Redek (Barbarian Bodyguards Book 2) Read online

  Then she pressed the button on the teleporter and stepped into it, the pistol a dead weight in her hand.

  16.

  REDEK

  Redek was the last of his team to appear in the ship, and it was already a war zone.

  Lasers were being fired left, right and center from both parties, and there were more people on the ship than he’d been expecting.

  He’d thought that the commanders would have kept themselves locked away with a small party and directed troops like Tisya planned to do.

  It was an entire battalion on the ship, though, and he was outnumbered. They must have realized this was a possibility.

  Redek didn’t have time to look around and see if he could spot Damien before his rage had kicked in.

  Pure adrenaline coursed through his veins and it didn’t matter if someone was Damien or not. All that mattered was that they were an enemy.

  In this state, he preferred his knives to his pistols, and he clutched them with such tightness that his bright red knuckles turned white.

  It was practically autopilot: he dodged bullets and slashes and fired back with hard-hitting stabs that pierced neck after neck. It was impossible to avoid everything in the crossfire, and he knew, in the back of his mind, that a bullet had pierced his arm and he had multiple knife wounds, but the pain didn’t register.

  He must have killed at least a dozen soldiers, until suddenly there were none left. Breathing hard, his feelings began to come back, and the first one was disappointment.

  Damien hadn’t been on the ship. That must have meant Tisya hadn’t been able to find him.

  This fight had only taken fifteen minutes max, though, and only one of their group had fallen in the fight.

  That meant they still had work to do.

  He looked around and realized people were staring at him with a trepidation they hadn’t had before. It was no longer distrust, but fear. Awe. They must not have seen a Suytovian in battle before. What he’d just achieved was nothing special.

  “We should go back to the control center,” he said, falling into a leadership role because of the looks he was getting. They’d listen to him. “Get more orders. There are still things to do.”

  There was a collective nod and they pressed the buttons on their bracelets.

  The room in the tunnels was his surroundings again in an instant. He took a moment to adjust, then sought out Maddie.

  A stab of panic went through him when he realized she wasn’t there. “Where is she?” he demanded over the conversation about where they would attack next.

  Tisya jumped at his voice. “She went to lie down. She said she wasn’t feeling well.”

  “Which room?” he demanded. It would take him a couple of minutes to jog down there and let her know he was still alive. That wouldn’t affect their next mission succeeding.

  He had one last chance to say goodbye to her, and he couldn’t pass that up. He could hold her, kiss her, tell her he loved her.

  He had to do that.

  “You’re covered in blood,” Tisya said. “You’re only going to make her feel worse.”

  In the back of his mind he knew Tisya was right. Maddie had always hated him like this, he could see it in her eyes even if she didn’t say it. When he was in a rage he was a different person, there was no control, and Maddie wanted to be as far away from that violence as she could.

  But this wasn’t him coming home from work covered in blood.

  This might be the last time he ever got to see her.

  “Which room?” he asked again, sheathing his knives. “I’ll be quick.”

  Tisya’s back was so tense that he knew Tisya must be annoyed about having to deal with this—he was in charge of coordinating movements, and this was only holding him up. So, he said, through gritted teeth, “In the one you rested in earlier.”

  Redek nodded and opened the door to jog down the corridor. Fatigue was pulling at his muscles, but it wasn’t enough to deter him. It always happened after a rage. It was why they were bodyguards, not soldiers—saving someone from one attack and then it being over was the optimal use of his rages.

  He was still serviceable, though. He’d still go back and do his best to help win this fight.

  Just after he’d seen Maddie.

  That would give him the energy he needed.

  He reached the room and pushed the door open.

  It lit up when he entered and triggered a motion sensor. It was empty.

  Panic gripped him, and he opened the bathroom door in the back. That was empty, too. “Shit,” he muttered, turning on the spot and running his hands through his hair.

  Tisya wasn’t stressed because of coordinating troops, he looked like that because he’d been lying to Redek.

  He sprinted back to the control room and burst through the door. Everyone was still there, and it wasn’t awe on people’s faces anymore, it was straight-up fear.

  “Where is she?” he demanded, and they parted so he could stride toward Tisya. He lifted the man by the collar and shoved him against the wall. “Where the fuck is she?”

  “She found the man you were looking for and teleported to his ship.”

  “And you let her?” his grip tightened until he was blocking Tisya’s airway. “Why did you lie?”

  Tisya struggled to speak, and Redek got control of some of his anger, releasing him. He was surprised none of the other soldiers had intervened. “I wasn’t telling an enraged Suytovian that I let his untrained girlfriend go off and fight.”

  “Then maybe you shouldn’t have done it.” He shoved Tisya back into the wall, hard, but didn’t follow up on it. “Give me the coordinates now. I’m going there.”

  “They’re already in the tablet. You should all go. If he’s the head of this operation, killing him might end it all.”

  Redek had already turned around and walked through the teleporter as Tisya said this. He didn’t care who, if anyone, followed him.

  Maddie was in danger and nothing in the universe would stop him from going after her.

  17.

  MADDIE

  Maddie had been expecting to appear in the room Damien had been in, confront him with her weapon drawn, and demand the answers she needed. When her surroundings changed, though, she was in a corridor in his ship rather than the room she’d seen on the cameras.

  She swore under her breath as she looked around, trying to decide which direction to go in. Damien might be alone in that room, but she doubted he was alone on the ship. She should have gotten a blueprint of the layout before porting in.

  She looked at the bracelet on her wrist and considered pushing the button. She could just nip back to the room and grab a blueprint, maybe even narrow down the coordinates, and then come back. Mind made up, she went to press the button.

  A “Hey!” stopped her.

  She froze. She could just press the button. But the second she disappeared Damien would be told of the breach and he’d be surrounded by all the security in the world. She’d never get a chance to speak to him.

  So she pushed the bracelet up her sleeve where it wouldn’t be seen and hurried to hide the pistol. It went in the front of her pants, hidden by the oversized sweater she’d borrowed from Redek. Damien would probably demand she was searched, if she even got to him, but it was worth trying.

  She turned around and came face to face with one of Damien’s guards from the compound. She definitely recognized his face, and his name was on the tip of her tongue. Flix, or something like that. “Hi,” she said.

  He stared at her like she’d gone crazy. His gun was drawn and aimed at her head. She didn’t trust that she could even get to the bracelet before the bullet had hit her. “Arms up. Hands behind your head.”

  She did as she was told and hoped she’d secured the gun well enough. “I want to see Damien,” she said, voice stronger than she’d thought. Her resolve was flawless, though. The second she’d seen him on the cameras she’d known she was going to follow this through to the end.r />
  Flix hesitated. It was obviously that was what he’d been planning on doing with her anyway, but now he was doubting it. He didn’t want to give in to her demands, either. “Turn and walk,” he instructed. “Don’t even think about trying anything. I’ll fire without hesitation.”

  “I just want to speak to him,” she assured, and followed his instructions as he told her which doors to walk through. It didn’t take them long to reach a set of double doors and they didn’t see anyone else on the way there.

  “Sir!” Flix shouted.

  “I’m busy,” Damien replied. His voice echoed everything she’d seen on the camera. It was angry and out of control.

  She had no idea how speaking to him would go. It could be anything from demanding she be immediately executed to telling her everything. She’d never thought of him as unpredictable.

  “The girl is on the ship,” Flix replied, voice wavering a little. He obviously wasn’t used to this Damien either. “Maddie is here. I have her.”

  The door was ripped open, and Damien stood on the other side, hands clenched into fists at his side. He stared at her, and she stared right back, refusing to flinch. “Hi,” she said, sarcasm drenching her words.

  Goading him might not be the best tactic, she decided, when he practically snarled at her. “Bring her inside.”

  She walked forward until she was in the center of the room and then turned to face him. She came immediately face to face with the barrel of the gun Flix had been pointing at the back of her head while she walked, and almost jumped backward in surprise.

  She wasn’t going to be weak here, though.

  “You can leave,” Damien said to Flix.

  Flix hesitated. “She might harm you.”

  “Does she look capable of harming me?” he turned a glare on Flix, and Flix just bowed his head.

  “Should I wait outside?”

  “No. Search the ship with others, make sure no one else got on board.”

  Damien shut the door as Flix left, and left them alone together. “So,” Damien said, coming to stand opposite and folding his arms. His face had gone back to a composed mask scarily quickly, and Maddie swallowed the lump in her throat. “What did you do to get your bodyguard to abandon you so quickly? Here running back to my safety, are you?”

  She wanted to rage and shout, but she bit her tongue to think about what she wanted to say. “Redek would never abandon me.”

  “Oh, that’s what you think. Everyone has a price.”

  “Why didn’t you offer it to him, then? Instead of killing all these people?”

  “I never intended to kill anyone. Well, except him. They’re the ones who fought back. I didn’t spill the first blood.”

  “You invaded their home.”

  “I searched their home.”

  “You don’t need an army to search.”

  “You do in a place like this. It’s feral.”

  “How did you get the IU to help you with this?” All their plans to take their information to the IU and get Damien arrested had gone down the drain because of this.

  “I asked.” His smugness was overwhelming. “So, your boyfriend hasn’t given up on you, yet you choose to come here. Why?”

  “I want to ask you some questions.”

  “About?”

  “About my parents.”

  “I see. Removing the tracking device restored your memory, then.”

  “Some of it.”

  “If you think I’m going to give you answers, you’re mistaken.”

  “Why?”

  “After you’ve caused me all this trouble? I’m going to give you nothing but pain,” he replied. His control was slipping, though. It was a mad glint in his eyes as he said it, and goosebumps littered Maddie’s skin.

  This had been a mistake.

  “What have you got to lose?” she asked, the pistol felt like it weighed a ton where it was resting in the front of her pants. So did the bracelet around her wrist. She had two options when this started going badly, and she hadn’t decided which one she was going to take. “So tell me and kill me afterward. I’ll be dead either way.”

  “No one said anything about you dying.”

  “So let me live with the pain of knowing my dad is alive and I’ll never get to meet him,” she baited instead.

  “Why would you care even if he was?” There was an edge to his voice now, as though she’d hit a sore spot. “You’ve never known him. You don’t even remember him. Why would it matter?”

  “What, you mean, why am I not content with what you gave me? A little house of my own in the garden where you came and saw me once in a blue moon to make sure I hadn’t done anything stupid and was still feeding you all the information you needed to stay rich?” she spat. She’d been the one to lose control in the end. She should have known she would. “Where you watched me through cameras and didn’t let me have a day to myself, ever? The last two days have been better than the rest of my life spent in that fucking prison.”

  This was making Damien shut down further, not get mad like she’d been hoping, though. “I should have realized raising you like I did would make you ungrateful. I spoiled you.”

  She’d pulled the gun on him before she could stop her arms from acting. They were shaking with rage, and she doubted she’d hit him even if she pulled the trigger. “How dare you?” She was close to tears. “How fucking dare you? You killed my mom in front of me, and say you spoiled me?” She laughed, gun moving with her. “You’re fucking crazy. You’ve lost it.”

  Damien only smiled. “I’m the crazy one?”

  She knew she looked hysterical—she was hysterical—but how else could she be? She’d been controlled and manipulated her entire life, and had finally gotten to face her captor knowing everything he’d done.

  The fact she hadn’t just shot him right away was a miracle in itself.

  “Tell me if he’s alive, or I’ll shoot.”

  “No, you won’t.”

  That was the final straw.

  She pulled the trigger.

  18.

  REDEK

  Redek appeared in a corridor on Damien’s ship, pistols in his hands. It was too close to his previous rage to channel another one, so the bloodlust wasn’t there. He didn’t want the satisfaction of plunging a blade through flesh, he wanted the satisfaction of a quick and efficient death so he could get to Maddie faster.

  He refused to accept that she might already be dead.

  Maybe she’d already pressed the button on her bracelet and was safely back on the surface of Lyskar, out of sight and out of harm’s way.

  The rest of his team appeared with him in the corridor, and he looked around. “Three that way, you with me.” He had no right to lead them, but he didn’t care. “Maddie is the priority. If you find her, press her button and get her out of here.”

  They nodded and followed his instructions regardless of his lack of authority. He jogged down a corridor, opening every door he came across. There were cameras in the corridors, and he knew they’d have been spotted the minute they teleported in, but he didn’t care. He didn’t need a rage to kill.

  Not when Maddie was in danger.

  Splitting up might not have been the best option when they could be seen and followed, but it was too late for that now. They’d cover more ground this way.

  When he turned a corner, he was met by a huddle of Damien’s guards running toward him. They were wearing the same uniform as the guards at his house, which meant they were highly trained by a rival company of Suytov Securities.

  They didn’t have an inch on a motivated Suytovian, though, and Redek had deployed four shots from his pistol before they’d even blinked, downing the first two guards in the pack. In the narrow corridors they couldn’t all fire at once without shooting those in front of them, and it evened out the fight.

  Redek’s team fired shots, too, and had taken out another two guards in no time. Redek took a shot to the shoulder, and along with the other wounds he’d
sustained, it made him grunt in pain. Without his rage, each injury took more of a toll, though it was nothing major yet. He dove forward, close enough that their pistols would be useless, and pulled knives from his belt. His goal wasn’t to kill everyone in his path, though, he just wanted to get through to the other side to keep running and searching for Maddie. He managed it, and left his colleagues to fight Damien’s guards. It was enough of a threat that no one chased after him.

  A shot was fired after him that went through his thigh, and he almost lost his footing and fell over, but barely caught himself.

  That one hurt.

  A lot.

  He powered through, though, and kept going.

  A few more empty rooms and changes of corridor later, and he came face to face with a set of important-looking double doors.

  And two more guards standing in front of them.

  This had to be Damien.

  Whether Maddie was behind that door or not, he was going in there, and he was going to kill the man who had caused her so much pain.

  But first he had to get through the guards. He recognized them from the compound: Sern and Gyl.

  He’d turned the corner and come across them suddenly. They were too close for him to grab the pistols he’d put back in his holsters, so he went with the knives he already had in his hands and dove forward. Fighting two highly trained people at once wasn’t fun, especially not when he was already injured and they were untouched.

  His skin was tinged pink, but he wasn’t recharged enough for a full rage.

  He’d just have to give it his all.

  Redek went for Gyl, who’d jumped a little when he came dashing around the corner. That probably meant he was newer to this than Sern, and more likely to make mistakes. He went straight for the neck, wanting a single blow kill if he could get it. An immediate evening of the playing field.

  Gyl dodged, though, at the last second and escaped with just a superficial wound to the cheek.