Fierce Fighter Read online

  He looked at each one of us.

  Everyone was quiet.

  Damn, he was good at that too.

  No matter how much I teased him about being our fearless leader, he really was good at being in charge.

  “So, let’s go have supper and then we’ll bed down in the moss. Maybe Matt and Nessa will lend us a couple blankets.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAD

  I followed Yumi towards Matt and Nessa’s house to eat supper, trying not to notice the way her ass swayed only the tiniest bit as she walked.

  God, I was a mess. A complete mess.

  I was worried about Gracie. Concerned about how we would ever get home. Disturbed that we wouldn’t have a roof overhead tonight. And feeling responsible for my team.

  And still I was distracted by Yumi’s ass? It was ridiculous. I tamped down my desire and tried to focus on the problems at hand.

  Yumi stopped and turned to face me so suddenly that I nearly crashed into her, I was so lost in my thoughts.

  “We don’t sleep under the stars tonight, Red,” she said, her voice certain. Audrey and Shiv turned to hear what she had to say, too.

  “We don’t?” I said, again pleased she had called me Red. Maybe there was hope she might forgive me someday when we were both old and grey. Provided we lived that long. “I’m pretty sure Matt told me we couldn’t stay.”

  She shook her head.

  “They actually want us to stay.”

  “They do?” I frowned.

  “They do. They just don’t know it yet.”

  “What?” Shiv said, perplexed.

  “They want us to stay because we’re going to help them.”

  “Help them with what?” Shiv said, starting to look intrigued.

  “With the very thing they want most,” she continued.

  “Oh just spit it out, for goodness sake, Tanaka,” Audrey said, her pretty face glowering at Yumi. “What are we going to help them do?”

  But my mind had already jumped to the answer.

  “Get their friend back,” I said before Yumi could respond.

  She gave a sharp nod.

  “That’s right.”

  ***

  “I’m so sorry you can’t stay here,” Nessa said for the second or third time, as she passed me the fried pickerel that was so good I had already had three helpings. “I really wish you could.”

  “We understand. It’s not a problem,” I said, keeping my face friendly and neutral. I wondered when Yumi would bring up her idea to Nessa and Matt. But then Matt gave her the perfect in.

  “So, how did you end up travelling with Brett’s guards?” Matt said into the quiet. The food was so good and we were so hungry for a meal that everyone was tucking in and no one was talking.

  I looked up from my plate.

  “They came upon us in the woods and captured us.”

  I glanced at Yumi and I could tell she wanted to roll her eyes. My lips quirked up at the corners and she looked away quickly as if she was afraid that she might smile at me and didn’t want to.

  Captured? Surrendered was more like it. We could have kicked their asses and got away but I had thought we needed intel and this first group we encountered seemed like a good way to get it.

  My mistake.

  I gave a small sigh — I was far from perfect.

  “Captured. Right,” Matt said, giving me a knowing smile.

  “They took us to their camp and held us prisoner. On the second day, they brought in a new prisoner,” Shiv told everyone. “And beat her up in front of the entire camp.”

  Matt and Nessa looked at each other.

  “What did she look like?” they both said at the same time.

  Shiv described her and the two looked at each other again but this time in consternation. Yumi met my eyes across the table and lifted her eyebrows at me. I gave a tiny nod.

  “That’s Zoe,” Nessa said to Matt and he nodded. “It has to be.”

  Nessa turned to the rest of us.

  “She’s been missing and we suspected that Brett had captured her.”

  “That’s who we thought you were when we freed you.” Matt told Yumi, who nodded.

  Nessa’s face grew stormy.

  “I can’t believe he beat her up like that in front of everyone.”

  “Not for long,” Yumi said, calmly taking a bite of her dandelion green salad.

  “What do you mean?” Matt said.

  Shiv smiled.

  “Yumi has a thing about injustice.”

  “And?” Nessa said, her gaze jumping from face to face, trying to understand.

  “She stopped Brett from beating Zoe up,” I said.

  “Stopped him?” Matt looked completely bewildered. “ I thought you said you were prisoners?”

  “We were,” Yumi said, continuing to eat, completely unconcerned. “They brought us out to watch, too.”

  “Yumi stepped in after Brett went a little too far and nobody did anything about it,” I told them.

  “You were unbound?” Matt said, shaking his head. “I don’t believe it.”

  “We were tied up,” Yumi said, finally looking up and meeting Matt’s eyes. “I don’t need my hands free to take down an asshole like that.”

  Yumi’s eyes got wide and she glanced in the direction of the couch where the little girl was lying.

  “She’s asleep,” Nessa said, giving her an amused smile.

  Yumi looked relieved.

  “So, you’re saying you beat up Brett in the middle of his own camp, while he was making an example of Zoe, and no one stopped you?” Matt seemed completely skeptical and I didn’t blame him.

  “Nobody liked what he was doing,” I said explained. “Even his people were appalled. I think that they knew her and liked her. And they were all upset that he was beating her up in front of them.”

  “I’m impressed, “ Matt said, staring at Yumi.

  “You should be,” she said. There was silence for a moment as everyone thought about what she’d done and then Yumi spoke again.

  “We’re going in to get Grace,” she said, speaking directly to Matt and Nessa. “We have reason to believe that she and Zoe are together.”

  “Oh,” Nessa said, her eyes filled with desperate hope.

  “We’ll get Zoe out, too,” she held Matt’s eyes for a long moment, then turned to look at Nessa. She went back to eating as if she hadn’t just promised them the thing they wanted most in the world right now.

  Matt and Nessa looked at me and I nodded my confirmation.

  There was more silence as everyone ate — and thought.

  “This changes things,” Matt said, his voice quiet. “You can stay here. We have a guest cabin. I’d lock you up to protect us but I have a feeling if you wanted to get out, nothing would keep you in.”

  Yumi nodded, acknowledging the truth of that statement.

  “Brett’s prisoners, my ass,” he said. “You were there because you wanted to be there.”

  It was my turn to nod.

  “You seem like a pretty dangerous group and I think I’d like to keep you on my side. And if you‘re not on my side, then it’s already too late to protect us from you.”

  Nessa looked a little worried when he said that.

  I needed to reassure her that as powerful as we were — and we didn’t even have our abilities — that we would never hurt them.

  “We belong to a group that is sworn to protect people like you,” I said. Well, we had never officially been sworn in as Protectors, but we followed the code nonetheless. “You have nothing to fear from us, Nessa, Matt. We just want my sister back. And then we’re going to go home.”

  “Where’s home?” Nessa asked, as if she didn’t really expect me to tell her.

  I smiled.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t tell you that. But it’s very far away.” I laid down my fork and knife, surprised to see that I had already cleaned my plate. “We start on our rescue mission as soon as possible. The sooner we
get Grace and Zoe back, the sooner we can start our return journey and leave you to your lives.”

  “I appreciate this, Chad,” Matt said. “Yumi. All of you. Thank you.”

  “You can thank us when we deliver Zoe back to you safe and sound. Time enough for gratitude then,” I said, not wanting to get ahead of ourselves.

  “Well, if anyone can get her out of Brett’s clutches,” Matt said, with a rueful smile. “I have a feeling it’s you guys.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  YUMI

  I stared at Chad, fury racing through my veins and making me breathe harder. It was morning and we were standing down by the lake where he had brought me to discuss the assignments for the mission.

  There was mist rising from the still water and a pretty pink light in the east where the sun would soon rise but I had no eyes for the beauty surrounding me.

  “Are you kidding me? There’s no way you and Matt are going to go rescue Grace without me, Audrey, and Shiv. What are you thinking?” I felt every muscle in my body tensing. I was used to always knowing what Chad was thinking. This blackout zone, where I couldn’t tell what he was was going on in his head at all, freaked me out.

  “Let me finish,” Chad said, his lips pressed together, his blue eyes flashing with his own anger. “God, you always jump to conclusions lately.”

  Maybe I did jump to conclusions lately. Because I had no idea what was going on in his head, so I was guessing. He might be right. He probably was. But no way would I give him the satisfaction of admitting it.

  “I jump to conclusions?” I threw my hands up and stepped back. “Whatever. At least I don’t make irresponsible decisions that lead to losing a member of my team.”

  The flames in his eyes began to smoulder as I pissed him off even more. But I didn’t care. I wanted to make him angry. I wanted him to be as angry as I was.

  And let me tell you, pissing Chad off is no easy task. Getting him riled up is nearly impossible. He has the calm of the fucking Buddha. Most people can’t upset him at all.

  Me, though? I’m a different story.

  But then his eyes dropped and his shoulders sagged a little.

  “You’re right,” he said, looking up again with a desolate expression on his face. “It was a bad decision allowing us to be captured by Brett’s people and I’ve regretted it ever since Grace disappeared.”

  Fuck.

  That was no fun.

  I wanted him to be angry, not hurt.

  Seeing him hurt only hurt me.

  And seeing him looking so defeated made it worse.

  I was about to say something nice, kind — anything to get that empty look out of his eyes, when suddenly his face hardened in a way I had never seen.

  “But I did make the decision and now we have to live with it. A leader can’t be right all the time. But if he’s wrong then he needs to try to correct his mistake.”

  “And was it in leader school that he learned to talk about himself in the third person?” I said, mocking him. But it lacked the bite from before. The rage had drained from my body and I felt as defeated as he had looked a few moments ago. I sensed that he now had the upper hand in the conversation as he stood up a little straighter and stared me down.

  “Are you done with your little temper tantrum?” he said, folding his arms over his chest, the hard expression assessing me. Chad could be stern and strong, but he had never been hard. There had always been some give to him. But something I had just said had changed something inside of him.

  I ran a troubled gaze over this new Chad with the steely glint in his suddenly cold eyes that chilled my heart. He seemed to be waiting for me to answer.

  “Yes.” I forced the word out, knowing he would say no more until I spoke.

  “What I was going to say before you threw your hissy fit, was that Matt and I and his team will go rescue Grace and Zoe, while you, Audrey, and Shiv go get the bracelets.”

  Oh shit. That’s why he didn’t want us with them. We had a more important mission. Fuck me. I should have known. And now… what had I done?

  My thoughts were cut off as he continued speaking.

  “Some of Matt’s scouts came back and reported to him late last night…”

  “When you were up getting drunk with him.”

  The only sign he gave that I was getting under his skin was the slight clenching of his jaw, but I felt triumphant nonetheless.

  “And the scouts said,” he continued on as if I hadn’t spoken. “That they had seen some of Brett’s people escorting prisoners to the Clark lake camp. Their descriptions match Zoe and Grace.”

  “Is he sure?” I said, unable to keep my tactician’s brain from working on the problem. “Why couldn’t they still be locked up somewhere in the other camp? Or somewhere else, for all we know.”

  “First of all, Grace has a pretty distinct appearance. She would be hard to mix up with someone else.”

  That was certainly true.

  “Second, Matt’s group has been keeping tabs on Brett’s activities for three years,” Chad said, his face revealing no emotion, no trace of what he was thinking. But so what? I didn’t care what he thought of me anymore. “It seems they’ve been enemies a long time. Ever since the solar flare.”

  I listened silently as he explained what he had learned.

  “They know a lot about Brett’s group’s movements and how he operates. Matt told me that the main camp where we were brought is where his people live. He doesn’t keep his prisoners there. There’s a camp at Clark lake…”

  “Past Wabowden?” I said, wondering if I was thinking of the correct lake.

  “Right. At Clark lake he keeps a prison camp. That’s where they were taking us. The prisoners do work and he keeps them locked up but Matt says that the security isn’t even as tight as at the main camp. And the guards can be bribed.”

  “How does he know?”

  “They’ve broken people out before.”

  “So, what’s the big deal then?” I said, starting to pace as I thought furiously. “Why do they need us if they’ve done this before. My idea was wrong. Why is it working?”

  Chad took a deep breath and I eyed him. He was trying to keep calm.

  Was I ticking him off without even trying?

  Sweet.

  “It’s working because this time it’s Zoe. And Brett has revenge on his mind. He will do everything in his power to keep her his prisoner forever.”

  “But then you need me to break her out. I’m the best you’ve got,” I said, without a trace of arrogance. It was the simple truth.

  “That’s true, but we don’t have that much time. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. I really think we should split up so that we can get both missions accomplished at once.”

  “Okay, you’re right about the time deadline,” I said, still not liking it one bit.

  “Also, I can’t let Shiv and Audrey go without protection and help into the forest. They know nothing about this place and you know they’d be eaten by a bear in three minutes. Also, your mission requires all your fighting and stealth skills as well as Shiv’s own unique skill set.”

  “Why Shiv?”

  “Because of the devices. You need Shiv there, in case anything is wrong with them.”

  I sat down on a large rock with a thump.

  “You think they might be damaged?” I met his gaze, upset that my voice sounded so small. “That we might be stranded here?”

  He held up a hand.

  “I sincerely hope not. But this Brett seems pretty crazy. There’s no telling what he might try. He could easily have messed with the bracelets, trying to find out what they do.”

  “Okay.”

  I pressed my lips together, knowing I needed to apologize.

  “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions,” I said, my body tight, the words tense. Admitting I was wrong was never easy for me.

  “Not a problem,” he said, without a trace of emotion either in his voice or on his face. “Nothing you do
is worth getting upset over. Not anymore.”

  I blinked.

  “What the fuck does that mean?”

  But all Chad did was give me a icy glance and walk away up the hill towards the cabin, leaving me alone in the dreary fog.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAD

  It was midday and I hoped that we would stop to eat soon. Matt and I and the other men he had brought were making good time, paddling south across Sipwesk lake. We planned to take the water system as far as we could, because it was much faster than walking now that the highway was in such terrible condition after three years of no maintenance.

  We hoped that we might intercept the group that supposedly before we got to the camp. Matt thought we had a better chance of getting the women back before they arrived at the camp.

  Yumi and the others were probably well on their way back to Brett’s main camp by this time of the morning. My guts clenched at the thought of the fight I had had with Yumi that morning.

  How she could still make me so mad, I honestly didn’t know. I am in control with everyone else but she, well, she just makes me crazy sometimes. But I had felt something shift inside me when she had thrown it in my face that I had let Grace disappear.

  Never mind that my sister was a grown woman more than capable of taking care of herself. Never mind that Yumi probably would have made the same decision in my shoes. Never mind that we would get her back and everything would be okay. All that mattered to Yumi was that someone was gone. And it was my fault.

  Again.

  It made me so furious again that I did the same thing I had done in the morning, I shut everything off. If I didn’t, I was afraid that I would explode or go crazy. Or something else terrible that would leave me completely incapable of saving my sister and getting my team back home.

  I felt like I had turned to marble. All my turbulent feelings went away.

  There that’s… better. I suppose.

  I directed my thoughts to the paddling and focused on carving into the water again and again, until I forgot everything except the ache in my muscles and the motion that I had to keep doing, over and over.