Chapter Six

For the next couple of days, Ronin would pop into her mind at odd moments. Plus, he seemed to play a major role in her dreams. All of them turning pornographic. She dreamt of him kissing her. Caressing her. How could she dream of sex after what she’d gone through?

Two nights after their locker room meeting, once the gym was closed, she and Darby dressed all in black ready to activate their next phase in the plan. Keres piled her long hair in a bun and then covered it with a black knitted hat. The utility belt she wore held her knives. A holster on the back of her pants held her gun. Darby gathered their equipment in a duffle bag and hoisted it over his shoulder.

“Ready?” he asked.

“More than ready.”

“There’s a chance we may not come back from this.”

She cocked her head. “I’m not afraid of dying. Are you?”

He shook his head. “I’ve got a will in place in case that happens.”

Keres gave a ghost of a smile. “I have nothing so that doesn’t matter.”

He held out his hand and she took it. “For Abigail.”

She gripped it back. “For Jonathan.”

That was it. They didn’t need to say anything else. Darby led the way down the stairs and out the back. The night was pitch black since the alley light was disabled. They moved like shadows, away from their home, holding still if a car came by. They made it to Darby’s black car, which he had parked several streets away. The less noticeable by neighbors and pedestrians the better. No one would be able to say she and Darby had left dressed all in black and looking shady.

He drove them toward the now defunct warehouse district. She had always wondered why they didn’t tear the old buildings down, and now she knew why. The entire area was owned by Davorin and was the basis of his organized crime ring. Drugs. Weapons. People. It was all processed from this part of the city, and tonight the bad guy would lose a precious part of that organization.

Darby parked several blocks away, and once more they hid as they made their way to the target. From the darkness, they watched the trucks being loaded with large boxes, and from a distance it looked perfectly normal. Except it was one in the morning and the boom of export had died a long time ago.

When the last truck was loaded up and on its way, it was go time. Moving silently, they skirted around to the back where Darby placed the duffle bag. He knelt, going through it and handing her various items. He gave a few signals with his hands, basically telling her to head to the right while he took the left.

Keres slowly made her way to all the checkpoints Darby had mapped out. This operation wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. He’d been researching and spying on Davorin for years, and had every contingency thought out. The most dangerous part of this was placing the explosive bomb near the front door. As she bent to activate it, the door was thrown open and a man came out smoking a cigarette. It startled her and she took a half step back. The scrape of her shoe caught the man’s attention and he turned.

“What the fuck?” he snarled when he spotted her. He immediately pulled a gun and aimed it at her.

Shit. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end, but she had always known this mission might be her last act on Earth. Just as she was about to hit the button on her watch, to let Darby know she wasn’t coming back and to detonate the damn thing, a hand came around and covered the thug’s mouth just as a knife slit his throat wide open.

The man twitched a few times and then he fell, bleeding out. Ronin stepped into view. She would recognize him anywhere, even under the blanket of night. He held up a finger to his lips and then grabbed her hand to guide her back through the dark. Once they were safely away, Keres halted and pulled on his hand to get him to stop.

“Why the fuck are you here?” she demanded. “Did you follow me again ?”

“Apparently, I’m saving your ass,” he replied calmly. “Do I really need to answer the second question?”

She shook her head, very perplexed. “I don’t understand. We’re stranger s— ”

“Are we really?” he asked, interrupting. “Seems like I’m your guardian angel.”

“Sure,” she said with a snort of derision. “An angel you are not.”

He grinned. “You’re right. I’m a handsome devil of temptation.”

“Conceited much?”

“Conceit is a fault and I have none.”

Even cocky he was damn attractive.

“Never mind,” she said with a shake of her head. “I need to send a text.”

Keres pulled out a burner phone and texted to Darby that she was clear.

“Burner phone?”

“Taking a page from your book, do I really have to answer that? You seem to be working under the assumption that this is my first rodeo.”

“Well, how many rodeos have you been to? Which specific rodeo are we talking about?”

“None of your business. God, you’re so annoying.”

“I think that’s your catchphrase.”

He smirked and took the phone out of her hands. He placed it on the ground and then stomped on it with his heel. The cheap phone cracked apart, now broken beyond repair. Keres picked up the destroyed shell and slipped it back into her pocket.

They stared at one another, and then he cupped her face and slammed his mouth down on hers. For a moment, she froze, waiting for the rush of fear to overwhelm her. It took a few seconds to realize she didn’t have that pit of revulsion rising. Instead, heat radiated from her core, not from fear but from desire, and that took her completely by surprise. Her mouth parted under his and his tongue swept inside.

Tingles washed over her skin and her heart thundered in her ears. She had believed she was incapable of ever feeling emotion again. Of finding someone who didn’t trigger her fight-or-flight response. His kiss started out gentle, but quickly turned red hot. He didn’t put his arms around her, didn’t cage her in or overwhelm her senses, so maybe that was why she felt she didn’t need to escape. Why the kiss didn’t spike a panic attack.

When the kiss ended, he pulled back to stare into her eyes. Ronin wasn’t smiling or teasing, just searching her face, a hint of wonder in the pale depth of his eyes. Suddenly, the night lit up in a roar of fire as the bombs went off with a thunderous explosion.

“Oh, fuck,” he muttered, staring at the giant fireball. “What did you do?”

She tried to pull away from him. “What I had to do. Let me go.”

“No, come on,” he said, gripping her hand. “We need to get out of here.”

She wasn’t going to argue because he was right. Once they were safely away, she could ditch him. Ronin led her to a motorcycle and thrust a helmet into her hands. She looked at it in confusion.

“What’s this?”

“Put it on, Keres, and let’s go.”

“I’m not riding on the back of that thing.”

He gave a sigh of exasperation. “Just get on now and yell at me later.”

Ronin mounted the machine and gave a nod to the area behind him. Rolling her eyes, Keres jammed the brain bucket onto her head and hopped on behind him. With a roar, the engine fired up and a moment later, he accelerated away. She wrapped her arms around him, trying hard not to think about how her legs straddled his hips. It surprised her that she stayed calm. No panic. No anxiety.

She glanced behind them, seeing orange flames reaching high in the sky, and satisfaction settled in her soul.