Assassin's Promise, The Red Team Series, Book 5 (19 page)

He looked up at Greer. “Sally was her tithing name. Her real name was Rebecca Morris.” His shoulders hunched, and he looked at his hands clasped between his knees.
 

“Most young women get married after their tithes,” he continued. “If they return. Many are returning already married to WKB warriors. We’re a pacifist community. These warriors are like infants.” He waved his hand around. “They know nothing of life, nothing of our ways in the community. They have to be taught everything—building a fire, hunting, butchering, farming, home construction, our ceremonies. Everything.

“Rebecca and I were in love. But she’d been promised to the woodcutter. She hated him. I went to the council. I told them if they didn’t overturn that decision, I would leave—with Rebecca. It’s my fault she hasn’t come back.”

Greer realized the young woman he’d run after couldn’t have been Sally. If she’d come back, he wouldn’t now be talking to the doctor about her absence. “Have you talked to her parents? Do they know anything?”

“Rebecca was an orphan. She was raised by the village. And no, no one knows her whereabouts.”

“Why does everyone avoid the topic of tithes?” Greer asked.

He lifted a shoulder. “Tradition. We are never to discuss them. We aren’t to ask about how they went or what service they provided or what happened while they were away. Once a tithe is finished, the young person is treated as an adult, allowed to go to council meetings, allowed to marry, allowed to have children.”
 

He was silent a moment. “I’ve watched these tithes change over the past twenty years. At first, while I was happy being the doctor’s apprentice, I resented the fact that I didn’t get my own tithe. When I was a kid, those who completed their tithes came back different. Wiser. More adult. Now they’re coming back changed, but for the worse. Fearful. Broken temperaments. I don’t know. I don’t think the tithes are good things anymore.”

Greer reached out to the doctor, resting a hand on his shoulder. “All right. Thanks. I’ll get word to you when I find her.”

Dr. Robinson stood and held out his hand. “I am in your debt.”

“No. I’ve been worried about her since we met. I knew something wasn’t right.”

Greer took hold of Remi’s hand again as they headed back toward the village. The shadows were long. Night was close.
 

Greer looked down at Remi. “Am I pugnacious?”

Remi smiled. “You do puff up at times. Like when danger is near. Or you want sex.”

He grinned. “So, all the time.”

“No. Sometimes you’re serious and introspective.”

“And shrunken.”

Remi laughed. “Is everything about size?”

He stopped and caught her up against him. “Does anything else matter?” He was about to kiss her when he noticed the woodcutter was placing chopped wood in the stand out front of their cabin.

Remi saw him, too. Greer felt her stiffen in his arms. “I want you to go inside and wait for me.” Thankfully, she didn’t argue as they neared the cabin.

They nodded to the woodcutter as they stepped up to the cabin. “I’ll be in in a minute,” Greer told her as he shut the door behind her.

“Need a hand?” he asked, grabbing a few split logs and setting them on the small stack.

“Sure.”

“Thanks for the wood.”

“Yep. I knew her.” He flashed a look at Greer, followed by a quick one over his shoulder. “Sally. I knew her.”

“How did you know her?”

“She was promised to me. We were gonna marry after her tithe.” He carried over another log.
 

“Her tithe?” Greer asked, hoping ignorance would lead him to say more about this mysterious service the teenagers rendered.

“We can’t talk here. Meet me in the woods by your vehicle at two hours after midnight.”

Greer nodded. “Will do.”

Chapter Seventeen

Remi was standing in the middle of the room when Greer came into the cabin. “What did he say?”

He took hold of her shoulders and kissed her forehead. “He wants to meet with us in the middle of the night. Nothing good happens at meetings like that. I think you should stay here.”

“Dr. Robinson said the woodcutter was from the WKB. Do you believe him?”

“I do. There’s nothing about him physically that would point to the gang, but it’s in his eyes, his voice. He knows something about Sally. I can’t not go.”

“What if it’s a trick to separate us?”

Her hands were on his waist. She was looking up at him as if she believed in him, as if she knew he’d keep her safe. Made him feel ten feet tall. And he did puff up a little.
 

“All right. You’re coming with me. I’m going to call the meetup in to the team.”

He dialed Max, glad that the infrastructure Owen had had beefed up around the WKB compound reached the Friendship Community.
 

“S’up, bro?”
Max answered.

“Just FYI. I’m meeting up with a former WKBer who’s now a Friend here in the community. Said he knows Sally. Might have some info about the tithes, which no one else here will talk about in much detail. He wants to meet at two a.m.”

“Copy that. I’ll let Kit know. Where’s the meet?”

“Near the entrance gate for the community. There’s a small parking lot there.”

“Okay. I’ll send some of the guys your way, just in case.”

“Don’t need backup, Max. It’s just one guy.”

“Too bad. The guys here are bored and driving me crazy.”

* * *

The bed in the guest cabin was set in a deep alcove. Curtains that could be pulled across the opening were drawn back on either side. The dark, still sleeping bay was a perfect nest for spiders, Remi thought with a shiver. A quick check of the space showed it was as spotless as the rest of their cabin—and the outhouse behind it.
 

The community had provided a candle and a box of matches. They lit it and set it on the table a few feet from the bed. Remi took her boots off and climbed into the alcove. Leaning back, she watched Greer settle against the opposite wall.
 

The candle was dim and flickering, but once her eyes were used to the low light, she could see Greer clearly. He was the first guy she’d ever kept longer than a weekend. That should have panicked her, but it didn’t for some reason she couldn’t identify. Other than her professional cooperation with his team, Greer never asked anything of her personally. What would happen to them when this was all over?

In the dim light, for the space of a few heartbeats, his eyes seemed to darken as he said, “I want to still see you when this is over.” It was as if he read her mind.
 

She folded her knees and brought them close to her chest. She wanted that, too. For the first time ever, she’d found someone she wanted in her life. The weight of that realization terrified her. “What if it’s just the stress of everything bringing us together?”

He lifted a shoulder. “Maybe. But what if you’re the one?” he asked. “What if I am? Do you want to quit before we know?”

“What if I’m not?” she countered. His silence was heavy in the space between them. “Do you really believe in finding the one perfect person?”

“Before you?” He shook his head. “I’d stopped believing when my fiancée left.”

“I didn’t know you’d been engaged.”

“We met in college. I guess I just wasn’t the guy she thought I was. At least not once the Army recruited me. I don’t know. Maybe she didn’t like Army life. I traveled a lot.” He looked at her. “I don’t want to be alone, Remi.”

“What if I push you away, like I push everyone away?” She got off the bed and paced across the room. She opened the door and let the night wind in. Her back was to him; she didn’t see or hear him move, but his arms slipped around hers like soft wings. He took her wrists and opened her arms, holding her hands at right angles to her body. The cool air slipped over and under their arms.

“What if…what if I am what you are for me—a soul hangover?” His rumbled whisper gave her a shiver. “What if I stay in your heart, and you ache for me as I do for you? Will you be brave? Will you fight for me?”

She did ache for him. Already. “I don’t want to.”

“But will you?”

“I’ve never fought for anything like that.”

He turned his hands palm-up under hers. “Yes, you have. You’ve fought for your life. You’ve fought for your career.” He pressed his face against her hair. “Will you fight for me?”

She turned and looked up at him. “Greer, you terrify me.”

He nodded. “As you do me.” He touched her hair.
 

“Will you fight for me?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah.” His teeth flashed in a quick smile. “When this is behind us, we’ll still be together. We’re a long way from over.”

* * *

Kit’s phone buzzed on the nightstand. He picked it up, checking Ivy to make sure it hadn’t roused her. Casey was watching a movie with Mandy, Rocco, and Zavi, so they’d had the evening to themselves. Ivy was now in a deep, sated slumber.
 

Max was on the other end.

“Sorry to interrupt you, boss. The kid’s walking into a situation you need to know about. He’s meeting a former WKBer, who’s now a card-carrying Friend, at the witching hour of two a.m. Want me to send a couple guys as back-up?”

“Yeah. Angel and Val. I’ll go, too. Tell them to be downstairs at midnight.”

He hung up. Ivy slipped her arm over his chest. “Where are you going?”

“Just a security patrol. Nothing to worry about. I don’t have to leave for a while yet.”

She smiled and reached up to touch his face. He kissed her as he rolled over her. Spreading her legs, he slipped inside her. This third time tonight was different from the others. Gentle. Slow.
 

She wanted another baby, and he wanted her to have everything her heart desired.

* * *

Kit was humming in the passenger seat as they neared the turn for the Friendship Community.
 

“Jesus, Kit,” Val grumbled. “Can you turn down the afterglow? It’s hard to see the road.”

“Sorry.” He grinned. “We’re working on kid number two, feel me?”

“Val and I are in the worst drought of our lives, and you’re popping kids?” Angel grumbled.

Before Val could answer, a loud Harley roared past. Two more came over the hill they were climbing. All three of those slowed down, turned around, and rode up tight behind them.

“Hang on, guys,” Val warned. “Looks like the party’s starting.”

“Max, we got ourselves a situation,” Kit said over the comm unit. “The WKB’s getting real friendly. Tell Greer we might be running late.”

“Roger that. I’ll send backup for the backup.”

“Negative. Keep them at the house—on alert.”

“Copy.”

A line of bikes appeared ahead of them across the peak of the hill, blocking both sides of the road. Val executed a flawless J-turn, heading away from the bikes on the hill and into the three behind them. One of those whizzed by, but the other two didn’t manage to evade his rapid acceleration. They laid their bikes down and slid off into the wayside amid a blaze of sparks.

The bikes on the hill, eight of them, screamed down the slope toward them, swarming both sides of their vehicle. None of them were paying attention to the road. One of the bikers pulled a gun and started peppering them with bullets. He was glad their vehicle was armored.
 

Val swerved into him, plowing him into two other bikers. Two more moved into position on either side of their SUV. Val swerved slightly, not to give warning so much as just to fuck with them. When they didn’t back down, he bumped into one, then the other.
 

The remaining bikes followed them for a distance, then backed off, returning to their fallen brothers.
 

“Max, need another way up to the Friends. Stat,” Val ordered over their comm.

“Roger that…take the next right turn. It’s a rough road, so go slow. Hope’ll have some choice words for you if you bring back her SUV fucked up.”

“Yeah, a little late for that warning,” Angel grumbled from the backseat.

“You guys okay?”

“You’d know it if we weren’t,” Kit snapped.

“Copy that. Follow the dirt road about ten clicks. There will be another dirt road heading west. Take that. It’ll bring you to the dirt road that goes by the Friends. Take a right.”

Chapter Eighteen

“Greer, your tango’s not alone. Proceed with caution,”
Max warned via his comm unit.
 

They were still a hundred yards from the woodcutter. The moon had finally risen, casting a pale light over the WKBer in the narrow dirt road used by the forest service and the residents of the Friendship Community.
 

“I don’t see anyone else. Where are they? In the woods?” The road was flanked on either side by tall grass and scrub brush, easy cover for an ambush.

“No. Right next to him. I’ve got two heat signatures on the satellite.”

“I’m looking straight at him, Max. You can see what I’m seeing.” The amber glasses he wore not only transmitted back to headquarters, they also optimized ambient lighting, illuminating what Greer saw almost as effectively as night-vision goggles. “There’s no one there but him.”

“I can’t explain it. I’m telling you what I’m seeing.”

“Copy that.”

“What’s happening?” Remi whispered, watching him with tense eyes.

“Max says there’s someone else with the woodcutter. Stay close to me.” He nodded to her purse. “Keep your keys in your hand and get the fuck outta here if this goes south.”

She scanned the area. “I don’t see anyone else.”

“Never mind,”
Max said.
“Whatever it was is gone now. Maybe he’s got a dog with him.”

They approached the woodcutter, who stood like a tree stump in the middle of the road. Wide. Heavy. Resolute. The temperature was several degrees lower than the woods they’d just come through. Greer’s breath made a thin puff of condensation. The woodcutter’s hands were in his pockets as if he, too, felt the chill. Maybe this area was a low point and collected the cool night air.