Chapter 38 #3
I grabbed that fucker’s body and kept it in front of me to block the bullets flying at me. I raised my hand above his shoulder to shoot the fucker raining down a barrage of bullets at me when suddenly, the fucker was shot dead, and his body hit the floor, revealing Greg with a gun in his hand.
He rushed to me and took my right. “Are you okay? Are you the cops?”
I quickly gave him a nod. “With the cops,” I said before punching the guy who ran at me with a baseball bat.
I looked toward the hunkering ladies and yelled, “We’re here to save you. Don’t be scared. Run when I ask you to.”
The men guarding them started to fire at us, and I lunged behind a large stack of boxes.
The loud, panicked screams of the women punctured the air, followed by the smattering of bullets, trying to silence them.
I quickly reloaded my gun while inspecting if Sophie was all right.
She was in a shoot-out with three men on the other side of the container.
Just then, Sami’s voice rang in my ear. “We’re coming in.”
I quickly responded, “Go out around the container. Maxim and two of his goons are trying to escape from the back. Sophie and I got this.”
Sami growled. “Fuck. Alright. We’ll take this fucking car. Backup is here. I’ll send them in.”
With that, she was gone.
Leaning over the box, I quickly shot two of the four men near the ladies, making them scream.
“Run,” I yelled, pointing them in the direction we came from, as if they didn’t already know. Most of the women were too afraid, too weak to risk it, but some of the braver ones took the leap and sprinted.
Right then, Sophie dropped in beside Greg and me. I turned to her. “You help these women out. We need them extracted safely. I’ll give you cover.”
Five more men remained in the room. Two were covering the women, and three were running to stop them and attack us.
Sophie leaped into action, and I immediately fired shots at the men guarding the women.
Just then, the farther door to the container slammed open, and a stream of Russian goons started to pour in. Five, then ten, then fifteen. The women screamed in terror and closed around each other, trying to become invisible.
The Russians rushed toward Greg and me. My heart pounded in my chest with adrenaline.
I was going to fucking die at the hands of these motherfuckers.
And the only person I thought of at this moment was Knox.
His cold, unhinged eyes that burned my skin and warmed my heart.
His whispered I love you in the middle of the night.
His large hand that closed over my throat and made me feel like I belonged to him.
Fuck it.
A barrage of bullets hit the container we were hiding behind. My eyes met Greg’s terrified ones. He gave me a tiny smirk. “Guess this is one way to go.”
“Fucking fight. We’re not giving up,” I barked and clenched my gun tighter in my hand. I crouched low, waiting for the opportunity to shoot. The moment there was a break in the shooting, I sprang up and took my shots, hitting a few men.
Immediately, they started firing back, closing in on us. A bullet whizzed past my arm, leaving a slightly burning trail of fire in its wake, when six new men came rolling into the container from where Sophie had left, spraying bullets at the Russians.
Thank fuck for the backup.
I quickly turned to Greg and yelled, “Give me cover. I’m getting those women out.”
He nodded and quickly started firing at the men blocking my way while I shot the Russians enclosing the helpless women and ran toward them. I grabbed one of the young girls by the shoulder and pushed her toward the exit. “You’ve got to run.”
I started to shove all the fifteen or so women, pointing at the exit, screaming over the cacophony of the noise, “C’mon, I’m covering you. Run. Fucking run.”
I turned to where the backup team was fighting and started shooting at the men closing in on me, giving the women time to escape.
The last of the girls had just moved to exit when a sudden boom exploded in the room, and smoke started to permeate the air rapidly.
The room flung into chaos as men started running and shooting and punching and kicking everyone and everywhere.
I moved around, trying to get to the exit, when my head jerked with blunt force from the back. Excruciating pain shot through my head, turning my vision hazy. My weapons fell from my hands as dizziness overcame my body.
I slowly turned, only to meet Greg’s eyes. A smoke-protective mask covered his face. My legs started to give out. He lunged at me and pulled off my panther mask, covering my face with a cloth.
I thrashed—tried to, at least—as the smell of chloroform hit my nose, and held my breath for as long as I could. But my head felt like it was going to explode, and every bit of resistance and strength fled my body.
All I could see was Greg’s eyes, filled with hatred and darkness.
Before, he had appeared like a lackey, walking hunched and scared but still trying to help. Right now, with my vision clouded, my brain fogging up, and the pain in my head hammering viciously into my skull, he was a monster come to life.
As my vision went completely blank, as consciousness slowly left my body, all I heard was one sentence. “You and Knox picked the wrong person off that street.”