Forbidden Legacy (21 page)

There was a moment of confusion among the members as their meeting was scheduled to last at least another hour and they’d accomplished next to nothing on the agenda, including Harrison dropping the news that he intended to resign his role as Grand Master. He would have to call an emergency meeting to announce he was stepping down later, but first, he needed to find out who was in his office.

“The door is locked,” Giles Kim, one of the most elderly members of the Trinity Masters, announced as people stood to file out.

Michael quickly walked to the door and confirmed they were indeed trapped. “Someone has gotten access to the lock system.”

Gunner frowned. “That’s in your office, isn’t it, Harrison?”

Harrison nodded. He had invited Gunner and Tasha to this meeting to stand in for Price who was still looking for Myers in L.A.

Gunner turned toward the wall behind Harrison and pointed to the display screens. “Can you turn on the camera in your office from here?”

Harrison looked at Tasha, silently bidding her to do just that. The older members of the society resumed their seats as Harrison held his breath. None of them had a clue to the danger that had surrounded the organization this year, but it appeared they were about to find out.

It was clear from the terrified look on Michael’s face he expected to see the same person in his office as Harrison. Myers obviously wasn’t in California.

Tasha clicked a few buttons and then adjusted the volume. Harrison heard Lex’s voice a split second before he saw her face. His blood ran cold.

Myers had Alexis tied to the chair in his office.

“Why are you doing this?” he heard her ask. Several of the Trinity Masters rose from their seats, alarm setting in.

“Who is that?” Giles barked. “Neither of those people are members. How did they get in here?”

Harrison didn’t have a clue and he sure as hell didn’t have time to explain it. “Sit down and be quiet,” he said loudly when more and more voices began demanding answers.

For a decade, he’d been their leader. He’d ruled with calm, quiet authority. Tonight, he couldn’t give them that.

Giles resumed his seat slowly and the others followed suit. Ryan was doing the explanations for him, answering the questions that had plagued Harrison for a year. As the older members listened to Ryan, Harrison pulled Gunner, Michael and Tasha aside.

“We need to get into that office,” Gunner said.

Harrison nodded. “There’s a secret panel in this room that will take us there, but it’s narrow. We could only enter the office one at a time. If Ryan has a gun, he could pick us off like flies or shoot Alexis before we even get the door open.”

Tasha glanced at the screen. “Where does the panel open in relation to your desk?”

Harrison was grateful he’d thought to include her in this meeting. He could already see her quick mind working to break down the scene and come up with a rescue plan. He walked over to the screen and pointed to a small painting to the left of his desk. “Here.”

At that moment, Ryan raised his hand and struck Alexis. Harrison’s hand balled into a fist, anger tearing at his gut.

Tasha started to ask another question, but Michael raised his hand for them to stop talking. The four of them listened as Ryan confessed to killing Jonathan. Michael’s face turned to stone, his expression reflecting the anger Harrison felt.

There was no time for alarm or fear, though Harrison suspected if he let himself acknowledge it, he’d fall apart. Alexis was in serious danger. And it was his fault.

“If anything happens to her,” he murmured to Michael.

Michael put his hand on his shoulder. “We’re going to get her out of there. In one piece.”

Michael’s assurance soothed him, helped him beat down the panicked beast.

Tasha bid Harrison to open the panel and then motioned for Gunner and Michael. “Wait for me. The three of us are going in this way.”

Harrison frowned. Surely she didn’t expect him to stay behind. “Tasha—”

Tasha walked to the door of the conference room without acknowledging him. She quickly and efficiently flipped the lock. How she’d managed to throw back a heavy-duty deadbolt without a key, he’d never know. She gestured for Harrison to join her.

“Give us two minutes to get through the secret corridor and then knock on the door to your office. He won’t be expecting that because he thinks he’s trapped us all in here.”

“We don’t know if he has a weapon.”

Tasha shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” She opened her jacket to reveal the small gun she had concealed there. “I do.”

Harrison turned for one last look at the screen, just in time to see Alexis kick Ryan into the computer. It crashed to the floor. The man recovered quickly and wheeled on her in fury.

“Tasha, get there in one.” With that, Harrison left the conference room and raced down the corridor to his office as if his life depended on it.

Because his life was in that room.

And she was depending on him.

Michael could feel Tasha prodding at his back, trying to pass him. He wouldn’t give way. He had one goal right now and that was to tear the man in Harrison’s office apart with his bare hands.

When they reached the end of the narrow, dark corridor, Michael slid the panel open. He heard Ryan’s raised voice, heard Alexis cry out. There wasn’t time for stealth.

He rushed into the room just in time to see Ryan draw a gun from his pocket. When the man saw Michael coming at him from the left, he grabbed Alexis and used her as a shield. At the same moment, the office door slammed open and Harrison entered from the right of the room.

Michael’s heart beat so hard he feared it would burst as Ryan lifted the gun to Alexis’s head.

Gunner and Tasha had come into the room as well and they stood next to him. For one brief moment, no one moved, no one spoke.

Then Ryan laughed.

Harrison held his place by the office door. “You find something funny?”

Michael wasn’t sure where Harrison found the strength to remain so cool, but it had a calming effect on him, allowed him to stop panicking and start studying the room, their options.

“Your entrance was very exciting. Worthy of a Hollywood action movie, but it was all for nothing. I have what I came for.”

“And what’s that?” Michael hoped by drawing Ryan’s attention back and forth between them, someone would find an opening to pounce. Tasha was moving in incrementally tiny steps toward the desk.

Ryan tightened his grip on Alexis and she gasped. “Stop moving, bitch, or I’ll kill her,” he yelled at Tasha. “I already owe you one for fucking up my plans in Chicago.”

“What did you come for?” Michael repeated, trying to take Ryan’s attention away from Tasha. He knew Harrison had a special fondness for the young woman and his friend would never forgive himself if anything happened to her.

“Information,” Ryan said. “Your whore may have broken the computer so I can’t send it out, but I’ve got what I need on that thumb drive. I’m now in possession of the names of every single one of your perverted members. When I reveal to the press the disgusting way you all choose to live your lives, you’ll be ostracized, cast out.”

Michael forced himself to look at Ryan, knowing if he saw the fear in Alexis’s eyes, he’d fall apart. “What makes you think we’ll let you get out of here with that?”

Ryan laughed. “Oh, I’m leaving. With the thumb drive and your whore.” He looked at Harrison. “And then you’ll feel what I felt when you left my mother and I to fend for ourselves.”

Harrison took one step toward Ryan and Alexis. “I’m sorry for that, Ryan. I failed you.”

Michael studied their surroundings, praying for an answer as Harrison moved closer, taking the blame for something that wasn’t his fault.

“I wish I had an excuse for my actions, but I don’t. The truth is my father was the kind one, the one there to help you. When he was gone, I didn’t see any need to follow through with that commitment.”

Alexis frowned. “Harry, that’s not true.”

Harrison didn’t acknowledge Alexis—with look nor with word.

He was going to turn all of Ryan’s hatred, his anger toward him, sacrificing himself. “I can only begin to imagine how hard it was for you.”

Ryan didn’t seem to notice Harrison’s slow approach. Instead, he became incensed. “You have no idea what it was like for me. Before you fucked up my life, I was in a good school. I had friends. When you tossed us aside, that all changed. My stupid cunt of a mother couldn’t function, couldn’t take care of us. I had to go to a shitty school with mean kids and I started living on the olives and fruit I could steal from behind the bar in the strip club. How dare you play God with my life!”

Harrison was still walking toward Ryan, but the man was too furious, too enraged.

Ryan’s hand shook, tightening his fingers on the trigger. Harrison froze. Michael held his breath. There were too many steps between Harrison and Ryan. He wasn’t in a position to jump the man and get the gun away from him.

With all of Ryan’s attention on Harrison, Michael decided to take a chance. He moved toward the desk. Ryan didn’t notice. He was too intent on berating Harrison. The young man had obviously waited a lifetime to release his anger on the one man he blamed for ruining it.

“You think you’re so fucking smart. You sit in this fancy office, issuing orders to these idiots. You tell them who to marry and they do it. And they don’t even kick up a fuss when you put them in these sick, twisted threesomes. You took my dad away from me. What gave you the right to decide my mother wasn’t good enough for him?”

Harrison must have noticed Michael’s movements because he stopped trying to get closer to Ryan. Instead, he kept him engaged, distracted.

“Ryan, that’s how our society works. How it thrives. Your father knew what he was signing on for when he joined. Jonathan knew he could never stay with your mother.”

Ryan exploded, his face red with anger. “You told him to leave. You made him do what you said. Made him a part of this disgusting cult. Even at the end, he was still defending you. You brainwashed him.” Ryan waved the gun. “So I put him out of his misery. Just like I’m going to do to your whore.”

Michael was less than six feet away from Ryan, but he didn’t dare press his luck. Not when Ryan was starting to calm down, starting to take more notice of the people in the room.

Out of the corner of his eye, Michael saw Tasha slowly reaching into her pocket. Ryan noticed the motion too.

“Don’t move,” Ryan yelled, swinging the gun toward Tasha.

Michael took the opening, afraid they wouldn’t get another. He gave Alexis an infinitesimal nod and then pounced.

Alexis fell forward, breaking free of Ryan’s grip. Michael had only a split second to respond when Ryan pointed the gun downwards, intent on firing at Alexis. He tackled the man and the gun discharged.

Michael didn’t have time to see if the bullet struck. He was too intent on subduing and killing the madman below him. Though Ryan was smaller, he was no stranger to street fighting. Ryan struck with a vengeance as the two of them held nothing back, punching, gouging, struggling for a position of power.

Michael was aware of others in the room moving around, but he couldn’t tell who was where. When he finally managed to get Ryan under him, Michael let loose with all the anger he’d kept locked up for months. He threw fist after fist at the man as he considered Harrison’s sacrifice, Alexis’s face as Ryan held a gun to her head, Jonathan standing by his wives’ graves and then as he lay dead—killed by his own son.

His rage knew no bounds and he nearly turned it on Harrison when his friend gripped his arm, trying to pull him away.

“Michael. It’s enough. Enough!”

Michael fought to fill his lungs with air, gasping as if he’d run a two-hour marathon. His body was numb, it felt as if it had been filled with freezing cold water. He locked his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering.

Ryan lay unconscious on the floor, blood flowing from his nose—which had clearly been broken—and his mouth.

Michael tried to be horrified by his actions, but he wasn’t. This man had left a trail of death and sorrow in his wake. A couple black eyes didn’t make up for the pain he’d caused so many of Michael’s loved ones.