Page 3 of Cruel Salvation

Nazareli hated the drug that was making her brain so slow and muggy. “Smithy?”

“No, Bás.”

Nazareli sucked in a breath. Bás had been one of John’s first recruits beside Smithy and, when his role ended, he’d dealt with a family tragedy and disappeared, and that was all she knew. His myth was legendary though, and John had always spoken of him with pride.

“What exactly would we be doing?”

“What you did for John. Cleaning up the messes of evil men and women. Taking down targets, chosen by Bás, that pose a threat. The ones governments are too afraid or weak to deal with.”

“Who else is on the team? Or is it just the two of us?”

“There would be others. All people like you, who need a second chance to make the choices they wished they had in the past or who need a fresh start.”

“So we’re like the A Team rejects?”

“Far from it. This team will be made up of some of the most elite people on the planet.”

“So why do you want me?”

“Because you need people to have your back and help right the wrongs you believe you’ve done, and I need the best. That includes you.”

“And how will joining you help me right those wrongs?”

“Because I’m going to help you ensure that each of those soldiers that were harmed will be helped. We can make sure they get the therapy, physical and emotional support, and a way forward from this sick game Rhea played with them.”

Her heart was beating fast now and she felt a tiny kernel of hope spring into her chest. “And Rykov is part of this?”

“Hopefully, but his involvement won’t be as direct to start as he has things he needs to handle here, but he’ll be part of the team in a different way than you.”

“How so?”

“I want this new team to be invisible on paper and in life. We have a base with housing, offices, training areas, everything you’d need to start a war, and, if you want, a family of choice. You’ll effectively be dead on paper after today, and only those I deem trustworthy will be aware that you aren’t. You’ll eat, sleep, and breathe this job. These people will be all you have.”

She didn’t say it but it was more than she’d ever had before. Nobody would miss her if she were dead, and it would be her chance to fix her mistakes. “I need to think about it.”

Jack was shaking his head. “No, you don’t. When I leave, so does this offer.”

“That doesn’t seem fair.”

Jack chuckled. “You know more than most that life isn’t fair.”

“True story.”

“Listen, Nazareli, I know this life was chosen out of a thirst for vengeance, but I see the heart behind the fire in your belly, and I think you care more than you’d like to admit. This is a way for you to do good and use the skills you have. I won’t force you, but I do believe you’d make a great addition to the team.”

“Will I be the only woman? Am I the diversity hire?”

Jack’s lips twitched, and she noted that he was handsome in a Henry Cavill kind of way. “The second in command after Bás is a woman known as Duchess, and she’s one of the best spies in the business. We have a former jewel thief who makes you look tall, but she’s as deadly as they come, and we hope to take on more. I don’t know why you’d think I’d hire anyone out of pity but let me make it clear. I hire people for their skills, not their sex.”

He sat back, looking slightly aggrieved.

“I guess that was a shitty assumption. I’d blame the meds but Rykov is taking his sweet time getting them, so it’s just me being a mouthy bitch.”

“You’re a straight shooter. I respect that.”

“You promise you’ll help me make sure those men are healed from what was done to them?”

“I promise.”