“I’ve been a bit stressed out,” Jasper mumbled. “Sorry.”
“Just makes sure you keep up with the physical therapy, bud.” Zander grinned at Jasper, and Elijah chuckled a little sadly. Seeing those two always made him miss Quinn when they didn’t have him. Vincent must have noticed his mood change because he elbowed Elijah.
“Quinn would hate New York, you know that,” Vincent whispered. “He can barely go into town, and it’s three streets.”
“Yeah, and we need someone watching the house when Shade and Scout can’t go on a mission,” Elijah sighed.
“You talk to him about us bringing a woman around, if we can catch her?” Vincent leaned over to rest his forearms on his knees, watching Elijah.
“Yup, and he took it about as well as anyone can expect from him.” Elijah gave a dry chuckle. “You know him. I was lucky to convince him to get everything set up.”
“Who on this plane doesn’t know Quinn?” Vincent smiled. Quinn was their most precious teammate, and most peculiar, as well. “He can handle it though, right?”
“Yeah.” Elijah nodded, just once. “He was fairly adamant that he would be fine.” Elijah started laughing as he said it. Quinn hadn’t been truthful, but Elijah could still appreciate the effort Quinn gave to making Elijah believe him. “What do you think we’re going to find in New York, Vincent?”
“Hopefully, the key to catching Axel. At the least, Zander and Jasper’s long-lost friend so they can stop wasting resources on that.” Vincent shrugged. “We’ll see which when we get our hands on her. Let’s review what we have so far. We tracked her to the city, but we don’t know what she’s up to there. While it’s the main headquarters for the entire Magi world, information about the underworld there is scarce because there’s barely an underworld at all.”
“You know.” Jasper looked up at them from his book as he spoke. Advanced particle physics. Elijah felt a headache coming on just looking at the title. “If you had let us use the facial recognition software years ago, we might have already been able to catch her before Axel tried to kill her.”
“Yeah.” Zander waved a hand around, glaring at Vincent. “This would have never happened.”
“You’ve said this already,” Vincent mumbled darkly. It had been an ongoing argument since LA, and Elijah kept his nose out of it.
Elijah watched Vincent pull out the massive manila folder they had. Vincent kept files on fucking everything, from their groceries to any case they would ever possibly work on. His organized, control freak nature made Elijah itch sometimes.
“We know that she’s pretty hot,” Elijah mumbled, grabbing a recent photo of Sawyer from the top. It didn’t have the grainy, low quality of the security camera from LA. Someone had been able to snap a picture of her standing in a gym, then shared it on Facebook. They had run every piece of facial recognition software they could get their hands on to find it. She was so hard to find, if they hadn’t gotten a look at her from the LA incident, they would have had no idea that the toned, gorgeous fighter was also the thief Axel was trying to kill.
“Of all the things you notice.” Vincent rolled his eyes. Elijah only offered him a grin in return. He knew Vincent had noticed, too, or there would have been a discussion about why Elijah thought she was good looking.
“I hope she doesn’t let you within ten feet of her,” Zander called from his spot next to Jasper, who ignored them all for his book.
“I’ll make you a bet,” Elijah taunted. “A hundred dollars says I’m the one who captures her.”
“Deal.” Zander grinned back. Vincent groaned and pushed the file away. They weren’t supposed to bet on missions, but Elijah couldn’t resist trying to get close to a beautiful woman. “She’s not going to fall for your shit, I promise. She’s never fallen for your type.”
“And what is my type, fuck head?” Elijah laughed. “Attractive and wonderful?”
“Southern and arrogant.” Zander threw a balled-up napkin at him. Elijah lit it on fire and let it burn away before it got close to him. Zander narrowed his eyes at him. “Damn cowboy.”
“You grew up in Georgia, and you call me a cowboy?” Elijah raised an eyebrow, still grinning. “Redneck.”
“Jasper and I don’t run around in boots with actual spurs. If you don’t like cowboy, how about Texas boy?” Zander looked Elijah over. Elijah looked down at his feet. Well, Zander had him there. He was wearing cowboy boots and spurs. “And I’m not a fucking redneck.”
“Doesn’t matter what you call me, as long as you remember that women love a good, down-to-earth, country boy. So, we got a deal?” Elijah pulled out his wallet and showed Zander the cash he had as Zander nodded. “Let’s see it, you know the rules.”
Zander did the same, proving he had the money to back up his mouth. Elijah was going to have a lot of fun trying to take the poor guy’s cash.
“That’s if you are needed, Elijah,” Vincent finally told him blandly. “We don’t even have a plan, yet, so both of you put your money away.”
Elijah and Zander both sighed but maintained eye contact, trying to hold back smiles. The bet was still on, but they needed to keep Vincent from strangling them. Not like the six-two Italian could, but he was their boss, so they had to keep up appearances.
“She’s not going to fall for you. Maybe Vincent, but not you. I hope you keep that cash ready.”
Elijah snorted at Zander’s telepathic thought. He didn’t have the ability, so he couldn’t respond, but he was going to have a good fucking time proving Zander wrong. Nine years changed people, and Elijah figured that the Sawyer in New York wasn’t going to be the same Sawyer they drank cheap moonshine with as teenagers.
6
SAWYER
Two weeks went by slowly, and, by the end, Sawyer was in the gym pushing herself to make sure she didn’t grow complacent. She kept a strict workout routine and no injury was going to keep her from pushing her body to the limit.
Two hours of weight training every day. One hour of cardio every day. Three days a week, she went to judo classes. Two days a week, she trained alone with Charlie. Then she taught two self-defense classes every week for minors, though Liam had been slowly taking over that for nearly a year.
“Sawyer,” Charlie called her from the ring in the middle of the gym. She put down the barbell she was using and walked over, eyeing the quiet teen from a week before. “You were right.”
“I always am.” She smiled at the young man. “What’s your name?” She wasn’t going to forget again.
“Travis,” he mumbled, looking at the ground.
“Anyone know you’re here?” she asked him plainly.
“No,” he continued to mumble. She was used to the kids she trained being quiet. They were either terrified of her or defiant and ready to fight the world. They were all full of the same two things, though: anger and shame.
“Good.” She patted his shoulder. She had nearly eight inches on the small kid. It reminded her of when she had first met Liam. He looked up at her and frowned.
“You said you trained minors self-defense?” He looked from her to Charlie, and they nodded. “I want to learn.”
“Who?” She asked softly.
“Step-dad,” he mumbled. “Not me, though. He goes after my mom, and I want to protect her.”
Sawyer tensed and looked up at Charlie. Their eyes met, and she knew he would be okay with it. If it had been another teenager, she wouldn’t get involved, but if an adult beat up on kids or defenseless people, she stepped in when she found out. She couldn’t stop herself. She refused to see people beaten on like that for nothing more than existing, and that was really the only reason some abusers needed.
“Good thinking, young man.” Charlie waved him closer. “Let me get your information and give you the schedule. If you want private lessons so you can advance quickly, we allow anyone over fourteen to work around the gym to earn hours of training. Ten hours of work for one hour of private training. You’re allowed to work twenty ho
urs a week in exchange for time with me or Sawyer.”
She watched them walk off and clenched her fists. He was a good kid. Defending his mom? That was some noble shit right there. She and Charlie would make sure Travis knew everything he needed to achieve that goal.
But Travis wouldn’t be dealing with the step-dad. She would be.
“Liam,” she called him over. “Remember what I had you do the night we dealt with your brother and his friends?”
“Yeah.” Sawyer could hear how uncomfortable he was. She had handled all five of the guys with ease right in front of him. He’d gotten the full show on how her powers worked and how she used them to fight. It was efficient. His entire job was to help her throw them into the truck they drove and get them to a hospital.
“Want to do it again?” She raised an eyebrow. She knew his answer. She had purposefully roughed up Carson more than necessary to put some fear into Liam at the idea of initiating violence. He was a non-Magi, and he would have no idea when he was in over his head if he accidentally picked a fight a Magi. She had shown him that.
“Not really,” he mumbled.
“Good,” she chuckled and slapped his shoulder. “Go help Charlie with Travis. I’ll handle the rest.”
“Alright.” Liam nodded. “You won’t be around for the rest of the day?”
“Nope,” she said softly, giving him a deadly smile. He only kept nodding before walking off. He knew what she was planning, but she figured it looked different now that he knew she was once an infamous and proficient assassin.
Sawyer waited patiently. She knew he would show up. A few easy questions around the neighborhood had told her what she needed to know in order to corner this guy on his way home.
It was nearly midnight when the asshole got home, drunk as fuck, trying to stumble up the stairs to his apartment where Travis and his mother were. This dick wasn’t going to make it up there, though. In fact, if he knew what was good for him, he was never going to see them again.
Charlie had gotten the boy’s home address and his mother’s name for paperwork. It was standard. Then Sawyer would use that information to fix the youth’s problem. All the teenagers she trained knew it was her, but none of them ever confronted her, and they didn’t tell anyone else.
She walked across the street to the man leaning against his building’s door.
“Mr. Green?” she asked quietly. She didn’t wear a mask, she didn’t hide who she was when she showed up for these…meetings. She wanted these assholes to know exactly who was sending them on their way.
A little more side research during the day had told her that Travis’s mother was a hard worker, but her husband kept screwing things up for them. He was spending all their money on alcohol, then beating on her when there were no groceries. He refused to work, making her handle everything. Instead of the one steady job that could have covered her and Travis, she was working three to keep up with his demands.
“Yeah?” He eyed her and then grinned. “What’s a hot thing like you doing out here?”
“Fixing a problem.” She smiled. “I’m only going to say this once. Listen closely.” She pointed to the door. “I had the locks changed today, so your key won’t work. All the other tenants have been taken care of, but I’m here to inform you that you won’t be getting a key.”
“Why the fuck won’t I be getting a key? I fucking live here.” He glared at her.
“Your name isn’t on any lease for this building.” She shrugged. “Therefore, you don’t need a copy of the key. Now, on to part two. Find a new place to live. You don’t live here anymore.”
“Why?” he growled at her. “My fucking wife lives here, and I’m going to live with my wife and good for nothing step-son. He needs a father-figure in the home.”
“He doesn’t need one who beats his mother.” She stepped closer. “We can do this the easy way, Mr. Green. You can leave and never turn back. When divorce papers show up, you’ll sign them and pretend that Alicia and Travis never existed. You will never hit another woman or her kid again. Travis said you didn’t hit him, but I have a feeling that it wasn’t truthful.”
“And if I say, ‘Fuck the easy way’?”
“Then I send you to the hospital.”
“Try me, bitch. No girl can-”
She didn’t wait for him to finish. They never chose the easy way, but she always offered the choice just to see if they were even a tiny bit redeemable. She felt bone crunch under her right fist. She had hit him hard enough to give him an orbital fracture. She didn’t wait for him to recover, grabbing his shoulder with her left hand and sending three solid upper cuts in his gut, making him vomit on to the stairs. She kneed his face, sending him flying back into a bush. He tried to stand up, and she let him wobble around, bringing his hands up. She gave a dark laugh and sent a left hook into his jaw. He staggered, and she stepped in close, leaning until her lips nearly touched his temple.
“You want to fight with a woman?” she snarled in his ear. “Then find one who can fight back, coward.”
His groaning reply was satisfying, but not enough for her. She stepped back and landed a kick into his knee, buckling it backwards and sending him to the concrete, screaming in agony. Now that was the response she wanted.
She knelt and whispered to him, “You are never coming back here. Is that clear?”
“Yes, please! I beg you, stop. I’ll never come back. I’ll leave them alone. I’m sorry!”
She’d heard the same thing one hundred times at this point. She would keep his information on hand and check in every now and then, just to make sure he did what she asked. So far, none of the people she went after ever repeated their offenses. It wasn’t just men, either. She’d taken out a couple of women who thought that they could treat their kids badly.
She and Charlie would let the kids stay with them until other family arrived. If there was no other family, they had a list of trusted and respected foster homes to put them in. They didn’t let anyone get lost in the system. Travis was lucky to have his mother. Most of the kids she helped had no one. Liam had only been the first, but he wasn’t close to the last.
She hauled the man up and dragged him to the pickup truck she used only for this. No plates, all black, beat-up. If the cops got onto them for this, it was hard to identify and harder to find. She pushed him into the passenger seat and drove them to the hospital. She didn’t bother getting out to send him in. She kicked him out his side once he opened the door, speeding off the moment she knew she wasn’t going to run him over.
She couldn’t leave them bleeding on sidewalks—it drew unwanted attention if they accidentally died—so she dropped them off at hospitals all over the city.
She slammed the truck door closed when she got back to the gym. She didn’t bother checking to see if Charlie was around or out with his friends. Liam was tucked away in his apartment, now that they had run his brother back out of the city.
She hit the kitchen and began scrubbing. Blood covered her hands, and she bit back the revulsion at the sight. Blood didn’t really bother her, but the sight of it on her hands brought back memories.
She was looking down on an old man, choking on his own blood. Her hands were covered in it; her shoes were soaked. She reached to pull the dagger out of his chest, causing another pulse of blood to pour out and cover her shoes. A hand touched her shoulder, and she shook, fighting the urge to vomit at the scene as the hand led her away, telling her how well she did.
She swallowed and felt a cold sweat break out on her forehead. A door opened and closed as she scrubbed. The water was scalding hot. She never really felt good at the end of these things, but, in her mind, it was a necessary evil. She would deal with the nightmares of blood if she could help people make a step toward rebuilding their lives in safety, away from those who would force them to live in fear.
“Sawyer…” Charlie whispered, stepping to her side. “Your hands are clean, Sawyer.” He reached out and turned off the water. She kept trying to scr
ub, her eyes still closed. She felt him grab her wrists, and she opened her eyes. Her hands had gotten red and would have started blistering if she had kept them in the water. She didn’t feel the heat from Charlie’s hands when he healed her this time, indicating she had probably screwed up the nerves in her hands.
“You normally don’t do this,” he said after releasing her. “It’s never this bad.”
“I think it’s because I ran into Axel. Everything has been fucked up since then,” she mumbled. “Will they be alright, old man?”
“Yeah, I stopped you before you did any real damage to yourself.” He rubbed her shoulder. “And that problem you dealt with?”
She met his eyes, showing no emotion.
“Travis and his mother will be fine,” she whispered. She never told him more. If anyone ever found out what she was doing, her story was that she was breaking into his records without his knowledge. She wasn’t going to tell him details. Details got people arrested instead of just questioned.
“Good.” He nodded. “Friday Fight Night is in three days. Work out whatever is riding you there.”
“I will, have no fear.” She stepped past him and went to her room. The moment the door closed, she turned off all her lights, stripped, and climbed into her bed. Sleep wasn’t going to come but she wasn’t going to do this on the floor.
She curled into the fetal position and shook. At some point, Charlie walked in and put a blanket over her, but neither said anything. She didn’t move until dawn.
“Henry! No!”
She thought she screamed it, but nothing came out of her open mouth.
A thud.
Blood on the tiles.
Cracks in the wall.
7
SAWYER
Fight Night, Fight Club, illegal fighting ring that shouldn’t exist. Whatever anyone called it, they all meant the same thing. A good time.
The Redemption Saga Box Set Page 6