us do, our collective silence is a stark contrast to the loud thoughts running through my head. What we did, how our plan went astray, the casualties and who is to blame? Looking around the plane, I see it’s obvious everyone else is haunted the same heavy thoughts. Once we land, I am on auto-pilot as we are checked into our new hotel. Grateful for the
peace and quiet, I collapse into bed. Exhausted and ready to sleep for days.
Stir of Echoes
Silas is drunk. At least that’s what the hotel security told Mason when they called asking for us to collect him from the bar downstairs. Mase brought me, assuming I would know how to deal with a drunk Silas. I’ve never had to deal with him drunk but I doubt he will be that difficult to handle. As we walk into the bar I can see him slumped against the counter half a bottle of whisky beside him.
Luckily the bar is empty when we arrive. A public scene is not something we want as Titans. The news plays quietly on the TV behind the bar. Pictures of a familiar brick building surrounded by police cars, bodies being carried out on stretchers. The headline says Terrorist or Mutiny at the Brothel, in bold. Rescuing slaves makes us terrorists? They can’t be serious.
“We only checked in four hours ago. He must have been hitting the bottle this whole time,” Mason says, as he leans down to Silas, lightly slapping his cheek. “Hey Silas, you hear me? Time to go to bed, buddy.”
Silas groans and swivels his head up with a crooked smile on his face, that is until he sees it is us helping him. His brow furrows and a sloppy sneer plays across his once sweet face. “Well, well what have we here,” he says swinging his bottle our way. Mason and I share a look of confusion at the angry drunk coming out in him.
“Let’s get you upstairs,” I say reaching for the bottle. He snatches it out of my hand taking another drink, slurring, “I don’t need you to tell me what to do. I’m just having a few innocent drinks; it’s not like I’m killing anyone.”
I flinch at his words, but it’s Mason who replies, “Don’t go saying anything stupid you’ll regret in the morning.” He guides a staggering Silas toward the elevator, propping him against the wall for support.
He’s a mess. Still in the clothes he wore on the mission. I notice there is a smear of blood stained on his sleeve. I know he wouldn’t like to be seen like this. “Let’s get you cleaned up, okay?” I touch the blood stain. He glances down at it and goes completely still. Then with shaky hands, he pulls at the stain like it’s burning his flesh. I help him pull the shirt over his head. “It’s okay, it’s gone.”
Titan Elite (Demigods Duet Book 2) Page 8
