Perceive by K E Osborn

 

 

AXEL

 

As we file up the staircase, full tactical gear, weapons in hand, my mind can’t help but wander back to Kenzi. Eli and Noah are watching her at Eli’s home back at our ‘commune,’ and I just hope this swap we’re doing here with Brandon will have him out of our lives for fucking good.

The meeting place is on top of the Falkner building. It’s no surprise Brandon chose one of DC’s highest, most insecure buildings for the swap. Hardly any cameras, a helipad on top—the perfect place for a hardened criminal of the state to flee the country.

As we reach the door leading out to the helipad, the rotor blades of the chopper pierce the sky with their heavy swooshing. The vibration of the sound echoing through the door as Kace signals for us to exit. Luca flicks open the door, and we file out in a rush. I take aim with my sniper riffle waiting for any surprises that Brandon might have waiting for us.

But nothing.

It’s just as he said.

A chopper.

Waiting for his departure.

He’ll be inside with the coordinates of Hendrix’s hidey-hole and in exchange we’ll give him a passport to get the hell out of Dodge.

Good fucking riddance.

There’s no one else out here.

Just like Kace demanded.

Seems like Brandon is following through.

Maybe the asshole’s freedom is worth something to him.

Kace signals for me to approach the chopper. I grab the files from Blair and edge toward the chopper with caution. My rifle is aimed and ready for anything Brandon might throw at me. The blades of the chopper whir above making it harder to hear anything. I keep my eyes primed for any sudden movements.

Looking for Brandon in the back seat where he’s supposed to be, but all I see is a folder. My muscles clench as I aim the gun inside the rear of the chopper, pointing it toward the front.

Then I see it.

The pilot, his chin to his chest, blood seeping down his head covering his body. My entire body flushes in a wave of adrenaline, and not the good kind. I turn back to make sure my team is okay. They’re all standing there guarding me from the entrance to the hotel. My eyes shift to the folder, so with the tip of my gun, I open it.

The sight nearly knocks me on my ass.

It’s a picture of the pet rock Kenzi made me when we were kids. The one she made such a joke about when she first came to my house. My stomach lurches into my throat, when I slide it to the side to see the next picture of Kenzi and me, in bed, together.

My lip curls up as I slide it across to see another, and it’s of all of us at the barbecue at Kace’s house.

That’s when it hits me.

Brandon has our houses bugged.

He knows where we live!

I reach in grabbing the folder and turn running for my team.

Kace widens his eyes as I race frantically to reach him. He steps forward to meet me as I hand him the folder. “What’s going on?”

“Kenzi! Brandon is going after Kenzi!”

 

 

KENZI

 

“Are you sure you can’t come inside? I made lemonade?” I ask Noah.

He smiles at me. “I’m sure. I’m just gonna sit out here by the door pretending to read the newspaper.”

I raise my brow. “All day? Seriously isn’t that boring?”

Noah chuckles. “I’ll be watching, Kenzi. It’s my job. I’m wearing my vest underneath these clothes, my gun secured secretly. I’m good. I’m here as your outside protective detail. It’s what I’m here for.”

“So… no lemonade?”

He snickers. “No lemonade. Though I know Eli will definitely be in on that. He’s all about being your keeper tonight. So go hang with him. I’ll be fine… promise.”

I huff. “Okay, fine, but if you get hot, or need a drink… or to pee—”

“I’ll be fine, Kenzi. Go rest! I got a job to do.”

I slump my shoulders gripping Noah’s bicep in thanks, then turn heading inside Eli’s home. I have to admit, it smells amazing. I have no clue what he’s cooking, but man, compared to my lemonade, I think Eli is going to outdo my Betty Homemaker image today. 

Making my way into the kitchen, Eli stands in front of the stove, all muscles and brawn, wearing a cute little apron that reads ‘You like my meatballs’ as he stirs the pot of spaghetti sauce, then he uses a pasta spoon to stir the boiling pot of linguine.

“Eli, honestly, you didn’t have to cook for me.”

His lips turn up, showing me his perfectly white teeth. Honestly, the man is like something from a Hawaiian island dream, or maybe a mafia movie, I’m not sure, but he’s seriously a dreamboat. Come to think of it, all the SO7 are, in their own ways.

“I love cooking, my nonna taught me a lot while I was growing up.”

Mafia movie was right.

“So you have a big family?” I ask pouring out a glass of lemonade for him and myself.

There’s that smile again. “Oh, yeah, huge. All women, though. I’m the only man in the family… I guess that’s why I wanted to be so fucking huge. I felt the need to protect them all, to be the man of the house.”

Swoon.

“You don’t talk about them much with the team?”

Eli places a spoon in the sauce and starts blowing on the hot contents. “That’s because everyone has their own lives to deal with. They don’t need to know that my sister had another baby, or my nonna has dementia. It’s all superfluous information.”

He places the spoon to my mouth, and I smile taking the sauce in. My eyes widen when I taste it. “Holy shit, that’s amazing! The sauce, not about your family… you should tell the team that information. You guys are a family too. They’d want to know that stuff. You know everything about them. About Kace and his crazy family, about Axel and me, and so on. I think when they get back, we should sit down and you should tell them everything about your family. How can you really be a part of the team if they don’t know everything, right?”

Eli weakly smiles at me. “My family life is so mundane in comparis—”

“Stop! It’s still your life. They want to know. Trust me… you have to open up to them, big man.”

Eli’s face lights up in a confidence I had no idea he was lacking. “You’re right. I’m gonna tell them everything. Luca will make fun of me and you know what, I’m gonna love every single second of it.”

I laugh. “There you go!”

“Thanks, Kenzi, this is actually just what I needed. Okay, you ready for the best pasta of your life?”

“I’m loving this confidence, Eli. So, yeah, hit me with the pasta!”

Suddenly a loud thump slams into the front door, and we both turn toward it. I duck slightly, not entirely sure why as Eli pulls me behind him. He brings his finger to his lips gesturing for me to keep quiet as my pulse races frantically.

“Noah?” I whisper as Eli grabs hold, turning and points me to the pantry. I shake my head, tears welling in my eyes, but before I have another second to argue, the front door bursts open with so much force the hinges break away from their hold. I let out a scream as Eli jumps in front of me and Brandon stands in the doorway. The sunlight shines behind him making his face shadowed in just the right way to make him seem even more menacing.

“Honey, I’m hooome!” Brandon pulls up his gun as Eli shoves me to the side. I slam into the kitchen table as Eli rushes forward, straight toward Brandon.

He fires a round right at Eli into his side. He jerks with the bullet that slams into his left side, blood streaming down his torso, but it doesn’t stop him as he reaches Brandon, pulling him into a headlock. My entire body shakes as the two men throw punch after punch at each other. Eli slams his fist straight into the side of Brandon’s head, he falls to his knees, the gun sliding across the floor as Eli reaches across Brandon’s stomach lifting him, and with one fell swoop, he slams him down into the coffee table.

Shards of wood splinter off everywhere as I decide to make a run for it. So I race for the gun, but it distracts Eli for a split second, and Brandon shoves Eli, pushing him in the stomach making him fall back against the buffet. I scramble on all fours for the gun, but Brandon reaches me first, yanking my hair back. I scream as he hurtles me across the floor with so much force my knees graze with carpet burn. With a few blinks to gain my bearings, I glance up just in time to see Brandon aim the gun right at Eli. His eyes shift to me as I pant for breath moving to sit on my knees.

“Brandon, you don’t have to do this,” I beg.

“But I do, Kenzi.”

Tears flood my eyes as mine meet Eli’s. He nods his head at me as I let out a whimper. “Tell my family, I love them,” Eli whispers.

I gasp as Brandon smirks. “I’ve waited so fucking long for this. Here’s to two of seven.”

The explosion of the gun firing three times startles me, and I jump with each horrendous bang. My eyes can’t leave Eli as his body wracks from side to side with each hit of the bullets. My stomach rolls as Eli falls back, flat on the floor, tearing my heart to shreds. I burst into tears, but Brandon doesn’t give me even a second to mourn before he aims the gun at me.

“And now… it’s your turn.”

Fight or flight.

Axel.

I need to stay alive for Axel.

So I turn and run with Brandon hot on my tail. His gun fires, bullets ricocheting past me into the drywall as I duck and weave. I have no clue where the hell I’m going, but as I make my way into the kitchen, I realize it was a bad idea.

There’s nowhere to go.

Brandon slides into the room like something from a Tom Cruise movie, his eyes alight with fury as he stalks toward me, his gun on the side like some super villain. But Brandon is no super villain, just a guy with a superiority complex and garlic breath.

What a foul combination.

“You think you can outsmart me, Kenzi? I’m a fully trained operative. I’m a double fucking agent. I have skills you can’t even imagine or comprehend.”

I edge closer to the stove, my heart beating frantically as the crazy in his eyes becomes more and more apparent. “I don’t think I can outsmart you, Brandon. You’re obviously the smartest player at The Agency.”

He laughs. “Finally! Someone gets it! A glimpse of the recognition I deserve. It’s just a shame no one is here to listen to you say that.”

He steps forward, his gun aimed right at me making me flinch back. “I can tell them… tell them that you’re undervalue—”

“What fucking good would that do? I’m a fugitive now, Kenzi. I’ve killed two of the Seven. There’s no going back. I did it for Hendrix. I did it so I can finally be free. Free of all this shit!”

“Then go. I won’t tell them it was you. I’ll say we were burgle—”

“You think Kace and his band of merry morons is going to believe a burglar took down two of The Agency’s best? No, only I could do that.”

Wow, ego much?

“Brandon, please. I don’t want to die.”

He steps forward again, shaking the gun in his hand aggressively. I tense all over as he glares at me. “Right now, Kenzi, you don’t have a choice.”

I glance at the stove and stand a little taller. “Then neither do I.” I reach for the pot of boiling spaghetti, the handles burning my palms, but I don’t care as I hurtle the boiling water straight onto Brandon’s face.

He screams out in utter agony, the gun dropping immediately to the floor as he falls to his knees. I scurry across grabbing the gun as his hands claw at his face. I aim the gun at him with shaking hands as he moans with the pain I have already inflicted, and I gasp as I watch his face turn bright red, skin instantly peeling from his flesh, blood seeping from his skin. I can’t even tell where his eyes are as he pants for frantic breaths.

My heart beats so hard I’m having trouble even functioning as I step around the writhing bloody, melting mess. With the gun aimed at him the entire time, I make my way for the front door, but as I look up my heart lurches into my throat.

“Hello, Mac.”

My world begins to spin, my stomach threatening to unload all over the carpet as I shake my head. I want to turn and run, but after everything, I’m frozen to the spot. Hendrix walks in, looking just like the day I met him—a suave, hard-core bad boy. I see it, the reason I fell for him. He has an aura, but now I know why. The danger—it seeps off him in waves.

“Rix…” His name comes out more like a plea than anything.

“Time to go… now you’ve had your fun. Time to get back to work.”

I shake my head as he signals, and two men dressed completely in black storm toward me. Somehow my fight instincts kick back in, and I turn to run.

“You can’t run from me forever, Mac,” Hendrix calls out as one of his men wraps their arms around my waist hoisting me up in the air, my legs kicking out as I go.

“No! Rix, no. I can’t go back with you.”

“Take her to the car, boys.”

I struggle in his grip. Fighting back, kicking and gripping at his hands, but he won’t budge as he drags me out of Eli’s home. My anxiety spikes so fucking high as he drags me toward the door. I spot Eli, dead on the floor. My eyes instantly flooding with tears as I let out a whimper.

“I’m so sorry, Eli,” I murmur as Rix’s men drag me out the door.

Then I see it.

Number one.

Noah.

He’s lying on the ground. His newspaper sprawled out all over the grass, and so much blood oozing from his head. He’s pale as hell, and I can’t see him breathing.

Noah is who Brandon was talking about.

Oh God, Brandon killed Noah too.

“Noah!” I scream as the guy shoves me into the back of the car.

My emotions overwhelm me as I place my hand on the window of the car looking back at the house on the street that belongs to the SO7.

The team that was my family.

A family that has now been torn to shreds because of me.