Page 42 of Fighting Salvation

He groaned. “No, I’m going. You’re staying here.”

“No can do, Bás. We go as a team or not at all. You wouldn’t let one of us do this so we aren’t letting you either.”

“Who the fuck said this team was a democracy?”

“You did, by showing us all we matter despite our pasts, now let’s plan. We don’t have long.”

He knew when he was beaten so he decided it was easier to get on board than have one of them go off half-cocked. “Fine.”

Two hours later he was pulling up to his home alone. Val was around the corner with Titan. Duchess, Rykov, and Lotus were on overwatch covering him.

“Everyone in position?”

A chorus of confirmations rang in his ear and he wished Watchdog had arrived so he could have him in the truck too, but he hadn’t checked in and that was another slither of concern weaving its way down his spine.

Getting out of the car he looked around, seeing nothing but the familiar street and he moved past the empty guard house. After the attack, the house had been sold and the ambassador’s home had been moved. He’d bought it at auction for some reason. The idea of anyone else being there didn’t sit well with him, not that he’d been back. A company kept it secure and clean but it hadn’t been home to anyone since the day his family took their last breaths in it.

As he walked up the path he scanned the windows of the house. If Hansen had a sniper he was toast but he didn’t think this was about that. Hansen wasn’t ready for him to die yet or he would have done it. He wanted him to suffer.

The garden was much the same, clean and well-tended but it had a loneliness to it that was filled with melancholy. Apprehension curled under his skin but not fear. Not of Hansen or dying, but of losing those he loved.

The door was open slightly and he drew his weapon and proceeded inside. At first, it was difficult for his brain to compute the images he was seeing but as it did, horror and bile filled his throat. His gut roiled and he had to pant air into his lungs to stop himself from puking.

Every wall from the hallway onward was covered with images of the scene that had haunted him his entire adult life. Red paint was splattered on the walls and carpet to look like blood. He followed the path to his father’s office and saw a foot sticking out, the same way his father’s had been.

Walking around the desk he knew what he would find. A man dressed exactly as his father had been killed in the same exact way. Backtracking he breathed through his nose, trying to get a handle on his emotions.

“Are you guys getting this?”

“Roger.”

Duchess sounded calm but he knew she’d be hungry for blood now.

He had a camera hidden in a button on his jacket and he knew the scene was being captured back at the van. Moving on to the kitchen, he paused, forcing sickness away and trying to stay in the moment when the past wanted so desperately to pull him back. This wasn’t his family. They were strangers. This was done to weaken him and he had to push through and see if Hansen had, in fact, turned up to watch the show in person.

He had no doubt in his mind he was watching it somehow but where? Sure enough, a woman was dead on the floor, as well as a teenage boy who looked a lot like Sean. He pulled on gloves before he checked them for a pulse and found none. He doubled back and searched the rest of the house, blocking out the scene as he went from room to room. As he expected, the coward wasn’t there.

“We’re clear.”

He was making his way down the stairs when something caught his eye and he pulled back with a gasp. An image which wasn’t part of his memory was tacked against the wall with all the other crime scene photos from that fateful night.

“Guys, you need to see this.”

His stomach soured and sweat poured from him as he closed his eyes. This would devastate the team. He turned at the sound of his name and his instinct was to stop her from seeing the horror but he needed the team to analyse this with fresh eyes, and she was as much a part of the team as anyone. “Watch as you come inside.”

Val stepped over the threshold as he made it to the bottom of the stairs and then she was in his arms, hers wrapped tightly around him as if she could hold him together and take away his pain by sheer force of will. He knew if anyone could, it was his Valentina.

“Are you alright?”

Her lips tickled his ear and he wanted to sink into her and never come up for air, but he couldn’t so he pulled away and kissed her head. “I am now.”

His words made her smile and she stepped back, taking in the scene as Duchess, Titan, and Rykov came through the space. Hurricane was with Novem and he gritted his teeth just thinking about her name. Novem probably had no idea what it meant but it made his skin crawl every time he thought about it. He’d see if she wanted to choose something else.

“Shit, this is fucked up.”

Titan stretched his neck as he stepped closer to the image on the wall.

Bás knew he was seeing crime scene images of his dead parents. “Worse, it’s accurate.”