Chapter 19
Sean
“Please tell me this is the worst part you were mentioning earlier,” Jace calls out as he fires round after round at the men aiming their rifles at us.
Louhi steps around the wall of naked men that we’ve silently built in front of her and sprays the soldiers with bullets as if using a water hose. I don’t recall the men working for me not being able to shoot for shit, but damn, they’re awful. Or maybe Lou hexed them somehow. That’s plausible.
Once we eliminate the impending threats, I glance around and ensure we don’t have any casualties.
“I can’t say I’ve ever fired a gun naked before,” Jace comments as he carefully treads around the bodies littering the ground.
“You’re as boring as I thought you’d be,” Kazi mutters, making Louhi laugh, the boisterous sound clothing me in joy. Fuck, I love that sound.
Lou never breaks stride as she bends and drags her knife across the throat of a groaning soldier before pushing open the door to the prison yard. The four of us crowd against the exterior wall. The fenced area is notably empty, though, making the hair on the back of my neck prickle.
“Where the fuck is everyone?” Kazi asks, his deep voice gruff. I’ve always known him as a man of few words, never once answering a single interrogation question, but now that Lou’s here, he’s spoken more than he has in years.
Lou smirks smugly as she reloads her assault rifle with a new magazine before distributing additional ammunition to the rest of us. “Responding to the teeny, tiny explosion on the other end of the island, I presume.”
“Which is also where we’re going.” Kazi puts the pieces together.
Jace groans. “That’s going to be the worst part of this, isn’t it?”
Lou lifts a shoulder nonchalantly. It’s evident that Jace is spot fucking on with that. Great, that’ll be fun.
My best friend and I exchange glances, knowing that command would’ve ordered most of the manpower toward the explosion site. I don’t know how many reinforcements the military sent here after Lou and I escaped, but I assume there’s more than there were when we left. We lost plenty that day.
“Let’s move,” Louhi states, assuming the role of commander.
Quick, loud pops echo in the distance while the shrill yowl of the siren fills the sticky night air as we silently edge against the wall toward the sound of violence.
When we round the corner of the building, it only takes six shots to clear the yard entirely of soldiers. The final guard falls from the east tower, his head cracking like a ceramic dish on the ground with an audible splat. My stomach churns, reminding me that I haven’t eaten in a long time.
We prowl through the open gates, and more of the invisible tension I’ve been holding since Louhi and I were torn apart lifts, floating toward the sky. I want to touch her again, but I recognize that she needs the use of both of her hands. I probably do, too.
My cock and balls bounce as we all jog in the direction of the open maw of tropical vegetation that begins to eat our forms and forces us to slow down.
“So, who’s up for giving me a piggyback ride?”
All three of us swing our heads in Lou’s direction, leveling her with various glares and scowls. Laughing, she holds up her hands, shaking her head. “I was only joking.”
“Too soon, Lou, too soon.” My best friend laughs heartily, and it warms my heart after seeing him in so much pain.
Suddenly, the low thrum of voices drifts closer, and all four of us mutely scramble to duck behind trees. Well, everyone except Jace; he dives into a large bush. Damn, his naked ass is going to look like a cat got a hold of him when he reemerges.
“The boat just doesn’t make any sense,” one of the six soldiers says.
“I heard Thompson say someone was on the island, but I don’t believe him,” another one replies. It’s too dark to make out who the men are, especially with their masks.
Just as they approach, Louhi whistles, and my eyes widen, panic squeezing my chest. All six men whip their heads in her direction.
Peering around the tree like a child playing hide-and-seek, her torso tilting with the movement, Louhi fucking winks. “Made you look.”
She fires four rounds. Kazi and I ensure the remaining two crumple to the ground. With this latest threat eliminated, we emerge from our hiding spots, and it’s only then that I realize Lou left one man alive.
Shoving the Wildey into the back of her pants, she tosses his weapon aside, crouching beside the dying guard.
“How many men are at the beach?” she asks him.
Hatred emanates from his dark gaze, but he remains silent. Next to me, Kazi pulls the trigger, the round embedding itself in his mask-covered forehead.
When Lou scowls at him, he lifts one of his massive shoulders. “He wasn’t going to answer. I want to go fucking home.”
Lou’s lips thin. “We could’ve tortured him for information.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Kazi rolls his eyes, sighing as he begins to walk away. “We don’t have time for this shit.”
As if he conjured the sound to emphasize his statement, a flurry of gunshots pierces the air like an ominous cloud. She spares me a glance, shaking her head as the three of us rush to catch up with the huge monster of a man.
“This way,” Jace states, gesturing with his chin at the lesser-known path to the beach. We move through the overgrown area, tripping over branches and vines as we race toward our exit.