52. The Devil May Come
52
The Devil May Come
Jessica
Declan, Matt, and Tony take off at a sprint, running recklessly across the giant tower of containers toward the ladder.
They all but fall down it, their feet running before they’ve fully touched the deck, and they’re racing toward the side of the ship where Darius and Antoinette fell.
It takes the rest of us a minute longer to get down the ladder, and by the time I’m maneuvering through the narrow gap between container stacks, the three of them are leaned over the rail, shouting.
But no one’s there.
No one answers.
I scan the dark water, stepping right out onto the edge and bending down as far as I dare, but there’s nothing. No air bubbles, no agitated water indicating something is beneath, struggling to break to the surface.
Declan is already in the water, having left a trail of clothing in his wake. Tony has his shirt off; his boots half-kicked off, and his phone and weapons in a pile at his feet. He dives into the frigid water without hesitation, disappearing beneath the surface as we look on helplessly.
Matt pulls his shirt over his head, bending and unlacing his boots as he turns to Kaian and says, “Call in for help and then take the girls and make sure this is fucking done. Make sure every fucking last one of those motherfuckers is dead, and if they’re not dead, then make them fucking dead.”
Kaian nods, looking at me and Camilla expectantly as he pulls his phone from his jacket pocket. We both step toward him, ready to make good on the mission. He types out a message, pocketing the phone before turning to Lilith and Carolina. “You coming?”
They turn distraught faces to him, and my breath catches in my throat, sadness and anger boiling in my guts at the thought that Darius and Antoinette won’t be found.
I take a shuddering breath in, intent on controlling myself as Matt dives into the bay, but all I want to do is throw myself in after him. To protect him. To shield him from whatever pain might find him.
“Focus.”
Kaian's sharply spoken word draws my attention back to him.
He gives each of us a sympathetic look, then scowls. “I know not thinking about what's going on in the water is difficult, but right now, you all need to keep your head in the game. We're going back in there, not knowing how many people we’re up against, which means we all need to be on guard and ready. Do you understand?”
I swallow the lump in my throat and nod. Everyone else nods as well, and Kaian pulls the backpack off his back, dropping it on the ground in front of him and unzipping it. He pulls out a weapon, checking that it's loaded, and then hands the bag to me. “You know how to use any of that?”
I roll my eyes at him and snort. I don't bother replying; instead, I fish around inside the bag until I find a standard nine-millimeter. I pull it out, hand the bag over to Lilith, and then go through my own checks without any comment. Kaian squints at me and then nods.
Once everyone has refreshed their weapons and ammo, the bag makes it back to him, though now it looks rather empty. He zips it up, places it on his back again, and then turns and walks in the direction of the building. “Let's go. Get this shit over with.”
I fall into step beside him, more than ready to get it over with. “How do we know who to shoot?”
“If they're not standing in this group right now, shoot them.”
"That's not a problem," Lilith replies.
Kaian laughs and shakes his head. “This is not surprising coming from you.”
“Who was that other man disguised as Darius?”
Kaian shrugs, his pace slowing as we come up on the building. “I have no fucking idea. Hopefully, we'll find him, so we'll know.”
“Maybe Dare knows,” Carolina interjects. “And he'll tell us when we find him.”
I grit my teeth, sudden pain echoing in my chest, and I squash it down. Clearing my throat again, I align myself against the wall by the door right next to Kaian. “I'd sure like to know how he had such a good disguise.”
Camilla barks out a bitter laugh. “Me fucking, too. Because whoever did that's also going to fucking die.”
Kaian gives her a strange, almost hostile look. “You worried you're going to have a little competition in the old illusion business?”
She glares at him but says nothing, so Kaian turns, putting his hand on the door, waiting for us all to line up with him.
He pulls the door open, and Lilith immediately steps through it, gun drawn. She does a quick side-to-side and then motions for us to follow. “We'll have to split up. Some of us can go right, the others can go left, so if nothing else, be careful not to shoot each other.”
Camilla, Lilith, and Carolina head off to the right while Kaian and I break off to the left. For the first few minutes, the place is quiet, but then we hear far-off gunshots, indicating the others have engaged somewhere in the building. We take turns scoping around corners and being back up. After a few long minutes, I peek around a corner at a T-intersection, immediately falling back when met with a bullet into the wall.
Kaian motions that he’ll go straight across, using his fingers to count down. Three. Two. One. Then he takes off, and I immediately drop down, bringing my upper body along the floor in such a way my gun is pointed down the intersecting hallway.
Sure enough, someone sticks their head out, taking a shot at Kaian. Luckily, they miss. I do not.
I remain in this position, my gun still pointed at potential targets. Kaian peeks around the corner and then quickly steps out, keeping his body pressed against the wall, as I quickly rise to my feet and get in position with him.
There's no great way to walk down the hallway. Regardless of how careful we are, someone could easily come up behind us or jump out in front of us, so all we can do is attempt to remain as aware as possible in the hopes that we'll get them before they get us.
Kaian stops when he gets to the man I shot. He pushes him with his foot until he rolls on his back, and then Kaian smirks at me. “Good shot.”
I shrug dismissively, knowing full well what an excellent markswoman I am, even under extreme pressure. He doesn't wait for me to reply; he simply kneels, pulling the radio from where it had fallen under the man's body. He grins at it, then turns his smile on me before motioning ahead of him for us to continue.
One thing we found from our research and cross-referencing what Kaian and Matt knew is that this place is an intricate web of hallways and tunnels that all lead back to the same place.
A great fucking hall, much like the one where all the fucking bullshit happened.
I grimace, not at all looking forward to going to that place but knowing I have little choice in the matter, considering our goal is for all of us to be there without any potential threats.
Because all the potential threats will be dead.
Somehow, we manage not to run into anyone else on our journey, but each new hallway we encounter is met with the far-off sounds of gunshots elsewhere.
This means, according to Kaian, everyone else is getting to have all the fun.
I'm feeling more relieved than let down, most likely because I'm not accustomed to being surrounded by people who deserve to die.
After a short amount of time, which feels like hours, we make it to the doorway leading into the hall. I start to walk through but then hesitate, and Kaian walks into the back of me. “What the fuck, Jess?”
I step back, turning to him as I frown. “This place gives me the ick.”
He raises his brows at me, giving me an obviously befuddled look. “The ick? Really?”
I sigh, suddenly having difficulty meeting his gaze for how completely ridiculous I sound. “Yes, the ick.”
His expression softens, and he takes a step toward me, resting his hand on my arm as he whispers, “Nothing like that will ever happen to you again.”
I wince, embarrassment and horror washing over me at the reminder he was there for that. I allow myself a moment to live there, and then I shake it off. I lift my head and straighten my spine, taking a deep breath and then replying firmly, “Fucking right.”
“You good?”
“Yes. Let's fucking do this.”
He moves to go ahead of me, but I stop him, not wanting anyone to think I'm not at least capable of faking it until I make it.
I walk in silently, keeping myself to the far recesses of the room, where it's still dim. I inch around, keeping some of the larger pillars between me and the voices on the far side.
We creep to the far corner from where we came in, and I get a clearer view of the scene that's unfolding.
A group of men stand there all looking rather smug. It appears as if Camilla, Carolina, and Lilith got ambushed, each of them being held by two men. Camilla and Lilith look outraged enough that they're practically frothing at the mouth; however, Carolina stands there calmly, looking almost bored, which is a testament to her history.
One of the men holding Camilla releases his grip on her neck, and he leans close, stroking his hand down her chest as he says something close to her face. She reacts by attempting to bite him, getting a tiny nip in that has the man jumping back in order to avoid serious injury.
He pulls his hand from her chest, giving her a good slap across the face, and for a moment, I'm confused by a soft growling that seems to be happening near me.
I glance over at Kaian, raising my brows in amusement, but then an escalated ruckus across the room draws my attention back to the group of people.
I recognize some of these men from being around before I left. One of them, in particular, was good friends with Finn, and the likelihood that he stood by and watched as I was drugged and assaulted is high.
I turn to Kaian and whisper, “How many rounds do you have left?”
I quickly check my own weapon while he does the same, and then he pulls his backpack off again, pulling out the extra rounds and handing two to me, keeping two for himself. He drops the bag on the ground, immediately changing the magazine for a full one and pocketing the other as a reserve. I follow suit, and then he leans in closely. “Accuracy is key here. Don't stop until they're all dead.”
I nod as he steps back, motioning that he's going to circle around and for me to wait. I track him silently while keeping an eye on how things are escalating across the room.
It doesn't take him long to get in position, and though I can't see him clearly, when his first shot goes off, I quickly follow suit.
Half the men are down before the other half has time to react. In the ruckus, Carolina and Lilith escape the men holding them.
Those four men turn their attention to us, attempting to locate and eliminate us, but all this does is open themselves up for our bullets.
The men holding Camilla double down as she fights them. I manage to take one of them out before I start clicking empty. I pull out my last reserve magazine, quickly exchanging it for the empty one and returning my sights to where they were.
The man is now dragging Camilla away. I race around the pillars, bringing my gun up and taking aim again just as a body flies in front of me, obstructing my view. Kaian comes out of nowhere, grabbing Camilla’s attacker by the head and bodily pulling him away from her.
He tosses him on the floor, driving the butt of his gun into his face over and over again before he loses his grip on it, and it tumbles to the ground. The man's hands are still trying to push Kaian away, so Kaian reaches behind him, pulling a blade from its sheath on his back, flipping it in his grip, and swinging it around in one smooth motion.
The man twitches a few more times before his body goes lax. Kaian stands, his chest heaving, with blood splattered all over him. He looks at Camilla, saying something I can't make out. She glares at him, and I quite clearly hear her words. “You can fuck all the way off with that hero bullshit. I was fine.”
I close the distance between me and them, completely understanding both sides of the impeding pissing contest, even if neither of them wants to admit it. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
They both snap their mouths shut, but continue to glare at each other, and I slowly turn away. Carolina and Lilith are standing nearby, watching on curiously, and I shrug as I join them, the corners of my mouth twitching as I do my best not to smile.
Kaian and Cami walk over, both of them outwardly disgruntled, but then Kaian looks at Lilith. “Everything secure?”
She nods. “As far as I can tell.”
Kaian removes his phone from his pocket, sending off a quick message before pocketing it. “Clean-up crew will be here in thirty minutes.”
“They gonna fumigate?”
“Nah, just a thorough extermination for now. Make sure we don’t have an infestation hidden somewhere.”
“Good plan.”
Kaian motions toward the door. “I know the shortest way out back.”
We follow him out of the room with less excitement than we normally would under typical circumstances. While I’m relieved to be done in this building, my anxiety and nervousness over the fate of Darius and Antoinette has my guts churning.
It only takes a fraction of the time for us to exit the building, once again on the harbor side. We hurry toward where we last left Matt and Tony, but now, the entire area is illuminated, guiding our way.
My heart sinks at the number of people who are obviously actively searching, and my eyes scan the crowd for Matt.
I locate him further down the terminal, where the massive ship is tethered. They’ve set up a temporary base, equipment dotting the dock. Men race around, boats slowly maneuvering through the water, and spotlights shining brightly.
I manage to catch his gaze from about twenty feet away. I raise my brows in question, and he shakes his head, the pain on his face cutting and deep. I frown, wanting nothing more than to go to him, to comfort him, but I know now is not the time.
So, I turn to Kaian and rest my hand on his arm. “What next?”
The look he gives me is surprised, but then Lilith, Carolina, and Camilla all gather around, waiting to find out what’s next on the list to complete a mission that has otherwise gone to hell.
Kaian sighs then raises a hand, motioning for us to follow him as he turns on his heel and walks away from the dock. “Let’s go.”