Black Ice (Hunters Inc Book 2) Read online

  “Super girl seems to think so, Dad was one of the architects that worked on Hunters HQ so she’s from a stable family, he would have been checked out before Ray would have allowed him within a hundred miles of the warehouse” the name now ringing a bell, ‘Williams’, yeah, Connor remembered her dad, he had come across as a nice guy, not that they had shared a beer or anything, but still, solid enough.

  “Background check says Sarah isn’t one for over reacting, not the type to want unnecessary attention, keeps pretty much to herself, so we assume the worst, hope for the best, isn’t that what they say. This needs to be on the down low gentlemen, so I need you two dicks to try not to stand out, you get me? The last thing we need is you raising hell and then I have to try and clear up an international incident. That’s one headache I really don’t need right now. Go, check it out, and bring her back.” That was Jenson, straight to the point. No bells and whistles, not his style.

  Try not to stand out. Yeah right.

  Not that easy when every member of his team stood over 6ft and was almost as wide in build.

  Blending in wasn’t something they did well, turning heads however, near on professionals.

  “I’m five minutes out. Tell the pilot to be ready” Connor ended the call in his usual blunt manner.

  He drove up to the heavy metal security gate, punched in a six-digit access code and tapped his thumbs impatiently as he waited for the automatic gate to slide open, he drove through and parked his black Rover next to the near identical one that belonged to Harry.

  Working at Hunters: certainly, had its perks, the fleet of sweet rides being just one of them.

  Connor grabbed his go bag from the back seat, locked his ride then picked up his pace for the hundred yards he needed to cover as he made his way towards a waiting Harry who was stood at the bottom of the Learjet steps.

  He greeted his team mate and brother in arms with the mandatory hand grab and back slap that showed the depth of their friendship before they both turned and hotfooted it up the plane steps.

  From a distance, they could almost pass for brother of the bloodline kind, but that was where the similarities ended.

  Harry was all about family, well, his sister Hannah. Connor, not so much.

  Hannah was the reason the team had reformed. They had been brought back together when Harry had needed them most, Connor didn’t hesitate when the call came to help one of his brothers.

  She’d had a price on her head by one Carlos Sanchez, small time drug pusher, the team had regrouped to take the sadistic mother fucker out, it had felt damn good, reignited a slow burning fire that had never quite been fully extinguished.

  Having a private plane on standby gave them the advantage of no airport security checks.

  No trumped up fucking Jobs worth trying to make themselves appear more powerful than what they actually were.

  He could carry his weapons on board and no one would as much as raise an eyebrow.

  Good job, he had more than a small arsenal stashed at the bottom of the holdall that was now taking up the seat across from him, and he was grateful that he didn’t have to explain why he had it to a bunch of paper pushing airport officials.

  That would just be a damn ball ache he didn’t have time to deal with right now.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Harry handed Connor an A4 Manila file as he took his seat. The cold cream leather creaking beneath his massive frame.

  “Bit of light reading” Harry chose the seat across the central isle and stretched out his long legs, making himself comfortable for what would be a long flight.

  “Really, you printed her file off. Any excuse to hang around the office, seriously man, just ask Em out already, it’s like watching an episode of fucking Friends, you two are our Ross and Rachel, you do know that right?” Connor flipped open the folder, Harry flipped him the bird.

  That’s when he saw it, the snap shot of Sarah.

  Red marker circling her face. Connor felt an unexpected tightening in his gut.

  5ft 3” if he had to hazard a guess, slim, long blonde hair. The picture matched the description in the file perfectly, but he still hadn’t been expecting what he saw.

  He turned the picture, it was recent, dated just a couple of months previous, good, at least he knew she wouldn’t look to much different, not unless she had decided to rebel and dye her hair emo black, now that would have been a damn shame.

  In the picture, Sarah was stood in a small group of six, all couples by the looks of it.

  She was on the end, the arm of some college football jock draped casually around her shoulder.

  He looked a dick, and Connor had taken an instant disliking to him, he’d never been a fan of the ‘I love me’ crowd back school, never had the chance to go to college himself, but he was sure the douche with his arm around Sarah would have pissed him off. Hell, the guy was pissing him off right now and he didn’t even know him, since when had he become so judgmental?

  “They’re seven hours ahead of us, so I suggest you give that a read and then try and get some shut eye. Jet lag is gonna be a bitch” Harry reclined the plush cream leather seat and pulled the window blind down “wake me in eight hours.”

  “Will we be there long enough for jet lag to kick in? I was hoping for another quiet night in front of the TV with Pizza and a cold beer” another night, hell, that was practically every night, but then what did he expect, he lived alone in his newly acquired overly large house. Probably too large for him to be living in it all by himself, but Connor had no intentions of filling it with a family, he didn’t do family, well not the conventional kind, his team were his family, he was destined to be alone, always had been, always would be, he had accepted his lot a long time ago, it was just the way his world worked.

  Harry gave him his reply in the form of a light snore.

  That was the end of that conversation.

  But this was just a straight forward escort job, so nothing to taxing to discuss anyway.

  Everything he needed to know would be in the newly printed pieces of paper that were spread out in front of him.

  The information was a little vague for his liking, it had been put together in a rush, that was evident.

  Not the thorough intel he was used to having in front of him when the team discussed and planned a job.

  Sarah had called home around midnight Helsinki time, 17:00hrs US time, less than five hours ago, what she had said had unnerved her dad enough to take her seriously, and so Hunters Inc: had been contacted.

  Felt a little like overkill to him, but what did he care, he was getting paid to go check things out and that meant he would give the job one hundred percent of his undivided attention.

  Connor pulled the small photograph from the paper clip that had been holding it securely in place, and studied.

  He eyes moved their focus back to the small blonde.

  Sarah Williams was certainly a looker.

  He would even go as far as to describe her as beautiful, and that wasn’t a world he’d had much use for in his life.

  Why that train of thought came to mind, he had no idea, it wasn’t exactly professional, and neither was the unexpected stirring of his dick, hell, all he had done was look at her picture, what the fuck was wrong with him?

  Connor adjusted himself in his seat, a quick sideways glance at the now drooling Harry and he knew he was safe, he hadn’t been caught.

  He on the other hand would rib the big man about his sleeping habits later, it would be a crime not to, but right now, he had some reading to do and a rogue touch on to tame.

  The file stated that Sarah was twenty-three, 5ft 4, 110lbs. A competitive skater, and was in Helsinki for a major competition.

  She often traveled alone, liked to arrive a few days before all the other athletes, she liked to settle in, before all the hustle and bustle, it was something she did for all the major competitions.

  So, that explained what she was doing there, but it still pissed him off that she trav
elled alone.

  That was sloppy, a young beautiful woman on her own was just asking for trouble, the world wasn’t exactly a safe place right now, what with all the political unrest following the recent presidential elections at home.

  Europe had a daunting reputation as one of the human trafficking hotspots of the world.

  Threats against Americans abroad had increased ten- fold following the shock win of an ex reality TV star to the highest political office in the country.

  And looking like she did, she would have been a quality prize for some black-market auction house, he would know, he’d busted a few.

  Yeah, travelling alone certainly wasn’t the best move right now and when he found her, he would tell her just that.

  Not that Miss Independent would take it well.

  Connor sat and closed his eyes as he listened to the soft rhythmic snore coming from the bulk of a man slouched across from him. Harry could grab shut eye anywhere, mountain, jungle, desert, didn’t matter, the man could fall asleep on a dime.

  Connor not so much, a throw-back to being snuck up on one too many times when trying to get a few minutes shut eye when he had been hankered down under a bush in the rain, or huddling together with his team in the middle of god only knew where. Waking up to find a blade millimeters from slicing your throat kinda did that to a man.

  The chances of him sleeping on the flight were zero, couldn’t do it.

  It had been a kick in the gut when Harry had been the first of them to walk away from their Army unit, they had up to that point been a six-man team who were together twenty-four seven whenever they were on a tour.

  One by one, their six had become five, five became four and so on. Each man having their reason for leaving behind, in some cases, the only life they knew.

  For Connor, walking away had been both the hardest decision of his life, and the easiest.

  Hard to leave a life he loved, men he loved.

  Easy to save his sanity and his soul.

  Connor had seen and heard way too much for a man of twenty-eight, things that would haunt him for the rest of his days. Things that he needed to make his peace with before life would allow him to move on, and he would, but in his own way, in his own time.

  Man, had they been to some hell holes together, and somehow, they had all made it home alive, not always without the odd bullet hole, or knife wound, but nothing that had threatened life or limb, nothing that wouldn’t heal, on the outside anyway.

  He thanked god every day that his band of brothers had made it through their time fighting for the country that they loved. He had known and lost others who hadn’t been so lucky.

  But there came a time when a man needed to move on.

  The amusing twist of irony was that they had all come back together in their unit, but now operated under the banner Hunters Inc: Private Security, and he was back being the fighter and protector he was born to be, only this time, it was on his own terms.

  “Come on sleeping beauty, you might want to go wash your face, I don’t think you’re gonna be impressing anyone with a chin covered in dribble.”

  Harry slowly opened one eye. He had slept the entire flight.

  “I’m still a handsome fucker though, you gotta admit that” Harry wiped the evidence of his nap from off his face with the back of his hand.

  Connor shook his head as he unbuckled his seat belt, stood up and stretched.

  It had been a long flight, and he was starting to feel cramped, cabin fever. He needed to get out of the small confined space, even if it was the high end of luxury.

  How anyone could sleep on a plane was a mystery to Connor, but Harry had slept like a baby, while he had read and reread Sarah’s file over and over, until he felt like he already knew her.

  Did he really need to be that thorough?

  Probably not, but he found himself looking at her picture each time he opened the folder, which if he was to take a guess, was at least once every thirty minutes for the last eight hours.

  Sarah’s soft face, blonde hair and deep blue eyes now seared into his memory.

  He would be able to pick her out in a crowd at five hundred yards, no question.

  “There should be a car waiting, thank fuck it’s a right-hand country, can’t be doing with all that wrong side of the road shit. I’ll drive” Harry made his way to the door of the plane, Connor hung back and slipped the now well-read file into his hold all.

  Not that he needed it, the information contained in its pages now well and truly programmed into his gray cells, and besides, he would be face to face with the woman from the image in the picture soon enough anyway.

  Why had that thought made him nervous? Connor didn’t do nervous, not over a chic anyway, he didn’t know her, so wasn’t sure why he had felt that little twinge, and he didn’t like it.

  Sarah had been holed up in the bathroom of her hotel room for hours. She was tired and hungry, and had a killer case of cramp that kept threatening to send her into full blown spasm if she wasn’t careful, but she was determined not to move.

  Thank god, her room didn’t have one of those overpriced minibars, otherwise she would have been tempted to crawl over and raid it for the little bags of Cashew or Pistachio or whatever nuts they had. It wouldn’t do to have her would be rescuers find her surrounded by empty miniatures of gin, vodka and whatever else she could find in there.

  Over the last few hours, she had received several text messages from her Dad and some guy called Jenson, who had told her there were two men on their way over to where she was.

  Those messages hadn’t been full of comfort like the ones from her dad, but had been very matter of fact, straight to the point, putting an X on the end of a ‘men coming to save your life’ text wasn’t really what she had been expecting anyway.

  In all honesty, Sarah didn’t have a damn clue what to expect, she just hoped whoever came got a move on, and new what the hell they were doing.

  Harry Taylor and Connor Parry, those were the names she had been told to listen for, and they would give a specific knock so that she knew it was them when they arrived. Very secret society.

  She had been given a brief description, so if someone stood 5ft 5, 120lbs wet through, then she knew she was in some serious trouble. Jenson whoever the hell he was didn’t exactly fill her with confidence right now.

  She was to remain in the bathroom and wait, not answering the door to anyone but them.

  This wasn’t exactly the kind of hotel that provided a daily maid service, so the chances of housekeeping coming and finding her huddled against the sink where nil to none.

  She sat on the hard, tiled floor, the comforter wrapped tightly around her, going over again and again what she thought she’d heard, no, not thought, knew…

  Sarah hadn’t been mistaken, she had heard one side of a phone call discussing a bomb plot, she was sure of it. She didn’t over react, it wasn’t her thing. Cool Calm and Collected, that was her.

  But she was scared, and she didn’t scare easily.

  She had been taught from a young age to be strong, keep her wits about her. Ever since her mom had died, it had just been Sarah and her dad, she had let go of her fears a long time ago, that’s what pushed her need to be independent, until now.

  Sarah needed Connor Taylor and Harry Parry or whatever their damn names were, to get their asses over to Finland and get her home.

  Her phone flashed, sudden panic that it would ring soon passed when no sound came, just the screen lit up with unknown number…shit, ‘please be them, please be them’

  “Hello…” her voice low, muffled beneath the comforter, almost as though she was trying to hide from someone who wasn’t even in the room. Paranoid much?

  “Sarah…?” she closed her eyes…the voice was unfamiliar, but deep, masculine, powerful and for reasons she couldn’t explain, it made her feel instantly safer.

  “Yeah?” her throat dry. More so than at any other time since she had crawled into the tiny bathroom.

>   “Sarah, my name is Connor, your dad sent us to get you. We are on our way to the hotel now, you know the knock I’m going to use?”

  They were close, thank god.

  The feeling of relief almost too much to contain as tears she had been fighting back, threatened to unleash themselves. Wouldn’t do well opening the door puffy eyed and covered in snot.

  “When will you be here?” she took deep breaths. ‘Please say soon’ she thought, as though willing him to hurry would make him appear in her room like a comic book super hero.

  She could do with one of those about now, all man and muscle, ready and able to throw anyone out of the way who even tried to stop her getting home.

  “Soon, real soon. But I need you to do something for me ok. I need you to make your way across the room as quietly as you can, and see if you can hear anything in the next room, can you do that for me?”

  Was he serious? She had spent the last few hours in some shitty cramped bathroom, almost too fucking scared to actually breathe, and now she had to go back in that room… not a chance.

  “Why? I’ve spent hours in this shitty bathroom and now you want me to go walking around, what if they hear me?”

  “I know you’re scared, but I need to know if there is anyone in that room before we can come up. If they see two of us going in your room and three of us coming out, they are gonna know you have been in there all this time, do you understand?” yes, she did.

  It made sense, but she didn’t like it.

  But what if they were still there? What if they heard her?

  “I…” she shifted, the comforter falling. Sarah stood, took a deep breath, opened the bathroom door and stepped into the bedroom.

  She was gripping her phone so damn tight it would be a miracle if the screen didn’t shatter in her palm.

  “I know you're scared, but I need you to do this for me. We are almost with you” she could do this…for him, whoever that voice belonged to, he gave her a strength she didn’t know she had, that was for sure.