Page 53 of Ravaged By the Dark (The Righteous 2)
“Yes, I kill whoever Tyson tells me to. I’m his enforcer, and depending on the day and his mood, his second hand. Trust me—he takes great pleasure in the fucking irony of the situation. The guy who never wanted to hurt anyone is now his personal murderer with the nickname Ice Man. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t come back here. I couldn’t bring that kind of violence around you and J.J.”
Cody stared at the simple puppy calendar on the wall. “I’m always looking over my shoulder for those trying to take me out. That kind of life was better kept out there and far the fuck away from here.” Cody looked up at Arek.
“What about you, man? You’re not some average fighter. You know how to kill, and that look in your eye told me you were enjoying the thought of taking my life. I recognize that look. I’ve seen it on Tyson’s face.”
“Don’t breathe my name and his in the same sentence again unless you want to stop breathing permanently,” Arek threatened.
“Whatever.” Cody leaned his head back and plopped the pea bag on his face.
Arek didn’t like being called out on his inner shit, but as his eyes found Renee’s. He knew it was time to either fess up and trust his instincts or walk out the door and leave her alone. A nervousness spread throughout his body, with the prospect of Renee never wanting to see him again.
“Well, Arek? Cody asked a good question.”
“Shit,” Arek mumbled.
He untucked his long sleeve shirt from his pants and pulled it over his head. He slowly turned around to show off his ink. He knew what they would see: an image of a soldier’s arm sticking up out of a grave and a portrait of himself kneeling over the grave as the world blew up in the background. The shadowed ink was dark and extremely well done. It was how he felt, it was how he saw himself, and most of all, it was his promise to take up the fight even though his brothers no longer could.
“I don’t get it, but it’s sad and beautiful,” Renee said. He froze as her hand softly touched his skin. His eyes closed as her hand explored the image. “The Righteous?” Her finger traced the name on the headstone. “Who is Scooter?”
Arek turned around and gripped Renee’s hand in his. He placed it over the newest tattoo that covered his heart.
Cody sucked in a breath, and Arek knew he was putting the pieces together.
“No way, man. They’re a myth, a fucking boogeyman—they don’t exist.”
“Who’s a myth,” Renee asked, sounding flustered.
“You better sit down.” Arek guided her to the empty kitchen chair. “The Righteous is a group that has been around since World War One. They started as a group that took care of the jobs no one else wanted, that everyone was scared to take on or that needed to fly under other government’s radar—spy shit and assassinations. They were trained to be lethal. These soldiers were sent into the deadliest parts of the world and did…things. Things that will forever be buried with the men and women that committed the acts and their victims.”
“Like all that secret stuff you see on conspiracy shows,” Renee asked.
“Yes, but I’ve never seen Area 51. That is a different branch of the government,” he teased. Renee smiled but crossed her arms over her chest. “The group was supposed to be disbanded, but there was a group of them that felt what they were doing was important, so they started to work outside of the government’s support.”
Arek stopped talking to make sure Renee was taking it all in.
“After that, our mission changed. Those recruited are given a specific job, a type of prey to hunt down, or an area to protect. We are all given new identities based on our skills, our schooling—you name it. The goal is the same, though. We stop the evil here on North American soil instead of traveling to other countries with all the limitations of the government hanging over us.”
“Okay, wait, so you were a soldier, and what, you still are?” Renee frowned just a little.
“Sort of—I was a SEAL, and my nickname is Sandman.” He pointed to the tattoo on his chest. “My kill count is…a number I stopped counting. Once given a name, the person I’m after ends up only one way, six-feet-under. It was true while I served and is true now.”
“I’m feeling pretty damn happy now,” Cody said. “I didn’t do too bad against you.”
Arek glanced at Cody and his smug face.
“Don’t be. I was trying to take you alive, or you’d already be dead. Wouldn’t have made it past the parked cars on the street,” Arek said. He wanted to make sure Cody knew he’d been stalking him.
Renee stood and walked around the chair, purposefully placing it between her and him. “So you were a SEAL, and you’re now what exactly? Please spell it out. I don’t want there to be any confusion.”
“Depends on who you ask. I’m a monster to most, a savior to others, a myth, maybe a legend, but my mission is to clean up trash like Tyson. I was actually looking for Cody here when he stumbled into my lap. He’s just lucky that I found him here where you stopped me rather than somewhere else. He would be meeting an untimely end right about now.”
Cody made a snorting noise and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back in the chair until the front legs were off the ground. “Not fucking likely.”
Arek ignored Cody and instead focused his attention on Renee. She looked shell-shocked as she gripped the chair. He wanted to go to her and let her know he’d never hurt her, but she didn’t look like she wanted him anywhere near her.
“Wait, did you kill X and Slick from the Syphons,” Cody asked, and Arek wanted to land another blow to the fucker’s face.
His eyes never left Renee as he answered. “Yes.”
