“Hold down the fort. I’ll be right back!” I ordered, steamrolling through the dead men walking as I quickly made my way up the stairs. Storming down the hallway, I kicked open Firestride’s door and stopped dead in my tracks as I stared at the blood-soaked bed he was lying in, watching as his blood slowly dripped into a pool on the floor.
Apollo
I watched as she sliced his neck. I stared as he fell to the floor, and I studied her as she walked away, as if what she’d just done had no effect on her.
She was no longer the person I knew. The scared little girl I’d found in the park and taken under my wing had grown to be a strong, confident woman. The precision she used to take him out spoke of years of training.
There hadn’t been enough time from when I found her to now for her to learn the skills she used. She slipped through the shadows in the room, taking men out one by one. There was a lot I didn’t know about Indigo Cambridge. Like her real name.
Indigo was the name I’d given her. The blue tips at the end of her long platinum hair had become a trademark for her. Indigo seemed to fit.
Who was she really?
Where had she come from?
And how had she learned to kill?
Was it training or necessity that honed her skills? What was her body count? She had the grace and precision of an assassin, but that couldn’t be.
She was young. She would have had to start her training as a toddler to be that good. Unless it was natural talent. That was possible. She disappeared while I was lost in my thoughts. Only to emerge once more, behind me.
“I know you saw me,” she whispered.
I didn’t turn; despite what I’d seen, I trusted her. Instead, I aimed my gun. If I got distracted, I would be dead. “You’ll have to answer for what you did,” I countered.
“And I will. When the time is right. I need you to trust me.”
“I don’t know that I can, Indie.”
“You know me, Apollo. You know who I am.”
I turned around and looked into her eyes. I saw her there, the girl from the park. The one who drew so beautifully for a few bucks to put food in her belly. The one who was hurting, vulnerable.
Before I could answer her pleading, I felt a sharp pain in my back. I stumbled forward into Indie’s arms. I opened my mouth but no words came out. Then I saw the fear in her eyes turn to stone.
I dropped to the floor as she took my gun. Aiming over my head, I heard the report of the weapon as she shot the man who had shot me. Then she fell to her knees beside me.
“Please don’t die, Ford.”
Her cries were the last thing I heard as the darkness swallowed me whole.
Hemlock
I watched him from the shadows, picking off whoever I could, never taking my eyes off him. When all was done and settled, I’d have my time with him. I was a patient man. I had to be considering everything that had happened over the years.
But I knew my time was coming.
Someday soon, I’d have my vengeance.
It still rankled me to no end knowing he was the one who put a bullet in my brother’s head. And the fucking hothead didn’t even fucking bury him properly. I hated that the most. But I didn’t blame him for that. My brother had chosen the wrong side, and I couldn’t blame Reaper for protecting Remi.
I would have done the same.
Still, it hurt. Even more so when the fucker looked me dead in the eyes and didn’t see the truth standing before him. He never could look past the end of his own nose. So much had changed over the years. Everything was different. Lines were drawn in the sand now, and the truth was stumbling out faster than Pops could contain it.
The day of reckoning was near.
Even for me... because when Reaper learned the truth, I was almost positive he would do to me what he did to my brother,just because I shared his face. Then again, being identical twins had its advantages, and fuck me hard... did Pops use that to his advantage. The world we inhabited had no room for forgiveness, only for debts to be paid, and I intended to collect.
