Deadly Hunt (Deadly #1) (24 page)

So I do “What do you want me to say? How about I’m worried you’ve gone mental?” Then it happens, I feel a soft kick. I look at Soph she has the biggest smile on her face.

“Is that? Did he?” Damn it I can’t speak. She has tears streaming down her cheeks; I swallow and try again.

“Did he kick? Please tell me I wasn’t imagining it.” She’s nodding, she can’t speak either. I lean down and kiss her.

I lie in bed holding her and our baby. Here in this moment I’m so damn happy. I can’t think about tomorrow; I’ll think about tomorrow when I wake up. Right now, my family is the only thing on my mind, the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with and my baby. They are what’s important. I fall asleep holding both of them.

We’re all at the docks, including Hailey to everyone’s dismay. The look Skye gave her was deadly. Ryder hasn’t even acknowledged her presence. We have breakfast. Sophia hasn’t kept me out of her line of sight, she knows where I am at all times, she is worried and it’s not good for her or the baby.

“T minus two minutes and we’re leaving.” Ryder says. I see Sophia in the corner of my eye; she is blinking fast, trying to keep the tears at bay. Scott walks over to her and gives her a hug. I start making my way over to them.

“Something isn’t right Scott; I can feel it. Promise me you will look after him?” Fuck, she sounds so scared.

“Always, you know that. I’ve got him; I won’t let anything happen to him. I promise. I love you Soph.” He kisses her cheek

She hugs him again “I love you too Scott. Be safe.” He nods and walks off. I walk up to her and hug her.

“Don’t be worried Soph, we have a great team. Just please try not to stress.” She gives a shaky laugh

“Try not to stress, yeah right, that isn’t going to happen.” She leans up on her tip-toes and kisses my lips; I kiss her back. “Be safe Nathan, we need you.” I nod, unable to talk around the lump in my throat.

“I love you Soph, so damn much. Meeting you was the best thing to happen to me. Last night, feeling our baby kick, it was perfect. I love you both so much.” I say roughly, I kiss her and kneel down and kiss her bump, she lets out a sob.

“Nathan Slade, don’t speak like that, I love you.” And she’s in my arms again.

“I’ve got to go babe; I’ll talk to you later on okay.” She nods and I give her one last kiss, this time it’s soft and sweet, and full of promise, a promise of tomorrow. I walk to the car as Ryder calls out.

“So Doc and Soph will stay here, Oscar and Dwayne are coming with us. We will be back later. We all leave now,” Then goes to the van and we all drive off. I look out the wing mirror and see Sophia sobbing. I grit my teeth and force myself to look away.

We arrive at Commander Hutchinson’s home. The guard on the gate didn’t even ask for I.D, dumbass. No wonder the Commander is paranoid with fucking liabilities working for him. The Commander is waiting for us even though we are early.

“Excellent, I like to see people being efficient, now let’s go shall we?” We nod, none of us speaking. We head towards the car, none of his men follow, they’re not fully ready yet.

Once secure in the car, Scott drives out of the driveway. The guard at the gate hasn’t noticed the Commanders regular team haven’t even got into their car yet. We make it out of the gate and Scott floors it just as they realize we’re gone. By the time they start chasing, we’re out of sight.

“What’s the meaning of this? How dare you just kidnap me. Do you know who I am?” We laugh at the fear in his voice.

“Of course we know who you are. We wouldn’t have kidnapped you if we didn’t. Don’t worry Commander, we will be there soon.” Connor says in a menacing tone I didn’t even know he possessed.

The commander stays silent. We arrive at the warehouse pulling him from the car and bring him inside. “Tie him up Asher, make sure he can’t escape.” Asher nods and starts tying him to the chair.

“What’s the meaning of this? Why did you bring me here?” He’s panicking now.

“I’m the reason you’re here, I want to know why you sold us out. I want to know how you could betray us. How you could betray your country.” Ryder says with so much rage, I’m shocked he’s managed to keep it leashed.

“What, how did you find out? No one was ever meant to know.” He’s shocked, I don’t know why; the bastard didn’t exactly hide it well.

“Oh for fuck sake, I’m the best, of course I would have found out, and as for why? Well that mission felt off from the beginning, we couldn’t put our finger on it until we came home and we realized we had been sold out.” Oscar explains, his face is red, and his fists are clenched.

The commander sighs “My wife was dying, she had a brain tumour. We couldn’t afford the surgery to remove it. She needed an experimental procedure and treatment, our insurance doesn’t cover that, but then I got money into my bank, and I could get my wife the operation. I didn’t question where the money came from, at the time I didn’t really care, my wife was getting the surgery to save her life, and I’m sorry, I don’t regret taking it.”

We all step forward, “I don’t know how the Taliban knew about my wife, but I was in debt to them, I had to let them know if anyone entered Marjah, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. When I found out your team had been taken hostage, I did everything I could to find you.”

They laugh. I want to punch this fucking asshole, he’s the reason they lost a man, he’s the reason Sophia was tortured. “You didn’t see anything wrong with it? You have to be joking right? Even you aren’t that naive. We don’t give a shit what you did to find us, you were the reason we were there in the first place, and you’re the reason why we are a man down. You are the reason why Sophia was tortured. You ruined us. Why are you helping them now?” he looks confused.

“What are you talking about?” Ryder looks at me, I shrug; I don’t know what game he’s playing.

“I’m talking about you, smuggling Mullah Al Mohammed into the US. I’m talking about you helping him stay hidden. I’m talking about you helping a murdering fucker hunt Sophia.” I’m pissed I want to punch this fucker.

“I haven’t, I didn’t know he was in the US, but I do know I wasn’t the only person who they had on their side. I thought it was Sam, but I went through his file thoroughly, he’s clean. I went through all of your files, they all came back clear except one. I never meant to cause all this, I just wanted my wife to be better, and she died two months ago.” He stands up and grabs Asher the fucker broke through his restraints, he whirls him around, pushes him to the ground, and takes his gun.

He raises the gun and points it at Asher who’s still on the floor. Two shots ring out and we watch as the Commander falls to the floor. We rush over and Scott kicks the gun away from him. I can see he’s dying, he has two gunshot wounds in his chest. I look at his face and see he is relieved. He knows he’s dying.

“Please tell Sophia, that I’m extremely sorry, I never intended for any of this. You need to go to her; you have left her at his mercy. Remember you all came back clean bar one person.”

“Who? Who is it? Tell me.” I’m down on my knees shaking him, but it’s futile. He’s already dead.

Chaos ensues. I phone Sophia, while Ryder calls Doc, none of them are answering. “We need to go back to the docks now.” Ryder yells running for the door. Everyone leaves, I look back and see the Commanders body still on the ground.

We arrive at the docks to find no Sophia and no Caleb. There is a desk on the ground; it looks like a small struggle. I feel dread creep in. “We need to find them. We need to do it now. Scott get away from the computer, Dwayne and Oscar need them.” Ryder says trying to move him.

“No, I tagged her last night, we both felt off about this, so I gave her a necklace that I had already Lo- jacked. Let me see if I can pin point her.” We wait anxiously as he brings up the GPS. I’m praying she hasn’t left it behind. “Bingo, got you, you son of a bitch.” Scott says. Relief seeps into my body. We have a place to start.

“Does anyone know if Hailey left or was she here?” I ask as I look around and realize that she is missing. Scott’s head pops up and he pulls out his phone.

Scott is talking frantically on the phone, then his shoulders sag and he lets out a rush of air. “Yeah Hails, I’ll talk to you later.” Well that answers that question. Now time to get my girl back.

“Let’s grab weapons and ear pieces, Oscar and Dwayne; you’re our eyes and ears. We head out now.” Ryder says. His voice full of anger.

The guys have just left and something in me clicks, I haven’t been worried about them, I’m worried about us. I walk to my desk, boot up the laptop and start searching. It’s been bugging me for days. Something about him has been niggling away at me.

“I’m going home now, unless you need anything?” I shake my head. I’m so engrossed in finding the missing link, I forgot that I wasn’t the only one here, and since I don’t verbally answer her, she walks up to the desk.

“Soph, what’s wrong, you’ve been weird with us for a while. Have I done something to piss you off?” I look at her.

“No Hails, you haven’t pissed me off, I’ve had a lot on my mind, I’m pre-occupied, I’m stressed and I’m hormonal. You’ve done nothing wrong and I don’t mean to be weird. I really do have so much on my mind.” She nods and gives me a sad smile.

“I know; you will be fine I promise. I love your necklace, where did you get it?” I look down at the necklace, and remember how I got it.

“Soph, I know your gut’s screaming at you, mine is as well. All is not right, we’re missing something, and we have to figure out what it is.” I’m nodding my head in agreement

“I know but the only other option is someone in this room is helping them. It’s something we don’t want to face, hell I don’t want to even thing about it, but someone in this room right now could well be helping them. But who? When you guys looked into us, you overlooked something.” Scott looks around the room.

“Okay let’s start with my team. So there is Nathan, Connor, me, Asher and Hailey.” I nod, none of them are the one to sell us out.

“It’s not you, Nathan or Hails. I didn’t know Connor or Asher until I met Nathan, so it’s not them.” I sigh knowing what that means.

“You realize what you’re implying don’t you?” I nod “Soph, you know them better than me, who could it be?” I’m mad now.

“I don’t want it to be any of them Scott. These people watched me being tortured. Fuck I’ve been with them for so long, we’re meant to be family, they’re not meant to break your fucking heart by betraying you.” My arms are flying about the place.

“I know Soph, but you know them, you’ve been around them when you’re all at your worst. You have an inkling about one of them don’t you?”

I nod, I don’t say anything, he knows I wouldn’t. If I have an inkling that there’s something off about one of them, but it turns out to be false, I could tear the team apart, I couldn’t do that. I’ll investigate myself and if I find out anything, I’ll bring it to the team.

“Soph, stay here for a sec, I have something I want to give you.” I nod in response. He walks into the room he’s been staying in, and he’s in there for only a few seconds before he’s making his way back to me. He has a necklace in his hands.

“Soph, I need to know you’re safe. Nathan is so worried about you and catching everyone who’s out to destroy you that he hasn’t stopped to think. I have. I need you to do something for me; I need you to promise me that once I give you this, you won’t take it off. Please Soph?”

I look at the necklace and realize it was mom’s. I look at Scott’s face, he’s so serious. He’s frowning but I see fear in his eyes. “I can’t lose you Soph. Please?”

I look at the necklace and back at him. I laugh “You Lo-Jacked it?”

He nods, “Soph, I’ve lost so many people I care about, you’re the one person I can’t. You were my anchor when we were growing up. Soph, please, I need you to be safe.”

“Okay Scott, give it to me, I’ll put it on and I won’t take it off. Please don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He smiles and nods
.

I look up at Hailey who’s staring at my necklace. She looks sad. “Scott gave it to me, why?” She nods and a tear slips out of her eye and lands on her cheek.

“I saw him with it the other day, I said it was nice, he told me it was for someone really special to him. I’m relieved. I thought he had a girlfriend.” I smile at her; I really feel for her.

“This was mom’s necklace. I used to sit on her lap and play with it constantly.” I smile at her. I feel bad for her, she’s in love with him. I don’t know what’s holding him back, because he does like her.

“Go on Hails, go home and rest. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She smiles and winks at me.

“Talk to you tomorrow.” With that she walks out of the Docks.

I’m back going through all the information that I can find, that I don’t realize the implications of Hailey leaving. I feel someone behind me. “Tut-Tut, Sophia, you’re looking into me? Aren’t you the clever one?” Doc says with a smile on his face, “It’s time for lights out.”

He reaches for me and I knock the table over, but he’s quicker than I am. He grabs me by the hair and places a rag over my face. I try not to inhale, but it’s impossible. He’s right, it’s lights out.

I open my eyes, my head feels foggy and it’s dark so I wait for my eyes to adjust to the dim light coming in through the door. I look around the room and realize I don’t know where I am. I try to move and discover I can’t. It’s like Déjà vu. I’m tied to the chair. I need to calm down, I can’t get too stressed, it leads nowhere. I take another look around the room, there’s only one door and one window, however there are a few things spotted around the room that could be used as weapons. I see a tire iron and a crow bar, both can inflict a lot of damage to someone.

I test the bindings on my hands, they’re tied tightly, but I’m moving my wrists and the bindings are giving way. My wrists could be rubbed raw by the time I’m finished, but I need to get out of here. I keep trying to move my wrists, getting the bindings moving forward and backwards, it’s gradually breaking.

I try to think back to what happened after Doc covered my face with the rag, but I draw a complete and utter blank, fuck. I don’t know where I am or why the fuck he took me. I hear footsteps coming towards the door. They stop and I can hear keys jingling. I try to get out of the bindings quicker, but it’s no use, they aren’t giving way yet. The door opens and I come face to face with my nightmare. He doesn’t say anything until he closes the door and walks to the middle of the floor. He’s standing directly in front of me.

“Ah Sophia, so good to see you again. I’ve been searching for you for a long time.” Mullah Al Mohammed says standing in front of me. There is a knock at the door.

“Come on in.” I look at the new comers and my blood boils, I want to fucking kill them.

“I do believe you know my two associates.” I look on in disgust.

“Ah now beautiful Selena, why does she look at you with such hatred?” She preens under his attention, I feel sick.

“She’s jealous of me that’s all.” I can’t help it I burst out laughing. I mean full blown hysterical laughing, where you have to hold your pee in laughter. She looks like she wants to murder me.

“Why are you laughing? She is beautiful.” Mullah says, his tone is confused. Fucking hell.

“Listen, douche bag, I never said she wasn’t beautiful. Firstly, she is a motherfucking bitch and a liar; secondly, what the fuck did I ever do to you? Huh? Why have you been hunting me? And thirdly, Why? Why did you betray us Caleb?” He looks at his feet. The fucking coward. I can’t call him Doc anymore. That was a nickname given to someone we believed had our backs, someone who was our friend.

“What do you mean she is a liar? You lied about her, and she lost her job?” I can’t help the giggle that comes out, these two should take this shit out on the road; they’d make millions.

“Why are you laughing, you lied about me.” Selena screams at me. Wow she’s fucking deranged.

“I didn’t lie you fucking bitch. I heard you on the phone to your friend saying you sucked Nathan’s dick. You got fired because you’re a crazy person.” I say to her and watch her face go bright red. Mullah looks pissed, good. The stupid bitch.

“Is this true?” He asks in such a menacing tone that Selena flinches.

“Yes, it is true. I’m sorry I lied, I didn’t want you to hate me.” Ugh please, damn that girl is pathetic.

He stares at her for a few seconds. I should have seen it coming but I didn’t, I watch in shock as he brings his arm back and back hands her viciously across her face. She cries out in pain. He grabs her hair and pulls her roughly to him.

“You’re disgusting, I didn’t have sex with you, no matter how hard you tried. You make me feel sick. Your desperation is off putting.” I see the colour drain from her face as she realizes she’s been used, but I don’t give a fuck.

“Please Mullah, I’m sorry I lied.” Selena says panicking

“SILENCE.” Mullah shouts, causing her to shut up. He pulls out a gun and with absolutely no hesitation, he shoots her. I watch as Selena falls to the ground causing my heart to ache as I remember him doing the same thing to Smithy.

“I’ll leave you to talk to your friend; I know you have a lot to talk about.” With that the fucking bastard leaves me in the room with Caleb and Selena.

Selena moves, and groans in pain I look and see that she has been shot in her stomach. Caleb doesn’t even care he’s staring at me. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll shoot you myself,” Caleb says causing Selena to whimper but she does shut up. “I never intended for you to be hurt Soph. What happened in Afghanistan, I didn’t know that was going to happen?” I don’t care what he’s saying it means fuck all to me now. I don’t answer him.

“Look, I was born into this life; it’s what I was meant to do. My parents sent me to America when I was 10. They wanted me to have a proper life, well that is what they said. I found out after, that it was so I could join the military and infiltrate it.” I’m so fucking disgusted right now.

“You’re despicable, how fucking dare you. What gives you the right to come to this country and sell it out? Huh? What gives you the right to betray the country that educated you? That gave you the food to survive? You think you were being noble going back to your roots?”

He looks shocked, did he think I would accept his half assed explanation and act as though he didn’t stab me in my back and deliberately put my life and the life of my unborn child in danger?

“Soph, please don’t be like that. What would you have done if they were your biological parents? Would you have turned your back on them?” I laugh.

“Fuck, of course I would. You were here for 9-11, you saw what that did to everyone, and you saw the devastation that it brought, not only here but across the world. How can you stand there and act like you betraying the country that you have lived in for almost 18 years means nothing? That you don’t care?”

“You fucking bitch. You think you’re better than me, you wouldn’t know what it’s like not growing up with your parents. I have made them proud. I don’t regret what I have done. It gave me my family.” I laugh at his pure naivety.

“Your parents don’t give a fuck about you. I know because the thought of sending my baby away fucking hurts, I could never send my baby away to fucking betray any country. As for not growing up with my biological parents, I know damn fucking well what you’re talking about, I’m adopted. I love my adopted family; they mean the absolute world to me. This proves you’re a cold heartless bastard. And yes I am better than you, I would never do what you have done, I would never betray my country and I would never betray my teammates.”

“I don’t know what you expect from me Sophia. My parents sent me here to do a job. I lived in Helena, Montana, I was happy, then when I was fifteen, I found out the truth, I found out I was destined for great things. I could help out the country I was born to, by destroying the country that kept me away from Afghanistan.” Damn this fucker is mental.

“You’re deluded. You’re completely fucked in the head. Get this in to your head. Nobody in Afghanistan wanted you, that was a lie. How the fuck did you manage to get into the military?” I’m so pissed. How can someone betray our country?

“My adopted father was friends with the recruiter.” Ah of course that fucking explains it. Bastard.

The door opens and Mullah walks in, looking fucking happy about something.

“She is telling you the truth, she is adopted, and your parents did not care about you. They sent you to America, because they did not want you any longer. We agreed to it as long as you infiltrated the military, which you did, but you should know, your parents are going to die, just as you are.”

The fucker looks confused; he doesn’t understand why he’s dying. I don’t either but with him being so tight with the fucking Taliban I thought he understood their customs and culture, he has obviously pissed them off.

“What have I done? Why are you going to kill me? My parents?” He sounds like a moron right now.

“You’re all dying because we do not trust any of you. You have all played your parts and you have played them extremely well, but how do I know you won’t sell us out next? As for your parents, well they are liabilities. They should have been killed long ago, but we held off since some thought you wouldn’t do it if they were dead.” Damn that was cold.

“You fucking prick, I gave up everything for this. You complete fucking prick. I hate you.” Mullah pulls out his gun and fires. I see Caleb’s eyes widen and he falls to the ground, a bullet hole between his eyes. It was a great shot, but fuck, why do they all have to have their fucking eyes open?