She gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“We have your back, Rogue. We won’t let you fall. If you can’t put your faith in you, put it in us,” she stated.
“She’s right. We love Grace. She’s a good woman. We know where you get your compassion from now. She raised her son to be just like her.”
He only wished.
“Trust your family, and if the day comes where she can’t fight anymore, you will never be alone.”
Sarah wiped the tear on his cheek.
“I promise.”
Yeah, he couldn’t leave them. They were a family, and if anything happened to his mother, he’d need them to get through it. They were now his.
He’d share his mother.
“Are you sure you don’t want to marry me? Again, I’m loaded.”
Dakota wasn’t having it.
“Okay, Alistair, knock your shit off,” Dakota stated, “or I’m going to knock something off of you,” he said, pointing at his head.
He raised his hands in surrender.
Sarah wrapped her arm around Rogue’s waist as she attempted to keep the bitch slapping to a minimum.
“Let’s drop you off at your house,” Dakota stated. “We’ll call you later when we find Storm St. Clair.”
“Promise?” he asked.
“Yes, and again, don’t tangle with the detective!” he stated, telling Sarah about the woman and what happened outside the gated sanctuary.
“I can handle her,” she immediately offered.
Both men stared at her wordlessly.
“Or not.”
Rogue laughed.
“We’ve created a monster.”
“You think? I didn’t have anything to do with this. When I left her in DC, she wasn’t a killer. She came here, and you two killers messed up my girl. She got bad by proxy.”
Sarah snickered and popped a piece of gum in her mouth.
It was all fair game when it came to cleaning up New Orleans.
And she loved a game.
* * * H U N T E R * * *
Four Twenty-Five
Chartres Street
French Quarter
They’d been MIA almost the whole day, and Zayn couldn’t wait to hear about everything that had gone down. He and Stella had kept themselves busy, going over the file the Blackhawks had left behind.
The entire time, he was worried about the people he now called family and friends. He knew they were likely safe, but Zayn couldn’t help himself.
He was attached to them.
So, they had something to eat, made some tea, and were working on the rest of the case. Zayn needed to clear his mind so he could be ready for tonight’s operation.
They had a woman to save.
This was out of his wheelhouse before the last case where he’d saved Stella.
He hoped it wasn’t becoming a habit.
For now, they were learning everything they could about the woman who was being held hostage in the sex ring.
Storm St. Clair had been a decorated Fed. Zayn knew, since he’d been a Marine, that each of those commendations meant something. The woman had been tough.
That mattered to him.
From the picture in the file, she looked to be about twenty at the time of her abduction. He knew she wasn’t, but the whole age thing reminded him of his sister.
And how sick some men could be.
Oh, that really pissed Zayn off.
If there was one thing that made him want to go on a killing spree, it was men behaving badly with young women.
Hell!
Older women too.
Women should be protected, like his sweet Stella. He couldn’t imagine what could have happened to her had they not saved her.
Yeah, this case was making him crankier by the moment. All Zayn wanted to do was go in, save the woman, and get her out of there. She deserved a good life.
They all did.
He was a firm believer that men should protect and cherish, not rape and hurt.
Men like that…
Yeah, they deserved to have their faces peeled off and fed to the gators.
“What are you thinking about?” Stella asked from her seat beside him on the couch. He was cleaning his gun, and silently staring at the components. While she hadn’t been married to him long, she knew the signs when he was a man on the edge.
“I was thinking about that poor woman.”
“Yeah, she has to be scared. I was only taken for a month, and I’ll never be the same. I get so afraid so easily. I can’t imagine how she has to feel.”
Neither could he.
“If she’s still alive—that is. A year…that’s a long time for someone to be trapped. One day she was working her job, and the next…”
“Scary.”
“I don’t think we should have kids,” he blurted out, catching his wife off guard.
“What?” she asked. “Why do you say that?” Stella asked, trying to understand where he was taking this. What she did notice about her husband was that he tended to overthink if he was left to his own devices.
That’s why she and their new family were good for him. It was giving Zayn a chance to come out of his shell.
He pointed at the file like it contained the answers to some deep, dark mystery.
“Well, then we have a problem.”
He glanced over, the torment clearly on his face. He looked as if he was fighting one hell of an internal battle.
And losing.
“What?” he asked.
“I wasn’t on birth control when we first had sex, and we’ve had countless romps and I’m still not on birth control.”
He stared at her.
His face said it all.
“I was under the impression you wanted a family. We’ve discussed it before, and I never went back on the pill. If it was out of my system.”
That emotion filled his eyes.
“You want babies, don’t you, Zayn?” she asked, gently touching his big hand with her much smaller one. Immediately, it encompassed hers, holding it safely in his.
Yeah, she knew the answer to that.
“God. Yes.”
“Oh, Zayn. I told you before I’m not living my life in fear. We can’t hide and not live.”
“But if I have to head out on a job.”
“I’ve got her back,” Dakota said, heading into the room with Sarah.
Zayn stared at him.
“You heard me. If you have to take a private job, I’ll make sure Stella is safe. If we have a place, she can come hang with us. There is always room for her when you’re busy. I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
Stella smiled at him.
“I have no doubt I’d be safe with them—our children would be too.”
“I dig babies,” Dakota stated. “My brother has them. I spoil them rotten. That’s half the fun.”
Zayn was relieved.
They’d said they would before, but time changes things. Hearing Dakota promise he would protect his children and woman helped him regain his focus.
It touched him.
“Jo-sda-da-hnv-tli,” he said, offering him his hand. Yes, they were now brothers. There was that bond, and it would never be broken.
He knew it.
Dakota offered the words back. He’d been listening to the two men using their Native language, and he’d picked up a few words along the way.
That was just one of them.
Brothers weren’t always born of the same blood. They were born on the battlefield as they fought side by side.
Like them.
Criminals and law.
They found a link to tie them all together.
“Although, I think I can take care of myself,” Stella stated, reaching for her gun, only it wasn’t there. “Huh…I had it not too long ago.”
Zayn sighed and pulled it from the back of his cargo pants. He’d found it in the bathroom beside some lipstick. His wife…she was a menace.
“I
think you misplaced this, my sweet Stella.”
She giggled.
“Thank you, babe.”
“You’re welcome, sweetness. Now, where’s the playboy?” he asked, looking around.
Dakota told him about the detective, Grace, and the shitty mess they had brewing.
Zayn popped his gun back together again and loaded it.
“I’ll take care of her. I know a way to get her out of here so no one finds her.”
Sarah laughed because she’d said the same thing on the way there. Only, Dakota was NOT amused.
You kill one asshole earlier, and he lost his sense of humor. He needed to lighten up.
“We are NOT killing a cop. That’s how you get more cops focused on you. Am I clear?” he asked.
Normally, Zayn didn’t have anyone bossing him around. It was why he worked alone. Now the man was getting a bit too pushy.
“Who died and made you king?” Zayn asked. “Last I looked, we were all driving this bus.”
Stella gave him a kiss on the cheek to help defuse the situation. She knew her husband. He wasn’t really irritated with Dakota, but with the mission that night. He was worried about Storm St. Clair.
“To be clear, you’re the bus, babe, in that analogy. Just food for thought,” she offered, patting his big arm.
“I feel used.”
Sarah plopped down on the couch beside him.
“That’s the story of my life,” she teased. “Used and abused. Dakota is tough.”
He cleared his throat.
“Maybe we can focus?” Dakota asked.
“Sure. What did you guys do?” Zayn asked. “Did you find anything at Charlotte’s?”
Sarah grinned.
“Why is she happy about a trip to Charlotte’s?” Zayn asked. “That’s shit work, and we all know it.”
She told him.
“We found one of Chesky’s assholes destroying evidence at her place,” she said, pulling out the burnt book. Sarah tossed it onto the coffee table.
“Did you kill him?” he asked. “Maybe you should have tortured him for information.”
She grinned.
“You think?” she asked.
“Stop, Sarah,” he said since she was enjoying it a little too much. Dakota needed to reel this one in.
Basically her.
Dakota told him what Sarah had done. The entire time, Stella sat there with her hand over her mouth, and Zayn didn’t move. His face remained emotionless.
“So, as you can see, Bunny had her fun.”
Zayn was proud.
“My sister from a totally white mister. You make me so happy to be a big brother,” he said, wiping a pretend tear.
She played along.
“I learned it from you, bro. I learned it from you. Can I borrow your car?”
He laughed.
“Don’t encourage her. She’s trouble.”
“I want to be trouble,” Stella stated. “Sarah has all of the fun. How did you break him? Give me the deets.”
Zayn stared at her.
“The deets?”
“You know…the details. The down and dirty, the skinny, the…”
He kissed her.
Sarah found that amusing.
“Ahhh, newlyweds. It’s cute.”
“Well, if you two are done swapping spit, I need to get some feedback.”
Zayn focused on him.
“You shouldn’t wear plaid. It’s not your thing,” he stated. “It makes you look like wallpaper at some grandma’s rocking seventies crib.”
Sarah snorted and tried to keep from laughing.
It took Dakota a second.
“Seriously? I didn’t mean about my damn clothes,” he stated. “I was thinking more about that book. Sarah thinks someone more lab-y and less killer-ish might be able to get some of the charcoal off the pages. Then we can see what is beneath them.”
“Fine with me. I’ll go kidnap a scientist,” he offered, shrugging. “Do you want a dude, who we beat on, or a woman that we can scare stupid?” he asked. “You know, so I know who to grab.”
That horrified him.
“Woah, slow your roll, bus man. We kill plenty of people, and we aren’t kidnapping too. We have to have a little bit of control or we become the issue.”
The funniest part was Dakota was the ONLY one who had an issue with it. They all knew he was struggling to decompartmentalize it.
“We do have that holding area downstairs,” Sarah offered. “It’s there for a reason.”
Oh, he was well aware.
Again, the body count was on him, and Dakota wanted to keep it to a minimum.
“I was thinking more like contacting the Blackhawks and see if they can get the book cleaned up for us. Then we don’t have to kidnap or kill anyone. They have legit scientists.”
“Well, we could do it that way, but where’s the fun?” Zayn asked. “Am I right?” he asked Sarah.
Dakota gave her the look.
It was his sexy, bossy one. It shut her up.
“What’s in the book?” Stella asked as she tried to help Dakota get it under control, and fast.
The man was going red.
“We hope it’s a list of customers. We might be able to get our hands on a few of them, and then we can use them to give us Chesky’s location. He was worried about something in Charlotte’s possession if he was sending a goon to cover his tracks.”
“Oh, I bet that scumbag is scared shitless. I’m going to get him, rip off his dick, and stuff it in his mouth—sideways.”
“I’ve found that working the balls over is the most productive way to break a man,” Sarah stated.
“I’ve tried that, but after a while, they begin crying and…”
“Will you stop?” Dakota asked. “You two are way out of control,” he said, pointing at Sarah. “And you…,” he said, pointing at Zayn, “don’t need to give her any ideas. I have to sleep beside her, and I’m naked most of the time. If I ever want to get an erection again, you have to stop.”
Zayn gave Sarah a fist bump.
“And that is how you truly scare a man,” Zayn offered, busting Dakota’s ass. He couldn’t help himself. It was good times.
The man flustered easily.
Dakota ignored them.
“Anyway, I say we call the Blackhawks to see if we can ‘BORROW’ a scientist.”
“Go for it.”
So, he did.
When Elizabeth answered on the third ring, he didn’t give her time to say anything.
“We’ve hit a roadblock, and we really need to call in a favor.”
“Okay,” she stated. “What can I do for you?”
He told her everything.
“I hope we can trust her,” Zayn stated, not keeping his voice down at all. In fact, he raised it.
Dakota cringed.
“Tell him I’ll come back there and kick his ass if he just suggested I wasn’t trustworthy,” Elizabeth stated, hearing everything the man had said.
“Don’t be offended. He doesn’t trust anyone. He’s got his own issues.”
“Hey!” Zayn stated.
Stella patted his hand.
Maybe he did.
“Anyway, can you help me?” Dakota asked.
“Yeah, I have a way. It actually falls into place all on its own. Tomorrow morning, I’ll have help stop by. If you don’t hear from me, expect company.”
“What kind of company?” he asked.
“The ex-lab rat kind who can work with just about anything. Give her space, and she’ll get that book de-carboned for you to the best of her ability.”
“Can we trust her?” Zayn asked. “Or do we have to kill her after the fact? Asking for a friend.”
Sarah laughed.
“Uh, don’t kill her. She’s trustworthy, and I’ll speak to her personally and explain the situation. She’s accustomed to working with the utmost confidentiality. Your secrets will be safe, Zayn.”
That worked for all of them.
Dakota was more than happy to let her help. He trusted her judgment, and really, they had no choice in the matter. They had only one lifeline, and she was it.
“I won’t let him kill her, or let Sarah kill her either,” Dakota promised, flat out telling Elizabeth who the troublemakers were in that house.
It wasn’t him or Stella.
“Did you use the trick with the lighter and the nipples?” Elizabeth asked.
Sarah didn’t miss a beat.
“Yeah, it made the guy scream like a…”
Sarah noticed Dakota was staring at her.
“Girl.”
Elizabeth laughed.
“I pictured his face. Please tell me he was all kinds of horrified. Dakota is best when he’s freaked-out. I used to like to terrorize him just for that alone.”
“Oh, he was.”
“Okay, then, my work here is done. I’ll have your scientist delivered by morning. No killing the messenger, Mr. Thundercloud. Oh, and get Storm St. Clair! Her time in hell needs to come to an end!”
He simply sighed as she hung up.
Dakota knew that had to be their priority at that moment. They had to save a woman who didn’t deserve to be abandoned. Hopefully, it was easy. They needed to get her out so they could debrief her.
Anything Storm St. Clair knew was going to only help them in this sick game. She’d been trying to work it from the inside, and boy, had she done that.
“What did you learn in the file?” he asked, noticing it was open and disheveled.
“That the Feds dropped the ball. They let a woman be taken. That’s why women should be at home and…”
Stella and Sarah both stared at him as if daring him to finish that sentence.
“You were saying?” Stella asked. “Your evening is going to hinge on what you say next.”
Oh, he knew better.
“They belong with the men as they plan out really dangerous missions,” he added, chickening out. While he wasn’t afraid of Sarah, he was afraid of losing his wife—or the hot newlywed sex.
It was better safe than sorry.
“Anyway, no comment on that,” Dakota stated. “What we can do is get into our gear. I wish we had Rogue for this mission. I’m going to bet that there’s going to be all kinds of security on this house.”
“I’d bet that is going to be the case, and some guns too,” Zayn offered.
Absolution: The Hunter Mercenary Series (Book Two) Page 15