Killing Honor (18 page)

“You had no intention of letting me live.” I spat out through clenched teeth. He hadn’t let go of my hand and it was starting to shoot pain through my arm.

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance.” He grinned. “Don’t worry. After I do you, I’m going to do Addison too.”

“Stop, Rene,” Alex’s voice boomed behind me. I couldn’t see him, and I didn’t dare look away from his brother. Rene’s eyes narrowed, and his lip curled in a snarl.

“Don’t threaten me, little brother. Father wanted me to take care of you. And that means I have to clean up your messes.”

“I could care less about this one. You’re not touching Addison.” Finally, the barrel of a gun appeared in my peripheral vision. Rene glanced at me, and then released me so he could point his weapon at Alex.

Addison grabbed me and pulled me away from the standoff. “Are you okay?”

“My hand hurts like a bitch,” I whispered, shaking my hand. Tingles shot up and down my arm, my hand trembling.

“Oh, little brother… You let that pussy wrap her little claws around your dick. You know what you were supposed to do.”

Alex’s eyes glanced to Addison for a moment, then back to his brother. What was he supposed to do?

But the brief glance in her direction was all Addison needed. She ran and jumped on Rene’s back, covering his eyes.

“Addison!” I screamed.

He grabbed her almost instantly and dropped her to the ground. He kicked her. She cried out. And before Alex could react, Rene popped his gun back up. Alex froze.

“I’m sorry about this, Alex. But you’re a risk. And I won’t let you betray the family.”

“Rene, don’t—”

Another gunshot filled the air. Alex froze, his grip on the gun he couldn’t quite raise up loosened and it fell to the ground near Addison. He blinked, surprise coloring his face and glanced down, the blood starting to spread in a radial direction from the center of his chest.

He dropped to his knees. His eyes glazed over. His hand touched his chest, his fingers coming away wet with blood. He glanced to his side, where Addison lay, watching. For a moment, he looked human, vulnerable.

It was strange that the man who was a son of an international arms dealer could be vulnerable or human. But then he lost the battle and fell to the floor.

“My brother the fool,” Rene whispered. He turned, raising his gun again toward Addison. “Your turn, little pussy.” 

But she was ready for him this time. She had Alex’s gun in her hand and pointed it right at him. “This little pussy bites, Rene.” She stood up slowly, following the path of his gun as she did. Neither of them looked away from each other. It was another standoff.

I felt pretty useless standing there, no gun, and both were pretty much ignoring me to focus on each other. This wasn’t what I was good at. Addy stepped backward, toward me.

“You’re just like that one, you know. Weak. Vulnerable. That’s why he picked you. You were an easy target.” Addison’s grip on the gun tightened, just a fraction. Rene noticed. “Put the gun down. You’re not going to fire.”

He rushed her, and the gun went off. He stumbled back, blood starting to stream from his shoulder. He roared. We turned to run, but he managed to grab Addison’s hair and yank her back against him. I couldn’t let him hurt her. I jumped, wrapping one arm around his neck and pulling his hair back, trying to get him to let her go. He stumbled back, against the wall, slamming me hard between him and the wall.

Suddenly, all the windows in the bedroom shattered, and a hail of gunfire followed as several masked men entered the room from every outside entrance possible. They surrounded the room, but Rene released Addison before he ducked for cover. Addy and I jumped the opposite way as more of Giroux’s men poured into the room.

I didn’t know who these new men were. But they were fighting Giroux’s men, so that was enough for me. All I wanted was to get to Brody. He’d know how to get out. We flattened ourselves on the floor as we were caught in the crossfire, using our elbows to propel ourselves.

Addy screamed when we were only inches from the door. “Fuck me.” 

“What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“I think someone shot my leg.” Her face scrounged up in pain. I grabbed her by the arms and dragged her out of the room with me, despite her pleas to leave her.

There was no one in the hall, so I pulled her to her feet and wrapped her arm around my shoulders. Together we ran as quickly as we could as her leg bled until I found a place I could stop safely, or more safely. I set Addy down into a sitting position.

“You have to get out, Devyn. Find Brody. Get out. Now.”

“Let’s take care of your leg,” I told her. I was wearing a sweater, so I shrugged it off. Her jeans had turned a dark crimson, a small hole showing where the bullet had gone into her skin. “I have no idea how to take that bullet out.”

“You don’t have time. Just go.” Addison said. “I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll carry you.”

“No. I’ll bleed out if I don’t stop this thing. Here,” she pressed the gun into my hand. “Four more bullets. Make them count.”

“What about you? This will leave you without a gun.”

Addison grinned. “Trust me. I’ll be safe.”

“Rene will kill you.”

“He won’t. Because I have my own secrets up my sleeve.” She wrapped my hands around the gun. “I’ll be okay. Just… find Brody. And could you tell Chris—I mean… Will you tell Chris—”

“I will.” I nodded, understanding what she was asking. “We’ll find you.”

“Good. Go.”

“I never realized you were so badass, Addison.”

“People change,” she whispered. “It’s something I grew into.” She smiled, but it was weak.

I threw my arms around her neck and squeezed. “Thank you.”

The gunfire slowed. I gave Addy another hug and then I left her laying in the hallway, leaning against the wall. I ran down the stairs as quickly as possible. It was odd that there was no one there, but I assumed that any guard that would have been here probably went off to join against the attackers.

I reached the basement door I remembered, and found it unlocked. Inside, Brody was working hard to try to free himself. Now I understood why Addison told me to leave her. It was going to be next to impossible for me to support Brody at this point, because he wasn’t standing up on his own any more. I had to help him. I couldn’t have helped Addison too.

“Brody!” I called to him, and ran over to him.

“Devyn, what’s going on? I heard gunfire.”

“I don’t know. A bunch of men smashed through the window and started firing guns.”

“There’s blood on your hands.”

“It’s Addison’s blood.” I told him. “She’s here. She made me leave her because she was injured.”

I put the gun’s safety on and shoved the tip in my pocket. I went to work on one of the knots holding Brody up.

“What do you mean, Addison’s here? Chris’s sister, Addison?”

I nodded. “I’ll explain it later.”

“Fuck, get me loose.” He cursed. “Chris is gonna shit a brick. Maybe two.” I got the first round of knots done, but someone had worked hard on keeping Brody secure. It took me a minute or two to get his hand free. His body tried to crumple, but he forced himself back up.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“I’ll be fine. Just let me get this hand free. I have a good feeling I know who’s attacking the house.”

“Who?”

“My team. I have a GPS locator in my chest.” He winced as he straightened his body. My husband had a GPS locator in his chest. It was like I was in a bad action movie.

I pulled the gun from where I’d shoved it. It was warm at the tip, where it’d sat against my body. But the handle was cool to the touch. I wanted to just hand it over to Brody and be done with it. I didn’t want to hold it. The thought of guns made me sick to my stomach right then.

“Oh, Devyn, I really never expected you to be this much trouble.” I raised the gun as I whirled toward the door. Brody froze behind me, one hand still tied. His free hand touched my shoulder in a reassuring way.

I aimed that gun right at Marie as close to center mass as I could get it. She had a gun pointed at me too, and I trusted her aim a lot more than mine. But I was done showing her fear. She’d threatened me, threatened my children, kidnapped me, and now she was about to kill me.

Devyn

Anger infused my present mind. Marie had disrupted my life. She’d lied to me. She’d kidnapped me and Brody. She’d tortured him. Kept me in a closet. My girls were hundreds of miles away, not knowing where their parents were. Whatever happened today, I was determined not to let Marie do any more damage to my life.

I leveled my gun at her. I wanted her to die.

Brody’s voice was quiet and close to me. “Devyn, give me the gun.”

“No.” I stared at Marie and stepped closer to her. “This ends today.”

“It’s already over, Devyn,” Brody said. “My team is the attacking force. They’re here to take us home.”

Marie laughed maniacally. “It’s certainly not over, Petty Officer Battles. It’s far from it. This house is compromised, yes, but we have dozens more. This will barely make a dent.”

“You could save yourself,” Brody told her. “You could come back with us, talk to us about your father.”

“Betray my family? With the very people who are responsible for my husband’s death. You must think I’m mad.” She turned toward me again, that gun zeroing in on her. “And you, little girl. You’re not going to shoot me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. I’ve known you for over a year. I had all that time to study you, the way you operate. I know you better than you know yourself and you’re not going to shoot me. Because you have honor and no will to be a killer.”

“I could be,” I said, through my teeth, my jaw clenched shut. “You’ve pushed me pretty far, Marie.”

Brody tried to grab me again, but I shrugged him off and stepped out of his reach. “Devyn, don’t take that bait.”

Marie didn’t even spare Brody a glance. All her attention focused on me. “You’re too honorable. You’re too pathetic. A stupid cow of a housewife who has no discernible skill set for the real world. You couldn’t even protect your children. You even let me babysit them. All it would have taken was a slice of my knife across their throats.”

“Shut up!” I screamed, the fury swirling around my head, leaving me cloudy and shaking. Nothing she was saying was wrong. I had always been a housewife. I’d always been scared to lose Brody, not just because I loved him, but because I had no future without him.

“You know what I’m going to do, Devyn? Once I kill you, and your stupid macho husband, I’m going to hunt down everything you hold dear. Your parents, your cousins, the Hardys, Riley and Jackie. All of them. And I’ll line them up right next—”

The gun fired. I didn’t even realize it before it happened.

Blood bloomed on her chest, from the tiny hole I put there, spreading outward like a plague. Jane’s look of surprise as she glanced down at her chest was incredibly satisfying to the rage she’d provoked within me. She dropped to her knees, her body going limp a little at a time until she hit the ground.

I stood there, the gun still pointed at her limp body. I’d killed someone. I guessed this meant that I wasn’t near as honorable as she’d thought. Or maybe I was, and I’d killed my honor in the instant where I’d fired that gun. Either way, I was now a killer. That was enough to bring me to my knees.

~*~*~

Brody

I struggled with the last of the tie, but I’d been too late. Marie had been goading Devyn. I’d recognized the signs, but the stress of the situation had caught up to my wife. I finally got the rope off my wrists, which both burned with fresh air on the raw skin.

Devyn seemed frozen, standing over Marie. Blood pooled beneath the body, spreading out. No doubt the heart was probably hit. There would be no saving Marie Giroux. Not that anyone in the room wanted to.

I stepped over to Devyn, and slowly put my hand on her arm. She didn’t object. Actually, she didn’t do anything at all. She just stood there. Shock. I slid my hand down her arm until my fingers touched the gun. Slowly, I covered the gun with both of my hands, pointing it away from both of us.

“Devyn… it’s time to let go.” I whispered the words to her. At first, she didn’t seem to hear me. “Sweetness?”

Her breath shuddered and her eyes widened. They lifted until she met my eyes. There were no tears. Not yet. No doubt, as soon as her heart stopped pumping all that adrenaline through her blood, she’d feel it. But right now, I just wanted to get the gun away from her.

“Let me have the gun, Devyn. Let go.” I kept my voice low and calm. I’d never seen her so out of it.

“I am letting go,” she replied, deadpan.

“Of the gun, sweetness.”

She frowned, still in contact with my eyes. I willed her to focus on my eyes, because then I knew I had at least some of her attention. She started to glance away. “No, look at me, Dev.” She came back to me. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. We’re good. I’m here. We’re safe.”

I managed to pry the gun from her hands, emptied the chamber, and flipped the safety back on.  Her body was starting to tremble, signaling the oncoming storm. I pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly. There was another shudder, and then she slowly slid her arms around my waist, burying her head in my chest.