Despite knowing this mystery woman was a real flesh-and-blood person, they hadn't been able to identify her. It was like she didn't exist, even though they knew she did. They had nothing to go on to figure out who she was and where to find her, despite searching every database they could get their hands on.
This woman was the key to unraveling everything. Blade knew she was. All he had to do was get his hands on her. Once he had her, he wouldn't hesitate to do whatever it took to get the answers he and his team needed to finally be free.
For ten years, they’d plotted revenge.
Three of those held as prisoners, another seven trying to rebuild their lives as they searched for the name of the man responsible for what had been done to them.
The only thing that had gotten him through this last decade was the men he considered his family. Not the one he’d long ago left behind, but the members of his team were every bit as much his brothers as the ones who shared his DNA.
Now that family was growing. Steel had fallen for Dr. Gardner’s sister, a woman they’d abducted and intended to use as a lure to get to the crazy scientist. Dragon had fallen for Cassandra while she stayed with them as her family hunted for the people after them, and recently embraced his second chance.
With two more members of the Delta Team family, it felt even more imperative to finally find Dr. Gardner and end his life. Only then would they be free enough to embrace a future that could be anything they wanted it to be.
“Which is why you're not getting away, darlin’,” he drawled to the quiet forest.
Quiet to others but not to him. His enhanced hearing meant he heard everything.Everything. Which wasn't always as great as it seemed. Hearing everything happening around him, the beating of hearts, the inhale of air into lungs, the flow of blood passing through veins and arteries, every word, whispered or not, was exhausting.
Utterly exhausting.
The only way he survived the day-to-day barrage of sounds was to use noise-cancelling headphones, and even those didn't always work.
Tonight, he’d gotten a taste of what it was like to live without his enhanced hearing, and the white noise generator in the warehouse had almost cost them their lives. No matter how much he hated dealing with his skill all the time, he was grateful for it.
“Yeah, I hear you. There’s no escaping me,” he whispered to the woman too far away to hear him.
But he heard her.
Heard each ragged breath as she ran, completely unaware she was being followed. Probably believing that her plan to blow them all up had worked and they were lying dead amongst the debris of the ruined warehouse.
“I'm coming for you,” he promised as he picked up his pace. Just because he didn't have Thunder’s enhanced speed didn't mean he wasn't easily gaining on his prey.
Everything inside him screamed that it was the mystery woman, that as soon as he caught her, he’d have everything they needed to destroy Dr. Gardner. There would be no remorse as he did whatever it took to get answers from this woman. She’d signed her own fate when she decided to work for a man who thought he could play God with other people’s lives without suffering any consequences for it.
“Not happening. You picked your side, and whatever happens next is on you. Easy way or the hard way,” he said as the sounds of feet pounding the ground grew louder.
Then, a minute later, he saw her.
A flash of black moving through the dark. Blade almost laughed out loud. Did the mystery woman really think wearing black would hide her from them? She knew what had happened to them, participated in it at least to some extent, and knew that they had skills that made them nearly impossible to beat opponents.
“Your world is about to come crashing down upon you, darlin’, and I can't wait to see you fall and break.”
January 9th
10:37 P.M.
It was hard to believe she’d done it.
Free for the first time in … too many years to count.
Maybe ever.
Even as a young child, Whitney Daley had had her every move mapped out for her. There had been no allowances for choice, no time allocated for fun. She had learned to do what she was told when she was told and not to ask questions.
Too bad she’d followed that rule.
Because of that, good men and women had suffered.
Died.
