Page 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

HENDRIX

I t had already gotten dark by the time Iceman landed the plane in a private airfield just north of Philly. Dark was good; dark meant we could move in the shadows and turn ourselves invisible, which was perfect for what I had in mind.

I’d taken many lives in the military and also since I’d popped smoke. I’d reconciled this with my conscience a long time ago. It was easier when I served because the majority of my kills had been in situations where it was either them or me.

Since then, I still hadn’t lost much sleep over killing. The men I’d taken out were threats, not only to me but also to innocents. The nature of my job meant that I had a license to kill; we all did, but even so, if the nature of our work for the government ever came out, they would deny having any knowledge of it.

However, was I licensed to kill the man who married Anna and then proceeded to hurt her? No. But that wasn’t going to stop me. My soul was already damned, so what difference would one more death make?

After checking our knives and firearms, we disembarked from the plane and headed straight into the big, black SUV that Colt and Shep had arranged to meet us at the airfield.

We were silent all the way to the area of Rittenhouse Square, where Anna’s husband had purchased a massive five-bedroom townhouse just after they got married. Antoni Lis owned his own firm of financial advisors but moonlighted as the money man for the Polish Mob.

Owning a business gave him an air of respectability and an excuse as to why he had so much money. Colt’s team had been investigating the Lis family for a while but hadn’t been able to pin anything on them. Colt knew Anna’s husband laundered his cousin’s drug proceeds, but without proof, he couldn’t do much about it.

Not for the first time, I could’ve kicked myself for not investigating him more thoroughly. Admittedly, at the time, I think I was burying my head in the sand. I missed Anna, and constantly checking on her was stopping me from moving on. I had to let her go, so it took Colt to draw my attention to what Lis was up to, and by then, it was too late.

Even then I reserved judgment. Just because Lis worked in organized crime, it didn’t automatically make him bad. I knew plenty of good men who operated outside the law. Hell, I was one of them. It was only when Colt dug deeper that we realized what was going on, and even then, I had to wait for Anna to be ready to leave. If I went in to extract her from the situation when she wasn’t prepared, I knew it would do more harm than good.

The mood in the car was subdued. Hours before, we’d been animated in our planning and plotting. We’d covered all scenarios and settled on making the scene appear to be a professional hit organized by a rival. The Lis family distributed heroin, crack cocaine, and crystal meth, the real nasty stuff, though they dabbled in everything that could make them a buck.

They had a network of street dealers and small-time urban gangs who ran their shit through Philly and the surrounding areas. They didn’t discriminate against who they supplied, and nobody was off-limits. In fact, they went out of their way to target schools in the area. The sooner they got the kids hooked, the better because, in the long run, it would make them more coin.

Taking these assholes out would be a pleasure. I’d seen what hard drugs could do to a person, and the thought of young kids being exposed to that kind of sick bullshit made me want to make it more painful for Antoni Lis and his asshole family.

Killing him would be my way of giving something back to society, as well as Anna.

Colt turned the SUV into Delancey Place and I felt Shep sit forward from the seat behind me. He pointed to a large, three-story mansion nestled in its own huge grounds. “That’s it.”

I looked up to see an ostentatious but attractive, red-bricked house with a slate grey roof. It was built over three stories with huge, oak double doors situated in the middle of the building and arched windows dotted along the first and second floors.

As impressive as it appeared, it wasn’t Anna. My woman loved cozy comfort. She liked slouchy furniture we could sprawl across while she lay on top of me, feeding me ice cream. My woman would take clean, crisp cotton over satin sheets every time. Anna needed welcoming, relaxed, and easy; she had explained to me once how she yearned for something that felt like home because she’d never really had a decent one before.

“Earpieces in,” I ordered. “Make sure your comms are working before we go in.”

The brothers followed orders and we tested the comms between us until I was satisfied everything was as it should be.

Colt parked the SUV at the bottom of the street, then grabbed his iPad from the holder on the dashboard before beginning to tap. “They’re in the kitchen,” he advised us. “Antoni and Leon Lis and their cousin, Filip, are all there. Looks like they’re snorting blow.”

“Where’s Anna?” I demanded.

“In her room. She’s certainly not roaming the place.”

A tight feeling enveloped my gut. “Can you see if she’s okay?”

“Nope,” he replied. “Don’t got eyes in Anna’s fucking bedroom. I’m not a damned pervert.”

My jaw clenched.

“Chill, Prez. We’ll be in and out of there within forty-five minutes,” Picasso assured me. “She’ll be fine once we get to her.”

“He’s right, Prez,” Gambit agreed. “Won’t be long now, and we’ll get her safe.”

Their words settled me somewhat, but I couldn’t stop the stab of worry from digging inside my chest. I should never have let Anna go. I’d told myself I wasn’t good for her and that she was happy. I wanted Anna to have everything I couldn’t give her, like marriage and a good life. Except now, I knew I wanted those things too, but only with her. She was everything I needed, but I just wished I could’ve come to that conclusion before I forced her to dump my ass and marry another man.

“Do we all know what we’re doin’ and where we’re goin’?” I checked.

A chorus of ‘yes, Prezs’ went up.

“It’s time,” I muttered. “Stick close and make sure your weapons are at the ready just in case they catch wind that something’s wrong.” My eyes went to Iceman, then Breaker. “You two good with the plan?”

Breaker pulled an army knife from under his shirt where he’d previously sheathed it. “I’m ready,” he rasped. “Time to play.”

A cold shiver went down my back at the emptiness in his eyes. During the journey, Break had gotten into the zone. All the humanity in his demeanor had gone, leaving behind something almost subhuman.

Ice’s face had also morphed into a blank mask. “Be careful,” he told me with a jerk of his chin before silently opening the door of the SUV and slipping out into the street with Breaker at his heels.

Picasso caught the door before it closed and looked at me expectantly. “Ready, Prez?”

I glanced at Colt, then Shepherd, and gave them both chin lifts. Then, with a deep breath, I pulled on my gloves, threw open my door, and slid out, waiting for it to shut quietly behind me.

I rounded the car toward Cass and Gambit, who had piled into the street, and we set off. Our generic, black sneakers flew silently over the sidewalk that led to our destination.

The house loomed before us, big and oppressive. Most of the windows were in darkness apart from one on the second floor at the front of the building. Quickly and silently, we moved toward the rear of the house, staying on the footpath to avoid leaving footprints.

As we neared the rear of the house, we were met by a tall gate at least seven feet high. Picasso leaped at it, just for a few seconds hanging from the rail at the top, then pulled himself up and over it, disappearing into the shadows of the large, landscaped back garden.

I crouched down and locked my fingers together, signaling for Gambit to use my gloved hands as a vault. He was a big guy at six feet five and two hundred pounds of muscle, so he needed a bit of help to get his ass over. The instant he pulled his body up and over the gate, I moved back a few meters, ran, and leaped. I easily reached the vertical metal bar at the top of the gate and, with one hand, hauled myself up, using the other to gain some leverage to vault over before dropping down catlike to the other side.

After quickly taking stock of my surroundings, I moved into the shadow of a huge Chinese chestnut tree where my brothers waited in a spot that gave us a view of the back of the main house but still allowed us to stay out of sight.

My heart thudded as Breaker’s voice came over the comms. “I’m in, and I’m clear.”

“Fuck me,” Gambit muttered. “That was quick.”

I couldn’t help but smirk. “Breaker’s a fuckin’ machine when he’s in soldier mode. He did some shady, dark shit in Afghanistan, brother. He’d fit in with us Virginia boys no problem.”

“How the fuck did Breaker get over the gate, scope the place out, and get inside without tripping any alarms?”

“Watch and learn, boys,” I advised quietly, my alert gaze automatically sliding toward the bright lights streaming from the kitchen window. “He probably doesn’t even need us here. In fact, I’m shocked he even went in with Iceman. Usually, Break likes to work alone. Having a team around him is more of a hindrance than a help.”

“Jesus,” Picasso breathed. “They’re lunatics in the Wyoming chapter.”

I grinned, eyes still on the kitchen window. “That they are, Cass. That they are.”

We were interrupted by Breaker’s voice coming over the comms link. “Three men in the kitchen. Our target, his brother, and the cousin. Three other security located in separate areas. Eliminated the one guarding Anna’s door, and I’m about to disable another. Hang tight for a minute. Over.”

I tapped to open a comms link. “Check on Anna, brother.”

After a brief pause, his voice came back over the radio. “In her room, asleep. Seems okay.”

The sense of relief that swept through me was almost palpable. “Thanks, Breaker. Over,” I replied and closed comms.

Gambit looked at me and blinked. “What the fuck?”

Picasso sighed. “Is he gonna leave anyone for us?”

“We’re hiding in the fucking shrubbery while Breaker gets to take out the bad guys,” Gambit grumbled. “Feel like a spectator in an episode of the goddamned Breaker show.”

“We get the Lis brothers and their boss,” I reminded him. “And we agreed Breaker and Iceman would clear up the stragglers. We’ll go in as soon as the rest of the house is clear, so just hang fire and stick to the damned plan.”

“Sorry, boss,” Gambit muttered.

“We’ll get our action,” I assured him. “Just be patient. The second we deviate from what we discussed, we put the entire mission and Anna’s safety in jeopardy and that’s unacceptable. Got it?”

He jerked a nod. “Got it.”

Right on cue, Breaker’s voice came back over the comms. “Cleared. You can go in.”

Picasso’s eyes bugged out. “Does he wanna move to Virginia?”

“We’ve already got a VP.” Pulling out my weapon, I inspected it one last time and shoved it in my shoulder holster. “Ready?”

Both men pulled their weapons and nodded.

“Let’s fuckin’ move,” I ordered, my mind focusing on Anna and getting her safe. My gut ached with anticipation of getting to my woman. “Remember, we stick to the plan. If we go in half-cocked, it could be Anna who suffers the consequences.”

As desperate as I was to get inside, throw my girl over my shoulder, and get the fuck out of dodge, I was still a tactician. I was one of the best in the business. Throughout my career as a Ranger and a Scout, I’d traveled to the worst hellholes on Earth and had gone up against demons masquerading as humans. I came out unscathed every time, often when others didn’t.

If anyone could get Anna back, it was me. The only other man alive who had instincts comparable to mine was Breaker, and luckily, he was already in there doing his thing.

Slowly, I began to stalk toward the house, sensing my brothers at my six. Eyes narrowing, I stared with stone-cold focus at the light streaming from the kitchen. I pointed at the window and then to the ground, indicating we were to go low.

Stooping forward, I began to speed up until we hit the side of the building.

“Follow my lead,” I whispered before ducking under the kitchen window and shuffling toward the huge bi-folding doors leading out to the grounds.

The three of us stood still like statues with our backs flat against the red brick wall, listening to the steady thud of quiet music wafting from the kitchen. As I reached into my inside pocket to grab my knife, voices drifted out through the door, which had been left slightly open.

My chest jerked as a heavily Eastern European-accented voice drifted out into the quiet night air.

“I warned you against marrying her, Cousin. How many times did I tell you to get yourself a quiet, obedient Polska who knows her place? Bitches like your Ania are good for the bedroom, but you can’t turn a whore into a wife. Let her believe you’ve agreed to the divorce, wait a few months, then find an excuse to take her to Warszawa, where I’ll arrange a tragic accident. Our policja friends won’t touch you there.”

My lungs began to burn.

“She’s under control, Filip,” a less accented but still unmistakably Polish voice replied. “I’ve got her in hand.”

“She’s a liability, Cousin. These American women are too independent. Unless you train them early and make them cow to you, there’s always a chance of betrayal, and now she’s asked for a divorce. What if she threatens to go to the FBI and tell them your business? We’ve already got the Feds breathing down our necks. We can’t risk it.”

A low growl cut through the air. “There’ll be no divorce.”

There was a brief moment of silence before another voice chimed in, “Then Filip’s right. Ania needs to be eliminated. We can’t trust her.”

“I’ve already made her cow,” the other asshole argued.

“One beating won’t make her submit, Antoni.”

A quiet chuckle ensued, and he replied, “Then I won’t stop at one. I’ll enjoy crushing my Ania’s spirit. It’ll be like breaking in an untrained mare; the reward will be worth the effort.”

Laughter washed through the door.

My jaw clenched hard as granite, and I found myself closing my eyes, trying to tamp down the compulsion to start shooting heads. Blood rushed through my ears, and my heart thumped so hard I could feel the pulsing in my head.

I cracked my neck from side to side, my thoughts going to a beautiful redhead in a bar, smiling at me with her heart shining from her eyes as her soft hand covered mine.

Immediately, my pulse rate slowed, and the thudding of my heart went back to normal.

Soon, I could rid myself of all my pent-up frustration, but until then, I had to do what I’d been doing for the last twenty-four hours and distance myself from my emotions. The moment I allowed my sentiments to take over, I was in danger of losing control, and that wouldn’t help Anna.

I’d achieved my objective; Antoni Lis had admitted his sins and, in doing so, signed his own death warrant. Now, I’d have no guilt in taking the bastard out.

My hand went to the KA-BAR nestled away in its sheath, then my M18, drawing it from the holster fastened across my chest. I raised my hand and counted down using my fingers.

Three. Two. One.

I stepped out from the window into full view of the doors, aimed for my target, and let off one solitary shot from my silenced weapon.

The glass exploded, and bedlam ensued.

We stomped into the kitchen, fanned out, and automatically got into position.

The Lis brothers, who had been seated at one end of a large table with their cousin, dived to the floor, rolling to their knees as they pulled their weapons and began to return fire. Hollers and shouts cut through the air as they yelled instructions to each other in Polish. The booms got louder as my brothers began to overwhelm them with a barrage of gunfire.

We had the upper hand already. Picasso and Gambit were in soldier mode. Dressed in all black, holding their weapons aloft and firing determinedly, they could’ve passed for avenging angels.

I took in the scene, calculating where everybody was and how to get an even bigger tactical advantage.

Filip Lis lay on his back beside the table, his head lolling to one side and his eyes open, fixed and dilated. He was the drug-dealing, kid-murdering bastard I aimed for with my first shot, and I’d gotten him directly between the eyes.

My gut jerked as an explosion cracked through the room. My head whipped around to see one of the windows behind the Lis brothers shatter. Bullets embedded themselves into the walls and ricocheted off metal to the point where I was shocked nobody took a stray shot to the ass.

I aimed and fired, catching Antoni Lis in the shoulder.

He let out a cry, then pointed his gun at me with his good arm. His eyes widened and a look of recognition twisted across his face as he took me in.

I smirked.

He knew why I was there. I’d made it my business to seek him out and introduce myself just before he married Anna. I warned him to treat her right and also warned him I’d come for him if he didn’t. He fucking swore he wasn’t into anything dirty. Promised me he wasn’t part of the family business and he was legit and clean.

He was a goddamned liar.

Something flashed behind his eyes, resignation maybe? His arm flew toward me, and he pointed his gun at my head. I could see his aim was way off, but still, I braced as he squeezed the trigger, except his gun just clicked loudly.

He was out of ammo.

My arms stretched out, and I aimed at his heart, staring down the barrel of my gun. “Put your fucking weapons down, asshole. If I squeeze this trigger I guarantee I won’t miss.”

Antoni Lis raised his weapon in the air, his injured arm hanging down. “Okay, okay. Don’t shoot.” He glanced at his brother and hissed, “Lower your weapon.”

Leo shot him a defiant glare but must’ve known he was outnumbered and outgunned because he heaved a defeated breath before slowly holding his hands in the air, still clutching his gun.

“Slide your weapons across the floor,” I ordered.

Nobody moved.

“Now!” I bellowed.

Leon Lis leaned forward, carefully placed his gun down, and slid it toward Picasso.

Antoni did the same, wincing from the pain in his shoulder as he pushed his weapon away.

Gambit kept his gun trained on them while Picasso approached Leon first, pulling his hands behind his back and securing them with a zip tie.

I took stock of the situation, confident that I could trust my brothers to keep on top of things while I checked on Anna. I needed to get my woman out of there before we staged the scene for the cops. We were going to make it appear as if a rival group had murdered the Lis family. A local gang who worked for the Polish had a signature hit. It would be easy to set up the men’s deaths to look like it was carried out by them.

A faint whistle came through my comms, and Breaker’s voice said, “Drix. She’s awake and wants to see you. First floor. Last door on the left.”

My heart leaped with anticipation, but I had to remain focused for a while longer. Once we were on the plane and Anna was safe, I could let everything out, but until then, I had to keep my shit together.

“Go,” Picasso urged me. “We’re good here.”

I gave him a chin lift and turned for the door, my stare catching on Antoni Lis’s as I went.

The curl of his lip gave him away, and I knew exactly how he was feeling. Hell, three years ago, I felt the same way when I had to stand by and allow Anna to leave.

Making my way into the hall, I jogged up the stairs and headed left. My chest tightened, and my throat turned drier with every step I took toward my woman.

A door opened, and I watched Iceman walk out into the hall, his stare catching mine as he walked toward me.

“She okay?” I demanded.

His mouth quirked. “Seems to be.” His eyes were full of humor and no longer blank like earlier. He rolled his lips inwards as if to stop himself from laughing, then he rolled them back out and asked, “Umm, what exactly did Tristan tell you?”

My eyebrows pulled together. “What do you mean?”

“Did he tell you anything about her?” he asked.

I thought back to our earlier phone convo. “Tristan said things had changed for her and had gotten complicated.”

“He’s right.” Iceman continued his walk to the stairs. “Go in. She’s just grabbing her shit. I’ll join in the fun downstairs.”

With my heart thudding violently in my chest, I walked through the doorway, allowing a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dimness of the room.

“Where is she?” I asked Breaker, who leaned back against a wall with one foot bent against it. Even though the lights were switched low, I could make out it was huge. The walls were a soft cream color, and the furnishings were expensive. The large, tufted rug that covered the polished parquet flooring probably cost as much as my couch, and I was sure I could make out actual velvet on the wallpaper that covered the entire room.

“In the bathroom,” Breaker informed me.

A toilet flushed in the distance, and a door across the room cracked open.

I swallowed the massive lump in my throat as I heard Anna’s soft voice say, “My bags are in the closet, Breaker. I packed some essentials as soon as I got off the phone with Tristan?—”

My stare rested on the small figure that appeared in the doorway, and immediately, my gut settled.

Just being in the same room as her made my heart bloom joyfully inside my chest. Every nerve ending tingled because she was close again, and I wondered how the hell I’d gone so long without her. My body felt as if it were coming alive again just by being in her presence.

She’d always been able to calm the demons. It was crazy how I’d forgotten, but maybe I meant to. Perhaps not ever allowing myself to think about it was the only way I could go on.

My eyes roved over her face, hungry to take it all in. She hadn’t changed. The burning copper of her hair still took my breath away. It was pinned up with just a few pretty curls escaping, showing the graceful line of her slim throat and making her look almost other-worldly. The low light playing over her porcelain skin made me yearn to reach out and touch her, but then she’d always had that effect on me. Anna made me want to strangle her and fuck her in equal measure, sometimes both at the same time.

Kaleidoscope eyes met mine and my heart gave a soft jolt.

“Jamie,” she croaked, staring at me as if she was seeing a mirage. “Why are you here?”

God, I loved it when she called me Jamie. The way she said it, with such emotion, made my heart flip over. I’d missed the words on her tongue, and I’d missed the way she conveyed she loved me every time it left her lips.

“Did you think I wouldn’t come for you?” I demanded softly. “I told you I’d always be here if you needed me. Why didn’t you call? I would’ve been here sooner.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “I couldn’t... Things—well, they’re different...” Her voice trailed off, and she emitted an audible sigh, murmuring to herself, “This is awkward.”

“You never need to feel awkward around me, Freckles. You know that...” I lost my train of thought as I watched Anna slowly pull at the belt of her thick bathrobe, and the flash of her white, lacy nightie came into view.

Every instinct screamed at me to stomp over there and shove that robe back on her.

Anna loved her sexy nighties, and frankly, so did I. But I didn’t appreciate Breaker getting a look at them. I opened my mouth, about to order her to make herself fucking decent, when the robe dropped to the floor. Her teeth worried at her lip nervously while her eyes became glued to my face.

My gaze swept over her, eventually passing her midriff before going lower. “Babe, you need to put some clothes on. We gotta get gone.”

“Jamie,” she whispered, her tone pained as she slowly lifted her hands to cup her rounded stomach.

My eyes rested on her hands, and I finally noticed the prominent bump there. At first, it didn’t register. It just looked like Anna had put on a few pounds, something I didn’t give the first fuck about. It was only when I studied her more closely that the realization of what I was seeing hit me.

The knives that pierced my soul left me raw. It was so painful that it hurt to breathe.

My eyes met hers, and I knew by her sudden wince that she saw every fucked-up thing going on in my head. She’d always had the ability to see through my walls.

I knew Anna wanted to be a mother more than anything, but I wasn’t willing to bend and give her what she needed. She deserved to be a mom because I knew she’d be a great one, so I gave her that.

It was why I left her.

So why did I feel like I was about to throw up?

My lungs squeezed so tightly that I struggled to speak. But speak I did, because somebody had to state the big, glaring, obvious as fuck elephant in the room.

And state it I did...

“You’re pregnant?”