Deadly Hunt (Deadly #1) (17 page)

I’m being pulled back. I look up and see Nathan, and he looks pissed. “Why the fuck did you just punch him?” I pull my arm away from him. I see in the corner of my eye all the girls stand at my back, they’re showing their support. It’s a sweet gesture but I’d take on Mount Kilimanjaro the way I’m feeling.

“The fucking bastard deserves it. First off all, who the fuck kisses the best friend of the woman he’s interested in? Secondly, what fucking twat, corners the woman he’s interested in at work? Thirdly, what motherfucking asshole insults the little sister of the woman he’s interested in? And lastly what wankshaft makes the girl he’s interested in cry? Want to know why I punched him? Any and all of the reasons mentioned. Now if you would excuse us, we are all going to lunch and no you two fucking morons are not invited.” I turn and walk out of the building with the girls laughing behind me.

We have a bitching fest over lunch about men in general, “Oh my god, I hate that they think just because we are smaller than them, that they can boss us around, the bossy asshole” Wow. Skye is usually the silent one but damn get her started and she really opens up. I giggle at her.

“Has he come out and said he’s in love with you yet?” she shakes her head then sighs.

“He said I’m too good for him, that he’s too fucked up for me. I honestly give up; it’s time to move on. After this case I’m taking a break. I need to get away from him and clear my head.” I don’t blame her, Sarge is mind fucking her and he breaks a piece of her heart every time he rejects her.

“I’m glad. You need to, and hopefully he will man up or back the fuck off. He can’t have it both ways.” Maddie and Hailey are listening intently.

“What about you Hailey?” she sighs.

“The one guy I’m interested in, he thinks I’m too young for him. I don’t know what to do.” We all feel for her, there is nothing worse than being rejected for your age.

“What about you Soph, how’s things with Nathan?” that’s a tough question to answer.

“I don’t know, one moment I think we’re fine, the next he’s weird, I think we rushed into this relationship.” They all look at me with pity, I hate pity.

“Sorry Hon, why don’t you take a step back, tell him you want a week of no contact. Come stay at my house for a few days.” Skye says. I actually agree with her. I need to take a step back. I need to re-evaluate Nathan. I feel as though he’s keeping something from me, I hate lies and secrets.

After lunch we all head back to the P.I.G.S building. We say goodbye to Maddie as she has to go back to work, Skye says she will walk with her, and I walk up with Hailey.

“You got this Soph, don’t second guess yourself, go with your gut.” I knock on Nathan’s door.

“Come in” I push the door and come face to face with my father.

“What are you doing here dad?” He looks to Nathan.

“I came to see how things are with you? I haven’t spoken to you in a while.”

“Dad, quit while you’re behind, you saw me yesterday, just leave. I’ll talk to you later on.” He leaves, I turn to Nathan.

“Want to tell me what that was about?” He just shakes his head.

“Fine, I came in here to talk. It’s a good think you’ve turned mute for a few seconds. What I’m about to say, I don’t want any interruptions, I don’t want you trying to talk me out of it and most of all I want you to do exactly as I ask.” He looks lost but begrudgingly nods.

“I’m going to leave here today and I’m going to my house and I’m packing a bag and I’m going somewhere. We have rushed into this relationship, I fucking hate secrets and lies, yet you seem to be doing both. I can’t deal with this and everything else going on as well as trying not to be stressed. The only thing I can do to alleviate that stress is to put the brakes on us.” I look at him, he doesn’t react he just sits there stoic. I know I have made the right choice.

“What I need from you is space. I’m asking for 7 days’ space. No phone calls, no messages, no turning up in places I’ll be, I don’t want to see you.” He nods; I turn and walk towards the door,

“Goodbye Nathan.”

I leave and I walk out into the reception area, I see dad waiting for me. I walk over to Hailey and tell her I’m okay.

“Come on dad, I know you were waiting for me.” He stands and follows me out of the building.

“So you want to tell me the truth?” His eyes dart away.

“No baby girl I don’t.” I nod and start walking away.

“Wait Soph, I’m protecting you.” He says, I laugh.

“You’re not protecting me, dad I’m old enough to handle everything on my own.” I carry on walking, I hit the corner and take one last look behind me. Dad and Nathan are standing looking at me, I shake my head and continue walking.

I hit the locks on my car when I round the last corner. I hear a massive BOOM and I’m thrown in the air. My back hits the sidewalk. I lay still for a few seconds making sure I’m okay, that my baby is okay. I slowly get to my feet, look around the street, and I see people are coming over to me. I need to get off the street. What if he’s still here? I’m certain Mullah Al Mohammed is the reason behind this. I’m fucking scared, I need help.

“Excuse me miss, are you alright?” I blink and look around at the police officer. He looks worried for me. I’m nodding my head. I look around further and see there are loads of people watching and an ambulance is here.

“Yes Officer, I’m okay, I’m not injured.” He looks at me funny.

“Miss, my name is Officer Chance, your head is bleeding. We need to get you checked out.”

“No, I’m fine, honest.” He nods, not looking convinced and calls the paramedic over.

“Can you have a look at her head, she says she is fine. Just clean the blood.” The paramedic nods and starts cleaning the wound.

“Did you lose consciousness at any stage?” I shake my head. “Any dizziness or nausea?” I shake my head again, “If you do, come straight to the hospital.” I nod this time.

“Thank you.” The paramedic just nods his head.

“Can I please get your name and can you tell me what happened here?” The police officer asks. I take another look around; people are just standing around looking at me.

“Sophia Dallas. I was walking back to my car. I hit unlock on my key fob and next thing I know I was thrown back and my car had blown up.” He looks around, then back to me.

“Do you know anyone who would want to harm you?” He asks so seriously, I hate that I won’t be telling him the truth.

“No sir, I have no idea who would want to hurt me.” I lie, he nods.

“Okay miss; is there anyone I can call for you?” I shake my head.

“No thank you officer, I’m not going far, but thank you.”

“Okay miss can I get your address and telephone number before you leave, just in case we need you to answer any further questions.” I agree and give them to him.

I head to our office building. I get in undetected and make my way to Sarge’s office. He’s alone.

“Sarge?” His head shoots up and his eyes narrow.

“Why is your head bleeding?” I raise my hand to my head and feel wetness, damn it. I thought the paramedic took care of that.

“My car just blew up.” I say as if my car getting blown up happens every day. Sarge shakes his head.

“We’re going to the hospital. Shall I call what’s-his-face?”

“Umm why are we going to the hospital, and call him and I’ll junk punch you.” He doesn’t say anything, he grabs my hand and we walk out the back entrance. He hails a cab, and we get in.

“Metro” is all he says to the driver.

“Ok tell me everything” he demands. I look to the roof of the cab.

“I parked 2 blocks away from the office, I was going to run errands this afternoon. I turned the corner, hit unlock on my key and boom, up in flames and I’m knocked backwards.” He nods then pulls out his phone. He asks me which direction, I tell him.

“Sam, head two blocks west, there was an explosion. Hmm, yeah follow the cops then. Sophia’s car just exploded, find out everything you can” I sit back and try not to worry, I need to stay calm. We arrive at metro, and I sign in to the emergency room. As I’m pregnant they are waiting for the OBGYN to come and see me. After almost an hour’s wait I’m brought into a cubicle. I just stare at the doctor.

“Come on, seriously, don’t they have other doctors here?” Dr Forsyth laughs.

“Always a pleasure Sophia, what seems to be the problem today?

“Okay, so I fell to the floor twice today, also my heads bleeding and I need to pee.” He looks at my head, then points to the bathroom. I get in and all of a sudden my world tilts as I spot blood in my panties. Oh fuck no. Please God, please let my baby be okay.

“How did you fall over twice?” I’m not telling him about Winter or the car bomb.

“Dr. Forsyth, there is blood in my panties.” I don’t know how I managed to say that. My mind is in overdrive, and my heart is in my throat.

“Okay Sophia, your head needs to be cleaned then stitched, now let’s check your baby. You could be bleeding for any number of reasons. Don’t worry Sophia, we will look after you.” I do as he says praying my baby will be okay.

I haven’t heard anything from Sophia in 7 days, the longest 7 days of my life. I haven’t been to work after the day Soph walked out, I punched Connor after the girls left, he shouldn’t have spoken to Hailey the way he did but it’s partly his fault I’m like this. Hence the punch. I couldn’t go back in; I was so worried about her. I love her. I need to be around her. Scott, Luke and Hailey don’t know where she is. I doubt they will tell me even if they did. I’m in their bad books, well maybe not so much Scott’s as he knows why I’m keeping things from her.

I have been looking over all the notes and e-mails Dwayne took from Alex’s house and e-mail account. She definitely is up to something. We found e-mails between her and her mother. Apparently Alex wanted to find her sister, she searched for years for her. She found Soph three years ago.

In her e-mail to her mom, her hatred comes out. She says why should Sophia have money when they have nothing? Then she goes on to say how much she hates Soph for leaving her, how Sophia ruined her life.

Both Alex and her mom go on and devise a plan to ruin her life. They come up with removing everyone around her. That was where her plan for Luke and Scott came in; she seduced both of them hoping to get them to fall in love with her. Then she can get Sophia out of their lives. I don’t think either of them would do that.

She has the layout of Steven’s house; she was going to kidnap Soph for money. I need to calm down before I tell Steven. He was right, that they were up to something. I doubt he would have thought it could have been this.

I received a call from someone called Ryder Marshall today he says he has vital information for me. He says he will be here in 30 minutes. I quickly shower, I’ve been looking like a hobo the last few days. I get dressed quickly and give the place a quick tidy up.

The doorbell rings and I answer it. I haven’t got a clue who this Ryder man is, so I’m shocked when I see Sam and Skye along with three other men at my door. I open the door wider and they all enter; this is obviously something to do with Sophia.

“Can I get you all a drink?” I ask after closing the door and leading them into the living room. They all decline.

“You’re probably wondering what we all are doing here? Well we’re here to explain a few things to you, because obviously you haven’t received the memo. Sophia is and will always be too good for you. She will always be better than you, and there is absolutely nothing in this world that can change that fact.” I nod; I know that; Sophia is an amazing woman.

“So let me explain something to you. What I’m about to tell you doesn’t leave this room until she tells you. Do you understand?”

I nod again; I’m like a fucking fish. “Last week, after leaving you outside your office building, Sophia walked back to her car, hit unlock on her key fob, and was thrown backwards as her car exploded. She made it into our building after talking to the cops and I brought her to a hospital where she was treated for a cut to the head. They also checked out your baby.” Oh god, I think my heart actually skips a beat.

“Sophia was spotting” FUCK!

“My girl was bleeding and I wasn’t there. Is she okay?” Ryder has a small smile on his face.

“What the fuck are you smiling at?” I’m ready to lose it.

“Calm the fuck down. They’re right, you are pussy whipped. Sophia has what they call an implantation bleed, this occurs when the thick, bloody lining of the uterus is disturbed by the embryo nestling its way into the uterus.” Everyone turns to look at him.

“I was there when the doctor explained it to her.” He takes a breath and moves around the room.

“As Sophia had claimed she had just fallen, they kept her overnight for observation. She was released the next day with no more spotting.” Oh wow, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should laugh or cry.

“Is she okay?” They all share a look.

“No, she is being hunted.” Umm what?

“What the fuck do you mean she is being hunted? She is not a fucking animal.” Sam sits. I need to find out who I need to kill.

“Ok, what we are about to tell you could get us into a lot of trouble. When we were on our last tour of Afghanistan, we were kidnapped.” I stop him right there.

“Yeah and Sophia was tortured, she told me everything that happened.” They nod looking relieved.

“Good did she tell you about the man who tortured her? That he is here in the US? How he is looking for her? That no one has ever escaped his torture before, but Sophia did.”

I sit down and wait for them to continue “We went to Marjah. The province had been cleared of all Taliban dealings, and then about 7 months ago there was intelligence that the Taliban had regrouped there. We were sent down to do some recon work and we found out that the Taliban had recruited new blood so to speak. They had a small army, but the numbers were growing rapidly as they were recruiting children. We sent word back and laid low. We met up with the other teams a few days later. We still don’t know how they knew we were there or when we were coming.” Sam says gruffly.

“Ok, do you believe someone sold you out?” I have to ask.

“We are not sure. They could have been lucky and found us, or they could have been told. Anyway we were ambushed, we were fucked from the get go,” Sam says. The man they call Doc is silent, he hasn’t spoken since they got here. I just stare, they need to speed this up, my girl is being hunted and I need to see her.

“We were taken to this fucking Taliban cell, fucking filth. They had us for about 3 weeks before we escaped. In those 3 weeks, the man that tortured Sophia, he managed to find out everything about her. The second day we were there, he called her by her first name. We were confused, we all call her Soph, so we didn’t know how. Then we thought maybe one of us did call her by her name, so we stayed silent, only using little words, not really talking about anything major. He still found out about her, he told her everything about her, how she was adopted, shit like that. We knew he was researching her.” Oscar says and sits down.

“He tried to break her. He needed her broken. Every time he came, he would say he was going to break her, but she never did, she didn’t even cry, she took everything they did to her. I’m so proud of her, but I’m so fucking mad at myself. Who just sits there and watches a woman get tortured? So once we finally got free, and made it home, we did a bit of research on this man. He has never tortured someone and not killed them. We believe he needs to finish the job; he needs to break Sophia, and then kill her. That is why he’s here in the US.” Oscar Continues. What the fuck do you say to that? What the fuck can I do? She won’t let me protect her; she hates me for keeping secrets from her.

“Ok so where is he?” They all share a look.

“He’s in hiding. We will find him. He knows where she lives, he delivered a letter to her the other day. He’s after her and he won’t stop. He bombed the car. He doesn’t care about the damage he causes. I believe this is just the beginning.” Ryder says.

I stand up and I grab my keys. “Come on, you’re all coming down to my offices, this is now a joint investigation.” They smile and stand up.

“We will follow you there.” I drive like a fucking NASCAR driver. I go to the underground car park and wait for the others. I have such a rage inside. How can someone hunt another human for fun, just so they can torture them some more. But to go after Sophia. I feel like I could kill this person with my bear hands. I see them pull in and I exit my car.

Once inside the reception, Hailey walks over to me. “Umm boss, Sophia arrived about an hour ago; she walked into the conference room.” I start walking towards it.

“Boss, something’s wrong with her.” That stops me in my tracks.

“What? What’s wrong with her?” Hailey walks over to me.

“She walked into the conference room, then she just froze, all the blood drained from her face and she is frozen on the spot. Scott’s in there with her now.” I nod and walk towards the conference door, it’s slightly ajar.

I use my foot and push the door open wider and see Sophia standing there, she’s just standing, hands crossed against her stomach. Her face is a deathly greyish colour, but her eyes, they hold fear in them. She is looking directly at the board. Scott looks broken seeing her like this, he’s talking to her. It’s quiet but I can hear it.

“Sis, I remember the day I met you, you were hiding behind mom. All I remember is these little hands on mom’s legs. Then your head popped out, and you looked so scared. Then dad came in, and he put you on his lap and told you who we were. You didn’t look as scared anymore. It took you ages to even come and play with us. When you did, you smiled. Your smile lights up your entire face, Soph. I want to see that smile. I hate seeing you like this Soph. Come on Soph, say something. Fuck, say anything. Please.” His voice cracks, his eyes are watery, I don’t blame him, and I need to know what the fuck is going on.

I head back to the reception area, “You five come with me.” I turn back and go to the conference room, “I want to know what has made her so frozen?” I push open the door and hear a gasp behind me, followed by several curses.

“Nathan, why do you have a picture of Mullah Al Mohammed on your board?” Ryder asks in a hard voice, I spin and face him.

“Not that it is any of your business, I’m trying to locate him.”

“So you’re hunting him?” Oscar asks.

“Yeah I suppose you can call it that.” Ryder lets out a quick bark like laugh,

“That’s some fucking joke right?” He says and I give him a hard look.

“Want to tell me what the fuck is your problem?” he steps up to me. We’re face to face.

“Yeah my problem is you, you’re seriously going to act like you have no clue who that man is to us? Better yet, who he is to Sophia?” Now I’m getting pissed off.

“Listen jackass, I don’t have a fucking clue what you’re talking about, so either speak up or shut the fuck up.” It’s Skye that tells me, and what she tells me makes me want to cry.

“Nathan, Mullah Al Mohammed, he’s part of the Taliban. He’s their go to torturer. He’s the man that tortured Sophia. He came to the US to finish the job.” FUCK! Oh god.

“What are you talking about? Who tortured my sister?” I turn and face Scott. He looks murderous right now. I can only imagine I must have a similar look. If what I feel on the inside is showing on the outside, I must look worse than Scott.

“Now you understand the irony. The man you’re hunting, he’s the one that is hunting the love of your life.” Doc says with a laugh. Shit.

“Somebody better fucking tell me what the hell is going on.” Scott looks ready to punch me.

“Scott, man it’s not up to me to tell you this. I can’t betray your sister’s trust like that.” Sam decides to help him out.

“Look I’ll give you the condensed version okay. When we were in Afghanistan, we were ambushed. We were taken to a Taliban cell where the motherfucking bastard tortured your sister. The man has never tortured someone and not killed them, until Sophia. Now he’s in the states and is after her.” He nods and looks to his sister. I can see an internal battle in his mind. He walks over to her and wraps his hands around her.

“I’ll be back soon sis. He’s not going to hurt you again; on my life I promise you that.” Then he leaves. I walk over to Sophia and wrap her up in my arms.

“Baby, I’m here, he’s not going to hurt you. I promise. He will have to go through me before he can even look at you anymore.” I feel her melt into me. I wrap her up tighter, bend and kiss the top of her head.

“I promise baby, you’re safe here.” She nods and burrows her head into my chest.

“I love you baby, don’t do that again, how is our baby?” she tenses.

“Don’t tense, the guys told me what happened, is he okay?” Her head flies up, her eyes find mine, she takes a step back and her hands go to her hips.

“Nathan Slade, what gives you the impression that my child is a boy?” I give her my best smirk, the one I know really irritates her.

“Look, nobody wants to see what this office would be like if it comes out a girl. Nobody wants to see ten fully grown men be pussy whipped by a child, because there is no doubt about it, your looks babe, on my child and I’m well and truly fucked.” She smiles and my heart takes a sigh of relief.

“Baby, please don’t go like that again. I can’t handle seeing you like that. I wanted to tear someone apart. You were so scared and so frozen.” She nods, then stands on her toes and looks around the room, everyone has left us alone.

“Walking in here and seeing his face, it was a shock. I felt like I was back there, that I was helpless again. I’m scared Nathan, and I hate admitting that the bastard has me scared, but I won’t run and I won’t hide. It’s not who I am. But he had me questioning that. He has me so scared that I thought about hiding.” She has tears in her eyes, my heart breaks for her. I want her to hide, I want her to be safe, but that isn’t going to happen.

“Babe, my instincts tell me to pick you up and put you into a safe house, but I know there is no way that is going to happen, so I’m making a compromise. Please will you have at least one guy on you at all times?” she must be thinking about it because she doesn’t answer straight away.

“When you mean one guy, do you mean one of your employees or do my team mates count?” This is good, she’s considering it.