Protecting Salvation: A Shadow Elite Novel

Peyton glared at McCain as he shoved her into the helicopter, her shoulder hitting the edge of the door as she fell.

“Get up there, you little slut.”

Trevor chuckled darkly, his lips twisting where he sat waiting, his eyes running all over her body and making her shiver. She didn’t glare at him. McCain might be a bully but Trevor was something else. She’d been doing this job long enough to recognise true evil when she saw it. He put out a hand to help her but she scrabbled to get up, not wanting to touch him. He chuckled again as if her reaction amused him.

“Don’t be frightened, little mouse. I don’t bite….at least not yet.”

McCain grunted as he closed the door and motioned for the pilot who looked as scared as she was to take off. “Let’s go.”

“Where are you taking me?”

She directed her question at Trevor because even though he terrified her enough to make her bones shake, he was the most likely to talk. Men like him believed they were invincible, powerful, and smarter than everyone else, and they liked to talk about it.

He cocked his head and looked at her and like most things evil, he didn’t have any outward signs. He was nice-looking, clean-cut, dressed fairly well, and scarier than anything, he looked like a man you could trust. She could imagine many people fell for his charms.

“Tell me, Dr Lawson, did you always want to be a therapist?”

Not what she’d been expecting, but she went with it, deciding to see where it might lead. “Not always. No.”

“So, this isn’t your first love?”

“It is. I just didn’t know it when I was ten and wanted to be an actress.”

He smirked and sat back, his posture relaxed like he hadn’t just broken out of jail and was on the run. McCain, however, was sweating buckets.

“I always knew I wanted to be powerful. That I wouldn’t ask for what I wanted. I’d just take it and anyone who got in my way would be removed.”

He glanced at McCain who grunted and turned away. It seemed the good detective was frightened of Trevor, not that he’d let on. The man was all bluster.

“May I ask you a question?”

She knew respect and deference would work with this man. He was a narcissist and would revel in the attention she was giving him. She prayed someone noticed her missing soon and realised what had happened, but with things like they were with Warren, would he even come home tonight? If he didn’t, the first person to notice would be Aoife when she didn’t pick up her call tomorrow.

“You may.” He nodded like a deity bestowing a great honour on a subject.

“How did you end up working with this one?” She cocked her head at McCain, who glared like he wanted nothing more than to open the door and push her out. “I get you most likely met Martin on the club scene, but McCain?”

“Ah, yes. Well, you’re right about Martin. We did meet on the club scene but it wasn’t an accident. I knew my old pal McCain here long before that. He was my neighbour before he moved here. I was a child and he took, shall we say, a very special interest in me. So when I was given a new identity, I asked to be sent here so I could pay my old friend back for all the attention he gave me when I was a child. He was the one who put me on to Martin. Said he’d be a good friend and help me out. He was for a long time but, as with all things, it came to an end.” He looked pensive for a moment but then laughed. “Ah well, shit happens. Am I right?”

Peyton didn’t answer that because she was busy trying to digest everything he’d said. His implication being that McCain abused him as a child and Trevor had come looking for him and, what, blackmailed him?

“I can see that was a lot and you might be confused.” He leaned in and smiled but it was feral rather than friendly.

“A little.” Admitting that would please him and make him feel superior.

“McCain took my power from me as a child so I took his as an adult. I own him now. Don’t I, Graham?” McCain said nothing and Trevor laughed. “You think I should punish him?”

“I think he should be punished for what he did to you as a child.” Peyton felt like she was walking a tightrope. One wrong move and she’d fall to her death.

“I agree.”

Before she could even react, Trevor pulled back the door release, turned, and shoved McCain with both feet in his back. The man screamed and grappled but he had no purchase and seconds later he was gone, a big gaping space of nothing but air where he’d been. Her breath froze in her lungs, her heart skittered like a frightened animal looking for a place to hide.

Trevor closed the door and grinned at her. “Much better. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, McCain was a bad man and needed to be punished. Now, let’s talk about my wife.”

All sense of fake kindness was gone now as he faced her and she knew if she didn’t find a way out of this, her name would just end up a memory. Aoife would remember her, grieve her, and so might her friends but what was her legacy? The man she loved had blown everything up and while she knew he’d care because he was a good man, he’d move on with someone else.

He hadn’t loved her like she loved him. She was fun for a while but ultimately she was alone. People had lives of their own and she was always on the periphery. She didn’t resent them, she got it. It was what people did.

Tears filled her eyes and she didn’t try and stop them. If this was to be her last few minutes she wanted to feel all of it. She wanted to live every second she got. Her only wish was that Warren got his surgery and lived his life like it was precious because it was.

“Jesus Christ, is that a body?”

Hurricane locked eyes on the helicopter in the distance and cursed his blurry vision. They’d gained on them because they had a far superior aircraft and he wasn’t just any pilot.

“Fuck, that is a body.”

“No!” Bile built in his throat and it took everything he had not to puke at Titan’s words. “Who?”

“Can’t tell, man.”

Hurricane saw Lotus glance back at Titan and his chest felt like it was caving in, panic and the desire to claw at something, anything, so he could turn back time and not be here. God, why was he such a coward? He’d pushed away the woman he loved because he was fucking scared of dying. In the RAF, he’d known any mission could be the one that ended his life and he’d accepted it. Even with Shadow that acceptance had been present but now he was fucking terrified of dying and leaving the woman he loved unprotected. Leaving her to live without a man who loved her.

“Find out who it is.”

Lotus relayed the scene back to the vehicles on the ground.

“Bein and Snow are heading that way.”

He saw the helicopter change direction, the pilot made a move that seemed off and he wondered if it was worth trying to speak to the pilot or if he was in on this. He watched as best he could but couldn’t make it out properly.

“Air traffic control, this is Mike, Charlie, Foxtrot, Lima, X-ray.”

“Go ahead.”

“Have you had contact with Foxtrot, Alpha, Bravo, Sierra, November?”

“Affirmative we have a code 7500.”

“We’re in a position to assist.”

“Please stand by.”

Hurricane looked at Lotus because he couldn’t even think about what Bein was about to find or he’d lose it.

“What was that?” Lotus asked as he disconnected from the tower.

“The pilot on board has put out a call to indicate he’s been hijacked.”

“So he might be able to help?”

“If I can make contact.”

“Do it.”

“Read his tail number out to me again.”

Lotus looked at him but all he could see was a blur now. He was flying by instinct and adrenaline.

“Hurricane?” He heard the slight wobble in her voice as she spoke his name like a question.

“I can’t see, a lot, Naz. Everything is one big blur, so I need you to help me fly.”

“Okay, I got you big guy.”

Lotus read it out and Hurricane tried to reach him over the radio and ask for his destination coordinates, but he wasn’t responding. Not surprising considering what had just gone down.

“They found the body. It’s McCain.”

“Thank God.” Air rushed out of him like a popped balloon.

“Look, they’re landing.” He cocked an eyebrow and she chuckled. “Sorry.”

Hurricane wanted to fly right up to them but he knew it would get Peyton killed so he held back. “I need to change course. Help me with these readings.” Changing directions and keeping his cool as he gave the location to the team on the ground was a feat of control he didn’t know he had. Especially with the panic swirling in his gut and the pain in his head.

“Land and meet us there,” Bás ordered.

“Roger that.”

He landed in a field with a lot of help from Lotus about half a mile away and they set off at a fast clip, him mainly following the sound of her and Titan’s less-than-quiet movements. He tripped a couple of times until Titan gripped his shoulder to guide him. None of them wanted to hang around, but he hated feeling weak like he was a burden. Ignoring the pounding in his head he pushed on. The only thing that mattered was Peyton.

He met the others at the edge of another abandoned farm with a stone farmhouse in need of some love and two barns long since past their best. His vision was clearing a little now, perhaps because of the lower altitude. “Well?”

“Trevor shot the pilot as soon as they landed. He took Peyton inside the barn. She looks fine. She’s walking and unharmed.”

He wished Bás’ words made him feel better but he didn’t think that was going to happen until she was safe in his arms again. “What’s the plan? He’s only one man. Why haven’t we gone in yet?”

“Because we now know what the ammonium nitrate was for.”

“He made a bomb.”

“Yep. Big enough to flatten this entire area and guess who he has sitting in the middle of it?”

“Holy hell.”

“Do we have eyes and ears?”

“Duchess and Reaper are sorting that now.”

Bás held a small device in his hand which allowed him to see the cameras once Duchess and Reaper got them in play. Hurricane watched, blinking wildly and cursing his fucking head for fucking with him. His pain was getting worse and it was a miracle he was standing right now but he’d walk through hell for this woman if he had to.

Suddenly the screen flickered and a voice came over the comms. Peyton sat on a chair surrounded by three huge barrels with leads weaving around them. He couldn’t make out her face but he didn’t have to. She’d be terrified but she’d hold it together because that was who she was.

“Motherfucker.” Lotus kicked a rock in anger and he got it, he did.

Bás glared at her. “Cool it or leave.”

Hurricane wondered if she was going to walk but she gave a short nod. That was the thing about Lotus, she’d never walk out on family.

A wave of pain hit him and he rushed to the bush closest and puked until he had nothing left, dizziness trying to claim him as his eyes watered. A bottle of water was shoved in front of him from Titan and he took it, rinsing his mouth and spitting.

“You good?”

“No, but I’m not leaving either.”

“Didn’t think you would, man. I’ve got your back.”

He walked back to Bás who was now talking to Duchess. “Is she okay?”

Duchess eyed him and he knew he looked like road kill right now.

“Scared but she’s holding her own. She’s keeping him talking but he’s coming apart. He’s angry that she tried to come between him and his wife. He’s talking about other bodies buried here and how the only way to keep his secret was to destroy the evidence.”

“With a bomb? Is he stupid? That won’t hide anything, and he’ll be dead too.” This man was more insane than he imagined. “Plan?” He could hardly talk in full sentences now as the pain was unbearable.

“We’re getting Reaper in position to take a shot and then we can get her out, but we don’t know where the triggers are for the bomb or if he even has it on a trigger. We can’t see anything on him but we need to be sure or we all die today.”

Much as he wanted to say fucking do it, he knew this couldn’t be rushed and even if this was his area of expertise, he was in no shape to plan.

He had to trust his team.

Reaper’s voice came over the comms. “I have the shot.”

Bein and Snow were in position on the other side to try and see if he had a trigger.

“Trigger?”

“Negative.”

“Take the shot.”

Hurricane watched the screen with his heart in his mouth. If they got this wrong they all died, and while he didn’t mind dying to try and save Peyton his friends had families. A pop sounded and Trevor was down. He waited a split second as Peyton screamed and then he was running, crashing through the thorns and grass to get to her, his arms torn and bleeding and he felt none of it.

He made it through to the open yard where a broken tractor sat rusting and other farm machinery lay forgotten. But his eyes were on the half-open barn door. He made it through, his eyes scanning the dimmed interior and there she was sitting in the middle looking terrified, beautiful, and like his whole future.

“Warren?”

His name was a sob of surprise and he hated that she’d ever doubt he’d come for her. “I’m here, baby.”

He stepped over wires and leads like some oversized ballerina and crouched at her feet, his hands on her face as he looked at her. “I love you. I fucking love you so damn much and I’m so sorry for being such a huge, incredible asshole to you today.”

He could feel his team around him working to clear her and disarm the bomb, but his focus was on the woman in front of him.

“I’m sorry I left.”

“No.” He shook his head. “No, you had every right. I was awful to you and you didn’t deserve it. I love you, Peyton, and I could kick my own ass for treating you with anything other than the reverence you deserve.”

He was holding on through sheer force of will now. His head felt like it was exploding, and his vision was almost nothing but shadows, but he held on because he wasn’t going to let her down. He’d be with her until the end. Until they dragged him away and she was safe.

“Warren, are you okay?”

Even now she was worried about him. “Yeah, sugar, I’m gonna be fine.” He wasn’t sure but he thought his words might be slurring.

“We’re clear.”

At the sound of those words, everything went black.