8. CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 8
Glyn wasn’t certain what he thought would happen when his mate found him, but it wasn’t to basically be ignored. Okay, yeah, he got it, they weren’t exactly out of danger yet and he could see it would likely be better if Cayman wasn’t distracted, but he hadn’t even asked if Glyn was okay. Or, fuck, for that matter, what his damn name was.
Working for the Council it was possible he had the resources to discover Glyn’s name, but he highly doubted it. Was it too much to ask for him to show a little bit of concern?
Worse, he planned on leaving them all right where they were while he took out of the rest of the guards. Glyn wasn’t too proud to admit he was terrified of being discovered and shot while his mate wasn’t there to protect him.
“Rip and Wizard will come with me. Lael, stay here and protect them.” Those rich mahogany eyes pinned Glyn with a look of near panic.
It shouldn’t have made him feel better, but it did. Knowing his mate was worried about him, settled something within him. “Go grab some rifles,” he told Rip and Wizard and then he did the one thing Glyn feared he wouldn’t, he came up to Glyn, took his hand and led him away from the others a bit.
“I’m so sorry I can’t stay here with you, but if we have any shot of getting out of here, I have to take the rest of them out.” He leaned close enough he could feel Cayman’s breath on him as he said, “I will be back for you.”
Then their lips touched and for a brief moment, despite being in hell, he was certain kissing his mate was what heaven felt like. “Glyn,” he blurted out when the way too brief kiss ended.
“What?” Cayman asked as he brows pulled close together in confusion.
“My name.”
Damn if those beautiful eyes didn’t soften and those firm lips curled up into a heart stopping smile. “Nice to meet you, Glyn. Stay safe.”
That might have been easier said than done. “I will.” It wasn’t exactly something he could make happen, but that’s not what Cayman needed to hear in that moment.
A gun was shoved into his mate’s hands. They shared one more poignant look before Cayman turned on his heel and strode back to Lael. “Once we have the building cleared, take them up the stairs and wait for us there. We need to be ready to run the moment the guards are down.”
Lael gave him a nod and then Cayman left without looking back. All Glyn could do was send up a prayer that he would come back like promised.
The guards inside the building were lazy and not even paying attention. Most likely they didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to attack them and even if someone did, they would have been alerted by the ones outside. Clearly, even though they used shifters, no one considered there were other ways for a shifter to get into the place besides the front door.
Believe it or not, taking down the guards outside would be extremely difficult. Not only did they have eyes in all directions, making it more of a challenge to move about unseen, they were more likely to notice a guard no longer at his post. Add in the fact they should be more alert since it would be the likely route for someone trying to get in.
That was their only real advantage. They were already inside. The guards wouldn’t be expecting that.
They took the stairs up to the roof two at a time. Guns were tucked tight to their bodies as they were a last resort. They didn’t want the sound to draw unwanted attention.
“Good to have you back gentlemen,” Yosi said in their ear. “There are five guards on the roof of the building you’re currently in. It is currently raining, which should help mask the sound of the door opening as well as give you some cover.”
They hovered at the door waiting for Yosi’s signal. “There is one guard with a spotter on the northwest corner. The other corners have one guard each.”
Cayman was silently questioning his decision to leave Lael protecting the prisoners. But there was no way he was about to leave his mate with no one to keep him safe in case they’d somehow missed anyone else in the building.
He pointed in which direction Rip and Wizard were to take. He would take the shooter and spotter as well as the last remaining guard. He was fast and his kills were far more efficient. It would hopefully give him the edge.
“Breach,” Yosi said and Cayman didn’t hesitate to open the door as silently as possible. It squeaked but fortunately with the pouring rain and human hearing, no one heard it.
Keeping low, he raced to the shooter and spotter. Both men dropped to the roof seconds later. The second one hadn’t even completely fallen before he was dashing across the expanse to the last guard. He didn’t bother to hide the bodies. No one would see them lying on the roof through the rain. But they would eventually be missed at their post.
Rip shifted, his tiger leapt down off the two-story building and took off after his first prey on the ground. Wizard, who was an eagle, shifted and plucked two knives in his talons before taking off for the roof of one of the other buildings. While they did that, Cayman took off for the door and flew down the stairs.
Slipping out the front by barely opening the door, he started his hunt with Yosi whispering in his ear, just as he was doing with the others. The rain worked to cover their movements, which made their mission far easier than he had imagined.
Humans were strange. Sure, the rain had been teeming, but they were going to get wet no matter what, so why bother trying to huddle under shelter. It meant leaving one’s post and not paying enough attention to their surroundings.
“There are no more heat signatures,” Yosi reported.
Finally, his mate was relatively safe. He wouldn’t be completely until they were safely in South Korea, but considering the weather conditions, as shifters they would fare far better than the humans if they started chasing when the next shift came in for duty.
“Come on,” he told Rip and Wizard. “We need to get moving before the next crew reports in.
“We’re going to need to take some of the trucks,” Rip told him. “Not everyone fared well inside. Some of those shifters could barely stand after being worked to death.”
He was afraid of that. There weren’t many trucks and splitting up wasn’t ideal. “We need to figure out a way to stick together.”
“Not certain that’s possible.” Rip knew their conditions a lot better than Cayman did. “It will be nearly impossible to keep everyone safe if we have to split up. Plus we need to load everyone on boats to be taken to a ship in the Yellow Sea.”
Once inside, he gave everyone instructions. It would suck, but Rip had been right. At least thirty wouldn’t be able to make the journey if they had to walk. Hell, he wasn’t certain any of them would be able to do it.
It would mean splitting up into small water shifters to swim down the river and those who would go in the trucks. His mate was a penguin shifter as were many others who had come from Glyn’s colony.
“The current is headed in the direction we’re going. So long as you have the ability to shift, I need all small water animals to do so and get into the river. Wizard will fly above us and I’ll be swimming with you.” It wasn’t ideal to have so many try to pass the guards watching the mouth of the river, but hopefully the rain would stay with them, helping to obscure their animals from the humans.
“Rip and Lael will drive two trucks loaded with everyone else. I won’t lie. The North Koreans will be watching. They don’t allow anyone to escape any more than they allow someone into their country. For those in the water, you will need to move cautiously and stay as deep as you can and stay in the middle of the river when I give you the signal.”
He turned to the others, mostly Rip and Lael. “All I can say is be in contact with Yosi. I have no idea how you’re going to keep from being seen.”
Not that they had any other choice, but Cayman wished there was another way. “If you need help, let me and Wizard know and we’ll try and get to you.” It wasn’t ideal, but they were out of other options.
“Load up,” he ordered. The moment they had the trucks filled, he headed to the river just outside of the gates with the others.
Stripping, they got into the water. He once more had the backpack with his weapons strapped to his body and they headed downriver, praying they wouldn’t be seen.