Shattered Valor (29 page)

Kit frowned at him. “I don’t want your pants to trip you. You’re too weak to hold them up.” He spied the white drawstring for the hoodie and pulled it free of its sleeve. He slipped it through Ty’s belt loops, then cinched up his pants. He handed Ty the Thermos. “Finish it.”

Ty looked at the metal tube. It still had its stickers on it. “Where’d you get this?”

“I stole it. Drink the fucking broth.”

“You’re going to go to jail.”

“Okay. You can turn me in when I get you out of here.”

“Kit?” Ty reached for his shoulder. “Kit? Listen to me.” Ty grabbed his face with his left hand as he kept a death hold on the Thermos. “I love you.”

“Aw, man. Don’t start with that shit.”

“I mean it. I love you. You’re the only friend I’ve ever had. I would give my life for you.”

Kit stared into Ty’s eyes. “It ain’t ever gonna come to that, bro. We’re gonna get out of this. When we leave here, you will never again be ‘Ty’ to me. You’ll be ‘Blade’. The best part of ‘Bladen’. You’ll be the knife that ends your father. You are steel forged in Hell. You are not Ty, you’re Blade, feel me?”

Lights came on, flooding the field where Ty stood, yanking him back to reality. Headlights. Three vehicles emerged from the edge of the woods.

Ty stood his ground. There was nowhere to run, no cover to be had, nothing he could reach before the cars could get to him. He’d come out without a weapon, without his comm equipment.

The vehicles moved forward, stopping about thirty feet from him. A man got out of one of them. He came forward, silhouetted by the headlights. He was tall. Portly. The embodiment of every nightmare Ty had ever had.

“Hello, son.”

Jesus. The fucker was alive.

Eden could no longer see Ty. The dark had swallowed him up. She’d waited a long while for him to come back, but there was no sign of him. She called Tank and went inside, unsure what to do. He shouldn’t be out there alone.

Someone was coming in from the garage. She wondered if it was Ty. She came face to face with Kit, who wore a savage look. He tossed the SUV keys on a small shelf by the door. Looking up, he caught her standing in the kitchen doorway. He blinked, then straightened and shuttered his expression.

“Eden,” he said, nodding at her. “What’s wrong?”

She shrugged and shook her head. “It’s Ty.” She looked up, catching Kit’s eyes. All of a sudden, she was crying. He came forward and pulled her into a hug.

Eden felt so stupid having a meltdown. On Kit’s shoulder, of all places. The one person she instinctively knew never to show a weakness to. Well, one of two, anyway. She never wanted Owen to see her weak either.

“What about Blade?” Kit asked. “What happened after you left the bunker?”

“He showed me his cage. How could a father do that to his son?”

Tears were rolling down Kit’s cheeks when she looked up at him. “I don’t know.” He lifted his gaze and looked lost in the past for a moment. “I knew it was bad. Just never that bad. Where is he now?”

Eden shook her head. “He went for a walk, but he’s been gone a while now. I don’t think he should be alone.”

He swiped the moisture from his cheeks with his arms. “I’ll go get him.”

Mandy came down the hall just then. Seeing them standing there holding each other, she hurried their way. “You two okay?”

“Yeah.” Kit looked at her. “I’m going to go find Blade. Get Eden a cup of tea, ’K?” He kissed Eden’s forehead. “Everything’s going to be all right, Eddie.” He kissed Mandy’s forehead. “Thanks, sis.”

Mandy wrapped an arm around Eden’s waist and walked her back into the kitchen. She put a pot of water on the stove to boil, then got out the cups and teapot.

Fee came into the kitchen. “Hey, you guys. I was looking for you.” She came to a full stop and looked from Mandy to Eden and back. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, just a little meltdown,” Mandy smiled to ease Fiona’s worries. “We’re making some tea. Want some?”

“Sure. Eden? You okay?”

Her concern set Eden off again. Mandy brought over some tissues. And being the sympathy crier she was, she took the first one.

Eden blew her nose and sighed. “You know the WKB was looking for something here in the house. They threatened me that if I didn’t find some ledger that they wanted, they would beat me up as they had my two friends.”

Fee nodded. “Yeah.”

“Ty found the ledger. His father was blackmailing some men.” She looked from Fee to Mandy. “Men he’d forced—” She paused, taking a breath. “Men he’d pimped Ty out to when he was a kid.”

“Oh, God,” Mandy gasped.

Fee reached over and took hold of her hand. “That’s why he hates this house.”

The water kettle started whistling. Mandy took it off the burner and filled the teapot.

Kit took the elevator down to the bunker. Max and Greer were at the computers. Rocco was leaning against a table behind them. “You guys know where Ty is?” Kit asked them.

“Ty just crossed the safe zone, heading northeast.” Greer told him. “Max was about to call you.”

“I’ll go get him,” Kit said. “Keep your ears on. I’ll let you know if I need help.” He pulled on a vest, then armed himself with his Beretta.

Rocco leaned forward to look at one of the monitors. “What the hell is Rodeo doing out at the WKB compound?”

“Rodeo?” Kit asked.

“Yeah. He’s a steer wrestler who was sniffing around Mandy. Had an on-again-off-again thing with her.”

Kit shoved a clip into his Beretta. “That a red truck?”

“Could be,” Max answered. “Can’t tell on the monitor.”

“He was at Ivy’s tonight. Didn’t have the trailer then. Helluva rig he’s got.”

“Max—keep an eye on him,” Rocco said as he crossed to the weapons room. “I’m going out with Kit.” He grabbed a vest and a gun. They both picked up comm units before jogging out to the tunnel where a jeep was parked.

“So you went to Ivy’s,” Rocco said as Kit pulled out of the tunnel and onto a dirt road that led around the pastures.

“Yeah. She shot me down. It’s over.”

“Maybe when things calm down, when you have time—”

“No.”

“You’re not giving up on Casey?”

“Of course not.” Kit looked at Rocco. “She’s my daughter. I’ve got a right to be involved in her life.”

Rocco nodded and looked away. They cleared the pastures, then drove through a grove of scrub pines as they crossed a hill heading to the northeast corner of the valley where Blade’s house was situated. Once past the trees, they had a clear line of sight across the rolling hills. In the distance, they could see three sets of headlights and the silhouettes of several men, some of whom were in a hand-to-hand fight.

Rocco radioed Max. A minute later, headlights from one of their vehicles began heading their way.

Fiona’s house phone rang. Kelan answered. Owen was on the other end. “We got a situation. There’s unidentified activity outside the safe zone—where Blade is. You’ve got point upstairs. I’ve got the main floor. Max has the control room. Everyone else is rolling out.”

“Roger that.”

Kelan disentangled himself from Fee. Propped up on her elbows, she looked up at him with worried eyes. “What’s happening, Kelan?”

“Just a drill. You’re safe. Get some sleep.” He touched a hand to her cheek, absorbing the velvety feel of her skin, then left to gear up.

Ty looked at the man who’d made his life a living hell and laughed. He wasn’t scared of him any longer. Christ, that felt good. He was much taller than his father, trim where his dad was paunchy.

“Don’t call me ‘son’. You haven’t earned the right.” Ty looked beyond his father to the three SUVs. “Is Amir here with you? I’ve got a debt to settle with him, too.” He took his phone out of his pocket and flipped through some apps to his camera.

“What are you doing?”

Besides stalling for time? “Taking a picture. The sheriff will be surprised to see that you’re still alive after his guys identified your body in the burned remains of your car.” Ty snapped a picture. “What’s the penalty for faking your death, anyway?” He took another pic.

“I never claimed to be dead. I simply moved out when I heard you were coming home.”

Ty socked that info away for later. If there was a later. How the hell would his dad have heard he was coming home? “So, who was that in your car since it obviously wasn’t you?”

“How would I know? My car was stolen.”

“Really,” Ty scoffed. “You know, if you’re going to fake your death, it’s best to stay dead.”

“I didn’t fake my death,” his dad spit out. “Take him. Let’s get out of here.”

Two men came forward, followed by a third who was pointing a pistol at him. “Where are we going?” Ty asked affably, stepping back from the two meatheads.

“We’re taking you hostage,” his dad told him. “There’s something in the bunker that my associates want. We’ll trade you for it.”

“No, thanks. Not interested.” He blocked the first guy’s right hook, then his jab, all the while aware of the man moving into position behind him. Ty yanked the guy forward, shoving his knee into the guy’s diaphragm, then laid him out with a hard right to his jaw. The guy behind him charged forward, grabbing both of Ty’s arms. Ty kicked out his knee, then hit him with both fists on the back of his neck.

When Ty looked up, his father was still standing there, waving other men forward to fight his fight. Ty took them out, one by one, two by two. As long as they didn’t swarm him, he could fight like this all night. With each man he put down, he moved closer to his dad.

One man drew a knife. Ty spun him around, slicing the blade across the bastard’s throat. His dad was shouting something, waving his hands. Those of his men who were still ambulant hurried back to their vehicles. Ty readied to throw the knife, but his dad got behind an SUV door before Ty could wing it his way.

Looking behind him, Ty checked to see what had made them decide to cut bait. Headlights from two vehicles were fast approaching from the direction of the house. He hit the ground, not wanting to get caught in any crossfire should either group of cars start firing at the other.

A jeep pulled up next to him, followed closely by an SUV. He stood up, searching for his dad’s convoy. It was long gone. Kit slammed out of the jeep and stepped close to him, standing nose to nose as he shouted at him while the guys rounded up the fallen and dead WKBers.

“What the fuck were you doing taking a stroll outside the safe zone?” Kit snapped.

“It’s my goddamned property. I’ll walk where I want to.”

“Not without a vest, some weapons, and your comm unit. Seriously, Blade. You want to get killed? Or captured and tortured?”

Ty sighed. He looked over his shoulder at the hill where the men had hidden. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Well, don’t let it happen again. Max found our leak.”

“Who was it?”

“Sebastian.”

Ty frowned. “How?”

Kit pointed to his throat. “His collar charm held a hidden camera and mic.”

Ty speared his hands into his hair and held his head. Time spun away. Sebastian had been the only other friend he’d had besides Kit in his childhood. He’d always been with him—and with the men his father gave him to. If the cat had been bugged then, too, there were probably many other videos. “If Sebastian has always had that collar device, there could be other videos, Kit.”

Kit nodded. “We’ll look for them. Max is working on discovering where the transmissions were received.”

Ty’s breath hissed out of his mouth. “My dad was here.” He grabbed his phone to show Kit his dad’s picture. Kit cursed.

Rocco came over and put a hand on Ty’s shoulder. “You okay, Blade?” he asked in a low voice.

“Fucking peachy.” He showed Rocco the picture of his dad.

“Hey Kit! They left some trash behind in the hole. Can I shoot it?” Val asked. He wore his night-vision goggles and had his rifle aimed down the mineshaft.

Kit came over, flanked by Rocco and Ty while Greer and Angel stood guard.

“Do it,” the man in the pit shouted up at them. “I don’t want to die slowly in here. And if you let me go, they’ll just kill me.”

Val lifted his rifle. “Forget it. I’m feeling kinda human tonight. Let’s just let nature take its course. If you get out, you get out.” The guys stepped away from the edge.

“Wait. Wait!” the man called. “Don’t go! I have info for you. Amir’s shipments are starting to come in. I know the schedule.”

“That ain’t news, my friend,” Kit averred.

“The first one comes in tonight. I know who’s picking it up and where it’s going. C’mon, man. Get me out of here. I’ll tell you.”

Kit pulled back. Greer was already there with a rope. “Get him out. We’ll hear what he has to say. If the info’s no good, we can always drop him back down there.”

Greer and Rocco drew the WKBer up out of the shaft. Greer gave him a quick pat down. Rocco was just starting to tie him up when Val shouted a warning and shouldered his rifle. “Fuck! Get down. Get him down!” A rifle shot blasted into the night, answered by Val’s before the bullet even hit its mark.