Dark (Beautiful Ashes #1) (4 page)

Chapter
Six

“Tar! Hey, you in there?” Mitch nudged his onetime best friend. Whoever Tar ran into did quite a number on him. The anonymous tip Mitch received probably saved Tar’s life. He hopped up in full combat mode as Mitch gently persuaded, “McNeil. You’re fine. No one here to harm you, man…only help,” he reassured.

Tar locked a hard gaze on his. “She’s in danger. Did you get her out of there?”

“Keeley was with you when this happened?”

“Fuck. She’s still there!” he roared and went straight to the metal cabinets lining the wall. Grabbing a Bersa Thunder 9MM and some ammo, spare magazines, and a hip holster, he began to gear up. On the other side, he clipped on a Glock Field Knife with a 6.5-inch blade. With his black BDU’s and combat boots, he looked like a mercenary just begging for a fight. His snug black Sport Tek shirt hugged each hard-defined muscle in his upper body. He then buttoned up a thick shirt over it, not unlike what he’d worn in the field nearly two years before. He placed the black cap on his raven hair. The only color on him was his vibrant green eyes, and they screamed battle ready. He was a dark knight ready to slay any damn thing that stood between him and Keeley. Tar acknowledged he was on borrowed time. Whether the drugs did their job and thoroughly took Keeley’s mind or the so-called caregivers sold her to the highest bidder, she was in grave danger. Every tick of the second hand on his black dive watch told him, she was moving further and further away. Unacceptable. Defeat was not in his vocabulary. Any more so than letting her down was an option. His stride held a purpose that even Mitch saluted as he passed by before turning and joining his friend.

Tar never said a word. The unspoken code was one he could never forget. It was never an I but a we when you were part of such an elite team. And no one went out there without backup. Period.

*****

The clinic held a haunting quality to it as they entered from a side door. It was too quiet. Hairs rose on the back of Tar’s neck as he let his senses tell him what he needed to know. The smell of copper told them there was blood close by. Mitch signaled he was taking the left hall as Tar continued to the right. Didn’t take long for them to meet up in what was once a room used for surgeries. Mitch was all too familiar with the makeshift operating equipment. “Tar, whoever was here is long gone,” he pointed out what they both knew.

Tar leveled a look at him. “We search everywhere. Nothing goes unturned.”

“Copy that.”

Deserted in an obvious hurry, Tar was hoping for a clue to Keeley’s whereabouts, but nothing was showing up. After a thorough search, they came up empty-handed. Tar bowed his head while the setback burned his gut, threatening to empty its contents. Mitch placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find your girl.”

On the tip of Tar’s tongue were the words he never wanted to speak, yet it was fact. “We’ve lost all traces of her.”

Mitch swallowed hard, knowing full well what that implied. Keeley was either dead, lost to a drug she might never recover from, or sold as a sex slave. And none of those options sat well as bile rose, hot and fast, up Mitch’s throat. He vomited to the side as Tar turned and marched away. Mitch knew it wasn’t lack of compassion. Tar was about to lose his shit, and he needed to reel in the beast that was right at the surface. As Tarius rounded a corner, a silver rod caught his eye. He got down on his haunches, recognizing the design on one end. It was a spiral like, reminding him of a vine. Blood on the other end told him it didn’t just come loose. Someone removed it with force. Keeley had one like it. She wore it in the top shell of her left ear. My God, talk about inflicting serious pain. And that was when he lost all sense of control.

An ungodly roar reverberated off the walls and echoed through the halls. Agony. Fury. The two emotions warred for dominance as the fiend reared up and shredded all within its grasp. By the time Mitch could even try to reason with Tar, he had destroyed the facility. But that wasn’t what tore Mitch to pieces. Seeing a man he respected, a brother he owed his life to, on his knees and howling out his pain in complete helplessness was what did it. Broken, Tar bowed his head. And that was when Mitch realized what he was doing. Praying. Something he didn’t anticipate coming from this particular brother-in-arms. Yet there was no mistaking it. Out of reverence, Mitch gave him privacy to talk to God. He knew all too well how vital that conversation was. How life changing it could be. Odd, this was what severed their friendship when Tar lost his fiancée to his biological brother. Yeah, talk about fucked up. While he was off serving and protecting, his own flesh and blood seduced the love of his life.

*****

The demon knelt by her side with a ghastly sneer on his face as he studied the damage done. Should’ve been more. Leave it to incompetent humans to botch up such a simple task: Kill the girl known as Keeley. He shook his head in utter disgust.

Keeley’s eyes opened wide at the sight before her. Was she dreaming? Hallucination? Good God, did she finally die and was now in Hell? There was no mistaking the man kneeling to her left. She’d know that devil anywhere.
Caleb
. Yet when the frightening gaze met hers, it wasn’t quite his? “What the fuck?”

He reached forward and swirled a finger in and around the fresh wounds across her breasts. She didn’t want to feel aroused, but her damnable body was. Keeley knew how wrong it was, how utterly despicable to want him hurting her so she could orgasm.
Dear God, please just put me out of my misery. I can’t live like this, craving more and more pain to experience pleasure
. The demon smirked, as if he’d heard her inner prayer, and bent toward the erect peak inviting his bite. Full compliance met her body’s demand as he rose with her blood oozing from his mouth. Was that part of her nipple in-between his teeth?! She looked down at her heaving chest and SCREAMED.

Fucking little bitch called the cavalry. The demon covered his ears and toyed with the rod in his mouth he’d taken from her. Smelling fresh blood gave him a raging hard-on, he could do nothing about. A doctor raced in to check on Keeley as he slunk back into the shadows, waiting for a better opportunity to claim what was already his.

“What the hell is wrong now?” The doctor asked Keeley as she approached. She was not prepared for the sight of a new wound. Dumbfounded she stood, staring. The girl was restrained for her protection. So how did this happen? Her quick gaze took in the room. No other way in or out of the basement.

A nurse came barging into the room and quickly vomited from the carnage before him. “You stupid prick. Get the fuck out of here if you don’t have the balls to stomach it,” she barked in complete disgust. Where the hell did they find these so-called nurses, anyway? Keeley’s wide eyes met hers as she began to sop up the blood. She noticed the patient had pure terror etched in her features, as if she’d seen a ghost. “Well,
something
did a damn good job of harming you.”

All around the girl’s breast was what appeared to be a nasty bite, except, it was missing key evidence, like saliva and teeth marks. If she still worked for the good guys, she’d have taken pictures. No one gave a damn on this side of the law. They were more concerned with money and property than finding out who was behind wounding another. This particular patient would bring in a lot of cash if they could heal her body enough to get her to that slave auction. Time worked against her, two weeks and the stitches she was sewing would be removable, but they’d leave a mark. The girl was damn lucky not to have lost any part of her body. Still, who’d done it? And how did they get in here? “Looks like only the rod was taken,” she answered Keeley’s unspoken question.

Keeley took a deep, labored breath. She wasn’t dead or disfigured. Why the beast chose not to do either was beyond her. Although, she acknowledged, a decent scar would forever mar her. Add it to the list. “Where am I?”

“No need to worry about that. You won’t be staying for long.” The matter-of-fact tone told Keeley she was in danger.

Another thought popped out before she could censor it. “Why didn’t you let the drug do its job?”

That gained a quirk of the doctor’s brow. “You wanted to have mush for a brain?” With a slight cock of her head, she continued, “Oh, I see. You wanted to die.”

Keeley nodded solemnly. “It would be best.”

The doctor chortled unkindly. “What awaits you is a sadist who will most likely give you your heart’s desire, my dear.”

Damn. She squirmed from the juices her sex provided. What should scare the ever-loving shit out of her, effectively turned her on. In a still small place inside, where light still flickered, came a hope she couldn’t fathom. Tar would not let her be sold or taken away. He’d save her. Her soft smile did not go unnoticed, but was misinterpreted. “You like
that
. Good. Now I know you’ll fully cooperate,” the doctor said as she removed her gloves.

Keeley shrugged, neither admitting nor denying the speculation. Deep down she knew her death would be the kindest for Tar, for her sweet sister, Lacey, even herself, but the masochist inside craved the emotional upheaval that could be gained from surviving. She really had fallen. And though Keeley knew he’d try, Tarius couldn’t save her. No one could.

Chapter
Seven

Tar stepped into a small office, noticing Mitch was in deep concentration. “Find something?”

Fucking A. “Nothing good, man.”

Tar stepped around the desk to peer over Mitch’s shoulder and froze, his breath leaving his lungs on a, “Are you
fucking
kidding me?!”

Before Mitch could confirm or deny whatever was going through Tar’s head, one of his men walked in. “Leith. Whatcha got?”

“Found this, Sir.” He held up a blood soaked T-shirt.

Mitch turned. “Tar?” He snapped his fingers in front of those vacant green eyes. “I need you here, McNeil.” Tar’s gaze met his, and what Mitch saw sent cold shivers up and down his spine.
That
look. He’d only seen it on Tar’s face once and prayed he would never witness it again. Yet, there it was saluting him. Holy Mary Mother of God. Mitch moved quickly, but it wasn’t fast enough. Tar latched onto the other man in the room with a punishing grip. Tar was a mountain of a man, and enraged, he became damn near unstoppable. This was why Mitch respected the hell out of the man who could easily destroy all in his path with a single swipe of his muscled arm. Also the reason he knew just how deadly Tarius McNeil was in that particular state.

Dangerous.

Ruthless.

Unforgiving.

A sight one would never forget when they came face-to-face with it. Leith fought hard to breathe but he didn’t back down, reaching for a pressure point inside the forearm choking him. The tiny reflex was all he needed to get enough air to gasp out, “I-I-I on-ly…w-want t-t-to he-lp.”

Mitch approached with caution, gun drawn.
Please God, I don’t want to shoot him
. But he knew he would if necessary. “One. Of. Our. Own,” he said, articulating each word.

The barrel against Tar’s temple flashed a night he’d tried so hard to bury.

His brother and his fiancée betrayed him. The letter lay beside him tear-soaked. How could the people he loved most do something that despicable? Caught off-guard, the enemy infiltrated their camp and was now bearing down on one of Tar’s best friends, Mitch. There was no time to think. No time to consider which end was up. Just react. Envisioning his brother’s neck in his arms, he made a clean break, unbeknownst to him it was one of their own. What Tar didn’t hear was the order given to stand down. Lost to his own misery and pain, plus the threat, he’d made a critical error—a deadly one. The life of their newest team member snuffed out all because Tar missed the crucial information that the lone scout was apprehended.

His circuits were misfiring, present…past…present…past.

Mitch took the window of opportunity given and struck Tar with the butt of the Sig in his hand. Not the best way to take someone down, honestly. Never went the way it did in the movies. Matter of fact, it was far more difficult than most realized. Right before Tar’s lights went out, he heard Mitch apologize, “Sorry, brother.”

Leith was coughing hard as Mitch kindly spoke, “You have to know he mistook you for the one who did
that
,” pointing at the blood-soaked shirt.

Another loud gasping cough before he whispered, “Gathered that.”

“Yeah, well, sure doesn’t help the situation.”

“Sir?”

“Our missions are connected, but he’s flying solo on his.”

Leith met Mitch’s gaze. “The girl ties the two.”

“Affirmative.”

“Holy fuck!”

Mitch nodded, noticing the younger man still was speaking in a raspy whisper. “How’s the throat?”

“Sore as hell. Lucky he didn’t crush it.”

“Shows he had some sliver of control left,” Mitch affirmed as he bent over Tar.

“Will he be okay?”

“Yup. One hell of a headache but didn’t break the skin. Should be coming to in—”

Mitch was interrupted by Tar’s deep groan.

Leith half coughed, half chuckled. “Now.”

“Step back in case he’s unsure of his surroundings. Wouldn’t want that pretty throat completely destroyed,” he teased the other man.

“Fuck you,” he replied without heat.

Tar sat up suddenly, scanning the room. “The hell happened?”

“You got a little up close and personal with Leith,” he inclined his head in the other man’s direction, “so to prevent any mishaps, my gun kissed your head.”

“Shit!”

“Didn’t give me much choice there, man.”

“S’pose I didn’t.” Tar locked his gaze on Leith’s. “My apologies.”

“No need for that.” Leith held out his hand.

Tar shook it and introduced himself.

Mitch assisted on getting the big man back to his feet as they studied the T-shirt that caused the incident. Tar’s gut told him it had once been on Keeley, but he couldn’t prove it. Mitch didn’t disagree with the speculation; however, it wasn’t anything they could go on. Leith excused himself, hoping to uncover some kind of lead. After scouring the premises thoroughly, the men came to terms—they were no closer to finding Keeley than locating the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Tar scrubbed his face, hard. “Let’s call it.”

“Copy that,” Mitch declared.

“Sorry, man,” Leith said to Tar. “I wish we could’ve found something.”

“Me too, kid. Me too.”

*****

Shelby watched the men move in an elegant grace that was incongruent to their formidable size and unmistakable danger. Her limp kept her at a distance that was frustrating. Not wanting to holler at Tar but needing his attention, she picked up a rock and hurled it. A disturbance in the air brought Tar around in a one-eighty, catching someone in his peripheral. The sidelong glance told him who was in the shadows. Granted, if she didn’t move to the left, he wouldn’t have put two and two together so quickly. But that leg of hers was a giveaway. He acknowledged nurse Shelby wouldn’t have tracked him down for no reason. Also told him she was skilled on these streets. The team with him wasn’t known for leaving traces of their existence.

He clapped Mitch on the shoulder. “G’ahead. I’ll catch up.”

A wry gaze met his with a what-the-hell-are-you-up-to-now question.

Tar inclined his head without a word. The gesture speaking for him: none ya damn business.

Mitch shook his head and kept walking, engaging Leith in some nonsensical conversation that brought a low chuckle from Tar. Leave it to Mitch to find something downright comical to discuss in the midst of uncertainty and danger. Something Tar had always admired. Content the two men were far enough away and well out of earshot, Tar met Shelby on the side of the building she was using for cover. “Whatcha got for me, my lady?”

She actually laughed before pausing and tilting her head. “You know, fitting, since I consider you a knight.”

He snickered. “A knight, seriously?”

“Very.” Her chin jutted out. “You’re ready to slay the dragon in order to save the princess. What else describes you better?”

“When you put that way…” He smirked.

She tugged on his arm. “Come. We don’t have much time.”

Slinking through the back alleyways put Tar’s instincts on high alert. They came to an old hotel abandoned in a part of town that was once the
in
place to be. Los Angeles held many locations like that. The glitz and glamour moved away each and every day. Shelby pointed at a door hidden behind a dumpster. “The stairwell leads down. Hopefully your damsel is still there.” She gave a slight smile. “I can’t be seen.”

Full understanding registered as Tar took in his surroundings. The SEAL in him comprehended he should turn back and bring a team to help with the extraction. But the protector in him— no, the man in love—wouldn’t consider leaving Keeley if she was in there. That settled in his gut and silenced his training. He was no longer McNeil who was part of an eight-man team. He was Tarius, and Keeley needed him. Forcing his muscles to comply and his mind to center on his objective, he entered through the doorway and prayed he’d finally found her.

First thing Tar took in, was the strong sent of antiseptic. The stairs were in decent condition, making stealth easier. Known for his ability to ghost in and out, he slid along the walls undetected. There were plenty of people milling about, but none noticed him. Odds were in his favor on that. He was in all black and conveniently the walls were painted the same hue. It was a tactic used to delude captives from escape. If they felt there was no way out or that it was too long and risky to try, they wouldn’t. As he peeked through a cracked door, an alarm blared.  Chaos erupted. What he saw wasn’t unlike warfare. Several bloody bodies were being streamed into different rooms. He deduced there’d been some kind of gunfight. A low groan brought his attention back to the doorway he’d been peering around.

Tar eased inside and softly latched the lock. He studied the tiny figure on the bed. She was restrained to the bedrails on each side. What he couldn’t be sure of was if Keeley was the woman lying there in excruciating pain. Her moans and the thrashing of her feet told him, whoever she was, pain meds were needed. Stat. He sidled up to her and his breath caught. His heart hammered in his chest and ears, bringing all focus there. No. That led to mistakes. He forced calm over himself that left a sting along his skin, as if ants were biting. With eagle like precision, he surveyed her injuries. Good. He could move her. Not wanting to drug her, he chose a rather barbarian way to keep her quiet. The makeshift gag brought those wide brandy colored eyes to his. He leaned in. “Be the silent viper I know you are. You can strike me later.” He sealed that promise with a gentle kiss on her forehead.

*****

Keeley attempted to rail at him but the effort proved too much for her, and tears leaked as defeat settled into her muscles. She was out of fight. Really…what was she fighting? She knew he’d come for her, proving once more just how much he loved her. No, she wasn’t any good for this brave warrior, but that was a battle she’d fight another day. For now, she leaned in and inhaled deeply the clean sweat of the man she loved. Might as well be honest with herself. He could never know, but that was beside the point. Later, she’d make sure he wanted nothing to do with her.

*****

Tar eased them toward the exit as he heard the last thing he ever expected.

“Get down. Now.” Mitch’s command came from the floor above.

Next thing Tar knew; all hell broke loose. The SEAL rose to the occasion. Let’s dance.

Bullets zinged by as he carefully placed Keeley down, then pulled his firearms out and joined in. Leith met him in the hallway, reloading as he squatted down to ensure the woman behind Tar was unharmed by the latest party poppers. He nodded as Tar peered over his shoulder.

Mitch joined the festivities, taking place on the lower level, after the all clear upstairs. The team was well-versed on one another. Each man moving left or right of the other and returned the love from the enemy on the premises. Afterwards, he joined Tar, Leith, and Keeley, addressing, “McNeil. You dumbshit. What is the first rule you learned when you enlisted?”

Tar smirked. “Never go in without an escort.”

“Fucking right.”

“Sir,” Leith spoke up, “under the circumstances, I believe he deserves a little understanding.”

Mitch growled, “I’d have your ass, boy, if this were still a platoon.” His features softened slightly. “However, I feel ya.”

Tar chuckled while swiping the hair off Keeley’s furrowed brow. “He’s all pomp and circumstance, Leith.” He then leaned down to stroke Keeley’s nose with his. “You doin’ alright, Viper?”

Her attempted hiss around the gag told him all he needed to know. She was pissed, yes. But he also saw the relief etched in her expression. All the thanks he needed. Tarius McNeil was no fool, though. He’d just won the battle, but, acknowledged, the war still raged on with the beautiful woman holding his gaze. She thought herself weak, a victim of circumstance. What she didn’t yet realize about herself, she was one of the bravest warriors he’d ever had the pleasure of knowing. Operation Time for Keeley to Recognize She was a Fucking Survivor was now underway. God help him.