The Killing Proxy: The Killing Saga, #3

prologue

A devastating secret.

‘I’m the monster, not you...’

A repentant gesture.

‘There’s a package for you in the basement... a house-warming gift.’

She’d got what she wanted. She’d won.

Except.

one

Cassie was nestled in the white leather sofa with her legs tucked beneath her and a glass of red wine in her hand. She raised it to her companion before taking a sip, watching with amusement as he sniffed at his own wine and wrinkled his nose. A dishevelled mop of blonde-brown hair was arranged haphazardly across his forehead, longer than she remembered, and a new scar carved a path through his facial hair from his chin to his earlobe. But otherwise, it was still Thomas.

She had achieved the impossible and saved him from that terrible place. Now they were together again. Safe and alone.

That day they had existed in an expectant haze, as if waiting for the bubble to pop. Cassie gave him a full tour of the house and grounds, their chatter sporadic and shallow, anything meaningful too onerous to share so soon, and when he disappeared to try the shower, she perched on a kitchen stool and stared at the closed bathroom door, wondering if she had imagined the whole thing. A grand flashback to torment her soul. But the sound of running water told her otherwise.

Thomas was really here.

Stefan was not.

Thomas took a tentative sip of his wine, smacked his lips and grinned broadly at Cassie. ‘Hey. I could get used to this.’ She smiled, marvelling how his pallor from months indoors was already improving after a thorough shower, a few hours in the sunshine and some hot food. She had made him a steaming dish of pasta, but cautioned him to take his time based on her memory of regurgitated globules, and watched him close his eyes in contentment at the first mouthful, remembering her first experience of decent food and the bombardment of taste and texture. Cassie didn’t think a glass of wine in the first twenty-four hours out of the Complex was such a good idea, but Thomas had insisted.

‘I still can’t quite believe this,’ he mused, twirling the glass between his fingers and staring at the rich red vortex he’d created. ‘It’s like a dream.’

‘The wine, or the house?’ Cassie asked.

‘You,’ he sighed, looking up at her. ‘You’re here, like actually here. Or I’m here, you already were. I don’t know.’ He chuckled, taking another gulp.

‘How do you feel?’

‘Drunk.’ He smirked, colour blooming across his cheeks. ‘Have I mentioned that you’re a sight for sore eyes?’

‘A few times,’ she said wryly. It had been his stock phrase all afternoon.

‘I didn’t think I’d ever get to see you again.’

‘Me too.’

‘I never stopped thinking about you, Cassie. Even when...’ He faltered and cleared his throat, his brow furrowing for a moment as if he was stumbling over his own thoughts. ‘And now look at us here in paradise. I mean, I’d have taken a basic motel room, you know? But this...’ Thomas gazed around the large open-plan room and nodded towards a bed by the window. ‘So, you sleep in here?’

‘Not usually.’ Cassie regarded the bed she’d been dozing in only that morning, unaware Thomas was about to re-enter her life. ‘I needed medical care the last few weeks, so they brought me in here to keep an eye on me.’

‘Oh yeah, Jesus, I forgot. You said you’d been shot. Are you okay?’

‘I am now, nearly back to normal. I heal pretty fast thanks to those infusions they gave us, remember.’

‘Yeah, I know the score. So who shot you?’

‘It’s a long story.’ She fiddled with her toes to avoid eye contact. Getting shot was the exclamation mark on what had been a very turbulent day, one she’d not care to revisit right now.

‘And you said you were some sort of bodyguard here? So, what happened? Did you take a bullet for Steven?’

‘Stefan,’ she corrected automatically, registering Thomas’s hard blink. ‘No, not him, there was an attempt on his son. He’s only a little kid, and this guy had him at gun point so I—’ She gulped dryly at the sound of a muffled blast, wincing as she felt the man’s rasping breath against her cheek and the hollow crack of his ribs as she crushed him to death. ‘Well, you know. I did my thing.’

‘You could’ve been killed,’ Thomas exclaimed.

‘I nearly was. He shot me four times.’

‘Jesus!’

‘Doctor Jackson came and sorted me out. Anyway, Stefan was obviously grateful that I’d saved his son, and he offered me whatever I wanted in return, so... here you are.’

‘Just like that?’ Thomas gazed at her in disbelief.

‘Just like that.’

‘And he’s gone?’

‘He’s moved to a house down the road. I guess it’s the one you can see at the end of the drive.’ She motioned vaguely towards the front of the house.

‘And you get to live here by yourself, but you still have to work for him?’

‘I think so.’

‘Do I work for him now too?’

‘I don’t know.’ She laughed nervously at the barrage of questions. ‘I only found all this out today; I’m still trying to get my head around it too.’

Thomas shook his head. ‘It’s so weird. This guy must be crazy to buy you and think you’re going to play along without a fight, and now he’s gone and done something like this? I still don’t get it.’

Cassie gave an exaggerated shrug and pressed her knuckles into the seat cushion as Stefan’s words echoed in her mind. ‘I can’t undo anything that I did to you. But maybe this will help you to move forwards with your life.’

She took another sip before responding. ‘Like I said, I saved his son and I nearly died in the process, so... I guess it was his way of saying thank you.’

Thomas seemed to consider this, then snorted softly. ‘I’m still trying to picture this guy with a family.’

‘He’s divorced. His ex-wife was murdered last month, so his son came to stay with us for a little while.’

‘Us?’

‘Me and Stefan... I mean, with Stefan. And I was here too, to protect them. It’s a long story.’ Cassie felt her cheeks warming. They were skirting around the edges of a subject she didn’t want to get into just yet. To unpack those events would be a gargantuan task and would unveil so many painful truths to Thomas that she wouldn’t even know where to start. She chose to change the subject. ‘Anyway, how did they get you here? Did you know what was going to happen?’

‘No idea. I was in my cage like usual and someone darted me; next minute I’m waking up in some dark room, and this figure appears at the end of the cage.’ His face creased into a smile tinged with sadness. ‘When I saw it was you, I thought I must have lost my mind.’

‘I keep thinking I’m imagining you too,’ Cassie admitted.

‘Definitely real.’ He smirked as he waggled his free hand in the air. ‘Ten fingers and ten toes. I’m all here.’ Cassie chuckled before draining her glass and heading into the kitchen to fetch some more wine. As she came back to the sofa, Thomas smacked his lips to speak. ‘So, what’s the deal then? Electric fences? Guards on patrol?’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked as she settled back into her seat.

‘What’s stopping us from walking out that front door right now?’

Cassie hid her cringe with another gulp of wine. The truth was that the chips they had been duped into having implanted in the backs of their necks, on the assumption they were helping the government bring down a people-smuggling ring, were actually just a ruse by the Complex to source desperate immigrant stock for their vile experiments and entertainment. Not only were the chips responsible for the crippling shocks that had controlled them, but they also served as trackers to monitor their movements, which meant even in the open paradise of Stefan’s home and grounds, they were still living in an invisible cage constructed by the Complex from which they could never escape. At least, until they were eventually taken back to the labs to have who knows what torture inflicted on them that would likely end in a long and miserable death.

But Thomas still thought his chip was their one chance of salvation. He had hinged his hope on its potential to save them, and when they parted ways in the market hall, Cassie had chosen not to ruin his only avenue of optimism. She wasn’t sure how or when to break the news to him now he was free of that place, and quite frankly tonight was not the night she was prepared to destroy his optimistic world, so she took another gulp of wine and said carefully:

‘There are... measures in place. We can’t leave the grounds. The Complex were worried Stefan would sell me on somewhere else, so they keep a tight leash.’ Thomas nodded slowly and Cassie leapt over the question, feeling Stefan’s words flow through her from his first opening speech in the basement. ‘But even if we could get away, did you ever wonder what we’d do? We have no money and no IDs. Whatever drugs they used on us are supposed to be valuable to a whole bunch of different governments, so we might get picked up by someone else who’ll turn us into a lab rat. Getting away isn’t that simple.’

‘Sounds like you’ve thought this through,’ Thomas murmured.

‘I’ve had plenty of time to think.’

‘I bet you came up with all sorts of escape plans.’

‘A few. But I always felt that staying here was the best chance of seeing you again. I still had a link back to you from Doctor Jackson. Even if I could leave, it would have been giving up on you for good.’ The words felt uncomfortable as they tumbled out, their truth stained with lies.

‘That must’ve been tough.’ Thomas’s eyes darkened slightly, and he stared back into his glass. Cassie watched him, suddenly sombre. He was still the Thomas she remembered, animated and exuberant, but every now and then she’d seen him dim a little, like a light bulb flickering before it was going to blow. She didn’t know what horrors he had endured in the Complex since she left, but she could have a good guess. Those long dark days felt like another lifetime, but the scars they left were still vivid in her mind.

‘You okay, Tom?’ He pursed his lips and nodded slightly. ‘There’s a lot to process now you’re out of there. It’s not easy.’

‘I’m good. Great, in fact.’ His face brightened again and he grinned excitedly. ‘Just look at this place. Look at this wine! And there’s a bed. A shower. Toilets! I pissed standing up today, Cassie. Can you imagine? Well, I know you can’t, but...’

Cassie laughed. ‘I know, I spend so long on the loo now, it’s almost unhealthy. There were some days I’d have at least four showers.’

‘I think we’re owed enough after all that time with rags and cold water.’

Cassie’s smile faltered as she thought of the bucket system they had been subjected to in the cages, and she saw Thomas had drifted somewhere in his mind too. He sniffed and blinked as if snapping from a daze.

‘It all really happened to us, right? That stuff in there?’

‘Yeah,’ she said quietly.

‘It’s a bit fucked up, isn’t it?’ His mouth was smiling but his eyes were downcast.

Cassie pressed her lips together and offered a sympathetic shrug. ‘You’re here now.’

‘Yeah. And check us out, we’re having an actual conversation. It’s like the good old days, except this time I can see you.’ He began to stare at her intently, his eyes searching until she had to look away.

‘What are you looking at?’

‘It took me a long while to pick out the different tones of your voice to know what mood you were in, but I think I pretty much cracked it. I always thought it’d be easier once I could see you.’

‘And?’

‘I’m not sure. You seem a little sad.’

Her eyes widened at his comment, and she ran her fingers through her hair as she took time to consider her response. ‘I was just thinking of everything you must have been through since I saw you last. Are you really okay?’

Thomas averted his gaze and twirled the stem of his glass between his fingertips. ‘I’m sure I will be.’ He put the half-empty glass on the coffee table and let out a long yawn. ‘On that note, I think I might turn in for the night, try this bed out for size. Which was my room again?’

‘First on the right.’

‘An actual bedroom.’ He raised his eyebrows and edged towards her.

‘Sleep well, Tom. I’ll be up a bit later.’

‘Good night, Cassie.’ He leaned over as if to kiss her, and she automatically dipped her head, directing his lips to her crown instead. He squeezed her shoulder gently and padded out of the room. Cassie kept her smile fixed, waiting until he was out of sight before letting her face drop with a sigh.

Seeing Thomas again had stirred up so many old memories and emotions she didn’t know where to begin. Thomas had been her saviour in the Complex. Before him, she’d lost all trace of her humanity. She was wild, uncaring, devoid of hope, and Thomas had reignited her spark and given her something to live for again. Being separated from him was one of the worst experiences of her life, and having him back was a triumph. A win. The best thing that could have happened.

But.

She looked forlornly to the spot on the sofa where Thomas had been. It was the same place she had watched Stefan sleep each night, back before she’d been shot, before he’d revealed the bigger part he’d played in her incarceration and ruined everything, and she was starting to wonder what Stefan was doing right now. With a frustrated huff, she quickly tipped the rest of the wine into her mouth to dispel those thoughts. She was an idiot. Thomas was here, the one person who truly knew what she’d been through, the one person who hadn’t turned out to be someone else. Yes, Stefan had given her this house and rescued Thomas. But it probably didn’t mean anything.

‘What can I do to prove that I...?’

Well, shit. It meant everything.

Cassie huffed at herself again, angry at the uncertainties that were clouding what should be a joyous day. The door to Stefan was closed; he’d made sure of that by financing her entire existence inside the Complex just for profit, then using her to protect him and his family like she was some sort of novelty guard dog. Their relationship was built on lies and probably fabricated inside her own Stockholm-Syndromed head.

A yawn took her by surprise, and she peeled herself off the sofa, tiptoed up the stairs and turned into the first bedroom on the left. It was the largest room, with an en-suite bathroom and a window that overlooked the pool and ocean. She’d given her old bedroom to Thomas, a cosier space directly opposite that was splashed with yellow and grey, and smelling of her, no doubt. He would feel more comfortable there for sure, much more comfortable than sleeping in Stefan’s old room. She would take that bullet. She scoffed silently at herself – she literally had.

Cassie rummaged under a pillow and pulled out a folder and a screen, the items Stefan had given her before leaving her with Thomas that morning. She had felt compelled to hide them from Thomas, fearing it would risk him being too overwhelmed and prompt too many questions, so while he explored the pool area in the afternoon, she had slipped the items upstairs, claiming the new bedroom while she was at it.

She sank onto the bed and opened the paper folder first, leafing through the printed paperwork that detailed a bank account under the name Veronica Jones, and she smirked at the thought of Stefan spending time coming up with a new name for her. Stefan had claimed she was salaried and he’d been paying her ever since she had saved him from the orchestrated attack that wiped out most of his other guards, and the figures on the account showed a regular monthly payment, the amount far greater than she had ever earned before. Her eyes widened with a spontaneous sense of appreciation, until she blinked and shook her head to focus. Even if the money was real, it was of no use to her. An empty gesture. More attempts at coercion from a man she could no longer trust.

Frowning, she pushed the papers to one side and turned her attention to the screen lying dormant on the sheets, its burnished surface reflecting the lamp on the bedside table. She stared at the device, dumbstruck by its ability to connect her to the whole world. Her family. Contacting them would be foolish, but she had the means to see them again. Her sister, Jessica. Her niece, Enid. She could see them and know they were okay. The screen lit up as she pressed it, flashing the time and date, and she gasped sharply, counting back to the day she was abducted and tipping the screen over to hide its blunt truth. Nineteen months. She’d been gone for nineteen months and missed two birthdays, which meant she was twenty-six years old already. She covered her mouth to muffle a pained moan and spent the rest of the evening hugging her knees, breathing in the bed-sheets, comforted by their scent for reasons she chose not to acknowledge.

Cassie slept well, disturbed only once in the night by a distant shout, but she couldn’t unpick whether it had been part of her dream. She found Thomas already up, sitting at the kitchen island and munching on a slice of toast. His clear blue eyes creased with a smile as his beard collected crumbs. He was wearing only a pair of shorts, and she couldn’t help but notice the way his taut skin was gathered and twisted into ridges of scar tissue that rippled across his back and entwined his arms. His muscles were defined but modest, disguising the true power she knew they must hold, just like her own. It was strange to have the chance to study his physicality – for all the time they had spent in each other’s company, Thomas had mostly existed as a disembodied voice. She had only seen him during shared sessions at the gym or in the Hall.

‘Sleep well?’ she asked, and though he nodded, she knew it was a lie. They ate breakfast together, Thomas having second helpings, then Cassie offered him a range of activities from books to board games. As his face began to fall, she realised her mistake, remembering how overwhelming it felt to be out of the dark isolation of cage life: the vibrancy of every colour, the depth of the world, even the ability to move your body in an upright position. She changed track and suggested they simply relax outside instead, and they set up on the sun loungers beside the swimming pool. The grey-decked area finished at the drop-off, a steep section of rocky embankment with a set of stone steps that led down to a small private beach. It was warm enough to stay in T-shirt and shorts, but not unbearably hot. From the date, Cassie knew they were heading into autumn, and this far north, on one of the newer Scandi Isles, there would be no more heat storms to worry about.

After a few hours of sitting in silence, Thomas tentatively asked if he could swim. Cassie rooted through some of the cupboards in her room to find a pair of Stefan’s swim shorts, the bittersweet memories of playing in the pool with him and Marcus attached like a price tag. She passed them to Thomas and changed into her own swimsuit before meeting him by the pool, amused by the way Stefan’s shorts rode up his longer legs.

Thomas looked Cassie up and down, his eyebrows rising. ‘What?’ she prompted self-consciously, and he seemed to catch himself, embarrassed.

‘Sorry. I guess I never got to see just how many scars you took out of that place.’

She shrank uncomfortably under his gaze, conscious of the tracks across her limbs and the concavity of her thigh after a wolf took a chunk of her flesh, and she placed her hands against the smooth fabric covering her abdomen that was hiding the worst. Gun shot. Stabbing. Impaling. Horns.

‘Don’t worry, you can barely tell.’ Thomas smirked. ‘You look great.’ She glowered, but his words triggered a memory of studying neat claw marks across her scalp in the reflective surface of a barbell, and his sarcasm chipped through her toughened shield and unearthed something of her former self.

Her glower turned to a wry grin, and she shot back, ‘Piss off.’

Thomas laughed and ruffled his hair, then playfully tapped the side of her arm. ‘I’m joking, of course. And I am certainly not one to talk – have you seen the state of me?’ He lifted his right leg into the sunlight, and Cassie noticed how the slim sweep of his shin was distorted halfway, a rough callus marking the point of dissection.

‘Oh shit, I remember Doctor Jackson telling me you broke your leg?’

‘Yeah. Lucky it was a clean break that healed fast, or I don’t think they’d have bothered with me much longer.’ Thomas was leaning down to inspect his leg, and as he rose, she caught a momentary look of anguish that melted into a relaxed smile as he met her eye again.

‘How did it happen?’ she asked cautiously.

‘Oh, it was a big one. Bigger than anything you’ve ever done.’

‘What was it?’

He bobbed on his toes and rubbed his hands together, before replying, ‘Otter.’

She laughed with him and felt overcome with happiness and fondness for this man she had shared so much with. They jumped into the pool together, laughing at the initial chill, challenging each other to races and finding they could cover the length of the pool with one quick push. Then Cassie took to floating like a starfish while Thomas swam back and forth beneath her, his wake rocking her each time he passed. Eventually she pulled herself out and perched on the edge of the pool, trailing her feet through the water and letting the sun dry her shoulders. She watched Thomas as he continued underwater, holding his breath for far longer than should be possible, until he finally emerged in a spray of laughter, striding towards where she was sitting.

‘I can’t believe how good this feels,’ he exclaimed breathily. Cassie smiled and lifted her face to the sun, sighing contentedly, until she felt Thomas’s fingers brush her throat. ‘Was that me?’ he asked quietly, and she put her hand to her neck as she realised he was touching a particular scar.

‘That’s the one.’ She dropped back into the pool and ducked underwater to quash the sudden sensation of a pulsating gush. When she resurfaced, Thomas was watching her with a sombre expression.

‘Worst thing I’ve ever had to do.’

‘It was my idea.’ She shrugged, floating out to the middle of the pool.

‘There was so much blood, I thought I’d killed you for sure.’

‘Takes more than that.’ Thomas dived to the bottom of the pool, emerging beside her, and Cassie tipped her head as she watched a thick trickle of water run off his beard. ‘Can I ask you something?’

‘Sure.’

‘Your hair is longer than I remember, but your beard is almost the same. How come?’

‘Oh, I think they clipped me like a dog sometimes when I was under.’ He rubbed his chin and traced a finger across the scar on his jaw. ‘I guess it was so they could clean wounds, but maybe it was just to tidy me up a bit. People probably wouldn’t pay as much to see a bum fight.’

Cassie covered her mouth to hide a chuckle. ‘Sorry.’ She smirked. ‘In my version of English that has a really different meaning. The image just tickled me.’

Thomas let out an almighty laugh. ‘I’d forgotten how funny you can be.’

Cassie was momentarily dazzled by the sunlight bouncing off the surface of the water, and Thomas became a silhouette until he moved closer to disrupt the glare. He was staring at her intently, and cool, damp palms encased her cheeks as he leaned in, his lips grazing hers. She recoiled, nauseous and panicked, and the surprise forming on his face was so unbearable that she strode to the edge of the pool, planted one hand on the side and launched her body out in a sweeping arc. Water surged onto the decking as she trotted to their towels, not sure what she was doing, just knowing she didn’t feel right and needed to get away. Thomas pulled himself out of the water and came to join her as she perched on the side of a lounger.

‘I’m sorry, Cassie, I got carried away.’ He rubbed himself with a towel and sat beside her.

‘It’s okay, I’m sorry too.’

‘Is something wrong? Have I totally misread this whole situation?’

‘No... I just... There’s been so much change these last few weeks, my head’s all over the place, you know? And you’ve barely been here two days; you’re going to need some space to adjust.’

‘Oh, I’m adjusted alright,’ he stated confidently. ‘This place, being here with you, it’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.’ He rested his elbows on his knees, his body so close to hers she could feel the moisture from his swim shorts. ‘You know you were the one thing keeping me going in there, right? Just the idea I might see you again, you can’t even imagine.’

‘You too, Tom. Getting you out has been the only thing I could think about.’ Cassie knew it was a lie, and her throat burned with the sting of it. She’d become distracted by Stefan, and she was a horrible, selfish person.

Thomas took her hand and gave it a firm squeeze. ‘I can’t believe I get to spend all this time with you now. I am so lucky.’ He sounded so sincere, so noble, but Cassie’s stomach turned as she stared at their hands, and she pulled free, clutching her towel around her shoulders protectively. Thomas seemed puzzled, then gasped and hit himself in