Chapter 15 Emery
EMERY
Mikah stays in the center of our group where she’ll be safest. Lieutenant Erik leads us to a stairwell in the opposite corner of the building as swiftly as he can.
It’s like a maze down here. This level wasn’t included in the blueprints, so I’m grateful Erik knows where he’s going, but it also stirs up more questions. More doubts. My teeth sink into my lower lip.
I focus on keeping my body moving the best I can. Thank God we’re spared from most of the smoke down here as we find our way out.
We ascend the stairs quickly and luckily don’t run into any more guards. I breathe out a relieved sigh. The last thing I want to do right now is engage in more bloodshed. Every tendon in my body is crying out for rest and medical attention. It’s a miracle my legs haven’t given out already.
“You doing okay?” Mori asks in a low voice as we hang back while Erik scopes the area for any armed guards.
Gage gives Erik details over the headset, but I tune them out as I mutter, “I’m fine.” I try to hold myself high, but my limbs continue to tremble of their own accord.
His eyes trace mine faintly. “I’ll treat you as soon as we get back to our tent.”
I grin at the idea of him patching me up. “Then who’s going to tend to you?”
He doesn’t even bat an eye. “You are, of course. You’ve already done so many times.” His expression pacifies.
I have?
My eyes lower to his shoulder, something pulling on strings in the back of my head that it was there where I mended his flesh. Funny. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to see him in a vulnerable state, tending to his perfect body.
“And you did the same for me?” I ask, seeing if he’ll actually loosen up.
He nods and smiles. Nostalgia lives in his gaze. “Who else?”
Those words thrum through me every time I hear him speak them. Who else? I know he’s said those words to me many times in the past. I open my mouth to say as much when Gage’s voice ripples over the headset with urgency.
“Get out now! They are exiting the trucks and surrounding the fort. You need to exit the back imme—” His signal cuts out as a storm of bullets start pelting the rock face where Gage and Thomas are supposed to be stationed.
We stare at one another for a brief moment before Erik grabs Mikah and tightens her helmet. The blood raging through my ears is the only thing I can hear.
“Stay on me, keep tight and don’t stop running no matter what. If you fall, you’re left behind. We can’t afford to fuck this up. This flash drive means more than all of us.”
“Yes, sir,” Mori and I say in unison, sharing a tense look.
Mikah swallows nervously. Her hands are shaking terribly as she looks at the three of us like we’re crazy for appearing so calm. I’ll have to tell her when we get back to the base how uncalm I really am inside.
“We’ll be right behind you, Lieutenant,” Mori says gingerly.
Erik firmly pats him on the shoulder, then looks at me.
An unguarded expression filters across his face and reveals his concern.
I’m not sure if it’s for us making it out of here alive or for my injuries, but his eyes flick briefly to the scar on the side of my forehead.
“Stay close to Mori. Don’t stray,” he orders. I nod a few times, uncertain of how to respond. He grins and prepares to exit the building.
The lieutenant throws the door open and charges straight for the thick terrain of boulders that perimeter the fort.
Thomas and Gage are up there somewhere. It’s our only chance at having some cover from the reinforcements.
Being out here in the open is a crappy situation.
Especially when it’s primarily desert with little tree cover.
The cool morning air feels like heaven on my face. I didn’t realize how stuffy and hot it was inside there until now. My legs pump at a steady pace, Mori keeps directly to my side.
It’s still fairly dark out, but I doubt that will offer us any help now. The reinforcements likely have night vision goggles and are better equipped than the men we took by surprise were.
We’re almost halfway to the rocks when I hear a drone overhead. Please for the love of God, be Thomas’s drone. I can’t spare a moment to look so I don’t.
Mori’s hand clamps down around my waist, urging me to run faster. I can feel him pushing me ahead to keep up with the others.
Shit, I’m slowing down and my body won’t cooperate. I’m at my limit.
Panic races into my veins. Mori doesn’t want to leave me back here alone. Mikah and Erik are twenty feet ahead of us already.
“Go! Don’t worry about me,” I say through heavy breaths.
Mori’s eyes narrow and he laughs. “You really don’t know me, do you? Keep running. Don’t look back. I promise I’ll be just a few steps behind you,” he shouts as he slows, falling behind.
Shock runs its full course through my entire body. My head instinctively turns to look back at him—how could I not? How in any reality could I tear my eyes away from him?
Mori lifts his MK-17 and starts firing at men who round the corners of the building and are charging at him. They return fire. He’s completely vulnerable out here.
I swiftly turn my head to look away and continue running as he ordered me to, but as I watch Erik and Mikah make it to the rocks and start to ascend, it hits me that I can’t let my last memory of my asshole partner who’s only smiled at me a handful of times be this.
There’s something about him that I cherish so much it hurts.
Like a hot coal that simmers deep into my soul, bubbling up to wake me from my deluded slumber, I realize I have to go back. I can’t go on without him.
My thoughts distract me and I trip over a fist-sized boulder. I quickly push myself back up to my feet, stumbling and glaring at my legs that are trying to give out on me again. Please. Not now.
My headset cuts in, static thick and barely comprehensive, but Thomas’s voice rolls through, mumbling something.
“Power, is that you? Repeat!”
He comes in clearer this time. “Get that fucking dumb-a-ass out of there! The d-r-dro-ne is dropping a mi-ssl—”
That’s all I hear before the signal cuts out.
But I was already running back for Mori the second he said to get him out of the drop zone.
My lungs feel hot and they rebel with exhaustion.
I run for him faster than I even knew I could.
To the point where I feel like I could lose control of my body at any second.
Bullets whiz by me as the hostiles shoot at us both now. I lift my rifle and nail one right between the eyes, sending his body flying back into one of his comrades.
Mori jerks his head back at me. Horror flashing in his eyes.
“What the fuck are you doing, Emery?!” he shouts, ducking as a shower of smoke and loud missiles zip over our heads. Streaks of fire in the sky connect with the ground behind him as he sprints for me, arms reaching desperately.
BOOM.