For Love and Vengeance (5 page)

Aviva’s
disjointed mind registered only a blur. Jason was no longer in front of her. He
had moved with such speed she was puzzled. Then everything slowed down. She saw
the young woman being held behind Jake's back, and Jason was now in possession
of one of the guns and Josh the other.

These men were
huge. How could they possibly move so quickly? Her unbelieving mind attempted
to make sense of what she had witnessed. Maybe they weren't really human. Maybe
they were some form of genetically modified super beings from the planet
Kingdoria, and their spaceship had crash landed on earth and they had spent
centuries assimilating themselves into human society. But their super human
speed and strength refused to be diminished. Yeah, that was it, Aviva thought,
satisfied with her questionable rationalization.

Coming out of her
stupor, she saw Jake whispering in the assistant’s ear. The woman rapidly nodded
her head and hastened from the room, giving the intruders a wide birth.

“Aviva, go into
the bedroom and close the door,” Jason dictated his order without taking his
eyes from the man he held by the throat in some kind of neck lock. Aviva didn't
move so much as a muscle. She heard him, but for the life of her, she couldn't
move. She was too fascinated by what was going on. Plus, she wanted to see
those bastards get their asses kicked because she had no doubt that was exactly
what was about to happen.

“Aviva, did you
hear me? Do as I say. Go! Now!” When she still remained immobile, Jason spoke
to Jake. “Get her into that bedroom!”

Jake moved toward
Aviva, ready to escort her out of the room. The man Jason held captive thought
his momentary distraction gave him enough time to wrest himself from his grasp
to gain the upper hand. He thought wrong. With a tilt of an outstretched foot,
Jason swept the man’s feet from under. Reversing his grip, Jason held the intruder
by the lapels and smashed him down on the floor with such force it sent
vibrations through the room. Upon landing, the man remained motionless. Rising,
Jason didn't even glance in his direction, his foot taking the place of where
his arm had been only moments before, at the man’s throat.

Jason was pissed.
Just once, just one time, he wanted her to do what he told her to do. Pointing
a long finger in Aviva’s direction, Jason spoke through clenched teeth. “Aviva,
get your backside inside that room before I have to come over there and put you
there myself!”

“Please don't
order me around, Jason!”

“Shit…shit… shit,”
Jason swore, grinding his teeth in frustration, running his fingers over his
scalp.

“Yeah, that's
right. You keep shitting until you shit yourself!” Aviva fired back, unaware of
how comical the whole situation was. There she stood in a robe at least three
sizes too big for her, hands balled into fists at her sides in defiance, while
Jason had his foot lodged in an unconscious man's throat and they were having a
battle of wills. She was completely fed up with people bossing her around.

Josh laughed at
their antics as he squeezed and pulled up his captives folded back arms even
further. A precaution, just in case the idiot had ideas of trying the same move
his hapless cohort had attempted. If they were to get answers, they needed at
least one of them with their faculties in working order.

“Jacob, do what I
told you to do. Get – her – into – that – room. Carry her if you have to,
because lady, if I have to come over there, you're not going to like it!” Jason
wanted to hit something, he was so frustrated. He hated having to speak to her
like that but her defiance was driving him crazy.

Jake too couldn't
help grinning, glad Aviva wasn't his woman. He loved her like a sister, but he
was glad, that she was Jason's to handle. He wasn't a fool. He knew if he did
as Jason wanted, she would balk. Jackson had raised him, and he used that
advantage. “Aviva, honey, Jason would like you to retire to the bedroom. It's
not safe for you out here. He just wants you safe. Would you allow me to escort
you to the bedroom?”

Aviva wasn't
fooled for a moment. She knew Jake was just as bad as Jason. Both of them were
arrogant sods. He was trying to use some kind charm offensive on her, and she wanted
to snort in his face. But she could see Jason was getting more and more red in
the face, a sure sign he would do exactly as he had promised; carry her into
the bedroom.

“Why of course,
Jacob. Please tell Jason, in the future, if he wants me to do something, he
need only ask – not give me orders.” Smiling sweetly up at Jake, Aviva gave
Jason a superior look before sticking her nose in the air and walking towards
the bedroom, her hips swaying from side to side in the gait of the seductress,
sure Jason's eyes followed her every move.

“Lord God, that
woman is hot,” Jason whispered under his breath.

Josh heard him
and couldn't resist muttering. “Yes, she is!”

Jason wasn't
amused by his brother’s comment. “Don't make me have to come over there.”

“Come on, Jason.
I've got my hands full, all I was doing was agreeing with you. Where's the harm
in that?”

“Back off, don't make
me have to tell you again!” Without realizing it, Jason's foot applied more
pressure to the incapacitated man's throat in his agitation at Jake's words.

“If you don't
want to kill idiot number two, I suggest you let up on that oversized foot of
yours.”

Realizing what he
had been doing, Jason removed his foot and looked down at the man. Satisfied
that his chest still moved up and down, he was still breathing. Casting his
eyes towards his younger brother, Jason pointed at him. “When this is all over,
I'm gonna hurt you,” Jason said through bared teeth.

The man Josh held
captive was confused. They looked alike, only one had fair hair and the other
dark. The one who had escorted the woman from the room was obviously a twin to
the blonde, yet they seemed to be at odds, but they worked together seamlessly.
He couldn't help thinking the blonde still in the room seemed slightly demented
and the one who held him seemed to take pleasure in pushing his buttons. He had
seen the move blondie had put on Vince. He hadn't even been paying him any
attention, he had been focusing on the woman, yet Vince was out for the count.
What had they gotten themselves into? They weren't paying him enough to have to
deal with these machines.

“Sure, bro,
whenever you're ready. I'm your man.” Josh was amused, deriving enjoyment from getting
a rise out of Jason. He knew, as did Jason, that they had this situation under
control. If this was all they had to throw at them, they were on their way home
sooner than he had anticipated.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the
bedroom, Aviva sat down on the loveseat at the foot of the bed and looked up at
Jake, leaning against the closed door.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure,
Aviva?”

“Jake, I'm fine.
It doesn't matter how many times you ask me, the answer will still be the same.
I'm fine.”

“I hear you but I
don't believe you. You don't seem fine to me.”

“What are you
talking about?”

“You seem, I
don't know...splintered.”

“Splintered?”

“Yeah,
fragmented, thinking one thing and doing another.”

“Jake, if you're
going to stay in here and be my watchman, you need to make sense, because
honestly, I have no idea what you're talking about.” Aviva's tone was meant to
dismiss whatever point he was trying to make. She was fine…and if she kept
saying it out loud, maybe she would convince these overbearing men, and more
importantly herself, of the validity of her words.

“You need to tell
Jason what happened to you while you were gone. That man would give his life
for you. Those men out there, they're just the first wave. They're going to
come harder and faster, and we need to be prepared.

We only just
found our brother, and we want the opportunity to get to know him. You’re
essential to him, and by extension, important to us. Please don’t take that the
wrong way; we’ve all come to love you, but I won't allow you to withhold
information that will keep Jason safe.

When he asks you
to tell him what you've been through, I would ask that you answer him
truthfully, leaving nothing out. This family can't do without him now that
we've found him. I can't do without him. He's the something I've always felt
was missing, I didn't know what it was, all I knew with a certainty was there
was a part of me missing. I know what that is now. So, I ask you, please, don't
let him go into battle for you unprepared. I know it will be hard for you, but
he needs to know, he needs to know it all.”

Jake’s words were
so pure they lodged in her heart. They were also more words than he had spoken
to her in all the time she had known him. Jason was finally amongst family,
people who offered him unconditional love. How could she deny his request, no
matter how much it hurt her in the reliving?

Nodding her head,
she gave her acquiescence. For Jason's peace of mind, she was willing to relive
all her captors had put her through. To keep her love safe, she would revisit
her nightmare.

Jake was
satisfied with her response. He wasn't a man of many words unless something was
important to him, and the most important thing to him was his family. If he knew
they were safe, unharmed, he was content. It had always been that way for him,
and he didn't question it. It was just the way
he
had been programmed.

“Go back in
there, Jake. I know you need to make sure they're okay. I'm fine. How could I
not be? I have the men of planet Kingdoria protecting me, and more importantly,
each other.”

Jake hesitated,
unsure of what she was talking about. Although he was anxious to get back to
his brothers in case they needed help, although he doubted they did. He was
acutely aware she wasn't making sense. What the hell was planet Kingdoria?

Moments after
Jake's departure, Jason entered the room carrying the shopping bags with her
clothing. Depositing the bags beside her, he stood looking down at Aviva. She
had pulled herself up on the side of the bed until her feet dangled over the
edge. Jason couldn't help thinking she looked like a confused, lost child in
her oversized bathrobe and bare feet. He wanted nothing more than to take her
in his arms and surround her with the warmth of his love. But he didn’t as he
was unsure how she would react.

Eight days ago,
he wouldn't have hesitated in carrying out the action running through his mind.
But this Aviva was different. She made him uncertain of how she would react to
his touch, and that didn’t sit well with him. He could handle men like the ones
who had just intruded on them, but he doubted he would be able to handle his angel's
rejection of his touch for much longer.

Deciding he had
waited as long as he could bear, Jason knew he had to touch her, feel a part of
her skin against his. He watched her as she tracked the path of its approach.
His intent had been to touch her cheek but somewhere in mid motion, he changed
his mind, not wanting her to pull away from such intimacy. He wanted to run his
fingers down the plains of her smooth face to remind himself how her soft skin
felt against his. Instead, he gathered her fisted hands in his, and kissed them,
determined to show her he would do nothing she wasn't ready for.

Aviva watched
Jason hesitate, change the path of his outstretched hand, his actions so unlike
the strong commanding man she had come to know, and she knew she was to blame.
Or rather what she had been through had wrought the change. She wanted things,
them, to be back in the same position they had shared only days before, but too
much had happened. She needed time to regain her footing, to process what she
had been through and why it had happened.

Aviva knew she
was hurting him. His handsome face depicted how her rejection affected him.
With everything in her, Aviva wanted to reach out and comfort him as he was
attempting to comfort her, but she just wasn't ready. He needed to understand
that – she just wasn't ready.

“It's okay, Angel.
You take as much time as you need. When you're ready, I'll be here waiting. For
you, I'll wait a lifetime.”

“What if...I’m
never ready?”

“There is no
what
if
. Whatever happened to you, whatever you did, had to do, it's alright.
Everything will be alright.”

“How can you say
that without even knowing what happened?”

“I can say it,
and you should believe it, because you know me. Whatever you've been through
over the last week has been because of me, my worthless life, what I've done,
and I refuse to allow you to bear the burden of any blame. That I will not
allow. So, whatever you need, it's yours.”

“Don’t you dare
say your life’s worthless. I won’t allow it!” she told him, angered at his
denigration of his life.

“Shh, you don't
need to say anything else. All you need to do is get dressed. My brothers and I
will take care of everything else. I promise you, you have nothing to worry
about. Something like this will never happen to you again. This is my promise
to you.”

“How can you say
that? How can you make that kind of promise? You have no control over these
people. You don't know what they’re like, what they're capable of!”

“Angel, I know
exactly what they're capable of, and I just became their worst nightmare.”

As Jason drew to
a closer, Aviva felt the hairs at the back of her neck stand on end. Suddenly,
he seemed like a completely different person from the man who had only moments
before had tried to comfort her. His face had taken on a mask of determined
conviction. This man she readily admitted scared her.

Although she had
never witnessed it, Aviva knew Jason had a dangerous streak. He had admitted to
her and his family that he had dispensed his own form of justice on those who
had crossed him, and Aviva knew he was again in that same place. She wanted to
know what he was going to do, but coward that she was, she couldn't ask. She
was disturbed and frightened that she might stand up and urge him on. Even
worse, she might suggest ways of making whatever punishment he dealt out even
worse and their suffering more prolonged.

“Change your
clothes, Angel. One of us will come and get you when it's time for us to go.”

“Go…go where?”

Jason hesitated,
not wanting to alert her to the type of danger he thought they were in. These
men already had their plans in motion while they were operating blindly, only
just managing to stay one step ahead of them. If he didn't have her to think
about, keep safe, he wouldn't wait for them to come at them the way they had
just done. He would hunt them down and taken them out without a backwards
glance.

“We're moving to
a safe house. Now change and be ready to go as soon as someone comes for you.”

“What are you
going to do?”

Jason was growing
impatient at her constant questioning, and it showed in his response. “Just do
as I say. Change and do not leave this room!”

Aviva was
completely over the tone of voice he kept using when speaking to her, but
realized it wasn’t the time to question his dictates. Their position was at the
very least precarious, two armed men had just walked into their suite bent on
killing them. It was definitely not the time to argue with him.

“Please be
careful,” Aviva said, looking up at him with concern.

Her words
surprised him. He had been sure she was getting ready to take him to task for
giving her orders. His angel never ceased to surprise him. He wanted to kiss
her, take her into his arms and kiss her in a way that would make up for the
days they had been apart.

Jason didn’t try
to hide his feelings, they were there shining in his eyes, leaving Aviva in no
doubt as to what was on his mind. But he didn't act on his need. Instead, he
gave her a curt nod and left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~

The sight that
greeted Jason on his reentry into the living area would have been comical if
they were not in such a dangerous situation. The man he had felled was still
laying in the same position in which he had left him.

Josh, on the
other hand, had gone to the trouble of finding white material from somewhere
and had trussed up his captive to look something like a semi mummified body.
The material covering him from his mouth to his knees, his shins left unbound.
If he tried to run, he would have to move with his calves flicking outwards
from side-to-side, no doubt looking like a demented fool.

Jason looked over
at Jake and they both shook their heads. Their younger brother had a warped
sense of the ridiculous. Jason knew he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of
finding material and wrapping the thug up in the way Josh had. He would have
just knocked him out and saved himself the effort.

“Having fun?”
Jason asked his younger brother, nodding to the man sitting beside him on the
sofa. The man's eyes moving furiously back and forth between him and Josh.

“Oh yeah! The
fool tried to head-butt me.”

“I see. Well, I
need you to remove the um...binding from his mouth. He has questions to answer,”
Jason told Jake with a wave of his hand in the direction of fool number one.

“Well, alright!”
Josh said with a hand pump in the air. “What’re we gonna do to him if he
doesn't want to answer – can I hurt him? Please say I can hurt him!” He
finished with a maniacal laugh.

“But of course
you may. I know you need to get your enjoyment wherever you can. Far be it from
us to deny you your simple pleasures,” Jason said with an indulgent look in his
younger brother’s direction, his eyes never leaving mummy boy, liking the way
sweat was breaking out on the hapless fool's face.

Jake remained
silent and watchful. He knew that a situation could change in a matter of
moments. His brothers could ham it up as much as they felt the situation
necessitated. He, however, wasn't about to take any chances with any of their
lives.

Reaching over,
Josh pulled the binding from the man's mouth, and his tongue snuck out to run
over his dry lips. Maybe it was just the fact that his mouth had been covered
for a while or maybe he was nervous. Jason hoped it was the latter, and just in
case it wasn't he intended to make it so.

Walking toward
the bound man with slow, deliberate strides, Jason stopped directly before him.
He stood close so that the man would have to crane his head backwards to look
up at his superior height. He had long ago realized that his height alone could
be used as a means of intimidation to smaller men. Coupled with his bulk, most
people quickly saw things his way.

Jason wasn't a
bully. In fact, he hated anyone who preyed on those less able to protect
themselves. But this man may have been one of the people who held Aviva in
captivity, had the audacity to hurt her and then to come into their house
brandishing a gun. Oh yes, he most definitely had questions to answer.
Therefore, Jason would use whatever means he felt necessary to extract the
information he wanted.

Looking down his
nose, Jason folded his arms across his chest and widened his stance, looking
fool number one straight in the eyes for long moments, regard ice cold. Aware
they didn't have the luxury of time, he used his will as a means of backing the
man into the position he wanted him in.

When Jason spoke,
it shook the silence that seemed to have become a part of their very
surroundings, making the sweating man jump. Good, he thought, his tactic was
working.

“You have two
choices, you either answer my questions or I hurt you. You have exactly twenty seconds
to make up your mind. Josh, if you please, you are the timekeeper. I want to
hurt this bastard so bad I may lose track of time. Yet, I am a man of my word.
I gave him twenty seconds and twenty seconds he shall have. The countdown starts...now.”

Jake couldn't
help but smile. He could see Jason was straining to get a hold of the man he
had so effortlessly intimidated. Obviously, he wasn't the brains of this two
man infiltration team. Standing closest to the bedroom door, Jake heard the
handle turn and felt an almost imperceptible change in the temperature around
him. Aviva had cracked open the door to peep out at what was going on in the
main room. He decided to ignore her. Jason whose ears were tuned in to
everything going on around him didn’t make the same decision. He had heard her
turn the handle of the door, and could feel her curious eyes roaming around the
room, stopping on him. He wasn't having it.

“I know I told
you to stay in that room!” Jason spoke without turning around.

Click, she was
gone.

Jason wasn't
prepared to give their captive an opportunity to think up a fabricated story.
He also had no intention of voicing his questions until the twenty seconds was
up.

“Times up,” Josh
said, still sitting in a relaxed position beside the now funky smelling man
whose sweat had soaked through his clothes and his bindings.

“Where's your
headquarters?”

“Headquarters?”

“Wrong answer!”
Jason drawled.

As soon as he
finished speaking, Josh slapped the man across the back of the head. The man's
head snapped forward with the unexpectedness and force of the slap. Jason's
only reaction to this was the raising of an eyebrow. Josh shrugged and rolled
his eyes.

“Okay, let's try
again. Same question, where is your headquarters?”

“Shoreditch.”

“You sweat
soaked, shit. Are you trying to take me for a fool?” Jason asked in a low
voice, taking a step closer to the seated man, his carriage and controlled
movement’s belying his intent. His hand shot out with such speed the man only
had time to feel the impact followed quickly by pain.

“Don't mess with
me! Don't ever mess with me! I will kill you. You walked into my house with a
gun, to kill me and what belongs to me, and you think you’ve got special
privileges with me.” By now, Jason was nose to nose with the man, his teeth
bared in anger. Who did this little fuck think he was messing with?

Face to face and
up close and personal, with six-foot five of pure muscle, Jason didn't have to
repeat his question.

“It's a warehouse
in Shorditch. 177 North End Place.”

“Good, thank you.
That wasn't so difficult, now was it?” Jason's question was completely
rhetorical. He had absolutely no interest in what the man was thinking or
feeling. Turning away, he addressed Josh.

“I want somebody
over here after we've left to clean up the mess. On second thought, leave the
clean up until tomorrow.”

At the same time,
Jason walked over to the prone man who had started groaning as he returned to
consciousness. Jason kicked him in the head. “That's for coming in here and
thinking you can fuck with me and mine.” Jason followed up with a kick to the
groin for good measure. “That was for using an innocent woman as a shield, you
low life piece of filth.”

Jake and Josh
didn't utter a word, nor did they flinch at Jason's treatment of the gunman. Their
feelings locked behind blank masks.