ISAAC

 

“Get the fuck off me!” I roar, throwing both Arlo and King at least four feet clear of me. I run through the club, barrelling over people, shoving them out of the way. The moment I barge through the fire escape, I know that the whole thing was a mistake… or a setup. I count ten men standing in front of me, and two vans idle behind them. Dean is on the floor, unmoving. Fuck.

“Isaac?” Via’s shaky voice tears me up inside, and my eyes move from her to the man gripping her arm.

“You thought we didn’t know about you? That this was a covert op? You should watch your back, young man, you never know who’s shoving knives into it.” The words spring free from the mouth of the suit. Derry. That’s the name of the leader. I remember it from the sparse intel we were provided.

“Via, you’re going to be fine. I will come for you,” I tell her, my voice steady because I know it’s true.

“Isaac,” Via whispers. “Don’t let them take me, please!” she screams.

I know what’s coming as her screams continue, and all I can do is keep looking at her trying to let her know I’ll get her even if it’s not right now. One of the men standing at her back raises his hand, the gun glints in the moonlight as he clocks her on the back of the head, and she falls limp in his arms. I show no emotion. I’ve locked everything down. If I don’t, she’ll die, but I mark him as mine to kill.

“Hmmm… so cold. I’ve heard about you, Kane. Heard you were a frigid bastard. She’s someone to you.” He steps forward, his suit crinkling as he moves. Stopping, he rubs his chin. “You think you’re going to save her, but you’re not.” He shakes his head, grinning. As he fades into the background his men step forward, obscuring my view of him. Helena isn’t visible, so I know she’s already in one van. I watch poised as the man holding Via throws her over his shoulder and spins around walking away.

Pulling my knife from my sleeve, I jump forward stabbing the man in front of me in the throat. All hell breaks loose as shouting, shooting, and smashing fills the quiet night air with sound. I see the moment they throw Via into the back of one of the vans and flee. I knew they would. I had settled it in my mind, knowing I wouldn’t get through the guys in front of me before they took her.

Now I’m facing multiple men, Dean is down, and I have no idea where the rest of my team is. Crouching and rounding out my leg, I take down the next man to come at me—his head hits the concrete step and makes a crunching sound. I reach around to my waistband pulling out my gun, shooting the guy to my far left. I only manage to hit his shoulder as the others rush toward me. Fighting is a matter of life and death, and right now, as I feel fists hit my back and ribs, I know I need to think quick. With my gun in one hand and my knife in the other, I shoot someone, making a space as they fall. At the same time, I stab another. Sucking the knife out of his flesh, I push it back in again. There’s a groan and a thump—another one down.

I swing my fist up and thrust the knife into the next man’s chin, pushing up into his mouth. He falls taking my knife, so I bring up my gun, but not quick enough I realise as I feel the cold steel at my temple.

“I might not have pulled my gun out originally because I wanted to beat you like a real man. Seeing as you used your gun, I figure it’s anything goes now,” a man at my back tells me.

I chuckle. “This isn’t schoolboy rules, dickhead. If it were, then none of you would have rushed me. Instead, you would have fought me one at a time. But then you know I would have killed every single one of you.”

He clocks me on the back of my head, and I grind my teeth together.

“You’re brave for a man who has a gun to his brain,” he sneers.

I chuckle again hearing the chatter in my earpiece. “I know something you don’t know,” I tease darkly.

“Oh yeah, and that would be?” he sniggers.

“I’m not alone,” I tell him. The second it registers on his face, a collection of gunshots ring out and he falls to the ground. The rest of the men drop around us, each one with a bullet in their head.

“Took you lot long enough,” I snap counting through my team and making sure they’re all there.

“We fucked up. No time to discuss it now. I’ve called in clean up. We need to debrief and quick,” Darwin tells me something I already know.

“Back to the house. Clint, Brand, check Dean. See if he needs medical attention… or not.” They know what to do, and they know what I mean. If he’s dead, then he’ll be taken to the crematorium we have a contract with, and if he’s okay, then they’ll bring him back to the house and call the doctor we keep on the books. They both nod and grab Dean as I make my way to my motorbike, ready to set up a plan to get my girl back. Before I do, there’s a visit I need to make.

 

 

“Kane,” Doreen says, darting up from her bed and reaching for her gun.

“Don’t bother, I’ve already taken it.”

“Kane, whatever you’re thinking, don’t. You’ll bring a world of hurt down on yourself,” she warns.

I smile. “You think I care? My woman, the only one I’ve ever been in love with, the reason I do what I do, the one person I’ve tried to protect, has been kidnapped. Taken to be sold into the sex trade. Ask me if I care what devastation I leave in my wake, ask me if I care who I kill. Ask me if I care whether I die.” I snarl, venom coating every word.

She doesn’t say anything, but her worried eyes tell me everything I need to know.

“You already know that the answer to all those questions is no. I care about nothing but saving her. That’s the only fucking thing I care about, and whatever I need to do to make that happen.” I shrug. “So be it.”

“Why did you come here?” she asks, and for the first time in all the years I’ve known her, I can hear the fear in her voice.

“The information you provided was shit. It wasn’t nearly close enough to what we normally have. We went in there half blind, believing there were six. We were ambushed. Dean may be dead, and they’ve taken Via and her roommate, Helena. Derry, the boss, he knew who I was, knew we were coming.” I take a breath in and out trying to calm myself, then I lean forward so we’re nose to nose. “I want to know who sold us out,” I whisper, and Doreen swallows hard.

“It wasn’t me,” she murmurs, and instinctively I know she’s telling the truth.

“Then you’re going to help me figure out who.” She nods. “Then, when this shit is done, if I’m not dead, you will help clean up the mess I made and let me out so I can be with my girl in peace.” She nods again. “Finally, whichever members of my team want out, you will release them, too. It’s their lives, not yours. Understand?”

“Y-yes, Kane.”

“Isaac,” I grind out.

“I-Isaac.”

“Get the fuck up. You’re coming with me,” I tell her.

 

 

“Where have you been?” Darwin hisses.

“Getting someone,” I snap dragging Doreen forward and into the house.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” he asks.

“Debrief. Now!” I shout through the house while moving to stand behind my seat at the top of the table.

Everyone gathers, and I look to Clint. “Dean?” I ask.

“Bullet was through and through. In the shoulder. Doc’s upstairs with him now.” I nod and some of the tension releases.

I lay both palms flat on the table and lean forward trying to be the commander and not a man in love.

“Status is they took Olivia McKenna and Helena Todd.” I stare around the room at everyone. They wear varying degrees of concern on their faces, from those who know my Via—and what she means to me—to those who know we lost our marks tonight and don’t want innocent girls to be harmed. “Some of you know, some of you don’t, but for those who are unaware, Olivia is my cousin.” I swallow down the lie knowing she’s far more than my cousin, she’s my everything.

“Shit.”

“Fuck.”

“Oh God.”

Everyone seems to have something to say, and I slam my hand on the table making the few cups—that all look like they’re drifting in a sea of wood—tremble under my weight. “Enough!” I shout. They all go quiet, waiting for my next order. “It doesn’t matter who she is to me. All you need to know is that they took two innocents tonight. We should have prevented that, and we didn’t. I want to know what happened.” They look at each other. “One at a time. Shelly, you first.”

Shelly nods and looks at Victor. “We never had our argument because Liv turned up.” Her eyes move to meet mine. “We didn’t have a clear line of sight when they took her, we only knew something happened when you barrelled through the crowd, and we saw Arlo and King scrambling after you. We moved quickly. We could see Clint and Brand advancing toward the back of the hallway. A gun went off over the other side of the club, people started screaming and running for the front. As that was going on, we were tackled by two guys and had to fight them off. We came outside as soon as we could.”

Nodding, I look to King.

“Same man, we were after you and were tackled once the gun went off. We dispatched the men and reached the door at the same time as Shelly and Victor. Clint and Brand, too,” he adds.

I look to Clint. “Yeah, exactly the same thing, except Dean left out of a side door following the suited guy.”

“Derry.”

“Yeah, he followed him, obviously into an unknown number of hostiles,” Clint explains.

“Okay.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and think for a second. “Right, Shelly, Victor, Clint, and Brand, go get all the notes and go over everything. We need to find where they’re hiding, what their weaknesses are. Everything we can that will give us an edge.” They all get up and move out the room as one, only Shelly pauses to squeeze my shoulder as she goes.

“Arlo, King, kindly take Doreen and find out what she knows. Doreen, I know it’s early,” I say glancing at the time telling me it’s only just five-thirty a.m. “But I need you to connect with your people, find out what you can, but don’t say why. This needs to be under the radar.” She nods and walks out with them. I look back at the clock. The time is like a beacon flashing, but all that tells me is that they’ve had Via for an hour now. I’d like to believe they won’t kill her, after all she’s a commodity to them. The truth is, if they think having her will be more trouble than it’s worth, then when I do locate them, there is a very real possibility I could walk in to find Via with a hole in her head. I twist my neck from side to side relishing the clicks as I do.

“This is a shit storm,” Darwin complains clicking his fingers one by one. I watch him, his movements are fluid, but his body is rigid. I wonder for a moment if he’s the source.

“We have another traitor,” Darwin tells me, and I nod. “I thought that ended when Marcus was dealt with, but tonight something happened.”

“What?” I question.

“First, I wasn’t outside when you needed me. For that, I’m sorry. I saw what was happening, but I chose a different path.”

“Okay. Enlighten me,” I demand.

“There was another team in there with us.”

My back straightens at his words, not just because I’m surprised, but also because I didn’t clock them. “Black Ops?” I question.

“Yeah.”

“You sure?”

“Yes. Two of them I worked with years ago. I kept out of their sight once I saw them. Avoided being seen at all costs. There were only four, but it looked like they were there to help our targets.”

“Fuck.” The word claws its way out of my throat, and I want to punch something.

“I managed to follow them, and I got this...”

Darwin pulls out his phone and presses play.

“Proctor wants this to go off without a hitch. He said helping them now will set things up,” the first guy says.

“That’s Calroe. I’ve worked with him. I’m not surprised by this, he’s a dirty bastard,” Darwin sneers before pressing play again.

“It’s one thing to let some drugs slide, but this is too much, Calroe,” the second guy whispers, and Darwin nods at me.

“Stop being such a pussy, Steed. It’s a few whores here and there. No one will miss them. Anyway, we’ll be set for life, and Proctor will get rid of his wife. All’s well that ends well.” Calroe chuckles.

“That’s all I could get before they moved off, then I heard a gunshot so I came outside. You have to know, Proctor is another handler, like Doreen,” Darwin informs me.

“Fuck. All this shit. Kidnapping women… and who knows what drugs they’ve let slide, all because he wants them to kill his wife?” I scrub my palm down my face.

“Shall I go join King, Arlo, and Doreen and share what I know?”

I nod. “Yeah, I’m going online to hack whatever I can, I need information, and I don’t have time to make it careful or clean. If I leave a trail, I don’t care.” I shrug. “She’s in danger.”

“I have your back. Always,” Darwin tells me, and I feel another piece of tension break away.

 

 

“I’ve pulled everything I can from locked-down files in the database Doreen so kindly provided us,” Darwin says with a smirk and a glance to a visibly shaken Doreen.

“It looks like they’re holed up here,” he says pointing to a spot on a printout of a local map.

“Where is that?” I question.

The paper ripples as he turns it to face him. I try to memorize every little detail of what’s happening second by second. It’s the only way I can engage my brain and keep it busy, allowing me to turn off the scared, fucked-up part that wants to become a savage and destroy the fucking world.

“That’s Trent Close.”

“What’s there?” I ask, thinking back a few years ago and remembering the houses on that road being demolished.

“Not a lot. There used to be seven houses, but they’ve been torn down. The only thing still there is this building,” he says tapping the map. “It’s at the end of the street which is a cul-de-sac. I think it used to be a retirement home.”

“Clint, get me blueprints of the layout.” He turns and walks out, following his orders.

“We’re going to get them,” I tell the others. “The new intel says we’ve halved their numbers. They’re hurting, but they do have both girls as leverage. I estimate they have around fifteen to twenty men at most. But first, I have something else to deal with. Another Black Ops team have been in on this shit. Doreen has dispatched people to pick them up from their homes so they won’t be an issue. I’m dealing with Proctor, personally.”

“But…” Doreen splutters.

My eyes move to meet hers, and she shrinks back in her seat. “Do not fucking test me. I found everything I needed in the files I hacked, although those recordings from the other Black Ops team were enough for me anyway. He’s been doing this for years, letting them take girls to sell as young as fucking twelve!” I shout. “He’s happy enough to do that shit, and now he’s involved me and what’s mine. I’m taking his blood. You clean up the mess I make today. You fucking owe me that much,” I boom.

Her body trembles. “Yeah, you’re right. Of course. Do what you need to do.”

“I was going to,” I inform her with a shrug. “Darwin, get everyone ready. I’ll meet you here in one hour,” I say pointing to the place on the map. “They’ve had the girls for four hours now, that’s four hours too long.”

He nods, and I’m already grabbing my motorbike helmet. As I walk out the door, my phone rings. I rip it from my pocket desperately hoping it’s Via, but it’s my mum.

“I love you, Mum, but I can’t talk now,” I tell the ringing phone before diverting it to voicemail, then switching it to silent.

 

 

“Hello, Proctor,” I greet the slightly older man as I approach him sitting having breakfast by his swimming pool.

He puffs up his chest and sneers at me. “You can’t come in here. Do you know who I am?” he asks, and I chuckle taking a seat next to him.

Turning so we’re facing each other, I respond with, “Do you know who I am?”

“No, who?”

“I’m the man who is going to kill you,” I say calmly, grinning. I’ve never been one for chatting before the kill.

His eyes widen, but that’s the only reaction I allow before shoving the six-inch blade of my knife into the left side of his throat. I watch as he slumps forward into his scrambled eggs and dies in front of me. Ripping the knife from his neck, I wipe it on his jeans, then return it back to my pocket.

“Told you,” I tell the now still and silent figure.

Now I need to get my girl. I can’t think about the possibility of her being dead. I can’t, because if she is, then I might as well make this my last battle. If she’s dead, then I’ll make sure I die today, too. Because if Via’s gone, then inside I’ll already have joined her.