Renegade (Elite Ops 5) (44 page)

"Kira, I'm sorry," Mikayla panted. There was no way out of it. She could feel the 212

danger coming closer, death marking the very air as she fought to figure out what to do, which way to turn.

Things were happening too fast. She hadn't had a chance to do too many things.

She hadn't told Nik she would always wait for him.

"Mikayla!" She heard him.

Jerking around, she saw him. Two tall, dark figures were racing across the yard,

weapons drawn, as sirens could be heard in the distance.

The steady, silenced strikes of bullets against the house had stopped. Whoever

had waited in the darkness to pick her and Kira off like sitting ducks were gone now.

"Kira!" Ian was suddenly at the other woman's side, his voice calm, concerned.

"Two. Shoulder and leg." Kira was breathing roughly. "I might need help pretty fast, Ian."

"An ambulance is on its way, baby," Ian promised her as he tore his shirt off and began placing tourniquets around Kira's shoulder and thigh.

Mikayla felt Nik beside her. She hadn't moved. His hands were going over her,

his gaze watching her in concern.

"They're gone?" she whispered as she stared back at him. "I didn't get to see who it was, Nik. I'm sorry."

His pale blue eyes were like white-hot flames in the darkness as the flash of lights began to fill the night and neighbors began filing from the houses.

"That's okay, I did." His face, his voice, was hard as stone. "I saw who it was, Mikayla. And I'll take care of it."

She shook her head slowly. "Don't leave me again Nik.
We'll
take care of it."

Nik prayed for the ice to return within his soul. He prayed like a broken man

praying for death as he stared into Mikayla's shocked, horrified eyes.

The race to get to her and Kira once Ian's phone had emitted that hard, shrill pulse in the truck had nearly gotten both men killed. Nik had raced through town like a

madman. All he could see was Mikayla's blood; all he could hear was her screams

echoing in his head.

To find her alive was a prayer answered. To realize just how many of his barriers

against emotion had been destroyed was a nightmare.

Holding her close, he watched as the police and ambulance arrived. Kira was

prepped for transport as the chief of police pulled up and watched, his expression stony, from the side of the street as another car pulled onto the curb.

Nik wasn't surprised to see his commander, Jordan Malone, step from the vehicle.

Robert Denover, the criminal investigator, stood to the side of the ambulance

questioning Ian as Jordan moved to them. Nik had no intentions of being a part of this.

He'd seen who had shot Kira, who had tried to shoot Mikayla, even as he and Ian had rushed from the truck, their own weapons drawn.

Nik couldn't believe it. A part of him had been certain, despite the evidence, that Maddix Nelson hadn't been involved in any of this. Only a stupid man would hire

someone of Nik's reputation to investigate a murder he had committed.

But it had been Maddix. There had been someone with him, Nik had seen the

other shadowed, unidentifiable figure, but he'd clearly seen Maddix.

"Don't mention that Ian and I saw anything," he warned Mikayla as the

investigator glanced their way. "You only saw shadows and bullets, nothing else."

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Mikayla nodded. "That is all I saw."

Her voice was still quivering as she trembled in Nik's arms. He should never have

left her, he admitted. She would have been far better protected with him than she was without him. He should have known this would happen. He'd allowed both Ian's wife as well as his own woman to be placed in danger because of his own fears.

Because of his knowledge that he was growing too close to her. That leaving her

was going to be that much more difficult.

His arms tightened around her as Jordan moved to them.

"I need backup," Nik told Jordan. "Mikayla and I are heading to the Nelson home.

I saw Maddix Nelson here tonight."

Jordan's gaze sliced to Mikayla. "Leave her with Ian."

"No." Mikayla's hands jerked up, gripping Nik's arm where it crossed over her breasts, holding her to him. "Not this time. I'm going, or I promise you everyone on this street will hear about it."

Nik grimaced. Jordan was right: the best thing to do would be to leave Mikayla

with Ian. Jordan would ensure her protection, even from the police.

"Nik, you do this and I promise I'll slip away from him." Her voice was husky from the tears that Nik refused to allow himself to see. "I have the right to face him. You know I do."

"The right and the ability are two different things, Ms. Martin," Jordan informed her.

"Who the hell are you anyway?" Mikayla bit out, the fury in her voice catching Nik by surprise. "You don't tell me what to do and what not to do. The last I heard, I already have a father."

Nik noticed the almost-amused quirk to Jordan's lips as he glanced back at him.

"She's too damned stubborn," Jordan told Nik. "This isn't going to work."

Nik shook his head wearily. "We don't have a choice but to make it work. I can't afford the distraction right now. She goes with us."

And he prayed. Like a dying man praying for salvation, Nik began to pray.

Mikayla sat silently in the front seat of the truck as it pulled into the Nelson

driveway several hours later. There should have been a sense of triumph, she thought as she stared at the lights blazing in the house. At the very least a sense of satisfaction.

Finally, Maddix Nelson would be brought to justice.

"Mikayla and I will go to the front door," Nik told Ian and Jordan as they sat in the back. "Slip around the back and come in behind us. Maddix doesn't know he was seen. He's not going to expect trouble if he just sees me and Mikayla."

The plan was simple. He and Mikayla would get into the house. Once he saw

Maddix was alone, then Nik would let him know he was seen.

Nik had promised the other man retribution if he learned he was involved in this.

The police would be called later. First, though, Nik would have his pound of flesh for Mikayla.

"Slip this into the back of your jeans." Flipping the safety on the small handgun he laid in Mikayla's hands, he stared back at her. "Keep your shirt pulled over it. Stay behind me, and if things go from sugar to shit, head for the nearest exit. Understand?"

She nodded, her amethyst eyes wide as excitement flushed her face.

Damn, he hoped he was right about this. Everything pointed to Maddix being

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alone in the house. He wouldn't expect Nik and Mikayla to be showing up if he had been seen. He should be off guard. That was all Nik needed to make certain Mikayla was safe.

"Let's go." He got out of the truck before coming around to help Mikayla out.

Jordan and Ian slipped out unnoticed, sliding into the darkness as Nik led Mikayla to the front door.

The doors opened as they approached them, a confused Maddix Nelson staring

back at them in silence.

"Nik?" He looked at Mikayla. "I heard there were problems at Ms. Martin's home?"

"A shooter." Nik escorted Mikayla inside as Maddix stepped aside.

Mikayla stared around the foyer, her gaze searching, ears listening for anyone else who might be there.

"Come into the living room," Maddix said, a note of confusion still in his voice as he invited them into the room. "Is there something wrong?"

"A few things," Nik stated as they moved into the luxurious television room. "Are Glenda and Luke here?"

Maddix shook his head as he moved toward a well-appointed wet bar. "Glenda is out with friends and Luke hasn't been around for a day or so. He'll show up when he sobers up, I imagine." The hint of disgust in Maddix's voice wasn't feigned.

"Then you're alone?" Nik asked.

Maddix glanced up from the drinks. "Is that a problem?"

"Only if you weren't here when Mikayla was attacked," Nik stated coldly.

"Then we don't have a problem." Maddix shrugged. "Would you like a drink?"

"No, thanks. We're fine."

Maddix fixed his own as Mikayla watched him. Surely there would be some hint

of nervousness, something other than confusion, as he fixed his drink, glancing at them with a frown.

"Nik, why are you and Ms. Martin here?" he finally asked as he moved to the butter-soft leather sofa in front of a cold fireplace and took a seat. "I'm going to assume it has something to do with the shooting."

Mikayla stayed close to Nik as he shifted and glanced to the open doorway.

"I saw you there, Maddix."

Maddix stared at them as though he couldn't process Nik's words. "Excuse me?"

"I saw you." Nik moved, sliding his hand to his side to release the weapon holstered there.

"I'd leave that gun there if I were you, Steele."

Mikayla swung around, her heart in her throat; the only thing overriding her fear

was her anger as she saw Luke Nelson standing just inside the doorway, gun in hand and pointing to them.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Maddix moved slowly to his feet as Mikayla glanced at him, his gaze widening, shock and bemusement marking his face. The same bemusement she was beginning to feel herself.

Maddix acted innocent. Luke was definitely guilty of something, but he looked

nothing like his father, physically; there was no way she or Nik could have mistaken him for Maddix if he had been the one at the house.

"Luke, put that damned gun away," Maddix ordered harshly. "What the hell is 215

going on with you?"

Luke's smile could have rivaled Nik's for icy disdain.

"You're inherently stupid," Luke drawled. "I realized that before Mother ever divorced you. You'd think you'd be smarter with all the success you've had with the business Grandfather gave you when he retired."

Maddix's eyes narrowed. "What have you done, Luke?"

"Let's say I made my choice and picked the winning team." Stepping back, he glanced to the hall, and a second later Mikayla well understood how Maddix Nelson

could be in two places at once.

The man who stepped into the door was his exact likeness. He was even dressed

in the same clothes Maddix was wearing.

"Good evening, Ms. Martin," he greeted her, his voice an exact match to Maddix's as well. "It seems my marksmanship isn't all it should be. Though if it were, where would my witnesses be?" He chuckled, a low, evil sound that sent a chill racing up her spine.

It was almost impossible to believe. Maddix Nelson had no brothers. How many

times had she heard that Maddix Nelson was his father's sole heir when he had taken over the business? As though being an only child were a handicap.

If the look on Maddix's face was anything to go by, then the belief was mutual.

"Luke?" Maddix spoke to his son, but the disbelief and confusion in his voice were heavy.

Luke laughed. It was a mocking sound, heavy with cruelty.

"Maddix Nelson, meet your twin brother, Floyd Cantwell. Did you know your

grandfather was the one who made the decision to split the two of you up at birth?"

Luke's smile was hard, brutal. "To raise Floyd with the knowledge that he was the lesser son, the one he threw away? I understand how he feels."

Maddix pulled his gaze from the brother to the son. Mikayla could see the

disbelief in Maddix's gaze, the agony, and the fear.

"I never threw you away," he whispered as though in shock.

"You threw me away for your first child, that fucking company you prize so

highly," Luke snarled. "But I've decided you're not the best father and now I'm choosing the father I want. And I chose the new Maddix Nelson."

Maddix was pale, staring at his son as though he had lost his mind, as though he

had ripped his father's heart from his chest. She didn't think she had ever such pain on anyone's face in her life.

"This is going to be difficult to pull off, Luke," Nik stated then. "Your father isn't alone."

Luke grinned maniacally. "So? You and Maddix argued. He shot you and

Mikayla; then you fired at him and killed him. Floyd will then show up as the Nelson heir, since my grandparents so kindly disowned me and my father intends to name that whore Glenda as his heir rather than me."

Maddix shook his head. "It was a threat. I just wanted you to see what you were throwing away," he whispered. "I have no other children, Luke."

"Glenda is trying to get pregnant," Luke raged. "That cow is trying to breed so you can throw me away like your father threw your brother away."

Maddix looked at his brother again and shook his head. "You should have come

to me," he whispered. "I would have never disinherited you."

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Mikayla watched as Floyd Cantwell smiled. "I will, when you're dead. I've lived my life in your shadow, Brother. I have no desire to live there any longer."

As Floyd Cantwell stepped farther into the room, it was easy to tell he thought he was in control. His hazel eyes were chillingly cold, as mean as Luke's and just as brutal.