47. Kaos
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
KAOS
I usually live for shit like this.
The danger. The exhilaration. The unknown.
But usually I don’t have the woman I love pressed against my back in these situations, and that makes that entire mess we’ve found ourselves in all the more terrifying.
A door above us opens, and I press Camilla between the wall and my back, using my body to shield her from whatever danger is coming for us.
“We have to move. We’re better off in the open than being cornered in here,” Bishop whispers.
Camilla squeezes my bicep, and I look over my shoulder at her. “This isn’t my first gun fight, K. We’re all getting out of here alive.”
But she and I both know she has no right making that promise, not when we have no idea what awaits us on the other side of the door.
Kovu only hesitates for a moment before he tears the door open and throws a smoke bomb into the wide-open garage. Bullets hit the door as he slams it shut again, waiting for a moment while smoke fills the space.
He counts to ten and then throws open the door again, this time leading the five of us out.
Crew nods for me to go next, knowing I’m better in a fight than he or Camilla are, and then they follow us with Bishop bringing up the rear.
I wish I could say this is our usual formation, but that would imply that we’ve ever found ourselves in a position like this before, and thankfully this is a first. I just wish Camilla weren’t here.
More bullets pierce through the fog of smoke, but they can’t see us moving.
Crew takes Camilla’s hand and tugs her toward the tunnels we’ve never shown her. No one knows about them, not even Caleb. It wasn’t long after he died that we decided we needed an alternative route out of here, and I’m really fucking glad we made that decision.
Through the smoke, I see her tug against his hold, likely because she doesn’t want to leave us, but she has to. While she’s here, she’s a liability. We can’t think straight if she’s in danger, so our best bet is getting her out so we can do what we do best.
I watch for a moment as Crew drags her further from us, and even though I know she’ll be safer outside these walls, I can’t stand the idea of not being able to see her.
Kovu nudges me, and I tear my eyes away from the direction they went, not wanting to alert anyone to the secret passage that looks like something straight out of a spy novel.
A figure appears through the smoke a few feet in front of me, and I don’t hesitate to lift my gun and pop off two shots into their chest. I don’t give a fuck who I’m killing so long as they’re no longer a threat to my family.
“I don’t like this,” Bishop murmurs from behind me.
“Let’s make a break for it,” Kovu says.
I nod. It’s unlikely they’ll keep looking for Camilla and Crew if they’re chasing us, but the smoke is already clearing, which means our window is limited.
Before I can second guess myself, I lead us toward the side door of the garage, popping off shots whenever I see a threat, the same way Kovu and Bishop do.
My first gun runs out of ammo too quickly, and I change over to the other one I have tucked into the back of my sweatpants while Kovu covers me.
The smoke finally fades as we approach the door, and when we turn around, there are no less than fifteen guys that we’ve taken down along our way, but the satisfaction I normally get from the kill is absent. I can’t think about how much I love the carnage when Camilla and Crew are separated from us, and we won’t know if they’re okay until we can reach the rendezvous point on the other side of the city.
There are no men left in the garage, meaning they’ve either moved further into the compound, or they’re waiting outside, so we take a second to check our guns, and when I get the all clear from both of them, I fling the door open.
There are three men on the other side, all of whom are dead before they can think to lift their own weapons, and then we’re sprinting in the opposite direction to where the tunnel exits at the back of a nearby laundromat we bought with the sole intention of it being the other end of the secret passage.
We run for a few blocks before we finally slow down, taking a moment to check our surroundings for anyone following us, but there’s no one.
“Let’s get to the safe house,” Bishop says, and I nod.
The sooner we get there, the sooner I’ll be sure our girl is okay.