Madeleine Abducted (13 page)

A
feral smile came over Aaron’s lips as the promise of violence shown out from
his eyes. “You don’t say? I’ll pay him a visit, hopefully walk away more
knowledgeable of exactly how cunning my father continues to be.” Moving to the
doors, Aaron threw them open, crossed the living room without so much as
glancing at
Maddy
on the couch. Continuing his quick
pace to his room, he pulled on the straps of his shoulder harness, checked his
guns to ensure they were loaded, before placing them into the harness. Pulling
open a drawer, he pulled out his favorite knife, inspected the weapon before
placing it back in its sheath and tucking it into the waistband at his back. He
reached in the closet and pulled out a leather trench that reached down to his
feet. Pulling the sleeves over his arms, he turned and stalked back out toward
the living room, gave one final glance at
Xander
before letting himself out of the apartment.

Death,
violence and the feeling of steel slicing across the spy’s jugular would be a
perfect distraction to the unwilling siren waiting for him in his home.

Aaron
moved quickly through the halls of the large mansion. The entire property did
not consist only of the building in which he lived. No, the broad expanse of
land had been turned into a compound of sorts. Multiple buildings spread apart
to house the members of The Estate; only those most trusted were allowed to
live on the property itself.

Pushing
out through the double doors that led into a large courtyard, Aaron kept to the
shadows as he moved across the grounds. With large, purposeful strides, he
ducked out into the woods, away from the cameras he knew surrounded the
buildings on the property. Violent anticipation, a chill in the air, as Aaron
made his way to Jason’s quarters, a large, two-story house that stood on the
outskirts of the property. Winter was coming and the air had dipped to such a
cool temperature, that Aaron’s breath fogged out before him, his lips parting
slightly as he allowed the pent up heat to escape his body. The leaves
crunching underneath his feet were the only sounds he could hear as he moved
quickly along the line of trees. Every once in a while, the branches would
split apart just enough to allow moonlight to streak down and illuminate his
path.

The
heavy steps of his feet fell rhythmically as his boots hit soundly against the
dormant ground. When light appeared in the distance, Aaron grabbed the blade at
his back, arming himself against ambush or attack. Normally,
Xander
was at Aaron’s back, never allowing him to go into a
possible den of vipers alone, but with Madeleine held in the apartment, one man
had to stay behind who could be trusted to keep her safe, to not lose himself
to her temptation. Aaron would rather know Madeleine was safe from harm than
ensure that he had eyes behind him that would see approaching danger before it
got too close to feel the sting of his blade.

As
he approached the well lit home, his steps slowed, shortened as he peered out
over the grounds surrounding the building. Even though
Xander
was convinced that Jason was loyal, Aaron trusted no man beyond the one he’d
chosen as his first guard. The only shadows cast across the grounds were those
of the large trees that surrounded the home, no signs of movement or life could
be seen as Aaron perused the immediate area. Sure that no man awaited him in
ambush, Aaron walked calmly across the exterior courtyard, down the large
winding steps, and pushed into the house through a lesser used service door.

Making
his way through the kitchen, several cooks jumped in surprise. His leather coat
billowed out around his feet creating an eerie shadow as he moved through the
dining room and halls. When he approached the front living room, he slowed
again, listened as several men spoke quietly nearby. The conversation wasn’t
anything of use, mindless chatter from men who sounded like they already tied one
on early in the evening.

“And
how did I know you would not be knocking on the front door?”

Aaron
spun around, immediately moved to grab the other man in the room and knocked
him against a wall with the steel of his blade cutting into the first layers of
the skin around the man’s neck.

Not
surprised to have been overtaken by Aaron, Jason wore a blank expression,
knowing full well that Aaron is his father’s most deadly assassin.

“Remind
me not to come up behind you a second time.” Jason’s voice was tight, his throat
moving against the razor-sharp edge of the blade held firmly in Aaron’s hand. A
bead of ruby liquid trailed from the edge of Aaron’s knife, down the stubble
scattered along Jason’s neck. Slowly, Aaron let go as he pulled his weapon back
to place it in the sheath.

Jason
hand’s came up to wipe away the single drop of blood running along his skin. Looking
down at the red stain on his hand, he looked up at Aaron, and smiled before
saying, “I would ask you for a shave with that thing, if I wasn’t concerned
about your blade cutting too close.” He chuckled, reaching out to shake Aaron’s
hand.

Aaron
straightened his spine, suspiciously eying the man standing in front of him,
before finally relenting and taking Jason’s hand in a firm grip. “Jason … What
do you know about the spy?”

Jason
nodded, quickly noting Aaron’s desire to cut to the chase. “I was meeting with
Patrick and some of his men this evening. We were discussing the changes
Xander
has been pushing regarding the hierarchy of The
Estate. I’m behind you one hundred percent, Aaron. Your father has lost himself
to a power trip of madness and greed. This network has become far more corrupt
in the past few years, being led by those two jackals, Emory and Vincent. You
already control the legitimate business, there’s no reason you couldn’t rule
the darker side as well. You’re a smart man and the most lethal son of a bitch
around here. We want to side with you.”

Aaron
blinked, but kept an indifferent expression on his face. Never one to chat with
men he didn’t know well, he wanted to keep words and actions to the task at
hand, give it more time before discussing conspiracy and allegiance. “The spy? Tell
me about him.”

“He’s
a bottom-feeder, a common crook who got caught trying to record the meeting. He’d
tagged along with one of Patrick’s men, supposedly applying for entry into his
unit. Patrick was the one who caught him, took the recording device and locked
the asshole up before contacting
Xander
. It was
surprising to hear that
you
would be
coming to talk with him.”

Considering
the information, Aaron was quiet for a moment before finally responding. “This
sounds easy enough. It shouldn’t take too long for me to find out for whom he
works, if it was my father who’d sent him in. Take me to him.” Aaron looked
over as Jason nodded his assent and turned to lead Aaron down a corridor to
their right and up a set of narrow stairs that must have been intended for easy
movement by staff personnel so that they could remain out of sight of any
houseguests. Aaron continued following Jason noticing that, although the man
was just short of six feet, the width of his shoulders almost equaled the
length of space between the walls of the corridor they now traveled. A heavily
muscled man, Jason was no stranger to a fight. His features were made even more
striking by the pure white of his hair and the light silver of his eyes. The
stark beauty of Jason was enough to fool any man who didn’t expect the pure
rage that Aaron knew existed within the man who could end up his greatest ally.

Stopping
suddenly, Jason unlocked a small, interior
door,
leading Aaron inside a closet-sized chamber where the spy had been kept
awaiting his arrival. There was barely enough room for the three men to move
around, but Aaron didn’t need ample amounts of space for the purpose of his
visit.

Aaron’s
coat blew out around his feet as he swiftly entered the room, noticing how the
suspected spy’s eyes filled with panic upon his entry. A pathetic excuse for a
criminal, he sat bent over a small, square table set in the middle of the room.
His thin brown hair was balding at the top, and wire frame glasses circled eyes
that belonged more to a rodent than to a man. His thin frame shook from dread
and fear and his clothes were torn and stained red from the beating he’d
already taken from Patrick. The spy reminded Aaron of Theo Hollis, the man
whose blood ran free from his body earlier that day after Aaron discovered his
theft from the business.

Pulling
a chair from the table, Aaron turned it around, sitting down while resting his
muscular arms over the back of the chair. The sound of the chair’s feet as they
struck the wooden floor echoed through the small room, accenting the vile stink
of fear already overpowering the small space. Aaron stared silently at the spy
for a few moments, allowed terror to fill the man’s entire body before asking
his questions. As those quiet moments passed, the only sound breaking the
silence was the anxious breath of the man sitting across the table.

With
a voice saturated in threat and cruel intent, Aaron finally asked, “Who are
you?”

The
beady brown of the man’s eyes peered up, widening when they saw the scathing
grin stretched tight against Aaron’s face. Opening his mouth, his breaths
became heavier, his heart undoubtedly beating through his chest in anticipation
of the death that was sure to come. “M … My name is
Collinsworth
… Mark
Collinsworth
.”

Aaron
nodded, amused that the pathetic creature before him was able to speak clearly
while fully aware that his last minutes on Earth were stretched out before him.
“Do you know who I am … Mr.
Collinsworth
?" A
simple question, but one laced with the eventuality of pain and death.

The
spy looked up, blinked his small eyes a few times before nodding in
acknowledgment of the question. "You're Aaron Carmichael; you're Joseph
Carmichael's son."

Aaron's
heart beat faster at the sound of his father's name. The feel of his blade
against this man's throat would be that much sweeter after the filth of his
father’s name had been allowed to roll so easily off the spy’s tongue.

"I
am." Leaning back, Aaron moved his arms so that only his hands gripped the
backside of the chair in which he sat. "You must know why I'm here
speaking with you tonight. Do you mind telling me and my friend, Jason, why,
exactly, you thought it a wise idea to record what was intended to be a private
meeting?"

The
spy fidgeted in his seat, his beady eyes traveling back and forth between Aaron
and Jason. Losing his patience, Aaron spoke in an effort to speed Mr.
Collinsworth's
answer along. "I can begin removing
parts of your body, Mark, if you feel that will help you discover the answer to
my question." A threat yes, but an act Aaron had been known to commit many
times in the years he'd acted as assassin for the network.

The
scrawny man's body began to shake violently upon hearing Aaron's threat. Laughter,
mocking and cruel, bubbled out from Aaron as he watched the man before him reduced
to a fit of absolute horror. "Don't piss yourself, it will only make my job
a lot more … messy … in the end. I'm actually quite fond of the boots I’m wearing.
It would only anger me more if I was forced to dirty them by stepping in your piss."

"I
… it wasn't my initial intention to record the meeting, but when I heard there
would be an uprising against Mr. Carmichael, I thought such information would
be valuable, might help bring me to a higher position within the network."

Aaron
smiled, felt pity for the stupid man sitting before him that was far too honest
for his own good. "To whom were you planning on selling that information? You
must have had an idea of someone that would find it of interest."

Resignation
dampened the man's eyes, the droop of his shoulders a clear indication he knew
what was to come. "I believed Mr. Carmichael himself would take notice of
me if I were to deliver the information, that he would give me a position above
that which could be granted by Patrick’s unit."

"So
your attempt at espionage was your idea alone, you weren't sent by any man in
particular?" Aaron suspected the spy truly did act on his own, thinking
he'd stumbled upon information that would make him a higher ranked member of The
Estate. Unfortunately, the weak son of a bitch neglected to think that by
presenting the information to his father, he'd also be revealing himself to be
the rat that he was. Aaron's father did not gain his throne by allowing men
known to talk to live for any longer than it took them to deliver their
message. Loyalty did not exist among criminals when loose tongues were involved.

The
spy shook his head "no", dropped his eyes to the dirty and scarred
table positioned between them.

Further
questioning wasn't
necessary,
this man was no more
than an unknown leech attempting to feed off the network. With a quickness akin
to that of a snake, Aaron jumped across the table, the sound of his chair
striking heavy against the floor as he pinned the pathetic shell of a man to
the wall, his blade tearing through skin and tendons, the gurgled sound of the
man's trachea and esophagus being ripped open by the forceful slice of steel. The
arterial spray burst out, bathing Aaron in the evidence of violence and death. Dropping
the man like nothing more than a butchered animal, Aaron gazed down at the
lifeless body, watched as the head rolled and twisted into an unnatural
position, held to the body by nothing more than the bits of spine still
attached. Aaron's chest heaved with labored breath, the weight of his demons
momentarily lifted by the act of an executioner.

Turning,
Aaron noticed how Jason's silver eyes were held wide, lit by a mix of respect
and mortal fear. Aaron could imagine the nightmare he must portray, a man skilled
in the art of execution, who preferred the steel of a blade to the impersonal
use of lead bullets when taking down his kill. Aaron's eyes followed the thick
muscles that worked along Jason's neck as he swallowed down his surprise at
witnessing the ruthless acts of an assassin as proficient as Aaron.

Looking
back at the corpse now bleeding out on Jason's floor, Aaron laughed when
noticing that the spy did, in fact, release his bowels upon death. The foul
smell slowly filling up the room, he turned to Jason, and with no emotion in
his voice, he commented, "You may want to send up any other man you
suspect isn't as loyal as they portray themselves to be. Let them see an
example of what they will become if discovered."