It’s been two days since I beat up Brandon and told Everly that I love her. In those two days, I’ve made a concerted effort to get myself off my fucking pussy ass and back to walking without the aid of my crutch. I’ve done well. So well in fact, that Kace has let me come on this little mission with the Seven today. We’re here to be backup for the Nine if shit goes south. Kace isn’t expecting it to, but he’s said that if the intel is correct, then Kenzi, Rix, and Gibbs will all be here, and we might have a chance at getting Kenzi back.
I’m glad he’s including me in this. I’m probably not fit enough to come back yet, but the fact he’s willing to have me here, makes me feel like he trusts me enough to know my own body. But right now, we’re tucked away in the forest, watching and waiting, for anything that might resemble us being required.
“How will we know if we’re needed?” I whisper.
Kace shrugs. “I guess if we hear gunshots… we’re needed,” he quips.
Suddenly, blasting begins to echo in the distance. We all turn and look to the right aiming our guns in case of intruders. My body tense as I look through my scope trying to figure out where the obvious gunfire is coming from.
“Should we move forward, Kace?” Axel asks.
Kace clenches his jaw and shakes his head. “We wait and see. I don’t think we should head in if it’s a bloodbath. I’ll wait to hear any communication from Everly, particularly if she thinks we’re needed or if she alerts me, then we’ll move in. But for now. We wait.”
“Kace, what if Kenzi is there. She could be just past this forest, and we’re sitting here like fucking idiots letting the Nine go in and get shot at,” Axel grunts through gritted teeth.
“Calm down, can’t you hear the gunfire heading this way. If we don’t stop fucking around and get on our guard, then we’ll be the ones being shot at,” Kace tells him, pulling his gun back up aiming it through the trees as the gunfire continues. We all turn watching and waiting.
The tension is rising as the gunfire seems to be slowly ebbing, but the rustling movement through the forest doesn’t go unnoticed. We crouch down and hide ourselves completely as Reid and the rest of the Nine rush through the brush and head toward the mill to our left. We thought about taking position in the mill but dismissed it thinking we’d have better cover in the forest.
“Keep our positions hidden. Remember we’re not supposed to be here,” Kace instructs quietly and we all nod watching the Nine as they pant while trying to recover from running away from Rix’s men.
Reid walks up to the mill door, doing exactly what we probably would have done—seek cover to regroup. And when he opens the door, he pauses, and the unmistakable sound of a grenade being thrown shakes me to my very core. I drop to my knees along with Kace and the others, when a vale of smoke starts rising up from the doorway of the mill. I relax slightly knowing it’s only a smoke grenade and not an actual grenade, but still, this is bad.
Reid just opened the door, and obviously, Rix’s men are inside. We all raise our weapons again as Kace signals for us to fan out. Shit’s about to get real, and now we’re going to have to go in and help, whether we want to or not. I stand up and start moving through the forest watching Reid to see him turn.
“Go. Go. Go,” he yells as he and the rest of the Nine bolt away from the mill at the same time the gunfire starts.
Reid and the others run toward us while Kace signals for us to head out and I don’t hesitate. My hip is still sore as fuck, and I probably shouldn’t be doing this, but I have to help protect not only my team but the SO9 as well. Because we’re about to get balls deep in shit, and I’ll be fucked if I’m going to be buried in it.
I race out of the clearing to see at least a dozen men, all dressed in black gear with rifles rushing toward us. My heart is pumping, my breaths coming sharp and fast as I run quickly, bringing up my weapon, aiming it at the closest guy and pulling the trigger once. The bullet flies straight between his eyes. Blood spurts out the back of his skull as he skids to a halt, dropping to his knees and falling face first into a pool of mud. I continue running as the blasting of gunfire echoes around me.
There’s a battle going on around me. Agency Operatives against Syndicate minions, all trying to win this war that’s based around one person—Kenzi.
I continue running. I have a feeling something they’re protecting is in that mill. I need to get in there. So I rush forward, bullets flying past me, whizzing and buzzing. The noise one I’m used to in this line of work.
A man in black rushes forward thrusting the butt of his gun at me, and I duck, dropping to my knees and sliding along the muddy grass. My hip aches in protest, but I ignore it as I swipe my leg out tripping the guy over. He falls to his back with an “oomph,” and I grab my gun shoving the length over his neck, stopping his airway. His hands flail about in an attempt to get me off him as I press down harder to snuff him out. His face turns blue, and I reach down to my ankle grabbing a knife, pulling it out and ram it into his chest. He coughs out what last bit of air he had, and I take a deep breath of my own as I look down to see a red light positioned on my chest. I look up to see a man in black two feet away from me aiming his weapon, and I grit my teeth as he smiles wide at me. I go to reach for my gun, but Tanner sweeps in and sidekicks him in the ribs, making him fall over on the ground in the thick mud. His face is covered in the brown goo. She turns quickly unloading three bullets into his back, smiles at me, and then takes off quicker than I can imagine.
I jump up and take off myself, making my way toward the mill.
My mission to find out what, or who is hiding in there.
I run, as fast as I can, taking out another two men in black on my way.
Kace has one in a headlock. Reid and Mike are taking another couple down, and I can’t see the others. They must be around the other side of the mill as I arrive at the doorway and make my way inside. The smoke is still looming in the air, but I can see, it’s cleared enough for me to make the room out. It’s an open room with machinery, wheels, and cogs. I’m sure it’s where they milled all the wheat or whatever it was back in the day. This stuff looks like it could seriously injure you if you got caught up in it.
Swallowing hard, I round the corner, keeping on guard. There’s plenty of places to hide in here, and I’m just waiting for one of the snipers to sort me out. I look up seeing there are higher levels to this building, and I wonder what’s upstairs. I make my way toward the stairs where the cogs are, and I slowly aim my gun upward, then look up the stairs.
Three rounds of gunshots fire off toward me, and I fall back, hiding behind the big turning wooden wheel. The thumping of footsteps down the stairs has my hairs standing on edge. I have no idea how many men are coming down to greet me, but I’m ready.
I aim my gun, and as the first man comes into view, I shoot. He ricochets back and forth with my two bullets and finally flies back against the wall, as another man comes in behind him. I shoot him in the head, blood spurting out all over the light brown bricks staining them instantly, as he falls on top of the other guy at the bottom of the stairs.
Another one appears too quickly, and he reaches out shoving me backward. I fall against the wheel dropping my gun. His fist flies at my face, and I duck to weave away from the impact as another man, with only one ear, rushes down the stairs. I tense up as I clench my fist and thrust it forward into the man in black’s stomach, he hunches over letting out a gasp of air as ‘one ear’ steps to the end of the stairs and looks to me but doesn’t make a move to hurt me.
It shocks me for a brief moment that he’s just standing there watching me fighting his friend, while the man in black brings his knee up between my legs and slams his knee right into my balls. The pain radiates right through me, and I groan out in pain as he slams his fist into my jaw making me fall to the side and into the wheel again.
I glance up just in time to see ‘one ear’ reach out and signal to someone, and I tense up trying to gather my bearings as the man in black brings out a baton from the side of his legs and slams it down on my hip making me scream out in pain.
It’s like he knew it was my weak spot as I fall to my knees. He brings a pistol out from the back of his pants and aims it at my head. I pant through my nose and look into the barrel of the gun as he glances to his left.
“Wait till I’m gone, Domenic. I don’t want blood on my shirt.” I turn to see Rix step down from the stairs, and I tense up gritting my teeth as ‘one ear’ kicks the two dead minions out of the way for Rix to pass. I tense up, knowing Rix, the man that helped take Kenzi, the man possibly holding her against her will, is right here in front of me, and I can’t do shit to get him, and it’s fucking me off.
Rix and ‘one ear’ move to walk out of the mill and I can’t do anything but watch them leave. I know if I make a move—considering I’m injured, and it’s three against one—it’s a fight I will never win.
So I have to let him walk.
He exits the mill with ‘one ear,’ and Domenic turns to me and smirks. “Any last words?”
I chuckle and nod. “Fee-fi-fo-fum…”
He furrows his brows and turns up his lip at me. “What?”
I grin mischievously. “I smell the blood of an Englishman.”
He tilts his head and aims the gun at my head pointing with a little more fervor. “Did I hit you too hard, man?”
My eyes squint, and I tense my muscles preparing to ignore the pain, to do what I have to do to get out of this. “Be he alive, or be he dead.” I stand up reaching out grabbing his wrist and cracking it to the side. The gun falls from his hands as he screams out in pain. I spin fast, ignoring the sting of pain searing through my body as I move in behind him, yanking his arm up behind his back and pushing him forward. He falls face first on the concrete, his head falling in line with the giant spinning wheel and, I stand up, my hand still gripping on his arm as I place my foot on his back and yank his hand so he can’t move.
“Fuck, man! What are you doing?” he yells out, but I can’t let him get away.
“I'll grind his bones to make my bread,” I finish the nursery rhyme.
The wheel turns, and the sound of his screams are muffled by the squelching and cracking of his skull. I don’t watch as his head splits apart and his body goes limp beneath me. I take a deep breath and release his hand as I take a step back, hobbling on the spot, resting my hand on my hip to try and seek some comfort. It doesn’t work. Fucker got me good.
I pick my gun up and limp toward the door, wondering how everyone else is fairing outside. I steady myself, there’s still gunfire going off, so the fight isn’t over, and I’ll need to be on my guard when I exit. I head out and straight away there’s a red dot on me. I tense up and look ahead to see a man in black. So, I don’t hesitate like he has, I take aim and shoot once.
I’ll be getting low on ammo, and I’ll need to restock soon. I rush over to Kace. There’s men in black down everywhere, and only a few stragglers left as I take out another to my left as I run. I watch as Axel snaps the neck of another one off to my right, and Blair’s handling another further over on my left.
Kace quickly turns, taking out the last one, and I rush to his side panting for breath as Reid and six of the other members of the Nine come to our side. “Thanks for coming to help. We had no idea you were coming,” Reid says to us all as the rest of the Seven all bunch up together in a group with the six members of the Nine.
“We heard you might need backup. Where’s Zeb? And Brandon?” I ask, and Reid winces.
“Zeb got hit, he’s down. We have medics on the way. Brandon though, he’s in the wind. We have no idea where he’s at. We’ve lost contact.” Reid’s jaw is clenched like he’s trying to fight back his anger. I don’t blame him, Brandon is the mother of all assholes, and now Reid’s brother Zeb is down and who knows how badly hurt he is. Plus, who knows why the fuck Brandon’s gone AWOL. And what the fuck that means. This is all too fucking bizarre.
“I saw Rix, he was in the mill. I had him in my grasp but was outnumbered. I had to let him go,” I say, and Reid nods.
“I saw Kenzi, back at the mansion. She was there… she probably still is,” Reid tells us.
“We’re all here. Sure, we’re two men down in Zeb and Brandon, but fuck Kace, we’re so close. We can’t lose her again,” Axel begs and Kace grits his teeth and nods.
“We go in, but we all have to work together, as one team. Not two separate teams. We go in, extract Kenzi and leave. None of this trying to get Rix or Gibbs shit. We’re here for Kenzi, simple extraction only. Got it?” Kace instructs, and we all nod as we take a breath and move off into the forest back toward the mansion.
We know it will be guarded this time. We know what kind of men we’re facing but we’re prepared.
We traipse through the forest, on high alert, when the mansion comes into view. This time there are men out the front patrolling. Kace signals and Mike and Liam take the flank and move off to take them out. In quick succession, four rounds of gunfire fly through the air, and each of the four men in black are flattened instantly. We proceed forward, racing out of the brush and toward the door of the mansion. We’re not met by hostiles as we enter, but as we push through the door more of them file down the giant staircase. We open fire, and they start barreling down the stairs. It’s almost comical how they all fall over each other like dominos with blood spurting all over the pristine white walls and handrails as they drop to their deaths.
We run up the stairs dodging the dead bodies, we hike the levels quickly to proceed to where we need to be. As we arrive, two more guards meet us firing off bullets, but I quickly dodge out of the way, raising my rifle and fire off a round into one while Kace deals with the other. We walk the hall, and as we round the corner a group of them are huddled by a door.
We ready our weapons, but they’re firing on us before we can react. I duck to the side and start firing back along with the others. It’s an open hall, so it’s a free for all. Bullets flying and ricocheting everywhere. The plasterboard of the wall disintegrating with the pelting of the bullet’s power. The men in black falling to the ground with our precision aim, but we’re taking heavy fire as I watch someone fall beside me, but I can’t stop to see who it is.
I take out another man, the bullet flying straight through his head and into the neck of the man behind him. I fire off another round, but my gun empties and I tense up dropping it to my side as I move back against the wall behind Kace for cover. Glancing down, I see Mike on the ground with a bullet in his temple, and I shake my head as the gunfire slows and the last bullet is shot.
Steadying my breath, I look to Kace as he glances at me and nods. “We good?”
I look at Mike. “Not all of us.”
Kace glances at Mike and swallows hard. “Reid, I need you, and the rest of your team focused. Can you do that?” he asks, and they all look up from Mike’s dead body and nod.
“Good, ‘cause we have no idea what shitstorm is behind that fucking door. So prepare yourselves because if they have that many guards outside the door just imagine what’s inside,” Kace tells us in a hushed voice as we step over the pile of bodies and move toward the door.
I fill my clip with ammo as we file either side of the door, and Kace signals a countdown from three. When he gets to one, I flick open the door and we race in, guns drawn, ready for the hell that’s about to rain down on us. But it’s just a big room, set up like a miniature lab. There’s test tubes, Bunsen burners, and even a whiteboard with science mumbo-jumbo scrawled all over it. But the strangest part is, in the middle working in the lab is Kenzi, and she’s alone.
“You took your time,” she says with a strangely confident smile.
Axel growls, “Sorry. We were busy being fucking shot at.”
Kenzi grins as she suddenly jumps up, looking around obviously for a weapon. Kace levels his gun at her. “I’ll shoot you, I swear to fucking God I will. You ran last time, and I ain’t putting my team’s ass on the line one more fucking time to save you.”
“I don’t need saving,” she throws back looking directly at Axel. “I need you to leave me the hell alone. I need you to let me do my job, so more people don’t die.”
A general look of confusion spreads across the faces of everyone in the room about what the hell she’s talking about.
“We need to grab her and get out before more of Rix’s men come for her,” Noah warns.
“You can’t take me, they won’t let you. I’m too important,” she says cockily, and I look to Axel to see his brows furrowed like he’s trying to figure out why she’s acting like this.
Like this isn’t the girl he knew.
Like this isn’t the Kenzi he grew up with.
Like this isn’t the girl he loves.
“Kenzi, just come with us. You can be free of all this. I can help you, whatever’s going on. You know I will,” Axel begs, and she shakes her head and sighs.
“Axel, you just don’t get it. I have to stay. I won’t let you take me,” she argues standing up and folding her arms across her chest in defiance.
“Sorry to break up this reunion, Axel, but we don’t have time for this. If you want an extraction, we have to do this now. Otherwise, you know what the alternative is… and I have fucking awesome aim,” Reid states.
Axel glares at him as Kace shakes his head and looks to Eli and Blair who are the closest to her. Kace signals to Blair and Eli and they move forward as Kenzi looks to them furrowing her brows.
“Don’t you come near me,” she calls out, putting up her hands, and Axel takes a step forward but then restrains himself as Eli and Blair step in either side and grab her.
She starts to thrash about in their arms, trying to get away, and I tense up watching Axel become increasingly more uncomfortable. This has to be hard for him to watch. She lets out a scream as Eli picks her up, pulling her back to his front and places his hand around her mouth to stifle her screams as her legs kick and thrash about so much they knock the table, and a beacon of test tubes flies off the table and onto the floor causing the liquid to bubble and fizz on the carpet.
I screw up my face wondering what the hell that shit is, as Eli continues to restrain her, but she isn’t quietening down. She continues to scream against Eli’s hand and thrash and struggle against him, as we all look around the room wondering what the hell we’re going to do.
Kace looks to Axel and sighs. “We have to sedate her, Axel.”
Axel screws up his face looking to Kenzi thrashing about like a woman gone mad, and he swallows hard, but simply nods once. Tanner steps up to Noah’s backpack and helps him get out the necessary drugs to knock her out. I move over to Axel as his sad eyes watch the woman he loves fighting so hard against us. He appears lost. Broken. Like part of him is dying watching her as Noah pulls out the syringe and Tanner holds her arm down.
Kenzi screams even louder against Eli’s hand as he struggles to keep her in check, while Noah injects the solution into her bicep and we all watch as Kenzi slowly begins to stop screaming, her kicking stops, and her body goes limp.
Axel exhales, his body slumping, and I wrap my arm around his shoulder giving him the support he needs right now. Because watching his life-long friend being drugged at the hands of his adopted family, no wonder the man’s struggling.