by Jami Gray
A warning Cam shared years ago whispered in Math’s ear. ‘Fucking white knight syndrome will get you killed, brother.’
Harsh but true, and somehow that memory steadied him. Swallowing back the sick, he watched the infuriatingly sexy and equally lethal woman deal with the kid. No doubt she could handle herself, and had done just that when she found him in the alley. And again when she brought Reaper in, and every time she teased him. And he stumbled over the last volatile ingredient—fucking jealousy. The realisation left him gritting his teeth.
How the hell had she managed to get so deep under his skin so fast? There was no denying the attraction between them—both of them had a hard time keeping their hands to themselves, using lame ass excuses to touch and tease. But it wasn’t just that, because if it was, watching her and that bastard, Bane, wouldn’t have scraped him raw. Even though logic pointed out that Vex seemed oblivious to Bane’s underlying motives, Math hadn’t missed the purely male interest in the other man’s gaze as he watched Vex. It had taken too much self-control not to plant his fist into Bane’s smirking face. Repeatedly.
Someone bumped his shoulder, and riding the mean edge of his temper, he turned his head, his lips curling back on a snarl, only to have Vex’s voice cut through his dark thoughts and slipping temper.
‘Hey, hotshot, we riding?’
Turning, he was hit with the image of her—long legs, curves, witchy face under a tangle of ebony-streaked sable. Lust took front and centre, offering a carnal image of the ride he’d prefer. He throttled a groan as his dick got on board. Shaking his head like a hound shedding water, he knocked the image out of focus and started down the stairs. ‘Yeah.’
She waited for him by the bike, the street rat nothing but a memory. When Math got close, he could feel her studying him, even though her gaze was hidden behind the dark lenses. ‘You good?’
Not even close. ‘Yeah.’ He matched her pose. ‘We got a plan or we just going to dive in and hope we don’t get sucked under?’
Her lips twitched. ‘Figure our soldier boys aren’t too far behind us. So getting across, not an issue. Getting through that …’ She turned to look towards the river and he followed her gaze. From where they stood, the tops of the trees guarding both sides spread like an emerald canopy. The forest lying underneath marked the line between those with mercy and those without. ‘Not getting ambushed, that’ll be tricky.’
‘Tricky, but doable,’ he murmured.
‘You know,’ calculation coloured her voice as she continued, ‘there is a possible upside to going in there.’
‘And what would that be?’
She turned and lowered her voice, keeping their conversation as private as possible considering their surroundings. ‘Our shadows are city dwellers. We disappear inside, they follow, or we circle around and let them forge the path.’
Images of the soldiers tramping through the dense vegetation with the finesse of a bull in a china shop, filled him with vicious satisfaction. ‘We let them trigger the traps.’
‘Exactly.’ She shot him a fierce grin. ‘Then, when they’re all tangled up, we happen in to offer our help.’
‘For a price.’
‘Of course. Nothing in life is free, right?’
‘Hmmm.’ Her idea carried serious merit, considering they wouldn’t have to worry about the logistics of setting a trap, just take advantage of what was already in place. But, ‘What about the ones already in there, you know, just waiting for some idiot to come traipsing through?’
Next to him she tilted her head, thinking it through. ‘If we play it right, they’ll trot in all cocky. We take care of them, it leaves us with enough privacy to ask our questions and get rid of the evidence.’
‘Risky.’ But sound. Boise sat on the edge of the Lolo Forest, a sprawling wilderness that reconfigured Idaho and surrounded the current reincarnation of the city. The river ran through town, and once upon a time the surrounding greenbelt might have been a well-tended ribbon, but now it was nothing so tame. Over the years the vegetation reclaimed the ground, swallowing pieces of the city along the way until only the forest lived. Thanks to a zoo that didn’t survive the Collapse, there were stories of wildlife that shouldn’t exist here, living within the wild tangle. Trip’s people put both the landscape and wildlife to lethal use to discourage unwanted visitors to the Hole. A simple and effective checkpoint. ‘It could work.’
‘Gee, don’t sound so surprised.’ She bumped his shoulder with hers. ‘I can come up with good ideas every now and then.’
Her humour slid over his unsettled emotions, taking the edge off, and he shared her grin. ‘I’ll give you this one.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Mighty generous of you.’
Her dry comment earned a chuckle. He straightened and ran a hand through his hair, startled when he encountered shorter strands. Damn, that would take some getting used to. Until it grew back. ‘We’ll have to stash the bike and bags on this side of the river. The rest of the trip will have to be on foot.’
‘Yeah, no way to sneak up with an engine in full throttle.’ She worried her bottom lip as she thought it over. ‘Got an idea.’ She lifted her chin in the direction of the river. ‘There’s a path, mostly hidden, that runs alongside. It leads to the old steel bar bridge. Last time I used it, there was a shack tucked off the path. If it’s still standing, we can stash the bike there.’
‘We’ll need to double back.’
‘After we clear our way in. But going in, better to use the main bridge. Keeps curious eyes on us.’
This could work. If they used the most accessible point, it would guarantee to attract Trip’s people and reveal whatever obstacles they had in place. ‘Once we’re out of sight, we can circle around, come at them from behind.’
‘Got ourselves a plan then.’
He threw his leg over the bike, kicked it to life, and waited as she climbed on behind him. He walked the bike back before heading back into the main road. Following Vex’s directions he took the turn for the path winding along the greenbelt’s edges and was happy to note it didn’t take long before they were the only ones on it. They followed it along the river for a handful of minutes before Vex pointed out the barely discernable turnoff among the thick tree-trunks.
Vex squeezed his waist and put her lips next to his ear. ‘Stop here.’
He slowed and pulled in. Vex hopped off and slipped away before he shut the bike down. The engine was ticking into silence when she returned. ‘This way.’
He got off and walked the bike into the foliage. When he spotted the still standing weathered boards of an old shed, he gave a low whistle of appreciation. Looked like their luck was holding strong. Together they managed to get the bike inside. They took a few minutes pulling a variety of knives and supplies from their bags and tucking them into pockets and other hiding spots. He adjusted the harness that held the set of razor sharp blades along his back while Vex tucked Gus’s package into one oversized pocket in a battered leather vest she pulled on. ‘Ready?’
Shoving the last short blade into the side of his boot, he dropped his foot and did a quick body twist, checking for ease of movement. ‘Yep.’
After removing all essentials from their bags and tucking them away, they left the bike and bags in the shed, then shifted the surrounding vegetation around to once again conceal the structure. As they made their way back to the narrow path, they blurred their passage through the forest. No sense in advertising their presence. Ten minutes later they were back at the main bridge and rejoining the spotty crowds.
They took their time, pausing at various stalls to look at the offerings and make casual conversation. They wound their way through, their intent to cross, obvious. Their passage earned numerous turned heads. Not unusual since most tended to stay on the safer side of the river.
They passed a tinker, fixing a broken axle on his wagon while his horse stood with a foreleg cocked and his tail making desultory attempts at keeping the occasional fly at bay. At the sound
of their approach, he looked up, squinting against the afternoon light. ‘Afternoon.’
‘Afternoon,’ Math returned. ‘Need some help there?’
The tinker straightened, hands pressed into the small of his back as he bowed his spine. ‘Nah, just about done.’ He gave them a once-over, not missing the weapons tucked here and there. ‘You heading in there?’ He tilted his head towards the greenbelt. When Math nodded, the tinker grimaced. ‘Might want to rethink that, even with that hardware.’
‘Appreciate the advice,’ Vex said. ‘But don’t have much choice. Got a job to do. You know how it is.’
‘Yeah, I hear ya.’ He rubbed a hand on his narrow chin, before shaking his head solemnly. ‘Hope the pay’s worth it. Take care, because dead men don’t spend much money.’
Math couldn’t help but snort at the wry pearl of wisdom. ‘Hoping to avoid that outcome, but appreciate the head’s up.’ With that, he and Vex left the last of humanity behind and headed into lush depths of the greenbelt.
***
Once under the verdant protection of the forest, the temperature noticeably dropped and Math was grateful they were doing this mid-afternoon versus evening. By the time darkness hit, he hoped they’d be somewhere relatively safe in the Hole, preferably with Cam. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride—a saying his mother was fond of sharing drifted through his head as he followed Vex along the nearly imperceptible path.
Knowing how voices carried, they relied on hand signals. Each step carefully placed and eyes peeled for traps. Tension shadowed their slow progress. Math estimated they’d made about a half mile when he noted the fresh scars on a tree trunk to their left. He reached out and snagged the back of Vex’s vest, bringing her to a halt.
She froze as he stepped up to her side. He pointed out the marks. Only one animal created marks so uniform. A careful scan of their surroundings and a timely breeze revealed the thin wire stretched across the path ahead at ankle and neck levels. Cunning bastards, and damn devious. With the odds of unfriendly eyes being trained on them ranking higher than hell, he didn’t waste time pulling one of his blades free. Vex’s blades glimmered a microsecond ahead of his.
One at a time, they stepped between the tripwires, leaving the trap undisturbed. Once safely on the other side, Math dismantled the neck level wire. If their shadows hit this, they’d lose their heads, which meant no answering questions. After Vex freed the other end, Math gathered it in. Tempting though it was to take it, their pockets were already full. So he tossed the bundle of thin wire further into the overgrowth.
He met Vex back at the middle of the path. The hair on the back of his neck came to attention and he reached back to pull his second blade free. As if that was a signal, shadows shifted in the dense vegetation ahead garnering their attention. Even as Math focused on the figure strolling towards them, he didn’t miss the whisper of movement up and behind him to the right. Guess their greeter stashed his back up in the branches above. Smart.
Light shifted as a beefy male covered in layers of browns and greens took centre position, deliberately blocking their way. Thick arms sporting colourful ink folded over a broad chest. Those same designs crawled over his skull and disappeared into an impressive Mohawk. Dark eyes set under a series of metal rings glinted, and thin lips curled into what may have been a smile, but came across as a sneer. ‘You lost?’
‘Nope,’ Vex shot back, one hand on a cocked hip, the other occupied as she wove her blade through her fingers with a skilled deliberateness. ‘Know just where we’re going.’
Mohawk boy jerked his gaze from Vex’s mesmerising dance of metal and flesh back to her face, his sneer tightening. ‘That right?’ He turned to Math, his gaze tagging blades, then coming back up. ‘Nice slicers.’ His unvoiced threat dripped with avarice.
Unimpressed, Math adjusted his hold and bared his teeth in mock friendliness. ‘They do the job.’
The grin Mohawk flashed matched Math’s in hostility. ‘I bet they do.’ Overhead leaves rustled and quivered as Mohawk’s helpers inched into place.
Neither Math nor Vex looked away from the immediate threat. Mohawk dropped his arms and moved forward another foot or so, closing the distance, just not enough for Math to risk attacking.
Still playing the distraction game, their new friend kept up the not so witty conversation. ‘Where’d you pick ‘em up?’
As much as Math wanted to lunge, it would leave Vex facing an unknown count of fighters, all with the higher ground advantage. But two could play the distraction game. ‘Custom made, out of New Seattle.’ It was Math’s turn to shift forward, twisting his wrist to demonstrate the blade’s lethal beauty and draw attention away from the other lethal beauty now at his back. ‘Why? Interested?’
The blunted angles of Mohawk’s face tightened as greed and calculation brightened his gaze and coloured his voice. ‘Actually, yeah. But don’t get into town much.’ His comment elicited a collection of snickers, giving Math a possible count of another three in the trees. Two to one odds, doable.
An ugly hunger darkened Mohawk’s face and he shifted his stance, his hands curling and uncurling at his sides. ‘To save me some time, why doncha hand one over?’
Love to, asshole, just need you to come a little bit closer. Determined to make his wish a reality, Math made sure to coat his voice with arrogant contempt. ‘Now why would I want to do that?’
Like a whip to a horse, Mohawk’s shoulders tightened, his muscles quivering with a need to lunge. He settled, barely. ‘You want through and I’m hankerin’ for a new blade. Even trade in my books.’
Before Math could stop her, Vex shifted from behind him and took her place at his side. Inside Math’s head he sent a stream of curses her way as she deliberately drew Mohawk’s attention. ‘Funny, seems to me you’re getting the better end of the deal.’ She tapped the tip of her blade against her chin, then pointed it at Mohawk. ‘Now, say you offer to carry us in, on your back, like the jackass you are.’ Math tensed as anger swept over Mohawk’s ugly mug, but Vex’s mocking grin didn’t even flicker. ‘That’s a trade we might consider.’
Instead of the expected explosion of fury and spit, Mohawk rocked to his toes. Math barely clocked the flash as a knife dropped into Mohawk’s fist before he leapt. Math went to intercept Mohawk while Vex turned to face the incoming attack from above. Math and Vex moved together with an instinctive ease of seasoned fighters. Behind them, the rush of air sounded and the shift of light revealed three more fighters as they dropped from the trees to play. Grounded, Vex and Math didn’t wait for their attackers to touch down, they rushed in, taking advantage of the chaotic movement.
Math closed in with Mohawk, a distant part of his brain noting they were evenly matched in height despite their weight difference. However, it didn’t stop Mohawk from closing in with bruising force. Metal flashed, then shrieked with ear-splitting pitch as edge met edge, neither man giving ground. For a moment they stood there, teeth bared, locked in a violent embrace. The standoff couldn’t last, wouldn’t last. Understanding that, Math shifted his weight, knocking the balancing act out of whack.
While it sent Mohawk stumbling forward, Math hit the ground in a roll. He didn’t stay down long, using the momentum of his fall to roll to his feet with a fighter’s grace. Mohawk didn’t pause. He darted in, his reach such it caused Math to jerk back and pivot so not to get his gut laid wide open. Math got his blade up to block Mohawk’s slice and brought his second knife into play. Proving his experience and skill, Mohawk executed a complicated move and somehow managed to avoid the worst of the wicked swipe of Math’s second blade. As the blades began to blur, the iron scent of fresh blood rode the air.
Math managed to deflect a gut shot, then a quick-silver throat strike. Stings of minor injuries bloomed as they continued to circle in search of an opportune opening.
A sixth sense, the same one honed by years of fighting multiple opponents and covering his own ass, had Math ploughing his fist into Mohawk’s face, even as he sw
ung out with his other hand, shifting to a reverse hold on his blade. Math’s fist landed on Mohawk’s nose with an audible crack. Math continued his spin, his blade leading, until he faced the idiot trying to stab him in the back. The same idiot now clutching his midsection, trying to keep his guts in place, as he dropped to his knees with a wail.
Grunts, curses, and the occasional yell came from behind him where Vex was keeping her targets entertained. How well, Math wasn’t sure as a charging Mohawk claimed his attention. With a flick of a wrist, Math flipped his blade so he was holding the sharp end, then sent it sailing through the air. It flew true and sank into Mohawk’s shoulder with enough force to break his momentum. Taking advantage of the distraction, Math went in low, using the lethal X pattern that was as natural as breathing to him. A ruby red trail bloomed in his wake.
Proving Mohawk earned his skills on the street, he backhanded Math with a heavy fist. Stumbling back while white stars exploded over his vision and his ears rang, Math got lucky and blocked another incoming punch. He managed to lock Mohawk’s arm and wrench. A bellow followed the sickening sound of bone breaking. It didn’t stop a fist from sinking into Math’s side. Pain lit every nerve ending and reignited the misery of Math’s earlier injuries. His mind shifted into a cruel clarity driven by survival.
Time to end this shit.
As his vision cleared, Math shifted his stance, getting a foot behind his foe’s legs. Gritting his teeth, he reached beyond the aches and pains, coming back with an explosion of strength. Twisting, he used his weight against Mohawk, and forced the other off balance, until he stumbled back. Between the unexpected move and blood loss, Mohawk’s reaction time lagged, enough that Math could follow through with lethal results. His blade flashed, flesh parted, and blood flowed. In a matter of moments, Mohawk’s corpse lay at Math’s feet.