Page 20 of Assassin's Prey
“Look at me, little bird.”
She did. Worry and wonder swirled in her gaze, and I felt my heart break a little bit more. I’d borne the pain of solitude most of my life; how had I managed to gain something so precious?
“I won’t be long; I promise. Eli and Remi…” I cleared my throat. “I need to tell them, but I need my head on straight first.”
The door to the warehouse opened in my peripheral vision, and Eli stepped out. Abby glanced at him, then back to me. Her finger traced my cheek, my lips.
“I don’t blame you, Levi. You know that, right?”
A flush went through me. “You should.”
“No, I shouldn’t, any more than I should blame your brothers.” She tapped lightly on my bottom lip. “You’ll see it my way once you have time to consider it.”
That was never gonna happen. “I will?”
“Of course you will.” A spark of mischief lit in her eyes.
“Why?”
“Because I said so, and I’m always right.”
Unbelievably, a grin curved the corner of my lips. “You’re getting a bit big for your britches.”
“Hmm.” Abby reached for the door handle. “If that keeps up, you might have to take them off and spank me.”
How could she do this to me, put things into perspective when all I wanted to do was wallow in their heaviness? “I don’t need an excuse to spank you; you know that.”
One last look from those mysterious hazel eyes before she gripped the door. “I do. Now hurry back so you can follow through.”
A bark of laughter escaped me before the door slammed shut. Abby didn’t look back as she walked toward Eli. He let her in, giving me a finger wave, then allowed the door to close behind him. I put the SUV in gear again and headed for the highway.
Outside the city, rolling Georgia hills and winding country roads predominated. Almost idyllic. As a child I’d known this country so well, but it’s hard to steal when homes and businesses are few and far between. Especially stealing enough to support three growing boys. The city had been our only option, but I’d never forgotten what it felt like to be back home.
Well, not home anymore. I didn’t know who the mansion my parents had raised us in belonged to. Probably sold somewhere along the way, to another millionaire, single or married, maybe filling the house with kids. Knowing it, seeing it would’ve shattered the memories inside me—of two parents, three boys, together. Safe.
My uncle might’ve killed them for their money, but he couldn’t kill the memories. Someone taking our place could.
And yet now, with the residue of the police station tainting me, I couldn’t stop myself from driving toward the back of the wooded estate where we’d lived. A two-lane road bordered the creek curving along the boundary of the property. Rocks jutting up forced the water to twirl and dance, to sing a song as it tumbled over them. I’d heard its music in my dreams for years after we left, and yet as I parked the SUV amid some overgrown bushes and walked to the edge of the water, that familiarity was distant, hidden behind a veil of something I wasn’t sure I could name.
That veil protected me as I found a shallow area to cross, then the rock-studded path my brothers and I used to follow down to the water. The woods enveloped me like warm arms, pulling me back to a childhood most would call idyllic. Wholesome. Years spent roaming the land, playing sports, milk and cookies after school. And my mother…God, my mother.
She’d been so soft—her voice, her smile. But not her hugs; those had been fierce, tight. The memory of those hugs almost ripped through the veil. The crackle of a walkie-talkie up ahead was the only thing that saved me.
Son of a bitch.
I stepped into the underbrush, cursing myself for being that careless. Crouching behind the thick trunk of an old maple, I waited, watching, listening. Moments later a black-clad, muscular guard passed along the trail, radio to his mouth. Reporting the all clear. He was almost as much of a fool as I’d been.
When he passed, I turned to head back to the car. No need to follow up my first visit to the cops in years with a second for trespassing. But my first glimpse of the man’s back brought me up short. A scope site outlined in white, the wordsRathlin Securitymarching across it.
Everything in me went still.
The guard moved on, oblivious to the threat mere feet away. Comfortable on his own turf; too comfortable. He’d make that mistake in the future and pay for it. Today I had better things to do than teach him the lesson he needed to learn.
I made for the house.
My father had been smart. As much as he’d loved the Georgia countryside, no man with that much money was without enemies, and he’d made security a priority. Several acres surrounding the house had been totally cleared, leaving nowhere for the enemy to hide. That worked against me, but familiarity was my ally. Circling the edge of the woods, I came to the area where Remi and I had spent our final summer here. In an ancient oak thick with foliage, we’d spent hours carrying old boards and limbs to build the beginnings of our very own fort. More of a platform, really. Even the ragged rope my father had given us to climb into the tree still dangled, more frayed than ever, waiting for the boys who’d never come back.
The man, though…
