Savage Redemption

chapter 18



Conlan slapped his boss’s hand away from the cut on the side of his head. The rock hadn’t done that much damage, except maybe to his pride. “I’m going to kill her.”

Rafferty laughed, which only pissed Conlan off that much more. He glared up at the vampire. “Maybe I should add your name to my hit list, too.”

Ambrose joined the party. “Oh, come on, Rafferty, lay off the poor guy. We both know what it’s like to have our women do stuff guaranteed to strike terror in a man’s heart. If that was Joss out there taking on the world by herself, you’d be feeling pretty homicidal yourself.”

Rafferty’s expression turned sober, and he offered Conlan a hand up off the ground. “As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. Let’s go see what we can do about rescuing your lady.”

Conlan ignored the pounding in his head. He wasn’t sure if it was the pain from where Kat had clocked him with a rock or if it was his pulse running at full bore out of fear for her. At least he was up and moving.

“She hid a flash drive somewhere near that burned-out house. Once they get their hands on it, they’ll have no reason to keep her alive.”

He looked at Rafferty and then Ambrose. Like him, both men were in predator mode, fangs out and demanding a blood price be paid.

“Where do we stand?”

Ambrose answered. “We’ve blocked both entrances to the estate and have notified the clan who owns it that we’re here on Coalition business. If they know what’s good for them, they’ll stay the hell out of our way. Rafferty’s men are with the rest of mine, circling the house and gradually taking out the mercs along the way.”

Then the chancellor grinned, his fangs flashing white in the darkness. “We’ve also managed to capture their helo, thanks to your buddy Lucius. He flew us here and set down long enough to let us get out. Then he swooped in to hover right over their helicopter to prevent it from taking off. The mercs surrendered when they saw Finn had his rocket launcher aimed at them.”

Okay, maybe things weren’t as bad as he feared. “You guys have been busy.”

“Yeah, well, we couldn’t let you have all the glory.” Ambrose stared up at the sky, his voice echoing with frustration. “We’ve heard rumors for years about these radical purists but weren’t able to infiltrate them, for obvious reasons. All it takes is a simple lab test to show whether a new recruit’s blood is free of the vampire gene. You and Kat have managed to draw them out of the shadows long enough for us to start making arrests.”

That was good, but it wasn’t Conlan’s concern. All he cared about right now was getting to Kat. She was running out of time.

“If they’ve hurt her, they’re all dead men.” He glared at Ambrose. “You have a problem with that?”

His former boss grinned. “Not me. It will save the Coalition the price of their trials, not to mention feeding the bastards in prison for the next thirty years.”

“Okay, then. Let’s get moving.”

“Hey, boss, good to see you.” Finn walked out of the shadows, his smile quickly fading. “I managed to track Miss Karr as far as that small building up ahead, but the mercs caught her before I could get there.”

The news came as no surprise. “That’s all right, Finn. They’ve been only a half a step behind us since yesterday. They were bound to catch up with us sooner or later.”

The younger chancellor didn’t look any happier. “They have her surrounded, but she seems to be holding her own for the moment.”

“That’s good. That’s really good.”

Conlan had been so afraid when he regained consciousness that it would be to the knowledge that Kat was dead. The odds might be stacked against her right now, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t hope. Between Ambrose’s chancellors and Rafferty’s security force, they had the mercs outnumbered and cornered.

How would the enemy react to their change in circumstances? If they saw Kat as a bargaining chip, they might protect her, even from their employers. Keeping his fingers crossed that that might be the case, he checked his weapons.

“Let’s get this shindig started.”

It felt damn good to be heading into battle with Rafferty, Ambrose and Finn by his side.

One by one, they located the rest of the merc guards and took them out of the equation. Most surrendered without a fight when confronted by a chancellor flashing fangs or a vampire hungry for blood.

Finally, only the last circle of mercs stood between Conlan and Kat. The only thing holding him back was the knowledge that the rest of the rescue forces weren’t in place yet. Meanwhile, it was impossible to get a clear picture of what was going on, but it clearly wasn’t good. Knowing they couldn’t reach Kat without having to cut through the heavily armed men first was making Conlan crazy.

One wrong shot, and she’d be dead.

For the moment, all they could do was wait and listen to an older human arguing with a younger one. He thought he heard Ambrose murmur the name Eddington. The voices were growing louder.

He leaned closer to the older chancellor. “Then who’s that other guy?”

Ambrose shrugged. “No idea, but it’s obvious that Kat knows him.”

“Quiet, you two. I’m trying to listen.”

Conlan’s chancellor hearing was good, but Rafferty’s vampire abilities trumped it. They all waited in silence for him to tell them what was going on.

“Well, I’ll be damned. That’s the guy Kat was supposed to have killed in the fire. He’s planning to sell her research to the highest bidder. Seems he’s in this for the money while Eddington is a true believer.”

Right when Rafferty finished talking, a single shot rang out, and the councilman dropped to the ground. Okay, the situation was spinning out of control. But when Conlan started to charge forward, Rafferty grabbed him by the front of his shirt to keep him from rushing the camp.

“Calm down, damn it,” he whispered. “If you get yourself killed, you won’t be any help to her.”

The vampire was right, but this was killing Conlan just as sure as a bullet would. He’d only just gotten Kat back. To lose her now was unthinkable.

Ambrose’s phone beeped softly. After listening for a few seconds, he nodded and ended the call. “Okay, my men are in place. How do you want to handle this?”

Conlan’s fangs ached with the need for violence. “I want to soak the ground with their blood, but that will only get Kat killed.”

“It’s your call.” Ambrose laid his hand on Conlan’s shoulder. “You have the full authority of the Coalition behind you. Order them to stand down and surrender. If they do, fine. If not, we’ll back your play.”

Before Conlan could respond, there was a shout in the camp followed by another shot. This time it was Kat who fell to the ground.

He screamed his fury to the night sky and took off running with the promise of blood in his eyes and his gun spouting death.

* * *

At first, Kat’s captors were too busy trying to knock the campfire apart to get to the flash drive before it was destroyed to notice they were no longer alone. This getting shot stuff was getting old. She moaned and tried to make sense of the chaos that surrounded her.

Men came rushing into the makeshift camp out of the darkness. Unlike the mercenaries, these were dressed in civilian clothing and heavily armed. Richard was on his knees by the fire, looking totally crazed and screaming for his men to keep searching for the drive. When he realized she was awake and watching, he lunged toward her.

Before he got his hands on her, a pair of hands had him by the throat, jerking him backward.

He fought to pry the fingers loose that were cutting off his breath. Even so, he managed to croak, “What the hell are you doing? Get you hands off me, you fool. She’s going to die if I have to use my bare hands.”

It took him only slightly longer to realize that it wasn’t one of his own men preventing him from killing her. Conlan yanked him up off the ground and spun the human around to face him.

He leaned in close to Richard’s face and growled, “You’ve breathed your last breath, you bastard. And you’re going to die knowing that not a single person is going to mourn your passing.”

Then he grabbed a fistful of Richard’s hair and jerked his head to the side, exposing his throat. All of the human’s bravado disappeared into a whimpering puddle of pathetic pleading.

Kat hated Richard for all the suffering he’d caused. If he died, she wouldn’t mourn him for a second, but she didn’t want his death on Conlan’s conscience. He might not regret killing the human tonight, but he would tomorrow. His career with the Coalition might be over, but Conlan was still that same man whose inborn sense of honor and justice ran bone-deep.

“Conlan, stop,” she called, trying to make herself heard over the continuing din that surrounded them.

At first she thought he hadn’t heard her, but then he turned to look at her, his eyes glittering with the need for violence. “He hurt you. He let you go to prison for a crime you didn’t commit. He almost destroyed both of us.”

Ignoring the burn of pain in her wounded arm, Kat pushed herself up to a sitting position. “Yes, he did. And on top of everything else he’s guilty of, he murdered Councilman Eddington tonight.”

She shivered at the memory and fought to keep from looking toward the councilman’s body. One death was enough for the night. “Conlan, I’m asking you to let Ambrose and the Coalition decide Richard’s fate. I need your help right now more than he needs to die.”

She watched as Conlan fought to regain control. Finally, he looked around as if seeing the others standing around the clearing for the first time. When he spotted a young chancellor, he waved him over.

“Finn, take this piece of meat over to Ambrose. Tell him his name is Richard Jacobs, and he’s the one Kat was supposed to have murdered three years ago. He’s also the one who killed Eddington.”

As soon as Finn took hold of Richard by the scruff of the neck, the human went limp. From where Kat sat, she couldn’t tell if he’d passed out, and didn’t care. All things considered, it was unlikely Richard would live to see sunrise unless he could convince Ambrose that he was of more value alive.

Conlan scooped her up in his arms and carried her over to a stone bench by what had been the front door of her sister’s home. She tried to hold on to her consciousness, but it was a losing battle. Whether it was due to exhaustion or blood loss or even relief that the worst was over didn’t matter. As soon as Conlan settled her down in his lap, the darkness threatened to overwhelm her.

She had something to say, something important. “Conlan, I’m sorry.”

It was impossible to tell if he heard her, so she tried to tell him again. Nothing came out, and the world disappeared. The last sound she heard was her lover shouting for a medic.

Forty-eight hours later, Conlan paced the floor of the courthouse. He was well aware of Joss watching his every move with interest while her vampire husband looked on in apparent boredom. What the hell time was it anyway?

He reversed course and glanced up at the clock. “What can be taking this long? How many times does she have to get shot before they know she’s the victim in all of this?”

At least the medics had been able to stop the bleeding and get her stitched up quickly. With the immune boosters they’d administered, she was already on the mend. Conlan picked up where he’d left off. “With Richard Jacobs in custody, they have proof positive that she didn’t kill him three years ago. It should’ve been an open-and-shut case.”

Joss started to say something, but Rafferty touched her arm and shook his head. What was that all about? He stalked over to stand right in front of them and planted both feet. His chancellor friend and her vampire husband calmly stared right back at him but still didn’t say a word.

“Do you two know something I don’t?”

Again, they conferred silently. This time Rafferty shrugged, evidently leaving the decision up to Joss. If they didn’t think he’d like what they had to say, too bad. He still wanted to know. Needed to know.

He crossed his arms over his chest and widened his stance. “Just tell me, Joss. It’s the not knowing that’s driving me insane.”

His friend rose to her feet, forcing him to back up a step. He dropped his hands to his sides and let his shoulders slump, telling her without words that his anger wasn’t really directed at her or even Rafferty.

Hoping he could depend on Joss to tell it to him straight, he asked the hard question, the one he didn’t even like to think about. “They’re not going to set her free, are they?”

Joss shook her head. “Ambrose is arguing that she’s the one innocent in all of this, but Eddington had friends in high places. They don’t want to believe that he had anything to do with any conspiracy, although they’re hard-pressed to explain why he was out there if he wasn’t involved.”

“That’s ridiculous. If I were Ambrose, I’d launch an immediate investigation into every one of those bastards to see if they aren’t up to their necks in the same mess.”

Rafferty joined his wife, as always presenting a united front to the world. Damn, Conlan wanted some of that for himself. But unless Kat walked out of that courtroom a free woman, it wasn’t going to happen.

“I’m sure Ambrose is going to do exactly that, but he’s having to tiptoe through this mess pretty carefully for a lot of reasons. The first being that he didn’t want to have to charge you for taking off with his prisoner, followed by all the other crap you two pulled.”

Conlan had actually been wondering why he was still walking around free. “I’d rather he locked me up than Kat.”

Another voice joined the conversation. “I’ve already done that once, Conlan. Didn’t like doing it the first time, and I’m not about to let you go to prison in her place again.”

Conlan turned to face Ambrose. “Where is she?”

“She’s still in custody and will be for a while yet. I’ve made my recommendations as chief chancellor for the Coalition. It’s up to the court if they’ll be accepted or not.”

Ambrose was one of the few men in this world that Conlan trusted implicitly, but this was Kat they were talking about. Damn, he wanted to punch something—or better yet, someone—but that would only cause complications.

He realized his friends were all staring at him. “What?”

Joss stared at his hands, which were clenched in fists. “Rather than use those, why don’t you ask what those recommendations were?”

“Fine, I’ll bite. What are they?”

It was Rafferty who answered. “They’ve agreed that Kat was wronged by her former employer and also exonerated her for the death of Jacobs. By the way, he also confessed to killing the third researcher, rigging the brakes on the guy’s transport to fail.” He gave Conlan a sympathetic look. “But Kat did have an outstanding warrant and the law is very clear on what happens when a felon escapes custody like she did.”

“Execution.”

And if that happened, they might as well shoot Conlan while they were at it.

Ambrose met Conlan’s gaze head-on. “I’ve been arguing for a long time that these laws need to change or at least build in some way that we can show mercy when it’s deserved. It took some arm-twisting, but I convinced them that a life sentence was more in keeping with the situation.”

Okay, Conlan needed to sit down. Granted, what Ambrose was suggesting beat an immediate execution, but how would Kat survive locked in that hellhole for the rest of her life? How would he survive living on the outside without her?

Still, he knew his friend had tried.

“Thanks, Ambrose, I know you did your best.”

Then his friend grinned. “Yeah, I did. There’s more. I told the court that Rafferty has claimed responsibility for Kat and her nieces as members of the O’Day Clan. As such, he could supervise her if the court would approve parole for her at some point in the future. I pushed for sooner rather than later on that, especially considering her testimony is the first break we’ve had in tracking down these bastard purists.”

Okay, neither Joss nor Rafferty had mentioned any of this. Before he could call them on it, Rafferty spoke up.

“We hadn’t said anything yet because while our custody application for Maggie and Rose has been approved, we weren’t sure the court would accept our affidavit on Kat’s status. Neither of us wanted to get your hopes up too soon.”

Back to Ambrose. “So did the court buy that?”

“They’re not averse to the idea, but they feel that as head of the clan, Rafferty can’t risk being the one responsible for supervising her case. If she were to take off again, the same law that resulted with you sitting on your ass in prison would still apply to Rafferty.”

Joss spoke up. “Conlan, I love you dearly, and I even like Kat. However, I won’t let my husband risk ending up behind bars for her. I’m sure you can understand that.”

Yeah, he did.

Rafferty’s big hand came down on Conlan’s shoulder. “I told them I pay my chief of security to handle situations like this. We’ve been waiting to hear their response to that suggestion.”

For the first time since watching as Kat was led away in chains after the medic had patched her up, Conlan felt a flutter of hope. At the time, if Finn and two more of his men hadn’t been holding Conlan back, he would’ve attacked the Coalition chancellors who’d taken her into custody. It had almost killed him to watch her leave.

Ambrose continued with his explanation. “Well, that’s why I’m here. When the court asked if Kat would accept you as her parole officer, she flat out refused. I tried to tell her it was that or life behind bars. I’ve got to tell you, Conlan, that is one stubborn woman. She won’t accept the deal as long as it involves you. Maybe she thinks she’s already stolen too much of your life.”

He shook his head in pure disgust. “The judges aren’t particularly happy about her lack of gratitude when they’ve bending every rule they can to set her free. I’ve convinced them to give her one more chance to accept the offer.”

“Take me to her.”