Perfect Ruin (Unyielding #2)

by Nashoda Rose

  I leaned over her and leisurely kissed her, my hand slowly gliding down her side to her hip then to her ass where I squeezed.

  She moaned and kissed me back, slowly and lazily. Her hand moved up my arm, over my shoulder to the back of my neck where it took a fistful of hair and drew me in deeper.

  It was my turn to groan before I pulled back, bringing her with me to a sitting position. “I need to do something.”

  “I thought you were.”

  I chuckled. “Mmm, I was, but not the something I need to be doing.”

  She scrunched her nose and then her face fell as reality leaked its way back inside and I saw the devastation hit her again. She closed her eyes with a ragged sigh.

  It was going to be a while before she accepted what had happened to her father. She wouldn’t forget, but she’d learn to live with his loss.

  I kissed her again then got up, bent, picked up my cargo pants off the floor and my T-shirt. “I’m meeting Dorsey.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed, sheet held up to cover her breasts. “He’ll tell us the location of the farm if we hand over your father’s formula and the drug we confiscated from the lab.” I walked into the bathroom and tossed my clothes on the bathroom counter then said, “It going down in three hours.”

  “Umm, Kai…” I raised my brows at the umm and she half-smiled, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been looking at the formula in my dad’s notes and there are some powerful drugs in there. I think I know why Connor would do whatever they wanted and he probably doesn’t even know it.”

  I leaned my shoulder against the bathroom door and crossed my arms.

  “Scopolamine. It’s from the seeds of a plant in Colombia.”

  “Jesus Christ. Devil’s breath.” Dangerous drug and could be administered pretty much in any form, but the most fucked-up way was just by breathing in the chemically treated seeds that had been made into a powdered substance. Looked like cocaine, but much deadlier.

  She nodded. “It steals your consciousness, your free will and your memory of what you’ve done. He’s mixed it with other chemicals though, one being steroids to make Connor feel stronger. I haven’t identified them all yet. But Kai, in the form he’s using, it’s not easy to get. And my dad… he said one component was hard to get.”

  I stood up straight. “And he would’ve needed a contact in Colombia to get it for him.”

  She nodded.

  “That’s where the fuckin’ farm is. That’s where he is.” Jesus, Colombia.

  I stalked toward her, ripped the sheet out of her hand and threw it aside, bent, picked her up, hands under her ass and started carrying her into the bathroom. “You’re fuckin’ brilliant.”

  She bit her lip, legs curved around my ass.

  “And I need to fuck my brilliant scientist in the shower.”

  I kicked the door shut and had my way with my girl.

  I SAUNTERED INTO the diner, the bells above the door alerting my presence, although the place was empty, even behind the counter. I’d been here before and we were meeting here because it had excellent food and I was going to eat.

  An hour earlier, before Deck and I left with Dr. Westbrook’s files for the meet, I’d been heading for the door when London stopped me.

  Chess, Tristan, Josh, Tyler, Vic, Georgie and Deck all stood in the foyer as her hand curled around my arm, pulled me to a halt and swung me around. Then her arms came up, hooked my neck, fingers bunched in my hair and she yanked my head down to hers. Then her lips met mine and the whole thing was fuckin’ hot.

  I never realized how erotic it was kissing a woman. Never did it before London. Never wanted to or cared to. Kissing was personal. It was more than raw, unemotional sex. It held much more power because it connected you in a way that sex didn’t. You could fuck a girl and not care, but to me, you couldn’t kiss a girl and not give a shit about her.

  Maybe I was alone in thinking this way. Guys kissed chicks all the time, knowing they were there only for a quick fuck. But I wasn’t like most guys.

  I didn’t care that everyone was watching her kiss me. Didn’t care about anything at the time except her coming to me and kissing me. But when our mouths finally came apart, it was London telling me she loved me and to be careful that hit the hardest. I’d replied. “Always, baby.”

  I’d never had anyone give a shit if I came back from an assignment. If I lived or died. London gave that to me. London made me feel alive. Her breath was mine. Her heart. Her body. Her mind. All of her was in me and belonged to me. I’d do anything for her and her kissing me, everyone watching and her not caring they were, then me leaving and seeing the tears in my girl’s eyes… fuck, that was the greatest gift she could’ve given me.

  Now, I slide into a booth, the red plastic crinkling as I did, the waitress’s shoes clinking on the linoleum as she came out of the back and sauntered toward me with a pot of coffee in her hand. Her half-bitten-off fingernails and dry hands passed me a menu.

  “Need a moment, handsome?” she asked in a high-pitched voice.

  I leaned one arm on the table and smiled up at her. She was in her forties, straw-blonde hair with dark, one-inch roots showing and styled in a bob that made her face appear rounder than it was. She wore too much makeup and there was a red smudge on her front tooth from her lipstick she had probably just re-applied when I walked in and no one was behind the counter.

  “Been here before and know the omelet is good. Greek.” The bell went and she looked over her shoulder. I didn’t. I knew it was Dorsey because I’d positioned myself at a window where I could clearly see cars pulling up and a limo had ten seconds ago. I flipped over the coffee cup on the opposite side of the table. “Another coffee, darling.” I winked and she cocked her hip smiling, a slight blush creeping into her cheeks.

  “Sure thing, handsome.”

  Dorsey’s dress shoes tapped as he treaded toward me and I got a lot from that. Even. Steady. Unconcerned. Which meant he was pretty damn confident. But then so was I. More so now that I had an idea where the farm was. Tyler and Vic were currently researching every known big-time drug dealer in Colombia who had been known to have Devil’s breath.

  The waitress moved away as Dorsey slid into the booth, his one hand immediately wrapping around the coffee mug. It was a crutch, a subtle sign of insecurity that had me inwardly smiling.

  Dorsey had two men in suits standing at the car, both with their arms crossed and watching through the window. He also had a man who came in the door behind him and sat on a swivel stool at the counter. Yeah, he was insecure, as he should be. He knew how I was trained and what I was capable of.

  I skipped the pleasantries as I sat back, my arm resting on the back of the seat. “Ernie?”

  Dorsey took a sip of coffee then nodded. “In the back of the limo.” I didn’t let the relief show. He put his mug down and took a serviette from underneath the cutlery and dabbed his thin lips.

  He wore a suit with over-priced cuff links glittering like a beacon, and a tie, silverfish grey with a light striping and done up tight to his neck. I never wore a tie. Hated them for the simple reason that a tie was a noose around your neck and could easily kill you in the right hands. I didn’t need my wire when a man wore a fuckin’ tie.

  Dorsey was handsome enough for mid-sixties, dignified appearance with sharp features and short, salt and pepper hair. He didn’t have an issue getting the girls he wanted and according to what I knew about him, he liked brunettes, tall, and a quarter his age.

  “He’ll die if he doesn’t get the drug.” He was talking about Connor. “Hand him over and he’ll live.”

  “Not my call.”

  His brows rose. “Suddenly, you aren’t calling the shots? Interesting. And a step down for you.”

  I grinned. “I call it a vacation.”

  He laughed and it sounded like the low roar of a motorboat starting up. “I always liked you, Kai. Thought your mother gave you too much rein, especially with the situation concerning the girl.”

 
“You’re under the assumption I have reins, Dorsey.” I lowered my voice. “I don’t.”

  The waitress slid my omelet and hash browns in front of me. “Can I get you anything else?”

  “No. That’s good, thanks.”

  “Sir, anything for you?” she asked Dorsey.

  “No,” he replied and the waitress moved off. “You were asked to bring her in. You hid her away in a house no one knew about.” He paused when I didn’t say anything because there was nothing to say. I did exactly that. Mother found out and shared the info with Dorsey. “And then you burnt it down.”

  I dug into my omelet with my fork, the cheese, tomato and olive leaking out the sides. “You care what I did to my house?”

  “I found it ironic, actually,” Dorsey said. “Seems fire follows the girl around.”

  I’d been trained for shit like this. How to keep my cool when I wanted to punch my fist through his chest and rip out his heart. He knew about the fire at London’s house at university when I dragged her out, half-conscious. He fuckin’ knew and I was betting I knew why…. He was responsible.

  I shrugged and took another bite. “We done talking about bullshit? I’d like to enjoy my meal without you.”

  Dorsey shook his head. “The farm wasn’t my idea. It was your mother’s originally.”

  I knew that. Dorsey wouldn’t like paying money out to feed kids and farm handlers for years before seeing any results. No, it would be someone much more patient who saw the long-term rewards.

  He continued, “He thinks he runs this organization ever since he took over the farm. Your mother started it in Afghanistan, but when that kid escaped,” Tristan, “he took it over. Gave him more control and he uses the kids for his own purpose.” He tilted closer, lowering his voice, not sure why when no one else was around. The waitress was busy chatting up his bodyguard who wasn’t paying attention to anything she said. “The drug is the new direction. Less time wasted and more control.”

  By the look of Connor right now, control was the wrong word. I reached in my front jeans pocket and slid the USB across the table toward him. “Do whatever you want with it. I don’t give a fuck, but I want the farm and who runs it.”

  He nodded to his bodyguard who came over, picked up the flash drive then went back to the counter and plugged it into a small laptop he had on the counter. Dorsey gestured to the car and one of the guys opened the back door and Ernie staggered out. Another guy followed him and he didn’t look too willing. Well, he was, but he was a quivering mess of a five-foot nothing skeleton.

  My eyes went back to Ernie. Christ. He was beaten to a fuckin’ pulp and had a bandage on his right hand. I barely glanced at him though and took another bite of my omelet.

  “Location of the farm?” I kept my eyes on the guards, on their hands and on Dorsey’s movements. If he were going to do anything, it would be now.

  The bell dinged and the quivering mess guy came in and stood beside the bodyguard and looked at the laptop. Dorsey’s eyes were on him. It would’ve been a sweet-ass time to reach under the table and slice across his femoral artery, but murder in a public joint caused problems. Dorsey knew that, too.

  He turned back to me. “I could walk away right now.”

  I laughed. “You could. But you wouldn’t make it to the car.”

  His eyes shifted around the diner, but he’d never see him. Deck was good at what he did, almost as good as me. Josh was the better sniper, but I didn’t know him enough to use him as back up. Deck I’d had my eyes on for years.

  “Killing me would end your chances of finding the farm.”

  I stabbed a few hash browns and put them in my mouth, taking my time answering. “Maybe. But I was always fond of killing assholes. And you’re at the top of the list.”

  He stiffened, the grip on his mug tightening and his brows twitching. “You’ll never find it and one word from me, he’ll come after the piece-of-ass scientist you’re so fond of.”

  I pushed my plate aside, leaned forward and lowered my voice. “Mention my girl again and my knife is cutting off your dick.” He flinched, but the asshole had the nerve to sneer. “Then… I’ll shove it down your throat until you choke on it.”

  He did have the smarts not to say anything more about London.

  From the corner of my eye, the quivering five-foot nothing guy nodded to Dorsey. The bodyguard let go of his arm and he fucked off out of the restaurant. “Now, are you going to tell me the name of the Colombian who oversees the farm?”

  Dorsey’s eyes widened.

  I smirked. “Yes, I know it’s in Colombia.”

  “Then why meet me?”

  He shifted in his seat and his eyes blinked more than usual. He knew his power had been stripped away.

  “Because it takes time to find out his name and I don’t like wasting time. I have a plane ready to take me to Colombia tomorrow.”

  “If I tell you, you can kill me the second I do.”

  I chuckled. “Yes. But you know me better than that, Dorsey. A messy, public killing is your specialty, not mine.” I leaned forward lowering my voice. “Name.”

  “Moreno. Carlos Moreno. But I don’t know where the farm is. None of us have ever been there, but he lives in Medellin.”

  I didn’t need anything more, so I tossed a hundred on the table and got up.

  “You’ll take him out?” Dorsey said before I was five feet from the table.

  “Yeah, I’ll take him out.”

  “How long before it’s done?” he stuttered and it really didn’t suit him, but I knew why. He was scared of Moreno and he had a good reason to be. I knew the name and he was a drug lord with connections and enough money to pay off anyone looking at his illegal activities.

  I kept walking. “Thanks, darling,” I said to the waitress.

  “You’re welcome, handsome.” She smiled and the lipstick on her front tooth was gone.

  I pulled out my cell and typed a text to Deck.

  Ernie?

  He texted back.

  Safe.

  I walked outside, the cool air doing nothing for the internal heat radiating through me. Dorsey was slime. He wanted me to do his dirty work dealing with Moreno and he’d sit back on his throne, probably sell the drug or use it. Whichever way he went, it was about making a shitload of money.

  Not happening.

  I texted,

  Take him out.

  There was no need for him to reply and I folded into my car and drove away. As I turned the corner, I caught a glimpse of Dorsey getting into his limo.

  Then a loud boom.

  The ground vibrated and fire and smoke billowed into the air.

  A BLIND RAGE ripped through my insides like an out-of-control inferno, tiny red-hot pinpricks piercing me over and over again.

  I couldn’t fuckin’ escape it.

  The handcuffs trapping me to the pipe cut into my wrist as I fought to get free. Blood dripped off the tips of my fingers from the damage I’d done to my wrist. The pain was nothing compared to the burning.

  My flesh was melting. My reality was messed up and I was choking on the tightness in my chest; it was strangling me.

  If I’d been given a knife, I was pretty sure I’d cut off my own hand to escape. My mind was so fucked up that I wouldn’t have felt anything. I’d do it because it was better than being contained again, better than burning alive.

  The clash inside me was destroying the coolness I’d been living in for years. Although, lived was the wrong word. I didn’t live. I existed.

  I was buried beneath a sea of darkness. I no longer knew who I was or what the fuck I was doing. I had no memories. Each day it was like they’d been blacked out. Some days I started to catch glimpses of what I was doing and then I disappeared again.

  I never woke up. Days. Weeks. Months. I had no idea what I did or how long it’d been.

  But since I’d been here, flashes of memories from my past hit me. They came and went like snapshots. It fucked with my head because I didn’t
know if they were real or not. It was easier in the dark. The darkness didn’t hurt.

  But each day was worse. My head, a jumbled mess of paint splatters, spread out as if they were soaking into my burning skin.

  The rage was so powerful that it splintered my insides. I craved something and I didn’t know what. I knew I was supposed to take…. They told me to take…. I had orders. I followed orders but now I couldn’t.

  “FUUCCKK!”

  I yanked on the handcuffs so hard that a low agonizing sound tore from my throat at the pain. My hand hung limp. I’d snapped the bone.

  The door opened.

  I glared in the direction, the pain forgotten as I watched.

  “Shit,” a man said as he entered the room. “Connor. Jesus.”

  I racked my brain, recognizing the voice, but unable to find where it fit. I hated being trapped, defenseless against whatever was happening to my body. It was like I’d been dead for years and suddenly, I was waking up, but only pieces of me were.

  My eyes darted to the girl with pink streaks in her hair who followed in after the guy with the gun on his hip. An overwhelming sense of… something… plowed into me. I shook my head trying to clear the fogginess, but all it did was send shards of pain through me. Pain. I’d been numb to it for years and I wanted that back. Cool. Numb. No memories. Just do what I was told to, but I couldn’t even remember that.

  “It’s the withdrawal. Maybe he needs another pill?” Another girl stood in the doorway behind the girl with the pink streaks. “He looks like he’s burning with fever. He needs to be cooled down.”

  “How the fuck can we do that?” the guy said. He crouched and rolled a water bottle toward me. Smart. My legs were free and I could easily break his neck if he came too close.

  “Deck and Kai should be back soon and then we can give him a pill.” I had no idea who the girl was. Never seen her before.

  But the name Deck…. Fuck, Deck. Deck. I shut my eyes and my stomach rolled as the memory tried to bust through the barrier in my mind. I growled low in my throat as it pounded and pounded, but nothing broke.