Jekyll and Hyde Series
Penulis
E. A. Baker
Jumlah dibaca
1.7M
Bab
42
Jamie is an international mastermind and professional thief masquerading as a small-town tattoo artist. Rogue is the bad-boy leader of a local motorcycle club who looks like sex on a stick. The sizzle between them is instant and explosive.
Luckily, the two have one thing in common—both have sworn off relationships for life. But after Jamie takes a bullet for Rogue’s daughter, Angel, can Rogue keep seeing her as nothing more than addictive fling? Or will Jamie’s secrets and dark memories tear them apart?
Prologue
Book 1: Souls of Silence
JAMIE
Through the slots of the ceiling vent, I watched the despicable men and women we were here to kill as they chatted and mingled. The current count was twenty-one, meaning we were waiting for three more.
Twenty-four people who were here to bid on and buy human slaves.
My stomach cramped at the mere thought of the dozens of innocent young victims currently being transported on-site for the sale. I didn’t know them—but I did know what it was like to have my control ripped from me in a hurricane of violence and pain.
I didn’t know them, but I was going to do everything in my power to keep them off the bidding block tonight.
“That’s twenty-three,” I whispered into my comm unit as two more sorry excuses for human beings were escorted into the highly-protected auction arena.
“The truck with the girls just pulled in. Our window is closing,” the hushed, emotionless voice of my brother replied. Cain wanted to act before they moved the victims into the building. He was about to turn this entire place into a bloodbath, and his job would be infinitely easier if he could work without worrying about harming the innocent.
Twenty-three. Not twenty-four. If we moved in now, one target would most likely get away.
“Green light. Moving to position, Bravo,” I replied, silently using my elbows to slide through the vent. Emerging into the room, I went straight to my crow’s nest in the lighting rig of the main performance hall where I quickly settled behind my waiting Barrett MRAD sniper rifle and surveyed the room through my scope.
“Bravo ready. You are clear,” I said, signaling that I was in position and had used my phone to remotely unlock Cain’s entrance through the fire escape.
I was a decent shot, and from this distance, it would be like shooting at fish in a barrel—but my primary objective was to provide backup.
My brother wanted to look these sadistic bastards in the eye as he took their control, along with their lives, away from them. Tonight was hitting close to home for more than just me, and I knew that my beloved twin was going to be exorcising some demons of his own.
Soloman would roll over in his godforsaken grave if he knew we were pulling this sort of job pro bono.
I silently cursed myself for even thinking of the evil man who had taken us in and raised us—after ordering the murder of our parents. Now wasn’t the time. I pushed Soloman out of my mind and focused on the scene before me.
Through my scope, I saw the fire escape door open and my brother slip into the room. I reengaged all locks, ensuring that no one would be able to run from the upcoming retribution. Then I watched as my brother moved, like a whisper on the wind, from one buyer to the next without one ounce of hesitation or trepidation.
A slice across a throat. A throwing star through an eye. A perfect thrust to the left ventricle that would lead to a slow but inevitable death. Seven were down before the others were even aware of the danger they were in.
I kept my eyes on hands, looking for anyone going for a concealed weapon, even though all buyers were searched before they were allowed entry to this room. One pulled a small.22 from his boot, and I shot him in the upper arm before he was able to take aim at my brother.
I took one additional shot through the knee of a big guy who was doing his best to take my brother unawares, but most of these spineless assholes ran screaming toward the locked doors at the first hint of trouble.
Fucking cowards.
Once Cain realized they wouldn’t fight, he started to take his time. The resulting screams only seemed to increase the debilitating fear permeating the air. I carefully kept watch, ensuring my brother’s safety, until the bitter screams faded and only Cain’s accelerated breathing could be heard in the cavernous room.
I quickly disassembled and packed up my rifle before downloading and scrubbing the video footage. I left the unaltered sale footage from six months ago, featuring many of the same faces, for any investigator to find. Then, I altered the temperature of the room to throw off the exact time of death.
Cain wasn’t at the rendezvous point, and a quick look at my phone told me he was still in the main room, kneeling before his dead.
A spike of dread and fear had my feet moving fast. I was at his side in moments.
I scanned his body, looking for some injury I might have missed in the melee, but it was pointless. Cain was literally dripping in blood, his white hair an ombre of red and pink.
“Cain?”
Instead of answering me, he looked up—and what I saw in his eyes shocked me to my core. Cain wasn’t hurt or having an attack of conscience for brutally killing twenty-three people with his bare hands.
No, he was exhilarated.
Soul-affirming, bliss-inducing exhilaration blazed like wildfire in his eyes.
In that moment, I knew we were standing on a cliff. Solomon had trained my brother to be his personal assassin from a very young age. Killing was nothing new to Cain. But it had always been a job to him.
Now, it seemed more like a drug.
Through my brother’s blood-soaked, blissful face I saw a horrible future ahead of us. One where I lost him to his bloodlust and he crossed the line from assassin to serial killer. Since I would never abandon Cain, my own future would also be drenched in blood.
I couldn’t let that happen.
It was time for us to reset.
