Chapter 64
North woke up with a strong sense of danger.
He forced himself to stay relaxed while he took in his surroundings. This is why he hated sleeping with others.
Sleep was difficult for him. Relaxing, letting down his guard . . . nearly impossible.
So he usually only slept an hour or two at a time. And he was never fully rested.
Unless he slept with Angie and Jared.
That had truly shocked him. He’d been able to sleep with them without hurting them. Without thinking they were a threat.
And he’d actually slept.
But he wasn’t in a bed with them right now. His mind was muddled, meaning he’d likely been drugged. His arms were tied down and so were his feet.
It was hard to stay relaxed and pretend to sleep when he knew he was in a dangerous situation. However, this was what he was trained to do.
“I know you’re awake, N. I know all the tricks since I taught them to you.”
Fuck.
This was worse than he’d thought. He had hoped he’d been taken by someone attached to Richard Drews. Or even one of Jared’s enemies.
Instead, he’d been brought home.
He opened his eyes, staring around the unfamiliar room. Then he glanced over at the man who had found him in an orphanage, starving and miserable. Who had given him a place to live. Who had trained him into a silent assassin. Along with countless others.
Mr. Z was a slim-built man. Older. Although it was hard to figure out his age. He had a slight accent. But it was hard to pin down what it was. Definitely something Eastern European.
North hadn’t seen him in years. And he’d really hoped he wouldn’t ever see him again.
“I’m sorry we had to meet like this,” Mr. Z said.
“You betrayed us, North.”
He glanced over at the other man who had just spoken. His handler. V.
“You drugged me,” he said to V. “Why?”
“You’ve become defective, N,” Mr. Z said. “You haven’t been following orders. And it’s all right, we know why. It’s really our fault for not watching over you more closely. We left you to your own devices for too long.” He shot V a look.
The other man glanced away, clearly uncomfortable.
North took in a slow breath. What the fuck was going on? Why bring him here and tie him to a bed?
“This isn’t the first time this has happened,” Mr. Z said. “Where one of our operatives has developed feelings for a mark.”
“Who hired you to kill Jared?” North asked. “Why was I there in the first place? Was Jared always the target?”
“Do you think you get to ask questions?” V snarled. “You are supposed to do as you are told.”
Mr. Z waved his hand.
“Originally we thought you were going to have to take out Fergus Bartolli. He was disrupting too many businesses belonging to clients of mine. Once he was gone, we thought about removing you. But the truth is, we decided it was best to leave you. Sometimes we leave our people in place for years. You are one of the longest, but it suited us. Until you became compromised and wouldn’t do as you were meant to. ”
“So who hired you this time?” He needed to know.
“No one,” Mr. Z said.
“No one?” North repeated. “I don’t understand.”
Don’t you?
God.
“It was a test,” V told him. “One you failed.”
“Indeed,” Mr. Z replied. “And now we have to decide what to do with you. Do we try to reprogram you or get rid of you?”
“I think reprogramming at this stage will be impossible,” V replied.
That bastard always was a pessimist. But his mind was still back on what Mr. Z had said.
“A test? Killing Jared was a test of my loyalty?” he asked.
Even he could hear his voice cracking, emotion slipping through.
Maybe he was now defective.
But he didn’t care. Except for the fact that he might not make it out of here alive.
For the first time in his life, he might actually care if he lived or died.
Simply because he wouldn’t see them again. He didn’t want to lose either of them.
“It was. And you failed,” V told him. “Defective. I can get rid of him for you, sir.”
Jeez, didn’t even have to think about that, did he?
What the fuck was he going to do, though? He didn’t want to die but that seemed to be where things were headed.
Think.
You know these men. You know how they think. What do they want?
Power.
Money.
“Ransom me,” he suddenly said.
“What?” Mr. Z asked.
“Ransom me back to Jared. Cut me free from the organization and ransom me. Get back the money you put into me. I’m an asset, right? Surely killing me isn’t the best return on your investment. So ransom me to Jared. Get some money back.”
“You cost us millions,” Mr. Z said.
“Jared will pay millions,” he said.
And he meant it. He knew that Jared would pay whatever it took to get him back.
“We can’t do that,” V protested. “He knows too much about us.”
“Not that much,” Mr. Z said.
“And I’ve no incentive to talk,” North said. “If I do, I’m sure you have blackmail material on me. Things you can release.”
“Indeed we do,” Mr. Z said. “Enough to put you away for a long, long time.”
Yeah, that’s what he’d figured.
“He could talk for immunity,” V said.
Jeez the asshole had a real hard-on for killing him.
“If you kill me, Jared won’t stop until he finds you. And he has some strong allies. Have you heard of the Fox?”
It was a risk. A big risk. If the Fox found out he’d used his name, he could slit his throat. Mr. Z might contact him and the Fox could deny any sort of tie to Jared.
Yep, a big risk.
But he was desperate here.
Wanting to live was really quite inconvenient.
“The Fox?” Mr. Z said.
“Of course we’ve heard of him,” V added. “We don’t want the Fox’s attention.”
“No, we don’t,” Mr. Z said with a frown. “You realize I can verify Jared’s tie to him.”
“Go for it,” he bluffed.
“Bartolli will just pay the ransom, then leave us alone?” Mr. Z asked. “Won’t he come after us anyway?”
“Not if it’s part of the bargain. Ask for your millions and release me on the basis that we forget your organization exists. Jared will do what I want.”
Another empty-ish boast.
But he’d do his best to keep Jared clear of these guys.
Mr. Z and V left without a word.
Fuck.
This could all very well blow up in his face. But he had to do whatever he could to get back to Jared and Angie.
“You need to eat something, baby,” Jared told Angie as she sat on the sofa and stared at the TV. It was turned on to a news channel but she wasn’t really paying any attention.
She stared at him tiredly, shaking her head.
They were in her old room at Zander’s place. It had its own attached bathroom and a small living area. So it was more like a suite than a bedroom.
It still felt like the walls were closing in around her.
She felt so helpless.
Where was North? Was this because of her? Richard had claimed to be working alone and Eli believed him.
Which meant someone else had kidnapped North. What if they couldn’t find him?
“Angie. You’re going to eat,” he said firmly, placing the tray of food on the coffee table.
She stared down at it, feeling nauseous. “I can’t.”
“North is going to be really unhappy to find you’ve lost weight when he returns.”
“I just want him to return,” she whispered. “What are we going to do if he doesn’t?”
“Listen to me,” Jared said firmly. “North wouldn’t want you talking like that.
Understand me? He would want us to look after ourselves.
We will find him. Now, you’re going to eat something.
Then I’m going to put you in the bath and tuck you into bed.
And if you give me any arguments, you’re going over my knee. ”
Tears filled her eyes, flooding down her cheeks.
“Shit, baby. Fuck. I’m being an asshole, aren’t I?”
“N-no, I j-just can’t imagine l-life without North.”
He lifted her, then sat with her on his lap, rocking her back and forth.
“Neither can I, baby. Neither can I.”
After a few moments, he stopped rocking her. “I have an idea.” He grabbed his phone and messaged someone. “Good Miles can get what I need. He’ll get it dropped off to us soon. But I want you to eat a little food first.” He fed her some bites of food until she didn’t want anymore.
His phone started ringing and he lifted her off him onto the sofa and grabbed it out of his pocket. “Unknown number. How would anyone I don’t know get this number?”
Jared answered it and she watched him anxiously. “Wait a minute. I’m here with Angie. I’ll put you on speaker.”
“Angie?” the voice said through the phone.
“F-fox?” she whispered.
“It is I or is that it is me? I never cared for grammar. Didn’t care for school. Seems like your man is more like me than I realized.”
Huh?
“Jared is more like you than you realized?” she asked.
“No. The other one. My Bunny has been asking about you. She wants to meet you. We’ll make that happen, Bartolli.”
“Yes, yes, whatever you want. Just tell me that again. You know who has North?” Jared demanded.
“I don’t know them personally. I know of them. I got a call an hour ago from a man called Mr. Z. I take it North never mentioned him to you?”
“No,” Jared said. “Who is he and what does he have to do with North?”
“Mr. Z runs The Collective. It’s an organization which recruits children off the street and in orphanages, mainly in third world countries. It puts them in nice homes with people who take care of them and train them.”
“Train them into what?” she asked quietly.
God. She had a really bad feeling about this.
“Sleeper assassins,” the Fox said. “They once tried to recruit me as a trainer. But I work for no one. And I’m no trainer.”
“They train children as assassins?” Jared asked. “North was in an orphanage in Romania.”
“Yes. It seems he was one of the children recruited. I don’t know what he did before he came to you. But from what I understand he was placed with you and left there for years, waiting for instructions.”
“Instructions to do what?” she asked.
“To kill someone, of course,” the Fox replied matter-of-factly. “That’s what assassins do.”
But kill who? Jared?
“Anyway, according to the Collective’s leader, Mr. Z, they extracted North because he’s become defective. He refused to follow an order.”