The tissue around the bullet in Taigen’s chest went numb, his shoulders sagging. His breathing accelerated. Images of his and Torrhent’s time together over the past two weeks flashed before his eyes. His head slowly struggled back into the game.
He raised his eyes and cleared the lump from his throat. He didn’t have the time for this shit. “You have me here now. What do you want?”
“I want you to work for me,” Isaac said simply.
Taigen scoffed. “All of this for a job offer?”
“I’ve always wanted the sociopathic Banvard twins by my side, it seems one is not functional without the other. So yes, all of this for a job offer.” Isaac gave him a closed-lipped smile that put dimples into his cheeks as he circled around to the front. “You cannot function properly without her and, as you can see, she cannot function without your help. And you do want to help your sister, don’t you, Mr. Banvard?”
“With all due respect”—Taigen motioned to his sister—“she’s the sociopath.”
Isaac slapped a hand down on Taigen’s shoulder. “Then we have an arrangement?”
“I don’t particularly like killing people.” He glanced down to the hand on his shoulder and back to Isaac’s face as a warning. “But I’m good at it.”
Rutler removed the hand, his voice turning to steel. “Do we have a deal?”
Taigen stared at Torrhent until she met his gaze.
“Do you know how my wife died?” Rutler asked, seemingly sensing Taigen’s hesitation.
Snapshots of the crime scene photos flashed across his mind.
“The organization I’d dedicated my life to betrayed me.” Isaac’s attention moved to his stepdaughter, but Torrhent had shut down. Either she’d gone into shock or had become an impressive actor. “Nicholas fought valiantly to fend off Charlie’s attackers, but in the end . . . I guess bringing you here is Torrhent’s way of making me pay. But fate seems to have other ideas, and my framing Torrhent paid off better than I planned.”
He turned back to Taigen, his face expressionless. He was only inches away, taller than Taigen and more intimidating than the hit men Isaac had sent to retrieve Torrhent. Isaac had the movements of a fighter. Maybe in his younger days. “Work for me, control your sister, or”—Isaac motioned toward Nicholas—“say good-bye to Torrhent.”
Torrhent flinched as Nicholas pressed a gun into her back. She turned back to him, pleading in her eyes. “Do what you came to do, Taigen. Please. End this.”
Nicholas wrapped a hand over her mouth and pulled her into his chest. The bodyguard whispered something into her ear and she closed her eyes, tears sliding over his hand.
“It’s simple, Mr. Banvard.” Isaac stepped away, giving Taigen room to breathe. “I would think this was an easy choice.”
Taigen’s eyes slid to Adelaide, the woman he’d risked his life for over and over again, his twin, the only family he had left. But that sister was gone now. The monster inhabiting her body twitched repeatedly, its fingers clenching and unclenching in random spurts. Her eyes were unfocused, her body relaxed in a way Adelaide never would have shown.
“Only you can help her, Mr. Banvard,” Isaac reminded. “Work for me.”
With one last glance toward Torrhent, Taigen noticed she was just as eager for his answer as her stepfather. He needed to buy time to figure out how to save Torrhent. “I have some conditions.”
“You get two,” Isaac said, a smile spreading across his face as he stepped in closer.
“Adelaide’s job will be to protect you,” Taigen said. “That’s it. The dirty work will be left to me.”
From the corner of his eye he saw Torrhent struggling against Nicholas’s hold. In an effort to keep his eyes off her, he focused on Adelaide’s twitching fingers.
“And the second?”
“You will never contact or go near Torrhent again. That includes sending me, Adelaide, or any others you employ to find her.”
It didn’t take Rutler long to consider. “Done. Now, here are my conditions.”
Taigen caught movement a millisecond before Nicholas’s gun discharged.
Torrhent slumped to the floor.
“No!” From where he’d stood it looked like a killing shot, straight through her chest. Without a second thought, Taigen lunged for the bodyguard. He dodged the second bullet. Ripping the gun from Nicholas’s hand, he jabbed his elbow into the man’s face, knocking him unconscious. Nicholas dropped to the floor as Taigen pivoted around.
The next bullet to leave the gun would end this.
A shudder ran down his spine as he held the gun steady on his sister. One squeeze of the trigger. That’s all it’d take. Adelaide met his gaze head-on, her shoulders rising and falling slowly. Calm. Collected. The exact opposite of the storm raging inside him. “I have to finish this.”
“But do you think you can?” Adelaide tilted her head to the side, studying him. “We’ve been through this before, brother. You couldn’t do it then and you can’t do it now. Even if you kill me, you can’t rid yourself of the guilt.”
“Shut up.” Taigen’s hand shook from the effort of holding the gun up.
“You have just as much blood on your hands as we do and it won’t go away when you kill me.”
Tears blurred his vision as hatred rumbled in his gut. Hatred for himself. For the men who’d kidnapped her and turned his twin into the sociopath before him. For Isaac Rutler and men just like him. “I promised to protect you no matter what. I failed, Adie, and I’m sorry. But I can’t let you hurt anyone else. I can’t have their blood on my hands for the rest of my life.”
Adelaide’s expression hardened, reminding him yet again the demon inside had consumed the woman he’d known. She jolted forward, hands outstretched. Taigen fired and she slumped to the floor.
Taigen released the pressure on the trigger. Closing his eyes, he refused to let the grief overcome him as he dropped the gun. When he opened them, he exhaled in relief. It was done. He’d defeated the monster.
“Taigen.”
Torrhent’s whisper brought him back to reality. He ran for her, crashing to his knees beside her. Pulling her into his lap, Taigen assessed the damage in her chest. The bullet had gone in one side and out the other, leaving nothing but flesh, bones and blood for him to hold on to. In the back of his mind, he kept tabs on Rutler as the man slunk to the floor and surveyed the carnage around his study.
Taigen kept his voice calm, but quick. “Torrhent, come on. Stay with me.”
She stared up at him, her lips parting. An exhale caressed his face as she smiled. She was warm and light in his grasp, but too soon became heavy as he tried to hold her upright. “I’m sorry.”
The gurgle in her words disappeared with a cough. The bullet had most likely punctured a lung, but she shed no tears, her expression serene. “I’m sorry,” she repeated.
Taigen imagined the pain she was in and loved her even more for trying to hide it. He didn’t know how much longer they had before the FBI showed up, but prayed to God Agent Trullio was smart enough to bring the EMT with her. Leaning down, he pressed his lips against Torrhent’s, her flush skin cold against his mouth. “I know. I’m sorry, too. I should have realized what you were trying to tell me back there.”
Her breathing grew shallow as Torrhent closed her eyes.
“Stay with me, sweetheart. Come on. Stay with me.”
Torrhent did as she was told, her gray eyes trying to focus on him. “I . . . love you.”
A sad smile pulled at his lips. “I love you, too.”
She closed her eyes once again.
“Torrhent.” Taigen shook her slightly.
No response.
“Torrhent.”
Lowering his ear to her mouth, he listened for a single breath. “Come on. Come on.”
A lump rose in his throat, making its way into his mouth as blood seeped into his jeans from the floor. He set her completely on the floor, positioning himself above her. “Breathe, damnit.”
Another round of tears blinded him. The bullet in his chest felt like it spun in circles. He imagined it tearing bits and pieces of flesh from the inside out, grinding him down to nothing. His heartbeat sped, his breathing accelerating.
“Torrhent. Torrhent, stay with me! You’re the only thing I have left.” He shook her again. Her head collapsed to the side from the movement. “Torrhent!”
The study door burst open, but Taigen refused to tear his gaze from her.
“Freeze! FBI!” a woman yelled just as a gasp filled his ears.
Chapter 17
One month later
Despite Mr. Banvard’s heroic actions in stopping one of the nation’s most notorious serial killers, his record speaks for itself.
Pleading guilty to all counts made things easy. Time, for example, passed in a blur. There’d been the initial arrest, booking, trial. His lawyer wanted to file an appeal after the verdict came through, but Taigen put an end to that before it’d even started.
Seven years.
A small price to pay for his crimes.
There were ways to get around it. He could escape. He could kill all the guards on the bus heading for Pelican Bay. He could do a lot of things to ensure his freedom, but one thing kept him in his seat: he had no reason to fight.
Bound by the wrists and legs, Taigen knew prison was where he belonged.
It was a long ride to Del Norte County. He had hours ahead of him to relive the past month, remember the feel of Torrhent’s skin, his sister’s dead eyes, and the fact Isaac Rutler would finally pay for ruining his stepdaughter’s life. But to what end?
“Anderson,” a guard recited from a list in his hand. Roll call.
“Yeah.”
“Apollo.”
No answer.
“Apollo!”
“I heard you,” the inmate snapped.
“Banvard.”
Taigen raised his hand, the cuffs twinkling in the sunlight coming through the windows. It was official: he was an inmate, a name on a list who wouldn’t be allowed to open his own doors for the next eighty-four months. Seventy with good behavior.
He stared out the window, studying the city as it passed. The guard’s voice bled into the background noise of the bus, inmates’ calls becoming almost whispers as he relived the same memory over and over. The night he danced with Torrhent had been one of the best in his life. It’d fade over time. Soon he wouldn’t be able to remember what she wore, how long her hair had been or even the name of the bar. Perhaps even what she looked like.
The right side of the bus sank into a pothole in the road, pushing Taigen out of his seat for a moment from the impact. A large
boom
echoed through the cabin.
“What the hell was that?” the guard asked the driver. He’d almost been knocked over from the incident.
“Pothole. Got a flat tire.” The driver pulled the bus over slowly, the one guard ridding himself of the roll call in favor of a shotgun. The driver made sure the gate separating him and the inmates was secure then opened the bus door and stepped outside.
“Listen here,” he said. “Any of you so much as wipes your nose, we’re going to have a problem. Understand?” Georgian accent.
Gun lovers
. Taigen’s eyes never left the window. He’d enjoy one last look at the city as long as he could.
His gut twisted with the sight of five armed men, faces covered, running toward the bus from all sides.
Ambush.
The flat tire hadn’t been an accident, but a way to get the bus right where they wanted it.
Taigen knew exactly what they wanted. He kept his breathing even, his eyes straight ahead. The first shots sounded muffled. Odd. They didn’t sound like bullets. The driver went down, his arms poking around the bumper of the bus. In a few seconds, they’d overtake it completely.
And Taigen didn’t care.
They’d take him. Hold him hostage. But no ransom would be asked for. No one would know he was gone. It would be easy. Better. He wouldn’t rot in a cell.
The first of the men with ski masks stepped onto the bus, gun raised, ready to shoot. He was small, not the usual body type of a killer. “On your knees,” he said to the guard. A mouthpiece under the mask distorted his voice.
The guard did as he was told.
“Now, push the gun toward me.”
The shotgun landed at his feet.
Taigen hadn’t moved, but he had a feeling he didn’t need to. Outside, men surrounded the bus, their guns raised at innocent onlookers. That, he had a problem with. They had nothing to do with this. He addressed the gunman. “Take what you want and leave.”
Their gazes connected, but nothing happened. No sparks, no recognition.
The barrel of the gun made its way directly toward his chest. “Sounds like you want to be a hero,” the distorted voice said. The gunman lifted his weapon slightly. “Stand up, hero.”
He stood, the chains wrapped around his feet, hands, and waist rattling in the silence. The gun stayed with him as he moved.
“Out the door.”
He took small steps, getting glimpses of his kidnapper as he passed. No. Nothing familiar about him. Taigen passed the guard on his knees, hands behind his head, and realized the man would probably try something foolish. He tried to signal the guard to stay down, but the opportunity had already passed.
Suddenly, the gun shifted toward the guard’s head. “Don’t even think about it.”
Blue eyes darted back to Taigen. “I said out the door.”
He was followed down the rest of the bus aisle. He took the steps one at a time, squinting into the sun as his feet hit the pavement. It’d most likely be the last sunset he saw.
The others were there, their guns at the ready and fixed on him.
“Where to, fellas?” he asked.
The gunman from the bus was at his back, but another stepped forward with the driver’s keys in hand.
Taigen held out his wrists as the second man, even smaller than the first, relieved him of his cuffs. After a second, the chains clattered to the ground.
The second of five gunmen stood in front of him, their gazes connecting. These eyes were gray. And familiar. “What’s England like this time of year?” she asked.
“Seventy degrees, rainy.” He stepped into her, wedging his index finger under the ski mask. Taigen forced it over her head and let his fingers linger on Torrhent’s jawline. She was every bit as beautiful as he remembered. He didn’t know how he’d lived a month without her or could ever forget her perfect features. “I assume you’ve thought this through?”
She dropped an open duffle bag at his feet. The money inside was more than enough to live on for years, but it was the IDs on the top that’d keep them safe. Torrhent smiled up at him, her head tilting to one side. “I’ve been planning it all along.”
The button-down shirt she wore dipped between her breasts, revealing the top of a pink mound of scare tissue. He placed a hand there lightly, afraid to hurt her. The bullet in his own chest seemed to resonate with the touch. He scoffed sadly. “A souvenir.”
“Yes, but unlike the one in your chest”—she reciprocated the gesture—“this bullet saved my life.”
“Because of Nicholas.”
“Lucky for me, his need for redemption surpassed his loyalty for Isaac.”
“Last time I saw him, Agent Trullio had his hands behind his back.”
Torrhent’s gray eyes saddened for a split second. She’d tried to hide it, but she’d never been a good liar. “I think it’s what he wanted. He wants to pay for what he’s done in honor of my mother.”
For the first time in months, a smile pulled at one edge of his mouth. “Tell me, how did you get the upper hand over Isaac and Adelaide?”
Her eyes brightened considerably with mischief. “I took a page from your book. I hid a gun before I went in.”
Torrhent leaned into him, her lips grazing his. “By the way”—she wrapped her arms around his neck, speaking against his lips—“you still owe me five thousand dollars.”