Bane (23 page)

The door creaked open. “Bane?”

“Yeah, angel. Did I wake you?”

I was going to miss that warm soothing voice. “No, I can’t sleep.”

Cocooning himself against me, I grabbed him around the waist. “Can you tell me what’s going on? I know something changed today.”

He took a big breath. “They’ve located Eric Thornhill. A mission is being put together to take him out tomorrow evening. I’ll be leaving at noon to meet up with the team. You’ll be safe here.”

My heart caught in my throat. “Afterward, what will happen?”

An awkward silence filled the air and I dreaded the next words that I knew loomed ahead. “I’ll find a safe place for you to live. Get you a new identity. You’ll be set and never have to worry about money again.”

The words were like a knife to my chest. I wasn’t supposed to fall for Bane. I had tried to safeguard my heart.

I had failed.

My chest tightened. This was ending. Tears threatened to make their presence known. I had to remain strong. We were in our final days together.

Our relationship was over. Wait, we never had a relationship. In Bane’s touch I felt something deeper. He cared for me. I knew it. Whatever happened to Bane had a death grip on him.

Pushing away reality, I responded, “Sounds good. We can talk about it when you get back.”

Nothing else was said. Bane tightened his grip on me and kissed my forehead. A restless sleep ensued while I tried to sear into my mind what it felt like to be in Bane’s protective embrace before it ended.

Bane slept peacefully beside me and my stomach roiled with nerves. I was going to be sick. All night long I’d thought about us and how I could tell Bane I wanted a shot to see what this could be. It wasn’t fair that I was going back on my promise to Bane.

I’d fallen for him. Hard.

My heart was taking control and refusing to let my mind walk away from this attraction. What if he died? What if I never saw him again after today? I knew there was an envelope with details for me, but I’d refused to look at it because that meant Bane would be dead.

I felt sick.
Calm down, Maren.
I was going to be sick. Shoving the covers aside, I made it to the toilet in time before I expelled what I had left. My nerves were at an all-time high as I tried to quiet them.

“Angel, what’s wrong?”

I wiped off my mouth and flushed the toilet. “Nerves.”

Bane wet a washcloth and handed it to me. “I promise you’ll be fine today.”

“It’s not that.” A small sob erupted as I wrung the washcloth between my hands. “I don’t want this to end. I don’t want
us
to end. I’m falling for you, Bane.”

The shutters came down over Bane's eyes as he shut himself off. "In less than forty-eight hours we'll be over. This was the deal from the beginning.”

More tears fell down my face and Bane became angry. “Maren, I’m leaving in five hours. I’ll be back and then we’ll have two days together. You can’t do this right now. For fuck’s sake, I need my head on right. I should have never agreed to this arrangement. I knew it. Damn it! This was all a mistake.”

Bane slammed the bedroom door which jolted me as I stared at the tile on the floor. With the finality of the door closing, my heart shattered in a million pieces. I had been stupid to let my guard down. What had I been thinking?

It was over.

Standing, I brushed my teeth. Maybe I’d be able to stay in the bedroom until Bane left and wallow in my humiliation there. Here was to hoping. Ugh. Why had I opened my mouth and said anything? I should have never broken my promise. But, my heart would have forever wondered
what if
had I not said something.

Life was a bitch.

The ickiness from the morning visit to the toilet wore off as I got control of my nerves. There was nothing I could do and I refused to beg. I wanted someone to want me for me and nothing else. Eventually, I would find the love that Mom and Dad had. Someone would want to share their life with me because they loved me.

Finding a heavy sweater and jeans, I put them on. The more clothes, I wore the more it would be a deterrent from having sex. Any more intimacy and I wasn’t sure if my heart would survive the fallout.

Bane busted into the room. “We have to go! NOW!”

Adrenaline shot through me as I grabbed Bane’s hand. Bane grabbed our coats off the rack as we left the cabin, not taking the time to close the door. Running full speed to the shed, Bane threw open the door. I didn’t say a word as my heart nearly beat out of my chest. In all the discussions on what to do, I never imagined it would come to fruition.

Someone was here. The nausea hit again as I thought about someone doing something to either one of us. Bane had been insistent on practicing and discussing protocol if someone was to breech the perimeters. I’d never believed that this would be something we’d have to deal with.

Bane jumped on the snow mobile and I quickly sat on back.

“Hold on, Maren. Don’t let go of me for a second.”

“I won’t.”

The snow mobile roared to life as my heart raced faster. They’d found us. What if Bane had been gone today? I buried my face in his back as Bane took off at a dangerous speed. He whipped the snow mobile around to head behind the shed. Bane needed to focus. Me freaking out on the back wouldn’t help the situation.

Keep your eyes closed, Maren. Don’t look. It doesn’t matter. Bane will keep me safe.

I couldn’t help it, I looked back. No one was there. I breathed a sigh of relief until another snow mobile came roaring out from the side of the woods.

“Bane!”

“I see him. Hold on!”

The throttle whined as Bane turned it farther. With one hand, Bane pulled a gun from somewhere up front. He slowed minutely, the gun raised, and fired. I glanced back to see the guy slump off the machine. The snowmobile veered back into the trees as its rate of speed decreased.

Looking around I didn’t see anyone else, but felt completely exposed and buried myself further into Bane. Anyone in the tree line could take a shot at either one of us and we’d be finished. Bane bee lined for the trees. After we’d been in the trees for a few minutes, he slowed and looked around. A large boulder sat ahead. Pulling behind, the engine silenced.

“There was only one intruder that registered on the cameras, but I need to make sure.”

Bane pulled out his phone and flipped through different screens like he did often when we were together. “None of the other pressure places, trip wires, or cameras are registering anything. That’s odd.”

“Why?”

He checked a few more things. “Because they know it would take a team to take me down. This was a scouting trip. The man only tripped the outermost wires. Normal protocol has the perimeter closer than mine is. It’s a hell of a lot to keep up with, but gives enough warning to escape.”

Scouting meant one thing. They were coming. Bane could have been gone. The nauseous uneasy feeling came over me again. I shivered. Bane looked me in the eyes. “Let’s get to my other vehicle. In these frigid temps we won’t last long out here without the proper gear. I’m going to keep you safe, angel.”

It was freezing as I worked to keep my teeth from chattering. The snow mobile came to life immediately. As we drove cautiously, Bane stayed tense as he scanned the area. The speed was more moderate as we weaved in between the trees.

After an hour of driving, I was frozen to the core. An opening came into view and I heaved a sigh of relief. The cedar smell calmed me as I took deep soothing breaths. Buildings came into view as Bane stopped. None of the snow had been disturbed from what I could see.

Lowly, Bane spoke, filling me in. “This is one of my places. It has a vehicle inside the shed. I’ve been out here once about two weeks ago to make sure everything worked. It can’t be monitored since it doesn’t have electricity, but we’d see if anything had been disturbed.” Bane brought his hands up to the side of my face. “Remember what I told you if we were to get separated.”

“O-o-okay. I do.” The cold became almost too much to bear.

Bane looked back at me with concern. “Let’s go.” Bane ran in a half-crouch and I attempted to keep up with his pace. The air eerily silent. Not even the birds chirped. Bane looked to the left and to the right of the building before going to the door on the far right side. It seemed like no one had been here, which eased my nerves as Bane’s tracks from the time before he’d came were gone from the snow.

Coming to the door, Bane unlocked it. “Stay here. Let me check it out.”

Wrapping my arms around myself, all I wanted was to be in the vehicle with heater on full blast. A commotion started as I heard men tussling. There was a grunt, then Bane’s booming voice. “Maren, run!”

The reality momentarily rooted me in place until the words connected with my brain. I turned and headed for the trees where the snow mobile was. Where was I going to go? I had no idea. Wait. Bane told me to always use the compass and head south. It would take me into town. That was part of the protocol we’d discussed numerous times.

Making it to the snowmobile, I stopped when a man in a white outfit sat on it with his gun pointed at me. Not any man—Eric Thornhill. His picture had been on the computer screens for endless hours. I’d recognize his crew cut hair and leathery tanned skin anywhere.

I gasped and turned to run in the other direction.

“Don’t think about it, sweetheart. I have Frank back at the cabin. Do you want to be the cause of his death?”

Frankie.
I stopped and faced him again, feeling the goose bumps on my skin raise in apprehension. The man hopped off the snow mobile and wrenched me into his grasp. “Let’s go see how loverboy is faring.”

As if he was being summoned, Bane came running out into the open. A gash on his chest and knuckles bloodied. “Maren, are you okay?”

The gun cocked to my head and my heart stopped beating, rendering me speechless. “She’ll be fine as long as you listen. I have no problem putting a bullet in her head like I did Jasmine.”

The blood from Bane’s face drained as he watched me. Who was Jasmine? I felt light headed and swayed. Eric’s grip tightened on me. “Keep it together, sweetheart. Now you’re responsible for not only Frankie’s life, but Bane’s also.”

Bane talked. “Deep breaths, Maren. You can do this.” I nodded and focused on my breathing. The darkness leaving the edge of my vision.

“Let’s get back to the cabin. Put these zip ties on your wrists after you dump your weapons, Bane. If we find any on you when we get back, I’ll hurt the girl.” For a minute, Eric let me go and threw the plastic ties to Bane. Cautiously, he picked them up, watching Eric. Bane hesitated for a moment. “Don’t fuck with me. I won’t hesitate taking another woman away from you.”

“I’m going to kill you, motherfucker,” Bane said as he deposited two guns and three knifes into the snow. The blood darkened around the cut on his shirt. Bane was hurt. I checked him over closer and it appeared to be more of a surface wound.

Eric laughed. Actually laughed. “Like you did the first time …”

Fire emanated from Bane as he watched Eric with nothing but pure hate. “Let her go. I’ll come without any issues.”

Dramatically, Eric paused like he was thinking about it. “I don’t think so. You see, Maren has a bit more to play in getting what we want.”

A small frown, nearly imperceptible appeared on Bane’s face as he stared at Eric with no emotions. Binding his wrists and pulling the ties tight with his mouth, Bane held his hands up to show how secure they were.

“Very good. Now walk northwest. Stay fifteen paces ahead or you’ll be responsible for what I do to her.”

Bane’s jaw locked tight, but he did as he asked. The snow crunched beneath our feet as we walked to what felt like our death sentence.