Chapter 10

Monday 1.12am

Cooper

My fingers grip the wheel as I speed back towards the airport. Every muscle in my body is clenched as I try not to think about what will happen if Spider makes it up the mountain.

Chris was careful, all my people are careful, but all it will take is for one tiny breach, one small lapse in concentration, and the entire organization will come crumbling down.

I’m clenching my jaw so tight, it’s starting to ache, and getting wound up isn’t going to help any.

Sam is there. It’s not like Gabby and Ellie are alone.

But no matter how I spin this, I can’t help feeling responsible. I thought it might be a good way for Ellie to decide whether she wants to nurse anymore.

And in the back of my mind, I know I’d pinned a lot on her agreeing to help when I knew she probably couldn’t.

All in a pointless and selfish attempt to keep her from going back to Chicago.

I glance at the clock on my dash and rub at my eyes as I use voice dial to call Sam.

I’m almost at the private airport when her phone switches to voicemail. I frown as I pull into the reserved parking lot.

There are two possible reasons for her not answering after I told her Spider might be on the way.

Either she’s already in the chopper, or she can’t answer. Since I always err on the side of caution, I grab what I need from my rental, and jog to the hanger.

While I’m firing up the light plane I use to avoid any problems with law enforcement, I scroll through my numbers and find Ellie’s cell.

Since she didn’t give it to me, or give me her last name, by now she’s probably guessed I haven’t been entirely truthful about my business.

But that, and everything else we need to discuss will have to wait until I deal with the situation at hand.

When Ellie’s phone doesn’t get answered either, and I’m done with the safety checks, I’m so convinced everything has gone to shit, I’m two steps away from calling Maggie and asking her if she’s seen any bikers rolling into town.

The only thing that stops me is the possibility I’m overthinking this and playing it up way more than I should be.

I’m letting my emotions and my exhaustion get the better of me. And that’s not something I can afford to do.

By the time I take off, I know my motives were misplaced. I never should have brought Ellie in.

She’s not part of the team, I should have known better than to include a civilian where Gabby is concerned.

I did the very thing I swore to Ellie not to.

I made this personal.

And if I get the chance, I’ll do everything I can to make it up to her.

***

Ellie

Monday 2.12am

I know I’m in trouble when I hear angry voices coming from down the hallway.

I duck my head around the door, just in time to see Chris, looking sleep dazed, grab a hold of Gabby’s arm.

She starts to scream, sounding like a banshee, as she claws at him until he’s struggling to restrain her.

I pivot on my heel and make a dash for the bag I left beside the bar. My fingers are shaking, but I manage to fill a vial with Diazepam. I have no intention of giving her the full dose, but even half strength might calm her down a little.

Adrenaline floods my body as I hear the steady beep of alarms going off. I jog back into the hallway and find Chris and Sam pinning Gabby against the wall.

Gabby is writhing and screaming, looking like a madwoman, so I duck in between them, and push the needle into her arm.

Her eyes find mine, and she starts to struggle even harder. “You don’t know what you’re doing,” she screams.

I step back and let Chris and Sam restrain her until her breathing grows slower, and her muscles start to relax.

Sam looks at me and nods. “The chopper is—”

Whatever else she was about to say is lost as we hear the sound of glass cracking.

Gabby starts to laugh, and I know that whatever just happened has everything to do with the odd message she received.

***

Cooper

I’m not even ten minutes out from my private landing strip when my heli pilot Scott, contacts me.

I switch the comms on and catch him repeating his call sign, and a message.

“Come in, Coop, we’ve got hostiles on your front lawn, and looks like a projectile has been thrown through the window.”

Fuck. Only a thug would be that obvious. “Roger that. I’ll meet you at the airfield. Mind if I hitch a ride? Over.”

“Planning on dropping in on them, Coop? Over.”

Despite myself, I smile. “Roger that.”

I know Sam will have her hands full, dealing with Gabby, but it’s not my sister I’m worried about.

It’s the nurse who I’ve thrown right in the deep end. To stop myself from going insane, I run through the outcomes, running every drill in my head and know Sam and Chris will do everything they can to keep both Gabby and Ellie out of harm’s way.

By the time I land, I know if I see Spider, I’ll take way too much pleasure in ending him.

I switch the engine off, grab as many weapons as I can carry, and sprint to the middle of the tarmac to wait for Scott.

I don’t have to wait long before I see the lights of the copter appear in the night sky.

The second he lands, I jog towards him, ducking under the whirling rotors and yanking the passenger door open.

I nod in greeting and ram the headset on my head. “Let’s go kill this dumbass,” I say.

***

Ellie

I’m not sure whether I’m terrified, or furious. As if I didn’t have enough going on right now, I’m now in the thick of some weird and extremely hostile family reunion.

Chris has taken Gabby to safety, looking incredibly irritated at landing the babysitting job again, while Sam and I watch the security screens.

If I wasn’t so pumped full of adrenaline, I’d be exhausted, but watching the events unfold, is like watching a live-action movie where I’m the confused and bewildered co-star.

Or, I’m feeling more like, the bumbling, and useless love interest.

With that in mind, I scowl as Sam hits a switch, and floodlighting illuminates the entire back yard, exposing two figures running away from the house. “Who are they?”

Sam checks the damage to the window again and shakes her head. “Amateurs.”

She turns on her feet and stalks down the hallway with me hot on her heels. “You aren’t worried about them?” I ask.

She looks over her shoulder. “They’re running away from the building. I’m more concerned about who else is outside.”

That makes me falter in my step. “Spider? The guy who sent that weird message?”

Sam stops so unexpectedly I nearly run into her. “What message?”

At the irritation on her face, I back up a step. “Sorry. I meant to tell you before. I found a cell phone in her room. There was this weird skull emoji message from Spider.”

She mutters under her breath. “And you didn’t think it was important to tell me she had a phone?”

I flinch but considering what I seemed to have agreed to, I don’t see why I need to defend myself. “You didn’t seem to think it was important to tell me a whole bunch of things. At least my mistake was unintentional.”

Her eyebrow lifts and I’m sure I catch a glimpse of amusement on her face. “Okay. Fair enough. I may have omitted a few things about this assignment.”

I snort a laugh. “You omitted everything.”

She manages to look slightly sheepish as she gestures to the bedroom Chris has taken Gabby to. “If I’d told you half of what she’s done, you wouldn’t have come.”

I shake my head. “It’s not what she’s done. It’s who and what Cooper is that you omitted.”

She near rolls her eyes at me and looks at the front door. “That’s not up to me to tell you. And when he gets back, you can ask him whatever you like. But right now all you need to know is that we’re the little pigs, and the wolf is about to knock on the door. The chopper is on its way, but we need to be ready to leave in a hurry.”

I frown at her. “By wolf you mean Spider?”

She shrugs. “Spider and whoever else he’s roped into this.”

I exhale a breath and drag my hands through my hair. “Please tell me there’s no way he can get inside?”

When she raises her hands in an ‘I don’t know’ gesture, my stomach sinks to my toes.

Her words do little to reassure me either. “From what I can find out, he seems a little smarter than your average thug. And if he’s working with cops, who knows what tricks he has up his sleeves?”

She seems so absolutely non-plussed as if this kind of thing is a regular occurrence, I’m beginning to understand that it probably is.

I lean against the wall and worry my lip as we wait for the sound of the helicopter. “Cooper doesn’t design safe houses for a living, does he?”

She chuckles slightly. “He does. Among other things.”

I fold my arms across my chest. “And would those other things be illegal?”

Sam blows out a breath. “Like I said before. You need to talk to Cooper about all this.”

Before I say another word, she turns on her heel, opens the bedroom door effectively ending a discussion it’s obvious she doesn’t want to have.

If I weren’t so absolutely furious with Cooper right now, I might have admired her loyalty.

But all I can think about is how I seem to have fallen into something far worse than I could ever have imagined when I agreed to this.

I have no time to think about anything when I hear a knock at the front door. My heart leaps about in my chest as Sam appears in the doorway.

Gabby starts to yell Spider’s name from inside the room, and Sam’s eyes find mine, a split second before a gunshot splinters the front door. “Get on the floor!” she yells.

I dive for the floor and cover my ears as she starts to shoot.

I’m barely aware of what’s going on around me as I start to crawl away from the door.

I make it to the living room and hug the wall as I try to catch my breath.

My thoughts are so scattered, attention pulled in a million different directions as I try to think of what I’m supposed to be doing.

But when I hear Sam let out a strangled scream, I grab the medical bag and find myself running toward danger rather than away from it.

***

Cooper

Fire is running through my veins as we fly over my place. I can see the damage done to the window, but I don’t give a shit about that.

It’s the sight of the hog parked up beside Chris’ truck, and a hulking man kicking in my front door.

Scott flies over and circles around, so I can get my gear on. When I’m set, he mock salutes me and grins. “I’ll be back to pick up the bodies.”

I nod. “Do a sweep and see if anyone else turns up. If they’re armed they’re fair game”, I say.

I check my equipment and propel from the side of the chopper. I’m so pumped full of adrenaline I don’t even feel it when my feet hit the ground.

Just like I expected, my arrival has drawn the attention of my sister’s pursuer. With the floodlighting illuminating the entire front of the house, I can make out the web tattooed on his face, and see the scar running down his neck.

What remains to be seen is how many others he brought with him. The door is still intact, but there are enough bullet holes in it, and the wall to piss me off even further.

As the chopper flies off, Spider creeps forward, gun in one hand, knife in the other.

It’s obvious his intention isn’t to kill me yet when he sneers at me. “You must be the special forces brother.”

It’s such a stupid thing to say after he saw me propel from a chopper that I just stare at him.

He seems to take my silence as another reason to say something even dumber. “You must know all sorts of ways to kill a man.”

Instead of showing him one, I just shrug. “Considering you’re on my property, I have every right to shoot you.”

He has the nerve to laugh. “Gabby said you’d say that.”

My heart cranks up another notch as I realize what he’s saying. “She told you to come here?”

He nods, a stupid grin plastered on his face. “Said if she used a credit card you gave her, you’d show up and save her. Weren’t expecting you to send another guy to collect her though.”

I shake my head at the little piece of information. “She gave you directions here? Why?”

He takes a step closer. “The code to your safe. Gabby says you’re loaded.”

The penny drops as I see my sister has once again screwed me over. It probably shouldn’t surprise me, but this is pushing it even for her.

I close the distance between us, making sure I keep my voice and posture relaxed. “Why would I give you the code?”

His lip curls and a smug smile appears. “Because I know all about how you make your money. You left the army and started accepting contract kills with a few of your old platoon,” he says.

I lift my chin and don’t need to think about how Gabby has that information. Since I told Gabby and my parents I was building safe houses, and panic rooms, there’s only one way she could have found out.

But I can’t think about that. He’s getting jittery so I know he’s about to make his move.

I’m too tired to drag this out even further, and I’m close enough to end this before it really kicks off.

In one motion, I punch him in the throat and twist his arm behind his back. “Yeah, well, sorry pal that’s not how it works.”

While he’s choking, and losing a grip on his weapons, I bring my knee up and smash it hard into his face.

He drops to the ground, cursing me, and calling for Gabby while I kick his knife away, and pick up the gun he brought.

I lean over him, grab him by his hair, and force his lips open so I can shove the barrel of the gun in his mouth. “Does the sheriff know about this little road trip?”

He gags so I ease the weapon back so he can speak. “Fuck you,” he spits.

Since I have other ways of finding out, and I want to check on Gabby and on Ellie, I grab him by the shirt front and drag him, gun still in his mouth away from the front door. “Who else did you bring?”

He either can’t or won’t answer me, but since there aren’t any other tire tracks or bikes parked up, I’m picking they aren’t gang members.

I shake him hard. “Who else?”

He sneers at me, spittle flying as he tries to right himself. “Just some kids I found hitching.”

It rings true so I leave it for Scott to find them and focus on getting Spider away from everyone I care about.

He fights me but when I pull my knife out and hold it an inch away from his eyeball, he whimpers. “You can’t hurt me. That’s my bitch inside.”

I scowl at him and shake my head. “No, you stupid fuck, that’s my sister in there.”

When he’s about as far away from Chris’ car as I can be bothered dragging him, I sheath my knife and pull the trigger.

I’m so furious at him and at Gabby, I don’t even wait for him to hit the ground before I toss the weapon and walk back towards the front door.

***

Ellie

Even in my haze of fatigue, I know Sam was both unlucky, and lucky.

Thankfully her vest stopped the worst of the damage she sustained when a bullet penetrated the front door.

But Sam, and even Gabby who is still in the bedroom with Chris, are not what I’m thinking about.

If I had any questions to ask Cooper, he just answered them in one swift move.

I finally know what he is and what he does for a living. I saw it with my own eyes when I glanced out the window when I heard the helicopter.

I couldn’t hear the conversation, but I saw enough to know he’s a killer.

They all are. Sam, Chris, and probably everyone who works at the mysterious company he lied about.

The thought of his hands on me just hours before he murdered someone is making me feel ill.

With that in mind, I ease to my feet, and back away so I can leave by the back exit, the way I first came in three days ago.

I can hear him calling my name as he comes inside the house, but I ignore him and open the back door.

I sprint as fast as my legs will allow and make my way back around to the front of the house.

I skirt the wall, heart speeding in my chest as I search to make sure he’s not lurking waiting for me.

When a light drizzle starts to fall, I almost laugh at the irony. I arrived here, wet, and miserable, it makes sense that I walk away from him in the same state.

And I am walking away. No ifs, no buts.

I don’t even need to consider it. He harms people for a living, while I try to heal them.

Whatever spark we had in the bedroom, can’t possibly carry on outside now that I know about him.

Worse, he knows about me. He went behind my back and dug around without my permission.

I keep that in mind when I climb into Chris’ vehicle and start the engine. I shift the gear into drive and push my foot on the accelerator

I don’t look back.

And like I should have done the first time I left; I accept this weekend for what it really was all along.

A reckless reminder of how fucked up my life has gotten.

***

Cooper

Sam is on the ground, wrenching the vest off her chest as Chris and Gabby appear.

Gabby seems a little deflated, and Chris looks about as spent as I feel, but it’s Sam I’m worried about.

I drop to my knees and check her over as she curses. “Stray bullet clipped me. Can you believe this shit?” She says.

I clench my jaw and glare at my sister. “You showed up on the radar on purpose, didn’t you? You wanted money?”

Gabby slouches against the wall and can’t look me in the eye. Her voice comes out a croak. “Where is Spider?”

I don’t bother answering her, I just look at Sam. “Spider knew a lot about what we do here, Sam.”

Sam’s face seems to pale, and her eyes flick to Gabby who just looks at the floor. “Coop, shit, I’m—”

I cut her off because my partner exchanging pillow talk with my sister is the least of my worries. “We’ll deal with it later. Where’s Ellie?”

Sam jerks her thumb in the direction of the front window. “She checked Spider wasn’t still there. Not sure where she went after that. She didn’t say.”

I curse under my breath and jump to my feet, dread coursing through me as I consider what she may have witnessed.

Sure enough, I arrive outside just in time to hear the tires on Chris’ SUV squeal.

I turn back and stagger up to the house to find Sam appear clutching her chest. “She’s gone?”

I nod. “I never should have asked her to help.”

Sam blows out a breath and hacks so hard, tears appear. “Are you going to go after her?”

I shake my head and am immediately rewarded by a solid punch to my shoulder. “Jackass. I’ve never seen you this into a woman before. If I were you, I’d do whatever it takes to get her back.”

I rub my shoulder and eye her. “You do realize what that would mean?”

Her shoulders relax a little but a faint smile appears. “I know. But it’s not like it’s not been on the table before now. And she must be something for you to lay it all on the line like this? I mean, I could have gotten a nurse from somewhere else, right?”

I lean against the wall of the cabin I bought as an escape from the brutality of my day job.

But instead of escaping the world I helped create, I wound up bringing an innocent woman into it for my own selfish reasons.

Because no matter how I replay this, Sam’s right, I could have found another nurse.

Gabby might be safe, but I’m not sure pulling her out of this mess was worth the cost.