Chapter 13 Emery
EMERY
Mori comes crashing up against my back as we take cover behind a large boulder. The siren is already going off around the hideout, and men are shouting as they scramble to get eyes on us.
It won’t take them long to figure out we’re behind here, and I’m betting they have the arsenal to blow us sky-high.
“Do I even want to know what you’re planning, Em?” Mori laughs as he bites down on the pin of a grenade and tosses it over the boulder toward the base. His tactical gear is smeared with clumps of dirt and ash, it’s hardly even noticeable since we blend in so well.
The explosion shakes the ground and bright warm colors lash out around us, lighting up those sage eyes of his I find so lovely. Freeze time right here, forever, I silently wish.
The moment is lost the second Gage’s voice comes over the headsets.
“What the fuck was that?!” He sounds frantic and I can’t help but snort at what his face must look like right now.
Thomas’s voice carries from the background. “Three hostiles exiting the lower level and pursuing on ground toward Mori and Morphine,” he says calmly. He doesn’t seem the least bit surprised by my actions.
Funny, because Mikah didn’t either. She was excited to help me set this all up after she hacked into not only the Dark Forces’s drones, but the hideout’s cameras as well.
Sneaking around the watch crew wasn’t as easy, but it’s so damn empty out here and they probably never see any action so they were blissfully busy chatting the time away and not paying attention to me as I placed my flares and explosives as close as I could.
I shrug, knowing only Mori can see it. “Lieutenant said we were the diversions, didn’t he? I’m just making a better one than the plan called for.” My partner glowers and works his hand over his jawline in a stressed motion, but it also looks like he’s trying to hide a smile.
Gage laughs. “That sounds about right, but you know we call that insubordination, Morphine.” His mic cuts out and the sound of a high-caliber bullet cuts through the air and hits something soft in the valley. A hard thud follows, and by the sound of it, the guards are about one hundred feet away.
Mori looks me over quickly, hesitation dancing across his gaze before he mutters, “What’s step two in your master plan, Morphine?” A hint of amusement coats his tone.
I jerk my head for him to follow me as I lift the scope to my eyes and shoot the small tag I laid out last night.
A mischievous grin pulls at the corners of my lips as the tag ignites into a plume of pink smoke.
Fuse rope is attached to the smoker flares, leading across the valley in every which way, igniting more flares every twenty feet.
“Jesus,” Mori mumbles behind me as we run toward the hostiles. “Knives only until the smoke clears.” His voice is clipped and low as we near them.
Gage cuts back in. “Visibility is below ten percent. No firepower from above.”
Perfect. I unsheathe my KA-BAR and pull down the white phosphor goggles.
About eleven armed men rally around the field, they’re walking slow and keeping together in a pretty tight circle.
I glance over my shoulder at Mori. He nods at me, his goggles are already down and his knife braced tightly in his grip, ready to kill without question.
We each take one side of the circle. Mori carefully walks around the group as they pass us about twenty feet away. Would a grenade be too close? We could easily get rid of them being bunched up together like this, it makes no sense strategically.
Unless.
I stop dead in my tracks and whirl, looking frantically for figures closer to the base. There are three guards standing with weapons raised our way. I have a millisecond to respond.
“Get down!” I shout, dropping like a stone in water.
Mori drops just as a shot goes off. If it hit him, he doesn’t make a sound to indicate that he’s been hurt. Another shot. The dirt jumps a few inches from my face.
Fuck this.
I grab a flare from my back pocket and break the seal. It jumps to life as I stand and charge straight into the group of men. Panic arises rapidly as I shove the stick into one of their back pockets. A quick stab in one of their thighs and—
The man howls, firing his gun into his own comrades only feet away from him.
They all scatter, some firing back, others ducking. The good news is that the tightly knit group has been broken, making it hard for the snipers to know who is who.
I look back in the direction of the base.
Mori has already slit the throats of two of them.
On his way to the third. Oh. Well I guess I didn’t need to do that then.
Show off. I blow out a breath and he glides his knife over the last one’s throat.
They must’ve been focusing on what I was doing to not have seen him approaching.
Two can play at this game. I unclip a grenade from my belt and nonchalantly pull the pin, I trot ten feet before I release the trigger and toss it behind me.
The ground rumbles again with the explosion.
A few of the guards who were trying to get around me stumble.
I lift my MK-17 and shoot one through the chest and the other through the neck.
“Show off,” Mori teases me, his voice over the headset is smooth and unbothered, like this is a normal day.
But I feel completely rapturous. My breaths are fast and my fingertips tingle, excited to pull the trigger once more.
It’s overwhelming, and an itch of sorts forms in the way that an insatiable need to continue grows.
Erik whispers over the headsets, “I don’t recall grenades being a part of the plan.” They must already be inside if he’s talking this quietly.
Thomas responds on my behalf, “Morphine decided to make it more attention grabbing than you originally concocted.” Amusement blooms through his voice.
I partially wait for Gage to make a comment too, but another whistle of a bullet flying above us hits someone on the top of the roof. Their body falls ten feet away from where we are. A spurt of blood splashes over the ground as their neck snaps and a dying gurgle bubbles from their throat.
One more visual sweep of the field reassures me that we’ve already killed everyone outside the building.
“Now what?” I ask as we crouch low at the edge of the fortress. Thick vegetation grows near and hides us well from anyone should they approach from the rear.
Mori lifts his goggles and I do the same. The smoke has already mostly cleared away with the gusts of wind.
“We should figure out another way to draw the majority of their attention. The original strategy had longevity.” I don’t miss the insinuation in his tone. “But I guess yours sort of cut that time in half, which isn’t a bad thing in case we need to help on the inside.”
I bump his shoulder and he lets out a short breath, bordering a chuckle. “Fuck yeah it did,” I gloat.
He listens to our surroundings for a moment before slowly turning his eyes to me. He routinely looks over my body for wounds like he always does. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t fond of it. His eyes widen and he sets his gun down quickly.
“What?” I barely ask in time before he’s pushing me until I’m sitting with my back against the wall.
His eyes flick up to mine, a flicker of hurt burns there. He looks back down as he assesses my shoulder. “Do you feel that?” His voice is sharp.
I glance down but don’t see what he’s looking at. Our uniforms are covered in dust and ash, plus it’s still dark outside. Though I guess it looks a little wet over my right arm and vest.
“No, I don’t feel anything,” I mutter in awe as he presses down hard on my shoulder. “Am I bleeding?”
Mori’s jaw looks tight under his mask, half the skull face is smeared with blood. “Yeah, you’re fucking bleeding… Goddamn it.”
My eyes widen. I knew the pills and injections worked, but to be shot and not even know it… This kind of technology would change the entire military. Soldiers who don’t feel and are twice as lethal. We’d be unstoppable. The thought only solidifies my concern for Nolan’s plans.
“I wasn’t sure if being shot would be painless, but it really does work.” I breathe out in disbelief.
He grunts his frustration. “Yeah it works for injured legs if you need to run in the trials too.”
That was oddly specific. I raise a brow at him and narrow my eyes. “Another secret you’re keeping from me?” When he doesn’t respond I press him harder. “I’ve taken the pills before, haven’t I?”
Mori gives me that damn look again before finally giving in. “Yeah.”
“Did I do it on my own like I did this time around?” I watch his expression fall and his hand loses a little pressure on my shoulder.
“Mori?”
He lifts his gaze to mine. “I really do hate when you call me that,” he says softer. This is the second time he’s said that to me. I’m not sure if it was his intention to change the subject, but I can tell he wants to tell me more about us.
“What would you like me to call you?” I ask, it comes out as a small whisper.
He considers me and when I think he’s finally about to tell me his name, gunfire sounds off in the distance and both our heads snap to the right. It was muffled, possibly inside the fortress.
Shit.
Kayden yells over the headsets, “Wolf in the den!”
That’s the code phrase to initiate strategy four. My heart thunders inside my chest as we go into the worst-case scenario. Mori stands abruptly, pulling me up in his next movement and gripping his gun tightly.
“Wolf in the den” means that either the lieutenant is injured or that Mikah is about to be compromised. Either one is an absolute disaster that we cannot afford.
Captain Bridger’s cold words seep back into me. We don’t come home until we get that flash drive.
Chills break out across my arms as I swallow the possibility that we might not make it out of this.