Smoke & Fire - Adult Paranormal Romance Series, Book #1

by Michele Wesley

  Both Sori’s and Mycale’s backs stiffened as the shadowy figures started to emerge, illuminated by moonlight. The shadows cast against the ship’s wall made the four approaching figures look like they were ten feet tall. Reality was a swift kick in the ass; the shadows hadn’t lied, because the men were huge, very well built, and dressed like ship security officers. And, Sori noticed that they were armed. Damn!

  This was too much security for two couples sightseeing. The Gonzaleses were still oblivious to what was about to happen, but Sori and Mycale had taken up defensive stances.

  Every internal alarm the two had was on high alert, and within the ten seconds it had taken the men to approach, the team surmised the men were all armed with handguns. Based on their experience, the men were most likely carrying backup guns as well.

  Although the area was lit only by moonlight, it was clear that the men were all over six feet, all over two hundred pounds, and all prepared and ready to kill. If the silencer Sori spotted one pulling from his jacket were any indication, they weren’t there to talk ship safety. By the time the Gonzaleses turned around, the armed men had them semi-surrounded, letting the ocean be their backup.

  Holding their protective stance, Sori and Mycale were determined to protect their new targets. Sori stood in front of Fredrick and Mycale in front of Jeanine. The men stared at their postures, probably wondering what they intended to do in this impossible situation. Two against four armed, the odds weren’t in their favor.

  Sori and Mycale glanced at each other, each trying to convey a message to the other without words. The big men dwarfed everyone except Mycale, but even with Mycale, those four big-ass men made their small crew look wimpy.

  The team glanced at each other once more, and without warning, they both lunged at each man to the outside of the flank. Their plan was to take the two men on the outside, draw the attention of the two inside, turning the four’s attention away from Jeanine and Fredrick. The plan worked, but now they had to move quickly to keep from getting shot or worse, killed.

  Sori delivered a flying knee to her man’s chest, instantly taking his wind. He folded in pain as she took his weapon. She was thankful that he had already put on the silencer. Just as soon as the weapon was introduced to her trigger finger, she shot his buddy to the inside of the flank. As the body of the shot man fell, Sori rode her breathless man’s body down to the boat’s hardwood deck.

  Mycale delivered a spinning elbow to his man, which connected to the switch in his neck and turned out his lights instantly. The giant folded like a lawn chair, and Mycale had the man’s gun within seconds. He shot the man’s buddy before folded-lawn-chair man’s body had a chance to hit the deck. The team moved so fast and in sync that the Gonzaleses hardly had time to panic.

  Taking a few quick glances at Mycale, Sori wondered how in the hell he could have possibly known what she was about to do. If he hadn’t acted out the plan as she had envisioned it, things could have gone horribly wrong for them and the Gonzaleses.

  The man her knee had connected with screamed in agony as if she had ripped out his guts. At best, she had probably broken a few ribs and, riding his body down to the deck had probably cracked a few more. The knee she had in his neck didn’t help either. She had to shut him up before he attracted attention, and attention was the last thing they needed before they got some answers.

  Turning the weapon backward in her hand, Sori struck the man so hard his head fell back onto the deck and bounced unnaturally up, giving the appearance that she had snapped his neck. “Tell me who sent you, or I will make sure the next blow knocks your fucking brains all over this deck.”

  She spoke softly and calmly, as if she hadn’t just taken the butt of a gun and shattered the man’s jaw. The man spit blood like a congested waterspout trying desperately to clear a way for air.

  From his vantage point, Mycale could see bits of bone and teeth peeking from the side of the man’s face, but one thing had surely happened; he wasn’t screaming anymore.

  Mycale glanced down at the man he’d knocked out cold, while the one he shot was obviously dead; hot lead to the center of his head and another to the center mass of his chest.

  Remaining in place, Mycale noticed that Sori had taken her two men down in nearly the same fashion as he had. The synchronicity of it all had him wondering how in the hell she had known what he was going to do. He waited to see how she wanted to play out the rest of this situation.

  The man Sori hit with the weapon had sheer terror in his eyes, as if he were staring up at the devil herself. Sori leaned closer to the man. Mycale couldn’t hear what she was saying, but he noticed the man’s breathing went from harsh and ragged to slow, desperate, and panicked.

  Sori kept her voice soft and calm, butto the clearly frightened man, her voice had sparks of hellfire flying off it. She said, “Don’t make me ask you again.”

  The man gurgled from the blood in his mouth and the condition of his jaw. His words came out as if talking through water. “We are guns hired by the T-T-Truleta to take them out. They g-g-got word that they were compromised and didn’t w-want any backlash. ” He tried to point at the Gonzaleses with a shaky hand, but Sori quickly pushed his hand back down with her foot.

  The breeze coming off the ocean blew sound in the opposite direction, preventing the Gonzaleses from hearing anything. They stared, mouths agape, skin as white as a ghost, unable to move. Fredrick’s hand gipped the railing so hard his knuckles were straining against his skin. He and Jeanine had seen a lot in their day, but nothing like this. They’d never had to take a protection detail on vacation with them before and wondered what this was all about.

  They had hired guns on their payroll, but Fredrick doubted their men could do anything like what he’d just seen from Sophie and Michael. Fredrick was now willing to bet that Sophie and Michael were aliases. Who in the hell goes up against four armed men without weapons? And win! This Michael and Sophie had to be some kind of mercenaries, trained killers of some type. If they weren’t foe to him, he would definitely be willing to hire them as a part of his personal protection detail and pay them whatever they wanted.

  Although he hadn’t heard the man’s words, Mycale was glad the brothers suggested he learn to read lips. He now knew that the men had been hired by the TC and sent to kill the Gonzaleses. This meant that somehow, someone knew that agents or law enforcement were tracking the Gonzaleses and the info had gotten back to the deadly Truleta Cartel.

  Sori glanced back at the couple, at Mycale, then back at the man. She spoke even lower this time, “How did the family get this information? How do they know the couple is compromised? Why kill their own people?”

  Nothing else was said, and no amount of threatening on her part would work this time. The man was about to expire. Sori knew it, felt it even. When you were witness to and had participated in as many deaths as she had, you became familiar with death’s approach. All she could think was Fuck!

  A familiar chill crept up Mycale’s arm, causing him to flex it slightly. He instantly knew the man Sori tried to get answers out of was about to meet Death. He couldn’t explain how he knew it, but he felt death, this unseen energy that comes to collect that special energy source that makes a person human.

  The man’s last few breaths came out slow, long, and ragged. His last breath was an ominous rattle, death’s favorite song lyric.

  Surprised by the man’s death, Sori stared down at his now empty meat-suit. A few broken ribs and a broken jaw shouldn’t have killed him so easily. That nagging voice in her head said, Unless you’re getting stronger. Sori briefly wondered if the beast she kept on a tight leash inside her was starting to creep out without permission.

  She stood, glancing back at Mycale, and just like the snap of a finger, he knew, knew they had to get rid of the bodies. They couldn’t risk blowing their cover, which would ruin their chances of getting information from their targets. So
ri glanced at the man Mycale had at his feet, and Mycale knew he had to try to get some information out of the man. But, it were too late. Someone was coming.

  Like nothing she had ever seen before, Mycale looked at her and ushered his head toward the far end of the boat, letting her know that someone was coming. Instinctively, Sori turned, looking for the person or persons, but didn’t see or hear anyone.

  Knowing what had to be done, Mycale didn’t hesitate. He stood, aimed, and shot the last man between the eyes. The two slugs he put in the man’s head made his body jerk, but silence prevailed as the silencer had done its job.

  Picking the two-hundred-plus-pound man up like he didn’t weigh an ounce, Mycale tossed him and the weapon overboard. Sori didn’t have time to digest what she was seeing because she now heard footsteps. She wasn’t nearly as strong as Mycale and had to use leverage to get her man over the railing. By the time she had gotten her first man over, Mycale had already tossed the other three.

  The Gonzaleses were still standing against the rail like trembling statues. Sori hoped the couple would keep their cool and prayed they wouldn’t speak about what they had just witnessed. Sori and Mycale both stood close to the frightened couple, spun them to face the water, and pretended they were enjoying the view. Mycale pointed at the moon, as if pointing something out to the others.

  When they all heard someone clear their throat loudly, Fredrick and Jeanine jumped, but Sori and Mycale turned slowly, offering friendly smiles. It was two members of the ship’s security force, this time the real deal, unarmed. If it hadn’t been for the boat’s positioning and well-placed shadows, the men would have seen the trails and splatters of blood and brains that had been left behind only seconds ago.

  One of the security officers spoke, “Excuse me ladies and gentlemen. We are going to have to ask you to leave this area. It’s too dark, and it’s not safe for passengers to be out here tonight.

  “Yes, sir,” Mycale offered. “We were just admiring the view.”

  The security officers waited. “We’ll walk you back.”

  Sori prayed the guards didn’t use their flashlights. Her prayers were answered, as the officers ensured they were back inside the ship, secured the doors, and bade them good night before going in another direction.

  * * *

  Looking back at the couple, Sori said, “We’ll walk you back to your suite.”

  Mycale and Sori followed the Gonzaleses back to their suite to gauge the couple’s state of mind. The first thing Fredrick did was fix himself and his wife a drink, and offered Sophie and Michael one that they politely turned down.

  Not giving the Gonzaleses a chance to assume anything, Sori started, “First, please accept our apology. I am going to be straight with you.” Sori took a seat—a less-defensive posture never hurt a situation. She continued, “We are not a normal couple, as you can see. Those men were after us because of our past. We were guns for hire for a pretty big player. Of course, I can’t say who, but we worked for him for nearly five years. Life under his employ wasn’t life at all, it was barely living. Death around every corner had many bad people coming after him and us. After getting to a point where death had become just as simple to us as taking a shower, we wanted out of the life. One slip-up and it was death for him, us, or both. We wanted out, and he wouldn’t allow it, but we found a way out and have been running ever since. Make no mistake, running from him is much easier than working for him. So we run, and he chases us, and as you can see, sometimes he gets close. We can never go back, and he won’t stop until we’re dead. We plan on running and enjoying our freedom for as long as it lasts.”

  Sori was pulling off a dramatic performance; the story was so believable that Mycale would have believed it if he didn’t know the truth. He was impressed and now understood why she suggested he work on his acting skills.

  The expression on the faces of the Gonzaleses’ showed they were buying Sori’s cover story hook, line, and sinker. As Mycale observed the couple, they seemed almost fascinated when they should have been frightened of what Sori was telling them, especially after what they had just seen on the deck.

  Mycale thought about the couple’s way of thinking. They were pretty high-ranking criminals by the stats in their files, so they likely trusted fellow criminals.

  Reading the Gonzaleses like a good book, Sori continued to make up her story. She put on a menacing face. “Now if any of what I have told you or any of what you have seen is not something you can abide, what do you want to do?”

  Mycale hid a smile. She had left the ball in their court.

  Fredrick took a large sip from his drink before saying, “We don’t have the cleanest backgrounds ourselves, so we can respect what you feel you had to do.” Fredrick held up his glass towards them as he spoke, “If you didn’t have a target on your backs, we would be interested in hiring you for ourselves. I have never seen anything like what you two did out on that deck.”

  By the time the team left the Gonzaleses, the couple seemed ready to hire them despite their fake shortcomings.

  Before Sori and Mycale made it back to their suite, they slipped back out to the deck to clean up the crime scene. They also did a sweep of the ship, ensuring there weren’t more guns for hire after the Gonzaleses. They had to keep the couple alive and had four days of cruise time left to get information from the couple. When they were sure the coast was clear, the team headed back to their own suite.

  The two stood out on their balcony for nearly an hour. They stood quietly, decompressing and processing all that had occurred. Sori used their satellite phone to relay the incident and updates to her brothers. The team showered but couldn’t relax, so they talked and strategized the best way to get what they needed from the Gonzaleses.

  They took comfort in the fact that things had gone in their favor. Now that guns were after the Gonzaleses, they had to find out how the Cartel knew the couple was compromised. Sori hoped her brothers and MIA could figure out the answer; information was being leaked somehow.

  CHAPTER 15

  You Scare Me

  Their adrenaline had finally slowed enough for Sori and Mycale to relax. She laid on her stomach, staring out at the moon shimmering over the water. She looked back at Mycale with a puzzled look, one he had never seen on her beautiful face. She asked, “How in the hell did you know what I wanted to do to those gunmen?”

  Smiling, he shook his head and replied, “I honestly don’t know. You gave me a look, and it was like, bam! The idea was just there. The crazy thing is, I didn’t know if it was your plan or mine. I just went with it and it worked out.”

  She asked, “How did you know someone was coming? I thought I had a pretty good feel for sensing things like that, but you… you knew they were coming a minute before they walked up. Like you could see around the corners or something.” She had a million questions for him but stuck with the ones that made the most sense.

  He laid on his side. Staring intently at her he said, “Would you believe me if I told you I felt it? I felt them approaching, just like I felt death coming for the man you struck in the head.”

  Turning away from him, she stared out at the view in deep thought. It was scary how much alike they were. She thought for years she was the only one that felt things that no one else saw. Out on the deck, it felt as if she’d had some type of metaphysical sync with Mycale, something she was sure wasn’t coincidence or luck. The craziest thing about the entire situation is that she knew he would know her plan.

  Putting his hands over his face, Mycale thought, Damn! Maybe I shouldn’t have told her I knew what she was thinking. Now she probably thinks I am crazy.

  She looked back over her shoulder at him. “You are a lot stronger than you look. When you sparred with me during those training sessions, you held back, considerably.” He didn’t say anything. She continued, “You scare me, Mycale. I am finding that in ways, you are a lot like me, and
that is scary, almost terrifying.”

  He was honest. “I am here to learn from you, so—”

  She stopped him. “I know. The point of you working with me is to pick up skills and learn, but I don’t know, I think that the learning curve between us can extend both ways.”

  Surprised by her words, he was left speechless. That she felt like he could teach her anything was one of the biggest compliments he’d gotten from her so far.

  Her mind would not stop straying to Mycale and her connection with him.

  Shifting the direction of the conversation, she said, “For someone that has never had to do a lot of acting, you’re doing okay with this.”

  He knew that his attraction to her held him back. “Thanks, but I know there are some things I need to work on.”

  She smiled, “Since you mentioned it.”

  Interested to see what her perception of him was, he said, “Give it to me straight. I am all ears. I can take it.”

  He asked for it straight, so she gave it. She said, “Well, you are a bit tense and apprehensive when we have to be physical. You have to somehow train your mind so that your body and movements look natural even when you’re uncomfortable.”

  His heart stopped at the mention of being physical with her. Their first kiss had blown his mind, so he was afraid to see what would happen if they had to kick it up a notch.

  She continued, “I know you haven’t had to do this before, but in some cases, you may have to pull off award-winning performances to keep your cover. Some of the best agents are good actors, if that makes sense to you.”

  “Yes, it makes perfect sense. Like what you did with the Gonzaleses?”

  She had no idea why she was reluctant to hear his answer, but she asked anyway. “Do you feel uncomfortable only when you have to be physical with me?”

  Noticing the keyword in that statement was the word, only, he answered carefully. “No, not really.” He looked down for a second, like something was really bothering him.