Chapter 36 Reaper
Reaper
The old slaughterhouse breathed heat and smoke through cracked vents. We crouched behind rotted pallets, the generator hum echoing off the concrete walls.
Five minutes inside the fence and no alarms. So far, so good.
Rox moved ahead like a ghost. Riot crouched beside me, blade ready, Keno’s finger tight on his trigger.
We slipped through a side door. Rox checked the hallway and waved us in. The hall reeked of damp.
As two guards wandered past, Keno stepped out, and with two quick coughs from the suppressor, they dropped. We dragged them into a locker and left them with the bones.
“Stairs or chute?” Rox asked.
“Stairs.”
“Too noisy. Chute.”
“I’m not risking her life,” I snapped.
He gave a faint nod of approval.
Footsteps. Finn appeared, pale, sweating. “North fence is blown. You’re on a clock.”
“Shit, let’s move.”
“I’m coming with you,” Finn said.
I didn’t have time for arguments. “You slip,” I told him, “you don’t just die, you take her with you.”
He nodded. “I came to matter.”
We took the chute, steel slick with age, dropping us into a basement lit by a single bulb. Concrete walls, hook tracks above, and ahead: a steel door.
Link signalled. One inside. No camera.
“Can’t keep her here forever,” Bishop muttered.
Lucy’s voice answered, steady, angry. Unbroken. “You really think Jay’s going to let this happen?”
Gage laughed. “He’ll come. That’s what we want.”
That was it. Enough. No more waiting.
Rox nodded. Riot braced. Link covered the hall. Finn’s pistol trembled, but his eyes were locked forward.
I slammed the door in with my shoulder. Steel screamed. Gage flinched too slow. My pistol levelled on him before he could blink.
“You were right,” I said, my body shaking with fury. “I did come.”
Bishop’s eyes widened. Then he bolted, ducking behind pillars making it impossible for me to get a shot off. Coward.
And there she was. Lucy, chained but upright. Bruised and bloodied, but fire still burning in her eyes.
Her eyes locked onto me, relief and disbelief warring on her face.
Gage lunged from the corner. Finn stepped in front, gun raised, one shot, dead centre. The man dropped like stone.
Riot gave a low whistle. “Prospect’s got timing.”
I didn’t take my eyes off Finn. “Good shot. Don’t let it go to your head.”
Then I was at her side, breaking the chain lock with the butt of my pistol. She collapsed into me, fists gripping my kutte like a lifeline, laughing and crying all at once.
Gunfire rattled above, chaos spreading through the compound. The Fangs were trying to hold. Keno and Riot peeled off.
Rox appeared at my side. “We move, now.”
I looked at Lucy again, too pale, with finger-shaped bruises marring her skin.
My vision tunnelled and a rage I’d never known before burned through me.
“Take her,” I snarled, shoving Lucy into Rox’s arms. “Don’t let go.”
“Reaper, she’s safe. Let’s go.”
“Jay,” she cried, reaching for me.
Too late.
The door at the far end of the hall banged open. Bishop stumbled through, gun raised, two Fangs at his back.
Perfect.
I didn’t raise my weapon, I wanted it.
The first Fang aimed. I drove my fist into his throat, bone crunching under my knuckles. He gagged, staggered, and I slammed his skull against the wall again and again until the sound turned wet.
The second fired. The bullet scorched across my shoulder. I roared, ripped the rifle from his hands, and used it like a club, the butt cracking across his cheek until his jaw split and blood sprayed hot across my skin.
Bishop’s face drained of colour. His gun wavered.
“You should’ve run faster,” I grinned, taking a step towards him.
He bolted and crashed back through the door, more of his men dragging him up the stairs while his curses echoed down the hall.
I followed, blind with rage, until Lucy’s voice broke through the haze.
“Jay.”
My steps froze mid-stride, and I turned.
Lucy clung to Rox’s side, bloodied and battered, but her eyes were locked on me like I was the one she was afraid of.
For a heartbeat, the whole world tilted.
And I finally stopped.