Kade

by Eryann O'Moraíne

  Tech pulled up a city map with the businesses labeled. His eyes ruling them out as he passed over them. Then he stopped and pointed at the screen. “Al’s Store All. Had to be where she was going. She can get there without coming in contact with cameras if she circles in from the back. Could have a vehicle stashed in a unit.”

  Sawyer motioned at the screens. “Time stamp is early. Search the cameras to see if she picked up a vehicle. Can’t be too many people on the road at that time on a Sunday.”

  Lyndsie came into the cage with a tray of coffees for the men there. She stood watching as Tech went camera by camera until finally an old jeep wrangler came into frame. The driver kept their face from any detection, but it had to be her. “Wish her Daddy and Granddaddy had let her be. Their training just might get her in trouble.”

  ~Chapter Eleven~

  Zora turned on her favorite classic rock station and jammed out as her jeep bounced down the dirt road that led up to her safe house. She had passed farms and homesteads that eventually disappeared completely as she got farther into the hills. The last place she passed brought back memories of her father and grandfather. They had loved the honeyshine that was made there. It had been her introduction into alcohol and she still remembered felling like she was breathing fire after just a sip.

  Welcome to The Jungle went fuzzy as she got close to her set up. She would lose the station and all electronics would not work with the jammers she had in place. She looked down at the creek as she passed and saw the turbine in there that powered her tech turning. The winter melt had not stopped it with debris.

  Bopping with the music in her head now that the radio was silent, Zora watched for sign anyone had been there in the month she had last driven up. Her checks were all in place, nothing tripped or out of place. Parking in the small turn out, Zora stepped out and took a deep breath of the cold morning air.

  The sun was just peaking over the peaks of the Appalachian Mountains in front of her. Walking around the back of her rig, she opened the hatch and pulled out a hiker’s pack and a rifle just like the one that was locked up in the Horde’s gun closet. Silly boys, girls are smarter than that.

  She tucked another forty-five in the holster on her right hip and set off into the trees. Spring might have been what the calendar said but it was still damn cold up here in these elevations. Zora’s breath puffed out in front of her as she climbed deeper into the mountain. There was no trail, only her sense of direction that told her she was going in right orientation. Stopping on the old logging road that would lead her to the place she was heading, Zora paused and listened. The woods were alive with life and all seemed content to go on with it.

  Another hundred yards and the front of the mine that was long abandoned came into view. Squeezing between two planks, Zora pulled the head lamp from the pocket on the side of her leg and turned it on. The beam played over the dust and dirt that had been swept of her tracks on her way out last time. Only little tracks of mice and something bigger, fox maybe showed. Humming Enter Sandman’s opening guitar riff, Zora walked to the false wall at the back.

  Timbers and rocks looked like a cave in and that the mine was only fifty feet deep now. But that was the whole idea. She walked to a vertical timber and tossed her pack behind it. Taking the rifle from the sling on her shoulder, she turned sideways and wiggled threw. The chamber opened back up and all that was around her was the sound of drips and the flutter of the bats that called the place home now. Picking up her pack, she walked deep underground.

  Light playing over the walls and the cord that was now visible for power, Zora came to a large metal door. If the false front did not stop someone, this one would. It looked like it had been here as long as the mine. Walking to a metal plate, she twisted the faux bolts and removed it. A retinal and handprint scanner glowed blue. Keying in her code, Zora waited for the beep and then placed her hand on the screen. Another beep and then her eyes were before the scanner. A beep and then the whoosh of air as the door opened a crack. Replacing the metal plate, Zora walked into her safe house.

  Soft blue light powered on with her movement as she set her pack on a table and leaned the rifle against the wall next to the door. She keyed in a sequence and the system booted up, asking for a diagnostic run. A screen twice the size of Tech’s was front and center, and she touched it to wake it up. The two smaller ones were on each side and she called one to run the diagnostics it wanted. She turned on music and Enter Sandman came from her speakers; she kept the volume low. Even if she blared it, no one would hear it this deep in the mountain. “Off to never-never land” she sung out.

  Turning from the screens, she went to check her other supplies. To the left sat her weapons cache. Even for being a cave, there was no sign of damp, rot or rust. Her filters were working at peak. On the center table was the replica she had built of Mayhem’s last weapon. She had yet to figure out what had been tampered with to make it detonate.

  On the right she checked the living quarters. Food was still sealed, and water levels were good. A spring deeper in the cavern would provide more. All the plastic footlockers were locked and showed no sign of rodents, most furries did not make it back this far. Even the bats were not this deep.

  The computer beeped the completion of the run and she returned to the screens. All was well. She sat in her chair that was just like the one Tech favored, she keyed into her secure email and bank account. Recipient of the image she had tracked down had emailed the completion ticket back to her and the wire transfer of three hundred thousand sat in her bank. She did not need to work at all if she wanted with the number of zeros that were sitting there. But it was fun.

  She pulled up the server that she picked her missions from and began cruising for another job.

  Missing people, nope. She would not reveal someone that wanted to stay hidden since not all motives of the seeker were honorable.

  Murder for hire, nope. That was another one she would not touch even if she had the skills.

  Hacks needed for intel gathering, nope. She was not into espionage as most of those turned out to be.

  Ahh, contract out on a top level boss in Vegas, perfect. Just like the Moscow job. Easily checked to make sure it was on the up and up. Gather intel on location and activities. No info on the seeker but she would ferret that out as well. Could be good guys or bad guys, but then most of the times the letters of the good guys were just as bad, they just hid it behind the powers that be. Selecting it, she accepted it and got her time frame and requested her payment amount.

  An alert on a new posting popped up. Clicking on it she laughed.

  Seeking – person who escaped in early hours of this morning. Female, slight build, dark hair, piercing and tattoo. Photo upon conformation of job acceptance. Last seen in West Virginia.

  Tech. How cute they thought they were. She clicked the tab on the end of the job frame which removed it from view. She started her program to prevent tracking knowing Tech had one running on his end to get to her.

  . . . . . Nice try.

  The cursor blinked and then dots appeared as someone on the other end was typing. A stream of pictures of her flight from the Horde compound came through. She sang along with You Shook Me All Night Long as she typed back.

  . . . . . Hide and go seek not your game?

  The cursor blinked and then the dots again.

  . . . . . You got people lining up to blister your ass.

  Zora laughed. Turning on the camera, she slid out of the chair and twisted to the song playing. She gyrated into a turn where she hooked her fingers in the waist of her pants and slid them down slow to just below her cheeks, showing off the white lace thong she wore. She shook her ass and then pulled her pants back up. With a quick edit to remove her face at the beginning and end with only the butt portion now, she sent it.

  . . . . . Now you really going to get it.

  Zora laughed again but stopped as a sound behind her had her jerking from her chair. Instinct had her hitting the camera feed on
and to live. If Tech was a good as her, he could trace it in no time. And even more for them to get here.

  The sound of boot on stone came again. Someone was here. And her gut was telling her it was not Kade. How the hell had someone found her? And here of all places?

  ~Chapter Twelve~

  The other end of the camera feed popped up and Tech clicked it again with a wince, hoping it was not another ass shot that would get him slapped in the back of the head again. No less than a dozen people had seen Zora’s fine ass the last time he opened what she sent.

  No. This was worse. He could see the lines of strain on her face as she stood and looked into the darkness behind her. She palmed the gun on her hip and flipped off the safety.

  Kade and Sawyer surged forward trying to, as Zora was, see what was deep in the shadows. “What is going on?”

  Tech shook his head at his Veep. “My guess is she heard something.”

  Safe houses were to be that. And obviously Zora did not think hers was now. The men in the room watched her aim into the shadows. “You better be furry or you going to be staying on my mountain as a long term resident.”

  They heard the scrape of boot on stone threw the speakers that were still playing the rock that Zora had on. Big Bad Wolf from Zora’s favorite band In This Moment came on as the form stepped from the shadows with a pistol pointed back at Zora. The eerie opening music fit the scene playing out. “I’m not the fox here.”

  Hernandez. Fuck! Zora tightened her grip on her gun. “My name does not mean fox. I’m polish, not whatever the hell you are.”

  Hernandez stepped farther into the room and grinned at her. “I’m the one who killed your dad. I’m the one who will kill you. But first, I want a taste.”

  Zora released her supporting hand on the grip of the gun and gave him the come and get it motion.

  Hernandez lunged and ducked, causing the shot to fly into the shadows behind him. He came up, grabbing her hand and pointing the gun at the ceiling, applying pressure to Zora’s wrist to make her let go of it.

  Kade grabbed the tablet Tech held out to him and sprinted out to the left of the cage. Slapping a large button on the wall as he entered the underground garage, he ran for the large military grade Humvee. “Get me her location!”

  Boots followed him and men piled into his truck and the ones on each side of him as the elevators with the vehicles in them raised. Engines roared to life as the light of the morning came into view. The elevators were right in front of the three garage bays and the gate in front of them was already opening as they sped toward it.

  Tucker tucked an earpiece in and fastened the mic around Kade’s neck as he drove at breakneck speeds for the other end of the town. Sawyer came on from one of the trucks behind him. “Got a helo on the way. Ghost, you take it and get eyes in the air.”

  As they cleared the end of town, the last truck peeled off and into the field there and the waiting bird. Kade growled into the mic. “Tech! Get me a location damn it!”

  Tech was clicking away as he watched Zora fight for her life. She had yet to release the gun and now had a knife, but he could see that her wrist was turning purple with bruising and hung down at her side as she backed the way Hernandez had come in. His screen beeped and the map on front of him zeroed in and spit out coordinates. “Got her!”

  He rattled off the numbers and Tucker imputed them into the GPS on the dash. He glanced down at the tablet mounted under the directional unit and swore. Kade glanced down and shoved his foot down harder on the gas.

  Zora was now on the floor with Hernandez on top of her, slamming her wrists into the stone to make her release her weapons. His sick smile was caught on camera as the woman under him finally let go of her only lines of defense.

  Zora would not go out like this. She bucked and tried to fight free. Hernandez grabbed both her aching wrists in one of his hands and held them pressed into her chest as he used the other to grab the zip on the jacket she still wore due to the mines cold temps and jerked it down. The rendering of the tees shirt she wore under it had her struggling anew.

  Hernandez looked down at the woman under him. He preferred his women curvier, but she was not bad. Too bad this would be the only taste of her he would get. Could not leave witnesses. “I like it rough, keep it up.”

  Zora bared her teeth at him. “Why?”

  Reaching into a pocket like hers on the side of his pants, Hernandez pulled a pair of zip cuffs out. Smirking down at her, he set to work capturing her wrists without letting her go. “You didn’t figure it out? Guess you aren’t as smart as you think you are.”

  Zora fought him as he tried to place her other wrist in the plastic loop. Kneeing him in the back had him off balance on his knees which were planted on either side of her hips. His face came towards hers and she reared up and latched on. But he saw her coming and jerked back.

  Missing her mark of his face, her teeth sunk into his meaty neck. Hernandez roared and had to let go of her wrist to get her off him. Wrapping a hand in her hair, he pulled. Zora felt tears run as her hair was torn from her head, but she still hung on.

  Tech was cheering her on from his end even if she could not hear him. He was trying to hack into her system to let her know help was on the way, but she had so many blocks and firewalls it was taking too long. “That a girl! Hang on, we’re coming!”

  The men in the units speeding to Zora’s rescue looked to the screens Tech had patched her feed into for them at his voice. Hernandez managed to get her mouth off him, but she took a chunk of him with her. She spat it at him as he slapped her so hard her head whipped to the side and did not come back around as fast it should have.

  Kade roared and fish tailed his truck into the entrance of the road that would take him to Zora. He was going to rip apart the man with his hands on her limb from limb. The sound of the helicopter overhead had him grinning.

  Zora shook off the stars in her vision and slammed her fists into the solar plexus of the man on her. With his hand trying to staunch the blood of her bite, Hernandez could not grab her as she shoved with her heels and slid out from under him. As her feet cleared, she kicked up with both into the balls she had missed that first day.

  Scrambling to her feet, Zora ran for the big door.

  Tech shouted into the mic on his earpiece. He was in! His voice boomed threw the cavern. “Zora! We’re coming baby!”

  He watched as she darted into the tunnel via the infrared cameras she had set up. She was fishing around in her jacket pocket as she ran up the tunnel to the mine entrance. Her phone glowed into power when she swiped as she ran, years of using this location guiding her feet as her eyes were on the screen.

  She called out to him as she neared the faux slide. “Twenty seconds!”

  “Fuck!” He knew that the crews were there as they were calling to each other over the coms. “Fall back! She’s coming out hot!”

  Kade stopped as he reached for the boards on the mine face. The sound of boots filtered from the darkness. He reached his hand threw and grasped the tiny one slapped into his palm. Heaving Zora between the planks, he pulled her into his side and ran down the mountain with his men. The explosion rocked the ground under their feet and had the helo above their heads veering clear of the debris cloud as the mine blew out the side of the mountain in several spots from the main spur and air shafts.

  Zora found herself on the ground under Kade as the mountain rained down on them. Reaching up, she placed her hand around the back of his head and pulled him down. Cheers had her breaking the kiss to smile at him. “You found me.”

  Kade sat up and pulled her from the leaf litter by her upper arms to sitting in front of him. “That I did. And I always will.”

  Tech came over the speaker in his ear. “Actually, I did.”

  Sawyer came walking over to them and pulled Kade to his feet. Both stood looking down at the woman that had just blown a huge hole in the side of the hill. “I think we should all get a turn spanking her ass.”

  Z
ora squeaked as she looked around. Eight men on the ground with who knew how many in the bird above them. No way in hell was she going to let that happen. She would not sit for a month.

  Kade arched a brow at her. “Maybe I should allow it.”

  Zora jumped to her feet. She had never answered him when he laid claim to her and she was not going to agree now. “Like hell. You don’t own me big man.”

  Kade grabbed the ends of her jacket and zipped it up having just realized that Zora’s bra covered tits were on display. “Is that what you think?”

  ~Chapter Thirteen~

  Zora sat in the med unit in the office as Tucker looked her over. Just bruising but Kade had insisted. “Thank you.”

  Tucker looked up from listening to her heart. “You’re in some trouble.”

  Zora rolled her eyes. “What did you all expect me to do?”

  Placing the stethoscope around his neck, Tucker took up the stance they must all practice of arms crossed over chest and legs spread. “Listen. I won’t say obey but at least listen when we say something.”

  Zora swung her legs off the table and sat there looking at him. “I had work to do.”

  Tucker shook his head. “No. You had to stay here and safe. Someone tried to kill you. Killed your dad. You knew you weren’t safe.”

  Zora bit back the comment that she could take care of her herself as the door in the office to the basement opened and Sawyer walked over to them.

  “And?” He directed the question to Tucker.

  “All clear. Just mind the wrists. Without an x-ray, I can’t say for sure if the bruising is the only damage.” Tucker walked to the open door and disappeared down the steps.

  Zora eyed Sawyer.