Defiance (The Protectors #9)(6)

If he was listening, I tried to convey something other than the fear I was feeling, along with the regret of knowing I’d never be able to make things right with him.

The man aimed the gun at me. “You’re getting off easy,” was all he said. I watched as his finger settled over the trigger. I could have begged for my life, but I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. Not with the dead look in his eyes, and most certainly not after everything he’d said to me in the emails…I just hoped like hell my death would satisfy whatever insanity was driving him and he’d stay away from Brody.

“Fuck you,” I whispered.

The man’s mouth pulled into a sneer, but before he could pull the trigger, there was a loud crashing sound as the kitchen window suddenly exploded. I instinctively turned my head away as glass went flying, but I didn’t feel any of it penetrating my body. I heard a popping sound, but didn’t know what it was at first. But when the guy threw himself past me and towards the hallway that led to the main part of the house, I realized I was, in fact, hearing gunfire.

Just not from his gun.

I turned in the direction the shots were coming from and watched in amazement as a man calmly stepped through what was left of the large picture window. He had a huge gun in his hand and it, too, had a silencer on it.

“Get down!” he ordered, his voice loud, but not panicked.

I instantly dropped to my ass as bullets flew over my head, and I realized the guy was still trying to shoot the man as he escaped the kitchen. The guy stepped past me and disappeared down the same hallway. My gut was telling me to run, but I was in a state of shock at the close call. I had no idea who the guy who’d just shot out my window was, but I had to assume, since he hadn’t blown my head off when he’d had the chance, he wasn’t my enemy.

I heard more popping sounds, and then a few seconds later, a heavy tread as footsteps came my way. I knew I should try to hide in case it was the first guy coming back, but I couldn’t find the strength to move. My hand hurt like hell, as did my jaw. My side also hurt and I wondered if some of my ribs were fractured.

I dropped my head back against the wall as I tried to catch my breath. But within seconds, the second guy reappeared and he dragged me to my feet. He was huge…bigger than me, even. I suspected he was older than me by at least fifteen years, putting him well over forty. His short hair was a mix of black and silver and barely looked ruffled, considering everything that had just happened. He was wearing military-style clothes, all black. His upper arms were huge, with muscles bulging beneath the fabric of his T-shirt. I finally noticed that, in addition to the huge handgun he was carrying, he had a second gun hanging by a strap at his hip. It was considerably bigger than the handgun, but not quite as big as a rifle. It also had a silencer on it, and I wondered if he’d used that gun to shoot out my window.

“We need to go,” he said. He may as well have been telling me about the weather because, despite his declaration, he was utterly calm. I felt sensation spark to life just beneath the surface of my skin where he was holding me by the upper arm.

“What?” I asked. Was he serious? Go? I wasn’t fucking going anywhere. Not until I got some answers.

And that was exactly what I told him.





Chapter 2





Vincent





“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on!”

Figured the guy would be an ungrateful asshole. I shoved him back against the wall and said, “In case you missed it, you stupid fuck, you almost got your ass blown off. When that happens, you typically don’t want to stick around to give them a SECOND FUCKING CHANCE!”

I forced myself to calm down, though by most people’s standards, I probably appeared completely calm and in complete control. Yeah, I was in control, but I wasn’t calm. I hadn’t been from the second I’d seen the assailant standing behind Nathan, knife poised to strike. I’d still been in my car, so I hadn’t bothered to shout a warning to him. By the time I’d grabbed my guns and darted across the yard, the man and Nathan had disappeared from view, and it hadn’t been until I’d gotten closer to the house that I’d seen them in a death match on the floor. Nathan had managed to break free from his attacker, but he’d been seconds away from death when I’d grabbed my Sig short-barreled rifle and started firing through the window, knowing full well the rounds wouldn’t reach the attacker, but the breaking window would sure as hell distract him long enough for me to get inside.

The whole thing had been too damn close. And while I didn’t particularly give a shit what happened to the man myself, I did care about the impact it would have on Dom’s nephew. I’d been curious about Beck Barretti after the way Dom had talked about him, so I’d done a little research just to appease that curiosity.

I hadn’t been appeased.

At all.

The mental issues Dom had alluded to had included a suicide attempt. I’d hacked the computers of the psychiatric hospital the young man had been admitted to and learned that Cade had been the one to find Beck and had managed to cut him down just in time. I hadn’t gone digging beyond that, because even the little bit of research I’d done had felt like a violation, not to mention it had brought back some pretty shitty memories for me. I’d had what I’d needed, anyway. Beck Barretti needed a shot at a better life and he was going to get it, even if I had to keep this ungrateful ass in one piece to do it.