Hardwired (The Brotherhood Series) Page 7

  The sound of the approaching chopper jerked him back to reality. Luke grabbed his head as he recovered from the pain, both physical and mental. He grabbed the woman around the waist, securing the baby between them. A harness dropped down, Luke secured it around the woman, and he grabbed the strap over her head. The woman screamed as she struggled. Luke held tight, keeping the baby held snuggly between them. Gunshots rang out over the beach, but none of them managed to hit Luke and his cargo.

  “Secure!” He shouted.

  The chopper took off back over the ocean, as Luke and his cargo were pulled up. He may have further damned his soul to the darkest pits of hell by adding more blood to his hands, but he had saved the woman and child; that had to count for something.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Luke

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” Luke’s Operations Officer yelled at him.

  Luke knew he was going to get screamed at maybe even reprimanded. He also knew that there wasn’t much else they could do to him. He was their most valuable asset, a soldier that never grew physically weary; one they could control with a simple computer program. His Operations Officer may yell, but Luke could take it. What he couldn’t handle was the thought of leaving the woman and child alone on that beach to fend for themselves amongst some of the world’s most notorious criminals.

  “What am I supposed to do with them?” His Operations Officer continued his tirade.

  Luke knew the question was rhetorical, so he remained silent. He noticed that Dean was also quiet. Usually Dean would try to defend Luke’s irrational stunts. Even though this was by far Luke’s most extreme maneuver to date; Dean’s silence still caught Luke off guard.

  “Soldier!” His Operations Officer yelled, breaking him out of his thoughts.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You have no idea what I have been saying, do you soldier?”

  The term soldier was meant to degrade Luke in a way. Luke was technically ranked just below the Operations Officer as a Troop Commander. Luke wasn’t into playing the Operations Officer’s mind games, though.

  “Sir, I took the woman and child because, to me, there was no other option. I’m certain if we contact the United States Marshalls, they would be happy to enter them into witness protection. There’s also a good possibility if we have a Spanish interpreter that the woman may have some solid information on other high-ranking men in the cartel.”

  “You’ve just got this all figured out now don’t you, Kiersey? Why didn’t I think of that? Let’s take the woman and child and put additional stress on the government’s already tapped resources, so that Luke can sleep better at night. That’s not what you’re here for, soldier. You’re here to eliminate threats. You’re here to finish missions. You’re here to do as I say, when I say it, exactly how I say it. Do you understand that?”

  Luke tried to contain his anger. There hadn’t been time to switch out his chip once he got stateside due to the Operations Officer wanting to rip him a new asshole as soon as possible. That was bad news for Luke because all he could think of doing was slamming his fist through his Operations Officer’s face, and his chip was wired for that exact reaction. Or maybe it was just bad news for the Operation’s Officer. Luke saw Dean flinch. Dean was realizing the exact same thing. Luke smirked, which made Dean look even more unease.

  “Get out of my face soldier! You’ll be lucky if you get put on another mission this year! Go see your therapist and figure out what the fuck’s going on in your head.”

  Luke and Dean both rose at the same time to leave, but the Operations Officer stopped Dean. Luke kept going but paused once he shut the door. The Operations Officer’s windows were tented completely black, so they had no way of knowing if Luke had walked off or not. A quick glance down the hallway told him no one was about to catch him eavesdropping.

  “What do you know?” The Operations Officer asked Dean.

  “I haven’t had a chance to analyze the data from the chip, but I’ll get on it as soon as possible.”

  “Fuck the data, what’s done is done. We both know rescuing the woman and baby had nothing to do with his hard drive. Have we heard from Dr. Connelly yet about Luke’s leave and the woman?”

  “No sir, but I’ll go speak with her as soon as I leave here.”

  “Keep me in the loop. I’m more than prepared to try and handle the problem again. Only this time I won’t be stopped.”

  Luke slipped down the hallway after that. The conversation sounded like it was over, but even if it had gone on, Luke knew there was no way he could have listened to it anymore. He headed back to the barracks and took a quick shower. He jogged over to Dr. Connelly’s office, but Dean was already inside. Luke knew he wouldn’t have a mission for at least twenty-four hours; probably longer since the Operations Officer was pissed, so he jumped on his motorcycle and hit the road. Ever since he had left, he knew it would only be a matter of time before he would return.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Luke

  The ride back to Avon felt like it took forever. He was anxious to see his girls again. He knew it wasn’t healthy for him to refer to them as his, but it just seemed to fit. Hearing his Operations Officer and Dean discuss him, he knew the reference to a woman had been about Jen. Luke needed to see her and Bella again with his own eyes, to make sure that they were safe.

  He stopped back at the small gas station from before because he remembered seeing cheap phones that would make perfect burner phones and bought two of them. Luke rode hard the rest of the way down the ocean front highway, until he made it to the turn-off for Jen’s house. It was still daylight so he had no cover, and he figured his motorcycle would draw attention.

  Luke headed down to a small motel he remembered and checked in. The owner had been persuaded to forgo the name and credit card bullshit when Luke threw down an extra two-hundred dollars on his room rate. Luke paced the small motel room while he waited for it to get dark. His cell phone buzzed nonstop as he waited. He knew it was Dean.

  When Dean wasn’t calling him, he was sending Luke texts. Luke didn’t bother reading them. He had no intentions of going back to the barracks until he saw Jen and Bella.

  Finally, darkness gripped the town, and Luke could venture out undetected. He crossed the main highway that he had rode in on, and then maneuvered through the streets that led to the beach. Luke covered the rest of the distance to Jen’s home on the beachfront.

  The lights were on inside her house, but from his knowledge of her and Bella, they were normally sound asleep this late in the night. Luke moved closer to the houses leading up to hers. When he stood in front of the house he had stayed at, he watched Jen’s house for movement.

  He waited patiently. That part didn’t bother him. He had been trained to stay still and wait for hours, sometimes even days, before the right time to strike would present itself. Luke felt the silence throb around him. He couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else heard silence the way he did. Solo missions out in the middle of nowhere had left him used to it, but every now and then it would creep up on him like a bad omen. Waiting for Jen or Bella to move and assure him they were safe made the silence and lack of movement suffocating.

  Unable to stand it any longer, Luke moved in closer to the house. Alongside her door he spotted a new security system. He was glad she had taken precautions, but he also knew that meant he wasn’t going to find a way inside, not without alerting her to his presence. She and Bella had already been frightened enough. Luke made a quick trip around the house but every window was covered by blinds or curtains, so he was unable to see inside. He knew Dean was already pissed, and the chances of him sending in a team to get Luke were high, but Luke was staying until he saw them.

  Just as he always did, he slunk back into the darkness to wait for another chance.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jen

  A pounding on her door woke Jen up the following morning. She had slept hard the night before, so she felt dazed as she made her wa
y to the front door. Bella’s little hand rubbed her eye as she emerged from her bedroom as well.

  “Good morning, baby girl.”

  “Morning, Mamma.”

  Jen made it to the door just as the banging began again. She yanked the door open, a little aggravated at the person for being so overbearing so early. A young boy greeted her nervously and shoved a package in her hand. Once she accepted it the boy turned and took off.

  “Wait, who is this from?”

  The boy was already inside of his beat-up car and taking off. Jen blinked her eyes a couple of times, wondering if she was just dreaming.

  “People are freaking weird,” she muttered as she closed the door, took her package, and set it on the counter.

  “Oh, what’s that, Mamma?”

  “I haven’t a clue.”

  “Open it!”

  “After my coffee, otherwise I’m going to be grumpy,” Jen said with a smile.

  “Can I have chocy milk or I’m going to be grumpy, too?”

  “Sure.”

  Jen got her coffee going and then fixed Bella her chocolate milk. Her phone rang just as she was about to pick up the package, pulling her away. The principal for the elementary school needed an extra teacher at the last minute for their end of the year fair. Jen looked at Bella as she drank her chocolate milk. She couldn’t pass up the chance to make some extra money, but she hated to leave Bella behind.

  “Can I bring my daughter with me?” Jen asked hesitantly. She had never taken Bella to work with her before, but other teachers sometimes had their kids in their classrooms. There was no reason Bella couldn’t, especially on a fun day.

  “I’m desperate for the help, so yes,” the principal responded.

  Jen hung up, excited for the day, the package forgotten. She hurried Bella through breakfast, and then quickly got them both dressed and out the door. As her car hit the main highway toward the elementary school, she could have sworn she heard the familiar rumble of a motorcycle. Bella launched into a million questions of what to expect for the day, drowning out everything else.

  Once they got to the school, Bella was shy around all the other kids, but the games and rides were much too tempting to keep her side lined. Jen offered to help usher the kindergarten kids through the fair, that way Bella would be with kids more her own age. By the time the day was over, Bella was exhausted. Jen was too, but she was also thankful she had been able to include Bella.

  The car ride home was silent except for Bella’s snores in the backseat. Jen carried Bella in the house and laid her down in her bed, so she could sleep for a bit longer while Jen prepared dinner. An unfamiliar cell phone ringing startled Jen and she rushed into the front room half expecting a stranger to be there, but no one was there. Jen looked around confused, until she saw the package.

  Her fingers fumbled through getting it opened. All that was inside was a cheap cell phone and a note. The only thing written on the note was: answer. Jen checked the package over, but there was no address or return label, and no other tell-tale signs about who it was from. It began to ring again, so she answered and then hesitantly brought it to her ear.

  “Hello?”

  “Jen,” his deep voice reached through the phone, quickening her already racing heart.

  “Who is this?”

  “My name isn’t a concern. Are you and Bella well?”

  “I don’t know who you are, or how you know me, but if you ever try to contact me…” she didn’t get to finish before he interrupted her.

  “I’m the man who saved you that night. I just want to make sure you both are fine. Has anyone approached you since that night, or asked about me?”

  Jen’s breath caught. She knew she had recognized the voice vaguely. There were so many questions she wanted answered, but she didn’t figure he would be too keen on answering any of them.

  “We’re fine. No one has bothered us since.”

  “Keep your security system on at all times and trust your instincts. Don’t ever ignore the feeling of being watched, or that you shouldn’t trust someone.”

  Jen’s head swam, and her heart physically hurt at his command. Luke used to tell her the exact same thing. Tears threatened to fall, but Jen couldn’t let that happen. Anytime she gave in to her grief for Luke, it would become uncontrollable all too fast.

  “Please, can I at least know your name? You saved my daughter, and for that I’ll forever be grateful.”

  “I also subjected your daughter to brutal violence. I don’t deserve your thanks. There’s danger in knowing a name, Jen, especially you knowing mine. Just know that if you should ever need me, just call this number from that phone only. I’ll be there.”

  Jen wanted to blurt out all the word vomit that was piling up in her mind, but she wasn’t given a chance as the line went dead. She pulled the phone back and stared at it. It wasn’t until she had made her way over to set her security system that she realized the security system had only been put in the day before. The man may have saved her life, but he was also dangerously dancing the line of being a stalker. Still, there was something inside of her that told her to not fear him, so she put the phone in her purse for safe keeping and went about fixing dinner, trying to forget the craziness of it all.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Luke

  Luke felt better having heard her voice. He had called the damn burner phone several times throughout the day after the boy said he had delivered it. When he hadn’t been calling Jen, he had been dodging Dean’s calls and text messages. As soon as he hung up with Jen, his actual cell phone rang again; another call from Dean.

  Luke knew he was due back at the barracks. The Operations Officer was no doubt over Luke’s last stunt, and more than likely already had another assignment for him. There was also the fact that Luke hadn’t gotten permission to leave the barracks. If his Operations Officer wanted to get technical, Luke was currently AWOL. The one good thing about Luke’s new life with his hard drive was that he meant more to the Navy enlisted and doing his job than discharged out in the world being a liability. Not that Luke had any notions that he would ever be allowed to leave the military without ending up dead. He should crave his life at the barracks; things were simple there. He knew everything and everybody; there was no woman and child back there haunting his every thought.

  “What?” Luke answered in lieu of a greeting.

  “Finally! Where the fuck are you?”

  “Piss off, man. I’m on my way back now.”

  “Just get back here. The Operations Officer is having a fit.”

  “I’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

  “You’re not watching that woman again, are you?”

  Luke thought he noticed a touch of urgency in Dean’s voice at the question. Afraid they were going to saddle Luke with another psych evaluation, he decided a lie was in his best interest.

  “Nah, I just wanted to ride to clear my head. Before I knew it, it was late, so I grabbed a motel room. I also wanted to get some food. I have to say civilian food is a hell of a lot better than the shit at the barracks.”

  “I’ll send your notes on to the cook.” Dean said sarcastically.

  Luke snorted in response.

  “See you soon, man.” Dean said before he disconnected the call.

  The phone call had been too easy. Dean didn’t try to engage Luke or give him shit for leaving the barracks without permission. Luke clicked on the call log and saw that he had talked to Dean for roughly thirty seconds. Just enough time to run a trace.

  “Fuck!” Luke roared, tossing his cell phone down on the floor.

  They already knew Luke was back in Avon; back by Jen and Bella. He couldn’t believe he had been so foolish. Luke began to pace as his mind put the pieces together. Dean wouldn’t have needed to trace the conversation with Luke because Dean could have easily traced Luke’s cell signal, so the call hadn’t been to trace Luke. That didn’t calm Luke down any though. The fact that they had known where Luke was since
he had arrived the day before was even worse. That means they had time to plan.

  Luke reminded himself he had just talked to Jen, and she was home safe and sound. If they hadn’t made a move on her yet, then maybe they were going to let her be. He wanted to go to her and take her and Bella somewhere far away so that no one would find them again, but it wasn’t his place. He was a stranger to them. There was also the chance that if he showed up at her house she’d call the police on him and have him arrested for stalking. He had no reason to be back in town, hassling her. It was an obsession, though. Luke couldn’t leave them alone.

  Luke turned so that he could see his back in the mirror. His skin had healed and grown around the box and wires, just as the doctor had told him it would. The first inch of each wire was recognizable under his skin, but then they became too deep to be noticed. Each one was fused into its very own nerve ending. If Luke had to pick death over the small box in his back he definitely chose the box. For the first time in his life though, Luke wondered what other options were out there for him.

  Mostly he wondered what Jen would think if he showed it to her. Would Bella scream at the machine that kept him alive and upright? It was also the machine that leashed him to the Navy and made it impossible for him to leave. What Luke needed to do was walk away and never look back.

  He told himself he would, he just wanted to see them one last time. He picked up his cell phone and rattled off a text to Dean about having bike problems. Dean would know it was a lie but Luke didn’t give a shit. All he wanted was one more night, and then he’d walk away for good. If Luke was lucky, Dean would be able to program his next chip to make him forget all about Jen and Bella. The thought alone made a sharp pain shoot through Luke’s head, his body already rebelling against the idea of losing them.