Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
They know my name. My skin prickles as Ellie and Todd flash into my mind. “How touching,” I bite out coldly.
Nyx stalks up to my side, his tension filling the atmosphere of the basement. The nine men collectively rise to their feet at his entrance, heads turning back and forth from my partner and to me and Maxim.
Maxim’s sly smile falters. Barely. “And the reaper.” He eyes Nyx, shifting slightly behind the table.
I stifle a laugh at the scene. “You know, I pictured something a little less disappointing.” The underground basement does indeed have an opening to a tunnel, and judging by the barks echoing off the walls, the wolves can’t be far.
“Brave to lock yourselves down here with a pack of wolves,” Nyx calls out to Maxim.
Maxim’s eyes wander up and down our bodies, studying our weapons. He nods sharply to Nyx. “Are you referring to our precious cargo or yourselves, Reaper?”
His icy gaze returns to me. I hold it, careful not to break eye contact with him as I move down the steps. “That wouldn’t be a question, Maxim, if this wasn’t your first encounter with us. In fact, we wouldn’t be standing here if it was.”
He tracks each of my movements, wetting his lips as I reach the last step. A deep growl rumbles through Nyx’s chest behind me.
“Doesn’t have to be the first to know plenty about you, dear girl, yes… my men have been eager to pass along your information from the cells you put them in.”
I boredly look over the sleeping guard, kicking him a little with the tip of my boot to ensure that he’s not playing possum.
No, the guard still lies knocked out cold, blood dripping from his nose into the orange dirt.
I balance a foot onto the man’s back, stretching my arms upward and placing them on my knee to balance myself.
“Well, there won’t be need for that much longer; you can pass your little love letters when you’re finally roomies. ”
“Florence,” Nyx warns taking a step down, but my eyes are still locked on Maxim’s even as Nyx’s boots descend the steps behind me.
I push roughly off the man, approaching the table, leaving Nyx at the bottom.
My hands subtly twitch at my side as the adrenaline soars through me, readying me to attack.
I pluck a card from the closest deck, twining it through my fingers. I scan for any visible weapons among the men, matching names to faces from the binder. “We have eyes on you now, Florence; the wolves are locked in the tunnel,” Nina’s voice whispers into my ear.
“Florence what are you doing?” Jasper’s voice cracks with demand. I cringe, realizing the team can hear every word.
Nina speaks again. “There’s fifteen at the table, four with the wolves. Few patrols in the tunnel. No report from Greer outside, but Clay is taken care of.”
Maxim leans forward, drumming his fingers along the table as he studies me.
“I said this was my first encounter with you, Florence, and I intend for it to be the last.” As the word leaves his mouth, my hand darts to the dagger at my thigh.
I hurl it through the air, the blade splintering between his knuckles, pinning his hand to the table.
But Maxim doesn’t falter; he reaches for his holster, drawing his pistol and aiming directly for my chest.
I suck in a sharp breath, bracing for the impact.
A ringing blasts through the air but it isn’t my chest that absorbs the impact.
Pain erupts in my head as I’m tackled to ground with a painful thud, Jasper’s eyes bulge with horror over me, searching for any bullet entrances as he shields me with his body.
But it wasn’t Maxim’s bullet that silenced the tunnel.
The icy-haired man drops from the table, his gun slamming onto the surface along with the splatter of his blood and flesh from his lifted hand as the knife still pins the other, ripping through the tender flesh as he goes down, roaring in agony.
Vincent shrieks, scrambling to his father’s side as the men around us erupt into chaos. Maxim lifts his mangled hand in the direction of the tunnel. “Get the wolves!”
Scrambling underneath a frozen Jasper, I manage to wiggle my knees up to my chest, pushing up with desperate force to roll him underneath the table for cover.
A large boot flashes into view aiming for my face.
I yelp as another attacker grabs my vest, dragging me backward through the dirt.
I fade in and out of consciousness as I struggle to keep my reality in check, adrenaline and rage chomping at the bit to be released within.
I fumble with the knives at my rib cage, twisting in the man’s grasp and plunge them into his thighs.
Jasper emerges from underneath the table, his blades cast low, ready to strike at the incoming men rushing at us.
A second man lunges for my feet, pulling me back down through the dust beneath him, and pins me between his knees, cursing me as he wrestles to gain control of my wrists.
I snarl at him, spewing my own venom as I slam my forehead against his nose.
Bone cracks. The man slumps over me. My head burns with the force, but the fire within me quickly masks it as I shove him off into the dirt.
Behind me, four bodies litter the ground in a trail of destruction. Like a thief in the night Nyx has vanished, no doubt gunning for the men attempting to steal the wolves. I tap my earpiece as I crouch for the next brave victim approaching. “Nina?”
To my right, Jasper has reached a flow state, each move as natural as his next breath taking on the four circling him. The rugged men pant, crimson soaking all areas of their clothing. Not a slash on Jasper as he dances in a tease.
Static jolts through the line. “—way!”
Another member circles me like a wall with legs, boots kicking up dust. His massive shoulders sit wide as his broad chest heaves with fury.
His hair is cut brutally short, and the scar splitting his brow tightens as he snarls at me, cursing in Russian.
I don’t need to understand the words to know the tone.
Done waiting for the new attacker to strike, I twist, throwing all my weight into it as I drive my elbow hard into his chest. I duck under his right hook, slipping a dagger into his calf and yank it downward.
His flesh splits open as I spin back around, but it barely fazes him.
I smirk anyway, despite the copper trickling into my mouth painting my teeth savagely. He growls, lunging for me, but Maxim underestimated the cons of keeping hefty men, his weight slows him and I dodge the blow clean.
The B.A.I.T member whirls and lashes back out for me.
This time, I lunge into it. My feet fly from the ground as I collide with him and fist his collar for grip.
The man grabs the fabric of my vest as we both launch into a whirlwind of fists.
I can’t feel a thing. Almost as if he can sense that he stops punching and shoves his hands into my vest, pushing me backwards against a steel beam.
Dirt falls from the ceiling over us as I slam into it, my head bouncing forward.
He hauls back a tight fist and decks me dead in the jaw, snapping my head to the side.
I laugh as I face him again. Then spit in his face.
“That’s it?” My voice startles him as he gags, and the hesitation gives me just enough of an opening.
I rely on his handle on my vest, pushing off the ground and planting my feet backwards against the beam.
I roar in his face as I launch us off the steel.
His grip slips as his balance breaks. I climb him like a ladder, planting a boot against his hip and hauling myself up his torso.
My legs snap around his neck. Before he can react, I twist my body with every ounce of momentum I have, releasing just as his feet leave the ground and his skull slams face-first into the dirt with a sickening crack.
I land on all fours before rising again and spit my blood onto the dirt at his feet, taunting him to try again. The B.A.I.T member groans, stumbling to his feet. This time he pulls his gun, clearly done with our dance.
“Enough!” he roars, squinting to take aim at me. I rush him with all my might, zig zagging and swinging wildly to throw him off his balance.
We collide, his shot screaming past my ear as we tumble to the tunnel floor.
More debris falls to the ground from above.
Our arms tangle as we fight for leverage.
The gun. The gun. The gun. It takes both my hands to pin his arm down as the man bucks violently beneath me, jabbing his fist to any open piece of fabric on me he can find.
The blanket of fire coursing through me prevents me from feeling the blows, but I know I will in the morning.
Fighting to hold him steady, I knee him hard in the face over and over, hoping to knock him out.
“Go to sleep you son of a—” But his skull seems to get thicker each time.
I know he’ll reach for one of my weapons if I hesitate.
So, I do the first thing that comes to my mind: I bite down on his thumb, hard.
Bone snaps and blood pours rapidly into my mouth, as the man screams, finally releasing it.
I spit the ruined digit into the dirt and reach for the pistol as his fist pounds into my hip.
I hiss, trapping his head between my knees and bring the hilt down hard against his skull. Once. Twice. He goes slack.
My lungs burn as I shakily stand, dirt and blood caking my face and suit. I look down. Oh. My own gun still rests heavy in its holster.
“You know most people use therapy.” I whirl around to Nina sheathing her own weapons back into place, counting the bodies on the ground. “You good?” she asks.
I nod, catching my breath.
“Good. Because these men absolutely are not,” she pauses, wincing at the detached thumb in the dirt. “Nyx is already at the wolves. Go, I’ve got this.”
I scan her briefly for injuries. Clear. “Zip tie them all and start calling it in.” I jerk my head to Jasper, who’s piling moaning bodies alongside the wall. “I’m going after the rest.”
Cici’s voice breaks into my ear. “Go down the tunnel and take the second right. Hurry.”
I sprint into the dark hollowness awaiting, my boots slapping against the wet concrete. Barks and shouts echo around me. “Nyx, do you copy?”
My blood pumps as I race through the dampness.
Bodies lie limp off to the sides from Nina and Jasper.
That’s my Greyline. The air is cold and stale, each breath burning through me as it drags through my chest. Overhead, lights flicker in uneven intervals, throwing the tunnel into pulses of shadow.
The walls bend inward, brick slick with moisture, narrowing my vision to the endless path ahead.
Static erupts for a beat, then nothing. There’s no connection this deep.
No Nyx in sight. We’re after the same thing; if I can get to the wolves I can get to him.
My head pounds as I push my legs to stretch farther.
Ahead, a narrow break yawns on the right, barely more than a shadow folded into the wall.
I almost blow past it, and my feet tumble for traction as I throw myself into it.
Voices echo ahead. I crouch low, filtering myself into the shadow.
The opening is coming into view as I inch closer, men running frantically, waving their guns and papers in frustration with the rush.
I pull to a stop, listening for any sign of my partner.
But a calloused hand stealthily slips around my mouth pulling me against a padded chest. My hand flies to my belt for a blade but the man’s hand is already waiting, catching my wrist. “It’s me. ” Nyx whispers roughly.
He releases me, only dim light from their quarry’s lamps revealing us to each other. The glow also reveals the wolves as they pace behind steel bars, matching the energy of their surroundings.
“There’s an outlet in the cage; they’ll push them up the ramp onto the trucks,” Nyx breathes.
I shake my head, beginning to surge forward. “The brakes are cut; we can’t let them get that far.”
Nyx reaches for my belt, yanking me firmly backward.
“I know that, Florence. Let’s just think for a minute.
” He silently points to a man in the corner.
The lean man holds out a grenade flat in his palm, looking carefully to each entrance.
“He’s been instructed to pull the pin if the Greyline leads attack. ”
The wolves’ ears prick up, sensing our presence.
Whimpers spread throughout the pack, causing what looks to be one of the truck drivers to bang the bars with his baton.
“Tishina!” A dark, massive wolf lunges forward, snarling, with hackles raised at the threat.
“Glu-piy pyos!” He spits down at the wolf’s paws, but the large animal doesn’t flinch, his growls only growing deeper, rumbling against the walls.
I tug on Nyx’s vest desperately, searching his face as I plead. “Okay. Okay. I see that. But we have to do something, Nyx, it has to be now.”
I shrug him off and spring forward to the opening. I raise my hands, interlocking my fingers behind my head. Using my thumb, I tap the earpiece, “Trust me, Nyx, go to the trucks.”
I release a low whistle to gain their attention, and the men instantly snap up, drawing their guns as they exchange shouts of orders. The man in the corner grips the grenade, looking for a command. I dislodge my weapons, dropping them into the mud. “No need for that! I surrender!”
A hulking man approaches, pressing the barrel of his Glock to my temple. “Preklonit’ koleni” Kneel.
Obeying, I carefully drop my knees into the mud, keeping my hands in place. I can’t translate everything they’re discussing but it’s clear that their question is what to do with me.
The gnarly man shoves me forward, forcing my hands to splatter into the mud. One of the drivers fumbles with the keys in his pocket as he stutters. “H-he wants you t-to go in the cage.”
The driver nervously unlocks the gate as his partner swings wildly at the pacing wolves. Well shit. That was not what I had planned in my head. I peer up at the giant man. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He grunts, kicking mud onto me to usher me forward. Well. I guess this is an ironic way to go. I crawl forward at a measured pace, my hands and knees sliding in my muck.
The wolves eye me warily, slow growls filling the space. My stomach aches at the thought of Ellie and Todd as I inch closer. Pain explodes in my spine as I’m suddenly slammed forward. The driver shuts the gate, sending me in on a silver platter.