Darkest Before Dawn (KGI #10)(89)

“Perhaps the idiot Bristow intended to kill her or use her in such a manner that neither you nor ANE would want her,” suggested Ruslan, Bristow’s second. “You’ve received all the intel on him and his men. You know that they take their missions seriously, and you wouldn’t have paid Bristow for damaged goods, which means he and his men wouldn’t have been paid either. He’s a mercenary. I doubt he was interested in anything more than a paycheck.”

“Perhaps,” Maksimov reluctantly conceded. “He did as I asked and drugged her, and it does appear as though he was set to deliver her to me. Ah well, it never pays to be too careful.”

Maksimov sounded perplexed and a little amused at the notion he could be wrong. He toed Hancock’s body and then bent to pry Honor away from him. Honor was lifted and Hancock’s hand trailed down her body to desperately latch onto her hand, holding for the briefest of moments before it was pulled forcibly from his grasp.

“No, I wasn’t wrong at all,” Maksimov said smugly. He appeared in Hancock’s blurred vision above him. “I wonder what you thought you were doing by hand-delivering the girl to me?” He laughed and then leveled a pistol at Hancock’s chest and rapidly fired a shot.

Despite the Kevlar vest Hancock and all his men wore, at such close range and with the fact that Maksimov was using what on the streets were called “cop killers,” meaning they could penetrate a bulletproof vest, while he didn’t feel like the bullet had penetrated his skin, it damn sure felt like he’d broken some ribs. Or something vital. It was like being hit by a pitchfork from hell. Apropos, since soon he’d be at the gates of hell. The gates would be flung wide and he’d be welcomed like a lost child or an escaped sinner who’d been judged and found guilty several lifetimes ago.

For so long, he’d embraced the notion that he’d lost all semblance of humanity and was the emotionless ice man everyone thought him to be. Because it meant never feeling remorse. It meant never feeling loss so devastating that it threatened to consume him and eat at his soul until there was nothing left. Anything at all was worth not feeling that. He knew that now, because he felt it all now. And it was worse than any mortal bullet wound would ever be. The world faded to black around him and a single tear trickled from the corner of his eye over his temple to disappear into his hair.

It was becoming hard to breathe, and the pain in his chest was unbearable, whether because of the bullet or the weight of his despair he wasn’t certain. Probably a healthy dose of both.

He’d failed his men. He’d failed his country, though it neither claimed him nor embraced him. He’d failed countless innocent lives. He’d failed himself but most of all, he’d failed the one thing that mattered to him. Not the f*cking greater good bullshit creed. Because Honor was the greater good. She was the very essence of the greater good. Of what their creed should stand for. What it should have always stood for.

And now an innocent would be doomed to hell, a place where no angel’s wings should ever be singed by greedy, licking flames, preventing them from flying into the heavens where Honor belonged.

CHAPTER 32

KGI HEADQUARTERS

STEWART COUNTY, TENNESSEE

THE mood was unusually relaxed in the KGI war room. Sam was holding a “staff” meeting, though the others teased that it was just an excuse to get everyone together for Swanny and Donovan to demonstrate their mad cooking and grilling skills.

They hadn’t drawn a mission in four weeks. Four peaceful, blissful weeks they’d spent with their families. Their wives, children, the people they cared about. Good times.

Laughter sounded when Garrett dropped an F-bomb and was immediately threatened by at least three of his men, knowing that Sarah was even more strict than ever now that they had a baby girl and she didn’t want her child’s first word to be f*ck.

As the laughter died down, a phone rang and a round of groans sounded. Sam cursed vehemently, more than taking up the slack for Garrett in the swearing department. The secure line had to ring now? Today of all days? When the weather couldn’t be more beautiful. Autumn on Kentucky Lake. The wives all on their way to the central gathering point, Marlene and Frank Kelly’s newly constructed and recreated replica of the house the six Kelly brothers had all grown up in. The new heart of the KGI compound. Now all that remained outside the secured facility was the lone holdout, Joe. Well, and the team members. But of the Kellys, only Joe still lived in Sam’s old cabin, calling it the perfect bachelor pad, and if he didn’t spend too much time inside the compound then he would escape his mom’s and sisters-in-laws’—whom he adored beyond reason—hatching plots for his eventual downfall.

Goddamn it all to hell. Sam had looked forward to spending time with his precious wife. His beautiful Sophie and her mini-me, Charlotte, or Cece as she was lovingly dubbed by her doting aunts, uncles and grandparents. And his baby son. He took the time every single day, no matter where in the world he was, no matter how grim or dire the circumstances, to thank God for the miracle of his family. He still marveled at all that was his, and he knew his brothers and many of the members of his team did as well. Rio, a team leader. Steele, another team leader. Nathan, co–team leader with his twin brother, Joe, who also happened to be the sole surviving unmarried Kelly chick under Mama Kelly’s watchful eye.

KGI had undergone many traumatic events over the years. Things that would have crippled and destroyed a lesser family. But the Kellys were tough, resilient, all qualities inherited from and instilled in all their children—blood or not—by Frank and Marlene, the patriarch and matriarch of the ever-expanding Kelly clan. The very heartbeat of the entire family.