by Wade, Maddie
“Sure, Nate. Don’t forget, you promised me a re-match later, so don’t get too tired.” Nate shook his head with a small smirk. Ava came over and took Noah’s hand, guiding him out while he talked ten to the dozen about Lego Batman.
Nate looked at Kanan, who looked pale and shaken.
“Is he….” Kanan trailed off. Nate remembered the last time the man had seen Noah, he’d been at deaths door.
“He’s fine,” Nate said, not going into detail. They weren’t his to give. Kanan just nodded and a small smile twitched his lips.
“Can we plan this fucking op now, please?” Zin growled angrily.
Thirty minutes later, they were geared up and on their way. Eidolon was sending men to guard the perimeter of Fortis. Zack didn’t want anyone else inside except Will, Drew, and the civilians.
Nate was traveling with Lucy, Zin, and Zack. Dane was with Daniel and Kanan. Zack had said he wanted Nate where he could see him and Nate conceded. He didn’t like the idea of not being close enough to keep an eye on Kanan, but also knew if Kanan wanted Noah or Skye hurt, they would be, of that he had no doubt. Kanan was a lethal operator who got caught out by his Ma. Nate would be a fool to underestimate him or fully trust him and Nate was no fool.
Chapter Thirty
Skye watched as Felicity had at least nine or ten men with her and her companion. The men carried box after box into the back of the church. Felicity ignored her after that first glance. The satisfied smile she had given her when she registered Skye’s shock at seeing him–she refused to say his name–made her want to pull the woman’s hair out by the roots.
Hugo had gone running to her and been given a withering look. They had exchanged a few words, which she couldn’t hear, and then he’d left with another man.
Felicity was, as always, primped and preened. She looked like the perfect Lady of the Manor. Her pearls were round her neck, her cream tweed suit was immaculate, and her pink, wool coat must have cost a small fortune.
Shame it was wasted on a cheap whore like her. Nate had told her of Felicity’s history, and honestly, it didn’t surprise her one bit. Class was bred, not learned, and she had none.
Yes, Skye wore high-street jeans and jumpers, but she had bluer blood than the Lockwoods would ever hope for. Her family were snobs and didn’t do well with people who were different. Their loss, she mused as she watched the coming and goings.
Hugo came back in and came over to her. She watched as he knelt before her and offered her some water.
“Here you need to drink.” He undid the sealed water bottle and she drank as he tipped it to her lips.
It was smacked out of her mouth and flung to the ground as Felicity cuffed her grandson across the head.
“What are you doing, boy?” she hissed.
“She needs some water. We’re not animals. And please, don’t treat me like it, either. I am Lord Lockwood and you will treat me with respect.” Skye wanted to applaud him for finally growing a pair.
Felicity looked down at Skye and suddenly bent towards her lashing out with a vicious slap to Skye`s face. Hugo went to intervene but Felicity pulled a gun on him. She held it to his forehead and everything seemed to move in slow motion.
Hugo stood and faced Felicity.
“Now, my young boy. I want to tell you a story,” she said coldly as she looked at her grandson. “Many years ago there was a whore. She was a good whore and had many high profile clients, including Jack the Hat, Reggie Kray, and many other well-known gangsters. But this whore wanted more, she wanted it all.”
“One day, she met a man. He fell in love with her and didn’t care about her background. He just wanted to make her happy. The whore fell in love with him and they married.” Felicity turned and looked at Skye. She tilted her head to the side slightly and inquired,
“Have you heard this story?” Skye and she wisely shook her head.
“Well, keep listening.” Felicity turned back to look at Hugo, “One day after a few years of marriage, the whore found her beloved husband with his face buried in the cunt of a maid.” Felicity’s face went blank. She looked like she was deep in her head.
“The whore,” she continued as if telling a bedtime story, “wanted to kill the girl, but alas, she was pregnant and the husband begged her not to. The child was born, a bouncing baby boy, and the whore and the husband raised the child as their own. Unfortunately, the maid met a very sad end,” Felicity smirked and Skye realized she was barking mad.
“The whore tried to love the child and was a good mother to him and even forgave the husband. Over time, the boy married and produced a son of his own.” Hugo had gone as white as a ghost. “Unfortunately he found out, through vicious gossip, what had happened to his birth mother and threatened the whore with the police.
“He didn’t know the whore still had very powerful friends in the east end. He and his wife met a sad end, too–a nasty car crash into a river where they drowned. So sad, don’t you think?” She caressed Skye’s cheek while still pointing the gun to Hugo’s forehead.
“Well, the husband was so sad over the loss of his son, he had a heart attack and died. That left the whore and the grandson. Except he isn’t her grandson, is he? He’s the grandson of the maid slag that stole the whore’s love. So, the whore will have no compunction about killing the boy, will she Hugo?”
“You killed them all,” Hugo said in shocked confusion.
“I’m afraid so. You see, I, the whore, if you will, liked the title and power that goes with being Lady Lockwood, and with Armageddon coming, I will rise to the highest rank. I will help our one true leader rule when all of the lower beings perish. You producing an heir with such exciting abilities was brilliant and probably the best thing you have done in your miserable life. Now all I need is for Nate to bring Noah to me in exchange for Skye’s life and you can all die.”
“Actually, you can die now.” Felicity faced Hugo and sent a bullet straight into his forehead. Skye screamed as she saw Hugo fall at her feet, his blood covering her face. Skye shook, her breathing became shallow as she tried to keep herself from fainting.
Felicity calmly walked away. “Clean that up,” she said to the traitor and flicked her wrist at Hugo’s body. The woman felt nothing after killing Hugo in cold blood. Skye needed to get out of here. Fear clawed at her as she sat there, not knowing what to do. She felt her heart thudding against her chest and forced herself to slow her breathing and calm down.
She flinched as the traitor came close to her and picked up Hugo’s body. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and she thought she saw a brief flash of something in his eyes. But he said nothing and left, taking Hugo with him.
~~~
Nate and the team assembled in the same spot as last time and hoofed it to the house. They were in grouped in two’s, each in the same pair as last time. They rounded the hedge that bordered the large pond and were about to go on to the house when they heard a weapon discharge. The sound came from the church. The two from Eidolon motioned that they’d take the back. Nate was on sniper duty and the others would go in hot using the smoke flares Nate had brought.
Nate slipped into the bell tower and on silent feet, climbed to the top. Zack and Kanan were covering his six and heard grunts as they took care of the perimeter guards. Zin and Lucy would go in through the front door. Dane, Daniel, and Eidolon’s men would go in through the vestry.
Nate skirted the massive bell and lying flat on his belly set up his rifle and checked the scope. He looked into the church. His stomach lurched when he saw Skye sitting in a pew, her hands tied behind her back, blood all over her face. She was shaking like a leaf, but otherwise seemed unharmed.
He saw a man dragging a body but didn’t get a good look at him before he went out of sight. He clicked his mic on his wristwatch twice to relay that he had eyes on the target. Then he clicked eight times to say how many hostiles where inside.
Nate knew Zack would work with Jack, who was securing the main house with the r
est of Eidolon. Jack had taken it pretty badly about Sly, and he knew Jack would do anything to get blood from these bastards.
Zack whispered into his comm, “We go in on your signal, Nate.”
Nate lined up his shot and was about to say go when he had the shock of his life.
Walking into shot was the man who had dragged the body out. He was dressed in the same uniform as the Russian bastards. He walked straight up to Felicity and took her flank like he was some guard dog.
He watched as Skye threw him an evil glare. He was so proud of her for being so brave. But he was also confused how this happened and why.
He slid back from his position and keyed his comm, “We have a problem,” he whispered. “We have a potential friendly, but he could also be a hostile. He is dressed in the Watcher Uniform of black with an insignia on the pocket.”
He didn’t know how to say this, he switched to a private channel for only Zack’s ears.
“Zack come in,” he whispered.
“Come in,” Zack replied.
“You need to lock Lucy down. Sly’s in there and he seems to be working with them.”
Zack went silent and then swore softly. “Copy that,” he said.
Nate crawled back to his position and watched, for maybe ten minutes, trying to assess the situation. He couldn’t believe Sly would have turned–no way, he didn’t buy it. Sly must have sensed something, because he looked up to the bell tower and winked.
Nate felt the air leave his lungs in relief.
He quickly accessed his comm and relayed things to Zack.
“We go on my count.” He watched as Sly got into position next to a seething Skye, then gave the signal.
“Go!” he shouted.
Nate didn’t take out Felicity–they needed her alive. Instead, he took out the most credible threat to Skye, the hulking Russian who he’d noticed kept casting disgusting looks at her. His shot was true as always and the man went down with a perfect shot to the forehead right between the eyes.
Then all hell broke loose. A charge on the door blew it in, and through the smoke came Lucy and Zin. Dane was taking care of a man by the vestry door and easily subdued him with a couple of well-placed elbow strikes.
The plan was to keep as many alive as possible, but everyone knew that in a combat situation, that meant jack shit. Nate took out a man who was skulking down the side of the pews towards the exit. Zack and Kanan were dealing with the men near the side door. He couldn’t hear any weapons going off, but that meant nothing with those crazy bastards.
Nate saw Felicity turn and issue an instruction to Sly, who, for a second, looked as if he might obey, but then lifted and held a gun to Felicity. Daniel dragged a zip tied man towards the front pew and left him to go help Dane out.
The smoke and gunfire towards the front was clearing now and Nate spotted the second Lucy noticed Sly. Her concentration went for a second, and a guy they hadn’t seen, came from behind a curtain and got the jump on her.
He grabbed her in a headlock and she went to her knee, executing a perfect half shoulder throw. The man jumped to his feet and came at her again. He threw a couple of punches, which she blocked, and in her signature move, threw an uppercut to the man’s stomach, wrapped her arm around his neck, and threw herself backwards so they rolled end-over-end with her ending up astride him. The rice bale was perfect for a smaller person, and deadly since it snapped the neck if you didn’t let go during the roll–Lucy hadn’t let go.
Nate winced. Lucy was awesome and any other time he could watch her do this all day, but he needed to get to Skye. Sly, and now Zack and Kanan, flanked Skye. She looked up towards the bell tower.
Nate was about to move when he saw Felicity shift her stance, turning towards Skye, leveling her gun at her chest. In a split-second decision, Nate pulled the trigger, putting a bullet in Felicity Lockwood’s shoulder. She fell to the ground and Zack and Sly were on her.
Nate didn’t wait to see if she was secure, he needed to feel Skye in his arms. Grabbing his gear, he raced down the steps in time to see Lucy throw herself at Sly. Her legs went round his waist and her mouth collided with his. Sly palmed her ass as he kissed the life out of her. It was clear to see how those two felt.
He raced to Skye and grabbed her up in his arms. He buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. He kissed her all over her face, all the fear he felt was poured into it as he ran his hands over her checking for injury.
A door slammed and they pulled apart. Jack walked in and stopped dead. He looked awful. The relief that washed over his face when he saw Sly was palpable. He cleared his expression, though, and nodded at Sly.
Sly had put Lucy down but was holding her close to his side. Dane was scowling and Daniel was openly smiling.
“Get that bitch to Eidolon. I want a full team on her.” Said Jack angrily. Felicity flinched but didn’t look scared as she was roughly pulled up by Liam who’d come in with Jack.
“You won’t stop us, you know,” she said haughtily. “You’re too late. We have everything in place. You’re all going to die,” she laughed like a deranged woman.
“Well, so are you, bitch. And you can bet your ass it will be slow and painful if I have anything to do with it,” said Lucy coldly.
Skye caught Lucy’s eye, “Don’t forget, Felicity, I heard your little speech before you murdered Hugo. You have nothing. The Lockwood money and title is not yours. The estate passes to the oldest living male as per tradition of an aristocratic title. You only had control because Hugo was weak. But it will pass to his heir now, and that would be my son. Therefore, as his guardian until he is of age, that means me. So get your scrawny ass off my property.” Skye took a step towards Felicity and Nate tensed. She reached out and snatched the pearls from Felicity’s neck, “I believe these belong to my son now.”
Felicity was opening her mouth like a fish and had gone deathly pale. It was dawning on her that she was fucked, and without money, the Watchers would let her swing in the wind.
She was a cold bitch, though. Felicity stiffened her spine and glared at them everyone as she was dragged out.
Skye sagged into Nate then. “Who has Noah?” she asked.
“He’s back at Fortis with my parents, Ava, Celeste, Drew, Will, and of course, Samson.”
She nodded and huddled into him. It was freezing in here and she only had on a thin jumper and yoga bottoms.
“Come on. Let’s get you to him.”
Zack, Daniel, Dane, and Zin stayed to investigate what was being kept there. Eidolon was taking care of clean up. Nate watched as Lucy and Sly walked towards the gate and the vehicles hidden there. Nate was so relieved that Sly was okay, but beyond curious as to what happened.
How had he and his team been taken? Where was the rest of the team–and why did Felicity think she had some sort of control over him? Moreover, if she thought she did have control over Sly, why didn’t she? His arm tightened around Skye as he lifted her into the vehicle. Sly and Luce were taking the other one.
“Are you okay, mi amor ?” he asked, as he buckled her in.
“Yes, I am. It was so much worse when it was Noah. I was scared, but I knew you’d come. I don’t understand why Sly was acting that way, though. When he came in, he looked like he didn’t even know me. He was following Felicity like some lackey.” She shook her head as if in confusion. “It was weird.”
Nate kissed her gently, “We can get that figured out later. As long as you are okay, that’s all that matters right now.”
“I’m fine, Nate, honestly. I might get scared later when the adrenalin wears off, but I have a strong, handsome man to hold me tight and look after me.” She smiled at him, then, and his heart melted.
“You will always have me, Skye. You and Noah. I was so scared when they had you, I could hardly breathe.” She sucked in a breath and he saw tears in her eyes.
“I love you, so much, Nate. I never thought I would have this–this once in a lifetime thing that you read about.”
&
nbsp; “Believe it,” he whispered and dropped a brief kiss on her upturned mouth before pulling away.
“Let’s go get our boy and go home.” Skye said tiredly.
On the drive back, Nate filled her in on what happened after she was taken. She found the bit about Kanan hilarious. Her eyes welled with emotion when she heard Noah had dreamt about her abduction.
Four long hours later, they were finally home. Noah was asleep as Nate carried him up to bed. He and Skye tucked him in and left a small nightlight on in his room in case he woke up scared. He’d been ecstatic to see his mum safe and sound and talked non-stop the majority of the way home.
They had hung around briefly, but Zack had called and told everyone to go home and they would have a briefing in the morning. He demanded that all civilians be there so he could debrief them about today’s events.
His mum hadn’t taken kindly to being bossed around, and it had taken his father a good, long while to calm her enough to get her to agree. Then he’d had to use underhanded tactics and promised her a new griddle pan. She was having the other hung in the living room over the fireplace.
Nate turned and picked Skye up as she turned to leave Noah’s room. She squeaked then settled against his chest, tucking her head into this neck as she rubbed his chest. She seemed to hit a wall. She stifled a yawn against his neck, tickling him.
All the blood in his body rushed to his groin at her softness nestled against him. He didn’t intend to act on the impulse, though. She was exhausted and needed comfort and some TLC, not him and his raging erection bothering her.
He gently placed her on the bed and walked to his bathroom to run her a bath. She had a vicious bruise on her jaw where that scum had hit her. He wished he could go back and kill the bastard slower, but had to be okay with the fact that he was dead.
Skye explained how she’d puked on him and he was weirdly happy about it. Not that she was hurt, obviously, but the fact that she gotten a little revenge on the prick.
He came back to the bed and Skye was watching him with hooded eyes, gone dark with desire. No…no. He would not do this. She was exhausted. He lifted her top half as he eased her shirt over her head. She winced when his fingers accidentally grazed her jaw.