The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart: A Hart Brothers Novel (36 page)

“There are very few coincidences in
life.”

“Was that a no?”

Sabin sighs. “It was the same necklace.”

“It’s that old?”

“It is older than that. Paradox is ancient,
created before man existed on this planet.”

“How?”

“I have no answers to that nor am I curious
enough to seek them out.”

“I’m sorry I threw the necklace. I didn’t
know.”

He releases Juliette’s arms. Her hands reach
for them and immediately rub them, attempting to restore
circulation. She tries to move toward Kade, but is pushed back in
her place.

“I released you but didn’t say you could
move,” Sabin says.

“If you can’t find it, are you going to kill
me?”

He huffs, “We don’t kill, we protect. I’ve
already told you that. We only kill when necessary.”

There’s a shout from Rafe and Sabin looks
over the water to where Verus and Helios have resurfaced. Minutes
later they’re back on the boat.

Juliette watches the two men walk on board
with what should be soaked clothing and hair, but theirs is as dry
as hers. What the hell?

“Nothing. We found where it was, but it’s
gone now. Someone took it,” Verus says.

“Shaurok?”

“No. We didn’t pick up their trace at
all.”

“Fucking hell. This is going to be a long
night,” Sabin says as he turns back to Juliette.

Rafe asks, “What do we do now?”

“We have to get them off this goddamn boat.”
He turns to Kade and says, “Mr. Hart, take us to the marina. And
make it as fast as you can. Rafe, guard him. We’re sitting ducks
out here. I’m taking her below.”

He grips Juliette’s arm and practically
drags her.

She tries to pull her arm out of his hand.
“I can walk on my own.”

“Go, and make it fast.”

They go down and sit at the dining table.
She reaches for the light switch, but he stops her.

“No lights. Nothing to draw attention.”

She raises both brows. “Like the sound of a
running engine won’t do that.”

“Look, I’m doing the best with what I have.
You haven’t left me much to work with.”

Juliette slams her hand on the table. “I’m
tired of your shit. You know? I’ve been running from these assholes
for almost three years, and I have no idea who they are. I didn’t
even know why they wanted me until now. Try putting yourself in my
shoes. What would you have done, Mr. High and Mighty?”

“Maybe, just maybe, I would’ve listened to
the people who kept saving my ass all these years!” his face is
right in hers again.

“Would you stay out of my face? Don’t they
teach you people about personal space?”

He grabs her chin and says, “You don’t get
it do you? You’re worried about personal space? I give them fifteen
more minutes and this boat will be a damn hive of Shaurok. And I
can guarantee you, they don’t give a damn about your personal
space. They will be all over and in it. Then what will you do? Who
will protect your boyfriend? Do you think he’s capable of fending
them off? You don’t even know what they look like. You saw my back.
You saw what they’re capable of. You know what they did to your
family. Can you protect yourself, little girl? I didn’t think
so.”

Now that Juliette is more than sufficiently
freaked, she grabs Sabin’s hand. “What will we do? Where will we
go?”

In his low voice, the one he used to use
with her, he says, “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. But we
have to get off this water, for your and Mr. Hart’s sake. Or the
two of you don’t stand a chance.”

Kade

This trip was a huge mistake. I’ve put
Juliette’s life in danger. But how could I have known? How could
she have known?

These men. I wish I could talk to her alone.
But that’s not going to happen. Our best option is to do what they
say. In some ways, I know they’re here to protect, though they’re
awfully brutal about it. Now the leader has taken Juliette down
below and I have to trust he won’t hurt her.

But who are these strange people? Military?
Government? I’m not sure they’re either. And when those two dudes
popped up out of the water, jumped back on board, and weren’t even
wet, what the hell was up with that? I thought my eyes were playing
tricks on me, but when one walked by, I made it appear that I
accidentally brushed him, and he was
dry
! There is
definitely something going on here. But what? I haven’t a clue.
Right now, my best guess is that they’re some super secret
government operative team. I never did trust the government. They
probably have all kinds of things hidden from us.

Now the question is, what are they going to
do to protect her? Or is that even feasible anymore? Boy did I ever
fuck up.

Juliette

“Sabin, why didn’t you tell me all of this
before?”

He leans forward on his elbows and steeples
his fingers. His hands are scarred, like his face. But it only adds
to his appeal, and much as I hate to admit, he is appealing. Or is
it intriguing?

“Need to know.”

“Isn’t that a little stupid?”

He bristles. “No.” He’s back on the
defensive.

“Maybe not for some, but it was for me.
Information would’ve been helpful, if I had at least a tiny bit. As
it were, that stupid note from my dad, was…”

“The note?”

I recite it for him. Verbatim. After all
this time, I know it by heart.

“
To the keeper: wear at all times. Let
not it fall into false hands lest ye face universal
destruction.”

He massages the place between his eyes. “And
you didn’t think to keep the damn thing, even after … ‘let not it
fall into false hands?’”

“No! My dad didn’t wear it so I thought it
was just some silly folklore.”

He starts to say something, then stops.

“What?”

“Juliette, we have to find Judgment Day.
Whoever has it now, is facing what you are, but doesn’t know it.
His or her family is now in danger, but Paradox …” he drops his
head into his hands.

“What? Tell me. No more subterfuge on this.
The secrets end here, Sabin.”

Ebony orbs latch onto mine and I almost gasp
at their intensity. “Paradox has the potential to destroy and
unbalance a whole lot more than only the planet.”

“What are you saying?”

“There’s a reason the necklace is called
Judgment Day. It’s when all life ceases to exist. All. Life.”

Everything in my body hitches up a million
notches. The cogwheels increase to maximum speed. My heart’s
pumping like some out of control piston gone wild. Blood gushes
through my veins and arteries, like the control valve on the dam
has ruptured, causing my pressure to soar. Adrenaline is released,
firing into my synapses, stinging my peripheral nerves. Finally it
hits my lungs, and the air is vacuumed out of the room, the band
around my chest squeezes tighter and tighter, my vision grows
grayer and fuzzier by the second.

Hands on my head, voices in my ears, telling
me to take deep breaths, repeating, repeating. When I open my eyes,
I’m on the floor of the cabin, staring at the white ceiling.
Sabin’s head comes into the view. I try to get up but his hand
pushes me back down.

“You fainted. Stay still a minute.”

“Fainted?”

“Yes, fainted. You’ll be fine in another
minute. It was the shock of what I told you about Paradox.”

It all comes rushing back to me now.
Shit.

“Sabin, what kind of weapon is so huge that
it’s capable of doing so much destruction?”

Lids drop closed and his head bows. “There’s
so much—”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Will my life ever be normal again?”

“No. I wish I could say yes, but can you
ever forget the way your family looked?”

“No.”

“The knowledge you now possess. Well, you
have your answer.”

“If you find the necklace, will I ever be
safe?”

He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t have to. Icy
needles prick my skin from head to toe.

“I already knew my life had a short
endpoint.”

“What makes you say that?”

“You, your men, the necklace, my
circumstances.”

He smirks. “I never took you for someone who
gave up.”

“I’m n—”

“The hell you’re not. Look at you. You’re
pitiful, lying here. Get up.”

He holds out his hand and I take it.

“Now listen to me. You’re going to marry
that guy up there, the one who is so hell bent on being your hero,
and let us do our jobs. We’re going to protect you, like we always
have. We’ll find Judgment Day and you’ll live your life.
Clear?”

“So, what happened to the asshole prick that
was up there earlier?”

A smile plays on the corners of his
mouth.

“He’s still here. I’m having a rare moment.
Don’t get used to it.”

Rafe calls out. “Company!”

“Fuck! Rafe, get Hart down here now.”

Kade jumps down the hatch, and Sabin says,
“You two are mine to protect. Stay put, and do as I say.
Understand?”

Sabin closes the hatch and guards the steps
that lead into the cabin. We hear all kinds of horrible noises,
like that night when they attacked me on my way home from work. It
sounds like the boat is splitting apart, breaking in half, I don’t
know.

“Will this boat hold up?” I ask.

“My men are capable.” That’s it. No
reassurances, nothing.

“I know they’re capable. But if this boat
cracks wide open, we’ll drown.”

He ignores me. The asshole prick has
returned. Kade moves in next to me and I cling to him. But he’s not
enough to assuage my fears. When he leans into me and whispers to
me, I want to die for him.

“Juliette, this is all my fault. I put you
here, in this position. If it weren’t for my idiocy, we’d be safe
at home, living our lives.”

“Don’t say that. When were our lives ever
normal?”

“Shut up, you two,” Sabin hisses. He hasn’t
looked at us, but keeps his eyes trained on the hatch leading down
here.

I grab Kade’s face and kiss him, trying to
impart to him it’s not his fault. He only did what he thought would
free me. My eyes search his, trying to find an answer. Hopefully he
gets my message. Then my arms hug him as close to me as I can.
Feeling helpless is a terrible way to be. We stand there, locked
together, listening. The noise above dies down, and then it becomes
silent.

Sabin is motionless. I want to tell him to
go up there and check. He doesn’t though. He waits. Like Kade and I
do.

Suddenly the hatch rips open and Sabin is
hurled into us by something that moves so fast I can’t get a make
on it. He springs to his feet, and with one arm, knocks Kade and me
further back into the cabin, yelling at us to hide. All I feel is
Kade yanking my arm so hard, pain shoots up into my shoulder. I
grope my way backwards, using my free hand and my feet, while Kade
pulls me into one of the berths. It’s one of them. One of those
Shaurok and they are the ones that killed my family. Do I want to
see these evil people? Do I want to look them in the eye and know
who they are? Or do I want to hide here, and let Sabin take care of
things?

“Kade, it’s a Shaurok,” I whisper.

He doesn’t answer but nods instead. He
motions with a finger over his lips to be quiet.

The sounds from right beyond the door are
horrific. They’re exactly as they were the night Sabin saved me,
but somehow this is worse. Sabin now has to protect Kade and me,
and I’m the reason Kade is in danger. Fierce, vicious growls grow
louder and it comes to me that this door we stand behind offers no
protection whatsoever. Reality shows itself when that very door is
peeled back like wrapping paper from a box, and momentarily I’m
face to face with my predator. It’s not anything that I expected. I
had built up some monstrous, horrifically terrifying creature.
That’s not what I see. But in many ways it’s worse. A monster does
stand before me and he is possessed by a singular fixation. Me.
This is a creature who can see or think of nothing but the person
who now is right in front of him, exactly where he wants me to be.
How do I know this? His expression, the way it instantly softens,
the saliva that freely runs out of the corners of his mouth, the
way his powerfully muscular posture relaxes. But I make no mistake.
This man has no compunction about killing. Empty psychopathic eyes
gaze at me from a blank face. But what is astonishing is their lack
of color. His irises are pure white, rimmed in red, with red pupils
that are dilating to an unprecedented size.

Before I realize what happens, the Shaurok
lies dead at my feet, his neck broken, and Sabin carries him
away.

At about the same time, the one called Rafe
shouts out, “All clear.”

I look at Kade and know exactly what he’s
thinking. “Kade, this is not your fault. Tell me you understand
this.”

“Right now, I want to get you off this boat.
That, that thing. His eyes—the way he looked at you. He would’ve
killed you. We need to listen to what they say. I’m thinking
they’re right, Juliette.”

“I know they’re right, but we didn’t know
all this before. And he didn’t kill us. Can we fly out of here
tonight?”

“Yeah. All I need is to inform the pilot of
our departure time.”

“Let’s go up and tell them. Or maybe we
should take one of them with us.”

“Maybe. Let’s check. I don’t want them
pissed off at us again.”

When we get to the top deck, I can’t believe
my eyes.

Kade is silent. There is no evidence of any
of those Shaurok people. What did they do to them? Did they kill
them all and toss them overboard? The boat is demolished. There is
so much damage; I can’t begin to recount it. Nothing has been left
unscathed.