His Target, page 1
His Target
Kelli Callahan
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Epilogue
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About the Author
Also by Kelli Callahan
Chapter One
Porter
How did this even happen? I weave my 1969 Ford Mustang Grande in and out of traffic as I make my way toward my brother's new place. He told me the day before he would be having Ensley, Josie's friend, and Dimitri over for pizza and to chill. He offered for me to come by after I finished my job if I wanted to. I don't think he meant for me to come over like this.
I glance in the rearview mirror at the young redheaded woman unconscious in my back seat. Blood seeps from her and onto the black Italian leather I upholstered myself. This car was never meant to be a transport car of any kind.
Gripping the wheel tighter I weave around yet another asshole who refuses to go fast in the left lane. Cason and my dad are going to be pissed at me for not carrying out the hit on her. There's something about her. She doesn't seem like our typical hits. I've been tailing her for a week, and she's done nothing that would put her on our lists. We don't kill innocent women, and I'm still not sure why her name came up, but I'm glad she was given to me so that I could decide whether or not she was worth it to make disappear.
I hadn't been sure, so I was going to do more research on her and speak with her myself in a closed space. See if she would admit to anything nefarious, but I didn't get a chance before someone else put a poorly aimed bullet in her side.
I don't know if she'll die, but I can't let her. I need answers. I want to know why there's a hit on her if she appears innocent. And more than that, I want to know why some other idiot tried to kill her first. I took care of him quickly, not wanting him to see me.
His chilling corpse currently rides in the trunk until I can take care of him the usual Bancroft way.
I run a hand over my face and grimace at the facial hair that meets my fingers. With me tailing her day and night I haven't been able to shave. Dad is always on us about having a clean face, but Cason has been growing out a beard ever since he and Josie Kotov got married. If he can do it, why can't I?
A car honks at me as I swerve in front of it and speed up. I don't give a shit. I need to get her to someone that can help her. Our family doctor, who doesn't ask questions, has gone off to Bora Bora for a month. A hospital is out of the question. They'll ask questions I can't answer, and there's no good lie that can explain her being shot. Sure, I could've come upon her, but she'd been in her apartment. If she were to come to and say she doesn't know me―which would be true―it would look bad on my end.
I also don't want to abandon her outside of an ER, when it's clear we aren't the only ones to get her name on the list of hits that need to be done. Ensley's supposed to be training to be a doctor or something, and Cason's new place is close to where I'm coming from. I guess it worked out that he decided to move to the suburbs of New York and become a family man.
He's not going to like me dropping in like this with a wounded woman, while his wife who is four months pregnant is nearby. After the shit they went through at the start of their relationship, I get why he doesn't want to expose her to it further. I can't let this woman die, yet. I need answers. And at this point, I think she's the only one that can give it because her history is slim.
Getting off on the exit I need, I slow the car down and will my heart to do the same. I've never done anything like this. I've never brought a hit alive anywhere to be saved. They're never even supposed to see my face, and she got a glimpse of it before falling unconscious.
The cops in this area like to be on high alert for people speeding, since it's an area heavy with well-off families and a good community, compared to the boroughs in the city where anything can happen. And the cops will take an hour to show up.
A gasp comes from the backseat, and I look back at her. Her hand has moved to her side, but her eyes are still closed. I take all the side streets to get to his house to bypass traffic lights and any possible cops that are out.
Pulling up to his house, I park at the curb and peer around. We can't have witnesses see me carrying her to his house. I'm sure there are a lot of nosey neighbors around for this kind of area. We have a policy of no witnesses, meaning everyone who sees something needs to die. That gets complicated once it's a bunch of soccer moms in the new neighborhood he just moved to.
I have to be quick about this and hopefully make it look like she's sleeping in my arms and nothing to be alarmed about. I don't see anyone out on the street or in their yards. I kept my engine as quiet as possible and didn't rev it or anything, so no one should have a reason to peer outside and see what their neighbors are up to.
Getting her out of the car, I cradle her in my arms. She's lighter than I was expecting her to be. She wears a lot of oversized clothes, making me think that she was bigger than she is.
I hoist her up so that her limp upper body leans against my chest. I don't want to go straight up to the front door, I don't want Josie to answer and get scared. She may be four months along, but Cason would kill me if she got frightened and something happened to their baby because of it.
I hurry around the side of the house, glad to have been here last week at the housewarming party so that I could learn the layout of it. I open the side gate and let it close loud behind me. It should put Cason on high alert so that he comes outside first.
"Cason!" I round the corner of the house to see him on the patio with Dimitri.
"Over here!"
He darts over to me, and glances over his shoulder before glaring and leaning in to whisper at me. "What the hell? Why are you bringing a hit here? Are you insane? Josie has her friend over and she doesn't know about any of this!"
He looks her over. "And why did you do such a shitty job? This isn't protocol."
Dimitri comes to stand next to him, standing shoulder to shoulder, as I assume to block any view from the women in the house. I need her friend, that's why I'm here, but of course Cason never thinks two steps ahead. He's always an in-the-moment kind of person.
The fact that he thinks I could do a bad hit like this sets me on edge. "I didn't do this! I was about to hit her with a dart that would make her sleep when someone else shot her! Isn't Josie's friend a doctor or something?"
His brown eyes widen. "A nurse in training. I don't know if she can handle this, and she doesn't know anything about us. Are you saying she has two hits out on her?"
I nod. I'm glad he finds it as weird as I do. "I know you don't want Ensley to know, but she's going to find out sooner or later being best friends with Josie. She needs help, and I can't leave her at a hospital if there are more people out there wanting to kill her.
Cason frowns at me. "Is she not worth letting die? What have you found out about her? Dad wouldn't put her on the list if she wasn't garbage.
I tighten my hold on her. "I've been watching her for a week. She's mute, works as a bagger at a local market and I haven't been able to find anything on her that would make her one of our targets. She doesn't even use the internet. Her phone is a flip one. She goes to work and goes home and watches TV. I haven't even seen her socialize with anyone.
He runs a hand through his greying hair, a few streaks of dark hair still showing through. It's greyed more since he found out he's going to be a dad. "She sounds like witness protection."
I nod. "That's where my thoughts were going, too. Which is why I was only going to use a sleep dart on her until I could find out more."
Dimitri hums as he stares at her. "Sounds like she saw something and people want her dead before she can say anything, but you said she's mute, so that brings in another level of weirdness to this. But if you want to keep her alive, she should probably be seen by someone."
Cason looks torn as he peers back at his house again. "Jo is going to kill me for this. We need to get a second doctor on call for shit like this. C'mon, I don't want to let her die if she's in the WPP, that will make life difficult for us, as someone will be monitoring her. You were careful, right? What about the person that tried to hit her before you?"
I roll my eyes as I adjust her in my arms. "Of course. Time is ticking here, Cason. Let's get a move on. It's now or never."
Dimitri pulls out his phone. "Our family doctor is available, and he won't say a word. We pay him good money to not let anything leak. I'll get him out here, but we can't have her out in the open like this. Like it or not, Cason, you need to take her in at least for a couple of hours until she can be treated."
He huffs and growls. "Fine! C'mon, we can put her in the guest room, I can burn the mattress in there if I need to."
The two of them turn and follow him toward the back door. He opens the sliding glass door, and the laughter of the women inside meets my ears. I've never been close to Josie, but I don't want to stress her out like this when she is carrying my niece or nephew. They won't tell us what it is until the baby shower next month. I suspect a girl, but we'll see if I'm right.
Josie stands from her ch
Ensley, Josie's friend, stands from the table and hurries around it. She pulls her hair back with a band from her wrists. She doesn't even bat an eye as she tests the woman's pulse and looks at her watch. "Her pulse is weak, but there's one. Why are you here with her? She needs a hospital."
I glance over at Cason. Dimitri clears his throat, drawing her gaze to his eyes. "I have a private doctor coming with his team to help her. Her case is unique. A normal hospital wouldn't see her. Porter brought her to the closest place to help her."
Josie exchanges a look with Cason behind Ensley's back. I've been hearing that Dimitri has a bit of a drinking problem right now but so far he seems pretty chill to me, no different than he was when we were younger. Maybe a little less happy, but who isn't as they get older?
Ensley frowns. "I don't understand, but let's find somewhere to lay her down. I need to look at the wound on her side. What's it from, do you know?" Her light-green eyes look at me.
I frown, I can't lie about a bullet wound, she'll know the second she sees it and it will look even worse than it already does.
She shakes her head. "Let's get her down before you tell me. I get the feeling there's a lot going on here, and I'm not going to get the full answer."
Cason motions with his arm. "C'mon we'll put her in the guest room on the first floor." I follow him through the house to the front and he opens the door into a guest room. I grimace at all the white. White doesn't go well with blood.
Josie hurries forward and pulls the white duvet off the bed before I lay her on top of the top sheet. Her eyes flutter and I get a glimpse of the green. She's stunningly pretty.
Ensley wastes no time shoving me aside so that she can look at her. For being a slender woman she's strong. She pulls a knife from her back pocket and flips it open. I blink, not having expected her to be the one to be carrying a knife out of everyone here. She tears the hem of the thick sweater, and rips it up the woman's body, exposing the small form underneath. She wears another sweater, and two more shirts, possibly a tank under that. I'm glad I didn't hit her with the tranquilizer, I got her approximate weight wrong. Ensley cuts the other layers, exposing her pale skin to the room.
Not only is she thin, but she looks close to underweight. Long scars crisscross over her torso up to her breasts, which are covered by a simple, cloth bra. Most of the scars are thick and dark pink with scar tissue. What the hell happened to her?
Ensley looks at me. "Do you mind? Give the woman some privacy. All the men out until the doctor gets here. Josie, I need whatever first aid supplies you have, a bowl of water, and some cloths.”
She's fucking lost her mind if she thinks I'm going to leave and not help out after the shit that happened to get her here in one piece. I'm not staring at her like she's a piece of ass. But her scars do intrigue me. They just add another layer to her.
A hole seeps with blood in her side, but it doesn't look life-threatening. More like a tear. It's possible all her layers saved her life.
A hand pulls on my shoulder, I glance over it at Cason, who tries to drag me out of the room. At the same moment, Josie comes in with a large first aid kit, close to something that would be found in a rescue helicopter. Dimitri follows behind her with a bowl of steaming water and washcloths over his arm.
"The doctor is fifteen minutes out. We're in luck that he lives around this area." Dimitri hands the bowl to Ensley as she moves stuff off the nightstand next to her and sets it there.
"Thank you, Dimitri." She then turns to look at the kit Josie brought her and pats next to her, so it can be set up on the edge of the bed. "Why in the world would you need a first aid kit like this? I get you're a first-time mom, but this is excessive."
I get why they have it. For if Cason gets hurt while on a job. I'm sure Josie is scared about that. I tug my shoulder from his hold. "I'm not going anywhere. I can help."
Ensley points to the door. "Out! If you have a dick between your legs, you can't stay! She's not your wife, you have no right to see her in this state when it's clear to me that she doesn't want to be seen by anyone."
Cason and Dimitri work together to haul me from the room. I can't explain it, I have an undeniable urge to stay with her as if I alone can keep her from getting hurt more. I don't know what it is. Perhaps because her hit wasn't done by my hand and I witnessed it, now I feel like I owe her something?
The door closes and we stand in the hall. I elbow Cason in the gut, forcing him to let me go. I've never been able to stand how he thinks he can just boss me around, even after I became an adult. "Let go of me! I should be in there helping!"
Dimitri shakes his head as he stands in front of the door. "Let her work in peace until the doctor and his team gets here. You wouldn't do anything other than get in the way."
Cason sighs. "Besides. What happened to the person that tried and failed to actually hit her? That wound looks like a through and through. At least it didn't hit her kidney or something."
I move us away from the door and go back toward the kitchen so there's no chance of the girls overhearing us. Dimitri heads straight for a cupboard above the stove and takes out a bottle of whiskey. He doesn't even bother with a glass as he cracks the seal and pulls from it. "I'll buy you another, Cason," he says as he swallows with a hiss and holds the bottle out to me.
I take it without a second thought and chug from it. Cason takes the bottle from me as I lower it and does the same, though not as deep of a drink as Dimitri and I took. "He's in my trunk. Probably ruining the material back there with his headshot. My poor baby. It's going to take so much time I don't have to get the blood out of everything."
Cason shakes his head. "I can't believe you brought all this trouble here. What are my neighbors going to think? We just moved in. We can't be the odd couple in the neighborhood."
I snort. "Don't worry, no one saw me bring her in, and as long as no one goes trying to take a joy ride in my car, they're not going to know about him either. I'll dispose of him far away from here. Take him out to Hart Island when it's safe to do so. Until then, he'll be in the family deep freeze."
Cason shakes his head as Dimitri takes the bottle from him. "I don't get why any of this is happening. The hit should've been simple. You're certain she's not scum? Grooming children for a ring or something?"
I shake my head. "Not unless she's doing it telepathically. She doesn't own a computer, smartphone, or tablet. She's mute from what I can tell, but I think she can hear. She literally went from home to work and back. She didn't hang out with people. On her day off she would stay at home and watch TV. She's not living life let alone being an active garbage human in any capacity."
Cason runs a hand over his face and scratches at his beard. He reaches into his pocket. "We should call Dad and let him know what's happening. He needs to know. Especially since you haven't sent him a confirmed kill photo for whoever the client is. I take over for him next month with setting up the arrangements and the money wiring, but until then, he's still in charge of it."
I put my hand over his, stopping him. "I don't know if we should. You know as well as me, he's been acting off lately. I mean he heard about you and Josie right after it happened and didn't bat an eye. A year ago he would've laid into you for that."
Cason shrugs. "He did say he had a fling with Juliet Kotov. So maybe he wasn't as serious about the promise our families had as he led us to think when we were younger."
Dimitri shudders. "Gross. I didn't need that image in my head." He drinks more from the bottle.
I look Cason in the eye. "What about at your house warming party? You can't tell me he wasn't acting off there. He kept hugging everyone, even people he didn't know. He didn't even hug us until a year ago. I hate to say it, but I think the man's age is catching up with him and you should take over fully sooner rather than later."
