Clean Hack (The Tainted Saints Book 1)

by Eve R. Hart

  I wasn’t going down like this.

  I’d worked too long—too hard, for it to end this way.

  I was going to save Allison.

  An odd sort of calm washed over me and I raised my gaze to the big one.

  “Let’s play, kitten,” he said as if the death stare I held on my face was nothing more than a joke to him.

  It wasn’t to me.

  Instead of rushing at him with all my determination to make it out of this room, I waited. It was his move. I figured that was the smartest thing to do right then.

  He raised his gun that I’d just noticed he had. It shouldn’t have taken me off guard but I guessed since I hadn’t seen it then I hadn’t thought about him having one. However, he didn’t aim it at me. He fired, his eyes still locked on mine as he started in my direction. The gun had been aimed too low and to the side to be anywhere near hitting me. I flinched but didn’t cower. There was a grunt from the guy I’d pretty much gutted. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the moment his body went limp from the bullet that bore into his skull right between his eyes.

  I had one shot at this but I didn’t have the first clue how I should make my move. Or even what kind of move to make. He stalked closer, the sinister gleam in his eyes shooting a paralyzing shiver of fear down my spine.

  My knees bent. My arm raised. The knife ready to stab in the blink of an eye. I pounced the moment he was close enough but he anticipated my move and with one swing of his arm, he flung me to the side. I was on the floor again. The knife knocked from my grasp and sliding somewhere into the dark depths under the bed.

  “There’s nowhere to go, little girl,” he said deep and threateningly.

  Why I reached for my pants, I had no idea. It certainly wasn’t to put them on even though I desperately wanted nothing more than to cover as much of myself as I could. But there wasn’t time for that. If I got the opening to, you’d better bet that I’d run my barely covered ass right out of this room. Instead, I dug into my back pocket and snatched my phone.

  Stupid move.

  Yep.

  Couldn’t argue with that if I wanted to. But I was at a loss at this point and rapidly running out of steam as well as strength. If anything, I could call someone and maybe they could tell that something was going on by all the commotion.

  Again, I mentally shook my finger at myself for not alerting anyone to what I was up to. See, shit like this happened and I shouldn’t have been shocked at all that it happened to me.

  But he was on me before I had a chance to even unlock the damn thing.

  His body crushed my back, the carpet unforgiving against my front and I felt my lungs grasp for air. I tried to wriggle free but I felt more like a cockroach twitching as it was dying. My vision went more black than not. I couldn’t hear over the sound of my heartbeat drumming in my ears. My hand blindly reached out in search of something I could use as a weapon. Then my fingers made contact with the thick cord of the charge cable for my laptop. I pulled, hoping that it landed close enough for me to grab it. It bounced off of my shoulder and clanked to he ground, coming to rest next to my head. The asshole was either too busy trying to hold me down to notice or he thought this game was fun. I didn’t want to know. I hoped it was the former because then I’d have the element of surprise on my side. I needed all the advantages I could get right now.

  I wrapped my numb fingers around the edge of the laptop and flung my arm back as much as possible. I didn’t have a lot of range in this position and it was awkward to say the least.

  Stunned, he wobbled and leaned his weight to one side. I used that to my advantage and bumped my back up, throwing him off balance even further. Then I flipped over and wasted no time beating his head in with my laptop.

  A shot went off but he was shooting blindly and it missed me by a mile. Another shot, the sound echoing off the walls. Another slam to the face with the laptop. Blood started to splatter and run down his face. His eyes, cold and sinister, looked more dazed now. With a shake of his head, he tried to regain himself. I swung again, not giving him the chance to. His head whipped to the side with that one. Then I got to my knees as I raised my arms over my head. My breath hitched and caught in my throat as I brought my arms down with more force than I thought I had left in me. I made contact with the top of his head, the laptop cracking nearly in half. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his body slumped against the wall.

  Was he dead?

  What was I supposed to do now?

  Did I dare check for a pulse?

  I sure as hell didn’t want to get any closer to him but I also wasn’t a complete idiot. I didn’t think I even blinked as I scooted closer, one knee shuffling along the rough carpet slowly, then the other. I barely registered the burn above the fear that had a tight grip on me.

  His fingers twitched at his sides. I nearly jumped and screamed but somehow managed to not freak out. Then I saw his chest rise and fall slowly. He wasn’t dead, just knocked out. That wasn’t good enough. And as his shoulders started to move, I knew I had to act quickly. But how the hell was I supposed to kill someone? I mean, I got that I had already killed two people. Well, mostly. I was pretty sure the one I stabbed would have bled out soon enough even if this guy hadn’t of shot him. However, I wasn’t thinking when I killed them. I was fighting for my life and reacting strictly on instinct. Now, this guy, I’d had time to think of something. Time to plan. Which, somehow felt so wrong and strange. I could get up. I could run. But I had a feeling I wouldn’t get far.

  However, the overactive, I’m-still-on-a-mission part of my brain started tossing out ideas. If I tied this guy up, then I could get information out of him. I could get him to tell me how to get into the compound. He could tell me where Allison was and the best way to get to her. So, I reached for the laptop cable with all intents and purposes of using it to tie him up. Or at least part of him.

  His maniacal laugh rang out before I could even snatch the cord up. So I abandoned my stupid plan and changed tactics because there was no other way. I shouldn’t have even felt bad about it. I had no choice, or so I led myself to believe.

  With shaky fingers, I gripped the top of his head, his hair feeling thick and slick against my skin. I screwed my eyes closed tight and prayed that my aim was as good as I saw it in my mind. There was a wet crunch as the side of his head collided with the sharp corner of the bedside table. I didn’t hesitate to do it again. His body lost its struggle and suddenly it felt like I was holding all of his weight by his head even though he was still sitting.

  A strange squeak-squeal hybrid escaped me as I released his hair and fell on my ass, my back hitting the side of the mattress as his body flopped to the floor with a thud. I scrambled across the room and tucked myself into the far corner, reaching for the baseball bat along the way. I knew there was a freak out coming and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I just wanted to be as far away from the bodies as possible. I knew I should get up and get the hell away from this room. But I also knew myself well enough that I wouldn’t be able to just yet.

  Three dead bodies.

  I didn’t have the first clue what to do now. Not with the bodies. Not with the blood that was splattered all around the room. And not even with myself.

  After I was able to collect myself enough to close the door and find my phone, I called the one person that would know what to do with a situation like this. I was about to talk to him unfiltered and unhidden. There would no longer be that veiled disguise I could hide behind. I knew I’d be face-to-face with him soon enough. There would be no going back after this but I didn’t have any other choice. I was about to meet the man that had been such a mystery to me for so many years. That only added to my anxiety and panic.

  He was about to see me.

  I was a wreck of a mess on a good day.

  And with all that was around me, you could have just said that I was completely broken now.

  -13-

  The Siren's Call

  Clean
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  I stood at the bathroom sink, staring at myself in the mirror. Nearly forty didn’t look so bad on me but it was time for a change. I glanced back down at the counter that was now covered with long clumps of shiny black hair. The clippers were still clenched tightly in my left hand. It felt strange, but as I lifted my gaze back to my reflection and ran my free hand over my now nearly smooth scalp, it almost felt freeing.

  The buzz started up again, echoing off the walls of the small space. I ran it over my head again, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything. It was as short as I could make it without pulling the razor out. Which I had planned on but decided at the last minute to leave it for now.

  As I stepped into the shower, my mind drifted off. To that one thing in my life that always seemed to get me. My psychic chick. I thought we had something going on, that I was getting somewhere, but then it seemed like she just fell off the face of the earth. I continued to get calls, just none from her. Which made me think that something was going on. I wouldn’t lie, I was worried about her. I hated that I didn’t have any way to get a hold of her. Which led me down a path that made me feel a little shaky inside.

  Something could have been very wrong.

  If anything happened to her, not only would I not be able to be there for her, but I’d probably never know.

  She had turned into a ghost. The words she’d spoken, the things she’d shared with me, continued to linger in my head, bouncing around and somehow trying to weave themselves into some sort of image. I wanted to figure her out but unfortunately, I knew pretty much nothing about her.

  I had just gotten out of the shower and was thinking about what I was going to eat, when I heard my phone ringing in the bedroom. Gripping the towel tightly so I didn’t lose it on the way, I dashed out of the bathroom with the hope of catching it before it quit ringing.

  “Hello,” I answered automatically just managing to catch it before the third ring somehow.

  Then the shock of a lifetime came floating into my ear, only I couldn’t enjoy it like I would have wanted to. Because, there on the other end of that phone, was the voice I’d been wishing to hear for years now. It was real and unfiltered. Which should have made me smile. But the fact that all she gave me was an address and that I could hear the shakiness in the tone, really took away any kind of joy I would have had. There was something horribly wrong.

  The line went dead and I recited the address over and over in my mind until I was sure I had it memorized. With lightning speed, I got dressed and dashed out the door.

  I knew the city well enough being that I had done business there quite a few times. The Dogs of Wrath might have been no more, but that didn’t mean that I hadn’t done a number of jobs for them in the past. So, it looked like I was heading back to Wilmington, North Carolina for the first time in a few years.

  I made it to the rundown, seedy as hell motel in record time.

  I cut the lights to my truck before I pulled into the parking lot. The placed looked empty. It looked like a damn ghost town. There was nothing around it and all but one of the rooms were dark. I pulled up in front of the room, noticing that the door was wide open right away. Not knowing what I was walking into, I prepared myself and got out of my truck as quietly as possible.

  There was a high-pitched scream that had me moving really fucking fast. My feet pounded the pavement until I was dashing over the threshold. I didn’t have time to take in the state of the room because right there stalking to the opposite side of the room was a guy with his back to me. There wasn’t a single friendly, doing-something-good vibe coming off of him and I moved without hesitation.

  With one swift move, I whipped out my knife, grabbed the top of his head with one hand while I sliced his neck open with the other. The gurgling noise of him choking on his own blood filled the room but I didn’t release him until I knew he was dead. Then I let his body fall to the floor with a hard thump.

  My eyes quickly scanned the room to make sure it was all clear. That was when I saw the mess.

  Three bodies.

  And it looked like I’d just added the forth.

  Shit. I just dropped a body.

  Granted, I’d fucking do it again. But that didn’t mean that I was over the damn moon thrilled about it. I’d gone this far without killing and I really hoped this wasn’t the start of a new thing.

  All it had taken was her panicked voice in my ear and I took off like the devil was chasing me without even a second thought. It didn’t matter that I’d never laid eyes on her before. It didn’t matter that I’d never heard her true voice until earlier tonight. I’d saved her and I, for damn sure, knew I’d do it again, no matter the outcome.

  That was when my eyes locked on the wide-eyed, terrified figure in the corner. The girl had brown hair so dark it almost looked black in the shitty lighting of the room.

  “Your hair,” she said in a shocked whisper as she looked up at me with the most beautiful, big brown eyes I’d ever seen in my life.

  That was yet another confirmation that she had seen me at least once before. But for some reason, I almost liked knowing that she watched me a little. I should have felt a little creeped out and maybe even mad, but I didn’t. Instead, I felt an odd warmth in the center of my chest that wanted to burst and spread outward. There was something almost clever hanging on the tip of my tongue and I really wanted to say it, but there were bodies. Which meant there was work to be done. And not to even mention, the woman with the face of a dark siren still crouched in the corner of the room. Her body covered in blood. And rage started to push its way through my veins as I finally noticed that her shirt was ripped and her pants seemed to be missing. I didn’t think that she’d done that on her own.

  Fuck!

  I’d never felt anger like this before.

  And I couldn’t explain it.

  Which started to mess with my head and I couldn’t have that right now.

  Now that I’d taken a moment to really look at the shape of the room, I was surprised that the cops hadn’t been called. But it was clear from the lack of flashing lights outside and the fact that it still looked very much like a crime scene that there was something bigger at play here. It had taken me just under an two hours to get here, which was a miracle considering I was over four out when she called me. I sped like a motherfucker. There was something about the panic in her voice that had me tied up in knots on the inside and hating the fact that I was so far away. So I did my damnedest to get here in the blink of an eye. I was damn lucky I didn’t get pulled over. I wasn’t going to complain though.

  “No one’s called the cops?” I asked almost dumbly and resisted the urge to scratch my head.

  There was a tiny, jerky shake of her head as she reached her long, frail arm out and pointed at one of the bodies. It was then that I noticed they were wearing cuts. The Devil’s Kings. I’d heard rumors and little snippets of conversations along my travels and while doing jobs. This was the motorcycle club that had so many others shaken for the past couple of years.

  I took that as a sign that the people around were as afraid of the MC as my in-shock psychic was.

  “The place is empty. I’m the only person renting a room and the manager or owner or whatever probably knows better than to call.”

  Her voice came out shaky, but loud enough to where I could hear it. She hadn’t taken her eyes off of mine since we first locked gazes. I may have taken a moment to check out the damage, but I could feel her eyes on me as I did so.

  “Are you…hurt?” I hesitated, not knowing if I should move closer to her even though I wanted to. I didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was.

  “N-no,” she swallowed and seemed to snap herself out of her shock just a bit. “No. They tried but I guess I, um, got the best of them before they had a chance to do anything to me. I’m just a bit banged up, but nothing I can’t walk off.” She let out a nervous, huffed laugh.

  “Can I look? Just to make sure. You’re probably still high on adren
aline and don’t really feel how bad it could be just yet.”

  At her nod, I moved closer and held out my hand. She reached for me and uncurled her body to stand. At her full height, the top of her head reached my chin. She looked up at me and there was something swirling in her eyes. We were close. Too close for me to be able think straight. She was young. I couldn’t really tell you how young, but I could tell you that I hadn’t been her age in a really long fucking time.

  She took a step back and I got my head in the game. She was banged up as all get out. Parts of her face were swollen slightly. There were bruises all over her pale skin, some of them clearly in the shape of handprints. I swallowed down my anger and softly reached into the open part of her ripped shirt. She didn’t flinch or back away, so I kept going. Her ribs felt fine and as I moved the fabric away, I could see that there wasn’t any bruising there. That was one good thing at least. I tried, and nearly failed, not to react or notice how soft and smooth her skin felt against my fingertips. It felt so wrong on so many levels, but there was something there that I couldn’t seem to push away.

  I cleared my throat, dropped my hands away from her body, and took a step back.

  “Go take a shower. Scrub as best as you can and leave your clothes in a pile in the shower. I’ll…get to work out here,” I said trying my best to keep my voice even and smooth. I didn’t want to say anything that would add to her anxiety and I knew that reminding her of the mess that surrounded us wasn’t going to help.

  “Yeah, sure. That’s a good idea. I mean. I would guess. I don’t really know what to do. Though, I should. You know, watching you as long as I—” Her mouth snapped shut and I could tell that she hadn’t meant to say most of that out loud, especially that last part.

  I couldn’t stop the odd smile that tilted up one side of my lips. And I didn’t miss the way her eyes darted down to take in the sight.

  “Shower,” I said low and soft as a reminder of what she was supposed to be doing. I didn’t push further on how much she knew about me but knew that I’d sure as hell be asking a million questions later. Which meant that I was thinking there would be a later with her.