Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Butcher

S tretching and sucking in a deep breath, I woke up. When my hard-on brushed up against a thick ass, I opened my eyes and grinned. Isla had been here for three days and she was getting more and more pissed every day. It was adorable the way she snapped and snarled at me every time I came home. The way she promised to kill me, to gut me, and strangle me. She never described the same method twice. It was so…personal. It made me feel.

She wasn't thrilled at being confined. I understood. I'd hate that, too. I thought about the penetrating gaze as her eyes followed me around the room while I was here. It screamed I'm going to enjoy gutting you. I smiled, it seemed we had a lot in common. Or at least something I never figured I'd find in a woman. Who in their right mind would expect to find a girl who loved violence in the same way I did? It just pissed me off that I wasn't able to stay here with her during the day.

We'd been searching for the last three days through the list of names Rip had found. It would have been helpful to know if Randal was the man's first or last name. But we were nearing the end of the names. We were close. I felt it.

"Are you letting me go today?"

Her voice was husky from sleep and I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her closer to my body. I hadn't fucked her again. There'd been no time. Each night I got home, we ate, showered, and then fell into bed. I'd never had a woman in my bed. They were fucked on the floor, against the wall, on a desk, the bar top downstairs—though I hadn't done that since the kids were all here—and none ever made it to my bed. Until the other night. Isla was here, and she fit. It was a strange feeling, the rightness of waking with her in my arms.

The sleep I'd gotten in the last couple nights was...addicting. If I wasn't into her, I'd probably keep her around for that alone. But as luck would have it, I was interested. For once, I wanted to get to know a woman. I wanted to know if she had a favorite knife, what her preferred way to torture someone was. "No."

You don't get to leave.

She sighed. "Of course not. Mind telling me why you're keeping me here?"

"Like I'm going to release you out into the world to try to kill me again?" That wasn't the reason. It just made for a good excuse.

She shuffled and rolled in my arms until she was facing me, her hands were still cuffed because I wasn't an idiot. I doubted she'd make a real attempt to kill me, but I couldn't just give her an easy opportunity. She smiled prettily at me. "What if I promised?" She batted her lashes.

I chuckled. "Not happening. Once we find Randal, I'll decide what to do with you." She froze in my arms, all pretense washed away by the concern on her face. Was it for me? Or Randal?

"That's what you've been doing?" she asked, those gorgeous gray eyes searching mine. "Looking for Randal?"

The early hour and the fact that all my blood was down in my dick had loosened my tongue. I was getting sloppy. Whatever. I nodded.

She huffed out a little breath. "You shouldn't do that," she warned .

I arched a brow at her. "Why not? You think he's a threat?"

"It's not him you have to worry about," she admitted, hesitating a little as she spoke. "He works for some powerful people. This isn't the normal group of amateurs you guys have been up against lately."

Amateurs? If she meant that the cultists, Freemont, and the Italians were amateurs then who the fuck did Randal work for?

"Yeah? Who are they?"

She shook her head. "I don't know exactly."

"Then how do you know they're powerful?"

Isla glared at me. "This isn't a game, Butcher," she snapped. "They've already stepped up their efforts to kill you. It's only a matter of time before someone..." She broke off, gritting her teeth together.

"Upped their efforts how?"

"By hiring me." Her eyes were filled with fury as she looked up at me. "I'm one of the best, one of, meaning there's more like me. Only they won't get…distracted." She said this last bit as her eyes slowly roamed down my body. "As the compensation gets higher, more and more people are going to come after you. Competent people ."

I already knew she was better than most of the assassins who came before her. It was there in her confidence. Plus, I had Riptide looking into her. Though he was getting stonewalled at almost every turn. It was hard to research a person who made it her career to be unnoticeable. She was too damn beautiful to be able to completely blend in. The long blonde hair, the light gray eyes, her height, her build, she was made to stand out. I wasn't sure how she'd gone so long and managed to stay single. A thought occurred to me. My eyes narrowed on her. "You're not married or anything, right?"

"No," she said, sounding confused at the shift in topic.

"Kids?"

"No."

Thank fuck.

I really didn't know much about her yet, but that would have been a real boner killer if she had a husband hidden away somewhere. It was one of my few lines that couldn't be crossed. Get revenge on your husband with someone else. If you're mad at your dad, I'm good with that. But husbands are a no go. My morals were admittedly twisted, but Toxic had assured me that was a good one to have. He was the one I'd learned it from.

"Are you listening to me?" she snapped, forcing me to focus back on her. "You have to stop going after Randal. After his employers." She swallowed. "They'll kill you."

"They're already trying to kill me," I told her, grasping her chin and tilting her head up a bit more so I could fit my lips to hers.

She melted into the kiss and it just reaffirmed what my gut had told me on day one of meeting her, she wasn't going to kill me. She wasn't a threat to anyone here. I'd asked the others staying behind to help the women, and be on call, in case they needed anything while taking care of Isla, but if the worst case scenario happened, she wouldn't harm any of my family. The fact that I was still alive and that she made no real effort to escape was all the proof I needed. The kiss was extra.

A pounding on my door made me groan. "I have to go."

"Butcher-"

I cut her off with another kiss. When I pulled back, I grinned at her. "They told you about me, right? Since I'm your target? That's how it works?"

"Something like that," she muttered, eyes darting away.

"Did they tell you what I did for the Army?"

"Yes."

"The CIA taskforce?"

"Yes."

"And you're still worried?"

She met my eyes again. "Yes."

I held my smile, but internally I frowned. Shit. If she was that worried, and I could see it shining there in her eyes, then I would take it seriously. For my family's sake. "I'll be careful," I promised.

That didn't seem to pacify her, but it was all I could give. I wasn't waiting around for these assholes to track me down and get a lucky shot. Someone would eventually. Then the rest of my former team would be in deep shit. And it was likely they wouldn't stop there. They'd wipe out anyone who knew me. I wasn't going to allow that to happen.

Pulling her out of bed, I picked up her noncompliant body and set her in the chair, quickly tying the rope around her chest and stomach. I was careful to go under her tits, making a show of it, and groping them as I did so. She gave me an unamused look, but I noticed her nipples perk up as I did. It was fucking killing me that I couldn't hole up in here with her, getting to know her and fucking her until she couldn't remember why she'd come after me to begin with.

I used the knuckle on my pointer finger to tip her chin upward. Those defiant eyes met mine. "See you later. Try not to terrorize anyone while I'm gone." I cocked my head. Terrorize. Hmmm. That was perfect for her. She was my Little Terror. I grinned and shook my head as I left my room, knowing her gaze tracked me until I was out of sight.

"This has to be it," Lock said, eyes sweeping around as we entered the rail yard.

There were cranes unloading different shipping containers, then loading new shit onto the different trains. It was so loud around here it was nearly vibrating my teeth.

"What?" Toxic yelled.

We all turned to glare at him.

"What?" he asked in a lower voice, shrugging.

"He's the last one on the list," Rip replied to Lock's original statement. "If it's not him, we're going to have to get creative."

"Who the fuck works in a rail yard?" Smoke asked, looking disgusted.

Hellfire gave him an incredulous look. "Plenty of people." He pointed to the crane operator as an example .

"They have security, too," Hush told him, eyes sweeping the place. "A little heavy really, considerin' that it's just a rail transfer point."

My eyes hadn't stopped moving since we came through the gate. There was so fucking much happening here, constant movement of the trains, cranes, and people as they hurried around doing their jobs. And there were high points everywhere. And the noise, you couldn't bug the place or use any equipment to listen in, all you would hear was iron grating on iron. It was a logistical nightmare for us as we were trying to put safety first. Knowing there were people out there trying to kill you made you consider every corner or scaffolding a threat.

"You sure Randal Terry works here?" Priest asked, looking over at Riptide.

He just shrugged. "That's what I found."

"Alright," Lock said. "Stick together. We'll do our best to find him in this mess. If he runs, we'll split up to cut him off, but otherwise don't lose sight of each other. It's too damn congested here to be losing each other."

We started moving as a group, studying each person as we walked past. We had a grainy photo of this Randal to go off of, but it was enough for us. We still weren't even sure if he was our man, but we were about to find out. I frowned as I watched one of the security guards spot us, then slink away. "That's weird."

Lock had already noticed. "Why wouldn't they come question why we're here?"

"One guard not doin' his job is understandable," Hush said by way of agreement, "but two?"

"Make that three," Idaho added, watching as another man walked away.

"It's a public space," Ricochet replied, "but this is still weird."

The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end and I pulled my Glock out of the waistband of my pants. "Incoming."

Dust and dirt exploded around us and we all dove in different directions for cover .

"Where's it coming from?" Lock roared, trying to be heard over the sound of gunfire, the cranes, and the distance.

"Left hand side, two o'clock!" Priest shouted back.

There were two men standing near a small metal shed, guns raised, firing at us. One was in a security uniform.

"Son of a bitch," I muttered, ducking back behind cover then listening as a bullet whizzed by. "We're surrounded."

"Six o'clock!" Toxic hollered from beside me, letting everyone know there were more than just the two men. "It's a fucking ambush," he growled, pissed off that we were in this position.

I was, too. The last thing I wanted was to put my brothers in danger like this. Not for me. And this was all because of me. "Give me cover."

Toxic nodded, then stepped around the train car we were hiding behind and started shooting.

I used his fire to run across the yard. If I could make my way around, I could come in behind the fuckers that were pinning Lock and Ricochet down. They were smart. They would both shoot, but one would do so at a slower rate, so that when his partner was reloading, there was still suppressive fire happening. These guys weren't as stupid as some of the men Randal had sent for me. And there was a fuck ton of them.

They keep crawling out of the woodworks.

The thought no sooner crossed my mind when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. "Fuck!"

The metal bucket hit me hard, sending me tumbling ass over head into the dirt. The crane operator got out of the machine, a huge smile on his face as he hopped down to the ground and approached, gun in hand.

I shook my head, trying to regain the sense he'd just knocked out of me. My shoulder twinged with pain as I shoved to my feet. The man was standing there in front of me, his gun aimed at my chest. My gun was lying about five feet away, in the dirt. There was nothing around me I could use as a weapon, so I watched his trigger finger, ignoring everything else. The only thing I could do was try to dive out of the way before he shot me. It wasn't the best plan, but what other choice was there?

His finger started to move and I got ready to attack. All I could think was that I was going to have to bribe Satan to get back to Earth so I could kill these motherfuckers once and for all, even if it was after I was dead.