I wasn’t even sure if he’d taken the route I’d chosen, but it was my best bet. I didn’t try calling him because I knew there was no point. With my crew behind me, and my place on lockdown with orders to shoot any motherfucker that didn’t belong on sight, I headed out to meet my friend.
I saw Creed from a distance two hours later. We didn’t have time to do more than nod at each other as his crew fell in with mine. I tapped my helmet when I got next to Creed and he turned his shit on so we could talk.
“So what’s the plan brother?”
“I’m not sure. We can try talking him down but according to what mood he’s in we might end up doing a ride along.” I’m pretty sure we were heading for the latter. Lyon isn’t known for taking instruction well.
“What the fuck set him off? Two weeks ago, he was fine with waiting.”
“I can’t say, Katarina didn’t seem to know but whatever it is it can’t be good.”
“Damn, we’re not set up to move now.”
“I know it, but we gotta have his back either way.”
We rode hell bent for leather to catch up to Lyon not even sure if we were on the right track. There was no point in trying to second- guess why he’d veered off from the plan, the man plays by his own rules. Having taken matters into my own hands not that long ago to avenge my family, I had no issue with him doing the same. I just wish like fuck he’d given me a heads-up.
“Creed up ahead.”
“Thank fuck I thought we were gonna have to follow that boy all the way to Arizona.”
I sped up and moved ahead of the others as Lyon and his crew came at us from the opposite direction.
I cut him off by pulling across in front of him and he didn’t look too pleased until I removed my helmet and he recognized me.
“What the fuck?”
“You don’t mind a little company on this little jaunt into the desert do you Lyon?”
“What are you doing here brother?” I asked him tongue in cheek.
“I could ask you the same…fucking Kat.”
“Hey, don’t blame her, I thought we had a deal.”
“Yeah that was before they sent my kid an email about running away from home and before three fucks showed up at my door.”
“They did what?” Creed had caught up by then and the three of us stood next to our rides in the middle of the street. This time of night wasn’t anyone out here unless they were up to no good.
“Yeah, so if my woman sent you to reel me in you’re fuck outta luck.”
“What do you mean they came to your door? Is your family okay?”
“Yes they are, and I’m going to end this shit so they stay that way.”
***
LYON
***
I should’ve known she was up to some shit. I didn’t stand around any longer than it took to fill them in, but I wasn’t about to be deterred. I got back on my ride and left them to decide what they wanted to do. It didn’t escape my notice that neither man even tried to talk me out of going, I’m pretty sure they knew it wouldn’t have worked.
I can’t say I was surprised when they flanked me two minutes later, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about them coming along. I knew what I was going there to do, and though I knew these boys lived by the same creed, I wasn’t too sure about all the extra eyes and ears that I now had on my ass.
No one said anything for the rest of the ride. My mind was focused on what laid ahead. The last time I was here I had a plan in place, this time I was playing this shit by ear. All I knew was the end result.
When we were about half an hour out I was struck by an idea. I held my hand up and made a turn into the parking lot of the chain retail store we came up on. “I’ll be back, we don’t want to scare these people by all going in there together.” Plus I didn’t want anyone knowing what the fuck I was up to.
I got the shit I needed and left without too much fuss. The guys were stretching their legs until I returned and all eyes went to the bags in my hands. I ignored them and climbed on my ride after putting the shit away.
Now that we were almost there I cleared everything else from my head. I didn’t let myself think of what could go wrong, didn’t think of consequences or repercussions. It needed doing and that’s all there was to it.
I held my hand up once more when we were five minutes out. I waited until everyone was standing in front of me before saying a word. “We can’t all go in there, I didn’t plan for all these bodies.”
“I’m going in.” That was Law then Creed raised his hand, which meant he was in too. I knew my boys wanted in which would mean seven bodies altogether.
“Fuck guys it’s a hit not a fucking reunion.”
“You got the blueprints, how do you know they’re in there? What about servants and shit, how much recon did you do?”
“The fuck Law, it won’t take all that to off these fucks, I’m in and out in five. Look it’s coming on dark now, I timed the ride to get here about this time. There’s only one maid in the house and she’s not in the same wing as the fucks.
They go to bed early, that’s where I’m expecting to take them. If they’re not there I’ll improvise, but I plan on getting in and out no muss no fuss.”
“What about security alarms, how do you plan to get by those?” I showed him the neat little gadget I had with me that would make mince meat out of any security system in less time than it would take to blink.
“Fine, the place is far enough from the neighbors that we might not be detected?”
“Yeah Creed and with that said, what are we gonna do with all these extra bodies? We don’t want any reports of strange bikers in the area when these fucks went missing.”
“Don’t worry about that, my guys know what to do we’re not green. Now are we gonna stay around here gabbing all night or are we gonna do this? I’m a newly married man. I need to get home to babygirl.”
Fucking Creed, I guess he forgot I didn’t invite his ass. All this talking was cutting into my time. I had this shit mapped out in my head and barring some unforeseen fuck up all should go well.
I had to make a judgment call since no one wanted to be left behind. I took Jared and Tommy. Law and Creed left their crew behind. We were gonna meet up at a bar outside of town, the same bar my guys and I had gone to that night sixteen years ago. Ain’t life a bitch, we’d come full circle.
“So how are we doing this?” Law walked next to me in the darkness. The house was sitting on a hill with a pond in front. There was a barn off in the distance but I knew from my research that it housed horses. There was no wall but a hedge of trees lined the property with a rock drop off in back. The only light came from the moon and it was hot as a bitch for December.
“Follow me.” It went without saying that the kill was mine and they were just here for backup. I pulled up the layout of the place that I’d downloaded on my phone and showed it to them.
“These are their rooms here. There’s a balcony with sliding glass doors, the bed is a good thirteen feet from the bedroom door so we gotta move fast once we get in.”
“You planning on having a conversation with these fucks before you off them?” Creed asked as he moved up beside me.
“No.” The fuck I have to say to them, I knew what their deal was. They would’ve been better off forgetting their deadbeat son and moving the fuck on. Now they can join him in hell, I give a fuck.
I made short work of the security system and waited until Jared slipped down the stairs to the left headed off to the maid’s quarters to make sure she remained contained. I didn’t want her leaving her room for a snack or some shit. I wasn’t looking forward to having to hurt anyone but the two I’d come here for, I’m not an animal after all. I left Tommy outside to keep an eye out just in case.
I didn’t hear Creed and Law behind me as we made our way up the stairs. The fucks barely cast a shadow on the wall. They’d gone into combat mode or some shit.
My only problem was getting the heavy oak doors
open without making a sound. I didn’t know if the Porters were light sleepers or not, didn’t know who slept on which side of the bed but I didn’t really care. I was here to do both of them, didn’t much matter to me who got it first.
I might’ve had a slight pang of unease about doing a female but my kid was female and that didn’t stop them from getting her involved in this shit. Plus from what little I’d gathered, she was the driving force behind seeking revenge for her asshole son. Fuck her.
Law put his hand on my shoulder when I reached for the door and held his finger up to his lips. He did some hinky shit to the door and stepped back. The shit was open. The army sure does teach these boys some illegal shit.
I slipped through trying to make myself as small as possible. Keeping as close to the wall and out of the glare of the moonlight coming in through the windows and doors, I kept my eyes trained on the bed.
I placed the shopping bag I had with me on the floor; I won’t be needing that until later. When I was sure from the sounds of their breathing that they hadn’t been alerted to our presence, I stepped towards the bed.
It seemed fucked to kill them in their sleep, and though it didn’t matter to me if they knew who ended them, there was a little added satisfaction in having the last word. I tapped the husband on the forehead with my gun.
His eyes flew open and I pulled the trigger. The splatter of his blood hit the wife in the face and neck and she swiped at it before her eyes flew open. “You shoulda left my kid alone lady. Say hello to your rapist son in hell.” Her mouth opened but it was too late. The bullet had already left the barrel.
“You boys may wanna bitch out now, you might not have the stomach for this next part.” They hadn’t said a word, hadn’t made a sound. I grabbed my bag and headed for the bathroom.
I ran the water and emptied the bottles in the tub and went back to get the bodies. “This might take a while. I’m gonna toss the place, see if there’s anything here that might give us some answers.”
They both stepped towards the tub and shook their heads. “That’s cold bro damn.” Creed walked out behind me. “I have to clean up this mess first. Fucking Creed stopped me from tossing the sheets and bed covers.
“No brother, if you don’t want anyone knowing you were here then we have to clean them and put them back.” What the fuck? I had to pull up the damn laundry room on my phone.
“I’ll take care of that, you two get started on your search.” He flipped the mattress over while he was at it. Something else I would’ve got around to if their nosy asses weren’t here. Fucking army boys think they’re the only ones who know how to run an Op.
“Aren’t you glad you brought us along?” Law clapped me on my shoulder before heading for the closest nightstand. Brought along my ass, but he had a point, I hadn’t thought about the clean up shit, though I’m sure it would’ve come to me.
We spent the next few hours going through papers and shit. Some looked interesting, those we put in a bag for later perusal. I was looking for anything about the senator, or the fucker the SEALs had a hard on for, we’ll see.
In keeping with not wanting to leave any evidence that we’d been here, we left things as neat as possible. The sun was starting to come up by the time it was safe to go. I still had a little more work to do.
When I saw what was left in the tub, I made a vow never to let Mengele’s ass anywhere near sulfuric acid ever again. For fuck sake, what the fuck had she been planning to do with that shit anyway?
“What’re you doing with that brother?” Law came up on me when I was washing away the dregs of what was left. “I’m not leaving anything behind.” I emptied another bottle of solution into the tub to clean the pipes so that there wouldn’t be so much as a speck of blood left. There wasn’t even a hint of bone. The mixture had done its job. Fucking mob.
Creed remade the bed but left it a little rumpled, to look like someone had slept there and just got up and left early. We got Jared from his post outside the maid’s door and split. It was halfway back to the boys that I felt eyes on me, but a covert look around didn’t reveal anything.
“You boys feel that?” I asked through my mouthpiece as we rode along. I was tired as fuck. Only an asshole would try to make this trip and back in one day, but I wasn’t about to leave my wife and kids alone, not with this shit hanging over their heads.
“Feel what?” Creed answered.
“Eyes? I picked them up a while ago but I thought I was being paranoid.” In fact I thought I felt them since I made the turnoff from my home but since I didn’t see shit I put it away.
“Whoever it is must be friendlies.”
“How the fuck you figure Law?”
“If they were here to stop the mission they would’ve done so already and they’re hanging back.” That was good enough for me, as long as they stayed the fuck outta my way they can be as friendly as they like.
“We need to stop and get some rest Lyon, we already rode almost a day here and it’s the same amount of time back, you can’t do it, you’ll wipe the fuck out.”
“Law, if your pansy ass wanna stop for a nap go right ahead, but I have to get home to my wife.”
“How do you want to get there? In one piece or do you prefer the State Troopers knocking on her door?” Nosy fuck, this is why she’d set him on my ass. Not this exactly, but she knew he’d try to talk me out of shit. The ass was right, my arms were already pulling, and it wasn’t just me I had to worry about. So as much as I hated to, I put in a call to Max and made sure everything was alright back home. I’ll save her nosy ass for later.
***
CREED
***
“Babe, I’m not gonna make it back tonight.” I waited for the whine I knew was coming. This would be the first night we’d spend apart since getting married.
“What why?” I could hear her rustling around in our bed and wish to fuck I could be there with her. “I told you, I had to make a run with the guys right. Well, the shit took a little longer than expected.” She had no idea I was in Arizona. Not that it mattered, since she hooked up with the other women, it’s like a spy network or some shit. I have no doubt she’d hear it from Lyon’s woman or Law’s.
“Who’s there?” I knew where she was heading with that shit and I hated like fuck that she even thought she had to ask.
“It’s just me and the guys babygirl, I told you about that shit didn’t I? You got the ring and the man, you do not have to worry about strange pussy.”
“I know it’s just…”
“It’s just nothing Jess, we’re not doing this shit. If I say I’m with you I’m with you. If I tell you I’m not fucking around on you then you believe that shit no question. Then ask yourself when the fuck would I have had time since I haven’t been more than ten feet away from you until tonight?”
I thought she was over that jealousy shit. I’d sent the woman packing halfway across the country and haven’t even seen another female if she was standing on top of my head. What the fuck?
“Are you crying? You better not be crying babygirl. Listen to me. I waited almost ten years for you. I didn’t do that shit to fuck it away for a piece of ass.” She sniffled and calmed her ass down and I was trying hard not to be pissed.
“How’s my kid?”
“He’s good, but you’re not gonna be here to hold my hair in the morning when he makes me sick.” I could hear the pout in her voice but at least she was over that crying shit.
“I’ll make it up to you. I stocked your little refrigerator with ginger ale and your crackers are in my nightstand. Just make sure you have both before you get out of bed and you should be fine babygirl.”
We fucked around on the phone for a little bit until her voice cleared and there was no more worry there. I got to wondering why the fuck women always think their man don’t miss them as much as they do when they have to be away from them because I had a bitch of a time getting to sleep without her next to me.
CHAPTER 10
; CORD
***
“Cord, someone’s in the house. I think they’re heading for Susie’s room.” There was fear in the kid’s voice but he was holding it together. I knew I shouldn’t have let her leave me. There was no time for recriminations now though; I had to move.
“I’m on my way.” I hit the ground running. I tightened the waist on my drawstring pajama bottoms, pulled the socks off my feet for better traction, and picked up my glock in one hand and my phone in the other.
I used the mechanism on my watch to open the gate as I ran flat out. I used my phone to call Lo, he’ll alert the others. But I was sure I’d be done by the time they got there. “Lo, someone’s after my girl, I’m almost there.”
“Fuck, I’ll get the others. Cord don’t…”
I hung up before he could try to talk me out of going in alone. I know my brothers very well and Lo’s first priority will always be one of us. He’d want me to wait, even though we’d just learned that they were the old man’s, he’d still put my life before hers.
I paced myself and controlled my breathing as I ran through the night to get to her. I didn’t let my mind go anywhere else. I didn’t give in to the anger that was gnawing at my gut, or the self-loathing for going against my mind and letting her leave. I just focused on getting to her, making her safe, and then killing the fuck that had broken into her house.
The night was still, as if waiting to be shattered. One of those nights where not even the trees moved in the breeze and the stars were hidden in the clouds. I took it all in as I made my way through the dead of night with my heart lodged somewhere in my gut and my mind on autopilot.
The little house came into view up ahead. It was in total darkness as I crept around the side. I knew which room was hers and which was her brother’s. I’d made it my business to know. I kept my eyes and ears pricked for any movement but all was still. The house next door was in total darkness, nothing moved over there.
There were no cars on the street, why would there be? In our little sleepy hollow everything shuts down by dusk and most law-abiding citizens are in bed by this hour. I checked the house for a way in without alerting whoever was inside. I didn’t know how much time I had. Either way, I wasn’t about to fuck around. I couldn’t let myself think about the terror she must be feeling, or whether or not she’d already been hurt. Did she cry out for me?
Cord SEAL Team Seven (Book 5) Page 13