Keller spit into Isaac’s face. “You want to know why I proposed your wife’s death to Yanez?”
Isaac wiped at his face with a second handkerchief from his suit jacket.
“You needed to learn your place in the organization. You are nothing, Isaac. You don’t deserve the commissioner seat and I’ll see you dead before you get anywhere near it.”
“I think I’ve heard enough from you.” Isaac motioned Adelaide forward. The game between him and Keller had ended. He’d get the councilman’s fighters with or without the man himself. “Ms. Banvard.”
Keller struggled once again. “You kill me and your daughter won’t have a chance.”
Isaac pulled Adelaide back by her arm, shock spreading like lightning through his system. “What did you just say?”
Keller’s mouth spread into a grin, a laugh trickling past his lips. “You honestly didn’t think I wouldn’t have a backup plan, did you? I am not in my position by
luck
.”
“You’re not going to have any position if you don’t answer the question.”
“I know you killed Yanez, Isaac. You think me stupid enough to meet with you without leverage?”
The blackmail wouldn’t work. He’d come too far, sacrificed too much to lose now. “What do you want?”
Keller inhaled sharply as Nicholas pressed a hunting knife against his throat. “I walk out of here alive and I call them off. It’s that simple. You keep your fighters, I keep mine, and we go our separate ways.”
“Give me your vote and I won’t order Ms. Banvard to visit your wife and children.” Isaac had never harmed a child, but he wouldn’t be the one to finish the deed if it came to it. “I want your signature.”
Pulling a trifolded piece of paper from his jacket pocket, Isaac motioned for Nicholas to let his prey go. “Sign it.”
The bodyguard released Keller.
“Then we have a deal.”
With a quick signature, Keller straightened his clothing, scoffing at the remains in the ring. “I suggest you get rid of that as soon as possible. Wouldn’t want your new toy to be brought up on murder charges before you’ve even played with her.”
He walked toward the exit.
Isaac nodded toward Nicholas, giving the silent order to do as Keller instructed.
“Oh,” the councilman said, turning back around, “about your betrayal here today, your little girl will pay the price, Rutler. Not even God himself can stop the men I sent after her.”
“You sent a team after her?”
Keller held up a small silver cell phone. “The second your pet killed Roman, I gave the order. I look forward to giving her head to you. Until then, you have my vote, but I’ll destroy every piece of your life for your betrayal.”
Isaac released Adelaide’s arm. “We’ll see.”
She stepped forward, eyes peeled for her target alone.
Keller took one step closer toward the door. “I can’t vote if I’m dead. You’re going to ruin our partnership before it begins, Isaac?”
Isaac turned his back on the scene. He wasn’t about to make his life more complicated. If Keller ended up dead, he’d have deniability and he’d move on. Adelaide had a mind of her own. She merely lost control. The explanations had already written themselves for when the police found Keller’s body in an alleyway.
The sound of strained breathing and scuffling shoes filled the silence. Finally, silence.
Just one look wouldn’t hurt
. Isaac turned around.
A knife jutted from Keller’s chest, the man’s hands gripping the blade’s handle.
Nicholas’s knife.
Keller dropped to his knees and fell face-forward onto the cement with wide eyes.
“Damn you, Nicholas.” Isaac’s tone filled with disappointment as he shook his head. The idea had been to let Adelaide kill Keller, bring her closer to the edge and further into his control. “I swear to God you fuck everything up on purpose.”
His bodyguard stared up at him through blonde eyelashes as he pulled the knife from Keller’s chest cavity. Nicholas’s shoulders moved with labored breathing. “If you want to see your new toy play, order her to fight me.”
He straightened then turned without another word, walking out the entrance Keller had come through.
Isaac’s gaze lingered on the dead man in front of him then moved toward the one in the ring. Each had been killed by the best in the world, but he only needed one to make it to the top. “Well, this is a hard decision.”
Chapter 10
“Nice piece of shit you picked out,” Taigen spat.
They’d gone through three states without stopping and the truck jerked in protest, pushing Torrhent forward and nearly into the dashboard.
She shot him a look and buckled her seat belt. “The left one’s the brake.”
He fumbled with the gearshift, switching between fourth and fifth gears. The truck jerked with his movements and a frustrated growl ripped from his throat. His expression was one of concentration as he pushed and pulled the gearshift.
Torrhent clutched the dashboard with one hand and the door with the other.
The pickup veered onto the side of the freeway. When it stopped, smoke emanated from under the hood.
“That’s not good.” She followed Taigen outside. She tried to breathe through the fumes as she made her way to the front, waving her hand to clear the smoke when he opened the hood. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Transmission.” His voice had gone dead, accepting, as if he’d planned for this all along. Taigen reached down into the engine, but suddenly snapped his hand back as he hissed in pain. He stepped away from the truck, slamming the hood down as he moved. “Too hot to try to fix it. Clouds are coming in. That should give us some protection on foot.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
He reached inside the bed of the truck, his shirt riding up.
Torrhent gasped at the sight of three mounds of scar tissue on Taigen’s lower back. “Is that where—”
“She shot me? Yeah.” He threw his pack over his shoulder. “Three in the back, one in the chest.”
“How did you survive?” Her wonderment laced every word. Torrhent grabbed her things then held her breath as sweat dripped down his neckline and down into his shirt.
“I was officially dead for two minutes.” Taigen shot her a quick smile. “Come on. Hope you’re not afraid of a little sun.”
“Nope.” It felt good to lie, almost as if she’d forgotten how since she’d met Taigen. It infuriated her how much he’d distracted her from her purpose, and she slammed the rusted door closed in an effort to concentrate. “If you can’t tell from the blisters on my shoulders, I love the sun.”
They left the truck behind, officially on foot.
“How much water do you have?”
“Two bottles,” she answered. It wouldn’t last long, but they wouldn’t be able to carry a lot either. They’d have to make continuous stops, slowing them down.
“That’s it?”
Torrhent tried to bite her tongue. “I’ve lived off less.”
“Don’t know how.”
She kept pace with him easily and unloaded the sunblock she’d grabbed at the convenience store. She offered Taigen the lotion as they walked.
“You come somewhat prepared, at least.”
“Scout’s motto. I took it to heart when I escaped.”
The heat beat down on them for the next three hours, the clouds moving in the opposite direction they’d expected. Torrhent wiped at her brow once again, disgusted by the thick film of dirt and sweat covering every inch of her body. The sun had taken any remaining dignity from her and she spat hot, sticky saliva onto the road.
“So much for the clouds.” Taigen studied the barren landscape for a few moments. “I don’t see any shelter, but we should be coming up on some within the next ten miles, I think.”
Nothing but small talk had been exchanged between them on their impromptu hike and Torrhent found herself relieved at the sound of another voice besides the one in her head. She pulled the map out of her bag without slowing and studied it. Old habits died hard, but they’d kept her alive so far. “You’re right. About another two, maybe two and half hours and we’ll be in Colorado. We’re on highway fifteen, right?”
She looked up in anticipation of an answer, finding Taigen ten feet back.
Frozen in place, he didn’t answer.
“What?” His ice-cold eyes sent a chill straight through her with each sweep of his gaze and her mouth grew even drier. “Is someone coming?”
She strained to hear something over the ruffling breeze. Joshua Trees held fast against the onslaught of the dust and wind, but the expression on Taigen’s face told her the trees weren’t their only company. A series of yelps echoed off the low-lying hills.
“Ever seen a coyote?”
She didn’t want to answer. She forced herself to look back down at the map then folded it quickly. “We should keep moving. We’re going to fry like eggs if we don’t find shelter soon.”
“Or get eaten.” The smirk on his face would have warmed her from the inside if she hadn’t already been boiling from the midday heat.
She checked her wristwatch. One o’clock.
Taigen followed after her, but his eyes bored into her from behind.
She liked the attention. Her pack rubbed against her shoulders and bra straps as she moved and she fought not to wince from the pain. Another hour passed in silence. Torrhent pulled her pack down and carried it by the loop. She wouldn’t be able to do it for long, but it helped. The yelps had died down, but the steady race of her heart rate didn’t.
“Do you see that?”
She followed Taigen’s gaze, surprised by the sudden sound of his voice. She pulled the map out again. “We can’t be there already, unless I calculated our position wrong.”
He reached for the map, his fingers brushing along her forearm.
Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed to get around it.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“You okay?”
“Fine. What is that place?”
“It’s not on the map.” Taigen regarded the small building then turned to her. “Worth a try, don’t you think?”
“Hell yes.” Torrhent relaxed at the thought of stopping for the night, and within a half hour they were less than a mile away. She’d put the pack back on for convenience, but regretted it the instant the straps hit her sunburned and blistered shoulders. The pain pushed her forward. The sooner they got to the building, the sooner she could rest, but unease bubbled up at the sight of a few cars in the parking lot. She slowed.
Please, God, don’t let there be people who want to kill us.
Beads of sweat coated her face, neck and back. She couldn’t wait to get out of the sun, to wash her clothes, to sleep, but knew they couldn’t truly find comfort until they surveyed the structure completely.
Taigen followed behind without another word.
She focused on what a shower would be like, a very cold shower to not only wash away the grim but cool other parts of her body that had heated up during her time with Taigen. Torrhent pushed the thought from her head. There wasn’t a guarantee the building even had running water, let alone a shower.
As they neared, a car swung out from the small parking lot and lurched down the long stretch of highway toward them.
Her heart sank at the sight of a nice Mercedes-Benz in the middle of the desert. “You don’t think—”
“I don’t know,” Taigen answered. He released the safety on the gun at his back but kept it tucked into the seam of his pants. “Looks like we’re going to find out.”
The Mercedes slowed, crawling to a stop a few feet away from where they’d stopped. Torrhent slid behind him. If Isaac had sent another goon for her, Taigen would handle the situation far better than she ever could.
The tinted window revved down, revealing a small blonde woman in the driver’s seat. Voices yelled from the backseat before she had a chance to speak and Torrhent realized there were children behind her.
“Are you lost?” the woman asked. Her large sunglasses covered most of her face, but left a small, pouty mouth and perfect white teeth visible.
“No,” Taigen answered. “Actually, I was wondering what that building is.”
“It’s a motel. But I wouldn’t recommend it. I saw a cockroach crawl across the floor toward my Adam.” She turned around in her seat and then back. “He’s my two-year-old.”
“Do they have running water?” Torrhent stepped closer to the car.
From the expression on the woman’s face, she hadn’t noticed her before and Torrhent couldn’t blame her. Taigen was big. Muscular. Handsome. And dangerous. She seemed to study them for a moment, their faces, their clothes. “Yeah, but I guess you two wouldn’t mind the cockroaches from the looks of you.”
That earned her a smile from Taigen.
She rolled up the window, smiling back with a wave.
Torrhent stared at her reflection in the glass for a full three seconds before the Mercedes started on its way. Taigen had never smiled at her like that.
“Well, she was rude,” he said.
“Why? Because she didn’t bow down and worship the ground you walk on?” Despite her attempt to hide it, jealousy tinted Torrhent’s words. The woman’s life was easy, simple, and she didn’t have a sociopath gunning for her. Add to that the smile Taigen shot her, and the world seemed to crash down around her. Why couldn’t things be easy? Why, of all people, did Isaac have to target her? “I don’t want to stand out here anymore.”
She jogged toward the motel. Her pack bounced up and down on her shoulders and she strained to keep from screaming. The blisters had most likely become infected.
Within ten minutes they hit the gravel parking lot, staring at an old cinder-block building painted white. A single man sat behind the glass. His pale skin let Torrhent know he hadn’t seen much sun in his day, and with good reason. It’d gotten over a hundred degrees in August. His walk from the back of the room toward the glass seemed to take a lot of energy, but he set himself down with ease, leaning forward. “How many rooms?”
“Two, please.” She reached around for her pack. A splintering pain pushed the air from her lungs and a moan from her throat. She ignored the stares from both men and pulled what money she’d stolen from her pack. “How much?”
“Hundred.”
“For how long?”
“One night.”
Her jaw dropped. She only had a hundred dollars left. “One night?”
“I’ve got to make money somehow.” The wrinkles in his face moved as he spoke, putting him over fifty she guessed, but she couldn’t be sure. “And from the looks of you, you
really
need a room. If you can’t pay, you’re more than welcome to stay with me.”
Her body tensed, her mind equipped with more than enough profanities, and she was ready to let him have them all. “You—”
A hand slithered across her waist and pulled her away from the window. Taigen moved in front of her, confronting the man behind the glass. “How much for one room?”
Torrhent didn’t hear a response, but suddenly Taigen took the money from her hands. He slipped fifty dollars under the glass and watched as the fat man took it. A key followed shortly after, and within seconds they had a place to stay. He turned on her, moving her toward the long line of doors on their left with a hand on her lower back. Embarrassment flooded her senses with the realization a pool of sweat had settled there. “I got us two nights for fifty bucks.”
“How?” she asked in amazement.
“Told him he could have you.” He pulled her forward. Taigen smiled at her, the same smile he’d given to the woman in the Mercedes.
Well, aren’t I the luckiest girl in the world
. She tried to ignore the fact the tension in her body had melted at the sight. “What’d you really say to him?”
Taigen walked past another two rooms without answering, inserted the key into the door and pushed it open. He stood in the doorway for a moment.
She followed close behind, taking in the feel of the cold air on her skin. The air conditioner had been turned on long before they’d gotten there and she closed her eyes, unable to move further.
“Torrhent.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you going to come inside?”
“Uh-huh.”
The bright sun made it hard for their eyes to adjust, but she recognized a small television in the corner, the air conditioner connected to the wall by the door and a single twin bed in the center of the room. A door on the opposite side of the room pulled at her attention and she imagined the bathroom lay beyond.
“One bed?” The possibility of sleeping in the same bed as Taigen made her shudder in anticipation.
He placed himself directly in front of the air conditioner, cooling himself off, and filled the room with the scent of sweat, cinnamon and man. “I’ll sleep on the floor. You can have the shower first. I need to go through what’s left of our supplies and check out the other guests.”
All too aware of the mess she’d become, Torrhent moved toward the bed, peeling her backpack off her shoulders before dumping it on the coverlet. She’d come this far with him, but complete loyalty from Taigen Banvard had disappeared the second he’d announced his intention for his sister. She couldn’t just pay a man like him to kill her stepfather. No, he needed to believe Isaac Rutler deserved to die as much as she did. First step, shower. “Thanks.”
Torrhent opened the bathroom door and switched on the light, unable to comprehend the sight before her eyes.
The room might have been old, but the bathroom had recently been updated with white, clean tile, a shower-bath with fogged designs across the glass and a large counter that held more than enough first aid supplies, washcloths and soaps.
“Oh, my God.” Torrhent closed the door behind her and slid the shower glass door back. Reaching inside, she turned the water on cold, letting it run while slowly stripping off her clothes. It was hard not to tear them off in one clean sweep, but the blisters had attached themselves to her clothing. Skin came away with her tank top and bra and she dropped the bloody clothes into the sink.
The cold water hit her skin, cooling it to the point she had to turn the heat up. She washed dirt and sweat from her body and hair. It seemed never-ending, the swirling gray water finally lightening after more than ten minutes.
The desert had been an evil bitch.
Torrhent forced herself into a waiting towel, carefully patting the skin on her shoulders dry. The robe on the back of the door would serve the purpose she needed it to. Brushing her shortened hair behind her ears, she confronted her reflection in the mirror.
She inhaled deeply, casting her doubt and reservations aside. She opened the door and walked back into the room, where her companion waited on the single bed. The fact she wore nothing under the terry-cloth robe crossed her mind, but quickly disappeared.