Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Kayden
The trek through the woods was slow going. The underbrush was thick and caused more of a problem than I thought it would. Jax and I stayed close to the driveway so we wouldn’t misstep down the gulley and into the river below.
“You guys almost to the house?” I ask James and Emilia over the headset.
“We’re here, just to the right of the house. We’re laying low until you’re in position,” James whispers.
“Ten-four. We can see the house now. I’ll make my way around to the back and up the cliff. Jax will stay to the left side of the house. I want all of you to wait for my orders.”
“Sí, sí, sigue adelante,” Emilia says with enough sass to make me roll my eyes. (Yes, yes, get on with it.)
“Jax, wait here. I’m going up to that cliff, see if I can get a clear shot.”
“You got it, Brother,” he replies, his handgun lowered but ready should anyone come out of the house.
Slowly and carefully, I pick my way through the woods, eventually coming to the crest of the cliff. I get down on all fours and drop to my stomach, inching my way to the edge to avoid being seen.
As I look over the edge of the cliff, all the lights in the house appear to be on.
Looking into the scope of my rifle, I see one man sitting on the couch in the main living room and another looks down as he stands.
Marco and Ivan. I recognize them from Franklin’s intel.
Ugly bastards. My blood runs cold when I see Dani on the floor, shirt torn off her shoulder, naked from the waist down, and her right eye swollen shut.
From the view in my scope, she lies in shattered glass.
Ivan stoops down and lifts her head by her hair before grabbing her cheeks with his other hand in a punishing grip.
I decide right then and there he’s going to be the first one to die.
Dani tries to pull back as he leans down in her face, but he doesn’t relent.
He has a crushing hold on her cheeks and just as my finger moves to the trigger, he pushes her away and straightens.
She catches herself before face planting into the wooden floors, allowing her to say something to him.
I watch as his face turns beet red and his fists clench at his sides.
Marco sits on the couch laughing, which only makes Ivan even angrier.
I aim down my scope and hold my breath. He kicks out, landing two hard kicks to her ribs before he falls to the side, blood splattering Marco on the couch.
Time slows as I watch the delayed flinch from Dani as the glass window cracks around the bullet hole and the flinch from Marco as he reacts late, climbing up and over the couch for cover.
I release the breath I was holding, reload, and aim down the sight for my next shot.
A third man is further in the house in what looks to be the kitchen, but from this angle, I can only see his shoes before they disappear behind a cabinet, probably taking cover.
I assume that one is probably Andrei. I take another shot, hoping my bullet pierces the couch where I think Marco is hiding.
It’s not a perfect shot, but from the way he runs farther back in the house clutching his arm, I at least succeeded in piercing flesh.
“Kayden, what’s going on?” Jaxon asks over the headset.
“I took down one bastard and shot Marco in the arm. I think Andrei is in there, too. Not positive if there’s anyone else though.”
“Do you want us to move?”
“Not yet, let’s wait to see if they make a move for the front door. I’ve bought Dani a distraction and she’s headed to the back door now.”
Dani pulls her shorts on before limping to the back door.
The back floodlights turn on as she leaves the house, illuminating my spot on the cliff.
My vision tunnels as I flash back to the abuse she endured in the Romani house.
Deep in my gut, I know I’ve failed her again—I didn’t make it here in time—but the only thing I grasp on to is my anger, letting it root me in my focus.
All these motherfuckers are going to die.
I stand up, prepared to make my way down the cliff when a sudden hot, searing sensation erupts in my left shoulder and it feels like I’ve been knocked back by a sledge hammer.
I look down at the patch of blood blooming through my shirt, and a scream has me looking up again, desperate to find her.
But she isn’t screaming in pain—there’s no one around.
No, she’s screaming in fear as she looks up at my spot on the cliff, like she’s actually afraid for my life.
I’m confused at first, and I stumble forward, just as another crack splits the night, the bullet grazing my ear as it passes.
I feel warmth trickle down the side of my head before my senses come back to me and I drop to the ground. That’s when the pain finally hits.
Voices that I must have blocked out come back full force, and I can barely make sense of them talking over each other as I grit my teeth against the waves of pain.
“Kayden, are you there?”
“Kayden, talk to us!”
“I repeat, Kayden, are you there?”
“I-I’m here, but I’m hit. They have a sniper. It came from your side, James.”
“I saw him. We’re on it,” comes Emilia’s reply.
“Dani left out the back door. Jaxon, circle around back and see if you can find her. I need to make my way down the backside of this cliff. I’ll meet you toward the northwest corner of the woods.”
As I make my way down the backside of the cliff, I realize my arm is likely in hydrostatic shock as it hangs, affecting the nerves and making the arm completely useless.
A high caliber round will do that—I know from experience.
I can’t say I’ve ever been on the receiving end, though.
Stopping near the bottom, I set down the duffel bag and dig out the first aid kit.
I tear open a pack of QuikClot with my teeth and shove the packing into my wound, biting my tongue until I taste blood to keep from shouting out and giving away my position.
It stems the bleeding for now, at least until Donovan and Axel get here to set me in a makeshift sling.
“I’m a little held up here, Kayden!” Jaxon yells through my headset, each word punctuated by a gunshot.
“Sniper is down, Kayden. James took a bullet in the leg, though,” Emilia says, before continuing sarcastically and maybe a bit lovingly. “Stupid cabrón always trying to play hero.” (Asshole.)
I pack away the first aid kit and abandon the duffel bag behind a tree.
With a useless arm, there’s no way I’m going to carry it around.
As much as I hate abandoning it, I kneel down, stock up on ammo, and push off the ground with my gun in hand.
I know I have to get to Jaxon, but I also need to find Dani.
I’m torn between going toward the sound of gunshots or heading to the back yard where I last saw her.
I don’t have long to think about it, before a cry comes through the headset.
“Kayden, Emilia, I could really fucking use your help over here,” Jaxon says desperately.
“I’m trying, cabrón, but James’s leg isn’t going to tourniquet itself.”
“I’m almost to you, Jax,” I respond, pushing past the thick underbrush. “How many are there?”
“Right now it’s just Marco. Motherfucker shot me in the side.”
“At this rate, Emilia, you’re going to be the only one that comes out of this unscathed,” I reply sarcastically.
“Shut up, asshole, and get your ass over here and help me!”
I step out from behind the tree next to Jaxon, raise my gun, and shoot.
Marco cries out as he’s kneecapped, crashing to the ground as his leg gives out beneath him.
On all fours, he tries to find my location in the trees, but fails, firing blindly.
I decide to step out of the shadows and into the moonlight, firing my gun only once more.
Marco’s head jerks back with the impact before he topples over—a direct shot between the eyes.
Satisfied that he’s no longer a problem, I look at Jaxon to find that he’s no longer there. Confused, I turn in a full circle, trying to find where he went. Just before I start calling his name, I spot his shoe behind a large pine and make my way over.
His eyes are pinched closed and his breathing is labored as he holds a hand to his side.
“Hey, Jax. You OK, man?” I ask. In the moonlight I can see the thick, dark blood welling through his fingers, and I curse myself for leaving my duffel bag behind. He’s pale and I know just from looking at him he’s losing too much blood, too fast.
“Emilia, what’s the status on James?” I ask, hoping to God she answers with good news.
“I got him patched up resting against a tree. Where do you need me?”
“I need to find my duffel bag and get the first aid kit. At the rate Jaxon is bleeding out, he’s not going to make it much longer.”
“Go, you have to go. They need you,” I hear James tell Emilia over the headset.
“God dammit,” Emilia says. “I’m on my way. It’ll probably be faster if I just come over to you with my kit than having you fumbling around in the dark trying to find your pack.”
As I wait for Emilia to find our location, I keep firm pressure on Jaxon’s wound. At this point, my hands are so slick with blood it’s hard to apply pressure without my hands slipping.
Jaxon cracks open an eye, his face pale, his lips white and cracked, and levels me with a look. “You better watch out for her for me. You hear me? That little boy or little girl better be the most spoiled child with the three of you watching over them and Melody. Promise. Promise me, Kayden.”
“You’re not going anywhere, Jax.”
“You know, Kayden. You know there’s a real possibility I don’t make it out of this. My chances are pretty slim, I know you know this. Tell me you promise, Kayden,” he demands as his voice cracks. “Swear it.”
My own voice cracks as I lower my head, focusing on the blood escaping through my fingers. “I swear it,” I whisper, more to myself than to him.
“I can’t hear you.”
“I SWEAR IT!”
As though satisfied with my promise, Jaxon relaxes against the tree once again, his eyes gazing up at the moon.
A few snapping twigs have me on high alert, but I don’t dare risk taking my hands off his wound to grab my gun.
“Emilia?” I whisper shout. “Is that you?”
For a second, I fear it’s all over, but then Emilia pushes through the small clearing, cursing the underbrush as she makes her way over to us.
She digs through her small pack and pulls out the first aid kit.
“What am I looking for, Kayden?” she asks, slightly panicked as she peers down at my hands over Jaxon’s wound and then at his face before her gaze finally settles on me.
I see the resignation in her eyes and dammit if it doesn’t just make me angry.
“We aren’t giving up, Emilia, do you hear me?”
Emilia’s eyes flick back to Jaxon’s face and she gives him a small reassuring smile. She nods her head at me, a deep, penetrating sympathy radiating from her gaze.
“Grab the QuikClot from the kit, tear it open, and when I lift my hands up, you’re going to pack it into the wound as quickly as you can and apply pressure until the bleeding stops. Do not let up on that pressure until it stops.”
She tears open the package and I quickly move my hands away as she thrusts the dressing into the wound.
Jaxon grimaces through a low moan, his body barely having enough energy to express his discomfort. I’ve seen men teeter on this line between life and death. The slightest waver could tip him in either direction, but the moment the pain disappears you know it’s too late.
Emilia looks over at me as she applies pressure to the wound. “You have to go, Kayden. You need to find Dani.”
“I can’t leave you two.”
“You’ve done all you can with what we have. Whether he lives or dies at this point doesn’t matter if you don’t find her.”
“But that’s my brother, Em.”
“And if you don’t find her, this was all for nothing. His death. Will be. For nothing, Kayden.”
“Axel and Donovan will hopefully be here any minute. They have the same headsets as us, they just need to get in range to be able to use them,” I say as though trying to convince myself to get moving.
“I’ll be fine, Kayden. Go find your girl,” she replies, turning her attention back to Jax.
I look back at them, and my heart cracks at leaving my little brother behind. I know Emilia is right, though—this entire mission will have been for nothing if we don’t get Dani back and end Andrei once and for all. If we fail, Andrei will stop at nothing to hunt us all down.
And so I leave, pushing through the forest in hopes of finding any sign of Dani.
Andrei is going to wish he never set eyes on her.
But by the time I’m done with him, he won’t have any eyes left anyway.