by Eve Langlais
“Marcus nailed it. The difference between thugs who kill for a reason and those who don’t is a matter of discipline. Order. Soldiers don’t want to kill. Soldiers kill because it’s their job. When the job is over, they stop. So the man asked the retired soldier if he would work for him. And Kringle killed all the scum who had turned on the man. When it was done, the man asked him, ‘how can we make more of you?’ Because, see, the man knew he wasn’t the only one who needed help. All around the world, injustice kept happening.”
“Injustice will always happen,” Marcus said softly. “Because there will always be greed.”
“And laziness,” she added. “Not everyone wants to work hard. Some people just want to take.”
“Exactly,” said Darren. “And the founder was tired of the imbalance. So he asked Kringle what they could do. The sergeant told him that to fight injustice, you needed people of honor, people not hamstrung by laws or morals but with the skills and the mental fortitude to do what has to be done. People who will do what they’re ordered and nothing more.”
“For a price.”
“Yes, a price, because without payment, without a set mission, the people have no guidance. How do they decide who lives and dies? How do they, in turn, live with their choices?”
“Someone makes the choices for them, and it becomes a job.” Kacy peered at Darren. “You seem to know an awful lot about the academy and its founding. Why?”
“The woman in the story, the woman who was killed, she was my mother.”
At that, Kacy snapped her mouth shut.
“Is your dad still running the academy?” she asked after a moment.
“I made him retire to a nice island in the Pacific a few years ago. I run the academy now, along with a few other people I trust, like my brother, and a cousin. The reasoning being that this kind of endeavor should never be in the hands of just one person.”
“Just in case he turns into Dr. Evil and wants to rule the world,” Marcus interjected.
“Can you imagine the paperwork?” Darren rolled his eyes and laughed. “Anyhow, that was close to thirty years ago. Now, there are several academies in the world. Each of them unaware of the others, all the graduates abiding by the code.”
A lengthy code that was drilled into them but that boiled down to a few basic rules. Break them only if you had a last will and testament because the academy didn’t fuck around. It also had a strict code of silence. Marcus might not have gone to the academy, but he knew enough about it.
“He’s not an academy graduate.” She jerked her head toward Marcus.
“No. But not for lack of trying. Were you young when you were recruited?”
“Fifteen,” she admitted. No point in hiding it. Darren could probably pull the file on any student he wanted. “I graduated at twenty and immediately went to work for Harry.”
“Harry was your sponsor.”
She gave him a sharp look. “You read my file.”
“Darned right I did. You didn’t seriously think I’d let just anyone close to me?”
“He wouldn’t let me read it.” Disgruntlement colored Marcus’s words. Damned academy secrets.
“Kacy’s training and past are no one’s business.”
“But you know.” Her lips flattened.
“I do, but I promise not to tell. If you don’t mind, let me ask you since I don’t often get a chance being the man behind the scenes, what do you think of the academy?”
She slanted a look at Darren and then Marcus. He could see the indecision in her face.
“Tell him,” Marcus urged softly. “He deserves to know if he’s made a difference.” Because Darren certainly had with Marcus.
For a moment, Marcus expected her to shut down and tell them both to fuck off, but her shoulders slumped.
“When I was fifteen, I was attacked by some boys I knew.”
The car bucked as Marcus punched the steering wheel.
“Pothole,” Marcus mumbled.
Her gaze narrowed.
Darren cleared his throat. “Continue.”
She shrugged. “What can I say other than if Harry hadn’t come to my rescue, I’d have probably ended up gang-raped before being sold on the street to cover my brother’s debts.”
“Fucking kill them.” Again mumbled by Marcus, who stared intently at the road ahead because if he looked at her, if he saw any hint of pain, he’d have to hurt something. Someone.
But ignoring her wasn’t in him. He found his gaze watching her in the rearview mirror.
Head bowed, she stared at her hands. It killed him. She fidgeted, probably feeling the combined weight of his and Darren’s stares.
“Even if they hadn’t attacked me, I was looking at a shitty future, one that would have resulted in me either being a street whore or hooking up with an hombre for protection and popping out babies for welfare checks.”
“You could have run away,” Marcus snapped. How could this strong and vibrant woman ever for a moment have allowed this shit to happen? The Kacy he knew would never have stood for it. But the Kacy he knew now was probably a far cry from the one at fifteen, facing shit no girl should ever face.
“Running doesn’t solve problems.”
Gently, Darren prodded her. Marcus wanted to tell him to stop. Couldn’t he see how uncomfortable it made Kacy? Yet, at the same time, he wanted to know the whole story because it explained so much.
“Harry saved you and brought you to the academy. Do you miss your family?”
“No.” She squirmed in her seat. “I didn’t abandon them. I couldn’t. How could I leave my mother alone to deal with my brothers? To suffer the pain of losing her only daughter?”
“I thought one of the academy rules was you had to cut all ties to your former life,” Marcus said turning his head, showing he followed the story.
“Exceptions can be made,” Darren replied. “Keep in mind, most academy students come from broken homes and foster care where there are few ties to sever. But it’s not recommended that students keep in touch. Especially those who will eventually have to work undercover.”
“They told me all this when I joined, but I wouldn’t budge. And when I told Harry I’d rather stay home with my mother than lose her forever, he made a deal with me.”
“What was the deal?”
“If I promised to work my ass off, then the academy would take care of my mother, but my brothers were on their own.”
Which made Marcus wonder just how bad her brothers were.
“According to your file, you graduated second in your class.”
A moue of annoyance creased her features. “Only because the number one guy outweighed me and took me down to the mat each time.”
“Size matters, little pint.” Marcus grinned, especially since he could see the red staining her cheeks in the mirror. “I think we’re here.”
The car had pulled to a stop before Darren got her to divulge any more secrets.
“Don’t get out of the car,” she warned Darren. She pulled the gun free from the holster hidden under the skirt of her dress. “Marcus. Take a look around.”
A look around at what? He stepped out of the car, pulling free his own weapon, his shades preventing him from squinting in the bright glare of the sun.
The car that had driven itself had stopped on the gravel shoulder of a road that wound along the coast. Eroding wooden posts kept traffic from veering onto the low-lying shoreline, a barren stretch that had only a few sparse people enjoying the sun and waves. The other side of the road was bordered by a steep cliff, atop which sat expansive homes and towering condominiums, places with money to burn and epic views. What he didn’t see was a plane or a reason for them to be here.
With one arm braced on the car, he leaned down and poked his head in. “I don’t see anything, but then again, I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
Kacy leaned forward to speak to him through the seats. “If they’re planning a hit, then they’re probably up on the cliffs. And don
’t be fooled by the folks on the beach.”
Yet they seemed so mundane. The guy with the flapping shirt wearing the wide-brimmed hat and sweeping the sand with a metal detector didn’t seem harmful, and neither did the mother in the one-piece suit chasing after a little boy who squealed as he ran through the waves. The traffic didn’t stop moving, with cars sweeping past in a constant stream.
Closing the door to the car, Marcus leaned against it and tried to keep an eye on everything, but the space was too vast. There was so much to distract, including the helicopter flying low overhead.
Lower.
The fucking thing kept dropping, causing the mother to screech and sweep her child close while the guy looking for treasure raised an arm over his eyes and shouted something that was lost in the wind and noise of the rotor blades.
The helicopter alit on the sand and waited. The passenger door of the car opened, and Darren stepped out, despite Kacy yelling, “Get your ass back in here. We don’t know if it’s safe.” Probably not, but that didn’t stop Darren. He held out his hand for Kacy, who emerged from the car with a scowl. “Keep ignoring me, and I’ll collect the bounty myself,” she snapped.
“I already said, if they wanted me dead, they could have done so by now.”
“Your optimism makes me wonder if you have a brain tumor,” she griped as Marcus grabbed their luggage and walked with them to the chopper. Darren kept his hand on her waist to prevent her from helping.
“Assuming the worst doesn’t accomplish anything. A million things could kill me. Does that mean I should never leave the house, walk down some stairs, eat a grape?”
“No, but there’s nothing wrong with caution, like wearing a bulletproof vest when you leave the house, holding the railing when you go down the stairs, and cutting those grapes into smaller pieces.”
“And miss out on that sweet crunch when you bite down on a whole one?” Darren grinned. “Lighten up.”
“I’ll lighten up when we survive this trip.”
“There’s the spirit,” Darren said as he walked her to the helicopter. “Shall we see what adventure awaits us?”
“Fine, but you’d better hope it’s not death,” she said, clambering into the chopper’s small cabin.
Famous last words that later proved prophetic when the pilot jumped out mid-flight and the helicopter began to plummet.
Chapter Fourteen
There were only a few things that freaked Kacy out.
The underwear currently flossing her cheeks.
Not having a weapon handy.
And helicopters whose pilots suddenly shoved open a door while crossing an ocean and dove out. The fucker even had a parachute that he popped open so he could drift down slowly, aiming for the motorboat keeping pace with them below.
“The academy didn’t train me for this,” Kacy muttered.
Hot-wire a car? She could do it in under a minute. Even the newer models were no match for her.
Ride a motorcycle? She could even pop a wheelie if the bike wasn’t too heavy.
She could absolutely drive a speedboat and had once managed to time her wave jumping so well, she landed on top of her suspect and his slower piece of shit.
But things that flew?
Ah, hell no.
“Motherfucker screwed us,” Marcus muttered before unbuckling and popping out of his seat. He’d chosen to sit in the front with the asshole but hadn’t been quick enough to grab the pilot before he jumped. Then again, who would suspect a pilot with a jovial smile who told them to, “Look at the dolphins jumping,” to be a kamikaze asshole who didn’t mind jumping out of a moving aircraft hundreds of feet in the air?
Marcus leaned over the pilot’s seat and grabbed hold of an oh-shit bar. He leaned partially out and aimed his gun.
Pop.
A peek out her window showed Marcus hadn’t missed. The parachute spun and flopped around, plummeting fast and hard before hitting the water with a splash.
And sinking.
“He’s dead,” Marcus announced.
Lovely, however, the fact that there was no pilot meant—
“We’re going to crash!” She might have screamed like a girl.
“No, we’re not.” Marcus shifted himself in the front of the cab, which caused the helicopter to wobble because, oh yeah…
There was no fucking pilot!
Who was that whimpering?
Marcus settled himself into the vacated seat and grabbed hold of the controls.
It somewhat put her mind at ease. “You know how to fly a ‘copter?” She shouldn’t have been so surprised. He’d probably trained in the military. He certainly had good aim under pressure. That wasn’t an easy shot he’d made, especially with a revolver.
“Not really. But I did participate in some flight simulation programs while in the Army.”
“That’s better than nothing.” She tried to sound more reassured than she felt.
He completely squashed it with his next words. “If you say so. I flunked out of flight training because I crashed each time.”
The panic returned. She dug her nails into her seat, gouging the fabric and not caring.
Darren saw her panic and patted her thigh. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Marcus will figure it out.”
A brash man, Marcus boasted, “Of course I will. How hard can it be? It’s got a motor. I’m a man. It should come naturally.”
If she weren’t afraid of tipping them, she might have lunged forward to throttle him. She settled for yelling, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“If anyone can do this, Marcus can,” soothed Darren. “Especially if you promise him a kiss.”
“I am not promising him anything.”
The helicopter dipped. She squeaked and clenched her eyes tight.
“Are you sure you don’t want to give him an incentive?” Darren prodded.
“Fine. He can have a kiss. A whole bunch of them. But only if we don’t die.”
“Prepare to pucker those lips, little pint.”
The helicopter shuddered.
She ducked her head and began to pray in Spanish.
The ‘copter wobbled.
Her jaw locked so tight, her teeth verged on cracking.
The flight evened out. Not even a slight tremble rocked them.
She dared to peek out of an eye. When she noticed they weren’t plunging to a watery death, she pried open the other.
“We’re not crashing?”
“Nope.” Marcus sounded so smugly pleased. “You owe me a kiss.”
She noticed something perturbing. “Hold on a second. Why aren’t your hands on the controls?”
He waggled them in the air. “Funny thing happened. While I was trying to figure it out, I lost all control. Something took over. Turns out there’s some kind of autopilot on this thing, too.”
“Why you lying bastard. I am not kissing you.”
“Are you welshing already?”
“You’re not flying.”
“You never said I had to fly this thing, only that we weren’t to die. I’m holding up my end of the bargain. Are you going to honor yours?”
“Yes.” Spoken through gritted teeth. Yet, it wasn’t really anger driving her. Okay, a little bit of ire because both men had conned her into agreeing, but more annoyance from the fact that she would have promised a lot more than a kiss if asked. “You’ll get your bloody kiss.”
“Keep it. With that kind of enthusiasm, you can forget you owe me.” Marcus appeared annoyed at her for some reason.
“I said I’d do it.”
“Well, now I don’t want you to,” he barked back. “I’d rather kiss someone who doesn’t act as if I’m asking her to do something repulsive. There are plenty of women who don’t mind kissing me. I’ll find one of those instead.”
Find someone else? For a moment, a red film descended over her, one with a hint of green. “Why, you—”
Darren interrupted. “I think we’re heading to that island.”
; The observation had them all peeking out the windows of the craft and noticing a lush, green mass of land. The ‘copter appeared to be aiming for a massive dock that projected from the shore of the island, a long, narrow strip that ended in a wide platform. The massive square bore a giant, painted X contained inside a circle.
As the craft dipped—nice time to remember that no one actually flew this thing—Kacy’s fingers once again dug into her seat. Give her a wall to climb, or even a building to scale, and she wouldn’t hesitate. But flying… If God had meant mankind to fly, he’d have given them wings.
The ‘copter landed lightly on the dock, and the engines powered down, but it still took a moment for Kacy to uncurl her fingers.
“Safe and sound while another assassin bites the dust. I am expecting a big bottle of booze as my bonus for Christmas this year,” Marcus joked before he swung out of the chopper. A moment later, he opened the door and helped Darren out, who then turned around to give Kacy a hand.
All these stupid manners, treating her like a girl when she could have just jumped out by herself.
When Darren slid his arm around her waist, she remembered to paste a smile on her face. Now that they’d arrived on this mystery island, the show would begin. Staying in character would now be of utmost importance.
Since ladies expected men to guide them—because without the arm around their waist they’d surely get lost—she forewent twisting Darren’s arm and sending him to his knees.
Being a lady also meant no whirling around to punch Marcus, even though she heard him snicker.
There was no one on the fat part of the dock to meet them, but on the shore, she could see someone in a white pantsuit waiting. Her heels clicked on the boards as they moved. With a smile pasted on her face, she pretended idle chatter with Darren.
“We’re going to have to wing it from here on out. Whatever you do, stick close to Marcus or me. Don’t eat anything unless I’ve had a chance to check it out first.”
“Am I allowed to bathe?”
“Only if I’ve checked the bathroom first for poisonous critters.”