FIRE (Elite Forces #2)(51)
I don't give a f*ck how we get in, just as long as she's safe. The rest of us move into shooting positions behind a few parked cars, hidden safely for just the right shot. Move that f*cking curtain and you're gone. One shot, brother. Give me one motherf*cking shot, so I can end you.
“Housekeeping,” Jackson yells just before he points his pistol at the knob and then kicks the door open. He takes one step back when the door hits the wall, and my heart stops beating as I watch him rush through the door, lowering his gun as he does.
I'm one step behind him, coming face-to-face with Jade on the floor with my brother's lifeless body on top of hers. She has a rope pulled tight around his neck, and she's still using her strength to choke him. My fearless Jade has the look of a raging killer, and my heart sinks at the possibilities of what she’s been through. Her hands are covered in blood, and she looks like she’s been through hell to see the devil himself.
“You got him, baby girl. Ease up.” Jackson moves in, freeing her grip from the ropes and dragging him off of her body. Her shirt is open, her breasts are exposed, bruises already showing through her porcelain skin, and her face is covered with dirt. Her body stiffens as Jackson drags Ty’s body across hers.
I can’t get to her fast enough, and I’m on the floor with her before I can even see that she’s still restrained. Her feet are tied to a chair, and all I need her to do is look at me. She looks so fragile and worn. What the hell did he do to her?
“I'm here. Jade. Look at me.” I touch the side of her face, while her eyes stare blankly ahead. Her breathing is frantic, and I'm looking into eyes I've never seen before.
Jackson slices the ropes that are binding her legs to the chair, and she falls into me. Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her into my arms and hold her cold body as close to me as I can get her.
“Shit, Jade. I'm here.” I kiss her forehead and neck while she finally starts to wrap her arms around me. “I'm so f*cking sorry I let this happen to you.” She doesn't respond with words, only a tighter squeeze, and that's all I need to know she’s still with me.
“Is he dead?” she finally speaks. Her voice is wobbly. Her eyes are finally coming back into focus.
“Not yet.” I turn to Kase, who’s standing over Ty’s barely-breathing body. He nods to me and holds his pistol aimed at Ty.
She leans back in my lap and ties her shirt closed. “Where did he hurt you?” I place my hands on her bloodied wrists, seeing the marks from the ropes. Examining her body with my hands frantically, I search for any other signs of injury he caused her before I make him pay for this.
“Here.” She places her hand over my heart. I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve her, but I swear on my own life, I will do everything in my power to make her happy.
“He almost killed me in Mexico when he had you. What happened today doesn't compare to that.” I get what she's saying. The hurt I've felt today cut deeper than anything he did to me in Mexico. I have to kiss her and breathe her strength in. The scare I just had still echoes through my head as I place kisses against her cheeks and then her lips.
“I love you, Jade.”
“I love you, Kaleb. Now, please finish this, so we can get the hell out of here.”
She places her hand on my face, turning it in the direction of Ty. His eyes are wide open with a gleam of hatred reflecting back at me.
I swallow hard, knowing what I’m about to do. I lean forward to kiss her once more before I let Jackson take her outside. Her blood on my shirt only solidifies his fate.
Kase and I pick up his useless body and sit him on the chair he had tied Jade to. I see a skinning knife lying at his feet once I step back to look at him, so I slide it toward me, using my boot. Picking it up, I see blood on the blade and realize this is what he cut her with. It's a f*cking knife used to gut something. The blade is so sharp it will skin a person alive. I should use his weapon of choice as it's meant to be used.
Kase is working on restraining him, and I begin to battle with what I want to make sure he hears as his last words. I pick up my own pistol off the table behind him. He has many weapons laid out like he planned to have variety when he worked her over. I’m still keeping score.
“I told you not to f*cking touch her.” I lean over him, making sure it’s my eyes he sees. “I told you if you so much as took a breath near her, I’d f*cking kill you. Then I get here to find her bloody and roughed up.”
“Fuck you.” His voice is raspy and rough speaking through the damage Jade caused on his throat. I can only imagine the force she used on him until we got here. The rage on her face told me what I needed to know.
“I told you to leave mom and Amelie alone, but you just couldn't listen. Tell me, Ty… Why the f*ck would you get into all the shit you're into? A f*cking drug cartel. Terrorist hiding. International sex trade operation. Not to mention providing illegal weapons of mass destruction to criminals all over the world.”
I lean forward again, giving him a chance to answer.
“She tasted so f*ckin sweet, brother. Next time you put your dick inside that *… Just know I've been there.” My hand instantly grips his neck in anger, and I squeeze and draw the life out of him with my bare hand, while I watch his eyes stare into mine. He's testing me and trying to get a rise out of me.