Chapter 26
The ink isn’t even dry when an explosion rocks the building. Alarms blare, echoing throughout the room. Riley and Mikey are on their feet at once, throwing on their gear and checking their weapons.
Liz jumps and sprints to her room, searching for her shoes. As she’s bouncing on one foot, fighting to put on her second sneaker, Riley strides in, wearing the full suit of gear she first saw him in.
“Stay put,” he says, before quickly walking back out.
Liz chases after him, seeing Mikey waiting by the door, also in full gear, gun slung across his chest. “You can’t just leave me here,” Liz screeches, determined to go with the men and help anyway she can.
“You’re not going out there. We have no idea what we’re dealing with.”
She just looks at them, big green eyes shimmering with freshly formed tears.
She gives them a small nod and starts to take a few steps back.
They open the door and storm out into the stampede of soldiers.
Before the door can close, Riley turns and sprints back in, pulling the large knife from the holster on his back and hands it to her.
He disappears back out the door, Liz watching until it’s fully closed.
Keeping a tight grip on the knife, she walks into her room, trying to dress as close to what she sees Riley wear as she can.
She goes with her tight black jeans and combat boots, paired with a long-sleeved black shirt.
She sprints to Riley’s room, searching for anything to help, hoping he won’t get mad she’s invading his privacy.
Liz finds an armored vest tucked into his closet and she slings it over her body, groaning in frustration when it’s too big.
She marches back to the living room, sitting on the couch, and prays her guys will be okay.
Riley and Mikey take off down the hall, hoping to make it to the central command center before all hell breaks loose.
They navigate the hallways with ease and make it to the main door without much trouble, stopping to shout orders to the scrambling soldiers along the way.
The second they step outside, it’s chaos.
Riley ducks behind the housing unit sign, only exposing himself enough to fire his weapon at the enemy men taking over the courtyard.
“Reaper!” Mikey shouts over the gunshots surrounding them. He ducks behind the sign next to Riley, taking turns firing at their attackers, slowly clearing the courtyard. Riley leans over, a bullet whizzing by his head. He fires again and sees the body fall to the ground.
“Commands not going to tell me shit. I’ll keep pushing them back, you go find out what the fuck is happening,” Mikey says, popping up and firing another round at a man who runs toward them.
Riley simply nods, looking for cover to get closer to the command building.
Riley moves slowly, sticking to the shadows as much as he can while debris rains down all around him.
Mikey makes sure the small team of men keep the enemy busy to allow Riley to slip away, working in the shadows he prefers.
Riley crouches in the grass, hidden behind a small bush, and fires his gun at an enemy soldier, blood and brain matter spraying the door he was trying to enter. The man drops and Riley rushes over, kicking his corpse out of the way. He punches in his code and storms into the building.
He takes a quick look around, the glass-walled conference rooms filled with people hiding from the slaughter happening outside.
It doesn’t take long to spot the man he’s looking for, barking orders, basking in being in charge.
Riley pushes through the horde of people scrambling to get the base back under control.
He pounds on the glass to get his attention.
The general stands, anger twisting his face, and storms to the door, holding it open for Riley to enter. General Scott looks around for someone who isn’t there, before turning on Riley. “Where the hell is she?” he yells.
Riley pales, stomach in knots at the mention of Liz, wondering why the general would ask about her.
“She’s safe. What the fuck is going on, General?” Riley barks, monitoring the cameras covering the fight erupting on the base. He spots Mikey, ducked behind a car, pushing his men to the massive hole blasted in the western wall.
“Dmitri,” the General says, turning his attention to the wall of screens. “They are here for her. We need to hand her over and end this, Corson.”
Riley fights every urge in his body to end the general’s life for even considering handing Liz back over to the man who tortured her.
His eyes flick to the screens, making sure Mikey is okay before searching for the housing unit, checking to see if men are advancing on it.
Seeing what he is looking at, the general grows angry.
“This is exactly what she wanted! Dmitri wouldn’t send his men to retrieve her if she wasn’t working with him,” the general says.
“She signed! Liz is one of us now and you’re a fucking idiot if you still believe that she has anything to do with Komarov,” Riley growls.
“I’ve let you have your fun with her, Corson! I allowed you to use her for whatever you wanted but she was never supposed to sign those papers!. I thought you would get tired of her and give her to my men, not become infatuated with the bitch,” he shouts, trying to hide the tremble in his voice.
Riley doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t give the general time to react, before his hand is firmly wrapped around the man’s throat, slamming him against the glass wall. Riley stares into his eyes, slowly tightening his grip. The general’s face grows red as he gasps for air.
“You can act strong in front of everyone here, but we all know you didn’t let me do anything, you’re not really in charge, I just allow it. You and I both know what would happen to you if you tried to keep her from me.”
Riley isn’t someone anyone would want to go against on a good day, but when it comes to Liz and her safety; he becomes infinitely more dangerous. The general just stares, pure, unfiltered terror in his eyes.
“He has… a missile… aimed here. Thousands will… die,” the general sputters, fighting to get air into his lungs.
“Then call for a fucking evacuation, General. What do you think he’s going to do when he has her back, huh?
You think the leader of a fucking terrorist organization is just going to take her, pull his men, and be on his merry fucking way?
That missile is coming for us whether he has her or not,” he screams at the man in his grasp, drawing the attention of everyone outside their glass box.
Riley loosens his grip, letting the man drop to the floor still gasping for air. Riley takes a step back, needing to put distance between them before he does something he may regret.
“If you won’t hand her over, I will do it myself, Commander,” the general snaps, rubbing at his neck.
The words are barely out of his mouth when Riley turns on his heels, slamming his fist into the general’s face, blood pouring from his shattered nose. The command room goes silent, all eyes on them, terrified of what Reaper will do next.
“Call for the fucking evacuation,” Riley says loud enough for everyone to hear. His caramel eyes are filled with nothing but loathing as he stares down into the general.
He turns his head and gives a slight nod to someone Riley can’t see.
Suddenly, the room shakes with the booming sound of a siren.
Riley turns, storming out of the room, needing to protect Liz more than his need to end his commanding officer.
As he’s storming his way back out of the building, he gets on his radio, trying to reach Mikey.
“Tank, you have ten minutes to get as many people out as you can, if they can’t leave, direct them to the bomb shelters. When that ten minutes is up, you get as far from this fuckin place as possible!” Riley shouts into his radio as he sprints across the courtyard.
People everywhere are scrambling to get somewhere safe. Everything seems to slow when an announcement sounds over the missile alarm.
“Ballistic missile inbound, fifteen minutes to impact. Seek immediate shelter.”
Liz paces the room, filled with dread, when she hears a siren blare.
Her heart drops from the sudden change. This isn’t the same one that has been a constant ringing since the attack started.
Mikey and Riley are out there somewhere, and she has no way of knowing if they are okay or not.
A sharp knock on the door stops her in her tracks.
She cautiously tiptoes to the door, heart racing, a thousand thoughts crossing her mind and not a single one good.
She thinks back to what Mikey told her about how he and Riley are the only two with access to the room.
If someone is knocking, it’s not someone she wants to be dealing with.
The person on the other side knocks again, louder this time.
“Open up,” a familiar Russian voice commands.
Her blood runs cold. Liz backs away from the door, stumbling over her own feet, keeping the knife clutched close. Everything goes fuzzy, her head spinning when the knocking turns into pounding.
“Time to come home, pet,” another voice yells from beyond the door.
The door begins to shake, deafening bangs filling the small space. She knows the men on the other side are going to break it down and take her back to Dmitri.
Liz forces herself to take a deep breath before running through the rooms, trying to find anything other than her knife to fight them off.
She reaches under the couch for Riley’s gun safe, telling herself if all else fails, she can end her life before they get their hands on her.
She screams in frustration, feeling nothing but dust. She should have known he would take the gun after what she did.