Chapter 25 Nocturne
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
nocturne
Graves's egomaniac voice screeches into my earpiece from the scanner Adam planted to enhance the conversation going on in the center of the woodland. I huff a laugh while grinding my jaw at his words. If he thinks of getting even the tip of his finger near her, I’ll cut off both his hands from the joint and hang them on my Christmas tree.
“You'll be the first to know. Now let’s get down to business, there’s much to discuss.
” Volokov’s isn't much better, causing me to crack my neck, I’ve heard it too much for one lifetime.
I like to think I'm more than just one of those 'touch her and die' guys.
I remember the name of anyone who's even glanced at her the wrong way.
And when the devil calls his favorite fiend home, I'll hunt them down in the afterlife and make sure their screams are so evocative, he’ll smile as he's lulled to sleep.
The things I'm going to do to these men would make my mother weep if she knew what I was capable of.
“In position.” My words feel like they've been laced with venom as I stare down these two pricks through the scope.
It'd be so easy to take the two of them out right now, but too lenient a death for either of them. I want to maim Graves, not kill him immediately. That process is going to be dragged out nice and slow. Besides, I can't risk Brodie. That’s not an option. Phantom’s a hundred yards up to my right, Blitz and Adam on the other side mirroring our position between the tree lines.
The grass is long and thick here, concealing us as we make our way closer to the clearing, having to crawl the rest of the way.
Lurking is my second favorite thing to do. The first is Brodie.
“We're in position.” Blitz crackles over the earpiece, my grip readjusts on my M4A1 SOPMOD, waiting for Volokov’s signal.
The two of them are arguing like a pair of old bitter women, like one of them has forgotten to bring the good dabbers to the bingo hall.
Well, it’s mostly Graves. Volokov seems bored stiff with the exchange, likely waiting for the main event to provide entertainment.
Phantom signals to me, leaning down behind a tree as he speaks.
“Graves is alone.” My pulse skitters, but I squeeze it back under control.
“Keep looking.” I say. He'll have something up his sleeve, and we need to be prepared for all possibilities.
Volokov treads gruffly back and forward, whilst Graves throws his arms in the air.
The color of his face gives away the reading of his blood pressure.
How the fuck did he ever make Commander if he's this hysterical at his first hurdle.
I can't wait to see the light leave his eyes.
Blitz whispers down the comms. “Secondary target on the move.”
My scope shifts to Volokov, who is leaning on the hood of the car.
The bastard’s toying with us. He likes to play games.
He doesn’t know I play them better. I adjust my hold on the gun, pressing the buttstock against my shoulder to better control the weapon sway.
I brace for the moment as he reaches an arm out to the back for the hood, but Adam’s voice barrels down the comms. “Shit, someone’s got Blitz. ”
A split second later, she’s dragged from the tree line towards the vehicles by someone I don't recognize, but who has their matching tactical gear on. “Who the fuck is that?” I growl, rising to my knees and crouching behind a tree, I glance at Phantom who’s followed my lead.
“It’s fucking Gunner, he's in 656.” Goddammit!
“How many in that unit?” I ask. Hawk said they had the shoot to kill order, the place could be crawling with them.
“Three in total.” I grind my teeth. “Phantom scan the area, raise the alert if you detect heat.” I watch him slink away into the deeper greenery, then I turn to keep an eye on the scene unfolding in front of me.
Blitz is being directed between the two vehicles, hands on her head as this Gunner has a barrel pressed to her skull.
Phantom speaks through my ear, “Clear, Noc. It’s just him.
” Good. Blitz wrestles in his hold and he rams her to her knees, kicking his foot into her back and then yanking her back up, hand now fisted in her hair.
“We can't engage yet, we need to distract Gunner enough to get him to draw his weapon away from Blitz. As soon as he does, I'll take him down,” I instruct the guys, then Adam’s voice filters through.
“On my signal, shoot him.” Moments later, a loud twarp like the snap of a large branch echoes through the trees.
Gunner swings around with his gun aimed behind to take a shot at the unknown.
I use the distraction to fire, sending a bullet punching into his temple.
Blood splattering on the convoy window. He's down – and then chaos ensues.
Graves yanks his pistol free, forcing Volokov to duck around the front of the car.
He pivots, firing at one of the guards drawing his own weapon.
He backs into the convoy, just as another shot cracks in the distance.
Adam and Phantom are taking down some guards from the second vehicle.
Fuck. Graves has backed up into the convoy, emptying his chamber at Volokov’s jeep before throwing the gun and slamming his foot on the gas.
Volokov’s going to take Brodie. My boots hammer against the ground as I aimlessly fire at Graves's tires, but the convoy is reinforced and the bullets don’t make a mark.
Volokov scrambles to his Jeep, hitting the gas as he flies out of the clearing, the rest of his guards swarming in to engage in the shoot out with Adam and Phantom.
One guard has abandoned the rest of them, taking the second Jeep to screech up wide alongside Volokov’s, protecting him from my shots.
I hit his fuel tank in rapid succession, a bullet punches through the mental causing sparks before a violent whoomph splits the night.
Heat slams into my skin, followed by a waft of acidic, burning fuel.
But Volokov doesn’t falter, and the red beacons of his brake lights blend more into the darkened tree line the further away they go.
My soul feels like it’s being dragged along with it.
Fear has pierced through, and it's scrambling to get me in a tight chokehold. “I’m getting the cruiser.” I yell through the headpiece.
Slinging my gun behind me, I run like hell’s fire is trying to engulf me.
Feet bounding through the trees, branches and leaves whipping and tearing at my clothes, I crash through the forest. It feels like years by the time I reach the car, throwing myself in and grabbing Adam’s laptop to open her tracker.
It’s still on. I hit the ignition, sending the car hurling out of the camouflaged area towards the team.
I’m not stupid enough to think I can do this on my own. I need them.
By the time I reach the clearing, it’s settled into darkness, all but a raging amber glow pulsing over the guys like a slowing heartbeat, and my blood turns to ice when I see the scene.
I slam the cruiser into park and edge out.
Phantom is on the phone, free hand dragging through his hair with a pained expression.
Adam’s holding a barely alive Blitz. His hands are soaked in her blood as he compresses her wounds.
She’s taken a number of bullets to the thigh, and with the way the blood soaks the ground beneath her, I'd say at least one of them hit her femoral artery. She’ll bleed out by the time we get her medical.
Adam positions her leg, trying to slow the flow above her heart.
“You're gonna be fine, Blitz, Hawk is on the way.” His voice sounds steady, but I don't need to look at his face to know that he's trying to convince himself more than anyone to believe that.
I lean down to her eye level, she’s fighting to cling to life, while the wound and blood flowing from her slowly drags the last remaining minutes from her.
I have her to thank for Brodie coming to me and admitting her trust. The moment I walked inside this morning, I caught eyes with Blitz.
She merely shoved a handful of the contents in her bowl into her mouth, a shit eating grin wide on her face as she mumbled 'Thank me later.’
“He's twenty minutes out.” Phantom crashes down beside us as he takes her hand, her stained and ashen skin a stark contrast to the life that remains in his.
“Noc?” Her weakening eyes find mine, her voice is slow and shallow, “Don't… let him take her.” Resolve is carved into every fading word, and another promise is bestowed upon me on the last breath of a woman marked for death.
A part of me, the last fraction of me that holds on to the only remaining bit of empathy left, wants to tell her she'll make it.
That there's no need for such words. But I can't. I've seen this scene play out far more times than one human should. I think about the General, and how I was also too late when I found her, and her last plea to me to protect her daughter, and how I failed them both. So, instead, I clock Blitz with steady eye contact. “I won’t... And thanks.” A weak smile spreads over her face in understanding, eyes shutting briefly as a lone tear rolls down her cheek.
Phantom clutches her blood-stained hands, her head resting in his lap whilst Adam continues to pressurize the wound.
Her voice is fainter now, barely above a whisper.
“Take me back… to the safehouse… the woods. Don’t…
leave me here.” Adam fists his grip in the fabric as he looks at her, knuckles white knowing the battle is lost. Phantom gently pulls her up until she's resting her against his front, wrapping his arms like a shield around her from the inevitable.
Adam clutches her other hand as he brings his forehead to hers, a quiet plea, and a silent farewell.
I stand the moment I hear the guttering sound of her last breath, feet dragging me away to stare at the narrow road, swallowed by the endless looming trees.
They warn you not to get attached in this line of work, to form bonds with people, a fragile life that can be so easily taken. I followed that rule, lived by it.
Until Brodie.
I loved her. I made her my biggest weakness and my greatest strength.
And that terrifies the hell out of me.