Chapter 11 #2
“Popov is on the move! He’s running out the back—second floor!” Ezra screams into the mic, and when Damien lowers his gun, my stomach sinks.
“Don’t let him escape!” Damien immediately starts to sprint through the warehouse in a straight line, not bothering to look around or assess the space like he normally would.
He’s running like a madman, jumping over boxes and crates, and occasionally moving around them so quickly that I think he’s diving to the floor.
I quickly, yet shakily stand, needing my racing pulse to reach my entire body.
Sitting only makes the harsh beats in my chest even more pronounced, and I feel like I can’t breathe.
My chest is tight, and it’s like there’s a bubble in my throat.
Zeke’s grip on me tightens, and my other hand instinctively moves to my belly.
A thousand thoughts run through my mind, but one stands above them all.
He could die, and he would never get the chance to meet our baby.
Our child would be stuck with only me, and the thought is terrifying.
He's being too reckless.
Ice shoots through my veins so harshly that I flinch and shake my arms. My hand falls from Zeke’s, and I instinctively hug myself.
The tremors ricochet from one limb to the next, and the next thing I know, Zeke stands up with me.
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me close to calm me down, which is kind of surprising, but I find myself leaning into him anyway.
A part of me wants to look up at him and make him promise that this won’t end in a tragedy, but my eyes are glued to the screen that’s much too large now.
When Damien’s almost at the back of the warehouse, with the door in view, he suddenly grunts.
Pieces of wood fly through the camera and then quickly out of view, like they were slung in front of him by a force that I can’t see.
The footage moves so frantically that I can’t really tell what’s happening anymore, and I gasp.
It rolls and shakes like a tumbleweed, and I frantically try to make something out.
Zeke’s grip tightens, and suddenly, I feel like there’s bugs under my skin.
It’s a few seconds that I hold my breath, but it feels like an eternity.
My vision starts to darken in the corners, and I swear my eyesight throbs with the beat of my heart, but as the camera keeps moving and Damien’s growl comes through, I let the breath out.
I plant my free hand on the top of the table to keep myself steady, thankful that my husband didn’t just get himself killed.
“What are you doing? Get the fuck off me!” Damien yells as he jumps back to his feet and sprints towards the back door again, like the past few seconds weren’t a glimpse into an alternate universe—one where he dies.
“You almost got your damn head blown off! You’re welcome!” Satori yells, and sprints alongside him towards the back door.
Within a few seconds, they burst through the door and Damien immediately lifts his gun again.
A loud screeching plays through the audio, and it’s immediately followed by more gunfire.
When Damien finally lowers his gun, I barely see a black, two-door car speed away and disappear towards the exit of the industrial park. My stomach drops.
Damien screams, and the sound holds so much rage and despair that the audio crackles. The camera then shifts quickly, and Satori comes into view, but only for a moment before Damien’s fist flies into his cheekbone.
“Why couldn’t you just let me go! I would’ve had him!” Damien screams.
“You would’ve been dead and he would’ve escaped anyway!
” Satori yells back and stands up, ready to fight back.
He rears his fist back and throws it towards Damien.
The way the camera jolts tells me he actually made contact, and I can’t help but let out a small yelp.
I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen someone be able to hit him.
Especially not with such force, and not from someone who’s supposed to be our ally.
It’s not long before Damien recovers, though, and goes to lunge at Satori. But from the lack of the video’s movements, it seems someone is holding him back.
“Knock it off, D! We’re done here!” Alex’s voice rages through, and the movement continues to slow down.
I can see Ezra holding Satori back in the feed, and if Damien’s face matches his in any way, their looks alone could kill each other.
It’s clear that neither of them has any intentions on stopping the brawl, and they’re both ‘kill or be killed’ type of men.
I reach over to Carter’s laptop and press down on the audio key, knowing that he’ll be able to hear me.
“Enough!” I yell, and Damien’s camera stops moving instantly.
The camera moves up and down steadily, and from the heavy breathing that’s coming through the coms, I can tell he’s barely holding back.
Satori stands still as well, then forces his arms forward strongly enough to get out of Ezra’s hold.
I notice Satori’s stare, I’m assuming at Damien, and it’s clear they’re back to whatever silent war they’ve conjured up between themselves.
Whatever progress they’ve made over the past week may have just went down the drain.
Carter gently grasps my wrist and moves my hand off the laptop so he can use the button. His eyes meet mine as I look at him, and the disappointment that lingers there almost makes me choke up.
“Alex, report while everyone gets back in the HEMTs,” Carter says quietly as he lets go of my arm.
I fall back into the chair, feeling a thousand pounds on my shoulders, and I watch Damien’s camera as he storms away from the group.
Even with his harsh movements, I can tell he’s still breathing hard, and I already know the kind of pain he’s in.
He’s not only disappointed in the mission, but himself, and it breaks my heart.
“Ash? Are you good?” Zeke asks in a softer tone than I’ve ever heard from him, and damnit, if that doesn’t make it worse.
My brother, that literally tried to kill himself a week ago, is checking on me.
God, I’m so damn weak. I just shake my head lightly, feeling the weight in the room increase tenfold.
We didn’t get him.
Our one way to end this whole thing just drove away, and the taste of failure lingers in the air around us.
I know it’s not because of one person or one action, but the outcome is hard to accept.
Yes, if Damien was able to keep going, he might have gotten to him in time, but there’s no way to know that for sure.
I’d much rather have Damien alive than to have gotten Popov, but he won’t see it that way.
He’s clearly taking this hard already, and the thoughts haven’t had time to fester in the open wound.
The bad memories start to resurface in my mind, and as Damien angrily gets into the front of the HEMT alone, I look away.
He almost got himself killed trying to avenge me.
Again.
I don’t want to see him in pain anymore. Especially pain, that deep down, I feel like I could have prevented. If I was just strong enough, or quick enough, things would be different. He wouldn’t have to look at the marks on my body every day or destroy himself just to try and heal me.
This wouldn’t happen if I was strong enough for him.
“What the fuck happened back there?!” Damien yells as he, Ezra, Alex, and Satori walk into the room.
Damien’s jaw is already bruising, but Satori’s cheek has a nasty gash—obviously from when Damien punched him.
He strides directly over to me and grips the back of my chair, but his focus is solely on Carter.
“The footage shows one of Popov’s men entering the warehouse behind Alex’s group.
Andrei was the one that saw him and immediately fired before the enemy could fully draw his pistol, but it still went off.
That was the louder shot that alerted everyone.
We had no idea there was someone else coming, D. It’s no one’s fault.”
My heart sinks to my feet. Andrei is one of Satori’s men, and I’m sure that information just made everything worse.
“We should’ve known! We should’ve had people surveying the perimeter!” Damien yells, and I reach my hand up to lay on top of his. His grip on the chair tightens, so I put a little more pressure as well to try and soothe him.
“Popov’s men have been on strict rotation schedules for days, and no one has ever been late. We couldn’t have known this would happen. We’ll find him again.” Carter tries to placate him, but from the tension building in the room, it’s clearly not working.
“He’s never going to come back here, Carter!
He’s scared! He knows we’re still after him now!
So, I’m sure he’ll warn the other three!
” Damien lets go of my chair and starts to pace the room.
His steps are harsh and forceful enough to shake the conference table as he stomps around.
He reaches up to grip the hair at the base of his neck again, something he only does when he’s truly losing it.
Then he starts to mutter to himself, and the sound breaks my heart even more.
“I’ll never find them. I need to find them. I failed. I failed.”
I stand up and look around the room to see everyone staring at him.
Satori and Kade have disbelieving looks on their faces, like they’re not sure what they’re looking at, and my blood boils.
They haven’t been here to witness what he’s been through, and they don’t understand him—not like we do.
They’re observing him like he’s an exhibit at the circus and the thought only makes me angrier.
Everyone else looks at him with sympathy, and while I know they understand what this means to him, those kinds of expressions will only make it worse.