Arrow to the Soul (23 page)

Adam struck then, busting Fielding’s nose with a single punch and following it up with a kick to the midsection. The man went down fast but got up even quicker, pulling out two knives and dancing them in his hands.

“You’re a loose cannon, Collins. You can’t help her. You’ll get her killed,” Fielding said as he wiped his nose on his forearm.

He was really sick of hearing that. “Tell me where she is, Fielding.”

“Why?”

Adam shook his head. “I’ll ask one more time and then I’m going to kick your fucking ass. Where is she?”

It was Fielding’s turn then and he went for Adam’s leg, taking him down with a sweeping kick that belied his negligent, fun-loving cowboy attitude. Adam went down hard and got to his feet immediately. The knives remained in Fielding’s hands but a light entered his eyes.

“Why do you want to know?”

Adam didn’t answer instead, he attacked. Fielding held him off for long moments, the danger of the knives too much of a deterrent until Adam kicked them from the bastard’s hands.

Then it was on full bore. He punched and kicked, Fielding returned the favor. Adam pushed the pain down, absorbed the blows in an effort to get closer to Fielding and then, when the window of opportunity opened he unleashed himself.

One punch, and Fielding staggered back. Another, and he went down. Adam kicked the bastard in the side and he rolled, coming to his feet lithely before Adam knocked him backward with another punch.

Every one that landed felt like another step closer to Saya. Fielding knew where she was, therefore Adam would dominate the man and take the information.

They were both bleeding, but Adam had the upper hand now and he used it to hold Fielding against the clapboard wall he’d been leaning against earlier.

He got in Fielding’s face. “Where the fuck is she?”

Fielding’s eye was swelling shut and his lip was split. Adam pushed blood out of his own eyes and glared. Then the bastard’s eyes shifted behind Adam and the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.

The barrel of a handgun pressed against his temple. A .48 if he had to guess.

“You were asking?”

A woman’s voice. Soft, beautiful, deadly.

He was overrun. Goddamn it. He’d have to play it the only way left to him. He shifted his hand slightly and wrapped it around Fielding’s throat. “I am a strong man. I could crush his windpipe before you pull the trigger. Doubt me not, bitch.”

The woman laughed and it scored Adam. It sounded like hell freezing over. “I remember you, Mr. Collins. From Arequipa. I missed you intentionally in the woods that time. Hell, I missed you all intentionally that day, but if you don’t release Mr. Fielding I won’t miss this time. I’m not as good as Bullet, but at close range, I don’t have to be.”

Promise.

Adam squeezed harder and Fielding simply smiled.

“Where is she?”

“Release him and I’ll tell you,” the woman said.

Fielding’s eyes blazed then but not at Adam, at the woman behind him. Dissension in the ranks?

“Tell me and I’ll release him,” Adam bit out.

“China. She’s in China. A stupid play on First Team’s part but I understand it. They have retribution on their mind and it clouds their judgment sometimes,” she responded. “Now release him and step away.”

Adam squeezed Fielding’s neck tighter. “Where in China?”

“Beijing.”

He released Fielding, who immediately came after Adam. It was a virulent attack and Adam wondered at the reason for approximately one second before Fielding’s fist found his face. Another round ensued, punches given and punches received.

He grabbed Fielding in a headlock and twisted slightly. Then he took a punch to the kidney and went to a knee, releasing Fielding who finally, thank Christ,
finally
stepped away.

Adam glanced around and noticed the woman was gone. “You’re taking me to her.”

Fielding’s eyes widened. “You’re as fucking crazy as she is if you think I’m doing that.”

“I don’t think it, I know it.”

“Tell me why and I’ll consider it.”

Adam grunted. “Because I fucking said so.”

Fielding shook his head. “Not good enough.”

“Who was that?”

Fielding’s face blanked. “None of your goddamn business.”

“She’s on my radar now. I smelled her, strawberries and cream. I’ll never forget her smell. Easy to track.” He set the threat between them and waited.

Grant Fielding’s jaw hardened and hate blazed from his eyes. Adam didn’t give a shit. The woman was another puzzle in a long line and he didn’t have time for that one right now.

“What the fuck are you? A pit bull?”

“I’m whatever the fuck I need to be to find Saya,” Adam bit out.

“Ah, so it’s like that, is it?” Fielding rubbed his jaw and wiped blood from his face. “I won’t take you to her, but I’ll tell you where she’s headed. She could use the help as her sisters are a bit, um, predisposed.”

Adam didn’t care about anything or anyone other than Saya. “Tell me.”

“She’s going to Beijing. More specifically, the presidential home in the Jundu Mountains.”

“Why?”

“Well now, Collins, for that you’ll have to fight again and seeing as you only have,” Fielding glanced down at his watch, “twenty-four hours to get to Beijing and find her, you don’t want to waste time on the why of it all, do you?”

He didn’t question the twenty-four time line. The man obviously knew way more than he’d ever let on. “Did she make any stops on her way to you?”

“All these questions, Mr. Collins. Time’s a ticking,” Fielding taunted him. “Yes, I took her to Mexico to grab the stuff she hid in the desert.”

“What stuff?”

“Not my stories to tell, Mr. Collins. I’d suggest you turn around and leave, head on to China if you’re so inclined. But be careful. People tend to die around First Team.”

Adam turned on his heel and walked to his rental car.

“One more thing, Mr. Collins,” Fielding called out.

Adam glanced back and waited.

“Don’t get caught. I think you mean something to her, and I’d hate to see her end up in the same situation as Bullet.”

The warning skated ice cold fear down Adam’s spine and he looked skyward. The Great Spirit would protect him. And Adam would protect Saya.

But first he needed to find her.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“What was the plan, Gretchen?” Adam asked softly once everyone was seated in the library.

“I can’t give you that, but as you already know she’s in Beijing. I can tell you her objective is the elimination of Lei Wang. He is controlled by Joseph and will offer him sanctuary. Joseph knows now that Arequipa can be infiltrated. Our goal is to force him to ground there. We want to end this where it began.”

Gretchen’s sadness coated the room in shades of gray. It took Adam three hours to fly back to Virginia from Texas. He now had twenty-one hours to get to China, find Saya and…what? Save her?

Yes
. Save her. From herself and the President of China, Lei Wang. He knew what that bastard was capable of—the bastard watched his men behead an innocent woman on his orders. What would he do to one who sought to destroy him?

“Where will she wait for him?” Adam tossed the question into the silence.

“I won’t tell you that, Mr. Collins. I don’t understand your sudden need to protect my sister. She made it through twenty-six years without you. She surely does not need your interference now,” Gretchen responded. Her tone was acidic, frigid.

Adam shrugged. “That’s not for you to understand.”

“Ken is in Sydney and says he can be there to meet your plane,” Rand said.

“I’m going,” Dmitry said.

Adam nodded at Rand and Dmitry, and then returned his gaze to Gretchen. “She means something to me. That’s all I can give you. If she’s hurt, it will—”

Gretchen pounced. “It will what, Mr. Collins?”

“It will affect me,” he spit out and stood. “My flight leaves in an hour. That gives me twenty hours to make a fifteen hour flight, find, and protect her.”

Gretchen stood then and slapped a hand on the desk. “She doesn’t need your goddamn protection!”

Rand, Dmitry, and Adam all sat back in their chairs.

“Before Trident, we were all fine. We had a plan and we were working toward that. Then I looked at you,” she said and pointed at Rand. “And everything changed. My sisters understood, but this idea you have that we will allow Trident to ride our backs to Joseph Bombardier is insane. He. Is. Ours.”

Rand stood then and leaned over the desk, getting in Gretchen’s face. “The moment he put his fucking hands on you, he became mine!”

“He put his hands on me long before I met you. You do not understand. None of you understand. You are more detriment than help. My focus was off my goal once I tasted you, Mr. Beckett. Once I gave you my breath in the cold waters of the Pacific, you became more to me. This took me away from my single-minded focus and it allowed that motherfucker to gain control over me.”

She took a deep breath and Rand sat back down. Adam watched it all and wondered if he needed to hear this.

Then Gretchen speared him with her light blue eyes and he felt chills dance on his skin. “I saw her kiss you. I don’t know that her lips have ever touched another’s. If she gave you that piece of her, you are hers now. I never thought it possible to love anyone, and I know for sure my sisters feel that way to this day. But if you took her and she gave herself willingly to you, you need to understand what that means to killers such as us.”

“Explain it to me,” he ground out.

“We have known only death and destruction. We were created by Joseph Bombardier to eliminate life, Mr. Collins. The lighter emotions are not ours. We don’t understand them, have never been exposed to them. Yet surely they are inside us. We are flesh and blood, the same as you.” Bullet took a deep breath and every man’s attention hung on her words. “What we do know is possession. The weaker ones are ours. Like the babies who live in this house—they are ours. But never did we think a man could be ours. Having experienced it now, I can only say that Rand
is
mine. If you are Arrow’s, she will give her life to keep you safe. What is ours, we protect.”

“
Fuck
!”

“And now you know. Should you distract her, you will destroy her,” Gretchen whispered.

Rand stood back up at that. “Is that what I did to you, Gretchen?”

She shook her head. “This is not about you and me, Mr. Beckett. This is about Arrow.”

Adam heard what she said, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from going after Saya.

He stood and ran a hand down his face. “I hear you, Gretchen. But what you fail to realize is that like you, the men of Trident Corporation are born protectors. We understand death, and have killed to protect our people and country. We know what you have dealt with. And I will not stand idly by and watch her risk her life for dreams of vengeance.”

Gretchen’s face went blank. “You know nothing of what we’ve dealt with.” She walked to him then and lifted her chin. “If you cause her to be harmed, I will kill you myself,” she said, and then walked from the room.

He looked to Rand. “I’m leaving. You might want to keep an eye on her because I have a nasty feeling she’s going to follow me.” He turned to Dmitry. “You ready?”

Dmitry nodded. “Let me grab my go-bag and I’m with you. Do we need Raines on this?”

Adam shook his head and took a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

•●•

Bullet pulled her SAT phone from its drawer and sat cross-legged in the middle of her room as she closed her eyes and drew in a steadying breath.
Center your mind, hone your thoughts, and let not your enemy know you would move.
Arrow’s instructions and Bullet heeded them now.

Rand would be up here soon. That was fine. She cared not if he heard. She punched in a code and the phone began to ring.

“
N’ziyrah,
” Bone murmured into the phone.
Sister
.

“She flies straight and true,” Bullet responded.

“It is as it should be. I will be there,” Bone said and disconnected.

One more call. She pushed a button and the call was picked up immediately.

“Speak.”

“It is Lei Wang’s time,” Bullet responded to the demand in Blade’s voice.

“It is as it should be. I will be there,” her sister responded.

“As will I,” Bullet whispered.

She felt Rand at her back then. She would always know where he was, every breath he took and every beat of his heart. He was inside her now.

But duty called and it did not matter that she remained a bit broken. There were still old wrongs to right.

“I’m going with Adam,” he said in counterpart to her quietness.

“As you should.”

“I want your word you’ll remain here.”

“Which word will you accept?” she asked.

“Do not play this game with me,” he warned her.

She closed her eyes again and breathed deep. “I will not follow Arrow.”

She felt him relax. Across the room and she
felt
him.

“I will be back soon,” he said.

“You cannot promise me that which you do not know.”

“Je t'aime. Vous êtes mon cœur. Toujours,”
he said firmly.

She stood then and turned, drinking him in, wishing in her heart things were different.

“L'amour est trop pâle pour une émotion que je ressens pour vous,”
she responded.

He cocked his head, confusion passing across his face like a cloud. “You speak too quickly.”

She smiled but there was a bitter taste on her tongue. He deserved so much more than what she was. “You will have to learn to listen faster and keep up.”

He nodded, and she was glad he didn’t step to her. She might have grabbed him and refused to let him leave. He stared at her for long moments, and she returned his gaze, trying to give him everything with her eyes that she could not give him with her words.

“I’ll be back,” he affirmed.

She nodded and watched as he left. “I’ll make sure of it,” she said to the empty room.