Stryker (Books 1 & 2) (Atrox Security)

by J. C. Cliff

  I’m about to ask a question, but Quinn beats me to the answer. “Valerie and James are with us. They’re already in our SUV waiting for you.”

  My forehead wrinkles. There’s something in his eyes he’s not conveying, I can sense it. I pause briefly, thinking about something that just struck me funny, and I’m not sure I like where my thoughts are headed.

  “How did James’s name roll so easily off your tongue, Quinn?” I ask curiously. It’s not like he’s ever seen him before, or that he should be familiar with speaking his name. James was nowhere to be found by the time Quinn got to me in the basement, yet he wanted both Valerie and James in our vehicle like they were already my family. “What the fuck is up?”

  Quinn mumbles something I can’t make out, and then he clenches his jaw as if he’s upset. I tilt my head to the side, pinning him down with a relentless stare. “Well?” I prompt. The man shifts on his feet which tells me he’s hiding something, because Quinn doesn’t ever fidget. Ever. Slowly, things start clicking into place, one-by-one, and when realization hits, I blow my top. “You fucking knew all along, didn’t you?” I demand to know with a sneer.

  “Stryker….” Quinn begins, his tone pitching high, and I know by that one word, he plans on dodging the question.

  I drop all the supplies I’m holding, and storm toward him. I give him a hard shove, ignoring the pain in my ribs. “You fucking knew!” I bellow. I shove him again, and he stumbles backward. “You knew all along that boy was mine.” My eyes flick over his, looking for the telltale sign of the truth. “That’s why you said nothing during our initial debrief. You fucking skirted around his name like it was the plague.”

  I’m seething, my body vibrating with rage. “Stryker, now isn’t the time,” he begins, holding his palms out in front of his body as if he could calm me down. I don’t give him a word in edgewise.

  “When is the time, Quinn? It’s never a good time to tell me you’ve been lying to me all along by telling me nothing. You figured out his age was a lie too, didn’t you!”

  “Dammit! I didn’t know they were alive, Stryker!” He yells. “Had you known, you would’ve compromised everyone on this mission, including yourself. I didn’t know about James until after I had accepted the case. Once I figured it all out I thought you’d walk away and we needed you.”

  “You’re goddamned right I would’ve walked,” I growl. “I wouldn’t have touched this case with a ten-foot pole.” I shake my head at one of my best friends in disgust. I don’t have anything else to say to him. He lied to me and as far as I’m concerned, the conversation is over. I want the fuck out of here. Pissed off beyond words, I turn around and start picking the dropped supplies off the floor.

  “I’m sorry,” he quietly offers, but I don’t want to hear it.

  “Let’s just get the hell out of here,” I tell him curtly. “I will deal with you and everyone else who’s on my shit-list later.”

  CHAPTER 49

  ~ Stryker ~

  I truly wanted nothing more than to kill Graham, and I was pissed at both Valerie and Quinn. I was seething with nonstop fury on the inside which was good in a way, it kept my mind off my injuries.

  Bright floodlights permeate through the darkness of the night, lighting up the entire mansion as if were on a Broadway stage. Everyone is moving swiftly except for the injured which includes me and Caleb. Our false safety could turn to shit in the blink of an eye, hence why all the weapons are only a quick draw away from bloodshed, because everyone is on edge.

  Caleb and I are watching Quinn’s orchestrated calm yet hurried getaway from the sidelines as we help stand guard, ensuring no funny business goes down. All the vehicles our men came in have been allowed past the compound gates per Graham’s instructions for his men to stand down. All of our SUV’s, trucks, and Humvee’s are lined up, one behind the other in a long row following the curve of the endless driveway.

  Seeing this show of power from my perspective brings it home. Quinn wasn’t fucking around with my life, and within twenty-four hours he somehow managed to bring a fucking army to Graham’s door. Not to mention, he and Travis had flown down in a private jet to get here within hours. I’m astounded at how quickly he pulled this rescue operation together. This is what our brotherhood is all about, having each other’s backs. Another reason why all of us make certain sacrifices to keep our group tighter than the door of a sealed submarine hatch.

  Even with Graham’s command for his men to stand down, Caleb had to intervene. He had been able to quell whatever rising rebellion that was beginning to brew against us, holding the men at bay until we could get away. He let his men know that Graham was shot in an accidental scuffle, and the fastest way for us to get him and his sister help was to get them to the private medical facility they use. However, I’m not sure how much longer our luck is going to hold out, because Graham’s men are gathered around in mass, monitoring us, almost stalking us like prey. They’re constantly eyeing us with nothing but distrust and scrutiny. They’re all on standby, and as they watch their boss get loaded into the back of a van via a makeshift stretcher, tensions run even higher.

  I lean to the side, talking low under my breath, “You do realize the restlessness in the air is because your men know they’re being kept in the dark about what really happened. They’re wanting to know why it is that our outfit is the one taking Graham and Celia for medical help, and not their own kind.”

  “I understand your concerns,” Caleb replies, “but I know these men, and I know what I can do and say, and how much I can get away with. I’m just glad the fucker is out like a light for now… for that matter, the bitch too.” The chords in his neck twitched with the mere mention of Celia. I’d be willing to wager he and Hunter will get along just fine, especially since they share the same sentiment. “If they weren’t under sedation, I’d already be dead by now.”

  My eyes shift from the two patients in the back of the van to Caleb’s. He’s vibrating with nervous energy. Even though he says he knows his men with unwavering confidence, I can feel the doubt coming off him in waves. I bet he’s wondering if his own men will retaliate despite the orders given. We’re all wondering the same thing.

  It’s taken Quinn a tad longer than he hoped to get all the vehicles situated and loaded up, but so far everything is moving forward without another skirmish.

  “Caleb!” his name is shouted, slicing through the tension in the air, and I stiffen in fear when I see that it’s James calling out for him, and he’s bolting from the safety of the SUV. He’s stepping right into a dangerous situation, making himself vulnerable. Why the fuck couldn’t Valerie contain his ass in the vehicle?! She should know better. If a spray of bullets were to break out… I grind my teeth at the thought.

  “Get back in the car, James,” Caleb and I blurt out at the same time. I look to him in confusion. I take in his sheepish expression, but it only lasts for a split second, before he’d donned his usual unsmiling, and hardened poker-faced exterior. James slams into Caleb with such force his body rocks back on his heels.

  “I knew you wouldn’t let my friend die. I knew you’d save him,” James cries out graciously. James has to tilt his head all the way back to look up into Caleb’s eyes, and when he does, they’re filled with joyful tears. “I just knew it,” he whispers up at him, his voice full of respect and awe for the man who saved my life. My son is looking at Caleb with a twinkle in his eye, like he’s his everything, his hero, and it confuses the shit out of me.

  Caleb looks down wearing a smile that’s reserved only for James, and it can only be interpreted one way; he loves my boy. It’s more than apparent, and James’ face is beaming back, returning the same expression which is full of love and reverence.

  I didn’t think such an emotion could be owned by the same man. Of course, many could say the same about Travis. Looks can be very deceiving. Caleb ruffles the hair on top of James’s head with a familiarity I instantly become jealous of. “Get back in the car for me, okay?” Caleb
requests in a soft yet stern voice.

  “All right,” James says with a smile. Before he does as he’s told, he turns to me and wraps his arms around my waist. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” His sincerity grips at my heart, his outward display of care and concern for others tells me Graham hasn’t ruined him.

  Before I can pull myself out of my stupor and react, James has already climbed back into the SUV. Caleb clears his throat, getting my attention. When I turn my head to the side, he flashes a grin at me as if the bewildered look on my face is amusing to him.

  “It wasn’t until the past year, being forced to help take care of James, when I got attached to the kid,” he explains.

  Caleb then bores a set of weighty eyes into mine with an intensity that puts me immediately back on edge with him. He takes a step closer, his good shoulder brushing up against mine as he leans into my space, talking under his breath so only I can hear.

  “Graham was a real bastard for letting her suffer like that for over a year, letting her think her entire family was dead.” His tone is laced with animosity for his boss. I tilt my head, my ears straining to hear his faint words. I nod in silence, agreeing with him, and wondering why he’s telling me this. “I need you to know from the very beginning, I never would’ve killed you. It’s one of the reasons why I didn’t rough you up as much as I could have. It was all for show.”

  I glance at him out of the corner of my eyes; I’m taken aback by his candidness. I chew on the inside of my cheek, digesting his remarks, trying to decide if he’s really being on the up-and-up with me, or if he’s simply blowing smoke up my ass in order to save his own.

  He wasn’t lying about going easy on me. Yes, I hurt like a bitch, but I knew it could’ve been so much worse. The amount of time spent throwing punches at me didn’t last as long as I’d anticipated. He also hit me in all the right places so I’d bleed, making things look much worse than they were.

  “I knew what James was up to when he wanted to help you escape. I was letting him help you, hoping I wouldn’t have to intervene and stop him, but Graham was keeping close tabs on you, himself.”

  “Why?” I whisper, my voice staying low to match his, careful to keep the conversation away from prying ears, “Why were you willing to let me go?”

  “Despite what I may look like to you, we share a common enemy, and when I watched the exchange between you and James on the camera feed, I put more than just a few pieces of a puzzle together.” He shrugs his shoulders, adding, “Valerie only confirmed my thoughts.”

  “Common enemy?” I ask, unclear where his loyalties and boundaries lie.

  “I’ve waited for over a decade for a take down like this,” he explains, “Let’s just say I’ve taken a vow of retribution, and unbeknownst to him there’s a river of bad-blood between us.” The way he’s looking at me, his eyes are full of hungry promise, and I believe him. I’m also betting he wished his bullet hit its mark.

  “What is the deal between you and James?” I ask with a tight throat, needing to know how established their relationship is, because the last thing I need is another ulterior motive from this man.

  “He’s been my full-time job since he got here a year ago. It wasn’t in my plans to grow fond of the kid. I hated everything associated with that man.” Caleb’s eyes dart around, still making sure we have our privacy. He spits on the ground in front of him as his gaze scans over his soldiers, Graham’s soldiers, scrutinizing their every move.

  “In all honesty, I have spent more time with James than his father has over the past year. I taught that boy everything he knows,” he says proudly, “from catching his first fish to teaching him how to throw a baseball. He shakes his head and looks down to the darkened ground, our body’s casting a long shadow against the lights behind us.

  “Poor kid, he doesn't even know yet that he's lost the only father he's ever known,” he adds bitterly then looks me in the eye. “I have some consolation that with time those memories will hopefully fade, and he will eventually be able to give you the father title you deserve.”

  I’m stunned stupid from Caleb’s confessions. It appears as if he has genuine feelings for my son, and he didn’t take his duties lightly when it came to raising him over the past twelve months.

  If Graham truly is his enemy, and I believe he is, I know he had to do bad things in order to survive inside this compound. For what ever reasons he had, however, I’m glad he didn’t have second thoughts about sparing me.

  “Did Valerie tell you why she wound up marrying Graham?” My shoulders stiffen, the humid air squeezing the air from my already tight chest, and my throat closes at the thought of that bastard having her hand in marriage.

  “No,” I tersely reply, narrowing my brows, silently demanding an answer.

  He takes a deep breath, knowing I’m expecting him to shed some light on the subject now that he’s brought it up. “Her parents quit supporting her and her college education. She was basically shunned for being pregnant out of wedlock, and so they cut her off. She had to find a job real quick, but had little experience or skill in anything since she had to quit college.”

  “Why didn’t she tell me this?”

  Caleb shrugs. “Embarrassed maybe? She has a lot of self-pride, you know.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Why are you being so forthcoming about everything?” I ask with renewed skepticism in my voice.

  “Because I care about that boy,” he says rigorously, “and I’ve had the distinct torture of watching a good woman suffer for a year solid…” He pauses mid-sentence, waiting for one of his guards to pass by and get out of earshot. His voice goes from a tenor to a whisper, “No one deserves to be put through that hell–not even my enemy’s wife.”

  I give him a curious look, and through the filtering light he can plainly see the thoughts crossing my mind. He lets out a sigh. “Even I have certain principals I adhere to, criminal or not. It took me awhile, and maybe it was James’s doing, making me care about him, it made me realize they were innocent too.” I’m imagining his vendetta against Graham is not only a personal one, it’s family related. “The few times I was sent to watch over her… it damn near crushed me. The way she’d cry over their tombstones, made me think about my own demons.”

  “I don’t know what to say to all this,” I tell him honestly, “it’s a lot to digest.”

  He winces for a brief moment, his jaw ticking as he suppresses the wave pain rolling through his shoulder. He cradles his arm with his good hand and tilts his head to the side. “She’s a good-hearted woman–and if you ever had any reservations–you need to push them aside and give her what she deserves.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Total forgiveness, especially over her keeping James a secret.” He shakes his head in anger, adding, “Graham had his hands all in that shit from the beginning. He’d want you to resent her, it’d make him happy as hell to know it too.” Caleb nods toward the van. “I’ve worked for that man for almost six years,” he says. Even in the darkness I can see the deep creases marring his brow. “Shit, I even helped the bastard stage his own death, but the one thing I couldn’t stand knowing was that he actually paid off her parents with a threat and a promise if they didn’t cut her off.”

  “What-the-fuck?” I whisper-hiss in disbelief.

  He rolls his lip between his teeth, and looks at me with fire in his eyes. “The very first second he’d ever caught sight of her, he became obsessed with her. A phobic fixation I couldn’t even comprehend.” His glare flashes toward Graham then back to mine, adding, “He won’t ever be done chasing her,” his voice full of promise.

  “He will if I have anything to do with it,” I sneer. Hot blood pumps through my veins, wishing right now that either I feigned ignorance in how to treat a collapsed lung, or that I didn’t have a moral code to abide by.

  “You’re going to need to watch your back,” he says with a tinge of warning in his voice, “and it’d be my pleasure to help take his as
s down.”

  Blown away from this conversation, I stand beside Caleb in silence. He stays quiet thinking I might need the time to absorb everything. He’d be right. My thoughts are so scrambled I can’t seem to focus on any one topic to reflect on.

  Travis’s deep voice sounds from behind, pulling me from my haze. “You’re one lucky bastard,” Travis says, his statement meant for Caleb, “and you're even luckier that Stryker is sticking up for you.”

  Caleb nods in acknowledgment. “We’re both lucky,” he replies in a low voice, “a real stroke of luck that your army showed when they did, otherwise we’d both be dead.” I shudder at the thought, and I have no doubt had we been able to get out, we wouldn’t have gotten very far.

  Hunter comes to a stop in front of me, and leans in to whisper, “We’re about ready to roll out.”

  I give him a curt nod and ask, “Does the other medic feel confident he can handle Graham’s situation?” Because I’d love the chance to pull the plug on his ass. Now I know why Quinn is having me ride with him, he probably knew I’d have second thoughts, and I am. I’m thrumming with pent up aggression, my hands itching to wrap them around his throat and squeeze the last breath out of the bastard’s dilapidated lungs.

  “Yeah. He’s got him stable for now.” He looks over to the back of the van where Celia and Graham are laying on either side of the medic, both passed out from heavy narcotics.

  The look in Hunter’s eyes is full of concern. He can feel my unspoken rage, and it’s most likely confusing him. He has no idea what was just revealed to me. I reach out and clasp his shoulder. “I’m good, man,” I tell him. He appears unsure. I’m not being fully honest with him and he knows it so I change the subject.

  My demeanor shifts for the calmer as I compress his shoulder in an altruistic manner, letting him know how much I hated all the shit I put him through, all because I let my sights get lost on Valerie when she appears from the doorway. “I’m sorry, Hunter,” I tell him regretfully. He knows with those three words alone, I’m apologizing for getting caught, and for the hell he had to be a witness to as those men dragged me off and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.