Stryker (Books 1 & 2) (Atrox Security)

by J. C. Cliff

  Caleb steps behind me, and I’m too fucking hurt to break free and take him down. It doesn’t help that Valerie’s all over me, either, hindering what little ability I have to fight freely. I let out a heavy grunt as Caleb loops his arms through mine in an arm-lock. Once he has me secured, Graham steps forward, and pissed off doesn’t even begin to cover the look on his wild-eyed face.

  “You didn’t waste any time, did you?” he sneers at her, as if she were a slut. “Was my casket even sealed shut before you shacked up with him again? Or had you been running around behind my back when I was alive?”

  “How dare you!” Valerie hisses in a low, ominous voice.

  “No, Valerie. How dare you!” he bites back. “I think perhaps I should be the one who has the honor of putting your lover in the ground once and for all. I believe I’d like you to watch, just so you can get a firsthand glimpse of what happens to those who betray me.” His voice is cold and hard as he shows Valerie the evil side of his soul.

  If I’ve ever felt like there was no hope of getting out of a situation alive, this would be the one. Things are happening so fast I don’t even have time to reflect back on my life. The one thing that does enter my mind is that I have no doubt I will see my dad and sister in Heaven if I do die today, and that alone gives me a sense of calm.

  “You. Played. Dead,” Valerie grinds out in a low, heated voice. “You made me believe my son was dead. You watched me suffer from afar and did nothing about it, other than build my son’s loyalty to be used against me. Then you kidnap me a year later, all for me to find out you’re some sort of cartel leader!” she shouts. “You betrayed me, my trust, my love!” She juts her chin out in rebellion, standing strong against her oppressor.

  Graham steps forward with a highly displeased look on his face. He’s turning some thought over in his mind, and then decides to react by backhanding Valerie with a fast and hard hit to her face. She lets out a loud shriek as her head whips to the side, the sound of the slap itself bouncing off the cement walls. I’m fucking furious. I struggle against Caleb’s hold, cracked ribs and all, wanting to break this fucker’s neck. The adrenaline is so thick in my blood I can’t even feel the pain.

  Caleb wasn’t expecting me to fight back, and I almost break free. Valerie holds her hand cupped over her cheek as silent tears stream down her face.

  “Welcome to my world, wife,” Graham growls inches from her face. “You’re not in America anymore, and even if you were, it still wouldn’t stop me from claiming what’s mine.”

  “No, of course it wouldn’t,” she says bitterly, “now that I know your criminal mind. You can claim shit all day long, but you’ll never be able to claim me.”

  His brow arches high in indignation. “I’m ending your fetish for this man once and for all.” His words are spoken with finality, and with the jerk of his chin, Caleb releases me with a push forward. I stumble as he steps out of the way and draws his weapon.

  “Over my dead body,” Valerie bravely hisses, as she runs to wrap her arms around me. I grasp her shoulders to try and peel her off me for her own safety, but she holds on tight, unwilling to let me go. “You kill him… you go through me first.”

  “You’re obviously not thinking clearly,” Graham says in a tone that belies his true emotions.

  “Oh, I’ve never thought more clearly in my life,” she says with a shaky but strong voice. “I loved you once, Graham, but I’ve loved Stryker for a lifetime.”

  Well, fuck me sideways. She has been innocent all along, hasn’t she? What a genius plan of Graham’s. However, it’s about to blow up in his face. I imagine Hunter has already picked up on most of these topics from the drone’s recorders. Graham might take my life today, but he won’t escape my comrades. You don’t piss off my men and live to tell about it. Their vengeance will be wicked, any FBI obligations will be damned.

  “Sir,” Caleb interrupts, as he taps his ear device, “seems we’re under attack.” I almost want to sink to the floor in relief, but it’s most likely too late for me. It’d only take one second to end me.

  Graham gives Caleb a knowing look, and with a quick jerk of his chin, he motions toward me. I’m right; my guys won’t get to me in time.

  A set of heavy boots pound against the cement floor outside the cell then come to a screeching halt. Graham gestures to the guard, and orders, “Get her out of here.”

  “Oh my God! No!” she cries. “You are not doing this!” The guard can hardly peel her off me, but for her own safety, I have to let her go. I help the guard remove her arms from around me. She’s hysterical, and fighting every inch of the way. When she’s finally free of me and being dragged away, her pained eyes land on mine. I stand tall, not showing my emotions.

  “Do it,” Graham commands.

  “No!” Valerie screams at the top of her lungs through her tears.

  Caleb looks from me to Valerie and back again, wavering. Graham snarls. “Did you just hesitate on an order?” he asks incredulously.

  Caleb snaps out of whatever zone he was in then lifts his gun, pointing it directly at my chest. Valerie screams out again, grabbing onto the bars with all her strength in a last ditch effort to try and save me.

  I wonder if I can move quickly enough to take Caleb down. I might get shot doing it, and Graham might kill me instead, but at least I’d go down fighting.

  The choice is made for me when a shot rings out, deafening me. I grasp at my chest and stumble backward, slamming into the concrete wall.

  I look at my hands, which are free of blood, then realize Graham is on the ground. He’s the one who has been shot, not me. Disoriented, it takes me a couple seconds to digest the fact Caleb had turned on his own boss. I can see Valerie’s lips moving, but I can’t hear what she’s screaming on about. It’s as if I’m watching everything in slow motion. The guard holding Valerie drops her like a hot potato, drawing his weapon with intent on taking the betrayer, Caleb. Problem with that is he wasn’t fast enough. Caleb had already accounted for the man’s reaction, and doesn’t hesitate to drop a bullet between his eyes.

  I keep my back against the wall. I’m numbed by fear and chaos which isn’t like me, but I don’t know what the fuck is going on, or who my enemy is. Valerie falls to her knees, scrambling to reach Graham’s side. She tries to asses his situation, but it’s more than apparent she’s in shock. She looks up at Caleb, gaping at him with wide tormented and confused eyes.

  “Why?” she chokes out in a pained gasp.

  I realize she’s in the business of saving lives, not taking them. She’s never seen a gunfight before, and as much as it was apparent that she hated Graham, she’d never wish death on him. She’s never seen someone killed in cold-blood before, let alone someone she once loved. Whether she hated him or not isn’t the issue. It’s the traumatic sight she’s left to deal with, and she’s in shock.

  “My God! You killed him!” She looks down at Graham and sobs over his body. “All I wanted was to get away from him. You didn’t have to kill him!”

  Caleb squats down at her side, and as he does, he checks the side of Graham’s neck for a pulse. “You never escape from men like that, Valerie. There’s only one way out, and it’s not through the front door.”

  “You didn’t have to kill him!” she shouts in sheer distress, on the verge of a mental collapse.

  By this time, I find myself on her level, pulling her away from Graham’s body so I can try to console her. I wrap my arms around her and she falls into me, bawling into my chest with gut-wrenching cries. Her long golden-brown hair veils her face, so I tuck it behind her ear to wipe the tears from her cheeks. I just hold her and let her cry it out.

  I watch Caleb remove his hand from Graham’s neck to hold his fingers against his ear-bud. He’s listening intently, trying to hear over Valerie’s sobbing.

  “Stand the fuck down,” Caleb orders gruffly into the side of his watch. “Then let them in. Let them know we’re in the basement and willing to consider.” There’s a brief pause
as he listens to what’s being said through his earpiece. His eyes narrow on the blank wall, his expression giving over to anger. “On my fucking orders. Graham is down,” he barks out.

  He disconnects whoever he was talking to then looks at me. “It’s your fucking lucky day,” he tells me. “You brought a damn army to our door.”

  “Why?” I ask Caleb with choked emotion. He knows what I’m asking with the one word. Why did he spare my life and shoot Graham instead?

  “Yes, Caleb… why?” Celia’s voice falls over the room like silk and honey, her sweet inflection laced with venom. Every head in the room turns toward her, and Valerie’s sobbing comes to a screeching halt. “Why would you take my brother’s life?”

  She appears calm and collected on the outside, but when she sees the red liquid that’s soaked through Graham’s dress shirt as he lays motionless, she snaps. It’s like slow fucking motion watching her arm swing out with a .38 then levels it off with the barrel pointed right at Caleb’s chest. Her eyes glisten with anger and, if I’m not mistaken, betrayal.

  “Hold on now,” Caleb tries to reason. “Don’t be rash, Celia.”

  “Don’t be rash?” she scoffs. “I fucking loved you, Caleb! Did you know that?!” she half-screams. “I loved you!”

  He shakes his head and holds his hand out to her. “Give me the gun, Celia,” he demands in a calm voice.

  Any bit of calm Celia had walked in here with has been replaced with a psychotic, wild-eyed glare. I know Caleb isn’t getting that gun from her.

  “Don’t,” Valerie pleads, “don’t do this. Enough people have died.” I don’t even think it registered to Celia that Valerie was in the cell until now.

  Her soulless and cold-hearted eyes shift briefly to her once best friend. “Not near enough, as far as I’m concerned.” She shakes her head with such resolve I think perhaps she’s going to try and shoot both Caleb and then Valerie at the same time. “You shouldn’t have tried to break my brother’s heart.” She squares off her shoulders, fully facing Caleb. “And you shouldn’t have killed him.”

  I’ve always trained like I fought, being fluid and adaptable, never getting into any one particular rigid routine, and I pray to God it’s going to pay off now. Everything turns into a blur, but one thing is clear: Celia intends to fire off some rounds. In mere milliseconds, I’ve grabbed Graham’s .9-millimeter that lays beside him, and have pushed Valerie off to the side with my other arm as I take aim. Two shots ring out simultaneously, and as Celia drops to the floor, I can see in my peripheral vision Caleb has too.

  I keep my sights and gun pointed on Celia as she rolls around on the floor, screaming out in agony. I’ve clipped her right shoulder at close range, and I imagine she ain’t getting up anytime soon. I scan the room for her gun and see that she let it fly out of her hand in the squabble, because it lays on the other side of the room.

  “Stay down,” I bark at Valerie, as I scramble to my feet while keeping Celia at gunpoint. I know it’s not necessary to do so, but I’m pissed off, and my adrenaline is running abnormally high. I really just want to finish the bitch off, but that’s not the way we do business. No, the FBI will want a crack at her. I decide that it’s probably best to let the bitch rot in jail and be miserable for the rest of her life.

  It sounds like an elephant stampede above me then boots are stomping down the stairs and pouring into the darkened hall at breakneck speed. I start to shake at the first sight of camouflage, because I know I’m outnumbered, but I won’t go down without a fight.

  The second I realize I’m staring into Hunter’s eyes, I lower the gun in my hand. My chest constricts, not from the physical damage done, but from the stark emotional relief of being rescued by the very band of men I call my family.

  “‘Bout time, motherfucker,” I growl at Hunter, needing to push away the emotional high. Hunter gets it; they all do.

  “Aww, I missed you too,” he coos, as he steps into the room. “Even though you’re an ugly fucker, who wouldn’t miss that face?”

  I smile then half-chuckle, because I know my face is cut up and bruised, but he’s a true sight of relief. The asshole gives me a man hug and I groan on contact, still in a serious amount of pain.

  “That man,” I say, nodding to the side toward Caleb. “Get him help. He saved my life,” I pause, and then warn Hunter, “but watch him, because he almost took my life before that. Don’t know his motives.”

  “On it,” he says, and then goes to Caleb’s side. Caleb stares in disbelief at Hunter, probably wondering why we’re helping him and not finishing him off instead. Caleb did have every intention of killing me off in the beginning. My banged up body is a testament to that, and I have no fucking idea what made him switch sides, but I plan on finding out.

  Hunter assesses the damage done, and calls out over his shoulder, “Bullet went through his upper arm. He’s gonna be all right.” Men start filtering into the room, and I’m shocked when I catch sight of Travis and Quinn.

  Travis sees the look of surprise on my face, and explains, “Quinn needed to make sure you got out safe, because you still owe him from the last poker game.” He gives me a wink.

  “Shut the fuck up,” I tell him.

  Valerie slips into my arms, still a shaky, hot mess, while the men do their thing. “We’re going to have a shit-ton to talk about,” I tell her abrasively. I want to know why the fuck she kept my son from me all those years.

  So many mixed emotions are running through me at once. I acknowledge the fact she wanted to step into the line of fire for me, and I understand she had no clue about her family being alive all this time. I have to remember and keep telling myself that despite keeping James a secret, she’s a victim too.

  “Stryker,” her voice catches, “I promise. I never meant to hurt you. I—”

  I shush her with a hard kiss to her lips. “Now ain’t the time, darlin’,” I whisper. “First and foremost, I need to make sure James is okay, and then I want us the fuck out of this country.” She gives me a nod, agreeing. “Travis?” I call out, turning my gaze on him.

  “Yeah, man?”

  “Gonna need some help getting my fat ass up those stairs.”

  The man never smiles while on the job, a real stonewall, but he cracks a wide grin. “Just glad I’m not hauling your ass out in a body bag.”

  “You and me both,” I reply sincerely. I’m sure it’s going to sink in just how close I came to meeting my maker, once the adrenaline wears off.

  CHAPTER 48

  ~ Stryker ~

  We’re spread out in the wide expanse of what I’m sure is considered a living room, but it’s like no living room I’ve ever seen before, other than one featured in one of those fancy home decor magazines. I shake my head at the blatant opulence in the middle of nowhere. Caleb and Celia are lying down opposite of each other, spread out on sofas, while our team stabilizes them.

  There was no hope for the other guard in the basement, he met his maker the second he was shot. As far as Graham goes, the lucky fucker’s heart is still beating.

  I watch as Valerie drops down beside him the second my team brings Graham upstairs on a makeshift stretcher. My nostrils flare in severe annoyance. I tell myself it’s because Valerie can’t stand to see death, even for the vilest of criminals. If I read too much into it, I might just do something stupid, like put one last fatal bullet into the fucker. I get why he wanted to end me. He’s obsessively jealous of Val, and won’t hesitate to go the distance in order to keep her for himself. I’m not sure I’m that far behind him.

  “Ma’am, you need to get out of the way,” one of the soldier’s commands in a no-bullshit tone as he rips open Graham’s dress shirt to evaluate his bullet wound. Valerie looks at him as if he has no right to order her around, and I can tell she’s going to hold her ground. I decide to walk over to her and intervene. When I bend down to carefully grab her by the elbow, I suck in a sharp breath. My ribs are fucking killing me.

  “Come on, Valerie,” I gently pr
ompt her with a slight tug to her arm. “Let the men do their job.” I’m glad I get through to her the first time, because she’s in a panic. Especially seeing so much blood everywhere. I’d imagine the reason she couldn’t make heads or tails of Graham’s stats in the basement is because she was a crazy ball of nerves. She wasn’t able to see he was temporarily unconscious, and that’s exactly why family and friends shouldn’t treat each other.

  She looks up at me with big, heavy tears brimming her eyes, and nods in acknowledgement. I clench my jaw, biting back the bitterness that’s consuming me over her emotional concern for her husband. Now isn’t the time for me to let loose my pent-up fury.

  We walk a few feet away and I pull her into my arms, being cautious of my wounds. Her soft touch as she slips her arms around my waist sends something very possessive through me.

  Saying nothing, I dip my head down, and brush the long brown hair off her face. She gazes up at me, and I can see the blatant love she holds for me there behind those beautiful shimmering orbs of hers, and I melt. I fucking melt.

  “I never stopped loving you, Stryker. You have to believe that.” Her voice is shaky as she tries to push through her tears to speak.

  “Hey now, darlin’,” I softly whisper. “We’re gonna be okay. Need you to believe that.” She bites her lower lip, unsure of my words. “I fucking love you, okay? I might be pissed off, but it don’t mean I stop loving you. Get that through your head right now.” She gives a little nod then starts crying all over again. “What the hell, babe?”

  “I’m sorry. I’m just a wreck right now.” She drops her forehead onto the upper part of my chest and clings to me like I’m her only anchor. “James can’t see this,” she softly cries over and over again. I understand she doesn’t want the boy to be scarred for life, and neither do I. He’s an innocent in this twisted mess of deception.