them and torture the info out of him. How had Maksim found me?
If it played out differently, if they all came at me at once, I would just have to go Yippee Ki Yay on those motherfuckers.
I closed the satellite equipment, suddenly anxious to get back to Angela, to make sure she was okay. The blip was still headed this way, it wasn’t here yet. But who knew what Maksim could do on American soil? He would recruit people here. He would have a team. And none of them would be chipped. There were times Maksim veered from his MO in order to get a job done.
The crack in the rocks was almost claustrophobic when I pushed through it again. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. I needed to get back to the cabin. Anxiety tried to take hold of me, but I shoved it away.
When I stepped into the cabin, everything was quiet. I strained my ears, listening, but the sound of the forest was the only thing around us. I tiptoed to the room. She was still asleep. Safe and sound.
I had to make sure she stayed that way.
I left the cabin again and walked around the back, following a trail of rocks. It wasn’t a path, barely more than a scattering of stones. But it was a path that led me to a shed that looked abandoned, half built into an outcropping of small boulders. The shed looked like shit, but the lock was brand new. It had a biometric code rather than a key, and I put my thumb on the pad to open it. When the lock clicked open, I opened the door, stepped into the shed, and shut the door behind me again.
There was no light to switch on like in the movies, where everything was lit up shelf after shelf so my past and my present would be laid out. My guns were tucked away in boxes, not hanging on perfect hooks on the wall. Only an idiot put his weapons on display like that. Mine were hidden in case someone did decide to investigate.
But they were all clean, polished, and serviced.
I had several different guns. A 1911, a Glock, a Smith and Wesson that made me happy just feeling the weight of it in my palm. Two assault rifles, a sniper rifle, and a good old shotgun.
I had a collection of knives as well.
The cabinet to the side housed other things. Darker things. Blades and drills and all manner of torturing devices.
I wasn’t proud of who I’d been. If I could choose, I wouldn’t look at any of this shit ever again. But desperate times called for desperate measures. I wasn’t going to turn my back on my skills now, especially since someone was on the way.
Angela had very quickly become everything. I needed to look after her. And I needed to look after me so I could keep her safe. If that fucker decided to disrupt the life I’d created for myself after turning my back on the monster I once was, I’d show him that I could still become an animal when it came to protecting what I loved.
The fact that I referred to Angela as what I loved was something I wasn’t going to think about too hard.
For a moment, I considered telling Axel what was going on. It was useful to have backup. I discarded the idea as quickly as it had come. I wasn’t dragging more people in my life into something that wasn’t their problem at all.
I knew my enemy, knew Maksim better than any of his other men ever would. We’d come a long way together. I was one of his first recruits. And we had been friends, before he’d become the kingpin of his whole operation. I knew his weaknesses.
Axel wouldn’t know any of that. He would go in blind. And he was a good guy. He would help if I asked it of him. No, I could take care of this shit myself. It was my mess, so it was up to me to clean it up.
After making sure my weapons were ready and checking my ammunition boxes, I took two knives from one of the cabinet drawers. The blades glinted in the dim light that fell through the wooden slats that made up the shed. I tucked the sheaths into my waistband and pocket and left the shed, making sure it was properly locked again.
I walked back to the cabin, the blades hard