by Gwyn McNamee
A half dozen steps bring me to the narrow stairs up to the master bedroom. It’s the perfect place for an ambush. If Tarek is up there, there’s a good chance I’ll be under a hail of bullets the moment I set foot on the first step. But I don’t have a choice.
My heart pulls me up the stairs as much as my need for revenge does.
When I reach the top, I know the house is empty.
No sounds or signs of life.
No barrage of bullets.
No Jade.
Where the FUCK are they?
Rage boils in my gut as I approach the bed.
A single sheet of white paper lies in the center.
Konstandin –
Too late, brother. Knowing me as you do, I anticipated you coming here as soon as I learned of what you did to Armend and Saban. Don’t worry, I’m taking excellent care of Rea.
While I’m impressed with your ability to make it this far, your days are numbered. There will be a reckoning, brother. Soon.
Tarek
The mattress sinks under my weight. My hand shakes, and I set my gun down next to me.
I’m too late.
They were here…
So fucking close.
My bellowed roar vibrates in my chest and bounces around the room. Something takes hold of me, wrapping around my chest and squeezing tightly. My vision blurs and before I even know I'm doing it, the mirror above the dresser is shattered into a thousand pieces, the mattress is flipped over against the wall, and angry tears are running down my face.
“No!” He can't win. I won't let him. I can't let that happen to her.
Fear is an unknown feeling for me. Even in the darkest and hardest days of my life, I never experienced the gut clenching sensation that’s overtaking my body now, because it is isn't fear for me or for my life. It's for her, and I've never truly loved anyone before.
Only the ringing of my phone breaks me from the downward spiral of fear.
Lorenc's number flashes across the screen, and I notice the time.
Shit.
“Hello?”
“Everyone's in a mad scramble. Police are swarming over the warehouses and bakery. I sure as shit hope you have her and took care of Tarek already.”
I scrub my hand over my face and survey the destruction in the room. “They aren't here.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I must have just missed them. And now I don’t have a fucking clue where he may have taken her.”
On top of destroying part of Tarek’s vast network, the panic and disarray the bombs caused was supposed to be a distraction to keep both the police and the remaining members of Tarek’s crew busy while I took care of him and got away.
I never thought for a second he wouldn’t be here.
“Hold on.”
The wait feels like hours.
“I may be able to help you with that.”
Hope lightens the weight on my shoulders momentarily.
“What do you know?”
“Enrik just sent me a text. He’s meeting your brother at the Heritage Field airport in thirty minutes.”
The motherfucker thinks he’s getting away with my woman? Over my dead body.
Which begs the question…if he knew I would come here, why didn’t he have an ambush waiting for me? Why not leave some of his men here to take me out the moment they set eyes on me?
Unease returns as I make my way down the stairs.
“Meet me at the airport in ten.”
I’m not going into this alone. Not with so much at stake.
EIGHTEEN
A few small planes litter the tarmac, but the parking lot outside the little building that houses the airport is empty.
“Where are they?”
I glance over at Lorenc. He shrugs while continuing to scan the area for signs of life.
“Probably on the way. I confirmed with Enrik that he was supposed to meet them here.”
It could be a diversion so they can get out of the city some other way without me knowing, but that only makes sense if Tarek suspected Lorenc of assisting me.
I shove open the car door and step out into the cool morning air. It may be a diversion, or worse, a trap, but I can’t take the chance of missing her.
Lorenc’s footsteps on the pavement behind me break the silence of the early morning.
“You sure you want to just walk in there?”
I glance over my shoulder at him. “Yep.”
No more sneaking around. No more stealth.
It’s time for fucking shock and awe.
The glass in the door rattles with my quick jerk, and I storm into the lobby.
A vacant receptionist station sits in the center of the room.
These small airports tend to only have one or two staff members working at any one time inside the building, but there’s no sign of anyone.
The eerie silence has every nerve in my body screaming to get out of here. But I ignore it and advance further into the building.
Bullets whizz by, and Lorenc and I dive down a small hallway to our left.
Lorenc falls beside me. “Fuck!”
“Are you hit?”
“No. You?”
I shake my head and peek out around the corner. Two shots fly past me and embed in the wall on the other side.
At least whoever is shooting at us has shit aim.
Lorenc points to a window at the end of the hall. “You circle around.”
I nod my agreement and jog to the window. The old sash sticks, but it eventually wiggles free without too much noise. I drop onto the grass and circle the building toward the direction of the gunfire, checking each window as I come to it.
The first two are just empty offices, but on the third, I hit pay dirt.
Two guys dressed in black lean out the doorway, their guns raised and ready to fire. Their backs to me are the perfect targets. All I need to do is stop them long enough to unload a couple mags in them.
My left hand tightens around the grip of my second weapon. With both guns raised and aimed at them through the window, I take a deep breath. These assholes aren't gonna know what hit them.
Crack!
The window shatters almost at the same instant my bullets collide with the two gunmen. They jerk and twist back, firing off rounds wildly at the unknown shooter while I drop a mag into each of them. Their crumpled bodies lie just inside the door.
Lorenc appears in the doorway and examines my handiwork. “I see your aim hasn't gotten rusty over the last couple of years.”
I climb through the now empty window frame. One man is clearly dead but the other stares up at us gasping and gurgling for breath through blood soaked lips.
“He'll…never let…you…take…her.”
Squatting down over him, I pull my knife from my boot and examine it in the soft morning sunlight now filtering in the window. His eyes widen a fraction of a second before I bury the blade up to the hilt into his heart.
“Why did you do that? He might've known where they are.”
I stand and shake my head. “They'll be here.”
He follows me out into the hallway. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because my brother believes he’s invincible and that this ambush would be successful. That's why he was confident enough not to try to take me out at my house. He knew he wouldn’t need to. He already had this planned.”
Tarek set this up so he could kill Lorenc too. It’s the only explanation. He knew Lorenc would betray him at the first opportunity if I asked. I should have anticipated he would never fully trust him after I left.
But it’s irrelevant now.
Now, all I have to do is sit and wait.
NINETEEN
Footsteps approach down the hallway and reach my ears through the cracked door.
We didn’t have to wait long. It was just enough time to race out to the tarmac, plant the bomb on the airplane, and get repositioned inside.
Ten minutes after the ambush, car doors slammed
outside and we were in position.
Despite the epic importance of the next few minutes, my heartbeat remains slow and steady. This is what I was built for. This is what I pushed away for the last two years, to try to create a new life for me and Jade. But what I am, what I truly am at my core, can never be changed.
I’m a killer.
And it’s time to take lives.
The only concern is assuring Jade doesn’t get caught in any crossfire.
A quick peek at the gap in the door tells me I'm dealing with two of Tarek’s men. The first one I recognize. Emil has been with Tarek for at least half a decade. What he lacks in the brains department, he makes up for with reliability and willingness to do whatever he’s asked without question. He's the perfect employee for a twisted fuck like my brother.
The guy he's talking to as they make their way closer to me is new. At least to me.
“…radio…no answer…”
They’ve probably tried to get in touch with the two stone cold losers on the floor next to me. Yet, they don’t have their guns drawn.
Are they that fucking stupid?
More car doors slam and someone comments on the broken window on the front of the building.
Shit.
Just what I need…
“Tarek! Please! No.”
Her voice cuts through everything else going on around me.
A dog barks.
Bruiser? That motherfucker took my woman and my dog?
My heart screams for me to run to the window…to see her…to take out Tarek right now. But my training tells me to wait. This only works if we can ensure she’s safe and Tarek and his men die. That only happens if I follow the plan.
And the plan starts with these two asshats strolling down the hall toward me without a fucking care in the world.
Two well-placed shots drop them both mid-step.
Lorenc rushes out and drags the bodies into one of the empty offices while I make my way down the hall toward the front entrance and duck into the first door before the reception area.
Waiting sucks.
But it isn’t long before familiar voices enter the building.
Enrik’s with him. So is Behar, his pilot.
These men I once called friends and my brother, are now the only thing standing between me and the woman I love.
“Go make sure the plane’s ready. Load the bags. We’ll be right out.” My brother’s order will be followed, leaving him and Jade unprotected. Hopefully.
This is our chance. I just hope Lorenc is ready too.
I step out into the hallway, exposing myself to Tarek and anyone else who may be lingering with a gun.
My eyes immediately find Jade’s green, red-rimmed ones.
“Griffin!” She lunges toward me, only to be yanked back by Tarek. His nostrils flare, and his cheeks redden. The muscle in his jaw ticks.
Tears stream down Jade’s face as his fingers tighten around her upper arm. I want nothing more than to shoot off those white knuckles to free her from his grip. But rash actions will get me nowhere.
I approach slowly.
A sneer curls the corner of Tarek’s lips. “Well, brother, I’m impressed. You’ve managed to survive everything I’ve thrown at you. I’ll admit, I never expected it to get this far. But it’s irrelevant. You can’t stop me.”
I grin at him. “I already have.”
An explosion rocks the tarmac, shattering the windows of the building and sending glass flying toward us. Tarek loosens his grip on Jade just enough for her to break free, but before she can move toward me, Lorenc steps out from his hiding place and grabs her.
I nod to them. “Go!”
She struggles with him, kicking and hitting him. “No! Griffin! Don’t do this!” Her muffled cries dissipate as he drags her toward the entrance and disappears.
Tarek recovers from the shockwave of the blast and registers what just happened, taking in the carnage of what was once his plane. Only after seeing that does he look toward the entrance where Jade was just taken.
He turns his furious eyes on me…the same eyes I see every fucking day when I look in the mirror.
“You may have won this battle, but you will never win this war. All you’ve done is prolong the inevitable. Anywhere you go, anyone you try to become, I will find you. Rea is mine! And I will have her, no matter how long it takes.”
I scoff and offer him a grin. “That’s where you’re wrong, brother. You’ve underestimated me from the very beginning. This ends now. You will never lay a finger on her again.”
A vile sneer twists his mouth. “Oh, I’ve already laid much more than a finger on her…”
Rage turns my vision red, and I draw my guns at the same time he reaches for his. He lunges for the open door of one of the offices as I send a stream of bullets toward him.
Fire sears my gut but doesn’t stop me from advancing toward the door.
This ends now.
TWENTY
Tarek lies in the middle of the room, his back to the desk, gun drawn and raised at me. His arm wavers.
Blood soaks the front of his pants and pools under him on the floor.
I must have hit an artery.
Bleeding out is too good of a way for him to die.
Too easy.
Who would have thought it would end this way? Brother against brother. The same flesh and blood. The same DNA. Born only five minutes apart, we couldn’t be more different. It wasn’t always that way. At least, I don’t think it was.
Our childhood flashes through my head in quick succession. Even then, I was his muscle. But I never reveled in it the way he did. It was just me helping my brother. My other half. I would have done anything for him back then, and thinking back on it now, I’m sure that’s why I continued to work for him even when I began to question the rightness of my actions.
Tarek never worries about such trivial things as a conscience, though.
His gun centers on my chest.
Why hasn't he shot me yet?
His eyes meet mine, a sneer spreads across his lips, and he pulls the trigger. The empty click answers my question. He's out of ammo. The only reason I'm not dead right now is my brother's a piss poor shot and doesn't have a backup mag.
How fucked up is that?
I squat down in front of him, the movement making me wince and grab at my abdomen. Warm blood seeps onto my hand. This one's bad. I need to end this quickly if I'm gonna make it out of here alive and back to Jade.
Lorenc will take care of her, make sure she’s okay. I have no doubt of that. But I can't leave this Earth without telling her I love her one more time, without kissing her lips or seeing her smile back at me.
“Looks like you lost this round, brother.” The words fall from my lips like a prayer. I’ve been wanting this for so long.
Tarek laughs, which quickly devolves into a coughing fit. “That's what you may think, but you will never walk away from this, Konstandin. You know that. I have too many friends in too many places. And I will always be with you. You will never be able to fuck Rea again without knowing I've been there too and that she loved it.”
My hand lashes out before my mind can even register the movement. The butt of my gun smashes into his temple. He falls sideways but manages to catch himself and push himself back upright. Blood rushes down the side of his face but it doesn't stop the sinister laughter.
It doesn’t matter though, I know the truth.
“Rea will always be mine, Tarek. No matter what you may have done to her, I will always be the one who has her heart. The rest…I can live with. As long as I have her.”
Before he can offer another word, I drop the gun and unleash the fury of the past several weeks upon him.
Fists crunch bone.
Flesh tears.
Blood flows.
Tarek struggles only briefly before he’s overwhelmed by my assault.
Time disintegrates along with his face.
There's nothing but swinging fists, blo
od, and my unrelenting wrath.
Only the splitting pain of my knuckles breaking finally pauses the attack.
I stare down.
The thing about having blood on my hands is, I don’t want to wash it off.
Isn’t that what you’re supposed to want to do?
Yet, standing here, over the shredded, unrecognizable body of Tarek, my hands dripping with his blood, there is no regret. No remorse. No nagging conscience screaming at me. Nothing but the overwhelming sense of relief floods my body.
But it doesn’t last. It can’t.
Yelling and the pop of gunshots break my reverie and remind me where I am and why.
This isn’t over.
Not by a longshot.
I turn away from the carnage before I try to push up onto my feet, but I stumble onto my palms. The room spins, blackening around the edges.
Shit.
The weakness crippling my body is total and complete. I register the pool of blood under me that’s not all Tarek’s.
Sinking down onto the floor, the tears in Jade's eyes when she saw me in the hallway are all I can see through the blackness enveloping me.
Those eyes are too beautiful to have tears, and now, she's going to lose me, too.
TWENTY-ONE
Jade
Two Years Later
Golden eyes smile up at me from under the mop of thick black hair. Those eyes hold everything in them—the past, the future, love, and hate.
Konstandin’s been gone for two years, yet it feels like only yesterday Lorenc told me he didn’t make it out.
He never got to meet his son. He never even got to know he existed.
I begged Lorenc to let me go back into the airport after him, but he refused. He promised Konstandin he would get me out and not look back, no matter what. Even telling Lorenc about the baby didn’t deter him from throwing me over his shoulder and racing toward the car after leaving the love of my life to deal with his twisted brother. The only pause on our escape from the airport was to grab Bruiser out of Tarek’s SUV and to fire off some shots at another car full of Tarek’s men who arrived late.
If only I’d realized I was pregnant before we ever went to that damn party…maybe things would have been different. His guard wouldn’t have been down, and he would be here with me now.