by Aliyah Burke
She shook her head violently. “No! Don’t lie to me.”
“Thirteen years ago, he was in Louisiana. In the Atchafalaya Basin area.” Dawning comprehension filled Kelly’s gaze. “He was there for a gun sale. A girl stumbled in on it and ran when she was discovered. He chased her, and when he caught her, he stabbed her,” tears pricked Serefina’s eyes, “forty-two times. Then he left, leaving behind almost no trace of his existence. Except for two things. A piece of paper with this town’s name on it and a witness.”
Kelly looked horrified. “You…you’re lying.”
“No. I’m not lying. I’ve spent thirteen years searching for him, the man who brutally killed that young woman.”
“How do you know? It could have been someone else. My brother—”
“I was there. I’m the witness and the one he killed was my sister.” A sharp breath from Taber echoed in her ear. She’d not told him everything, but now he’d heard.
She could see the revulsion on Kelly’s face yet her head shook in denial. “No. I don’t believe you.”
“He mistook her for me. Easy to do since I’m a triplet. Or I was. Now I only have a twin.” Serefina reached out and grabbed her arm. “He’s recently killed another agent and two more are missing. I know you love your brother and want him safe. But he’s killing people because he believes he has a free pass, a free pass because of you. Don’t let him continue to take from others. Stop him, help us stop him.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Have you ever asked your brother why he wants you to protect him? Any person who stays within the realm of the law doesn’t need a free pass. Why does he?”
It was obvious Kelly fought to retain her belief in her brother but struggled to do so. “I can’t… You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Yes, I do. I don’t know what else he’s done. If or how many more he’s killed. Could be none or it could be many. I’m not standing here saying he killed dozens. I’m telling you what I know. Look, you’ve been in the house. The two missing agents—let me describe them and you tell me if you’ve seen them.”
The look on Kelly’s face while she described Sean Forrest and Betsy Kline told her what she needed to know. They were there.
“He said they were from the family who wanted to kill me.”
“Are they alive?”
Kelly’s eyes filled with tears but she nodded. Serefina relayed the information to Taber. “Where in the house are they being held?”
“Don’t kill him,” Kelly begged.
“That depends on you, Kelly. You can save him but you have to stop protecting him. If he thinks he can kill and walk away, he won’t hesitate to do so. And I won’t stand by and let him kill the agent with me.”
“I knew you were concerned about me, angel,” Taber’s decadent voice purred in her ear.
She sighed and remained focused on Kelly. Suddenly, Kelly appeared older than when they first locked gazes. Almost like she’d been ignoring the stuff right in front of her but now she could no longer do so.
“I can’t. He’s my brother.”
“I understand the need to protect family, I really do, and had I known what he would do to my family, I would have willingly sacrificed myself instead of hiding. Now I’m fighting to save two more families from going through what mine did. Both of them have loved ones waiting for them.”
The soft glow of evening fell around them, creating a golden glow. Kelly swallowed and rubbed her bare arms.
“He’s all I have.”
Although disappointed, she kept it all off her face. “Okay.”
Kelly seemed sceptical. “Okay?”
“I can’t force your cooperation, Ms. Gordon. I asked, you refused.”
“So what happens now?”
“I’ll have an agent stay with you so you can’t warn him, then I’m going in to get those agents back.”
“What about my brother?”
“What about him? He’s holding two federal agents, and like I told you, your deal isn’t with me, I’m not a Marshall. And if it comes to him or those agents, I choose the agents.”
Horror filled her eyes. “You’d kill him?”
“If he leaves me no choice, yes.” She addressed Taber. “Come meet me here. I want you watching her.”
Kelly’s gaze flicked nervously between Serefina and the path she’d come down.
“Don’t try it,” Serefina warned.
Taber appeared a bit later and she couldn’t explain her relief at seeing him again. Kelly stared at him and back to her.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
She pulled the Mossberg 500 pump action shotgun off her back and readied it, content with the 410 gauge shells in it. “You stay here with her. I’m going in.”
His blue eyes narrowed on her. “Like hell.” He glanced between the two women. “I’ll tie her up and come with you.”
“Fine. Do it quickly.”
Kelly looked like she was going to argue, but she didn’t speak. Soon, Thurgood's sister was gagged and tied to a tree. As the sky grew darker, Serefina watched Taber prepare. When he was ready, he moved to stand directly before her.
“You take care in there,” he growled low.
“You too.” She ignored the growing pit of unease in her belly. Before Taber, an op had been just that, an op. Now it was all different.
He grabbed a fistful of her hair, drew her head back and kissed her hard and fast. “I mean it, angel. No heroics.”
Biting back her emotional response, she said, “Let’s go.”
Side by side, they slipped up the trail back to the house. The closer they got, the more focused she became. In the remaining light of day, she took one last look at Taber. Nothing but business. His rugged face set in stone, that hawk-like stare searching endlessly around them, ensuring safety.
The house came into view, using hand signals to communicate, they approached with caution. She preceded him up the porch steps and gingerly tested the doorknob. The door opened with ease, not surprising though considering where they were. The man obviously thought he was safe. And why not? He’d conned the US Marshalls into protecting him.
Voices reached them as they slipped inside. A light was on in the back but she directed his attention to a door off to the right. Taber went first. She looked down the darkened stairwell.
“Basement,” he muttered in her ear.
“You got it? I’m going up.”
“Be careful.”
“You too.”
She crept off towards the open staircase. Another quick glance back to where the voices came from and she moved in silence up the stairs. Five doors. With quick and quiet precision, she checked them all and found them empty.
“Shit!” a male hollered.
That was followed by footsteps on the wood floor. She pressed herself against a wall and made herself as small as possible. When no one came up the stairs, she swore. That meant one thing. They’d gone down. Where Taber was.
She longed to ask him how he was but she didn’t risk it. It could give away that she was in the house with him. Fingers tight around the gun she held, she checked the stairs before dashing down them, careful to make no sound.
The door Taber had gone through stood open and she hesitated before swinging around and going back to the place the voices had been coming from. This room also sat empty. But she counted four plates with food still on them.
So it was at four against two. At least four. Retreating, she headed back to the steps which led down. They were still dark and she moved cautiously, not knowing the house.
“Well well, looks like we have another agent to dispose of.”
The masculine voice was one she’d never forget as long as she lived. Cold and calculating, it still could make her wake up in a sweat. Dillard Thurgood. The deep timbre didn’t fit the man, who was small and wimpy.
She had to take a moment and find her centre. To be this close to the man who’d killed her sister so violently m
ade her almost reckless. She bit the inside of her cheek until she drew blood and had it within her to continue carefully.
“It’s not going to work,” Taber ground out.
“Of course it is. I’m untouchable. I’m a fuckin’ ghost. It doesn’t matter how many of you I kill.”
Rage boiled up and she snuck down the rest of the steps. Pressed against the wall, she inched along until she reached the corner, then she peered around. Mostly blackness but at the far side, she could see some light from a room.
“Not anymore. Your sister isn’t going to protect you anymore.”
A sharp bark of disbelieving laughter filled the air. “She wouldn’t do that. She would never believe me capable of such things.”
“Suit yourself. She’s in our custody now. Outside.”
“Go check,” Thurgood ordered.
Serefina waited until the man came around the corner before smashing the butt of the shotgun into his jaw. He fell with a thud and she kept going.
Halfway across the room, she heard a shuffle of feet against the floor. The dark split with muzzle flash and she jerked to the floor, fire erupting along her arm. She rolled and fired, the Mossberg answering the bark of a shot with a much larger one. Ignoring the pain, she pumped it and fired again until she heard a cry. Unfortunately, there was another man and she was caught in the middle.
Taber heard the shots outside the room he was in. Sean and Betsy were alive, badly beaten but they still breathed. Facing him was none other than Dillard Thurgood and one other man. He tried not to think about Serefina facing the three armed gunmen alone but it wasn’t easy.
Another shot from the shotgun ricocheted through the air. A man’s body flew backward into the room, a gaping hole in his chest. Dillard and the other man jumped and aimed their weapons at the door.
“Shit,” Sean muttered through his swollen jaw.
He couldn’t agree more.
“Show yourself,” Dillard commanded.
A man stumbled into the room, using him as a shield was Serefina. No shotgun anymore but she had her SIG shoved up under his chin and another at the man’s side. Taber could see blood on her but being as there was blood on the other man as well, he didn’t know if or how badly she was injured.
“You,” Dillard gasped. “I killed you.”
It was the smile of death on her face. “Thirteen years is a long time, Dillard Thurgood.”
His hand shook. “How… This isn’t possible.” Taber watched him pale even further.
“Fina,” Sean said in a whisper.
The admiration in his voice didn’t sit well with Taber, but he kept his mouth shut. In his lap, Taber held an unconscious Betsy, and he wondered how they were going to get out of there. The back of his head throbbed and he could feel the goose egg forming. Serefina never looked in his direction.
“You can’t kill me,” Thurgood said. “I’m protected.”
“That so? I have your sister.” She aimed at the man across the room beside Thurgood and pulled the trigger. Click. Without missing a beat, she tossed that gun. It skidded to a stop close to Taber’s hand.
“My sister?”
“Yep.”
“Impossible.”
“Call her. She never made it back to her house.” Taber slowly shifted and inched closer to the gun as Serefina spoke. “See, it wasn’t me you killed thirteen years ago. It was my sister. You took mine; it’s only fair I take yours.” Her expression turned even more sinister. “And without her, what protection do you have?”
Taber was proud of the way she manipulated Thurgood, but he couldn’t be sure she didn’t actually mean those words. Another shuffle to the gun. He froze when Betsy moaned in his arms.
“Call my sister,” he ordered the man beside him. “You won’t make it out of here, there’s one of you. Three others without weapons and three of us, two who are armed. You have one gun.”
“Boss, she’s not there. She never made it back,” the man beside him said.
“Hmm, looks like I still have a bargaining chip,” Serefina said. Taber watched her reach under her shirt and withdraw another gun. “Plus, I have another gun.”
“Can you move?” Taber asked Betsy quietly when she opened her eyes. She nodded. “Good, be ready.” Then he put his attention back on Serefina.
“What the hell are you going to do with that?” Dillard snipped.
“See, I want them let go.”
“No way.”
“Get up,” she snapped.
Taber moved and froze when a gun swung to him. Movement in the door showed the arrival of another man. Whose gun was pointed at Serefina. Shit!
She didn’t seem fazed in the slightest. “You’re a gun dealer, call off your dogs.”
“Why would I do that?” Dillard questioned, his tone full of cold arrogance.
“Beside the fact if I’m killed, you’ll never see your sister again? I know you see the SIG up to this man but the one in my other hand is pointing at you.”
“A puny backup. I’ll survive.”
An eyebrow quirked. “Five shots in less than two seconds. Three options of bullets to use—.45 Colt ammo, .410 two-and-a-half inch, or .410 three-inch shotshells. I’ll tell you, I’m using the three-inch shotshells. Know what gun this is?”
Taber did. And from the look on Dillard’s face so did he. Holy shit, she’s packing a Taurus Judge three-inch Magnum. His woman amazed him. And yes, she was his.
“Thought so,” she uttered.
She lifted her leg and drove it hard into the knee of the man before her while with each gun she took out his other men, then both guns were on Dillard. He swallowed hard.
“What’s it going to be, Dillard?”
“I’m a ghost,” he insisted.
“Ghosts are dead.” Her left hand lifted and she gestured with the SIG. “Get up and get going.”
Taber slid from beneath Betsy, stood and helped Sean up before they both turned to Betsy and assisted her. “Go,” he ordered.
Then he grabbed the gun by him and palmed it. A quick glance told him it was loaded; she’d just had the safety on. Smart woman. He tied up the two men bleeding and moved to Serefina. Closer now, he could see the blood pouring down her side. It nearly broke his heart.
“I got this,” he said.
She flicked her gaze to him and he could see the pain in her eyes and the desire to kill the man. Ignoring his own desire, he shook his head slightly.
“Not like this. We’re not like him.”
Serefina lowered her arms and walked to the door. “Five minutes, if he’s not topside, I’ll kill his sister.” Then she followed Sean and Betsy.
“You can’t do this,” Dillard said. “I’m protected by the Marshalls.”
“We’re not Marshalls.”
“Who are you then?”
“I’m DEA.” He gestured with the gun. “She’s not. Now, get moving.”
Dillard shook his head but seemed to have lost his determination. “You can take me out of here but I’ll get off. My slate will be wiped clean.”
“Not this time.” He secured Thrugood’s hands with the strips and led him up the stairs. Sean, Betsy, and Serefina were there.
Serefina was on the phone and looked at him before saying, “I’ll be back.” Then she slipped out.
“Why?” Taber asked. “Why did you kill that agent and put her in my bed?”
“I knew she was an agent. She didn’t fit in.”
He frowned. “And me? How’d you know about my room?”
A sinister look of glee appeared. “Don’t know?”
“Nope, why don’t you enlighten me?”
“What fun would that be?”
The hair on the back of his neck rose. Steps on the front porch alerted him to a person and he barely glanced, expecting to see Serefina. It wasn’t. Special Agent Lou Howard stood there.
“Howard?” he asked in disbelief.
“Step away from him, Taber.”
“You…you’re working with
him?”
“I like the money. I won’t ask again. Let him go.” Howard lifted the gun in his hand.
Rage filled him. “How could you? He killed Shania.”
The man lifted a shoulder. “Casualty. Every war has them.”
Taber stepped back and dropped his gun. “So you stand by while this man kills people.”
“Like I said, causalities happen.”
He was disgusted. This man he’d called friend. “How many have you let him kill?”
“Not more than ten that I know of.” Another careless shrug. “I’d have brought you in on it, but I knew you’d refuse. I have to kill you now.”
“What about the girl?” Dillard asked, moving closer to Howard.
“Girl?” Howard frowned. “You bring Serefina with you? Damn I wanna tap that ass. Maybe I’ll fuck her before I kill her.” A sadistic grin turned up the corners of his mouth.
Somehow, he managed not to fly at the man and rip his heart out with his bare hands. “Touch her and I’ll kill you.”
“You sweet on her?” Howard asked.
Taber could feel the weight of Sean’s gaze on him but never looked at the other man. It was no one’s business what went on with him and Serefina. “You’re a disgrace, Howard.”
“Sticks and stones, Taber. Sticks and stones.” An easy sigh. “Goodbye.”
He flinched when the shot rang out. The bullet entered his side, causing him to stagger but he didn’t fall. Pain radiated up and throughout his body. Damn it, getting shot sucks! Howard collapsed, a huge hole in his chest. Eyes wide, Taber stared. Serefina stood behind where Howard had been, the Judge in hand. Her other around the wrist of Kelly Gordon.
The sound of a chopper broke the silence, and moments later, agents swarmed. He could hear Dillard hollering for his sister. Kelly just stared at him and shook her head before allowing another agent to lead her away.
“Taber!”
He blinked a few times and focused on his brother who hovered before him. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he blinked a few times to stop the slight rotation of the world around him.
“Cort.”
“Mom woulda killed me if anything serious happened to you,” his brother growled.