The Cardinal Bird - Book 1: Reverse Harem Series (The Cardinal Series) Page 5

  "Calm down, Jace," Brock coached between breaths. "If you upset the water, you'll get it in your mouth."

  That comment brought instant silence from within until Jace spoke up once more. "Hey guys..." he said.

  "Just another minute, Brat, brother," Aleks said, breathing deeply.

  "I second that," Brock said, panting.

  "No, not that. I think I found it," Jace said.

  "Are you sure?" Karl asked, serious.

  There was a short pause. "I think so."

  "What does it feel like?"

  "Kind of rectangular. Skinny. Small. There are lots of bits and pieces in here from I don't want to know what the fuck from, but those all feel different from it. This feels less...organic."

  The guys looked my way.

  My breath hitched, nearly sending me into a coughing fit. "I-I think that's it. He described it dead-on."

  "Dead-on?" Aleks asked a sweaty eyebrow cocked.

  "Not now with your handicapped English," Brock grumbled before I could respond. "Jace, can you pick it up with your feet?"

  There was a longer wait this time as if he was trying or debating something. He sighed and when he spoke it was with resignation. "I don't want to lose it. It's so slimy I can barely feel it. There's no way I'll be able to get a good grip on it."

  "Alright," Karl said, "We'll lift the lid on my count, and then I want you to dive down and get it. Then you'll be able to get out. Are you ready?"

  "Fuck no," he said, followed up immediately by, "Yes. Just, just lift the lid. It's suffocating in here. Dark. I hate the dark."

  "I know. I owe you one, buddy," Karl said. "Get ready boys."

  The boys prepared to lift again. The sheet of steel groaned on its hinges. Jace’s face came into view once more. He was slightly pale but otherwise okay.

  I let out a breath of relief that I hadn't realized I was holding.

  "Okay," he said as if coaching himself. He took a deep breath and then disappeared into the inky depths. The water sloshed around, but he didn't surface.

  "Is he okay?" I asked, stepping forward.

  "I don't know, dušo," Brock said, adding a word on at the end that was in another language--not Russian. It wasn’t a language I was familiar with, and I knew lots of languages. Maybe it was a nickname.

  My eyes roved the surface of the water as if I could call Jace to the top by sheer willpower alone.

  Finally, the water broke. Jace splashed up with a deep breath. When he cleared the water from his eyes, he glanced at the deadly sheet of steel hanging over his head. "Am I good to get out?"

  "Da, Brat," Aleks said. “Yes, Brother.”

  Jace didn't even question it. He went to the side and hauled himself up and out, water sluicing down his body in rivulets. He lay down on his back once he had cleared the danger zone and just watched as the rest lowered the lid back down. It clanged shut for hopefully the last time.

  I zoned out a bit thinking about all of the lives that had been swallowed in there. Slow, agonizing deaths that screamed out their anger and eventually their desperation, begging as they slowly were claimed by the dark depths.

  It was Nikolai's most favorite method of ensuring cooperation. Whether you came out or not didn’t matter. Nikolai Ivanov ruled with fear. I was sure that was why all of the people had been so willing to shoot their own comrades when Nikolai gave the word.

  I looked out at the destruction and death. I'd heard the gunfight from inside the tank, but the visual of it gave it a more visceral reality. Still, I couldn't bring myself to feel more than token pain for them, and most of that was sympathy for those that were forced to join Nikolai or for the innocent families waiting for them at home. It was sad, but any one of them could have stepped up and prevented the death of a seven-year-old boy. And yet, not one of them had.

  "You never answered Jace’s question," Brock said, his dark eyes zeroed in on my face.

  I shifted on my feet a bit, pushing my lip in as I thought. "I'm sorry. What was the question?"

  "How long were you in there for?"

  "Since yesterday morning," I said, unable to meet the heavy stares coming from them. A movement drew my attention back over towards the tank. Jace was getting up, picking up his t-shirt to pat himself dry.

  I blushed, looked away, and decided to walk over to Kaz. I was sure this was the last time I would see him. I knelt down, ignoring the bite of the sharp-toothed grating the platform was made of.

  I studied him for a moment. It was less horrific now that I wasn't forced to only look at his eyes. Less accusing.

  Now, I got the whole picture. I could recognize the boy that had been so full of life only shortly over 24 hours ago. I could take in his small stature, his orange t-shirt, his arms that he used to wrap around my neck as he climbed into my lap for a hug--the same arm that had the braided twine bracelet I'd made him for his 5th birthday. Laying on his back like this, you couldn't see the damage that had been done to the back of his head.

  My eyes stopped on the bloody marks that I had made earlier when I'd tried to unsuccessfully close his eyes. I leaned forward, using my still damp skin to try to wipe away the blood from his face. I didn't know why I felt compelled to do it, but once I started, I couldn't stop. My vision blurred, making it hard to see if he was clean. I took the sleeve of the borrowed jacket to the hole on his forehead, wiping away what I could. Finally, I closed his eyes. They stayed shut this time.

  I took the sleeve and wiped at my face. My hazel eyes roamed over him once more. There was a smiling caricature of a tyrannosaurus, its giant head hunched over and resting on a bed with wimpy arms dangling uselessly to the side. Underneath it, it said in Russian: Next time you are sad, think of a T-Rex trying to make a bed.

  "He liked dinosaurs," I said thickly. No one said anything. I'm not even sure if they heard me...or if it was intelligible. If it was even in a language they understood. I wasn't sure what language I was thinking. I cleared my throat and tried again, feeling the need to tell someone even if they were strangers. "This was his favorite shirt."

  I leaned forward again, noticing blood on it. "It's stained." I swiped at it, but nothing happened. "It's ruined," My languages were mixing together as my mind became fraught with despair. It wasn’t English or Russian if their confused faces were anything to go by.

  Someone came forward and pulled me into their arms. "It is okay, dušo."

  I was folded into a chest that surrounded every part of me in security and warmth. I smelled a masculine scent. It smelled like aftershave and rain. Tears streamed down my face, but all of the deep sobs had been exhausted out of me over the past day.

  Another hand rested on my shoulder. I looked up and blinked to clear my vision. Deep brown eyes stared at me from under dripping-wet curls, pain rising in his to match mine. I followed Jace’s arm down to his other hand. He was holding out the thumb drive.

  The thumb drive.

  Chapter 4

  A new determination settled into my bones. My jaw clenched as I reached a shaking hand out to grab the thumb drive.

  I would still help these families and even though the other information would be invalidated by this point, I swore that I would also bring Nikolai Ivanov down if I could. Though people were chaotic, they still had some patterns they followed...a code they lived by no matter how warped or twisted. And I was somewhat of a connoisseur at hacking codes. I would crack Nikolai's code. I’d figure out a way to use this information. No matter how long it took me. I'd find a way to do it.

  There was silence.

  It was broken by the sound of a vehicle crunching on gravel as it pulled up outside the warehouse. I froze and felt the solid steel of someone's arms tightening around me. I realized I was sitting on a lap. I turned around, my eyes big, breathing fast. Even sitting on his lap, I still had to crane my neck up to see the face. Brock.

  I looked around the warehouse, trying to get any sort of clue as to who was here. Did Nikolai return? Probably not. Not his style. He could have sent someone though. To make sure the job was finished. My breath hitched as I tried to fight down a cough.

  Brock brought his hand up and petted my knotted, rancid hair down. The sheer size of his hand, the fact that it could easily span from ear to ear, should have intimidated me but instead caused my body to go limp. I felt a sense of safety from him. He was eyeing the rest of his team. "Shh, dušo. It’s okay. Just focus on your breathing."

  I looked around, noticing that the guys were speaking without actually speaking. Jace had dressed again and mostly dry, only his curly hair was sticking up and damp as droplets fell down his face. He must have used his t-shirt to dry himself off because he was bare-chested under his jacket. Likewise, his pants were riding low enough on his hips that it was easy to tell that he had decided to forgo the wet boxers.

  My breathing slowed as I focused on those random things, trying not to worry about who was had pulled up outside. It almost worked too, except Jace turned away from me to keep an eye on the door, and my thoughts went right back to the danger we could be in.

  These men were nice. They had risked a lot on my behalf. They didn't even know me. Literally, no one in my life had done that much for me. They were good people.

  What if it was Dell outside?

  I’d noticed pretty quickly that his body hadn’t been lying amongst the carnage in the middle of the warehouse. He must have gone with Nikolai before the shooting started. Unless he was part of it and just got out unscathed. He was the closest thing to what would be considered a favorite to Nikolai. Because of that, Dell was most likely the person everyone would've targeted when the firing started. Even so, he could have made it out, easily. He was just that good.

  I wasn't sure about these guys. Perhaps Aleks or Brock could hold their own against a guy like Dell. But...images of their mutilated bodies flashed through my mind.

  I was lifted out of Brock’s lap and set on my feet. My hand started cramping. I looked down, nearly having to pry my fingers open. The thumb drive. I pulled the zipper of the borrowed jacket down enough to slip my hand in and tuck the drive into the cup of my bra. Hopefully, it would be safe there.

  Jace moved me slightly behind him and against the wall. Apparently, we were going to hole up on the platform. He was so close that his jacket brushed against my face, and I smelled oranges, not real oranges, but synthetic oranges like it was a part of some type of cleaner or degreaser. Karl suddenly had a gun held in a two-handed grip out in front of him, his elbows locked out straight as he did a huddle run down the stairs.

  Government! My mind screamed out at me. I wasn't sure if he was current or ex, but he had had government training at some time in his life.

  Aleks went forward to army crawl across the tank. He laid low, bringing up his gun to point at the door. Every now and then his head would turn slightly to the right or left as if he was checking the windows. He pointed with his right and used his left hand to cup that wrist to steady his aim.

  Brock used an arm to push off from the platform, dropping to the ground below into a stealthy roll that he sprung back up from with ease. He flanked the other side of the door from Karl. His muscles bulged as he also pulled a gun. I was momentarily in awe of how silent it was considering the size of him and remembering how he had sounded the first time they climbed the stairs.

  Karl's thick brown eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he did something that must have signaled everyone to just wait because that was what they did. Jace put his hand on my shoulder, his fingers wrapping down to the middle of my shoulder blades as his thumb stretched past my collar bone in the front.

  What did they feed these boys? They were massive.

  He applied gentle pressure, getting me to sink low to the ground with him. I saw the advantage in this almost immediately. I could no longer see Brock and Karl from this vantage point. It took us from the view of the door.

  I held my breath as Jace pulled his own gun from a holster inside his jacket. I was close enough to smell the gun oil, watching as the dull morning light glinted off of the black metal.

  I hadn't even known these men had weapons on them until they started materializing like malware. Corruptive and dangerous.

  Did I really come to trust them so quickly? They hadn't said anything, but I assumed that they had planned to take me with them. Would I have gone with them? The only thing I knew about them was their names. Would I go with anyone that did a couple of nice things for me? Had my life really messed me up that much?

  I guess...yes, yes it had.

  Bad guys had guns. You couldn't fight guns with muscle. How could the good guys win without using the same tools? It didn't make them bad people.

  I may only know their first names, but instinct filled me in on the rest of what I needed to know.

  I glanced up at Jace’s tanned face. He was taut, coiled tight like a high-tension spring, ready to jump into action. He had placed himself between the danger and me. All of them had. Whoever was coming through the door, they would have to go through four men, each seemingly lethal and dangerous in their own ways, before they could get to me.

  I wanted to cry, but I was afraid that if I started, I wouldn't stop. I wanted to focus. I wanted to pull my weight. What if they needed my help?

  I wasn't the best in a fight, especially if it wasn’t a life or death situation, but I’d had training. If all else fails, I wanted to be able to do anything I could to contribute.

  I had been pulled in different directions for nearly my entire life. Some directions were less corrupt, others more so, but the paths had all been without my consent. I wanted to take my life back. I was an adult now. I needed to act like one.

  My lungs expanded slowly, taking in a deep ragged breath. I felt resolute as I opened my eyes.

  If need be, I could kill for these strangers. I had killed before, and I would be able to do it again if it came down to it.

  The room itself seemed to hold its breath as the tension racketed up.

  I didn't know if Brock or Karl did it or if it was from the intruders outside, but there was a shout and a huge gush of air as the doors were thrown open and morning light flooded in.

  The room was saturated with shouting. I couldn't focus. Then there was the loud crack of a gunshot followed by violent and furious cursing from more than one area in the room.

  We were shooting? They were hostile?

  We needed to do something, but Jace was a still statue in front of me, not moving an ounce.

  “Aleks, what the fuck?" an angry voice yelled. Brock.

  "It’s CJ on the comms. He says it’s him outside," Karl said. "Why are you shooting?"

  My body was confused and just flat freaking out. It didn't know what to do or process first. A second ago there was shouting, cursing, and gunfire. Now there was still shouting and anger but no more gunfire. My brain didn't know how to respond to the casual, familiar tone the guys had taken after thinking we were in the middle of a siege.

  I peeked around Jace’s body in time to see Aleks shrug one of his broad shoulders. "I had to get my favorite shirt dirty. I was frustrated."

  There was more swearing, almost all of it from Brock.

  Jace finally seemed to relax as he got to his feet.

  I braced my hand against the wall. "Jace," I said, finally able to think of something to do. "Do you know the guy in the van?"

  He turned around, his eyes running up and down my body, a frown growing on his face. "Yes. My brother, CJ, said he just pulled up. We didn't know he was coming, so we were being cautious." He paused for a moment, debating something. "Are you okay?"