Chapter 25 #2
When I came up on them, I spotted Jacob holding Sloane by the arm, trying to drag her away.
Ethan was yelling frantically. He knew just how fucked they were.
Not only was their village gone—most of his people slaughtered or had willingly left him—but I had all his fucking money.
He had nothing left. Nothing except the only thing in this world that mattered to me.
That was all I was able to see before I rocketed into the air and tackled Jacob like a human missile.
We landed in a mess of tumbling limbs, rolling over our rifles, rocks and cactus.
I was poked, stabbed and hit by so many things I couldn’t tell where on my body I was hurting.
Everywhere would suffice for now. My move had tossed Sloane away from us and to the ground herself, but at least she was out of Jacob’s hands.
There was shouting and pleading coming from Ethan.
It was all indistinguishable. I was a little busy trading blows with Jacob to focus on much else.
I had to even the odds before I faced Ethan.
Then I was going to prove that the Earth God was nothing but a fucking liar and a scam artist, even if only to myself and Sloane since no one else was around to see him die.
Jacob was every bit the walking mountain that Bruce had been.
He relied on his size and strength, but he had no underlying skill.
He simply leaned into his strength to make up for it.
He’d intimidated the people of The Order with his size and his scowl.
They’d all been terrified of him, but the only people he’d hurt and killed had mostly been willing to go to their own deaths.
It made for an easy murder when your victim was halfway accepting of it.
Jacob expected to be fighting Brother Derek.
It was there in his eyes, triumph. He still believed that I was the useless computer nerd who he’d picked up on that first day and brought out here.
Idiot. He was about to find out differently.
Not only was I trained for this, but I wrestled with men his size on an almost nightly basis.
My brothers were just as big, and had actual technique.
He stood no chance against me even though he had a few inches and about twenty pounds on me in size.
We rolled across the sage brush, stopping with me on my back. A rock stabbed into my shoulder blade while Jacob leaned back, fists locked together and raised over his head. He was going to bring them down onto my face.
I bucked at the hips, causing him to lose balance and fall forward.
I drove my fist straight into his throat, crushing his trachea.
He rolled to the side, grasping his neck, desperately trying to choke out a breath.
I twisted and wrapped my right arm around his neck, left arm bracing the back of his head.
A gunshot rang through the air. Fear locked my breath in my chest. I looked up at Ethan, he was holding a pistol pointed to the sky.
He held Sloane in his other hand. Relief that he hadn’t shot her was the only thing I had a chance to feel before I shoved it down.
Emotions in battle got people killed. Before he could say anything I stood, and with a twist of my arms broke Jacob’s neck.
I let the body fall limp and lifeless at my feet as I faced Ethan.
He stared back at me, his face fully deranged now. Killing Jacob certainly didn’t help his state, but I couldn’t deal with both of them. My brothers would have heard the gunshot; they’d be on their way.
That was little comfort as right now was the most dangerous moment for Sloane and they weren’t going to make it in time.
Ethan was alone. His backup was dead. It was just him, Sloane, and I.
He could do anything. It was up to me to keep Sloane alive.
I was willing to lay down my life to make sure of it.
Ethan looked at Jacobs' body, then looked back to his village as it burned. He was realizing what I already knew. It was over. There was nothing left for him. His eyes darkened with malice. That was why he was so dangerous at this moment. There was nothing left for him to live for. He could easily decide to kill Sloane, just for the hell of it. Just to hurt me, the man who’d brought down his entire operation.
To hurt her, the thorn in his side for so many years.
“Let her go Ethan, you have nowhere left to go.”
“Nowhere to go? I am your God! You do not order me!” He shook Sloane’s arm, causing her to stumble slightly. “Betrayed by my own daughter! This will not stand! The earth shall be soaked with the blood of the betrayers!”
Daughter? That hit me like a sledgehammer. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
Ethan kept ranting. “This is your fault Brother Derek! You were tasked with keeping her in line. You were supposed to put an end to her blasphemes and her free spirit. This is on you Derek. Your failures brought this on!”
Sloane’s his daughter. So many things clicked into place, but I forced them all aside.
It was a lot to take in. Why hadn’t she told me before?
You know why. She hates Ethan. Probably didn’t want me to be disappointed that she was related to him.
As if I could ever be disappointed in her.
I shoved that aside, too. There wasn’t time to examine how I was feeling about that bit of news.
All that mattered was disarming him. If he thought there was no way out, he would kill her. In that moment I knew it didn’t matter who her father was. I loved her and no one was going to ever hurt her again.
My gaze met Sloane’s and I saw the apology there in her beautiful blue eyes.
The same eyes her father had. How had I never noticed?
Maybe on some deeper level I always knew.
Why else would Ethan have kept her around despite the trouble she’d caused?
I doubted it was because he loved her. It was more likely that she’d grown up with most of the people in The Order and the women wouldn’t have taken her murder as easily as they had others.
There was no way for me to relay to her that she had nothing to apologize for.
It wasn’t her fault that her father was a raving lunatic.
She’d done everything in her power to atone for his sins over the years.
She never should have had to take that burden on, yet she had.
If anything, the truth only made me more proud of her.
Few people would have fought back the way she had.
Few had. She’d been the only one to stand up for the innocents. Now she had me to stand for her.
I just had to figure out how to get her away from him.
Ethan was holding the gun, but it was pointed down toward the ground as he spewed nonsense about being the Earth God.
The guy really did believe his own bullshit.
It was amazing to witness. Somehow he’d bought into his own lies and thought he was some divine power.
A small movement caught my eye. Sloane shifted her body slowly toward Ethan. My brows drew low and I scowled at her. I gave her a slow shake of my head. Every movement we made was deliberate and slow, so as not to catch Ethan’s attention.
Before I could do anything to stop her, I watched as Sloane took her shot.
I couldn’t allow my worry for her to paralyze me.
My muscles bunched, preparing to take advantage of the opportunity she was about to give me.
I’d give anything for there to be another way, but my wife wasn’t a wilting flower.
She wasn’t about to stand by and do nothing while her father killed us.
Just like she hadn’t stood by and allowed them to take four young girls as hostages.
She’d been more useful to him against me, and she knew it, so without hesitation she’d traded herself.
She knew full well that he could kill her at any time. And still she’d done the right thing.
There was no way for me to explain the pride and love I had for her right now. All I could do was wait, and watch, as she swung her leg back, then kicked forward with all her might. She aimed for the backs of Ethan’s knees, crumpling them forward when her shin landed against them.
Lunging forward, I hit him on the way down, sending us both sprawling into the dirt. I had lost my rifle in the fight with Jacob. All I could do now was wait for an opening. Besides, I didn’t want his death to be that easy. I wanted to look into his eyes as the life drained out of them.