by Sara Schoen
At first, Demon had been skeptical, but when I explained that Danielle had moved to be closer to me, and got a new job in the area, she had made new friends—including Alex Ricker. The entire family continued searching for her, and Sara missed them as well.
Luckily, Demon and Sharp Shooter had a soft spot for Sara, and allowed the same reward to be passed on to her, but it remained our secret. I would be the one to give her this gift, and I couldn’t wait to see her face when we arrived. Demon had given me the all clear earlier today, but it almost wasn’t worth the trouble.
“Just get in the car, please!” I begged. Sara was refusing to get into the car Sharp Shooter allowed me to borrow for the short trip. We were about an hour away from Sara’s hometown, so Demon told me to give her a sleeping pill. He said it was the only way to get her to cooperate.
“I’m not getting in until you promise not to drug me!” I never should have told her we were going to the graveyard to honor her family for the anniversary of the crash. She had refused the sleeping pill because of it.
“Fine,” I relented. “Just get in the car, and tell me if it becomes too much.”
After that, she got in without a fight. Though I wish the car ride had gone a little easier.
The entire time, she gripped the seat in fear, and a few times we had to stop to let her collect herself again. I took it slow, angering everyone behind me, and the trip actually took almost two hours because of it. She had eased slightly by the time we got there, and I hoped that meant we would have an easier time driving back to the agency. Though I doubted it.
She got out of the car, taking a moment to enjoy the steady ground beneath her feet, and then immediately made her way to the family gravesite. I stayed behind, and gave her a few moments to herself as I looked at the blue sedan in the distance. I smiled as I waved, signaling them to come over and see us. It didn’t take long for Danielle’s blonde hair to show up on the far side of the car, and slowly the family of four stepped out, making their way toward us. Sara was concealed from view by the large tombstone, so they weren’t able to see her right away. One of the guys in the group looked at Danielle curiously, probably wondering why she had asked them to come here. All she did was point to Sara, who had yet to notice them, and when the Rickers caught sight of her they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Sara,” the youngest boy in the family cried as he raced toward her.
She broke out of her trance, turned to see them, and held her hands up to her mouth as tears filled her eyes. “Yeah, Seth, it’s me.” Her voice cracked with emotion as she stared at her family.
Seth hugged her tightly. The whole family stared in disbelief, each making their approach before embracing her. There were tears in their eyes, especially in her mother’s, as they fawned over Sara and asked her all kinds of questions. While she couldn’t tell them everything, Demon had said she could tell them the basics, and that she would be allowed to see them. I would be able to tell them that after they finished holding her, and could explain more of what I had told Danielle already.
Danielle wrapped her arms around me as she watched the Rickers. “It’s nice to see a happy ending for them.”
I felt tears well up in my own eyes at the sight, and I had to agree with her. The oldest brother was ecstatic to see her. The parents had missed her greatly, and the youngest one seemed intent on never letting go of her hand ever again.
“It is really nice,” I agreed.
Danielle stood silently for a moment. “So, have you guys gotten together yet?”
“Sorry, that’s classified,” I replied with a smile, knowing it would frustrate her.
“You know she’ll tell Alex and I can just ask him, right?”
We watched as the family continued to embrace and cry with Sara. Alex joked with her, and the family gathered to tell her stories while taking in the changes that had happened in a little over a year. They could see the wounds and scars from her fight with the Cardoza Cartel, but the pain on her face as they told her what she had missed was the most predominant. They also took the time to tell her they weren’t angry, they just wanted to know what had happened to her. Listening to them say how they’d never given up on her, and how proud they were of her, made her weep.
I wrapped my arm around Danielle’s shoulder. “You could just let him focus on having his sister back for the time being. They deserve it,” I said. “You did good, Danielle. This was amazing to get them together. You really helped her.”
“It’s the least I could do after what she did for me. I just hope she’s not upset that I’m seeing her brother.”
I smiled. “We can keep that a secret for a little bit longer. Maybe after the next mission we can drop that bomb on her.”
“Where are you guys going next?”
“I don’t know,” I said thoughtfully. “But I’m sure it will be worth the trouble. I’m kind of hoping Russia, but then again they really do hate when you kill one of their own men. So I could never go back.” I laughed, and smiled brightly down at her, knowing she wouldn’t understand.
Danielle laughed, thinking it was a joke. The less she knew about my job, the better.
I lightly pushed her forward so that we could join the Rickers in their celebration. She immediately went to Alex’s side, and he introduced her to Sara. I guess she never told him she had met Sara before. It would have been too complicated to explain, and then she would have had to discuss the cartel, as well. They weren’t allowed to know about that.
Sara gestured for me to come to her, and she introduced me to her family, who thanked me for keeping her safe and bringing her home. I didn’t have the heart to tell them she would have to leave again. It could wait until the moment had passed and we could talk more about the arrangement Sharp Shooter had set up for her.
I walked away, letting the family talk and hug, as I headed toward the family tombstone. I touched the cold stone and silently thanked her family for giving her something to fight for, allowing her to bring this happy ending to the Ricker family. She lived and fought for them. They were the reason she came to CIRA when they needed her, so that she could protect them from the people she fought every day. I also couldn’t help but thank them for raising her, instilling her with strong values, including the loyalty to other agents and dedication she had for her friends—even to myself when I needed someone the most.
“I will watch over her. I will protect her,” I promised them quietly. I turned to look back at her with her family, and couldn’t help but let the truth slip. “I love her.”
She didn’t hear it, and neither did Danielle. At least I wouldn’t have to hear about this yet.
***Sneak Peek***
Left For Dead
Guarded Secrets, Book Three
Sara Schoen
Prologue
Katya
Gorod, Russia: my home, our heritage, all under my father’s rule. We lived in a small town in the proud country of mother Russia, but my father’s reach went far and wide. He had been given the land by his father, which had been passed down for generations. The family ruled with an iron fist and covered the land with the stench of the many deaths from starvation, the cold, and of course the blood of those he murdered. In short, it meant those who opposed him were dealt with and those who appeased him lived. The same idea was upheld for my mother and me, both a nuisance to my father as he rose to power, but he kept a front for his followers. A family man seemed more desirable according to him, and a wife with daughters was all the better. I rarely left our home, but when I did, my father’s bodyguards—Nikolai and Alexander—took me where I needed to go.
Today, my father requested I go visit with him at his warehouse near the Lena River. It wasn’t out of the ordinary that I would be called to my father’s office, but I knew today would be different. A heaviness hung the air around me, crushing me under its weight. I tried to play it off, twirling my long brown hair around my finger. Though it didn’t make me feel better. A sensation of dread sunk
over me as I got into the car. I paused momentarily as I realized why my father had asked to see me today, but I banished the thought. I knew my father couldn’t have figured out my mother had escaped. She had only been gone a few hours, so I couldn’t imagine he had already figured it out.
I should have known better than to underestimate him.
My mother had been ushered into the car moments later, having been caught. Tears streamed down her cheeks, blood trickled from the corner of her mouth from where someone had hit her, and she had a black bruise forming on her face. Someone had dragged her back here. My father knew what I had helped her attempt. My heart pounded in fear. The punishment for treason was death.
She seemed ashamed she had dragged her eldest daughter down with her, but I couldn’t be angry with her, especially now that I could see the bruises on her face. My chest tightened as I watched her cry silently. I reached out and took her hand, squeezing it. I wished I could offer her comfort in some other way, but we knew what was about to happen to her. To us. We were heading to our deaths. Attempting escape from my father’s rule, assisting in the attempt—treason. Treason had one suitable punishment according to my father: death. I should have known I had been walking toward my final resting place because he’d sent his personal guards. They never left his side unless they were ordered to for something more important. They were always tasked with capturing traitors.
“Mama,” I said, regaining her attention. She cast me a sorrowful glance, silently begging for my forgiveness. Of course I forgave her. She had raised me, cared for me. Even attempted to escape for us.
She quickly explained how my father’s men had found her about an hour from town. They didn’t believe her lie, so they dragged her back here. “I’m sorry, Katya,” she muttered in broken English. She might’ve hoped the men in the front of the car wouldn’t understand. She explained, turning back to our mother tongue. “You’ll be charged for treason with me. They already know you helped me. Your father must have heard our plans, or someone must have told him.”
“Mother, it’s going to be okay,” I said hopefully, even though I knew it was a lie. We would both suffer the consequences of our actions, no matter what we said to try to save ourselves.
Tears slipped over my eyelashes as I took in the severity of our situation. My mother squeezed my hand as the car navigated the freshly fallen snow. It would be the last snowfall I’d see, the last shred of daylight I’d be graced with, the last moment with my mother. The car came to a stop, and we were quickly ordered out of the vehicle.
I tried to remain calm as we were forcibly removed, and they ripped me away from my mother and presented me to my father. A brief exchange between the guards and my father occurred the second we were extracted from the car. They explained that I didn’t know why I had been called, but my mother had filled me in. They asked what our punishment would be, and as my father looked us over I prayed for whatever amount of humanity that remained in him to take pity on us and let us live. Once he uttered our sentence, I felt the hope drain from my body: drowning.
I knew the process would be long and painful. Growing up, I had seen him murder countless others the same way. They fought against it, failing as the air slowly left their lungs. There were at his mercy, just how he liked it, but none of them would know mercy. They would only know death as my father drowned them, then left them there to freeze in the frigid Russian air. Now, I got to experience the slow death I had watched countless times.
A rough hand grabbed me from behind, and I let out a scream as the man picked me up and forced me toward the river. “Mama!” I cried, even though I knew she wouldn’t be able to help me.
“Katya!” my mother shouted as she was plucked from the ground and brought toward the river.
We continued to scream for each other as the men put distance between us. I knew they wouldn’t have us close together for fear we would lash out, but I wanted her by my side in our final moments. When I didn’t stop calling for her, Nikolai beat me. He punched my stomach, causing me to double over in pain as the breath left my lungs. While I couldn’t move away, he hit me in the face with the butt of his gun. I crashed into the snow as he landed a few more hits anywhere he could reach until I gave up.
Once he stopped beating me, he lifted me off the ground easily. I cried out in pain, and dark blood spilled from my mouth. It covered the purity of the fresh snow with the blood that ran deep in the veins of our homeland.
“Let’s clean that off for you,” Nikolai said with a smirk as he dunked me into the ice cold water of the river. I panicked as the cold water caused me to tense and fight against his hold as he held me below the water’s surface. I lost air quickly as I tried to fight him. The water rushed past me, the cold water racing over my head before he pulled me up momentarily. I had enough time to get one breath in, but Nikolai shoved my head back into the river and slammed my skull against a rock.
My vision blurred from the blow. I could see the blood rushing from the wound, and soon I lost control of my breath. The last bit of air left my lungs as they screamed and ached for oxygen. A pain spread across my chest as my lungs filled with water. My vision turned black, and suddenly I felt nothing as Nikolai took one last push to shove me under the water for good measure. I prayed I would have a better life after this one.
Chapter 1
Night Stripe
I sat in the back of some Russian nightclub I couldn’t pronounce the name of, looking for my target. Luckily for me, Rum had taught me enough Russian to get by and they understood enough English. I guess it paid to have them working with Americans in this case. Otherwise, I’d still be in lockdown at the CIRA building. A year under their idea of house arrest, and Sharp Shooter still thought I hadn’t been punished enough. It’d been a year since I had been recruited, since I’d gone rogue and killed Ash Crest. It was time he got over it, but clearly it wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
Before every mission he’d look at me and say, “Night Stripe, you mess around again and you’ll never leave this building.”
If he hadn’t forgiven me by now, I wasn’t sure what I would have to do to gain his forgiveness. Probably die in a mission, and earn it postmortem.
I glanced around, noticing the differences between this club and what I knew of nightclubs in the States. I pictured all of them with a mosh pit, similar to raves back home. While the music still flowed through me, and the minimal liquor I drank loosened me up a little to the task at hand, I couldn’t help but compare. This one, while it had some dancing, mostly by women for the men at the bar, seemed less crowded and involved more heavy drinking than I anticipated, by all ages. It shouldn’t have shocked me that Russia had little to no drinking age. Not being able to purchase alcohol under the age of eighteen, but even that didn’t keep young teens from the club.
There were a few men who had already bought me drinks, which I graciously accepted. It would have been rude to turn them down. I had even been asked for dances, and more personal alone time. I did my best not to cringe and break their hands when they touched me. One man had the audacity to attempt to lift my skirt, and I almost stabbed him. Being drunk didn’t account for their actions. If they couldn’t handle drinking, then they shouldn’t do it at all. Though I’d never say that to a Russian, because it would be worse than insulting their mother. So instead I pulled a knife and plunged it into the table as a warning. That was a language he understood.
“Maybe it’s the outfit,” Demon offered as a suggestion from the bar stool beside me.
I let out a breath of a laugh, but didn’t respond. We weren’t supposed to communicate, but he was right. It had to be the outfit.
I wore a tight black skirt that hugged my legs, which had become shapely and toned from the training I had completed over the past year. Demon had even complimented me on them when I stepped out in my heels. He said I’d gather all the attention in the room, especially when the fur coat covered everything except my legs. I shivered in the cold. While there w
as no snow on the ground, which wasn’t how I pictured Russia, the temperatures dropped drastically throughout the day. I don’t think it hit above thirty-four degrees, and it decreased as the night went on. No wonder people in Russia drank all the time. It had to be the only way to keep warm.
I pushed aside the thought as I noticed my mark step up to the bar, just as planned. The fur coat I had worn into the club brushed against my hand and I gestured to my things. “Would you like me to move them?” I asked, flashing a soft smile. I repeated the question in broken Russian when he didn’t seem to understand. I’m sure I caused a few to cringe at how badly I ruined their mother tongue.
He offered a smile, and thanked me for the gesture as I moved my things and made sure to show the scandalous outfit that had garnered a lot of attention tonight. It was time to see if it would work on the man I needed it to work on.
I leaned forward, letting the low cut top show off more skin than usual. Normally, I would have pulled away, unwilling to show off this much skin, but for some reason once the mission aspect came into play I became more confident than normal. I tried to ignore his intense stare, and instead followed Demon’s and Renegade’s advice on getting a man’s attention. Growing up, I needed the help. Boys never looked twice at me when I was younger, but now, I had to say I looked deceptively innocent and gorgeous to the men I targeted. Now I needed this guy to play along. I hated when men played hard to get, in a mission and in life.