Secret Redemption: Fortis Security Book 4 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Epilogue

  Secret Redemption

  Note from the Author

  This book is set in the town of Hereford in the United Kingdom. It is a town of about 60,000 people and is in the West Midlands. It borders Monmouthshire, which is in Wales. Hereford is famous for its being the home of Strongbow cider and the Hereford Bull. It is also the base for the SAS. The SAS are the elite Special Forces unit of the British Armed Forces. The unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, and hostage rescue.

  Fortis Security

  Book 4

  Published by Maddie Wade

  October 2017

  This is a work of fiction.

  Any similarities to real events, people, or places are entirely coincidental.

  First edition, October © 2017 Maddie Wade

  Written by Maddie Wade

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to Linda at Black Opal Proofreading for turning my rough diamond into a sparkler. You are worth your weight in gold.

  Envy Designs for the magnificent cover.

  My amazing beta readers, Greta Branas, Shelene Diaz, Maria Weeks, Lindsey Baker Criswell, and Tracey Pollard for pointing me in the right direction and offering encouragement and support at every step.

  My group Maddie’s Minxes. You crazy lot make me smile every day.

  Alison Johnson for the medical advice and for risking your freedom with our crazy internet searches.

  Most of all my readers, you are why I do this. Telling my stories and knowing you love reading them as much as I love writing them fills me with joy. For every review you write or message you send, know that it is appreciated more than you will ever know.

  Dedication

  This is for you mum, I love you very much.

  Glossary

  The Divine Watchers: A rich, evil cult who believe that people with special abilities will save the world. They wish to control gifted people and cause Armageddon to cleanse the world so they and the gifted can rule.

  NHS: The National Health Service is the publicly funded healthcare system for England. It is the largest and the oldest single-payer healthcare system in the world.

  Boot: The Trunk of a vehicle.

  The Parachute Regiment, colloquially known as the Paras, is an elite airborne infantry regiment of the British Army.

  S.A.S: The Special Air Service (SAS) is a Special Forces unit of the British Army. The SAS was founded in 1941 as a regiment, and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950. The unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action and hostage rescue

  Divine One-The One true leader of the Divine Watchers who will rule the new world.

  GCHQ-The Government Communications Headquarters.

  Gifted Ones-People with abilities like healing, predictive dreams, seeing the future, communing with the dead.

  SIS- Secret Intelligence Service, also another name for MI6 in Britain.

  Dushka: Russian meaning Sweetheart

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Disclaimer

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Glossary

  Table of contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peak

  Author links

  Buy links

  Secret Redemption

  Prologue

  Summer 1996

  Zack sat on the edge of his dying sister’s bed. Her pale face made the dark circles under her sunken eyes seem more pronounced. Long black lashes feathered her translucent skin. Every time she came home from the hospital, Zack fought the need to rage at the world.

  The Doctor seemed to think that this treatment was working and the end justified the means. He hated it. All her life Catherine had been the weak, sickly one. At least in her body. Her spirit was a different thing. Catherine had the spirit of a warrior, she always had.

  When he was feeling low or scared, it was Catherine who picked him up and showed him what it was to be strong. It was also Catherine that brought out this deep-seated need inside him to protect the weak of body. She was the only one who knew that he and Kanan planned to join the army.

  He was expected to go into the family business and run the family law firm one day, but it wasn’t what he wanted. He couldn’t see himself sitting in an office all day. He wanted to be on the front where all the action was. Where he could truly make a difference.

  Catherine’s eyes slowly opened, and as she always did when she saw Zack, she smiled. He returned her smile and watched her try to sit up. Moving back slightly he leaned over and tucked a pillow behind her back.

  “Better?” he asked. She nodded and took a tiny sip of the water he offered her. Zack looked around her room for her Walkman. Catherine was never without her music or her drawing pad. She was an incredible artist and would sketch all day. She would draw anything, but fantasy dragons and mythical creatures were her favourites. Reaching over the dresser, he passed her both.

  Catherine was three years younger than he was and unlike other siblings, they never fought. He had always watched out for her, and his parents had always made him look after and watch over her. It was never a chore for him like it would have been for some older brothers. Their parents were good people, and like him, they had been devastated by Catherine’s leukaemia diagnosis. They didn’t shirk their responsibility, it was more his parents expected him to be her bodyguard, not only at school but everywhere they couldn’t be.

  Friends had never been allowed home in case it made C
atherine sick. It would have been so easy to resent her, but he didn’t. Even as a small child, Catherine had been the sweetest person in the world, and she still was even now. She never bemoaned the fact that she couldn’t do what the other kids could, she just made the most of every day.

  The only person Zack had was Kanan. K was his best friend and had been since they were small boys. Kanan’s mum worked for them in the estate kitchens, and they lived in a cottage on the grounds of their family estate. This meant that the boys had grown up together, so they were more like brothers than friends.

  Catherine adored Kanan and always joked she was going to marry him one day. It was mutual, Kanan adored her as well, but he only saw her as a little sister.

  “Have mum and Dad left?” Catherine asked.

  Zack shook his head. “No, they are leaving soon though. Mum will be up in a bit.” Catherine laughed, but Zack saw the worry cross her delicate features.

  “Mum worries too much,” she said.

  “It’s what she does. She wouldn’t be mum unless she had something to worry about.”

  Catherine laughed again and then grinned. “That’s true. Are you meeting Zoe tonight?”

  Zack laughed at her matchmaking. “No, you know what mum and dad say about having people over.”

  Catherine dropped her head. “Yeah, I know. But it’s not fair that you should suffer because of me.”

  Zack gently took her hand. “Hey, don’t say that. You don’t stop me doing anything I want to do.”

  “So, you’ll invite her over? You can sneak her in after mum and dad go out. I’m just gonna sit and draw anyway.”

  Zack knew then he had been out-manoeuvred. He should never have told Catherine how much he liked Zoe. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it.”

  “Good. You need to live a little Zachy,” she said using her childhood name for him.

  Zack laughed and kissed her forehead as the door opened and their parents walked in. He rose and left them to fuss over her while he went to text Zoe. Tonight would be the best night of his life!

  Chapter One

  Pandemonium was the only way to describe it. Ava sat quietly next to Zack as he watched the men around the room. Dane was talking to a distraught Drew, who had nearly fainted after he had received a call on his phone. He was running his hands through his hair in agitation, sweat coating his brow.

  Ava rose and walked over to Celeste, who was standing with Samson where Zin had walked off and left her. Celeste was sipping her coffee, her hand stroking Samson's head. The beautiful beast was alert and seemed to sense the angst that had suddenly invaded the room. Celeste’s touch soothed him.

  “Everything okay?”

  Celeste shrugged. “Not sure. One minute we were talking and the next he just took off.”

  “Yeah. Liam just had a tantrum and threw his phone. Honestly, it’s crazy. Men are such children sometimes.”

  “Speaking of children, when is Riley coming over?”

  Ava smiled as she thought of her son. He was the light of her life, and she missed him like mad. She so needed to see him and squidge his chubby cheeks.

  “He and my Mom land later today. Dad has gone to the airport to pick them up.”

  Ava watched as Drew stormed from the room. Dane went to follow, but Liam held up his hand to stop him. “Let me, dude,” he said and left the room seeming much calmer than he had been a few minutes before.

  Ava frowned. “Wonder what’s going on.” She jumped, startled, when Samson suddenly growled at her feet. Celeste looked sharply at the door and knelt next to her dog. Ava watched as Celeste stroked his fur and cooed softly but nothing seemed to calm him.

  He started to growl louder then let out a series of barks, and Ava felt her heart race. The door flew open, and Zin stood there with a gun pointed at them. In an instant, every pair of eyes turned to him. The shock made everyone pause for a second. Zin had a gun in one hand that was pointed at Zack while the other arm was around Drew’s neck, a scary looking knife resting on his skin.

  Ava took in the pissed off look on Drew’s face and hoped to God he didn’t do anything rash. He was a good kid. He was going to make a damn good operative one day, but it would be a long time before he was in the same league as Zin. She had no idea what was happening and instinctively looked at Zack who looked completely calm. If it hadn’t been for the vein pulsing in his neck, she would never have believed that one of his best and most trusted men was holding a gun on them. What was Zin doing, and why?

  She felt her heart jump as Zack slowly moved away so that the gun wasn’t pointed at her. He was acting protective, but she would be a fool to think it was anything other than Zack being the man he was. She wondered if Zack remembered that she had training in hostage situations from the NSA.

  Nevertheless, her stupid heart jumped at the thought that he cared enough to do it. God, she was such an idiot.

  “The book!” Zin snapped sharply, and his command seemed to be aimed at her. She flinched at the dead tone of his voice and struggled to draw a parallel between the man standing in front of her and the man she had seen at Dane and Lauren’s Christmas party. This man seemed so cold, even his eyes seemed dead, almost as if he was drugged.

  Samson growled louder at the threatening tone, and Celeste touched her hand to the animal’s head. The dog moved in closer to his master, placing his massive body in front of hers.

  “Zin, what is this about?” Zack asked, and Ava knew he was holding a very tight rein on his temper. This was an incredibly volatile situation, and she knew it wouldn’t take a lot for Zin to snap. His eyes were flitting from Zack to the other men. He might be wired, but he also knew who the biggest threat was.

  Zack dropped his hands to his sides in a show of supplication.

  “No talking,” Zin clipped. “Everyone on the ground or I will slit his throat.” Zin’s accent had become more pronounced with every word. It fascinated the linguist in Ava.

  Zack turned around and motioned for the others to do as Zin had said.

  “Okay Zin, nobody needs to get hurt.”

  Everyone started to kneel.

  “Hands where I can see them,” Zin barked again, as everyone knelt on the ground with their hands up.

  All except Celeste.

  ~~~

  Zack had no fucking clue what was happening. If you had asked him ten minutes earlier, he would have said that he trusted Zin with his life. Now, that same man was holding a knife to Drew’s throat, and a gun on his fellow Fortis colleagues and friends.

  Whatever the fuck was going on, he needed to get his team out of this without anyone getting hurt. Zin was not getting any-fucking-where near Ava either. The fact that Zin was focused on her scared the ever-loving shit out of Zack and made him feel things that he was not yet ready to face.

  He went to his knees, keeping his eyes firmly locked on Zin. He turned to his right to see everyone else was doing the same thing, except for Celeste. What the fuck was she doing? Zack watched with his heart in his mouth as she slowly approached Zin and Drew with Samson by her side.

  He was fast losing control of this situation, and he didn’t fucking like it one bit.

  “Zin,” Celeste whispered, and the massive Russian looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. His head tilted slightly as if he was confused.

  “What’s wrong, Zin? Why are you doing this?”

  “I need the book.” He said angrily. Zin’s focus was still on Celeste, and Zack started to inch forward, as did Dane and Nate. Zack noticed the small incremental movement but only because of his training. He felt a hand on his leg and turned to see Ava looking at him.

  What he saw made him stop. She was worried. He wasn't sure if it was worry for him or her friend, but he smiled back to reassure her.

  When he turned back around, he saw that Celeste was now within an arm’s reach of Zin and Drew. God, if she were Lucy this would be over now, but she had no training at all. Something he would remedy as soon as this was over.

 
Then he noticed Samson and realised that Celeste had something that none of them had. A 95-pound beast that would die for her in a heartbeat. As Celeste got within touching distance, Zin seemed to snap out of his trance. Then all hell broke loose.

  In the blink of an eye, Zin’s pale blue eyes went cold, and his hand tightened on the knife, his gun turned and aimed at Ava. The Viper—and Zack was under no illusion that was who Zin was right now—turned so that Celeste was further out of reach, and he had the others back within his sight.

  Zack watched in morbid fascination as Celeste dropped her head then in a broken voice whispered the word, ‘Fass!” With that one word, Zack watched in horror as Samson launched himself at Zin with a speed and vicious efficiency that shocked the room. He knocked the gun up and out of Zin’s hand, but not before it went off.

  The sound was like a cannon, and it spurred everyone to move. Drew, who had seen what Celeste was going to do, had raised his hands to pull down on the arm around his neck. Drew’s strength and the shock of Samson attacking caused Zin to let go of him.

  Zin was still on his feet though and was wrestling Samson from his arm. Samson hung on even as Zin swung the dog around. The beast never let go and proceeded to shake Zin.

  Zack jumped to his feet, as did the others, and they went to rush Zin. At the same time, Celeste called Samson off with the words ‘Aus, hier,” Samson immediately let go and returned to his master’s side.

  For a reason known only to Celeste, when she saw everyone rushing at Zin with their weapons drawn, she put herself between them and Zin.

  Zin managed to grab the gun, but Zack knew that Zin was aware he had lost the upper hand and it was in desperation that he snaked out a hand and dragged Celeste closer to his side. Samson just stood there, and he wondered why until he saw Celeste gesture to the animal. Zack wanted to punch something hard. Everyone except Will, who had grabbed the nearest laptop, stood with guns drawn. It was a Mexican standoff, and Celeste was behaving like some crazy person.