Circle of Deception (31 page)

Before The Circle bombed the OS, the splinter organization had an interrogation chamber called Room 999. Those who entered left in a body bag or hooked to tubes until they recovered, if they ever did.

“So you’re saying you expect us to die?” Rex was sick and tired of people expecting him to fail.

“No. You misunderstand. I like it when the odds are against me. Makes the living more interesting, wouldn’t you say? But the dying? That will be up to Sweet Mother Mary to decide.” He flashed a grin.

Rex looked in the direction Jack and Liam had come from. No guard had shown up during the time they were talking. “Did you take out a guard?”

Liam nodded, all joking gone. He’d been with The Circle a long time. Had he forgotten they no longer took a life if it could be spared while getting the same results?

Rex hoped that wasn’t the reason for the haunted look on the Irishman’s face. “It won’t be long before they discover the missing guards.” He pressed his back to the side of the truck and looked around. “Where’s Abby?”

“I saw her follow Jack into the warehouse.” Liam flattened his body next to Rex’s. How strange to look eye-to-eye with another person. He was used to being the tallest.

“Dammit! I know why she followed. She hadn’t wanted to leave Jack’s friend in the first place. He’d been chained and beaten badly. We didn’t have time to look for a way to unchain him, and we still don’t.”

He trusted her with Jack. No matter what his brother would pull, Abby wouldn’t fall for his line again.

Rex bumped the back of his head against the side of the truck in frustration. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t do stupid things in the name of doing right. He did worry about the woman.

“Fuck it! We might as well help too.” Hell, he hated the thought of going back into that warehouse, but he wasn’t leaving without Abby.

“Do you think that’s wise? If he’s hurt, he’ll slow us down.” Liam’s eyes flashed with delight in what would most likely be another suicidal rescue.

“I don’t give a fuck about Ty Roman. I’m after Abby. The woman has no sense at all when it comes to taking care of her own hide.” He bent low and headed back to where he’d hoped not to return.

A
BBY WATCHED THE
hallway from outside the door as Jack worked the locks on the chains. Head down and arms stretched nearly out of the sockets, the infamous bounty hunter, Ty Roman, appeared to be dead, but Jack swore his heart still beat.

Rex was going to be so pissed. When she followed Jack, it had been more to talk to him about Nic, but when she realized what he was up to, she couldn’t turn back. Though she didn’t know Ty, no human deserved to be treated like that.

“Hot shit!” Jack said in triumph.

She turned to see Jack pulling the chains off the wall and from around Ty’s torso and off his wrists and ankles. Luckily, Jack made it a habit to keep a few locksmith tools in his pockets. It appeared he wore cargo pants for more than style.

“We need to get out of here.” She glanced at the watch she’d taken off the guard. They had been in there only for about eight minutes, but it felt like hours.

“I thought you had more sense than to stick around.”

That voice sounded familiar. She turned and the bottom dropped out of her stomach.

Chapter Thirty-One

“E
DWARD?”
W
HEN
A
BBY
took a step toward him, he aimed an evil-looking sawed-off shotgun at her.

She raised her hands.

“Little sister, you better stand back. I’d hate to shoot you. If you’d done what we expected you to do and hightailed it out of here, you wouldn’t be in the spot you’re in now. It’s that son of a bitch Brody’s fault. He has a soft spot for you. No matter how many times I’ve told him to fuck you and get it out of his system, he won’t listen. For such a fucking genius, he has no common sense.” Her brother swept his gun to the side, indicating for her to move over.

Brody? A genius?

Behind her brother were four guards, broad and muscled, their eyes glistening with the possibility of spilling blood, and she didn’t want to think about what they had planned for her. One of them walked up and took the knife from her hand. Chances were one of those creepy-looking fellows had enjoyed beating Ty to a pulp.

She felt like everything was unfolding from the other side of a screen. No way would the person in front of her be the same big brother she had always looked up to. He was involved with illegal ammunitions? Threatening to kill her? What had happened to cause him to change?

“What’s wrong with you? What about Suzie and Tommy?”

“You don’t worry about them. They’re reaping the benefits of my
night job
.”

“Let her go. She’s your sister for God’s sake!” Jack lunged for Edward and at the same time, one of the guards stepped between them and took the blow with only a grunt. Two other guards grabbed his arms and held them. “You have no idea who you’re messing with!” Jack threatened.

“Tell me about it?” Curiosity was written on his face. “I’ve tried to get Abby to tell me the truth about her husband. They don’t act like newlyweds. How convenient for a world-class arms dealer to marry my sister.”

She’d expected Jack to deny the marriage, but instead he didn’t even glance her way. “They’re really married.”

He’d already threatened her brother and hinted at others being involved. Why keep up the lie? That wasn’t important. If her brother understood the danger he was in, he’d let them go.

“Edward. Please. You don’t understand. The people you’re dealing with are crazy. The Inferno wants the world to burn so they can bring about a new world order. You’ve always had a good head on your shoulders. Why be involved with a group who wants to destroy? You know they’ll fail but in the meantime will kill a lot of innocent people. You were never like that. You weren’t brought up that way.”

Her brother threw back his head and laughed so hard, he wiped tears from his eyes. “I really don’t give a fuck what you think. Money is a big motivator, and they’re crazy enough to pay me big-time to help.” He motioned for his men to take them. “Lock them up, but separately this time. Abby is a little more talented in self-defense than I had thought. Her husband should show up soon.”

There was nothing left to do but tell her brother the truth.

“Remember the other day you wanted to know if Rurik worked for the government?”

He lifted his hand to stop his men. “Yes. And you swore to me he doesn’t. So are you saying he does?”

“He works for an organization called The Circle. They’re not part of the government, but you don’t want to cross them. They’ve taken an interest in stopping the manufacture and shipment of the bullets you’ve invented.” With Edward’s involvement, he or the Ericksons had to be the inventor.

“The Circle? So what I suspected was right. I couldn’t find much about them on the Internet, but Brody came across quite a bit. The man knows ways of digging up information that amazes me. He’s an artist with a computer. I wish I had invented the guidance program for the bullets. But my partner was the genius who brought science fiction to reality. He understands he needs my help. While I have the marketing skills, I also had the connections.”

“You’re saying Brody was the one who invented Hell’s Purifier? I don’t believe you. It had to be the Ericksons. They’re strange enough to be the type.”

“What’s the type?” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“Super smart and doesn’t care for human life.”

“Super smart. Yeah. I guess no one ever could call me super smart, but”—he nodded toward Jack—“why are you asking the questions instead of him?”

She shrugged and hoped she could get him talking again. Better chance of Rex and Liam realizing they hadn’t returned yet. “You’re my brother. I’m simply trying to get you to see reason and tell me the truth about Hell’s Purifier.” She wanted him to tell her who the inventor was. He made it sound as if the genius was Brody.

“Oh, I’m very reasonable if not pushed too far, and you’re pushing. Where’s your husband?”

“Please let us go.” Her brother could always see through her.

He stepped back and tilted his head. “Are you part of The Circle?”

“No.” Jack struggled with the men holding him.

“Yes,” she said at the same time, glaring at Jack.

Edward pursed his lips and nodded. “That’s what I thought. Explains your disappearance and how much you’ve changed. Sorry, Abby, but if you’re going to play with the big boys, you have to pay the price.”

“You’re going to kill your own sister?” Jack finally broke loose and slammed a fist into the man’s nose before another jumped him and pulled Jack away.

A chill traveled down her spine. “If that’s the case, then it won’t hurt to let me know who the inventor is.” She turned back to Edward.

“Even as a little kid you loved to ask questions. Drove me and Mom nuts when you never shut up. I can’t tell you how often you embarrassed us. It was bad enough you looked like some little orphan we picked up in a country south of the border.”

His insults didn’t hurt as much as realizing her own brother hated her. They’d never been close, but she’d always admired him. The feeling obviously wasn’t mutual.

“Hey, Brody, you going to hang out there or come in and tell Abby the truth? For some reason she won’t believe me. I guess she thinks a dumb jock is always a dumb jock,” Edward shouted.

From his tone, she could tell he had little respect for the man. Why was it so hard for her to believe? Brody had successfully hidden an ammunitions plant from the government and The Circle. So why not believe he was the inventor?

The doorway remained empty.

“You self-centered sick fuck! Get in here!” Edward’s face flushed with anger as he edged over to the door, keeping his gun on Abby. He scrambled back when Brody walked in with Rex and Liam behind him, their guns aimed at his back.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. How can you mistreat the man who made you rich?” Rex jabbed the M4 into Brody’s back, pushing him farther into the room.

Before she realized Edward had moved, he had an arm around her neck and his gun to her temple.

“If you want your wife to live, you’ll put your gun down, Rurik. Or whatever your name is. Then again, I don’t give a damn what you call yourself.”

Rex’s gaze shot to her and then to a point behind her, beyond Edward, in the opposite corner of where they held Jack. She heard Jack arguing with the men, and his voice remained in the same area of the room. Afraid to move and draw attention to whatever was going on, she kept her eyes on Rex. She needed to concentrate on talking her brother out of shooting her.

The bang in the small room caused her eardrums to go numb for several seconds. When her brother’s hold became limp, she knew what had happened. Someone had shot him. She dropped to her knees next to Edward and touched the side of his neck with two fingers. Her hands shook so bad she wasn’t sure if that was the reason she didn’t feel a pulse.

She looked up. She’d forgotten about Ty. He held a gun—she had no idea where he got it—and pointed it at the men holding Jack. The men, realizing their leader was dead and no help would be coming from Brody, dropped their hold.

Jack kicked one fellow in the balls as he hit the other guy with a left hook. “You deserve it, assholes!”

Ignoring the chaos around her, Abby clutched Edward’s shirt and pleaded, “Eddie, please hold on. We’ll get you some help.” She looked at the dear face she’d looked up to for so many years. His death would devastate her mom.

“S
WEETHEART, LET HIM
go. The cleanup crew is here.”

She looked around, her eyes scratchy and dry. How long had she been holding her brother’s head on her lap? She stood up and felt tears cooling on her face. The room began to swirl. Then she was in Rex’s arms, being carried out of the room.

Weak and queasy, she cupped his cheek. “Put me down. You’ll break your stitches.”

“Shh. I’m okay. Let me take care of you. Close your eyes. You don’t need to do anything. I got you.”

“You don’t need to do that. I can walk.” Even to her ears, the protest was weak. She never remembered anyone saying they would take care of her. Sure, her mom cared enough to feed and clothe her, but her father had been the one who hugged her when she skinned her knee or celebrated with her when she brought home good grades. His office hours were too crazy for the day in, day out niceties and it wasn’t until she was older that she had realized what she missed out on.

From what Rex had told her over the last few days, she wasn’t the only one who missed out—but in a different way. Having a father who beat and degraded him at every turn and a mother who turned a blind eye to the cruelties, she was surprised how kind and gentle he treated her.

He kicked at the door leading out of the warehouse. Circle operatives scurried out of his way. She didn’t care what anyone thought of Rex carrying her. She leaned her cheek on his shoulder and soaked in his warmth.

R
EX HUGGED HER
closer. He never wanted to let her go. The thought of how close he’d come to losing her again terrified him.

“I thought Ryker wasn’t going to help us,” she said so low he barely caught it.

“It seems he decided to show up when he heard we’d gained control of the Inferno facility.” He couldn’t help a snort of derision. “We found the factory in the small building across from the warehouse. We got all the equipment, including the plans and specs.”

Her arms wrapped around his neck and she closed her eyes. She appeared to be uninterested in hearing any more about ammunitions and The Circle. “Where are you taking me?” He liked how she trusted him enough to do that.

“Probably to bed for a week or more.”

“That would be nice.” She rubbed her cheek against him.

His chest swelled with a feeling so deep for this woman he was certain his heart would burst.

Minutes passed with several Circle operatives asking if they could help, and one was brave enough to offer to take her from him. He growled. Were they so stupid to think he would let her go after what they’d been through? She’d squeezed tight, letting him know she wanted to stay with him. He liked that.