AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Armon and Cade will make everyone involved wish they were dead.” Katya sighed, but not with defeat.
I patted at a sticky chest holster, but it was empty.
Metal of a buckle clinked from her direction. “But we can’t wait for them to arrive and save us.” Did she think we could jump out waving guns to get past well-trained criminals? Barefoot and in skimpy pajamas?
We couldn’t win with a gun. We’d tried. Despite my doubt, I helped her roll a body to the side. I thought to when Armon placed a gun in my hand for me to kill my uncle. Armon’s reasoning for me to kill my own family had to do with a child of ours that could be hurt by evil people. That was about to be a reality.
The van slowed, and her rummaging grew louder.
I continued my speedy search of the dark crevices of the floor. We were about to come face to face with the evils Armon demanded me to see. I felt the terror of what they would do to us, but I also felt the heat of Armon’s wrath when he came for his family. Katya had been right in my garage when she warned he would come without mercy. He killed the people involved in her suffering, and he would kill these bastards as well. But we needed to be smart.
“Armon had surprise to his advantage when he came for you.” I pondered out loud as I searched. “He won’t have that when he comes this time.”
I gripped the bench as the van came to a complete stop. No gun. No defenses. We just needed time for Armon to come. “If we act submissive, maybe they will think Nikki was the one to kill these men. She framed us to get what she wants, or at least they won’t bind us.”
The vehicle began to move slowly.
“Her? Capable of killing or fighting?” Katya asked.
“She is Armon’s wife. He would train her to defend herself and be clever. At least they might think so, but maybe they won’t know what went on in the van and they will think us too scared to run.”
After about five more minutes and no real plan, aside from not doing anything stupid, the van slowed to a stop. Hopefully, we weren’t going to be led into some underground maze that would be hard for Armon to get into. At least, that was what I thought until the bright light streamed in, and I blinked several terrifying people into sight, including a hardened, blond mercenary I recognized from the night Armon subjected me to brief, intense cruelty. Tomas, the man who still had a glare more lethal than any gun. A man who I certainly didn’t trust, even if he had killed people Armon considered enemies.
Chapter Forty-Six
Armon
With some help from my connections, it didn’t take long to track the phone numbers and any other phones that the criminals had been in touch with. Following the early movements on various street cameras helped as well.
What I found most interesting was the brief stop that must have occurred.
“Something must have gone wrong with their plan…” Cade said, studying my screen. “Unless they know we’re on their trail and plan to disappear.”
“No.” I leaned an elbow on my desk and stared at the information in front of me. “This was unexpected. And a phone signal is still at that scene. Something interfered. And that van got onto the road again quickly, so someone was close.”
Cade leaned forward toward my screen. “By the way those phone locations are splitting, they have to know we’re onto them.”
My teeth gritted as I studied the data points and then the map. “We’ve had a few marks that frequent that area.” I zoomed in on a neighborhood only about a Forty-minute drive away. Mansions of the most corrupt of the wealthy in the area.
“We should get moving!” Cade used to be more controlled, and he should have known this was no time for rushing. This was too personal to him.
I continued my focus on the screen. “We’re down four men. Preparation over speed is what will work.”
“Do you remember how long it took to find her last time?”
I remembered all too well. I also recalled his desperation, which I mistook for stepping up while I was in crisis. Now I knew what that look and urgency was. “How long have you been fucking my sister?”
A defensive scowl morphed his enraged expression. There would be no ability to speak with the clench of his jaw. I hadn’t wanted her involved with someone like me. Cade was a good man, one of the best, but this was another deception I’d uncovered. There couldn’t be secrets between us if we wanted to be successful in our women’s safe return.
“How long?” I growled.
“Before she…” His short answer said enough.
I wasn’t an asshole who would have absolutely refused they be together. “You fucked her then changed your mind.”
“She changed her mind!” His response didn’t shock me. Katya wasn’t secure in her relationships. Most likely, she feared rejection and preemptively ended things.
Another decline email popped up on the screen in front of me. What could possibly have so many mercs and bounty hunters so preoccupied? I went to the website that listed bounties. Many had been tagged as accepted, but why? We didn’t have that many groups who took out marks. Then I saw the additional pages of jobs. Every single one was a war criminal. “What’s happened with the war?” I asked.
