Property of (Ops Warriors MC Book 6)

by Harley McRide

  “Cool, now take your keycard and jam it into the bottom of the slot. Make sure you get it in there good, so it is stuck on the bottom.”

  Kit turned around and grabbed the keycard and did exactly what the woman said. Then she said, “Done.”

  “Good, your door is now not locked, so if someone comes and tries to open it, if they push on it, then it will swing open, but it saves you the time of unlocking it to get out, it will give you the element of surprise. Plus, if they have a key it will not light up for them if they try to use it. They will think it’s not working.”

  “How the hell do you know that?” Shady said.

  “Happened in New York with Rucker when we were watching him. The dude at the desk said it fucked up their lock, we almost had to pay for it, but Creed talked him out of it.”

  “Shit, I thought you were being all MacGyverish,” Shady said. “I was almost impressed.”

  “Oh please, do I look like MacGyver?” the woman asked.

  “How in the hell is this gonna help her?” Shady demanded.

  The other woman sighed and said loudly, “Geez, I was getting to that. The element of surprise. Okay, grab a towel and wet it down, then grab the remote or something hard like that, wrap it up in the towel and you have a weapon. If someone comes, use the element of surprise and whack the shit of them and run like hell.”

  “Really? That is what you are going with?” Shady demanded.

  The woman snapped, “What do you want from me, you asked me on the fly.”

  Kit shook her head and did what the woman said then said into the phone where she could hear the woman still bickering. They were interesting, a little weird, but interesting.

  “Okay, I got it. Uh, is there anyway…” The phone made a noise, and she pulled it away from her face. “Hang on; they are here. I gotta go,” Kit said quickly, and she heard the two women say bye and she silently thanked them for distracting her a little bit while she was freaking. They may have been a bit strange, but they had helped her.

  She typed in her room number and then she took a deep breath, they were here. She

  turned and grabbed her bag. She didn’t hear the door push open, but she did see the man in the mirror when she stood, without thinking she grabbed the towel and turned and swung, yelling loudly as she did.

  “No!”

  She made contact, her arms literally vibrated and shook from the impact, it almost dropped her to her knees. Kit held firm, though, the man staggered, and she didn’t wait, swinging the towel back she made a connection with his head. The man fell backwards. She took advantage and turned to run. Unfortunately, she hadn’t knocked the man completely out. He grabbed her leg from the ground.

  “Bitch,” he growled and pulled her leg back. “You should have been there.”

  Kit saw red, the way he said it, the man had been there when her parents were killed. She felt the rage burning inside her. She kicked back, feeling her heel connect with the man somewhere. Kit heard a grunt, and then she swung back with the towel, repeatedly, she felt the connections, but she really wasn’t seeing him. She was seeing her mom and dad, lying on the ground in front of her home. They had remained together even in the end.

  She focused on the last image she had of them, holding hands even in death. With a rage she thought she was incapable of, Kit turned her body fully and began to hit the man everywhere she could reach. Alternating kicking him as he tried to fight back. She felt some of his punches connect, but she was too far gone.

  “Bastard!” she roared and swung. “You didn’t know them, they were kind, loving, and you took them from me.”

  The man yelled in pain and anger as she hit, scratched, kicked him. In the back of her mind she heard someone enter the room, she ignored it. If they killed her now, then she would see her parents, they would be waiting for her with open arms at the gates of heaven.

  Kit swung again, this time hearing a sickening thud from the man’s head. Her arms ached, and she felt someone behind her wrap their arms around her, holding her arms to her side so she couldn’t swing again.

  “No! Let me go!” she screamed, not feeling the tears on her face, not aware of the group of men who were now in her room closing the door so no one could see her, protecting her from passersby that could be witnesses to what she had done. Nothing penetrated but the rage and devastation she was feeling, finally bursting through the wall she had built to keep her emotions in. It was too much, all of it. “Let me go!” she screamed. Later she would realize the animalistic voice she had expressed her emotions with so rawly was felt by everyone in the room down deep into their bones.

  “Calm down,” she heard whispered in her ear and she ignored it. Kicking and thrashing, trying to get to the man who had taken her family from her.

  “Let me go!” she screeched and the arms around her tightened.

  “Calm down,” he said again, and she shook her head.

  “You don’t know; you don’t know what he did,” she screamed, and the man turned her away from the one who wanted to hurt her.

  “I do. We all do. We are here to help you,” the man said, and she kicked wildly.

  “I don’t need help; I need you to let me go!” she said, desperately this time, not looking at the men with leather vests in the room, focused only on the one who was laying on the floor.

  “Kit, we are here to help you,” another man said. He came to stand in front of her while the other one held her firmly but gently. The new man took her face in his hands and made her look at him. “We are here to help,” he repeated, and she tried to shake her head, but the man who was holding her put his head in her neck so he could whisper in her ear.

  “Deep breath,” he whispered, and she involuntarily complied and took a deep breath. The man in front of her caught her eyes and held them; they were brown and warm.

  “I promise; we are here to help,” he said and stared into her eyes intently. She nodded slowly, she believed him.

  “He hurt my family,” she whispered, and he nodded, the man at her neck nodded, and she relaxed. They were listening.

  “We know, and we will help you take care of it,” he said, and she let a small sob escape, the waves of emotions were flooding into her again. The arms around her tightened as she felt the fight flow out of her.

  “I have to,” she whispered.

  “Baby,” the man behind her said. “He will.”

  “He already has,” another grim voice said and then followed up with, “Get her out of here and safe, we will deal with this.”

  “What?” she said and tried to turn around. “What is he talking about?”

  The man at her back picked her up and moved her forward, the man in front of her backed up, blocking her and holding her hands as the three of them moved and made their way into the bathroom.

  “Grab my bag,” the man in front of her said, someone made a noise of acknowledgment.

  “Honey,” he continued to her. “We need to get your picture so we can get out of here. Now, my name is Lane, this is Asher, but you can call us Numbers and Data, we are going to help you, okay?”

  She stared at the man and blinked, when Asher from behind her moved so he was to her side, she looked up into his pale green eyes, they were just as nice as the other man's. Lane and Asher were their names. Asher had been the one she talked to; Lane was new but just as nice. Kit felt the tension move from her as they backed her around so she was standing against the white wall while Asher grabbed a small hand towel and ran water over it and brought it to her. He gently whipped under her eyes and down her face, cleaning the ravaged mess she had made of her face with the tears she shed. Kit felt embarrassed, and the look must have flashed across her face.

  “Baby,” Asher said softly, and her eyes met his. “Nothing to be ashamed of.”

  Then Lane turned and nodded as he set down on the counter a bag, which he began pulling things out of like a camera, and some pens and small booklets. “He is right, honey, you did what you had to do, let it go
until we are safe, then you can fall apart again, we can handle it.”

  “My name is Katerina Delgado, you can call me Kit, and I don’t want to fall apart,” Kit whispered, and both men nodded, and she continued, “I want them back.”

  “I wish we could do that for you, baby,” Asher muttered, and he threw the towel into the sink and stared at her intently and continued, “We will get through this okay? Together, once we are out of here, we are going somewhere safe and then deal with shit.”

  She nodded and then Lane held up a camera and said softly, “Look at me, honey,” and she did. The man looked at her with compassion as he put the camera to his eyes and then clicked a few pictures. She didn’t smile; she didn’t do anything but stand there. The two men sat her down on the side of the tub and then went to work on the counter. In five minutes they were done. Lane turned and handed her the small booklet; when she looked at the letters on the outside of it, it said PASSPORT. They handed her a pile of clothes and left the room, telling her to put the new ones on and leave her old ones in the bathtub. She moved on autopilot and did what they said. When they came back into the room, she had just finished and picked up the only ID she would carry.

  Kit took a deep breath and then nodded and put it in her pocket. Asher said, “I have your bag; we are going to walk out the door and go to the elevator, keep your head down and let us lead you. When we get to the bikes, climb on Lane’s and hang on. In an hour we will be somewhere safe.”

  Lane said, “Do not look anywhere but Asher’s back when you walk out of this room, okay?”

  Kit frowned and shook her head. “Why?”

  “Just do it, we will talk later,” Lane said softly, and she nodded, and then they surrounded her. Asher in the front, Lane behind her, and Asher opened the door.

  Kit could hear men in the room talking quietly; she wanted to look, but she was afraid of what she was going to see. The man who had entered her room to kill her was still there, he would probably yell things at her, and she didn’t want to take the chance she would fly into a rage again. Honestly, her reaction shocked her; she had never been violent in her life.

  Chapter Seven

  “She killed him?” Creed said into the phone. Easy had called to tell them what happened and Creed was still in a state of shock. After they had described her, after Shay and Harmony told him about the phone call, Creed and Fork finally decided that the woman was an innocent.

  She had been dragged into this mess just because of her job, and it had cost her dearly.

  Remembering the picture of the woman taken with Angela, Creed had actually been worried that when they arrived she would be dead. He didn’t expect this.

  “Damn, hoss,” Poke said into the phone now. “Killed him? That makes it sound like she took the easy way out, like with a knife or something. She literally beat him to death with a remote. I still don’t believe it, and I am standing right here. Who would have thought? Gives me a new reason to hide the damn thing from Free.”

  Creed shook his head. “Anyone besides you see anything?”

  “Nope,” Poke said. “We got here right when she killed him. No one in the hall and no one has opened their door. Maxi is down getting one of the housekeeping carts to take him out.

  We called our contacts to come and pick him up and bury him in the desert.”

  “Great,” Creed said slowly. “Do we know who he is?”

  “No,” Poke said slowly. “Although it is not Henry or whatever his name is. It’s someone I have never seen before. Maxi wants to drive out and take a look at her house; he wants to see if he can get a bead on the asshole.”

  “Let him,” Creed said slowly. “Just make sure he has someone with him wherever he goes.”

  “Got it,” Poke said and then Creed heard someone in the background say something.

  “They are coming out and getting her out of here, send someone over to pick up the bikes; we are going to need to make sure we have a few men on the house as well. We thought if we got her and brought her there it would be easy to hide her. But now I’m not sure. They found her so fast, so I am guessing we are missing something or someone.”

  “Check her phone, make sure her clothes are burned as well. Let me know when you are on your way back; we will make sure the coast is clear,” Creed said and then hung up. He looked at the group of people who were in his office. Shay and her men, Harmony and Fork, plus Kink.

  “She killed a man who got into her room before they got there,” Creed said grimly.

  Shay frowned and said, “What the hell? We were literally talking to her when the guys showed up.”

  Harmony nodded. “It was with the remote, wasn’t it? I tell you, wet a towel and put something solid in it and it becomes a freaking brick.”

  “You sure this isn’t a setup?” Kink asked grimly, and Creed shook his head.

  “Nah, she is an innocent bystander who has a target placed on her back because Angela is cleaning house to make her move. Poke said she was a mess.”

  Shay nodded and said, “We should send Boo over there to see her, make sure she doesn’t need some meds or something to calm her down. I should go with Boo; I talked to her.”

  “So did I,” Harmony argued and then both women nodded to each other and Creed wanted to roll his eyes? They just couldn’t help themselves, could they. It was like every single woman they came in contact with who was in trouble they just had to help, get attached, and freaking make his life hell trying to figure out where he was going to put them to keep them safe.

  “Why don’t we…” Creed started, and Shay shook her head.

  “Nope, we go.”

  Creed growled and looked at Slider and Cajun. “Make sure they are covered; Maxi is going to check around a little. General will be here in a few; I am going to talk to him about dealing with Arizona.”

  Numbers felt the woman’s arms around him, and he patted her hand to let her know he felt her trembling. She had done exactly as they said, down to the last detail. He had to admit, seeing her in person was a bit of a shock. She was gorgeous; there was something about her. He knew Data felt the same from the look on his face when they were in the bathroom.

  When they had gotten off the elevator all of them heard the scream. They had wasted no time running to the room and helping, but when they entered, Kit was completely out of control.

  It was like she wasn’t even there, something else was, and it wanted revenge. Seriously, she had been out of control, he knew what it felt like, but seeing her go through it. Damn, it threw him.

  Data and Numbers knew she had killed the man. There was no getting around it, but they didn’t want her to know yet, it would fuck with her head. She wasn’t ready to deal with the fact she took a life. Hell, no one was, but in the military, you become hardened to it.

  They were approaching the border crossing, and he felt her tense. Patting her hand again, he put his hands on the handlebars and slowed down. They had put on full face helmets to hide as much of her face as they could. The good thing was all she had to do was flip her face shield; they should let her pass. The passport they made for her showed that she had been across the border several times. It also showed trips abroad; it would at least look credible to the guards.

  Data pulled up next to them and nodded. Numbers lifted his head, and they moved slowly in the line to get to their checkpoint. When they neared, he felt Kit begin to shiver, he put his hand on hers and held on tight. Then it was their turn and the guard motioned to the face shields, he raised his and felt Kit do the same, the guard looked at the pictures and then to them, looked at the bikes and then motioned with his head for them to continue. Putting the passports back into his pocket he revved the engine then took off. Almost there, he thought. He rode over the bridge and onto the highway and didn’t look behind him, Data would take care of that; he just needed to get her to the safe house as fast as he could.

  When they drove over the bridge to Coronado, he finally looked in his mirror, and all he saw was D
ata following. Moving as fast as they dared, they wove through the streets until they finally reached the house of General Tang, hell, there was a small bronze plated sign in the yard announcing that the general lived there. They pulled into the drive then to the back where they couldn’t be readily seen. The house was nice, an old Victorian looking house that was white and black on the outside. Data got off his bike and walked to Kit and helped her off. The woman was shaky, but that was normal when you weren’t used to riding.

  Numbers got off the bike and followed as they moved silently to the back door. Data opened the door and then moved and allowed Kit to go first, she hesitated and then entered the mudroom on the back of the house and stopped. Numbers turned and shut the door, flipped open the security pad, and punched in a code to lock down the house. They heard the clicks of the locks and Kit turned and stared at them blankly.

  “Come on,” Data said softly. He took her arm gently and walked her through the kitchen until they got to the table, then he guided her into a seat. She went easily and put her hands on the table and stared at them. Data gave Numbers her bag, which he placed on the floor next to the back door, and he looked around.

  The kitchen was all white; he could see into the other rooms, and it was decorated tastefully in brown. He wanted to laugh; the general didn’t have much of a decorating flair, everything clean, neat and in its place. According to Creed, the place had three bedrooms and two baths. They were going to give the master bedroom to Kit.

  “Take off your coat and get comfortable. I just need to make a call and talk to Numbers, but we are staying right here in this room so you can hear,” Data said to her and she looked up and nodded, her face still blank. Shit, she was in shock, and they were going to need to deal with it.

  Numbers leaned against the island and waited while Data pulled out his phone and said,

  “We are here.” Numbers watched as he nodded and said Kit was fine but shaken. When he hung up, he turned to him and said, “Well, Boo, Shay, and Harmony are on their way.”