Saints and Assassins (The Sentinels)

A MELINDA HUNTER
BOOK

SAINTS AND ASSASSINS

Copyright © 2008 by Melinda Hunter

Cover design by Melinda Hunter

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:
This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

Contents

Prologue
             
5

Chapter 1.
             
7

Chapter 2.
             
13

Chapter 3.
             
21

Chapter 4.
             
32

Chapter 5.
             
87

Chapter 6.
             
118

Chapter 7.
             
145

Chapter 8.
             
149

Chapter 9.
             
168

Chapter 10.
             
180

Chapter 11.
             
193

Epilogue
             
212

The piercing soun
d of gunshots exploded around him
and the pain that followed was just a n
otch below unbearable. Slowly, he
sank to the ground and leaned back
against the
coarse
block wall. Adam’s
eyes w
ere already feeling heavy, but he
could see that
his
shot had found the
target.
The clatter of
the assassin
falling to the ground and gasping for air echoed in the room, but it wasn’t long before
t
he pounding of Adam’s
own
heart
became all
that
he
could hear.

The room
filled with the smell of gunpowder that burn
ed his
nostril
s
and
he
wanted fresh
air. Within those few moments
,
he
conjured up the childhood memory of being at the beach. The
salty
sm
ell of the ocean blew towards him as he
built a sand castle while
his
mom sat nearby under a shaded l
ounge chair. Yeah
, that’s where he
want
ed
to be, with the
saltwater splashing around him
as
he
sat in the gritty sand and the fresh air would be a
great way to relax. That is if he
live
d
through this.

Adam
woke coughing and a sha
rp pain spread across his chest and if that weren
’t bad enough
, when
he
tried
to open his
eyes
the bright lights stung. He
slammed them
back
shut in protest.

Who turned on the sun?

Coughing again,
he
reach
ed
up to brace
his
ribcage from the pain
and
felt
th
e I.V. and cables tugging against his hand
.

He
knew he had really done
it this time.
How long had
he
been he
re? Was there anything left of his
side
or
arm
?

I
n the temporary darkness
,
he
hear
d
a voice.

“Hey, partner.” He immediately recognized
t
he
Chicago accent
. Charlie.
Opening
his
eyes again
,
he
let them adjust to the light to confirm that Ch
arlie was indeed next to him
.

“Hey.” His voice is raspy and he
can barely hear it
him
self.

“What the hell were you thinking going in there alone?” C
harlie’s tone isn’t angry, but he
know
s
he’s mad by the way he’s shaking his head. “You were supposed to wait for me. Instead
,
I had to come along and find what was left of
you.
You do realize you were dead for a few minutes?”

Adam let the reality of the situation sink in, but didn’t have a response.

“
Not to worry though, the d
oc
tors
did a great job putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.”

Adam
look
ed
down at
his
arms to see multiple I.V.’s and a large tube running out from under the sheet with blood in it.
Shit!
He
really did screw up this time.

“How bad—
”
He stopped midsentence as the motion made
his head spin and he drop
ped
it back to the pillow. He’d been shot before, but this time
was critical to say the least.

“Well, from what I can tell it looks like you have tubes coming from every orifice except your ass, but I’m not checking that to see whether you do or not.”
Charlie smirked
.

Adam
started to s
mile, but even that hurt. Then he remembered why he
was even in the hospital.

“Is she
all right
?” he
ask
s
.

“Yes, we found her unscathed. You got there just in time it would seem.” Charlie’
s words were upbeat now.

He
let out a sigh of relief.

Four months of protecting his client twenty-four
-
seven had been a success, but
right now he seriously doubted whether he would continue to be a
S
entinel. One of these days this job would kill him, but he knew he had protected innocent people that even the police couldn’t help.

The
distant sounds of
sirens
from
an ambulance scream
ed
through the
stale
night air while Adam
sat
in his car
just
outside of the em
ergency room.
He knows it will
be a few
minutes before they arrive
and listens as the noise slowly gets
closer.
Adam started the
assignment
two months
ago
and ha
d
become accustomed to the sounds and lights that
ca
me
with it.
Each night he would post himself in the hospital parking lot at midnight and then follow her home at five in the morning.

This
assignment
had been
simple,
as his business partner
,
Berk Williams,
had explained. Protect the woman at all costs.
During this time
,
there hadn’t been any immediate threats to her life, but
he had
one
additional
challenge.
She couldn’t know that he even existed.
Most of his assignments knew him by name and he lived by their side prac
tically twenty-four hours a day.

Adam managed to keep his presence a secret because after all, he was a professional. As a Sentinel he
had
y
ears of experience
that
gave him the knowledge he needed to
be able to keep someone alive even if it meant he might have to sacrifice himself.
He had almost died twice to keep his clients safe.
The most recent incident had been life altering for him.

Shaking the mem
ory from his thoughts, he check
ed
the time on his watch
and
found
tha
t it was
a quarter
past two
, which meant he had
three
more hours before Mrs. Nash would go home to sleep.  Adam had to
be on full alert while she slept during the day and he couldn’t risk her safety even while she worked
so he would sleep
in the evening
between
five
and ten
.
There would normally be no way for him to cont
inue this type of cycle but Eve’s
husband was off on the weekends so Adam’s services weren’t required tho
se days and he was able to rest
more then
.

Strangely, t
onight
he was on edge. A twinge in his gut bro
ught with it a feeling of death, but Adam didn’t
know why
. There hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary. Just a
few emergencies and only one of them had come in by ambulance. Well, make that two.

The
ambulance came to a screeching halt in front of the emergency entrance with one police car following. Adam stiffened in his seat as he watched the doors of the ambulance slam open and the E.M.T.’s jump out.
Two people from the E.R. came running out to help them. One of them stepped towar
d the vehicle only to jolt back. The man covered his mouth and turned away.

This wasn’t going to be good.

Moments later t
he E.M.T.’s pulled out the gurney
and
the bright lights from the awning above revealed a
sight
that
horrified him
. Even though he sat thirty feet away he could see that the victim had been burned badly.

“Poor bastard,” he stated solemnly.

Adam watched as they rolled the victim into the hospital with the police officer following behind them.
For a moment he wondered what could have happened and the curiosity of the situation got the better of him. Deciding to inquire about it, he went inside where he found the police officer speaking to the E.R. nurse. Adam walked past the counter toward the restrooms, but listened to their conversation.

“It was a terrible wreck involving a semi and his car,” the officer spoke. “We haven’t
been able to identify him yet.”