The Salvation of Daniel (The Blue Butterfly Book 2) (23 page)

She took my hand and ran her fingers over mine, her touch faint and slow. “Thank you.”

I blinked at her gratitude. I hadn’t expected it, I had been anticipating her wrath but I smiled at her understanding. “She deserved so much more from life. But you know, she never once gave up. She fought with so much spirit that I was in awe of her. Even in the darkest times, her smile lit me up. I was so cruel yet she still smiled, she still reached out and touched me. She still looked at me and saw something that no one, not even myself, had seen.” I sighed. “I don’t know, they say the closer to death you are, the more you see. Maybe she saw what was to come for me after this life and her pity gave her the need to comfort. Whatever it was, I will never understand how she found me beneath all the aggression.”

I watched her as she slipped around in the water to face me. A tear slid down her cheek and dropped off her chin onto her breast. Her sad eyes held me as she straddled my thighs and placed her palms over my cheeks. We remained still, looking at each other, saying so many things without words.

I shivered when she leaned forward and placed her mouth so gently over mine. Her lips were warm and soft, her tears tasting of salt on my tongue when she sobbed into me. I slid my hands around her back, holding her to me, giving her support as I kissed her back. Her gaze bore into me as her fingers journeyed up my face until she sank them into my hair and lowered herself onto my erection, her body tensing as I sank deeper inside her, the tight grip of her arching my back in pleasure.

Her lips parted as she moaned into me. I caught her bottom lip between my teeth, gently seizing hold of her as she started to move on me, her breasts squashed against my chest, her thighs clamped against mine and her pelvis rubbing tightly against mine.

She rocked on me so slowly the water didn’t even ripple. Her hot breaths into my mouth brought on my own soft groans, her piercing blue eyes talking to me as she moved above me.

I pushed my hands through her wet hair, cupping the back of her head to pull her against me. I kissed her then, kissed her until we couldn’t breathe, our eyes still locked on one another’s. I kissed her until her sobs subsided and her heavy breaths began to be vocal. I kissed her until she pressed down hard against me and came with a short, sharp gasp, her body trembling over mine as I spewed my own release into her.

Her choked sobs caused my chest to throb as she dropped her forehead to my shoulder and cried. She cried for Mae, she cried for her. She sobbed for what her life was, and maybe even what mine was. She wept for her past and what the future held. But I held her to me and took it from her. I soaked it up, dragging her desolation from her as she clung to me and allowed me to see the real Connie; not the Phantom, not the assassin, not even Mae’s sister, but Connie Swift, the lost girl who had been buried under all the hatred and regret.

HER SMILE WHEN I parked the car beside the van in the old abandoned picnic site half a mile from Daniel’s old home lifted my spirits. “Fuck, I missed you.” I laughed when she grumbled at me as I hugged her and spun her round.

“Likewise, my friend,” she whispered into my ear as I placed her feet back on the ground. Bullet was tiny. At four foot, eleven she was the smallest of the Phantoms, but her amazing shooting skills made up for her lack of physical power, although her ninja skills helped her along when she didn’t have her gun with her.

“Panther, get your arse over here.” I watched him roll his eyes in the back of the van before he smiled and jumped down, walking over to me and enveloping me in his strong hold.

“Looking good, girl.” He winked as he held me at arm’s length and studied me. Since the day he had witnessed my baby leave my body, Panther had taken on the role as big brother in my life. I knew he would protect me and Annie with his life, and my respect for his compassion as well as his ability to attack swiftly and stealthily, hence his name, had been the reason we had worked together ever since. “It’s been too long,” he said as he gestured for me to follow him into the back of the van. He turned to Daniel and narrowed his eyes. Panther was very protective and I could taste his hatred for Daniel. “I’m surprised you’ve kept him around as long as you have.”

I warned him off with a glare. He shrugged his shoulders and sighed before he curled his lip at Daniel. “You better come see this too.”

Daniel frowned then climbed into the van with us, his eyes widening at the equipment kitting out what appeared to be a normal van on the outside.

I frowned when Panther tapped one of the four screens, each displaying various angles in and around the house.

“Who is it?” I asked, bending towards the screen to study the extra body showing. Panther and Bullet had arrived early and set up the equipment that gave us an insight to people in and around the house. The technology we had acquired from the Chinese, for a hefty price, had been worth every damn penny.

“I’m not sure,” he said as he tapped his fingers on the keyboard, zooming the camera in further. It only allowed us to see silhouettes not actual images, more like thermal imaging but instead of red blurry figures in a vast of blackness, we saw everything from the layout of the house, the furniture around the house, to the outline of people and more importantly, weapons.

A small figure, definitely Annie, sat on the floor in the lounge playing with what I presumed to be two dolls. Helen was stood talking to a tall man in the kitchen. There were four more men outside, patrolling the grounds, as well as three more positioned around the house.

“Can you take the external ones?” I asked Bullet as I turned to her.

“Yep, no problem,” she confirmed as she started to check and load her rifle.

“I gather you want the two main ones, so I’ll take the interior guards,” Panther said as he pulled various knives from a briefcase and sited them in different places about him.

“Okay.” I nodded to them both as we each plugged our earpieces in, adjusting the tiny mic in front of our mouths and confirmed the plan.

“And me?” Daniel asked.

I frowned and turned to him. “You?”

“Where do you want me?”

“Here,” I ordered.

He narrowed his eyes and stared at me with incredulity. “What? No, I’m in there with you.”

“Uh-uh. You stay here. I will bring Annie to you.”

“No, I’m coming with you.”

Bullet and Panther eyed us then climbed from the van, giving us a moment when they sensed my anger.

“You will do as I say,” I spat. “You will stay here and wait. This is Annie I’m going in for, not some random target I have no regards for.”

“Yes! This is my daughter, and if you think I am going to sit back and put her life in yours and their hands then think again.”

I pulled in a fortifying breath and rolled my head around my shoulders, recoating my dry teeth with my tongue. He groaned when I swiftly straddled him where he sat in a chair, my feet wrapping around his ankles and securing his feet as my thighs pinned his arms by his side.

I pressed the heel of my hand into the dip of his throat, instantly restricting his air supply. “If you think I am allowing you to go in there and snatch Annie from under me whilst my friends and I do the dirty job, then
you
can think again.” He gasped and struggled beneath me but even with his strength he was no match for my fury. “I will
not
allow them to kill you, Daniel.” His eyes showed his confusion but I smiled coldly. “I told you at the beginning, your heart beat is mine. I will be the one to witness its final throb. I will be the one that will force your soul into hell, no one else.” I leaned further into him. “A Phantom never goes back on a contract. If you think the sex between us changes anything then you are mistaken. You are my original target, and you will be my final one.”

He blinked and coughed when I released him. “Your final one?”

I considered him for a moment before I moved off him and picked up the weapons Panther and Bullet had brought for me.

“After you, I’m retiring.”

“Why?” He eyed me sceptically.

“Because I have another job to do.” I turned my back on him and jumped out of the van. “I’ll be bringing up your daughter after your death.”

I dropped down over the metal fence, making sure to land on the balls of my feet for a more silent approach. I never took my eyes off him as I crouched and moved along the perimeter. Just as I was about to pull my knife out he dropped down to the ground, his body hitting with a heavy thud. I chuckled when his friend on the opposite corner did the same.

“Bloody hell, Bullet.” I laughed quietly into my mic. “Gimme a chance.”

“Well, look who’s late for the party,” she retorted humorously. “First come, first served, loser.”

“Well I had to fix my lippy first, you know how it goes for us pretty ones.”

“Fuck you! Why do you think Isaac named you Shadow? It wasn’t because you shadow his heart as he so sickeningly keeps saying, it’s because you belong in the shadows, my friend, with all the ugly nutters. Of course you had to slap more slap on. After all, your doe-eyed boyfriend wants you at your hottest.”

“What the fuck?” I moved further around the house, my eyes alert and sharp as I pushed my glasses up my nose. I hated wearing the things but I couldn’t see further than ten metres without them. Panther had smirked at me when I curled my lip at them before grumbling something profane under my breath.

“Oh, don’t what the fuck me,” she said as I moved into position at the back of the house, my eyes flicking to every dark corner. “I saw the way he looked at you. He’s smitten.”

“Bullet. He is not smitten. We fucked, that’s it.”

“Uh-uh. You are going to break his heart.” I rolled my eyes at her humour but couldn’t help the lift of a smile when she started to sing Queen’s
Another One Bites The Dust
in my ear.

“Will you two girlies shut the fuck up!” Panther barked at us, his loud growl in my ear deafening.

Bullet started laughing. “Aww, Panth, has Shadow stolen your man lollipop?”

My eyes widened as Panther huffed. “Go suck Shadow’s pussy, Bullet. We all know you have the hots for her. After all, there has to be a reason you don’t bang any men at the Phantom parties.”

I tensed, sucking on my lips at the banter that had turned into something personal. “Come on, guys. Let’s play nice.” I cringed when only Panther acknowledged me. “Bullet?”

“Bullet?” Panther blasted my earpiece when silence greeted us. “Bullet!”

“I’m here,” she replied. “Sorry, mic’s playing up.”

My heart hurt for my friend. Only I was aware of her feelings for Panther. He was oblivious, almost mocking her unintentionally every time he brought another slut back to his room, his nightly sessions loud and energetic. It didn’t help that Bullet’s room was next to his. Many nights she’d climbed into my bed with me, her frantic sobs over Panther’s latest fuck breaking my heart.

“We need to concentrate,” Bullet said stiffly.

“You, concentrate?” Panther laughed. “I didn’t think you were capable! They don’t call blondes airheads for nothing.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up you self-righteous, poncy twat!” Bullet hissed. I cringed and sighed.