In His Keeping (Slow Burn #2) (33 page)

Judging by the tears in her eyes and the way she stared helplessly at Ari, she drew her own conclusion that Ramie was well aware of what was going on. She was being held in the not so gentle grasp of another man who looked military. Like a killer. His eyes were dead and cold. Like little mattered to him. She shivered, knowing that had she not complied with their wishes, they wouldn’t have hesitated to murder Ramie right in front of her.

She sent Ramie a look, a plea to understand. The man holding her maneuvered over to where the ladder dangled and Ari’s stomach plunged at the idea of having to climb the damn thing.

She needn’t have worried. She felt a sudden sting, like that of a wasp, in her neck and the room went even fuzzier. The last thing she registered were the tears streaking down Ramie’s face, and her utter look of devastation.

TWENTY-NINE

ADORNED
with night vision goggles, protective gear and enough firepower to rival a small country’s military, Beau and Zack sprinted across the courtyard clearing, keeping low so they didn’t present an easy target.

They needed to catch up with the others fast because they stood a hell of a lot better chance of taking down the intruders together than if they were scattered over the entire perimeter.

Suddenly Dane and Eliza emerged from the shadows, blending seamlessly into the night. With a nod in Beau’s direction, Dane spoke quietly into his mic and instructed the others of their coordinates so they could group up and blow the hell out of everyone who didn’t belong here.

In a matter of seconds, they were joined by the remaining men, Caleb, Isaac and Capshaw, and they moved out, separating just enough that they didn’t present an easy target for someone seeking to take them out with a single blast.

There was a drop-off halfway between the house and the heavily wooded area surrounding the property on all sides. Here, the ground sloped sharply downward before leveling off again the farther they got from the house.

Beau was heading the group and was so focused on his immediate surroundings and keeping a watchful eye toward the woods and any other potential ambush spot that he tripped over something large and bulky, nearly sprawling to the ground.

What the fuck? That felt like . . . a
body
.

Beau scrambled for his footing before backing away and motioning the others to do the same. Zack and Dane leveled their weapons at the downed figure while Beau moved in closer.

The man lay perfectly still, no detectable respirations. Eliza knelt beside Beau and quickly shone her small flashlight over the man’s face and Beau recoiled. Holy hell. The man had been beaten to death.

“Shit,” Eliza breathed. “I’ve never seen anyone beaten this badly. Who the hell do you think it is?”

To their complete and utter shock, the man’s lips moved the barest of centimeters. But enough for them to realize he was alive. The entire group exchanged baffled looks. How someone this badly beaten was even semiconscious was flabbergasting.

“Ari,” the man said with a gasp, wincing in pain at just the one word that whispered past his lips.

Beau surged to attention and leaned down to stare in the man’s battered, swollen and bloodied face. God, he was utterly unrecognizable as a human being. He looked more a monster than a man.

“What about Ari?” Beau demanded. “What happened to you? Who did this to you? And what do you know about Ari?”

“Daughter,” he rasped out.

A chill went up Beau’s spine and he glanced back at the others in disbelief.

“Need . . . you . . . tell something.”

His voice was growing weaker by the second and Beau had to lean even farther down to hear what he was saying.

The man’s hand fluttered weakly upward, flailing, as if reaching for something to anchor himself with. Beau’s response was automatic. No matter who this man was or what he had done, no one deserved to be savaged this way.

Once Beau’s hand gripped his, his fingers tightened around Beau’s and his eyes slitted open, determination flagging in their depths.

“Tell Ari . . . I loved her. Mother loved too . . .” His voice trailed off and he suddenly choked and then coughed convulsively, blood dribbling profusely from his mouth.

Oh man, this was bad. This was really bad. There was no way an ambulance would reach him in time. And they had to take out the threat to Ramie and Ari as well as to themselves.

“P-p-promise me,” he stuttered, blood bubbling and foaming down his chin. “Loved her always. Tell her. Never forgot her. Wanted her to be . . . happy. Have . . . good life.”

Ari’s biological father closed his eyes and sagged heavily, seeming to wilt right into the ground. Beau followed him down so their faces weren’t far apart and so he could hear Beau’s vow.

“I promise,” he said, still gripping the man’s hand. “Do you hear me? I swear I’ll give her your message. Rest easy now.”

His eyes opened one last time and then a peaceful smile settled over his face, softening some of the brutality wrought by extreme violence.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “Means the world.”

And then his head lolled to the side and his hand went completely slack in Beau’s grasp.

“Son of a bitch,” Beau swore. “These people are animals and they want Ari!”

“Easy, brother,” Caleb said, putting his hand on Beau’s shoulder. “We’ll just have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“Jesus, they put a toe tag on him like they do at the fucking morgue,” Zack said in disgust.

And sure enough. When Eliza shone her light down the man’s legs, a notecard was affixed to his toe with a string.

“What does it say?” Dane demanded.

Zack shook his head, disgust evident in his features as he slipped the tag off and took out his own flashlight to shine on the words.

“Jesus,” Zack muttered. “This is goddamn unreal.”

“What for God’s sake?” Beau said through his teeth. “We don’t have time to be fucking around here.”

Zack’s voice trembled with anger as he read what was scrawled on the card in small lettering.

We were much more merciful with him than we were with his wife, but only because we were on a tight timeline. We won’t show you any mercy. This is what happens to people who interfere with our cause in any way. Arial Rochester is ours. We created her. We are her blood. Back off before your entire organization is wiped out. We have more resources and power than you can ever imagine.

“Oh
hell
no,” Eliza said in a rage-induced, pissed-off voice. “Those assholes are taunting us? I’d like to tell them exactly what they can do with their
resources
.”

Beau ran a hand over his face, closing his eyes, regret for Ari so strong. His heart ached for her. For all the hurt this would cause her. Her life would never be the same again. She’d know too much to ever live with the naïve innocence she once enjoyed. He didn’t normally advocate willful, ignorant bliss, but in this case, Ari would be so much better off if she had never known the truth. Because now that she had part of it—the most important part, that the Rochesters weren’t her biological parents—she’d want—demand—the rest of the story and she was entitled to it. She deserved the truth, no matter how much it hurt her. No matter how much it hurt
him
to have to be the one to give her all the damning evidence. But at the same time, he didn’t want it coming from anyone else. He wanted to tell her when he could hold her and offer comfort. Damn it. If he had his way he’d always be there to comfort her when she needed it.

Who the hell wanted to exist knowing they were merely an experiment? Meant to be a freak of nature. Molded and fashioned to be just that, so her powers could be utilized in a manner not of her choosing. Her life would have never been her own had her blood parents not reached out to his father in desperation.

He hated to give his father credit for anything. He was a selfish bastard who thought only of himself, and yet he’d done Ari a great kindness by sending her to Gavin and Ginger Rochester, because at least there, she was loved. Truly and deeply adored. Had his own father agreed to raise her, she would have grown up isolated and lonely, always an outsider.

“Our father has so much blood on his hands,” Caleb said in a flat voice. “I’m ashamed to share
his
blood—the blood of others. I’d give anything not to.”

Beau nodded grimly, unsure that he could put to voice his own thoughts without becoming utterly enraged, and right now he needed a clear head if they were going to ward off an outright attack on his home. Ari’s home. Her place was with him, whether she realized it or accepted it yet or not.

“His sins are not your own, Caleb,” Eliza said gently. “You’ve done much to atone for his crimes. No one can fault you for what
he
did. The choices he made when you were just a
child
. It’s what you did later that counts. And you did the right thing. You and Beau chose the right path, not only for yourselves, but for your younger siblings as well.”

She directed her statement as much toward Beau as she did to Caleb, but Beau was too lost in his own agonizing thoughts and realizations to pay any heed to her words.

How much more of this shit could Ari take?

Her parents who weren’t exactly her parents had been kidnapped, her birth mother had been tortured and eventually murdered and now her biological father had met the same fate. No doubt because he’d called to warn Beau, and the men responsible for Ari’s surrogacy had retaliated swiftly and viciously the instant her biological father had risked discovery by contacting Beau.

Who were these people to have such a vast, all-knowing network? The kind of technology they possessed was not civilian. Hell, it wasn’t even recognized military for that matter. They knew too much. They were too patient. Too exacting. And they hadn’t acted blindly the moment they wrested information on her whereabouts from her biological mother.

No, they’d waited, biding their time for the right moment to strike, and Beau would bet everything he owned that the video leaking was the very last thing the people hunting her had wanted. With her powers going public, or at least speculation about her powers, the men plotting to get their hands on Ari had been forced to speed up their timeline.

Beau doubted her parents would have even been targeted, because the more people involved, the more room for error. It would have far better suited their purposes to simply take Ari when she—and her parents—least expected, leaving Gavin powerless to help her. And to ensure her cooperation, they would have simply pulled a few surveillance feeds showing her they knew who her parents were and how to find them and that if she didn’t cooperate they’d die.

Ari would have given in without hesitation.

“Why leave him here?” Isaac asked, a worried expression tugging on his face. “I don’t get it. They’re sending a message but why? They’re here. We’re outnumbered. Why not just take us all out, grab Ari and make a run for it.”

Everyone exchanged instant looks of “oh shit.”

Beau broke into a run before anyone could say anything further. “Get back to the house.
Now
!”

A thunderous boom sounded and echoed through the night air. Everyone dropped to the ground, instinctively covering themselves as the earth shook and rumbled beneath them.

“Fuck this shit,” Zack said, fury lacing his voice. “I’ve goddamn had about enough of this BS. It’s time to take those assholes out and cover them up with six feet of dirt. Pansy-ass motherfuckers preying on women.”

“It’s like fucking Armageddon,” Capshaw muttered. “I’m ready to cap these bastards. Light them up and send them straight to hell.”

Yeah, well, so was Beau, though he didn’t even make the effort to say anything. His sole focus was on Ari and the fact that the explosives had gone off directly in the vicinity of the house.

Fuck!

Ari and Ramie were alone and vulnerable in that house, safe room or no.

“It was a goddamn diversion,” Beau yelled as he scrambled back to his feet. “They knew the body would distract us momentarily. The note was just intended to let us know what they’re capable of. Or maybe they thought we’d be scared and actually back off.”

“What they’re capable of is fucking themselves,” Eliza snarled. “And I’ll back off when I have their goddamn balls.”

“Down girl,” Dane murmured, though Beau noticed his lips were in a thin line, suppressing his chuckle.

Eliza was one vicious woman when on a mission. Beau admired that about her.

Their plan, though hastily put together in light of the fact they’d had less than five minutes to come up with one, had been to fan out from the house and then come back together from different directions so they could take out as many targets as possible before launching a full-scale frontal attack.

But the single most and
only
important directive the entire team had been given was to keep intruders away from the house. Take the fight to
them
. Protect Ramie and Ari at all costs.

“We
don’t
split up,” Beau commanded as they ran for the back entrance to the house. “For God’s sake, don’t get separated from the group and make it even easier to pick you off.”

Always cool under fire. Unwavering. Solid. Stony and rigid. Yeah, right. He was a hot
mess
because he knew this was
bad
. The worst possible outcome, one they clearly hadn’t seen coming. Goddamn it!

There was no gunfire. No ducking for cover. The night had gone eerily silent where before it had been ablaze with gunfire and explosions and yet not a single shot had come close to them.

It had been nothing more than a fucking distraction.

He was at full sprint when he hit the veranda and nearly tore the door off its hinges in his haste to get inside. To Ari.

They pounded into the house, guns up, spreading out as they cleared each room in a direct route to the safe room. The only place they could be assured the women were safe because they sure as hell couldn’t risk allowing them out of the house. But now Beau knew that somehow, the safe room
had
been breached and the unthinkable had occurred.