Chapter 13
13
CADEN
C aden had never walked the straight and narrow. From early on, she’d been a thief and a liar. Out of necessity, more than a lack of moral fiber. Her father had been a drunken, violent bastard with random fits of sobriety, which meant his three daughters went hungry and cold more often than not.
Caden had been four years old before her sisters came into the picture when she first began stealing. Food from grocery stores and when she couldn’t make it to town, she’d break into her neighbor’s homes and raid their pantries.
She’d begun stealing in earnest when Ezra’s mother chucked her on their doorstep. When her sisters came under her care, things changed. Things she had never spared two thoughts to before, like rent, bills, and consistent meals, became all too important. Caden had acquired many alternative skills at a young age—chief among them was stealing cars.
At first, it had just been her dad’s pickup truck to get into town; occasionally she’d hijack a neighbor’s when the need was urgent. A skill that had morphed into a more profitable form of grand larceny when they’d escaped foster care and Ezzy had gotten into college. One of many skills from her misspent youth that had a lifetime guarantee. Which was why Caden hadn’t hesitated when she’d seen the SUV.
The fact that they were not being shot at or had even been detected was a shock. She had to have a moment to get over it. Hell, it was like reality had flipped and her usually low reserves of luck were now disproportionately high. Like the Luck Gods suddenly decided to stop being stingy dicks and instead decided to liberally bequeath luck unto their subjects. Savage was most likely in good with them—him being likable and charming and all.
Wow, she had to shake the whimsical shit and maybe not play kissy face with Savage before doing important stuff. It was fucking with her head.
She’d gotten to the SUVs without so much as a sideways look. Much to her annoyance, Savage had dived the opposite way when they’d stepped out. He’d corrected his course, but he was still a good yard or two behind.
The roar of the battle going on around her was a sound she’d grown accustomed to through the years. The pop of bullets discharging and the sharp smell of cordite brought back memories.
Memories that froze her in place.
Memories that crushed her from the inside out until she was gasping for breath. Screams, familiar screams of men she lost long ago, had her white-knuckled and shaking. Big ol’ beads of sweat plastered her forehead and dripped into her eyes.
Normally, she could hold her shit together in a firefight. Flashbacks didn’t hack away at her defenses. She probably had some mild form of PTSD acquired from way back when, but she’d always been able to work around it or push through it.
Then again, she wasn’t exactly at a hundred percent. Fuck, the blood loss coupled with malnutrition was most likely the cause of her sudden display of weakness.
She had a fucking mission.
Nathan Savage.
Nathan Savage and getting his ass out safely was her sole purpose. He was her mission and she sure as fuck was going to see that through. Thoughts of him and his big, dumb grin galvanized her into action. She forced herself to take a deep, calming breath and keep moving. To ignore the long-dead screams. To shove back the portraits of blood and gore and loss her brain was trying to paint all around her. Caden stomped the familiar screams and the horrible gut-wrenching death back into their dark corners and shoved the memories to the back of her mind.
Savage.
She had to get him out.
The SUV was locked. Caden knew how to jimmy a lock and she was capable of being all kinds of subtle when breaking into a vehicle. She figured that there was a time and place for subtlety. But now, in the midst of a firefight with a chopper hovering overhead and explosions rocking the ground, was not the time. Which was why she located a big hunk of rock and then proceeded to smash in the driver’s side window with about as much subtly as Savage’s choice of socks and ties.
It was at that point Caden turned to see just where in the hell he was. Her blood congealed when she located his muscle-bound frame in the fray. For a long terrifying moment, all she could do was stare in shocked horror. A gun was pointed at his chest.
The first bullet hit him, and his whole body jerked at the impact. Rage colored her vision and took control. Cold and methodical was how Caden fought. It was how she kept alive. It got the job done. But a red haze had settled over her vision and raw rage had the reins now.
She closed the distance in seconds flat, but not before the fucker got another shot off. Caden reached him just as Savage disarmed him.
Disarmed or not, the fucker was dead.
She used an already downed body as a step up and got a grip on the man’s shoulders. With quick, ruthless grace, she made footholds in the fuckwad’s back by kicking and digging into his flesh. She gripped his chin, jerked his head up and to the left, and pulled with all her might. He crumpled and tumbled to the ground, with Caden straddling his back.
“See,” Nathan stumbled around, trying to stay upright, “you love me.” He was holding his arm; red was seeping through his fingers. He hit the ground on his knees, still grinning.
Caden was in no mood to debate with him. She launched her body at the stupid man; knocked his legs out from under him with her weight and fell with him as his back met the ground with an “Ooph!”
“God damn, Caden,” he wheezed and sputtered. “Can’t wait to get in my pants, huh?”
“You stay here. Play dead. I’ll be right fucking back.” After a moment of hesitation, the mercenary glanced back down at him and leaned over to get right in his face. “Don’t die, Nathan.” She took a breath and tried not to sound too pathetic. “...please.”
He was bleeding. Caden couldn’t make herself look at his bullet holes. Not yet. Not when they weren’t even out of the goddamn compound. What if they were fatal? What if he died? What if she never woke up in his human blanket again? What if he stopped grinning that silly grin? What if he became another headstone she had to visit?
“I won’t.” He flashed his pearly whites and Caden about let loose with the waterworks. "We’ve still got some smooching to do."
She could do nothing for a whole thirty seconds but smile down at the ridiculous man. She had to blink to clear the blur of tears in her eyes and forced herself to concentrate on the small signs of life. The way his chest heaved up and down, the pulse that beat on his neck, all the tiny lines creased in pain around his mouth and eyes.
It took her too long to refocus. What the fuck was she supposed to be doing?
Out.
They were getting out.
With all the single-minded intensity of a shark on the hunt, she charged through the firefight, intent on only getting to the SUV and getting back to Nathan.
It took too long. Every step forward felt as if she was taking two backwards. When she’d finally reached the SUV, she had to refocus on popping off the cover on the steering wheel column and then focus on not locking up the starter. On finding the right wires, on stripping the plastic coverings, and breaking the steering lock. In all, it had only taken three minutes, but to Caden, it felt like an hour.
“Nathan.” She stepped out of the driver’s side and peered down at the man. “You’re alive.” It wasn’t a question, it was a command.
He was white and still holding his arm. A puddle of red had gathered under him and he was blinking drunkenly up at her. When he caught sight of her, his pain-stricken face cracked into an all-out smile, like she was the only thing he’d wanted to see.
“I’m alive.” He was slightly slur-y. “I told ya—I ain’t dying ‘til later. Much later.”
She had to stop the blood flow. He was losing too much. His shoulder was spurting blood. His leg had a bullet hole too, but it wasn’t spitting out blood like the other one. The bullet must have hit an artery.
“Fuck.” She stripped the downed men strewn around them of their belts and shirts. “Are you hit anywhere else, Nathan?” She hadn’t seen any other holes in him, but that didn’t mean shit. “Here—keep pressure on that.”
“Not ‘til I’ve had ya for a good long while, at least.” He was grinning still. “You’ll love livin’ in Texas. Maybe we should get a dog.”
Ignoring his gabbing, the mercenary made her tourniquets with the belts and shirts she took off the bodies. She’d done it enough before to do it quickly and well. She cut his sleeve off at the neck and made sure that the bullet had gone straight through before she put the first tourniquet a good three inches above the seeping bullet hole and wrapped it around until she had just enough to knot. He moaned in pain but kept on jabbering when she moved to do the same to his leg.
“You’ll love my mama too. Bobby’ll take to ya.”
“Okay.” Her hands were shaking now and her eyes would roll in her head if she turned her head too quickly. She was low on energy. “Let’s get you in the car.”
“I may faint on ya, Caden.” His eyes were closed, and he looked even paler and green now. He was sweating and swallowing like he was going to puke.
“I got ya.” Caden stood and put their weapons on the floor of the car. “Just maybe try not to puke all over me.”
There were still people dying around them, but the cover of the SUV provided a barrier between the two. It was almost like they were in their own little bloody, horrible world. Caden took a moment to catch her breath and attempt to still her shaking limbs before she reached down and helped drag Nathan to a sitting position.
“No promises—will you still love me if I yak on your new shoes?” He got to his feet and swayed. Caden caught him and wedged her shoulder under his. They took the two steps to the SUV together. He swayed again, and then suddenly he was dead weight.
“Holy fucking Christ.” Grunting and shoving and pulling and cursing, Caden finally got his heavy ass into the back seat. “What are you like, seven hundred pounds?”
The world spun when she righted herself, but Caden swallowed the urge to vomit and closed her eyes. Ignoring the white-hot pain coming in waves from just about everywhere on her, she felt for his pulse.
It was quick but steady. He’d only passed out.
She got to work digging through the dead men’s pockets for cash and credit cards. She got lucky and found a bag of Skittles in one pocket and a granola bar in another. Finally, she plucked a couple of guns and knives off the corpses and returned to Nathan.
“We’re leaving Nathan—we’re gonna get you back to your family and those brothers. You’re gonna be just fine.” Talking helped to fight off the nausea and the dizziness. “You’re gonna be alright.”
She popped a handful of Skittles into her mouth and all but drowned in the saliva that magically appeared under her tongue. The hair on the back of her neck prickled, and the thief experienced an ‘ah fuck’ moment while she was trying to chew the mouthful of candy. She twisted to get the enemy in her sights, but it was too late.
The man was a good three feet away, pointing a Beretta at her chest and shaking his head at her movements.
“Toss it.” His voice was low and gruff, but she heard him in through the din of gunfire.
Caden complied with a growl.
“Move away.” It took a moment for her to understand that he meant to move away from Nathan. “Now.” Again, she had no choice but to comply. If only he’d step closer, she could make a grab for his gun. Caden made an effort to look soft and female and anything but a threat. “Further.”
He spoke English, though they were in Moscow, with a drawl so she could safely assume that he was an American. He was tall and lean. Narrowed blue eyes above high, prominent cheekbones made for an attractive face. Dressed in all black, a belt laden with all manner of weapons, a bulletproof vest protecting his chest, and cargo pants completed the gun-for-hire look. What the fuck were American soldiers doing invading Kyott’s compound?
When she was a good three feet from the SUV, he moved closer, not towards her, but towards the SUV. The man, clearly thinking she wasn’t too much of a threat, took his eyes off her and looked towards Nathan. A frown pulled at his face and he moved in for a closer look, gun still pointed at her chest.
Mine .
The thought resonated in her bones, sent a lightning bolt down her spine and rage ignited in her gut.
Taking advantage of his diverted attention, Caden took the three long steps into his personal bubble, aimed for kidneys, and hit Kevlar— fuck .
Shit, she knew better than that. Of course, he’d be sporting armor. She had to focus. Had to get her attention on taking the fucker down and not on Savage and the two bullets he’d taken.
A closed fist rammed into her already busted ribs, sending a shockwave of pain through her and making fuzzy dots pop up in her vision. Before she could recover, an arm snaked around her neck and secured her in a chokehold. Caden turned to shove her elbow into his stomach, but he caught it and twisted it up behind her, effectively taking one appendage out of the fray.
Fuck that. She could function with one arm—she’d done it before. But fuck, it was going to hurt. She braced for pain, gripped the fingers of the arm that was locking her in a chokehold, and felt him tense behind her.
“Don’t—”
Too late. The mercenary pushed away and turned at the same time, a twist of white-hot pain and the snap of her own bone cracking under the pressure put her left arm out of commission, effectively popping her arm out of its socket and possibly even breaking it. She’d broken at least two of his fingers and darted out of his now slackened hold. She spun round to face him and shoved the heel of her palm into his nose.
He turned his head just enough to keep from getting brained by his own nose. It snapped under her hand with a spurt of red. He stumbled back in an attempt to get out of her reach, but Caden kept on him. She tore the gun out of his hand and then lost her grip on the goddamn thing. It went skittering to the left, but she remained focused on taking out the threat instead of following the weapon.
Using her good arm to keep him off balance and in a haze of pain with a barrage of pressure point hits, she backed him up until he’d tripped over a fallen body and hit the ground. She broke in her new shoes by breaking a couple of his ribs with a few swift kicks (just to make sure he stayed down) and then hopped over his fetal-positioned body to get back to Nathan.
Caden all but flew into the driver’s seat, put the thing in gear, and only allowed herself to scream out the pent-up hurt when the compound and all the gunfire was in her rearview mirror.
They’d made it past the gate.
Now all they had to do was make it out of Russia, get some kind of medical help that didn’t include any kind of police reports, and not die while they were at it.