Delta Salvation (Phantom Force, Book 1) (2 page)

The couple in the frame was nobody Alexa knew, but everything she wanted. “It’s who I want to be someday.”

Again Marley nodded. “Let’s go before it gets any later.”

Yeah, the last thing Alexa wanted was to be out at night. She knew she’d have to at some point, however that point wasn’t now.

The little used car sat next to the curb. It was used but had a good motor, and that was what mattered to her when she bought it. “You have the address and my number. I wish you didn’t have to go, but until the trial, this is the best thing for you. The safest thing for you.” Sorrow entered the usually upbeat tones.

“Hey, it won’t be forever. Maybe, I’ll come back here for good once Danny’s locked up.” Alexa doubted she’d ever come back to Chicago, or anywhere near the state where he and his family lived. For the last three months he or someone he knew was stalking her, always leaving little things that seemed innocent. The restraining order worked, but he still found ways to terrorize her. She swore on several occasions someone had been in her bedroom while she slept, but had no proof. The manager had to repair doors painted blood red, with real blood, replace windows that had been broken and had finally told her she had to leave after his pet had come up missing. Alexa prayed the poor thing just wandered off, but feared Danny had taken it.

“Thank you for helping me with everything. I’ll stop around ten or so, then finish the drive tomorrow. I should hit Rapid City sometime tomorrow night. I’ll call you from there.” She hugged Marley, knowing it would probably be the last time she saw her.

“Take care, Alexa. You need me, I’m just a phone call away.” A tear welled in her eye, which Marley was quick to wipe away.

The Following Day...

Alexa ran as if the hounds of hell were after her, looking over her shoulder for the tenth time, she stumbled and fell flat on her face. “Shit! What the hell did I do to deserve this?” She brushed her scraped hands down the front of her torn jeans. Her hands shook as she dug into her back pocket for the cell phone.

The flat tire would’ve been fine. She knew how to change one of those. If only she would have checked them at her last stop like Marley had warned her, but she’d been tired. The sight of a vehicle coming had her scrambling into the woods, and not a moment too soon as she saw who got out. Some inner self-preservation told her to hide. Damn Danny Reed. If only he wouldn’t have followed her. A whimper of fear escaped as a twig snapped to her left, the darkness making it hard for her to see.

She backed away from the sound, finding a large tree with branches low enough for her to grab onto. Alexa quickly stuffed the phone into her pocket and reached for the branch, swinging up onto it and climbing until she was as far as she could go. She heard the sound of heavy footfalls and curses and knew her ex had indeed found her. He was an expert hunter, and she prayed he wouldn’t know she’d climbed the tree. Danny’s blond head came into view, his red and black plaid shirt almost impossible to see, except the moon came out from behind the clouds just as he stepped below where she hid.

Stuffing her fist into her mouth, she held her breath.

“I know you’re here, Alexa. You can’t run from me. I won’t let you.” Danny’s voice carried through the woods. He’d used that tone before, just before he’d hit her.

Danny paced back and forth, looking for her tracks she was sure. “Damn it, Lex, I swear if you come back to me, I won’t hurt you again. I didn’t mean to last time. You just make me so mad.”

The moon glinted off something in his hand. She tried to see what it was, but couldn’t see clearly until he turned toward the tree. A large hunting knife was held in his fist, the wicked looking blade had to be at least six inches long. Yeah, she just bet he wouldn’t hurt her. Alexa had no doubt she wouldn’t be walking out of the woods if she spoke up, or if Danny got his hands on her. She wondered if that was the knife he’d used to cut her shirt off, leaving the gash in her chest that required the stitches.

Her ex crouched down at the base of the tree next to hers, his head snapping up as movement sounded all around them. She held on tighter, her legs beginning to shake. Alexa thought her mind was playing tricks on her as wolves seemed to circle the area, and then a woman stepped out. Her head tilted to the side.

Danny lifted his hand. “What the hell? Call your dogs off, woman. I’m looking for my girlfriend. She’s lost here somewhere.” His voice sounded strained.

The beautiful woman’s eyes seemed to glow as she moved forward. “You stink with your lies. You came here hunting, hoping to catch your prey, but instead you are the prey.” She licked her lips. “I don’t think anyone would miss you. Have fun boys, but drag him away before you...do your thing.”

Alexa held still as the woman dressed in military fatigues glided forward to stand below her. In a clear voice she said, “you may come down now. I promise you are safer than you were.”

Not sure how to take those words, but knowing she truly had no choice, Alexa began the decent back down. When her feet touched the earth, she gasped as she was pinned to the rough bark of the tree. “I saved your life, now you owe me yours. What will you do in repayment?”

Having given up everything in order to escape a madman, Alexa had nobody who would miss her, save for Marley. She’d been given up for adoption when she was born, and fostered out of the system at eighteen. Yeah, she was a complete loser who wouldn’t be missed by anyone. However, she was smart, and had an education. “What do you want?” She asked instead.

The woman smacked her cheek, not a motherly pat. “Good answer. I think you’ll do just fine. Come with me. I don’t need more men in my ranks, nor do I want any competition with my soldiers.” She looked Alexa up and down. “You’re not ugly, but you could stand to lose some weight. I could use someone who clearly has nothing to lose. Besides, you owe me. I like that in a soldier. Come on.”

“What do I call you?” Alexa asked, running to keep up with the other woman’s longer strides.

The blonde stopped and stared, her eyes with their eerie glow held her immobile. “You will call me whatever I tell you. For now, you may call me ma’am.”

Alexa nodded, the sounds of the wolves’ howls rent the air, making the hair on her arms stand on end. “Do you need to call your
dogs
back? Will they let Danny go, or...”

“Don’t ever question me again. You will get that one free pass. I will tell you what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. We clear? As long as you do what you’re told, and don’t betray me, you will be fine. Trust me, you’ll live a lot longer than you would have if you’d stayed up in that tree. Ole Danny boy had no plans to let you live past fucking and gutting you.”

She knew he had planned to hurt her, but to hear the other woman say those words, Alexa felt tears well up, choking them back to keep from showing a weakness.

“Good girl. You’ll do fine.”

“Thank you for saving my life.”

Her savior picked up the pace, leading her further through the woods, and toward a clearing. Alexa couldn’t believe how close she’d been to salvation before Danny came along, yet wondered if it was truly a sanctuary.

****

K
ayan Swift aka Kai, or Kayak to his fellow team members, looked around the newly overtaken military like base. “Anyone find Jase?” Just mentioning the bastard’s name made him want to destroy everything in his path. He watched as Oz fingered the automatic rifle in his hands. Yeah, he wasn’t the only one feeling twitchy when it came to their former teammate who tried to kill them.

“He’s not among the living or dead,” Sully Griggs growled.

“Fucking son of a bitch.” Kai ran his hand through his short dark hair. Times like these he was glad he didn’t have long locks like the men he’d met with Rowan, their former team leader, he’d have been pulling it out in hunks. “We need intel on where the fucker has gone, how he got here, and why he was here. Find me someone who was close to him.” Kai spun away from his men. He felt like a failure.

“If you failed, then so did all of us.” Kai looked over his shoulder to see Coyle striding up to him. Of all their team members, Coyle was probably one of the quietest, yet deadliest.

Kai grunted. “I’m not even going to dignify that bullshit with an answer.”

Coyle squeezed his shoulder. “Right back atcha. Now, let’s move on. What we gonna do now?”

“What we do best,” he paused, “we go hunting.” Now that they knew Jase had escaped the federal prison, there was no place for him to hide.

Commotion near a large building drew their attention. A woman yelling at one of the team leaders, her words making him visibly angry had all of Kai’s protective instincts rising. His feet began moving, picking up the pace, eliminating the distance between them.

“Listen you overgrown ape, you can’t keep us here. I wasn’t here of my own free will, but because some nut job, which I’m hoping she’s not coming back, wouldn’t allow us to leave.”

Kai studied the young woman. Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, but bits of it had fallen free while she angrily stabbed at the soldier with one of her fingers. Her medium sized frame was what you’d call curvy, but her complexion was flawless with its tanned tones. He wondered if she had that coloring all over, then mentally slapped himself for thinking along those lines. She was aligned with the enemy.

“We are processing everyone, before we decide what to do with you. If you’ll give us your name, and social, along with all your other pertinent details, we can get the process done quickly. Believe me, we all want to get out of here.” The words held a hidden threat that Kai didn’t misunderstand, and neither did the woman. Her eyes narrowed.

“I told you my name, but I am not giving you anything else without my lawyer. I know about due process.” Her hands were bunched at her sides, knuckles turning white.

“Excuse me soldier. I’ll take over. My name is Kai. What is your name?” She turned amethyst eyes on him. He wondered if they were real or contacts.

Her gaze roamed him from head to toe. “Hello, Kai. So, are you the new man in charge?” The woman made it sound like a vile thing instead of something to be proud of. He wanted to laugh at her audacity, but kept his smile in check.

He crossed his arms behind his back, showing her he didn’t feel she was any threat to his person. Again, those strange eyes assessed him.

She sighed. “Fine, my name is Alexa.”

In a pair of cargo pants that had clearly been meant for a male, Kai wondered if they were her boyfriend’s. “Got a last name, Alexa?” He looked to her left hand for any sign of a wedding ring, seeing none. He had to rein himself in before he asked her flat out if she had a boyfriend, and then realized she still hadn’t answered him.

Alexa’s chest rose swiftly, bringing his attention to her ample breasts. “How about that lawyer I requested?”

“Sweetheart, I hate to break it to you, but you are so far outside the law right now you ain’t got no rights except what we give you. Now, what’s your last name? I do believe, Kai here has asked you nicely. You don’t want me to take over this interrogation.” Coyle’s deep voice cut in.

Kai held up his hand, stopping Coyle from scaring the woman anymore. “Give her a moment, Coyle, I think she’s about to tell us what she knows.”

“Alexa Gordon is my name. I’m twenty-seven, haven’t been a virgin since I gave it up on prom night to my date, Shawn. I love Italian food, hate seafood, and think my hips are too wide. I also think men with big egos and attitudes are lacking in other areas, clearly having mommy issues, and therefore they feel they need to bully those smaller than them. More than likely they also have small penises, and try to cover that little fact by bulking up.” She stared at Coyle and then Kai, eyeing their bodies like slabs of beef.

The sound of their team member Oz’s booming laugh had Kai turning to see he was bent over not two feet behind them. “Oz, you have something to say?”

Oz stood up, wheezing, one hand holding his stomach. “I fucking love her. Can I have her?”

With his right hand, Kai flipped him the bird. “Well, Alexa Gordon, I’m gonna need to ask you a few more questions. Like what the hell are you doing in a compound run by shifters, and a man who betrayed his country?” He watched her eyes and body to see how his words would affect her. The slight tremble let him know he’d struck a nerve.

Fear was an emotion he usually used to his benefit in situations such as this, however watching it flow through the woman in front of him, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and promise all was fine. Being a soldier who’d killed more than he liked to remember, he pushed aside his feelings for the small brunette. Finding the traitor was their main mission. For all he knew, she could be his partner, or at the very least know where Jase might have gone.

“Well, Alexa, I can promise you won’t be getting any seafood from us, and if you want to know the size of my dick all you gotta do is ask. It’s been a while since I’ve fucked a traitor, however I’ll make an exception for you.” He let his own eyes travel her body like she’d done his. Her jaw wobbled, tears forming in those odd eyes, and he almost felt bad. Then he remembered the little village he and his team had went in to secure, the sound of children screaming for help. If she was in league with Jase, then she deserved no mercy. Her tears were more than likely something she could turn off and on like a faucet. Kai hardened his heart.

“You are just as bad as the animals here, if not worse. At least they didn’t say or do anything like that.” Alexa took a deep breath. “What do you want to know? I just want to go home.” She used the back of her hand, dashing away tears from her dirt stained cheeks.

****

A
lexa swallowed the bile in her throat. The men gathered around her were worse than the ones who’d captured her, holding her against her will, again. That asshat Jase Tyler needed to be strung up and have his nuts put in a vice. Shifters? What the heck were they talking about? She’d heard howls, but hadn’t been allowed to leave the building unless escorted by ma’am or the woman’s beloved Jase, or one of the other men she trusted, and that was only to go from one building to the next. She thought for sure she would die, without anyone ever knowing what happened to her. Now, she was being accused of being part of their...whatever they were.