18.
REDEK
Redek appeared in a corridor on Damien’s ship, pistols in his hands. It was too close to his previous rage to channel another one, so the bloodlust wasn’t there. He didn’t want the satisfaction of plunging a blade through flesh, he wanted the satisfaction of a quick and efficient death so he could get to Maddie faster.
He refused to accept that she might already be dead.
Maybe she’d already pressed the button on her bracelet and was safely back on the surface of Lyskar, out of sight and out of harm’s way.
The rest of his team appeared with him in the corridor, and he looked around. “Three that way, you with me.” He had no right to lead them, but he didn’t care. “Maddie is the priority. If you find her, press her button and get her out of here.”
They nodded and followed his instructions regardless of his lack of authority. He jogged down a corridor, opening every door he came across. There were cameras in the corridors, and he knew they’d have been spotted the minute they teleported in, but he didn’t care. He didn’t need a rage to kill.
Not when Maddie was in danger.
Splitting up might not have been the best option when they could be seen and followed, but it was too late for that now. They’d cover more ground this way.
When he turned a corner, he was met by a huddle of Damien’s guards running toward him. They were wearing the same uniform as the guards at his house, which meant they were highly trained by a rival company of Suytov Securities.
They didn’t have an inch on a motivated Suytovian, though, and Redek had deployed four shots from his pistol before they’d even blinked, downing the first two guards in the pack. In the narrow corridors they couldn’t all fire at once without shooting those in front of them, and it evened out the fight.
Redek’s team fired shots, too, and had taken out another two guards in no time. Redek took a shot to the shoulder, and along with the other wounds he’d sustained, it made him grunt in pain. Without his rage, each injury took more of a toll, though it was nothing major yet. He dove forward, close enough that their pistols would be useless, and pulled knives from his belt. His goal wasn’t to kill everyone in his path, though, he just wanted to get through to the other side to keep running and searching for Maddie. He managed it, and left his colleagues to fight Damien’s guards. It was enough of a threat that no one chased after him.
A shot was fired after him that went through his thigh, and he almost lost his footing and fell over, but barely caught himself.
That one hurt.
A lot.
He powered through, though, and kept going.
A few more empty rooms and changes of corridor later, and he came face to face with a set of important-looking double doors.
And two more guards standing in front of them.
This had to be Damien.
Whether Maddie was behind that door or not, he was going in there, and he was going to kill the man who had caused her so much pain.
But first he had to get through the guards. He recognized them from the compound: Sern and Gyl.
He’d turned the corner and come across them suddenly. They were too close for him to grab the pistols he’d put back in his holsters, so he went with the knives he already had in his hands and dove forward. Fighting two highly trained people at once wasn’t fun, especially not when he was already injured and they were untouched.
His skin was tinged pink, but he wasn’t recharged enough for a full rage.
He’d just have to give it his all.
Redek went for Gyl, who’d jumped a little when he came dashing around the corner. That probably meant he was newer to this than Sern, and more likely to make mistakes. He went straight for the neck, wanting a single blow kill if he could get it. An immediate evening of the playing field.
Gyl dodged, though, at the last second and escaped with just a superficial wound to the cheek.
And then it was on.
He ducked Sern’s knife to his throat and stabbed him in the side. It wasn’t going to do much damage, but it was enough to make him groan in pain.
Redek was trapped in the middle of them after his first attack, and he needed to get to one side so they couldn’t get away with simultaneous attacks as easily.
He was forced to roll to accomplish this, but when he came out of it he almost stumbled over from the sharp pain in his leg. His body had never been pushed this far before. He’d always easily out-skilled his opponents and come away mostly unscathed.
He’d given away his weakness now, too. Both guards looked at his leg and saw the wound.
He was going to have to make quick work of them, or he was a dead man.
And that meant taking a risk.
They’d seen his leg and that was their target now. Maybe he could use that.
He sent a low-powered attack toward Gyl and left his thigh completely open to an attack from Sern. For it to work it relied on him being faster than his opponent. In a normal fight he wouldn’t have doubted this. He’d be fully enraged and uninjured and there wouldn’t have even been a competition.
Now it felt like a tossup. He couldn’t see another way, though. At least, not in the few seconds he’d had to come up with a plan.
The first part worked at least. Redek was never expecting to hit the attack on Gyl, but he jumped backward and out of the way as intended. Equally, Sern went straight for his exposed leg like planned.
Redek pulled back instantly, bringing both of his knives in an arc to pierce Sern’s neck, which he’d left vulnerable in his excitement to stab Redek’s thigh.
He’d been right, though. He wasn’t fast enough.
He pulled off his attack, and Sern was dead, but Sern had landed his blow, too, and a knife protruded from the top of Redek’s thigh. He had to leave it in for fear of bleeding too much, but the pain was almost unbearable. He struggled to stay standing.
But this was where Gyl’s inexperience made the difference. He’d stopped to stare at his dead colleague for a few seconds too long, whereas Redek didn’t hesitate, even through the pain.
He rushed forward and delivered a hard blow to Gyl’s head with the butts of both his knives. He should have killed him. It would have been safer. He didn’t want to kill someone because they’d had too much emotion to not be affected by death, though.
With the threat gone, Redek took a moment to lean his forehead against the metal wall and take a deep breath. He needed a break. He wasn’t fit to fight anymore.
Then a gunshot sounded from inside the room he’d been battling to enter, and all tiredness went out of the window.