Scarred Sunrise: A Fortis Security Novel Book 10 (Fortis Security Series) Read online

  Scarred Sunrise

  Fortis Security Book 10

  Maddie Wade

  Contents

  Preface

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Epilogue

  The Fortis Family Tree

  Sneak Peek: Gunner

  Books by Maddie Wade

  About the Author

  Scarred Sunrise

  Fortis Security 10

  By Maddie Wade

  Published by Maddie Wade

  Copyright © September 2020 Maddie Wade

  Cover: Envy Creative Designs

  Editing: Black Opal Editing

  Formatting: Black Opal Editing

  This is a work of fiction. Names characters places and incidents are a product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as fact. Any resemblance to actual events organizations or persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive non-transferable right to access and read the text of this eBook onscreen. Except for use in reviews promotional posts or similar uses no part of this text may be reproduced transmitted downloaded decompiled reverse-engineered or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system in any form or by any means whether electronic or mechanical now known or hereafter invented without the express written permission of the author.

  First edition September 2020 ©Maddie Wade

  Acknowledgments

  Can you believe this is the end of Fortis Security? I am gobsmacked by the love this series has received from all of my wonderful readers. I took a scene in my head and it became this beautiful series which has changed my life in so many ways, and all for the better. It has been an emotional rollercoaster with some highs and some lows but through it all, I have been surrounded by the most amazing people.

  I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends around me, without which I could never bring these books to life. I am so grateful to have you in my life, you are more than friends, you are so essential to my life. I have so much more planned and Fortis will never be far away, and I really hope you join me as we embark on the next part of this ride.

  My wonderful beta team Greta, and Deanna who are brutally honest and beautifully kind. If it is rubbish you tell me it is, and if you love it you are effusive. Your support means so much to me.

  My editor—Linda at Black Opal Editing, who takes my books and makes them shine.

  Thank you to my group Maddie’s Minxes. Your support and love for Fortis, Eidolon, and all the books I write is so important to me. Special thanks to Rowena, Tracey, Faith, Rachel, Carolyn, Kellie, Maria, Greta, Deanna, Rihaneh, and Linda L for making the group such a friendly place to be.

  My ARC Team for not keeping me on edge too long while I wait for feedback and spotting the doozies before they hit the world.

  Thank you to all my author friends who support me and keep me wanting to be better. I always say I am a reader first and having such wonderful books to read keeps my love for this job alive.

  Lastly and most importantly thank you to my readers who have embraced my books so wholeheartedly and shown a love for the stories in my head. To hear you say that you see my characters as family makes me so humble and proud. I hope you enjoy Lizzie and Smithy as much as I did. This story was a long time in the making and sincerely hope I did them justice.

  This is for every person who has loved and lost.

  Prologue

  He watched from afar as she alighted the vintage Rolls Royce outside St Mary’s Church. She looked like a vision in froths of satin and lace, the ivory colour only enhancing the radiance of colour in her cheeks. She turned as if sensing him, and their eyes locked. For just a moment he wanted to run to her, sweep her off her feet and take her away. Beg her not to do this, not to marry another man when he loved her with every breath in his body.

  The wind blew her veil across her face and the connection was lost, so was the moment. When she lifted her hand to pull the lace away from her features, he saw her falter and knew he was wrong for coming here. He’d wanted to see her one more time before she belonged to another man. It had been selfish, and he could see by the tremble in her lip he’d once again hurt the woman he loved.

  As her sister approached her with a bouquet of pink flowers, he stepped back into the shadows. Lizzie looked for him and he saw the wistful longing on her face before she lifted her head, straightened her shoulders, and took her father’s arm. Smithy watched until she was inside before he moved down the alley, walking until he found himself outside the Pool Centre.

  He looked at the old signs with fondness as he remembered a time when all that mattered was a game with his friends and catching a sneaky snog with whatever girl he was with at the time. Anything to get away from the life he’d lived at home.

  Now his life had changed. He’d left the depressing, day in day out slog of caring for a person more intent on their next fix than being a parent to him. He’d closed the door on the woman he loved and would never be good enough for and followed his best friends into the army. Now he had a brotherhood, a family of sorts. A job he excelled at and loved, and a determination to make the best of himself.

  He’d walked away to let Lizzie live the life she deserved with a man worthy of her, who’d give her everything good in life. Not a man like him who had nothing to offer except his body and his heart, because that wasn’t enough for her.

  Smithy sighed and tipped his head to the sun on this day in June when everything changed and the future he’d wanted, craved, disappeared into dust. He strolled past the busy shops, the soles of his military boots silent on the pavement. He took no heed of the people around him except to ensure they weren’t a threat, the heat of the mid-afternoon sun making him sweat in his military fatigues.

  The car was waiting when he turned the corner to his home, and he felt a calm come over him as he slid in the back seat and the man in the front lifted his gaze to him. The older man wore a plain black suit, his face held an expression as unreadable as a blank sheet of paper. “Smith, are you ready?”

  “Yes, sir.” He was ready and yet he wasn’t because he was leaving half his soul and all of his heart in St Mary’s Church.

  “You know nothing will be the same after this mission, don’t you, son?”

  Smithy lifted his gaze from the window where the scenery was speeding past the car. Smithy cocked his head in question. “Sir?”

  “This life, it changes you in a fundamental way, and the mission you’re about to take on isn’t one that will leave you without scars.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  The man looked at him with speculation on his face. Smithy held his gaze not wanting to be taken off this op. It was what he needed; a focus so complete that it would drive all other thoughts from h
is head. Especially how beautiful his Lizzie had looked today and how, by now, she was a married woman.

  “I don’t think you have any clue, but you will.”

  Smithy kept silent as the car drove him towards a future that was uncertain and filled with mystery. He’d embrace this life and make it his own. On that thought he smiled. He finally had a chance to shine, to prove to all those that had doubted him, had looked down on him, that he was worthy. That he could make a difference in this world and not end up a strung out junkie or serve time for petty crimes that would lead to bigger ones.

  He wouldn’t become a statistic in this world. He may have been born poor and weak but now he was strong, and he had enough money to keep him in what he needed.

  The car slid to a stop and he saw two men standing beside a small aircraft that would take them to an unknown location. He recognised Fitz, a man from his unit, and hid his shock as he alighted the vehicle and pulled his Bergen from the boot.

  He and Fitz lifted a chin to acknowledge each other before he did the same to the other man. He didn’t know his name, but he knew his face from the barracks.

  “Gentlemen, this is your last chance to back out. From this point forward, until this mission is complete, you’ll be subjected to things that will leave a mark on you, that will scar so deep it will be tattooed on your soul.”

  Smithy felt a second of doubt, a moment he’d later wish he’d heeded. But with nothing left to lose, he walked up the steps of the aircraft and towards a future that was so dark he wasn’t sure he’d ever see the light again.

  Chapter 1

  Sweat dripped down the middle of his back, the oppressive heat inside the bunker making life uncomfortable. Smithy watched from his position on the gantry as the men beneath him sparred. His hands clenched at his sides as he watched the weaker man go to his knees.

  He knew what was coming next; it was the same thing he’d been forced to endure since his arrival over ten days ago now. Hair tickled on the back of his neck as he felt someone come to stand beside him. That he’d gotten away with being here undetected for this long was a minor miracle. The man who’d been his second when he was here previously had automatically stepped aside and now deferred to him.

  Smithy had avoided talking to anyone more senior, making others do it, but now he was sure that he was raising suspicions and needed to figure out an exit strategy with Zack.

  “Commander, a call came through from headquarters. The Divine One will be visiting the facility the day after tomorrow at sixteen hundred hours.”

  Smithy could hear no excitement or inflexion in the man’s voice, and it saddened him that men he’d had beers with were now nothing more than robots with no emotion.

  Turning away from the spectacle below, he observed the man he’d called a friend with a critical eye, trying to ascertain if there was any inkling that he was fighting the drug that made him a puppet and saw nothing. Anger surged through him as he thought of the good they’d done, the lives saved, and all of it gone with the push of one syringe.

  “Alert the troops. I want the facility to be in top shape so she knows we’re ready for the next stage.”

  Bowing his head slightly, the man saluted him and strode away, having no clue of the monster he’d become. In some ways Smithy envied him, to know nothing of the innocent lives he’d taken must be a blessing. Yet, as he turned back and watched the guards observing the fight drag the dead man from the ring, he knew that despite all of the nightmares, the panic attacks, the self-hatred, he wouldn’t swap places with any of these dead-eyed men.

  He had more regrets than he could count and more sins on his head than he could ever atone for, his place in hell reserved with a bow. His only mission before that hell took him was to stop Rhea Winslow from achieving her goal and freeing these men to whatever peace they could get. For most of them, he knew that would be death, the honour with which they’d fought for their Queen and Country destroyed to a point where nothing was left.

  He would see vengeance done if it killed him. That wouldn’t be his choice, knowing that the one person who should hate him above all others would mourn him the most. He wouldn’t seek out death, but if death came for him while he put this cult and the woman who drove it down, then he’d walk willingly into the bowels of hell to achieve it. Lizzie, the love of his life, the woman who’d broken him and saved him, a woman who’d forgiven him for the crimes he’d perpetrated against her, would live her life free and without fear. It was the only thing he had left to give her. His soul was so dark it didn’t leave a shadow, his heart black as night; the single flicker of light was the love he’d always hold for her.

  Turning away as the next two men got into the ring and began to spar, he saw two soldiers he didn’t know approaching him. Smithy’s shoulders tensed with unease as they stopped a few feet away.

  “Commander, we have been sent from the Divine One’s personal guard to ensure a safe trip. Could we have a tour of the facility?” The men were both tall and muscular, but whereas the other men had dead eyes, these two had something behind their eyes, a spark of life that made Smithy cautious.

  “Why was I not informed about this before?” He glared at the men, needing to get the upper hand and knowing weakness wouldn’t be tolerated.

  “We do not question The Divine One.”

  “Very well, follow me.”

  Smithy didn’t like having these men at his back, his hindbrain telling him that something wasn’t quite right about this encounter. He showed the men the barracks and the lab, before leading them to the training facility.

  “This is our training camp.” Smithy held his hands behind his back, his stance rigid as he nodded towards the ring where two more soldiers fought.

  “You have an impressive outfit. The leader will be pleased.”

  “Did she say why she was coming?”

  The head guard, or at least the one who was taking the lead cocked his head. “She never says.”

  Smithy knew that wasn’t true. When he’d been by her side, she’d told him things, trusted him. He’d never understood why she treated him differently. At the time hadn’t cared or really noticed, but after his escape, it had plagued him in the wee hours of the morning.

  Had he somehow courted what happened to him? Had she seen something inside him that told her he’d carry out her orders without question? It was one of the many unanswered mysteries that kept him awake at night.

  Turning back to the scene in front of him, he cloaked his feelings from the other two. A whisper of foreboding walked up his spine and he knew his time was almost up. He’d get word to Zack for an extract.

  “Commander, would you care to show us the skills we’ve heard so much about?”

  Smithy closed his eyes, slowly taking a deep breath. The skills they spoke of weren’t his own; they were those of the man he was pretending to be and who would never know to question a superior officer again. “Surely there’s no time?” If he got in the ring, he’d have to kill whoever he faced, a fight to the death, a brutal show of power and strength his only option unless he wanted to leave in a body bag.

  “There is always time for this.”

  Smithy saw the sneer and flexed his fingers to keep from hitting him when an idea formed. “Would you care to join me?”

  The sneer fell, and he almost smirked at the man’s fear, another sign he wasn’t as drugged as the others. To refuse him would be to show weakness, and while Smithy had no desire to kill anyone in this ring without free will ever again, he’d happily dispatch this man who knew exactly what he was doing.

  With a short nod, the two stepped inside, and a hush went around the room as men moved closer to watch. The bloodthirsty base nature inside them screaming for the gore they knew would come next.

  Smithy rolled his neck as he and his opponent circled each other, the wire cage a prison of death for one of them. He knew it wouldn’t be him carried out of here with sightless eyes. Smithy could beat this man. He was a trained killer and no
t just because he could feel the thirst for blood course through his veins. The animal inside, the one he kept contained, leashed, was clawing at his insides. He’d kill this man, allowing the animal free rein and then soak in the regret and hatred that would drown him.

  His opponent attacked with a kick to the head, which Smithy blocked with both arms, before landing a punch to the ribs he’d foolishly left open. Smithy held nothing back, feeling the crack as the bone gave under the force. The man danced away from the next punch Smithy threw, landing a punch to the face Smithy allowed, which only fuelled the fire burning his gut.

  Smithy felt the blood in his mouth as he smiled, knowing nothing was comforting about the macabre expression he wore. The man came at him again thinking he had the upper hand, and again Smithy let him land the strike, the pain nothing to him, only something that told him he was alive.

  Bouncing forward, Smithy landed three quick hits to the head, dazing the man who tried to get away, his back hitting the cage. Smithy lost his appetite for this game, wanting to get back to his quarters and shower the stink of death from himself. Spinning, he executed a sweep which took the man to his back. Sinking to his knees, he hardly heard the roar of the crowd as he looped his arm around the man’s neck and choked him out.