Innocent Target

by Katie Reus

  He’d texted her back and hadn’t heard from her in ten minutes. It wasn’t like she owed him any response at all. Regret filled him, eating away at his insides like acid as he cursed his own selfishness. He should have told her. From the tracker he saw on her vehicle, she was close to her home so he was headed in that direction. She had to be okay.

  His phone buzzed and when he saw her name, the relief that flooded his system was like a tsunami.

  Headed home, surgery went well. Dog made it.

  He texted back immediately. Good. I can meet you at your place if you’d like? He’d already been monitoring the cameras and hadn’t seen any movement. That was something at least.

  Sounds good. I’m going to pick up Chinese food. Do you want some?

  He didn’t want her stopping anywhere. I’ll grab it, just head home.

  If you’re sure, I’ll take you up on that. I like orange chicken :-)

  Got it. He paused, then added a smiley face emoji which was…out of character.

  Fuck. He was telling her as soon as he brought the food over. He’d stop by, give her the food, and just get it all out. Then insist that she head to her brother’s ranch—and he’d follow her to make sure she got there okay. He was sure she wouldn’t balk at leaving her place once he told her someone wanted to kidnap her. But he still dreaded having to actually tell her, especially to her face.

  It didn’t take long to get the food and get to her house. In fact, on his monitor he’d seen her arrive only two minutes before he pulled into the driveway.

  Some of the tension inside him eased, until Brooks Alexander knocked on the passenger side door. Well, hell.

  It took a certain kind of person to surprise him and Brooks definitely had the training. Axel unlocked the doors and remained still, keeping his hands visible as the other man slid into the leather passenger seat.

  Brooks’s expression was dark. “Axel O’Sullivan. What the hell are you doing with my sister?”

  No way to ease into this. “Someone wants to kidnap her. I’ve taken out two of the men hired. One more is still after her but won’t be arriving until tomorrow per my contact. I’ve been trying to figure out who hired them but no luck so far.”

  Brooks blinked once, letting his surprise show for only a second. “How did you come by this information?”

  “Do you know what I do for a living now?” He certainly wasn’t going to spell it out for the man but he needed to know what he was working with here.

  “Yes.”

  Okay then. That was…interesting. Not many people knew. But Brooks was not only trained, he had a lot of money and resources. He cleared his throat. “My pseudo-handler sent me her contract because, well, he didn’t like it. He thought I’d take care of it because…” Because it wasn’t the first time he’d stopped something like this. Axel didn’t say that though. “Anyway, when I looked at her familial relationships, I realized you guys had to be related because of your father.” Even if they did have different last names.

  Brooks’s jaw tightened and he seemed to struggle for a long moment with what to say. “You still haven’t answered what you’re doing with her—what you were doing at my house. I know what you do but I also know you wouldn’t hurt a woman. So why didn’t you just come to me with all this instead of involving her?”

  Axel turned to look out the driver’s side window at Hadley’s little house. It was adorable, like her. And it was probably the last time he’d see it in person. He turned back to Brooks. “I got to town as soon as I could and planned to warn her in person.”

  When he didn’t say any more Brooks raised an eyebrow. “And?”

  “And then I met her. I like her. A lot.”

  Brooks’s jaw tightened again, and that clichéd statement that if looks could kill? Yeah, Axel would be dead. No doubt about it.

  “She’s sweet and kind,” Axel added, as if he even needed to. Anyone who’d ever met her would know that. She was sunshine and rainbows, things he’d never had in his life. Things he knew he didn’t deserve. But apparently he was holding on to the insane hope that just maybe he could have her.

  “Yeah, no shit. She’s not for you. Who does she think you are?”

  “I didn’t lie about my name but she thinks I work in finance, that I’m in town looking for a new job. How did you find out about me?”

  For a long moment Brooks didn’t answer and Axel figured he wasn’t going to. Finally the other man spoke. “You met a couple of my friends at the ranch. They ran your fingerprints—and one of them remembered you from an op after that. It took some digging, but one of my people put the pieces together and figured out what you do.”

  The water bottle by the pool. He’d forgotten about it. And he’d wiped down everything else he’d touched. Damn it. That was the kind of stuff that got you killed. He was too distracted right now. Hadley did that to him. Running his fingerprints wasn’t something civilians did so that left a bunch of unanswered questions. Too bad for him he was pretty certain that Brooks wouldn’t answer shit right now. “Was that you at the marina?”

  “Why’d you leave the FBI?” A blunt question from Brooks. Apparently he was going to ignore Axel’s other question.

  All right, then. He turned away, not willing to tell the other man anything. “It doesn’t matter and the only person I’ll tell is Hadley.”

  “You’re not going to tell her anything. You’re going to leave right now and get the hell out of town. And you can send me any information you have on who wants my baby sister kidnapped.” There was a wealth of protectiveness in his words.

  Axel approved of Brooks’s attitude. Hadley should be protected. He didn’t want to leave but the other man was right. He wouldn’t actually be leaving town until he knew she was safe, but he would stay away from her. “I set up multiple cameras around the perimeter of her place. I can send you the login so you can monitor her. And I can send you the information on the two dead men. But I…I’m not leaving until I know she’s safe. Unless you’re planning on going to the cops, you can use me to track down who wants her kidnapped. Or to keep her safe. Whatever.”

  Brooks snorted at the very idea of getting law enforcement involved. “No cops. So…that was you at the school?”

  “Yeah… Why doesn’t your father have her in a better place? Somewhere with more security?” Because their family was loaded. And it pissed Axel off that she wasn’t in some ivory tower with armed guards and a hell of a lot better security than she had.

  “Are you kidding? She insists on paying for herself if we go out to lunch. She’s so stubborn.” His expression softened for just a second. Then Brooks’s gaze traveled past him for a fraction of a moment and Axel turned to see Skye walking toward the front door.

  There was no way the woman could see past the tinted windows of the truck, not when it was this late, but she still saluted him with her middle finger before rushing up the stairs. “What’s she doing here?”

  “When she sent me the information on the man who was hanging around Hadley, I got here as soon as I could. I was your distraction while Skye did recon to see if you’d brought anyone with you. And we’ll take care of things from here. Now send me what you’ve got and get the hell out of town.”

  Axel didn’t say anything as Brooks got out of his truck and slammed the door.

  Leaning back against the seat, Axel watched the other man step inside Hadley’s house. He should leave, he really should. But first, he grabbed the Chinese food and headed to her front door. Putting it on the front stoop, he turned to leave and the door swung open. Hadley stood there, her expression confused and hurt.

  Seeing the hurt on her face…she might as well have slapped him.

  “Was our first meeting planned? Or was it accidental?” she blurted. Behind her, Skye and Brooks stood there, clearly pissed.

  He shoved his hands into his pockets. “The whole coffee-spilling thing was accidental, but meeting you, yeah, that was definitely planned.” Of course he hadn’t planned to fall for h
er.

  Her eyes were full of accusation as she stared up at him. “Was anything we shared real?”

  He blinked at her question. “Yes. Everything we shared was real. I didn’t lie about my name or any of the other stuff I told you. Except…what I do for a living.”

  Behind her, Skye cleared her throat. “Just bring the food in and get inside.” She gently took Hadley’s upper arm and tugged her back as Axel stepped inside with the food. He handed it to Brooks, which just seemed to annoy the man even more.

  Without taking his eyes off Axel, Brooks set the food down on the small foyer table. Axel had eyes only for Hadley.

  “So why are you here, really?” she asked, her arms wrapped around herself. Wearing jeans and a button-down flannel shirt and her hair pulled up in a ponytail with no makeup, this was the college girl he’d seen from the original file on her. This was the innocent-looking woman he’d had to come meet in person because there was no way in hell she should have been targeted for anything.

  “My name is Axel O’Sullivan. Like I said, I didn’t lie about that. I used to work for the FBI. Now…” He drew in a breath, steeled himself for her reaction. Because it wasn’t going to be pretty. “I kill people for a living.”

  Chapter 10

  —One day or day one.—

  Hadley blinked at his harsh words, sucking in a sharp breath. Yep, her reaction was exactly as he’d predicted. Exactly as Axel deserved. He’d known that his time with her was limited, but it didn’t lessen the sting any. Not when she was everything he’d ever wanted. Even if he hadn’t known it until he’d met her.

  “Seriously? You’re skipping over all the details?” Skye asked. “Come on, everyone let’s do this in the kitchen. The food smells good and I’m freaking starving. And you are going to tell her more. Because I read your file and it’s interesting. So you don’t get to tell her that you’re some jackass assassin without giving her all the details.”

  Having no choice, Axel followed, and tried not to feel like he was going to his execution. He hadn’t planned on telling Hadley anything else because it would’ve sounded like an excuse, as if he was trying to justify what he did for a living. And he didn’t want to do that. Because he wouldn’t try to justify it. He’d made choices and he lived with them. Even if he was alone.

  Inside the kitchen, Hadley was the only one who sat at the small island countertop while Skye started pulling takeout boxes from the bags.

  “The orange chicken is Hadley’s,” he said, looking at Skye.

  Skye gave him a curious look but simply nodded as she started grabbing plates. Brooks didn’t do anything other than hover near him, looking angry. Not that he was scared of the other man. No, the only person he was scared of was the gorgeous young woman sitting right in front of him.

  “So you…kill people?” Hadley’s voice shook slightly.

  “He killed two men who wanted to kidnap you. Probably do worse than that to you. We had someone run the blood of one of the guys he killed and he was not a good man. He’d have definitely hurt you.” Skye’s words were so matter-of-fact that everyone turned to stare at her. She lifted a shoulder. “Not the most noble profession but he did protect you.”

  Axel blinked at her words. He wasn’t even sure how the woman knew what he’d told Brooks earlier until he saw the small earpiece in Brooks’s ear. Damn it, of course that was how they were communicating. Which no doubt meant there were more people outside. Probably putting a tracker or some bullshit on his truck. So he had to ditch the truck soon. And damn it, he should have just burned that car. It had to be how they’d gotten a blood sample of one of the dead hitters.

  Skye picked up a potsticker. “Tell me I’m wrong,” she said when he didn’t respond.

  He looked at Hadley, saw a trace of fear in her gaze and simply said, “Both men wanted to kidnap you.”

  “Are you the bearded guy from school?”

  He nodded.

  “Thank you for what you did.” Her softly spoken words surprised him.

  “You don’t ever have to thank me for anything.” Definitely not for what he’d done.

  “So are you going to tell her why you quit the FBI?” Skye asked, pushing a plate of food in front of Hadley.

  Hadley barely glanced at it before her gaze fixed back on Axel.

  “Difference of opinion on how procedures should be handled.” And that was all she needed to know.

  Skye rolled her eyes, exasperated. “Fine, I’ll tell her.”

  “Damn it, Skye, just leave it alone,” Brooks snapped. “So he can just leave. It doesn’t matter what his reasons were. He doesn’t belong here and he’s not welcome.”

  Skye looked at him, her head tilting slightly to the side. “Really? He saved Hadley. Of all people, you’re gonna judge him? Because you and I have no room to judge anyone when it comes to—”

  Brooks cut her off with a sharp shake of his head.

  “So,” Skye continued, turning away from Brooks to face Axel, “from what I gather, you discovered that one of the top men in a criminal organization your team was trying to bring down was a serial rapist and murderer.”

  “How—”

  “From multiple contacts and your personnel file,” she said, cutting him off. “Yes, I’m good enough to have your personnel file. And unless you’re going to tell her, then I get to finish this. So, you wanted to stop this guy. But your higher-ups decided that they wanted the bigger fish. His big, bad boss.” She snorted. “Sounds exactly like something those assholes with the FBI would do too. Stop me if I’m wrong.”

  He simply shrugged. She was doing fine all by herself. How the hell had she gotten his personnel file? And more importantly, how the fuck did they know what he did for a living? It wasn’t common knowledge and Brooks would have had to do more than “put the pieces together” to figure it out.

  “That’s what I thought. So,” she continued, watching Hadley, “your boy over here wanted to do the right thing. But his bosses considered those women expendable since they were prostitutes. I guess the Feds figured they didn’t deserve the right to live because of their chosen profession. Axel disagreed and tried to go over his head. Didn’t work because the grandboss wanted the head of the criminal organization more than a serial rapist and killer. The guy went on to kill six more women before they finally brought him down. And not all of those women were prostitutes, which is the only reason they brought him in. Not that it matters, because they should’ve listened to Axel right away. And the kicker is, they didn’t even bring down the bigger fish.” Disgust filled her voice. “Does that about cover it?”

  “Yeah.”

  Hadley turned to look at him and said, “So what happened? How did you go from that to killing people?”

  He looked at her for a long moment, unable to find his voice. “I didn’t, not right away anyway. But I turned in my resignation after that. I took a job with them because I believed in a cause, but the people in charge really only cared about getting their faces in the news.”

  Not all of them did, he knew that. But he’d gotten burned out fast, disgusted by their complete lack of humanity. He didn’t want to have this conversation at all, but definitely not in front of two virtual strangers. Too bad for him because it was clear that they weren’t going anywhere.

  Clearing his throat, he glanced away for a moment, unable to look at her as he searched for a way to get this out. Finally he looked back at her. “I never planned for this to be my job. Never imagined it actually. When I found out that Leo Williams was getting released on a technicality—that was the killer’s name—I took care of the problem as soon as he was let out.” And Axel felt no guilt over it either. The system had failed all the women Williams had raped, tortured and killed. It had failed in general. The system that should be protecting the marginalized had sat back and done nothing. That kind of apathy was just as bad as Williams killing people. “I couldn’t let him continue—and he would have, no question. From there…” He shrugged, not going to give
the whole story. Not yet anyway. And he’d only tell Hadley the rest if she wanted to know. But no one else.

  Hadley was motionless and so were the others. The only exception was Skye who’d started eating, digging into an egg roll as if she hadn’t eaten in a week.

  “So, I’m going to process all that…later. For the issue at hand, why would anyone want to kidnap me?” Hadley asked, looking at everyone, pure confusion in her dark eyes.

  Axel saw Skye and Brooks exchange a quick look as Skye set down her half-eaten egg roll on her plate.

  Brooks took a step closer to his sister, his expression softening. He looked completely different from the man who’d been in the truck with Axel, ready to kill him. “Whether you want to accept it or not, you’re wealthy. I know you won’t take any money from Dad, but you’re still considered a target because you’re his daughter. And I’m going to be blunt. He adores you and he’s not the same man who raised me. Don’t get me wrong, when I was younger I was considered a target too and he took precautionary measures. It’s part of the reason the ranch is so damn secure. He needed to know that wherever we lived, I was as safe as anyone could ever be.”

  “But why not go after you too? Not that I want you to be kidnapped,” Hadley tacked on, her eyes growing wide. “I guess I just don’t understand why me.”

  “Well he loves you and he’s made it pretty damn clear to anyone who will listen. He’s also incredibly proud of you. You’re all he ever talks about now. And…” Brooks cleared his throat. “You’re a woman, so they probably view you as an easier target. I have military training and there are other ways to use a woman against my father to get him to pay whatever it is this kidnapper wants.”

  It took a few seconds for Hadley to understand what her brother meant, but Axel saw the moment she did because her face paled. “That’s…terrible.”