“And if I don’t want to?” The bullet sound echoed in the room as Taylor cried out. He was shot in the leg and would heal from it, but it had to be painful. But until he said the right phrase, she waited on him. “You plan to shoot me until I agree? You’ve already taken my father away from me, what else will you do? And why?”
“I’ve grown accustomed to having all that I want. And you’d be surprised at how much money people pay to have more information than they can use. For instance, did you know that other countries would like the name of that friend of yours? Addie Dyer is on just about everyone’s list of known hitmen.” Taylor said nothing as the second shot was fired. “You’ll get her, and you’ll do it without causing me any trouble.”
“No, I won’t.” She waited; now was the time, she wanted to scream at him. But Taylor only sat there, his body hard with anger and pain. “I won’t give her up any more than I’d work for you. You’re a monster.”
Say it, her mind screamed. And just as she was ready to shift and help him anyway, she felt the touch of Xander. He was calm, but also fearful for his friend.
He’s in pain, but he also knows that the silver in the bullets won’t hurt him. Make him sick, yes, but not hurt him too much. And, so you know, Ben is listening in on your mic. She had the mic on her person, not on Taylor. She had been terrified that he’d be searched. Just go with the plan. So far, all we have is him shooting Taylor. Nothing much more than speculation.
Taylor was moaning, but James was laughing. Things were going to go bad for both men if they didn’t get the information that they wanted. Like who did he report to, and why? There were other things too, material on who he gave what information to, but she could wait on that for now. One touch and she’d have it. But now, they needed a big reason to arrest and detain him.
“When my daughter first got into the service, I thought that she was turning butch on me. Her mother did. Decided that she liked women a hell of a lot better than she did me. Well, nipped that in the bud, didn’t I? Her and that lover of hers will never be found.” James laughed again. “Same with your father, but that’s for another time. Say you’ll work for me and I’ll call someone to remove the bullets. Come on now, you can do it.”
“I’m not going to say a word until you tell me exactly what it is you think I’m going to be doing for you.” James told Taylor that he loved his spunk. “Yes, so the fuck what. What do you want?”
“You’ll wed and bed my daughter as soon as possible. Then there will be no turning back from what I want you to do. After that, you’ll continue working for that fucker of a president, and make sure that I get all the information you give to him.” James leaned back in his chair again. “I know that you’re not telling my lovely daughter what is going on. You have no wire on you to record this, and no one in their right mind will believe what you tell them about this meeting. If they do, then they’ll be as dead as you will be if you try anything stupid. I’m going to be your father-in-law, dick weed, and the sooner you remember that, the better off you might be.”
“And children—I suppose you want me to raise them in the same way you’re treating me. A criminal.” James laughed. “What do you think that Jamie would do if she found out what a monster you are?”
“Monster? I suppose I am. Not that I care what you think, but she’ll never believe you. Once you start talking, it’ll be the last words you utter. I’ll have you dead so quickly that you’ll not ever see it coming.” Taylor said he had big words. “You think? Well, let me tell you about some of my other accomplishments. I have so many people working for me at the moment, that fucker in the White House can’t take a shit without me knowing all there is to know about it. I know when he comes in his wife, when they have people over. What the meal was. Even who ate what from their plate. I’m telling you, Taylor, you just don’t want to fuck around with me.”
Addie thought about what he was saying. Either someone on the staff was helping him or the wife was. And she’d bet on the wife. Addie didn’t know why, but she’d never liked the woman.
You deal with this and I’ll deal with my home life. She said yes, sir before she remembered that Ben was listening too. I’m sure you know as well as I that no one will ever miss her. And she won’t just leave either. She’ll be gone.
You knew. He said that he’d already figured it out a week ago. I’m sorry sir. Is she under some kind of blackmail or is she just doing it? Whatever the reason, I’ll help you handle this.
Yes, I had hoped that you would. In the meantime, I want you to listen to young Taylor. I like him, and I don’t want to see him hurt too much more. Also, before this is done and I have to move back to the House, I want to exchange blood with all of you. Including Taylor.
Yes. All right, but that would be up to him. He said for her to make it happen. Yeah, sure. Have you met him? He’s not exactly the push over type. But I will try.
She realized that he hadn’t answered her, but was all right with that. He was a good man, someone that she’d grown to respect. This was as much a blow to him as it would be to the world if they ever found out about it.
When James stood up, she realized that she might have missed something. Conferring with Bug, he said that things were all right, but she heard the door opening and closing and knew that this could not be good. When Jamie entered the room with them, she knew that it had gone from shit to majorly fucked up.
“Hello Dad. I knew you were here with my— What happened here? Dad?” He told Jamie that Taylor had staggered in like this. “Are you kidding me? Why haven’t you called an ambulance?”
She pulled out her cell phone and was ready to dial when it was jerked away from her. Her father, pointing the gun at her, told her to sit too. Jamie knew what was going on, but she was playing right into his hands. For now, Addie thought.
“Dad, what’s going on? I though you and Taylor were going to talk.” The gun wavered a little but didn’t lower. “Dad?”
“Shut up.” Addie heard her teeth slam shut, but it wasn’t the end of this. James began walking around the room. “Why did you have to come here? Damn it, Jamie, don’t you ever listen to what you’re told?”
“Rarely. What’s the meaning of this? Why is Taylor shot?” James told her that he’d done it. “No, I won’t believe that. Why have you shot him?”
“He’s trying to kill me. He was trying to kill me.” Jamie looked at Taylor, then back at her father without saying a word. “You don’t believe me? Ask him. He drew out his own weapon and shot at me. Had I not been quick on my feet, he would have killed me.”
“I don’t see any bullet holes except the ones in him. What did you do, Dad?” He laughed bitterly. “You’re not making any sense. He came here to talk to you about marrying me. And since I have the patience of a bug, I couldn’t wait.”
“I thought I could make the two of you heel, but I can see that you’re much too much like your mother. Damn it all to fuck and back, Jamie, why didn’t you just mind me and stay away?” She asked him if he had planned to kill her mate. “Yes, if it came to that. But now? Well, I’m not sure that I won’t have to kill you both. Damn it.”
“What’s this about, Dad? Why have you shot Taylor? He’s my mate. You know what happened to you when Mom left.” He laughed. Taylor told her what had happened. “You killed my mom? You actually killed my mom? Why? What had she ever done to you?”
“She was a gay fucking woman.” Jamie looked right at her, but didn’t speak as her father continued. “She found herself having a taste for pussy, and I could not stand that. What was I to do? Let her have her fun? Maybe I would have if they had let me have fun too. But no, they were prudes about that. They’d eat each other out, but they wouldn’t let me fuck them while they did it. So I murdered them both.”
“You’re insane.” James said that he wasn’t, but was a man who got what he wanted. And he wanted her to shut the fuck up and listen to his plan. “No, I don’t think so. Taylor and I are leaving this room this minute.”
The signal was there, so Addie simply made herself whole and the fighting engine that she’d been created to be. At about the time that James realized she was in the room, he was dead—he’d just not fallen to the floor yet.
Chapter 10
Xander watched her. There wasn’t any way that he could touch her skin right now without becoming covered in blood like she was. Besides, he thought, the powers that were there, all G-men he’d come to hate, had been close enough to her that he thought they’d shoot first.
When she’d killed James it had been messy, and not nearly as quick as she’d wanted it to be. The man had fought back, but it was lost even before it began. She called out every name that he’d harmed, the people that he’d killed, the children that were lost to those that had been bombed because of the information that he’d sold to their foreign enemies. Addie—his Addie—had been judge, jury, and executioner.
Now she was with the people that wanted things answered. Most she just ignored, as seemed to be her way, and the others, she would tell them very little. Answering the questions that were put to her, he noticed something else about her.
She wasn’t just calm, but sort of bored looking. The expression on her face, the one that she was showing the public, was belying the turmoil that she was feeling inside. He wasn’t in any doubt that she had hated killing the man. He’d been someone that she knew well and hadn’t expected this from him.
Ben came to stand beside him as he waited. “In one week, she’s going to come to me. When she does, I would like it if you came with her. My wife, you see. She needs to be taken care of. There is no telling who else she works for.” He only nodded. “Xander, I have a favor to ask of you. One that I think you’re going to turn me down on, but I’m going to ask all the same.”
“I’m not in the mood for twenty questions. Just ask.” Ben laughed, and he smiled. “You’re a bastard, did you know that?”
“I have been called worse, I hate to say. My favor—I’d like for the two of you to go on a long vacation. One that takes you out of the country for a while.” He asked who they were going to kill while gone. “Such a cynic, aren’t you? But yes, I have someone that needs to be taken care of.”
“When she was working for you, or whatever this relationship is called, why didn’t you have her kill off some of the bigger names? Boone didn’t seem all that bad, not like a lot of them I’ve read about. I mean, besides murder and mayhem, what did he do that countless others haven’t?”
“I can’t tell you right now. When I get you on the same page as Addie, and that’ll be soon, I can tell you just about anything you want.” He looked at the president. “I can have people killed, Xander, and not think a thing of it. So long as the nation as a whole isn’t harmed. But if you get hurt because of the information that I could share with you, then I’d never be able to live with myself.”
“Addie is all I have ever wanted in a mate. More than I ever dreamed I’d have since I thought that you only got one chance in this life for a mate.” Ben told him he was sorry. “I’m not. Had I been mated to this other person, someone that I didn’t know, then there is no telling what would have happened to me. Or to Addie and you, for that matter. I’m sorry that she died, don’t get me wrong, but I’m thrilled to no end that I have Addie in my life.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Also, there is one more thing. As a government employee, you’ll get all the benefits afforded to you. Perks that you won’t believe.” He nodded. “Don’t you care about that?”
“I have a book coming out in a few days. A movie deal too. Right now, I’m so fucking overwhelmed by just that, that having the president tell me I have perks isn’t even a blip on my radar.”
Ben was still laughing when he left him standing there. Xander watched them take the body out of the house and the people straining to take pictures. He knew that no one would get a picture of him, nor of Addie or the other two. The ghosts, apparently, were working to keep those all blurred. He wondered if on camera he’d look like one of those carnival mirror reflections. It was the strangest thought that he’d ever had go through his head.
Addie had killed James. It hadn’t been pretty, but neither was it quick. After Taylor and Jamie left, Addie had pulled out blades from her body and cut him up, and with each cut to his body, blood and other fluids sprayed over the room and her. She had been merciless in her killing him. Addie did it for all the people that he’d killed, simply because of what he’d done with information that wasn’t his to give out.
The body had been put in pieces in the big bag. He knew this because he’d been in the room, the way it looked when things had gone down. The moment that Addie had risen from the floor as a tiny mouse, Asim had used his eyes so that he could watch his mate in action. Because no matter how he looked at it, Bug was his mate as much as Addie was, and the same was true for him and Asim.
She had toyed with James. Cutting him on the knees first—the same places that he’d shot Taylor. Then she’d sliced his belly open. Watching the man try to hold onto his guts was both satisfying as well as disgusting. Addie cut him over and over.
When she swung the same blades that were at his arms now, he didn’t know what to think. She did it with style, precision, as well as deadly accuracy. When James’s throat was cut, the blood pouring from his throat, Asim had stood over him and pissed on the open wound. James was long dead before he even felt the heat of it.
She had stood there, covered in blood, her chin dripping with the residue of it. When she turned and looked at Asim, he shivered once but didn’t move. Honestly, he wasn’t sure if it had been him or the great wolf. Then when Addie dropped to her knees, he was able to come into the room with her and touch her.
Her skin was hot, like she’d burned a great deal of energy and it was coming out of her. The blood smelled warm, fresh even. The man had spilled more than his guts—there was brain matter there too. And when she begged him to hold her, it was all he could do to shift and do just that. In moments, he held his one and only true love in his arms.
The police and the SWAT team arrived later. Xander was already out of the house, his body no longer covered in blood. When she had been asked about the smears of blood on her, she told them to fuck off. Best explanation he could have heard from her.
The SWAT team had said it was a good thing she was there to find James’s body. A bomb had been set to go off sooner rather than later. But who had planted it and had killed Mr. Riddell, no one would ever know, never look for. His death would be mourned for months, they told her. It was the best plan, Xander thought, to rid the house of all the blood and other things that had been taken out before the people, spectators, had arrived.
It was a lie, of course. She’d murdered him. No, not murdered—she’d done her duty to the country and had killed a bad man. Addie had told him that when they’d been together. It wasn’t murder, but her job. And today, with this man, she had enjoyed herself. When they seemed to be finished with her, she stepped into a tent and stripped off. The blood could be seen circling the small plastic tub from several feet away.
Finished with them all, she came to him again. Xander held her, her body shaking with spent magic. When a large glass of juice was handed to her, she drank it down, along with the gallon jug that she’d been handed as well. He would have to remember that from now on. To have plenty of it at the house when she came home.
“I want to go home.” Xander said he’d like that as well. Penny, he told her, was waiting up for them. “Good. We should pick up some pizzas, have some soda, and make a night of it. She should be able to miss school tomorrow. Mommy here is exhausted.”
Xander loved the way she said that. Also the way that she leaned on his shoulder. It wasn’t enough, not really, but for now it would do. The ride home from Columbus in one of the perks in the form of a helicopter was punctuated with calls from his family, and also the president. As soon as she ended that call, she took the phone and broke it in half and tossed it out the window. En
ough was enough, she told him.
Penny was indeed waiting for them. Not only was she in her jammies and wide awake, but she’d made them a sign, one that Xander knew they’d treasure forever. “Welcome back, Mom and Dad.” It was more than he’d ever thought he’d have, and it was all right here in this house. A house that was finally a home.
~*~
Tyler hung up the phone and sat down. He wasn’t sure whether for some reason Mr. Cartwright had somehow cursed him with these houses. All he did was travel to see to them. He was going to have to do something soon or he was going to have to sell them all to have some peace. His dad had suggested that he hire someone to go to them. That sounded to him like a great idea.
“Sir are you leaving again?” His cook—and the man who was fast becoming his right-hand man—Lloyd, smiled at him. “I can see by the look on your face that you are, and you’re not happy about it.”
“You’d think a man that was worth millions and has twenty-seven houses all around the world would be happy to go to France, but I just want to stay home. To hang out with my family. To be here.” Lloyd said that he might know someone that could help him out. “Oh yeah? I’ll hire them, sight unseen.”
“She’s a bit unorthodox. Has a nasty temper. The reason I know this is because I just got off the phone with her mother. They don’t see that they’re a great deal alike, and they butt heads all the time.”
“Human?” He said that they were. “And it’s just the two of them? No lurking children? No dogs that I have to vie for attention from?”
“No sir.” He laughed. “There is a younger sister, Jazzie. She has a little boy. Poor thing, her husband died the day that she gave birth. A car accident. Took his life and that of another woman. And it was another woman, if you understand.” He said that he did. “She doesn’t come around as much as the other two would like, but she’s still mourning, I think. Not for him, I don’t believe, but— Sorry. I do so love that little girl.”
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