Cobra (Blue Angel Security Book 1), page 40
“Bitch, I’m talking to you,” she says, pressing a sharp blade against my throat as she leans down to my ear. “It’s a shame you’ll be dead in a few minutes because I would love to have recorded me fucking Luca for you to watch.”
“He’ll never fuck you.”
“Yes, he will. Right after I’m done with you.”
Suddenly Dalton walks back in, looking furious with her. “You had one job, Christy. To watch her, you weren’t supposed to lay one finger on her. I told you I’d take care of your problem, that you’d have him to yourself by the end of the night.”
“Dam-”
“Dalton is my fucking name. And darling, I just became your worst nightmare,” he says, as she stands behind me with the knife still pressed to my throat.
“Dalton, baby,” she begs, as we watch him pull up his shirt, revealing a holster. And judging from his evil smile, it’s not empty.
“Drop the fucking knife, Christy,” he snarls, raising the gun.
“Dalt—”
“Now!” he screams, causing me to recoil and lower my head. I hear the knife clatter to the floor, this time I don’t startle quite so easy. I knew she’d have no choice but to get rid of it. Not unless she truly does have a death wish. Slowly, I raise my eyes back up to his, not expecting to see him still holding the gun aimed at us both. What the fuck? I thought he had plans for us tonight? Maybe he changed his mind and figured I wasn’t worth the trouble.
“You’ll never double cross me again!” he lividly shouts, taking aim.
Who is his target? Is it Christy or me, or both?
Fixated on the gun, I watch his every move. Cold, impersonal metal haunts me as old and new memories rush through me. Is this how he looked the night he changed my life forever? Was his hand as steady and unfaltering then as it is now? Abruptly, I switch views and in my mind, I see myself at the gun range, with Clayton behind me whispering in my ear. I snap my eyes open realizing that if I play this carefully, tonight will end very differently, providing the bullet he has aimed in my direction isn’t destined for me. Eventually my mind focuses back on the present as I see Dalton staring straight at me with a knowing smile. The prick probably believes that just seeing him hold that gun is enough to paralyze me in fear, and a few months ago he would’ve been right, but not now. I flinch as the singular pop echos through out the room. Simultaneously, he grins while Christy’s body loudly thumps to the floor.
Immediately the door burst open as Robert rushes in, seeing Dalton dragging Christy out from behind the chair. “What the fuck!” he seethes at Dalton. “You fucking shot her! The only one that was supposed to die tonight is the bitch in the chair, not Christy!” he screams as Dalton drops Christy nearly at Robert’s feet.
“She had it coming. No one will harm Feebs, except for me,” Dalton icily glares at him.
“That’s right. That’s what this whole thing has been about. Your precious bitch. Meanwhile, Christy is,” Robert drops to his knees frantically searching for her pulse.
“Packing her bags for Hell. I’m sure Lucifer is waiting for her,” Dalton grins at Robert. “I told you she was a loose cannon, and I was right. I’m better off now that she’s gone, and you have no distractions left. Do your job or I’ll end you in the same manner that I just ended her.”
Angrily, he glares at Dalton, just as Christy gurgles for another breath. “You couldn’t even do it right! She’s still alive. There’s still a chance she could live.”
“Rob—” pain-filled aspirations erupt from Christy as she attempts to talk, but nothing else comes out as I watch her chest fall for the last time.
“You bastard!” Robert gets up brandishing his gun. “You fucking killed her. She wasn’t supposed to die. She was—”
“A miserable excuse for a human being. For that record, so are you. Anyone who would conspire with someone knowing an innocent woman was going to lose her life because you something you assisted in, is an abomination to society. You’re descipable,” I condemn Robert.
In a haze of red, he raises his head, gazing at me murderously. “This is all your fault!” quickly he raises his gun straight at me and instinctively I turn my head, although there’s nothing I can do to avoid a bullet.
The echo of gunfire rings in my ears, but I feel no pain. Slowly, I open my eyes and see Dalton stepping over Christy’s lifeless body to drag Robert beside her. “I’ll take care of the trash in a moment.”
Looking over to Dalton, I see him cockily smile. “Don’t look so surprised, Feebs. No one but the devil himself is saving you tonight. When you die, it’ll be at my hand. You’ve made my life for the last seven years hellacious and now it’s my turn to return the favor.”
“You killed my parents. What did you think would happen? That you’d ride off into the sunset?” I frigidly remind the cold-hearted murderer.
“That is precisely what we thought. We had it all planned out. For months! Bryant killed your parents, and I was supposed to end your life. Tonight, I’ll rectify that mistake. Everything was going according to plan that night. All we had to do was wait for you to arrive. It was supposed to be so easy. They never saw it coming. Well, your father did, but he was a stubborn fucker and wouldn’t cooperate. So, Bryant shifted to Plan B.”
“What are you talking about, Dalton?” I absently ask, preparing myself for the details of my parents’ deaths I never knew about.
“Your dad had a gun pointed at him the whole time we forced him to watch Bryant murder your mother. It was supposed to be a murder-suicide scene. We had the paperwork with us for your father to sign, but no matter what we did, the fucker refused to sign. He told us he was going to die anyway that night and he knew it. He wasn’t helping us get away with it. His reason for living was already gone. He was a weak bastard.”
“My father was not weak. He loved my mother, his wife,” I tell him as years of bottled up hatred spew out of me. “If anyone was weak, it was the three of you, not my father. He was a good man who worked hard his entire life. His fortune wasn’t given to him and even on his deathbed he was stronger than you!”
White dots dance in my peripheral vision as pain explodes from my cheek. Seeing Dalton standing above me with the barrel of his gun gripped in his hands, he menacingly traces my cheek bone. “Such a shame that you have all this fire in you now. If I had known you weren’t so weak, I think I could have actually loved you.”
“Fuck you. I’m glad you didn’t.”
“Why’s that Feebs? Because you think that brainless idiot loves you? Wake up, Feebs. The only thing any man really loves about any woman is the sweet cunt you have between your legs, and for that, any tight hole will do. You were nothing years ago and you still are.”
Tears threaten to spill over as I bend my head. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of knowing his words still have the power to hurt me. Roughly he places his thumb under my chin and forces me to look at him.
“Now there’s the weak woman I married. I knew you couldn’t fight me for long. You never could. And after I take care of these two, I’m going to remind you who owns this body. Maybe then you’ll smarten up and tell me what I want to know,” he glowers at me as he looks over to Christy and Robert. Placing the gun back in his holster, he heads over to them. Quickly he moves them away from the door, most likely so they aren’t visible when you first walk in. As soon as he’s satisfied with their new location, he turns to me smirking.
“Now, Feebs, it’s time for us to go.”
He walks over to me and reaches down to the floor picking up the knife Christy tried to kill me with. As he pulls the rope slightly I look down and instantly pale. The knife she tried to use on me, is none other than the one Phoenix gave me. I didn’t like her before considering all the lies she’s told me, starting with pretending to be my friend, but now, I’m really glad she’s dead. Or at least she should by now, but finding out she tried to kill me with Phoenix’s knife? I really hope the bitch is burning in hell. Dalton pulls the ropes a little too tight, getting my mind back on him, regrettably.
“I sure am going to miss seeing you tied up,” he sneers as he grabs me forcefully. “Let’s go, I have another room in mind for our discussion,” he says as he presses the blade of the knife against my breast. “Oh, I can’t wait to see this body laid bare for my taking,” he licks his lips in anticipation.
“Come on, Feebs. It’s time for us to get reacquainted.”
47
COBRA
“This is bullshit,” I say, glaring at my phone.
“No luck, I take it?” Shadow says, sitting next to me in back of the Uber on our way to the airport.
“Fuck no. Either no one is answering the damn phones, or the app keeps crashing. All I fucking need is two tickets to New York. I don’t think I’m asking for that much,” I groan as the driver pulls up outside the terminal we requested.
“Definitely not. Look, let’s head inside. From there we can figure things out,” he says handing the driver a sizable tip for getting us so quickly.
As we walked into the terminal, I immediately walk up to the front counter and not so patiently waited my turn to speak with an attendant. Eventually I get to the front of the line and explain some of my situation to the attendant, only for her to inform me there wasn’t anything available until their red-eye flight. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much choice and had her place us both on standby in case something came up earlier.
“Well?” Shadow asks as I walk back over to him.
“Two seats in coach. But until after mid-night. This sucks.”
“It does. But something is better than nothing. Come on, let’s go find us a seat. By the looks of it we have a long night ahead of us.
“We do,” I say as we walk in relative silence.
“Did you call Jackal?” Shadow asks as we sit down.
“No, I was kind of in a hurry to leave the hotel and get here. I gave Liam his private number and had him call Jackal. Hopefully, we’ll hear something soon.”
“So what do you know?” Shadow asks as we sit down.
“Nothing concrete. Liam went to the house this morning as planned. Everything looked fine, with the exception of Phoenix’s truck still being at the house. Long story short, Liam didn’t realize that Jaycee and Phoenix never made it to the cabin, until Kylee called,” I say as scrape my fingers against my scalp. “So much freaking time has passed. Hell she could be almost anywhere by now.”
“Calm down, Cobra. She also could have just come up missing over the last hour or so, too. We don’t know for sure when she was taken. Besides, I don’t know about you,” he says, grabbing my shoulder, “but, to me it doesn’t matter when she was taken. All that matters is us finding her and eliminating the son of bitch brave enough to mess with one of ours.”
“You’re right. I guess her message from this morning, is still bugging me. If only I hadn’t been in the shower and had responded right away to her, then maybe—”
“Maybe what? If you’re right and you would have responded, then what? In case you’ve forgotten, we’re in fucking California. There’s not a lot you could’ve done.”
“I know,” I say, defeated. “I don’t even know if she got my message.”
“What did hers say?”
“It was nothing but letters. She knows how much I hate that shit, so I’m figuring she knew she was in trouble and wanted to tell me once more.”
“What did she say?”
“That she loves me, always.”
“Cobra, we’ll find her.”
“Not sitting here, we won’t,” I angrily tell him as I look at my watch realizing unless we manage to get onto a flight as standbys, we won’t be heading home for hours yet.
“Too bad renting a car or truck isn’t an option. We could already be on the road,” Shadow grimaces.
“Yep. And I could wave to you as I flew over your ass and beat you home,” I softly laugh. “Damn California is too far away from New York to do us any good.”
“I know and I’m not taking any chances on having to wait one minute longer than necessary to get home to my girl,” I say as my phone rings.
“I’ve got you both on a flight. It’s not with the airline you flew with, but those flights are already booked solid. Believe me, I argued with some fool for nearly half an hour trying to get a flight. Anyway, your seats are in coach, both middle seats. The problem is you need to leave now. Actually like ten minutes ago. Your flight leaves in less than an hour,” Jackal rattles out not giving me a chance to respond to a word he says. Finally he takes a breath.
“That’s fucking fantastic. I don’t care if you got us tickets in the belly of a plane, just as long as I’m heading home, I’ll take it. As for hurrying to the airport, we’re already here. I wasn’t wasting any time.”
“Good. I’ll send you the e-tickets and I’ll see you in a few hours. Oh, and one other thing. I’m heading into the warehouse to inform everyone else, call your boy back and tell him to meet me there. Make sure he’s suited up.”
“Jackal?” I ask puzzled.
“Just do it. With Hawk being as shady as he is, we’re going to need another set of strong arms that we trust. Besides, until you get home, if we find her, Liam will be the one she’ll feel the safest with.”
“True. Okay, I’ll give him a ring,” I say disconnecting my call.
“It’s go time,” I say, looking at my cell seeing Jackal already sent over all the information we needed.
“Perfect. I’m right behind you. Let’s go home and find your girl.”
After we’re checked in for our new flight home, I lean against the wall with Shadow and call Liam as Jackal instructed me.
“Tell me Cobra, what the fuck can I do?” he answers sounding as panicked as I feel.
“Go upstairs in my closet, there’s a gun safe. The code is 932806 and choose one, make sure to grab a silencer too. Then head to the warehouse. Jackal will be there waiting on you.”
“No need for your weapon, Cobra. I’ve been involved with a military man for over a decade. I’ve got my own locked in my truck. I’m securing your home now and heading to BA’s.”
“Find her, Liam. We’ll be in the air within the hour. I’ll be home as soon as we can. Tell her I’m coming.”
48
LIAM
The short conversation I had earlier with Jackal keeps replaying in my mind. More of the events of today are coming to light. He did reveal that Phoenix called him this morning and told him his truck was having mechanical issues so they were taking Jaycee’s Jeep. It just doesn’t add up. Not to me. We’ve only known Phoenix a few days, but in that time he’s let us all know how much he loves his truck. The dude has already brought it to the car wash twice since he’s been here. So knowing what we do about him, I’d be willing to bet something, or someone tampered with it.
The drive over to BA’s is a quiet affair despite my unsettled thoughts. First, I’m terrified thinking about what could be happening with Jaycee. Clayton and I went back and forth all last night debating on whether or not we should accompany Jaycee up to that cabin. Cobra and Jackal trust Phoenix, which based on that alone, so should we. And we do, mostly. But part of me will always be overprotective of that girl. She’s the baby sister I never had. And second, I’m currently arguing with myself on whether I should call Clayton and update him on what’s going on. I know I should but I know the number those meds do on him. Even if he’s awake now, he won’t be coherent enough to drive. In the end, as I parked in the lot at BA’s I prayed this would all be over before Clayton was any the wiser.
A few seconds later Jackal walks out of the building and I roll down my window. “Change of plans we’re going to have our little meeting as we drive back over to Cobra’s place. We need to trace their steps.”
“Fine, but we’re taking my truck,” I say, unlocking my passenger door.
“That works, just tell me what you saw and did after getting to Cobra’s this morning while you drive. Time is of the essence as you know.”
A short time later, I pulled back into Cobra’s driveway and turn facing Jackal. “So nothing stands out, huh?” I ask, defeated I slump in my seat as I wonder what our next move will be.
“Sorry, Liam, but nothing stands out.”
“Now what?” I ask him, almost afraid of his answer.
“Now we use some plain old-fashioned police investigation skills. When you got here this morning, Phoenix’s truck was there untouched, right?”
“Yeah, it was as if he stopped in for a quick bite to eat.”
“We should see if we can verify whether his truck was having mechanical problems or not,” he says as we walk over to Phoenix’s truck.
“Nothing, Jackal. There’s nothing here. I’m not saying it’s not mechanical, we won’t know that for certain without starting it, but it looks good to me from here. Though my speciality is beating up people, not vehicles.”
“Okay, and what did you see over at Jaycee’s?”
“Nothing. Her Jeep was the only thing missing.”
“Alright, lead the way.”
“We have to enter in through the house.”
“You can go and unlock the house. I’ll wait for you to pop the garage open. This way when we’re done, we can just leave.”
“Just as you said, Liam. Nothing is out of place. It really does appear that they simply changed their minds on which vehicle to take. Other than the boot prints by the driver’s door, nothing is out of place.”
“Yeah, and those most likely belong to Phoenix.”
“Exactly,” Jackal confirms.
“So, what’s next?”
“Now, we follow the route that Cobra insisted Phoenix use.”
“A road trip?”
“Yep. Ready, partner?” Jackal laughs at his own joke. “On second thought I probably shouldn’t say that too loud. Clayton might not like it.”
