by Kells, India
“Only that? Wow, a walk in the park!” It was difficult for Gabrielle to refrain from letting annoyance leak in her voice due to their present position.
“I’d air lift you, but this whole operation was supposed to be low key, remember?”
“I know. Gimme the coordinates of the safe house and how to get there. I’ll take the package into safety.”
Ana yelled in the background, “Ditch the phone, babe. Someone is tracking all the lines in the area.”
“Will do.”
“Be careful, Gabrielle. Something’s off with this whole mission.”
“Yeah, I have the same impression. I’ll contact you as soon as I get a new phone.”
When she hung up, Sully was once again beside her. She broke the phone into pieces, making sure it was impossible to track them down.
“So? Anything?”
Gabrielle relayed the information about where they were and the coordinates of the safe house.
“Not that far, but doubtfully a walkable distance.”
“I agree. We cannot wait here. It isn’t covered enough. And soon, our two stooges will wake up. And I’m not even referring to your face plastered in the news. Hopefully, it has not reached the village yet, but we can’t be sure of anything.”
Sully nodded. “So let’s get ourselves a brand new car, honey.”
***
Sully refrained from cursing as they waited for a bunch of kids with angry looking guns to leave their rusty pick-up truck alone. Now the sun was at its zenith and sweat was pouring down his back, making the wait even more uncomfortable behind the oh-so-sweet-smelling dumpster.
Gabrielle was crouched by his side, silent and unmoving. He had to admit, she was a pain in the ass, but when in a tight spot, she could pull her weight like any other member of his team.
His hand itched for any weapon. Not that he couldn’t do miracles without them, but they were outnumbered from the start and he would have liked a little more firepower.
The village was not active. Many buildings seemed unoccupied, if not abandoned for quite some time now. He saw some women and children, but they were walking fast and not looking around—meaning the village was becoming a hideout. They had to be gone by nightfall, it wasn’t an option.
The kids started firing up in the air and laughing before hopping out of the truck and entering a nearby house, which seemed to be a hotel or a bar.
One quick glance at Gabrielle and they made their move. Still crouching, she surveyed the area as he opened the passenger door.
“Can you start it?” Gabrielle kept her voice low.
Sully smiled when he saw the keys still in the ignition. “Oh yeah, baby. Jump in.”
The piece of shit on wheels started on the first try and Sully turned into a side street, avoiding passing in front of the bar. The road had so many holes and bumps it was a challenge to keep a straight line. As he drove away from the village, Gabrielle leaned on him, her head between his thighs to check beneath his seat.
“I wouldn’t say no to some well-deserved head, but I would rather wait for a moment where I can focus on it.”
“Don’t worry, sailor, I’d rather not steal what’s left of your brain.”
“That was low, honey.”
“Yeah, well, I found something more interesting.”
When she straightened, she had a gun in her hand and a smile on her face. She checked it and the smile faded.
“Five bullets … shit.”
After placing it on his lap, she turned in her seat to check the rest of the cab.
“Damn, woman, you have a great ass.”
Her voice was muffled and he didn’t hear what she said, but he grinned at the thought of her lovely face frowning.
“Nothing in the back. So we have a gun with five bullets, a truck, and a horny driver. We’re doomed.”
Sully had to laugh. “Specifically, a horny SEAL, which ups the ante. And you forget a hot mercenary.”
Laughing, Gabrielle rolled her eyes. She positioned herself so she could both have an eye on the road behind and overview of the area.
“You keep saying mercenary while I only do rescue missions.”
“Maybe, but I can smell mercenary on you like no other. You were mercenary, of that I’m sure.”
Sully peeked at her, but she didn’t answer, staring at the road behind.
“Suit yourself. Stay silent, honey. Anyway, from what I heard of Purgatory, you’re positively no choir boys, or girls for that matter. I’m not surprised.”
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Gabrielle smile. “What had the admiral told you about us? I’m curious.”
“That you’re a bunch of crazies with bloody pasts, led by the craziest of all … a woman. A Brit. Am I right?”
“I don’t know about the others. And we don’t discuss our pasts. I was one of the firsts recruited by Purgatory. “
“Recruited by Beatrice Dante, you mean. I know of her, Admiral Feander always spoke highly of that woman.”
“And Beatrice of him. I think they have a little something for each other.”
Sully pondered it. He wasn’t a confidant of Feander. He knew the admiral had been married many years ago and had a son—now in his late twenties—but apart from that, his life was not common knowledge.
“Why would you say such a thing?”
“Have you seen how rapidly they jump when the other calls for help? The admiral is unquestionably not our only customer, or our most urgent, but somehow, he’s always a priority in my boss’ book.”
“Hmmm. Yeah, and also interesting is the fact he would use Purgatory before even sending his own SEAL Team.”
“I don’t agree. It all depends on the Intel you have.”
Sully wasn’t sure he liked the turn of this conversation.
“You know I cannot tell you about it. If you’re digging …”
“Which I’m not. Don’t get your panties in a twist, sailor. All I’m saying is there may be a good reason he asked us to retrieve you. Most likely about the Intel. He didn’t want to raise any flags.”
He would never admit it, but she was possibly right. To avoid pouring gas on glowing embers, he decided to shift gears.
“I have a question. Well, two, to be more accurate.”
Gabrielle continued to scan the road. “I would have been surprised if you stopped at one. You can ask, but I don’t know if I’ll answer.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“I’m following your lead, sailor. Ask away.”
“Why is it called Purgatory? I always wondered. The admiral didn’t know, or didn’t want to tell me.”
Smiling, Gabrielle turned to him. “You don’t read much, do you?”
“Do I look like I have the time to read at all, honey? And if it’s an insult to my intelligence …”
“No insult. The name of my boss is Beatrice Dante and she founded Purgatory. All names are linked to the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. It’s a poem about a man’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, guided by his ideal woman called Beatrice. Let’s say it refers to redemption, so to speak. As for the why, you’ll have to ask Beatrice herself.”
Sully pondered the information for a moment. “Interesting. Deep.”
“And your second question?”
“Why Gabrielle? I feel it isn’t your real name. Obviously your agent’s name. But why not keep your real one?”
This time, Gabrielle kept silent for a moment. “As I said, you go through Purgatory to redeem your sins. I have loads of them, believe me. It didn’t see fit to use the same name I’ve done many bad things under. I chose the name of the angel Gabriel, the messenger, feared warrior. A way to avoid forgetting to choose the right path each and every day.”
Sully didn’t know how to respond. Such a strange woman with an even stranger life. He was about to ask something else when Gabrielle turned and cursed.
“We have company. And they come loaded.” All teasing was gone from her voice.
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He only took one glance at his rearview mirror to see two vehicles quickly approaching.
Shit! Before he could grab the gun, Gabrielle took it.
“Deal with the road ahead. I will try to slow them down.”
“With five bullets?”
The woman winked. “Five bullets, and a very cute butt.”
He knew she was trying to make light of it, but their chances were not looking good. Sully made sure to keep the two trucks behind him. If one came on their side, it could turn ugly. When he saw their faces, they started firing.
Double shit! Machine guns.
“Hold on!” he warned her before making the truck slide, trying to produce a cloud of dust to hide them a little.
Once stable again, he saw Gabrielle pushing herself outside through the open passenger window, resting her hip on the ledge, taking aim.
The road was anything but smooth, and without knowing the accuracy of the weapon, it was a tricky shoot.
Her first shot hit the windshield of the truck closest to them. On the second one, he saw splatters of blood from the driver’s seat before the truck swerved and stopped in a ditch.
The second vehicle sped up, catching up fast. Two rounds from Gabrielle—one hitting the hood. She dove inside the cab as bullets flew.
“One bullet left, sailor. That gun fires like hell. I’ll try again for the tires.”
Before she could take position again, he glanced back and his stomach dropped.
“Grenade!”
He made a turn to avoid the throw, but his front tire blew off. The last thing he tried was reaching for Gabrielle as the grenade exploded and they took flight.
Chapter 4
Sully’s head throbbed like a bitch and his ears still rang from the explosion. Was it night? He couldn’t see fuck. He cursed under his breath when he realized there was a hood over his head and his hands were bound behind his back and something restrained his feet. How long had he been out? He remembered the chase, the grenade and the blast. Gabrielle. Straightening, he attempted to shake his hood off.
“Stay still, sailor.” Sully’s heart jumped a beat at the whispered voice. He heard a dragging sound, then someone pulled the hood off.
The light was blinding and it took him a moment to see the bars of their cell. He turned to Gabrielle, who spat the hood, but appeared to be okay—only her hands seemed to be bound behind her back; her legs were free.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. You?”
Sully shook his head. “How long have I been unconscious?”
“A couple of hours. Judging by the blood on your face, I’d say you almost certainly hit your head on the wheel because of the explosion. I was thrown out of the car, but somehow, I fell on soft dirt. When they grabbed us, they threw us into a van and we drove for about an hour to this place. Wherever this is. I counted ten men so far, but they’ve been careful not to talk in front of me.”
Sully surveyed the room, which quite large. The cell was at one extremity, and two men were watching TV at the other end of it, guns propped against their chairs.
“They change guards every fifteen minutes. That’s how I could see there were ten in this place. I haven’t heard or seen people coming in or out, or even the sound of engine or other vehicles outside.”
Leaning against the wall, he assessed their options. He couldn’t move, his bounds were strong, and the cell was utterly empty. No phone, nobody knowing where they were. It didn’t look good.
He turned to Gabrielle. “At least your legs are free.”
She frowned. “And is this an advantage in these circumstances?”
A ball formed in the pit of his stomach at her question.
With narrowed eyes, Gabrielle pinched her lips together. “Do you trust I’m good at what I do, Sully?”
What kind of question is that?
“Yes, I think you’re good at what you do, even if sometimes I’m not sure what it’s that you do.”
As he hoped, a corner of her mouth lift up.
“Listen. Soon, they are bound to come back. And when they do, I will play out of character, but don’t worry, I have a plan. Just follow along, okay?”
“A plan? What plan?” Sully didn’t like it at all, and he was about to press her with questions when the end door opened.
If Gabrielle had counted right, all the men who kidnapped them entered the room. Their leader was a tall man, his skin so black it seemed like it was made of stone. He was the only one not displaying frightening firepower. Sully’s brain worked at an increasing speed to find any crack, any opening, any possible escape.
“Ahh! Your man has finally awakened. Just in time.”
Sully bared his teeth. “Time for what? You better free us, right now.”
The black leader smiled, clearly amused. “I see that the bump on your head has nothing on you. I’m still debating if you’re clever tourists or stupid agents. You see, not too many people take a detour to come and see us, even less trying to steal from us. Well, not without some sort of retaliation or compensation.”
The energy shifted as the men started to laugh. Dread filled him when all eyes went to Gabrielle. She cowered a little, sliding to his side, almost hiding behind him. He pulled harder on the ropes, but they didn’t even slacken a bit. He realized what was going to happen next and part of him died inside, entirely unable to help her.
Two men opened the cell and took Gabrielle by the arms. She tried to get away, to pull back, cursing, but the men only laughed some more.
Sully snarled, “You motherfuckers! You’re going to pay for this. I swear.”
The leader, with glee in his eyes, took a step forward toward him. “And what exactly are you going to do? If I were you, I would be more worried about what will happen to you when we’re done with her. Or maybe, if she’s good enough, we will set you both free.” He turned toward Gabrielle and stroked her cheek before grabbing one of her breasts. She screamed and tried to get away. “For my part, I know what I’m going to do.” He signaled for his men to bring Gabrielle through the door and started to unbutton his pants. He smiled again and exited the room as Sully howled in rage. Fighting the sheer panic invading his mind he tried to get up, but his bound legs made it impossible. He watched the door close behind the two guards and the leader while the remaining men waited outside, impatient smiles on their faces.
Gabrielle’s heart-wrenching scream tore through the walls and through him like a dull knife. He tried to get his hands free by pulling as hard as he could, ignoring the painful burn on his flesh, without success. Part of him knew he needed to finesse them, but rage made his judgment slow.
“Gabrielle!” His voice boomed through the room, making the men laugh even more.
After a moment, he couldn’t hear a sound coming from the other room. One of the guards gave the others a two thumbs up and entered, closing the door behind him. The pain was agonizing when one man after the other went into the room, and Gabrielle kept silent. Grief and helplessness clogged his heart. He vowed each and every one of these men would die a horrible death to his hands. He would spare no one; he would gut and dismember them alive.
The three remaining guards were completely ignoring him now. Sully twisted his arms until his shoulders burned from the effort, using all his strength and his binds were now soaked with his blood. He felt them slide an inch—a single inch that gave him the will to ignore the pain and pull. His hands were now free. Keeping his eyes on the guards, he unknotted his ankles. Now, he waited until their backs were to him, slightly moving both legs to let blood flow again and thanking the heavens for leaving the cell door opened.
Two heartbeats later, it was time. When he attacked, he went for a kill. He leapt and broke the neck of the first one. Before the two others could move, he pulled the knife sheathed on the second guard’s boot to slice open their throats. Blood gushed, and as he grabbed one of their guns, the door opened. Ready for anything, he aimed, but his movement halted when he sa
w Gabrielle standing on the threshold, fully dressed, heaving and partly covered in red.
With one hand, he shoved her behind him, prepared to kill whoever was still in the room. He blinked twice before realizing no one in the room was alive. Many were lying on the floor and two seemed to have been gutted.
Sully turned to Gabrielle, and without thinking enfolded her in a tight hug. “Are you all right? Did they … You screamed.” His voice was low, muffled in her hair. She shook her head, grabbing his shirt front, her only sign of temporary weakness.