Arrow to the Soul

by Lea Griffith

  Chapter Fourteen

  U-ki wa, kokoro ni ari. Joy and sorrow exist only in the mind. Arrow repeated the refrain over and over as she hit target after target. She tasted the truth of it in the remnant ashes of last night’s pain. Adam Collins cut her deeply, and by the time she’d come out of her meditative state she’d been as she was before she’d ever met him.

  Cold. Calm. Death.

  She’d risen before dawn, meeting Bullet at the bottom of the stairs and they’d headed for the range. Bullet seemed to sense Arrow’s withdrawal and no words were spoken between them. The whir of cameras in the woods surrounding them could be heard above their silence and Arrow had the insane urge to place ya in each of them. They reminded her of the cameras Joseph had placed in the mountains of Arequipa. His eyes watched them all the time. She and her sisters felt him with every breath they drew.

  How Arrow longed for her homeland. The mountains of Japan rose majestic and powerful above the earth—they were different than the jagged peaks of Peru. There were no cameras in her mountains, nothing but the illusion of freedom. She would never voice her longing, but Arrow wanted peace.

  And yet it wasn’t to be for her. Arrow knew that even when Joseph Bombardier was long gone, she would have no serenity. She’d killed too many and hell called to her every day. The only time its summons muted was when she’d kissed Adam Collins.

  She retrieved her ya from the targets she’d hit and trudged back up the hill, moving farther away simply because she could, and it was a test of her prowess and training with the yumi.

  “Shall we challenge, sister?” Bullet asked.

  Arrow glanced at her sister, noticing a color in her cheeks and vitality in her eyes she had never seen before. Were they not killers, Arrow would have said it was happiness. “I believe the last time we did this, I won,” Arrow murmured.

  “Non, ma sœur, j'ai gagné,” Bullet said with a laugh.

  Arrow smirked. “Ensuite, nous contestons.”

  “First one to hit every target at each level wins. We will go no farther than fifteen hundred yards as my bullets will obviously travel farther than your puny arrows.”

  Arrow snorted at that. “Oh, sister, you’ve grown cocky since leaving Arequipa. What shall we challenge for?”

  “Truth.”

  Arrow nodded, accepting the challenge with dignity, though her heart stuttered. She knew exactly what her sister was aiming for and Arrow wouldn’t let it happen. That truth was hers alone.

  Targets were set up at one hundred fifty, three hundred, six hundred, and so on all the way up through twelve hundred yards away. Not quite a mile but pushing it. She hit targets with her longbow and ya at thirteen hundred yards but not frequently. Her crossbow traveled farther, but with distance came a loss of accuracy. She’d never heard of anyone hitting thirteen hundred yards as she had. She’d also not worked this new bow with the exception of this morning and the dispatching of Damon last night, but this was a challenge she would never refuse. First Team had grown up engaging each other this way, needing the competition to break the starkness of their existence.

  Bullet stood beside her now, her face blank except for the fire in her blue eyes. “There are two targets for each of us at each distance. We will start here as the targets get farther away when we move to the next section. As soon as you finish one set of targets, you will run to the next distance and so on. The final set of targets is twelve hundred yards. I do not believe you can do that distance, sister. We shall see, yes? Whoever hits each target at each distance first, wins.”

  “Who will begin the challenge for us?” Arrow asked.

  “I will,” Dmitry Asinimov said from behind them.

  A group of men gathered on the knoll above them, watching and waiting. They were either brave or stupid. Not many men had seen two members of First Team together in such a way and lived to tell of it. Either way, she and her sister had an audience. Blood began to pump through Arrow’s veins. The rush of the game tingled in her extremities. She put her bow on her shoulder and wrapped her hair in a bun, and then she removed her bow and kneeled on one knee.

  “Ya ga massugu tobu to watashi no tāgetto no kokoro o mitashite mimashou,” she murmured, and then ran her hands along the bow before raising it to her forehead.

  “If you’re finished kissing your bow and praying for your arrow to fly straight, shall we get it on?” Bullet queried at her side.

  Arrow raised a brow. “Get it on?”

  “Yes, sister. Let us do this thing so I can claim my prize.” Bullet’s lips curved and Arrow felt her heart pound.

  What she would give to know the momentary freedom of a true smile.

  “Mr. Asinimov?” Arrow called out.

  “Yes?”

  “We await your mark.”

  They readied themselves and tension blanketed the air. Arrow fed off her sister’s will and knew for a fact Bullet did the same. For a brief second, the woods of Virginia reminded her again of Arequipa. But it was okay because some of the best times of her life had been spent with her sisters in the mountains of that hell.

  “I will count down,” Dmitry said. “When I get to one, I will whistle and that’s your mark to begin.”

  She and Bullet nodded.

  “Watashi wa chūdan sa remasen,” Arrow murmured. I will not break.

  “Je ne vais pas casser,” Bullet echoed in her native French.

  The whistle sounded and Arrow was off, the thrill of using her yumi and ya flowing through her body like a beautiful tide. She rode it, pulling ya from her quiver with a speed she knew many couldn’t follow. One after the other she nailed the targets, even as she heard the report of her sister’s rifle doing the very same. She became lost to them, her motions a symmetry and reflection of her intense desire to meet this challenge…to win. One after the other, distance after distance, and the targets fell by the wayside, impaled with her ya, decimated by her sister’s bullet.

  She finished a mere fraction of a second before her sister, and her victory was potent. She turned her face to the sky and shouted her victory. “Watashi ga katta!” I have won.

  “No need to rub it in,” Bullet grumbled at her side. “I have never understood how you always manage to win when my bullet travels faster than your arrows.”

  “I want it more,” Arrow answered. And it was the truth. “And I run faster.”

  Bullet inclined her head. “Perhaps.”

  They walked back to their starting point and Bullet kneeled before Arrow. “We challenged for truth. What I have is yours,” she said solemnly.

  Arrow nodded. She knew the men who had watched them crowded around. The brush of their gazes bothered her. Their closeness made her skin crawl.

  “You bartered truth, Bullet. There was no need to barter that which has always been shared among sisters,” Arrow said quietly.

  Bullet’s head rose, her gaze piercing Arrow with its intensity. “You knew you’d win.”

  Arrow nodded. Bullet was broken. Her heart had been overtaken by love and while her duty remained absolute, she was not as she’d been before Rand Beckett. And that was okay, because she had three sisters who would give their lives to protect her.

  Arrow kneeled in front of Bullet who remained on her knees. She pulled her bow from her shoulders, kissed it, pressed it to her forehead and held it before Bullet.

  “No, Arrow,” Bullet whispered. “I cannot.”

  Arrow pressed the longbow into Bullet’s hands and covered those hands with her own. “I crafted it with you in my heart. I made it with intent and I would gift you with the piece of me housed within it.”

  Bullet stared at Arrow and Arrow knew everything was as it should be. She was death but she could recognize the softer emotions. She was soulless but her heart realized Bullet was a part of her.

  Bullet raised the bow to her forehead, touched it and lowered it reverently. “It is my most prized possession.”

  Arrow snorted. “I think not, sister. Perhaps that honor belongs to your M
r. Beckett’s heart?”

  Bullet smiled and it was the very first, genuine smile Arrow had ever seen on her sister’s face. She allowed her mouth to lift in response and then she stood.

  The fury of their challenge left her with excess energy to expend. “I would train now.”

  She spoke to no one in particular and refused to meet the gazes of the men who watched her. Arrow wondered if Adam Collins watched as she and Bullet challenged, but then she squelched the thought.

  It did not matter. Adam Collins could not matter. She walked back to the house and made her way to the workout room. She hoped there was another Wing Chun dummy. She had a vicious need to beat the wood senseless.

  Her primary target wasn’t an option.

  •●•

  “Goddamn,” Adam whispered as he sank into a chair in the library.

  Rand headed for the bar and poured two drinks, handing one to Adam before he took the seat opposite him. “Yeah…that.”

  There were no words to describe what they’d just witnessed. The bond between the women was solid, formed in the fires of hell, and they were each a part of the other. He took a drink of the brandy and winced as it burned all the way to his gut. His hand tightened on the glass and he wished it was her hair.

  They’d put on a display unlike any he’d ever seen. Arrow actually hit both targets at twelve hundred yards. Almost a half mile away, and she’d hit them dead center and with such speed he’d barely been able to follow her movements.

  That she’d beat her sister, who’d been shooting a fucking rifle, was amazing. That she’d then gifted the loser with a prize had been beautiful to witness. When she’d kneeled, his heart dropped.

  Then her words had done something to him he’d never expected. They’d made her human. The slide he’d been taking toward her accelerated and he’d felt the freefall, reveled in it, until he remembered she was the enemy. She was a killer.

  “I wonder if I looked like that?” Rand asked into the silence.

  Adam glanced at him. “Like what?”

  “Lost.”

  Adam didn’t bother denying he knew what Rand was talking about. “You actually wore, hell, you continue to wear, a perpetual scowl. I believe I would label it fear.”

  Rand grunted and took a long pull of his glass. “Fuck you.”

  “I’ll pass.”

  Rand grunted again and footsteps sounded at the entrance of the library. Adam didn’t need to turn to see who it was. She’d let them hear her and Rand’s face gave her away. Bullet.

  “You watched?” she asked softly.

  “And was properly amazed,” Adam responded ruefully.

  “She’s amazing, non? It has been so long since we challenged and she was always good, but now she’s even better.” Bullet sat on the arm of Rand’s leather chair, carefully stroking the wooden bow she’d been gifted with.

  Adam watched as Rand’s hand found purchase on her hip and squeezed. He closed his eyes and looked away. It seemed he was watching something so personal it defied description. And between Rand and Bullet, it probably was. It was a simple truth: Adam was jealous.

  He cursed and got to his feet, setting the glass on the table and moving to the window.

  “She was in a mood this morning, Mr. Collins,” Bullet said in a cold voice.

  She only called him Mr. Collins when she was pissed. Fuck, just what he needed. “I’m not sure how that’s my fault, Gretchen.”

  “Oh, I have no doubts you pushed her after what you witnessed last night. But she isn’t like me, Adam. I’ve tried to tell you.”

  He refused to look at her for fear the pity in her voice would be reflected on her lovely face. “Yes, you have.”

  “But you have pushed and it is obvious to me that Arrow has feelings toward you,” she murmured.

  Adam’s head swiveled to her.

  “Ahhh, that intrigues you? It shouldn’t. My sisters are vicious. I was always cold when I killed. I still am. But the truth is that a piece of my heart caves with every kill. They are right when they say I broke. Oh, not my body or mind, but my heart. They’ve long known I didn’t have the fortitude for death-dealing.” She took a deep breath and her fingers twined with Rand, turning white with her grip. “But my sisters do. Though I have seen something in Arrow I never imagined—hesitation. But only with you, Mr. Collins. For some reason, you call to her unlike any other except for Blade, Bone, and I.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, nor do I care,” he bit out between clenched teeth.

  “Your harsh breathing, tightened jaw, and glaring eyes tell a different story.” She cocked her head. “I have watched you watching her. I think you feel something for her that makes you angry. Whether you feel you’re betraying Aziveh or you hate yourself for wanting a killer, you have to come to grips. Because whether you like it or not, Arrow is vital to the objective of bringing down The Collective.”

  She released Rand’s hand and walked to the door, stopping on the threshold. “Do not hurt her, Mr. Collins. My heart may break a little more with every kill, but I can still pull the trigger with unbelievable ease. And for my sisters I would do it. For Arrow, I will do it.”

  She left and the silence was heavy in her absence.

  “There’s nothing I can say to make this easier,” Rand finally said. “We have our own paths to walk. Mine led me to Gretchen and I’ll tell you the truth, it still bothers me to some degree. I don’t know what’s in your mind, what you’re feeling. But Arrow is a killer, just like Gretchen.”

  “You’re warning me away from a woman who disgusts me.” His voice was harsh. He sighed. “But I’m drawn to her like I’ve never been to anyone else. I don’t understand it.”

  “Does it compromise you?”

  Adam glanced at Rand and saw nothing but a friend’s concern. There was no doubt there, which eased the band around his chest. “No. I’m confirmed to this mission. Joseph and The Collective need to be destroyed. But I don’t know that I can harm her.”

  “Perhaps there is no need to,” Rand murmured.

  “If she steps on our plans, goes against us, I will have no choice.”

  Rand finished off his whiskey. “There are always choices, Adam. That’s what life is all about.”

  Adam got up and paced restlessly for a time. Inside there was nothing but confusion. It was a morass that pulled at him. He wanted her so desperately it was becoming an obsession. He tasted her on the wind and saw her in his dreams. She was everywhere she should not be.

  “Things change, Adam. Time moves on and we have to accept our losses. I know you’re conflicted.”

  Adam snorted and turned as he came to the doorway. “I agree. Life is about choices,” Adam bit out. “Conflicted doesn’t begin to cover my state of mind. But rest assured, Rand, when it comes to my duty, things are always clear. Choices are inevitable and I have made mine.”

  Rand lifted a brow but Adam turned away before his friend could drop anymore pearls of wisdom. Once again he found himself needing release from the bindings a killer wrapped him in.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “You train with them daily?” Arrow asked in a near whisper.

  Bullet nodded but kept her gaze on the ten young females in the clearing below them. “I do. Would you like to join in today?”

  Arrow shook her head and strangely wanted to rub her chest. “I am too close to death, Bullet. My need to draw blood is ferocious. I sparred with Killian before I left Arequipa a year ago. I almost killed her.”

  Now Killian was somewhere in the world, doing Joseph’s bidding. Perhaps it would have been easier if Arrow had killed her.

  Bullet nodded again but her gaze never stopped roving over the babies. Each of the children’s stories was different but the same as First Team’s. Taken and changed, stripped of their given names, they were molded to become something no child should ever have to contemplate. Killers.

  “I wonder how Mother would feel?” Arrow mused aloud.

  Bullet’s
gaze sliced to Arrow. “About what?”

  Arrow inclined her head to the babies.

  “She doesn’t have to worry about them anymore. They are ours,” Bullet whispered.

  “They have always been ours,” Arrow replied. She sighed then. “I must leave soon, sister. Lei Wang is moving on our interests,” Arrow murmured.

  “Will you take Adam with you?”

  Arrow cocked her head. There was a veil over Bullet’s question and she sifted through the layers to determine just what her sister was asking.

  “The men of Trident are not my allies. I have no allies, Bullet. I have sisters and that is enough.” She shrugged finally. “I do not need help.”

  Bullet grunted. “None of us need help.”

  “Then why did you ask?”

  Bullet turned her head and speared Arrow with her gaze. “I have seen how you look at him when his eyes aren’t on you.”

  Arrow’s heart quickened and took a slide into her stomach before she pulled her emotions together. Thoughts of Adam Collins disturbed the calm waters of her mind. She worried about that constantly now.

  Bullet sighed. “Your lack of response is all the response I need. I’ll leave it alone for now, sister. When do you plan to hit Lei?”

  “Within the week I will leave. From there my journey may twist and turn. There is nothing to be done for it. I must enter China and this means utilizing Grant.” Arrow sighed now and accepted the frustration inherent in dealing with Grant.

  He was a pushy man who thought because he was ex-CIA he had all the answers and could never be defeated. He was the friend of an enemy of her enemy. He was a valuable tool in her arsenal but a human tool nonetheless. This made him unpredictable.

  “You realize Grant has an agenda?” Bullet inquired softly.

  “But of course. He is a man and as such prone to all sorts of grandiose ideas,” Arrow returned.