Chapter 7

 

The next morning as we made our way to the garage, I realized how damn quiet the Hive was in the early hours. Vampires were probably asleep in their coffins. Okay, I was pretty sure they slept in beds, but there was no denying that they were creepy enough for coffins. At least the enclosed building, locked down with heavy shutters, felt less oppressive without the bloodsuckers around.

There were two Humvees waiting for us. Ryder suggested this in case some of the boys were called back to the Hive. At this stage, all of the sexy six, plus Jayden, were coming to Thanksgiving. Ryder cleared it with Lucas and Lucas chose not to tell the rest of the Quorum. If anyone asked, we were out on a call.

Jayden was extra hyped today. Apparently Thanksgiving was his second favorite holiday. Easter was first. My BAFF loved fluffy bunnies. I ended up in SUV #1 with Ryder, Kyle, Silent Sam, and Jared. The Australian enforcer had never celebrated Thanksgiving. Apparently it wasn’t a holiday in his home country. He’d been in America for years now. His Hive in Sydney transferred him out to the Portland Hive after the incident which will not be named, but vamps didn’t celebrate human holidays, despite the fact that once upon a time they were human, unlike ash, who were never anything other than a hybrid. Funny which one of us had kept the most humanity intact.

The sun was bright as we exited. Spending so much time indoors made the sight of the rising sun extra beautiful. You don’t realize how much you take some of these things for granted until they’re gone. This was what I was trying to tell Tessa, but my stubborn, stinky-drunk friend refused to understand what I was saying.

Thoughts of evil vampires had my mind flittering back to the little girl. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her last night, even with Ryder and Kyle sprawled out on my couch eating all my snacks and keeping me entertained. The only way I could shut my mind off was when pure exhaustion knocked me out. I ended up crashing out between the boys, Ryder’s warm arm holding me against him. We were back to no alone time or privacy, especially with the Quorum on the radar again.

“Is this the first child to ever be turned vamp?”

The small talk which had been going on died off, and all eyes were suddenly on me. Ryder’s hand snaked out and covered my mouth before I could speak again, before I could demand information.

His voice was all casual-like: “Yeah, as far as we know. The Quorum are really strict about that law. This girl was a random accident.”

I wasn’t confused at all by his sudden defense of the Quorum. He was reminding me that despite their repeated searches of the Hummers, there was a chance they missed a listening devices and we should be cautious about what we said.

Dammit!

Our speed picked up and we pretty much screeched around the corner and onto my old street. The large trees which lined the sidewalks were looking a little barren. Winter was coming, and the chill in the air told me it was going to be brutal this year. Pulling up in front of the familiar little house, pangs of homesickness shot through me hard. It was easy sometimes to compartmentalize my life, push away the losses, but seeing it again … there was no way to forget.

The five of us piled out. Ryder was at my side in seconds. We moved from the car to the opposite side of the road, away from my house.

“I’m not sure what they’re using to bug us, but there’s every chance your mother’s place is compromised also. They can be very thorough, and they’ll be looking for your father, with the Original blood so strong in your system.”

The boys closed in tighter. “Every year there are a few cases of children being turned, far less than there used to be, say a hundred years ago. Vamps are policed pretty closely now. Still, there is always one screwed-up vampire who likes little kids and decides he wants one around forever.”

Okay, that was just freaking sick.

“So what happens to the kids who are turned?” The second Hummer was parking behind ours now. We’d draw attention if we stayed out here any longer.

“I don’t know of any vamp children in the Hives around us. They’re all transferred out to European Hives. Apparently they have the facilities to deal with them. The virus messes with children. They never age, and their brains don’t develop properly after the change. They’re too young to deal with the virus.”

Jared snorted, and I turned to him. “They’re transferred on the books, but I’ve visited hundreds of Hives over the years, plenty through Europe, and I’ve never seen a single child. So who knows what happens to them.”

Sam didn’t speak, but the way his muscles were trembling, rage was consuming the silent enforcer.

“Is that girl in danger?” My voice rose slightly, even though I was trying to keep it locked down. “You better not have stopped me from curing her, thereby giving the Quorum time to kill her.”

Because I was starting to see that was what the vampires did with the children. If they were difficult to control, if the virus messed with their minds, they would either have them locked away in some dungeon somewhere or they’d kill them. They wouldn’t risk the bad publicity and possible war with the humans.

“We have a few days,” Ryder said. “They never do anything until all of the media attention dies down. It’s all secret, hush-hush stuff, and right now there’s too much attention on our Hive. It gives us time to plan things out properly. If we’re going to cure her, we have to make sure there’s no chance of getting you or the rest of us killed.”

I calmed slightly, even though I was fuming inside at the extra few horrible points I could add to my “vampires are assholes” list. Could they actually stoop so low as to murder children who had done nothing wrong except be preyed on by evil itself?

Hell yeah they would.

I was beyond words as we made our way back across the street and up to the front porch of my mother’s house. The others were already waiting for us, Jayden pretty much bouncing on the spot as he tried to guess what we’d eat.

“Will there be green bean casserole? Mashed potatoes … oh man, I love mashed potatoes.”

Just the sound of his inane babble, and Oliver’s encouraging yet disinterested responses, was enough to lighten my mood. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, calming myself and sucking down as much of the negative energy as I could. Today was about family and enjoying stolen moments together. The vampires would not ruin it for me. Dealing with them could wait until tomorrow.

I rang the doorbell, which felt odd, but now that I carried around a bunch of large ash enforcers with me, I didn’t want to just barge in and give Mom and Tessa a heart attack. Standing there, I let my senses free, and found that if I really concentrated I could feel the warmth of humans inside my house. I never spent much time outside of the Hive, so it was odd to realize that the warmth, heartbeat, scent … everything really, was different to the ash. We had heartbeats—it wasn’t like we were dead—but it was different; ash heartbeats were slower. Humans were so much more … full of life. I was glad we had all chugged down blood before leaving this morning, enough to keep our hunger controlled for most of the day. We could act like humans again.

The lilac and spearmint scent hit me first, so familiar, so many memories associated with it. Then the door swung open and the still-youthful and beautiful Joanna Bennett stepped into view. My mom’s blonde hair was piled up on top of her head and her cheeks were flushed, which was how she looked when she was cooking. Yep, the frilly white apron topped off the outfit perfectly.

“Charlie Anne,” she practically shrieked as she pulled me into a hug. “I’ve missed you so much, baby. A few emails and one drunk Tessa pick-up is just not enough time.”

I sank into her, laughing, careful of my strength. It was easy to forget how breakable humans were. I could easily hurt her without realizing it. “I’ve missed you too, Mom. It’s so great to be back here.”

The scent of food was already wafting out of the open door. A mixture of everything good in the world was currently in my mother’s kitchen. I was so sure about it.

“Mom, I was supposed to be helping you cook,” I said, as we finally pulled back from our hug and moved into the front hall. Jayden was practically skipping as he followed along behind us. Which, honestly, he pulled off, despite his massively muscled frame.

“I just got a head start since there were so many of you coming today. It’s wonderful to have a full house.”

Another blonde popped up in front of me, and thankfully this time she wasn’t covered in her own vomit.

“Tessa!” I threw my arms around her and pulled her close. Our hug lasted almost as long as with my mother. The boys sidled around us, following my mom into the kitchen area. Tessa and I remained locked together.

“I’m sorry I showed up like a hot mess at the Hive,” she mumbled against my shoulder. “I just get really depressed some days. I can’t cope with you being gone, with the loneliness. Even Blake … like today, he can’t be here because of the sun. I’m always on the outside of your lives.”

I gave her an extra squeeze. “You know the saying, babe: the grass is always greener on the other side. You have serious FOMO, but there’s nothing you need to fear you’re missing out on. The Hive is dark and deadly.”

The look on her face told me she was tuning me out again. I forced myself not to bitch-slap her. Despite the fact that I was so happy to see her, she was also pissing me off a lot lately with this moronic stubbornness of wanting to become a stupid vampire.

Pretending the tension between us wasn’t there, she flashed me a smile and linked her arm through mine. Her face was only lightly made up today and she looked pretty, fresh-faced, and healthy. “So Blake is meeting with the Quorum again tonight. Apparently they have conferred with other Quorums, and the international vampire council. They’re the ones who keep track of the world numbers or something. We should have a decision in the next week.”

My mouth dropped open. “Tessa!”

She elbowed me sharply. “Shh, don’t ruin this day. Your mom and I have been planning it for a week.”

I gave an exasperated sigh. The pissed-off was growing, but I didn’t bother to argue with her again. There was almost a hundred percent certainty they would deny the request. It was next to impossible to change humans any longer. The human-vampire truce was on shaky grounds, and we didn’t need more bad publicity, especially with the newly-turned child. Actually, if anything good could come out of that horrible happening, it was that Blake’s odds of being granted permission to turn Tessa were probably now at minus one.

I relaxed as we crossed through the sunny living room and into the open-plan dining area which bordered the kitchen. The extension on the dark wooden table was open, and extra chairs had been brought in. There were already settings out, ten of them by my count, delicate white china which we had inherited from my grandparents. They had passed on ten years ago, but it was almost as if they were here with us when we used their stuff. It wasn’t just the china. Everything in this room held a memory for me. It was home.

My mom wasn’t wealthy like Tessa’s, but we’d always done okay. I loved our furniture, mostly dark wood and antique, rich with age and history. Crossing into the white and turquoise country-style kitchen, topped off by dark timber bench tops, I ground to a halt, before peals of laughter ripped from me.

Holy shit. The sexy six were cooking.

The enforcers were stationed around the kitchen, their hulking forms making the room look positively tiny. Each of them was wearing a frilly and feminine lace apron and my mom had them hard at work with food prep.

I couldn’t stop staring. Ryder and Sam especially had me in hysterics. Both of them looked absolutely lost for words, as if they couldn’t even understand how my petite mother managed to get them into this position. Still, I was happy to see that each of them were making the best of it, Ryder kneading bread, Sam snapping the ends off of green beans. Markus had even started to sing, his Scottish brogue deepening as he basted the turkey. I wonder if he’d been informed that that amazing liquid was a secret concoction passed down from Grandma May. Knowing my mom, he definitely had been.

Jared flashed me a white-toothed smile; he was on cranberry sauce duties, which we made from scratch in this household. Oliver was slicing cheeses, and Jayden stood at his side, sampling the fare and giving orders, sticking to what he was good at.

And my mom, who was totally in her element, was dashing between all of them, giving instructions.

“Is this really happening?” Tessa’s voice was a bubble of amusement. “Or did we just wander into an alternate universe?”

“Let’s hope it’s an alternate universe and we can expect this room filled with sexy man cooks in frilly aprons to stick around,” I murmured. I turned to her and waggled my eyebrows up and down.

We both burst out laughing then, and I was so distracted that I never even noticed Ryder duck around the kitchen island, until he was right in front of me. He looked hot as hell, even with the streak of flour on his cheek and the pink and lavender frilly apron around his waist.

“You’re not laughing at me are you, Charlene?”

Ugh. No doubt he was taking great pleasure in using my full name. He knew how much it grated on my nerves.

Of course I’d give him no satisfaction by reacting. I smiled. “Lace really suits you. I think you should think about incorporating it into the enforcer unif—”

Quick as a flash he lightly palmed my face with flour. My mouth dropped open—damn, no doubt he’d been waiting for the perfect moment to do that. Before he could coat me any further, I quickly tackled him, laughing as he still somehow managed to rub more on my face.

Suddenly Mom was standing over us with a huge grin. “So he’s the one? I was trying to figure out which one of these good looking fellas had caught my daughter’s attention.”

Ryder scrambled to pull me upright, and wiped his palms on his apron.

“It’s nice to officially meet you, ma’am. I’m Ryder Angelson.”

Whoa! Ryder had a last name? Ash and vamps tended to just stick with first names, most of them shedding that last formality of their human persona. I’d never even thought to ask him for a full name.

My mother gave me an approving look. “A boy with manners, I like it. You can call me Jo.” She shook his hand. I could tell immediately that she wasn’t just saying the words, she really did like Ryder. My mom was a great judge of character; she’d already looked past the lead enforcer’s outer persona of tall, dark, and deadly to see the man beneath. Glancing between my mom, Ryder, and around the rest of the kitchen, my heart filled with enough joy to last a lifetime.       

 

Thanksgiving was beyond perfect; I didn’t want it to end. We ate until we were stuffed to the brim. Everything tasted so good. On top of the food, it was the atmosphere which made it so special—relaxed and peaceful. It felt like the last few months of blood, murder, and drama in the Hive had never happened.

The enforcers made a few halfhearted efforts to duck back and forth to the Hive, but most of them spent their time snacking and napping lazily on the couch. A few of us played board games with my mom. Can I just say that Jayden is a competitive bastard—and he cheats.

Eventually, though, as the day faded out to night, and with the blood thirst gnawing at the back of my throat, we said our goodbyes. Ryder pretty much had to pry me from Tessa and my mom’s arms. It was only the knowledge that I couldn’t drag them into my shitty life that forced me to leave.

As we piled into the Humvees and drove out of my neighborhood, I looked back at my house, my heart and throat aching as I fought my tears. That life was gone. I guess I just needed to come to terms with it. A strong hand squeezed my thigh.

“It was a good day,” Ryder told me, and I could tell he was trying to ease some of my heartache. “Keep those memories safe, and I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that’s not the last holiday you spend with them.”

I managed to smile, before turning away to lock my burning eye on the world outside. I didn’t want to cry. I’d probably never stop if I started. Ryder pulled us onto the freeway and almost instantly the car sped up—like in a pedal to the metal way. I swung my head back around to see what was happening. Ryder’s face was hard now, furrows along his brow as his eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.

“Black van. Three cars back,” Kyle said from the back seat.

Ryder nodded. “I see it. Radio the boys.”

Oh shit. What now? Not on Thanksgiving. Did these people have no patriotic pride?

Sam leaned forward, close to my ear. “Buckle up, Charlie.”

My heart began to pump harder, fear burning through my body.

“Who is it?” I asked as I clicked my seat belt on.

Ryder was still moving fast, far too quickly to be safe on the roads, especially as we swerved in and out of traffic.

Kyle’s voice came from the back seat. “Sam’s running plates but nothing is coming up. Looks like humans though. My guess is that it’s a little bit of payback for our recent financial do-gooding.”

Deliverance. Those bastards had almost killed my boyfriend and now they were ruining Thanksgiving. I popped open the glove box and grabbed the gun Markus had been training me with.

Ryder gave me a side look and grinned. I think the boy liked me when I got all pissed and weaponed up.

“Hold on,” he said as he jerked the car to the right, crossing over three lanes and exiting on Murray street.

Screeching tires behind us indicated the Deliverance truck had managed to stay right on our ass. Our other Humvee, with Jayden, Oliver, and Jared inside, slotted themselves in behind the van.

“Can we call the human police? Wouldn’t they want to know these maniacs are doing this?” I was having flashbacks of a bleeding Markus and nearly dead Ryder. I didn’t ever want to relive that.

Kyle actually chuckled, before sobering a bit. “Maybe before our evil bosses stole and infected a twelve-year-old girl.”

Shit. Good point.

I was watching the rearview mirror and my stomach dropped when the van’s sunroof opened and a guy holding a large machine gun popped up.

“Ryder!”

“I see it! Hold on!”

Static sounded from behind me and I heard Kyle radio across to the other car. “Van sandwich,” he said.

Sam was at my ear again. “Brace yourself, Charlie.”

I had a split second to reach for the “oh shit” bar before Ryder slammed on the brakes. The Deliverance van’s brakes squealed and I saw the entire vehicle wobble as they tried to avoid us, but they’d been way too close. The crash was loud and hard, and I was thrown forward against my belt. At the same time, I heard a final gunning of an engine and another crash and jolt as the second Hummer smashed into the van, pinning it between the two of our vehicles.

Without skipping a beat, Ryder slammed his foot down again, our tires spinning for a second before there was a wrenching of metal on metal and we were free. A quick glance back told me that Jayden’s car had also managed to reverse out of the crash, and was now following us. I could see the slight crumple to the front of their Hummer but nothing too crazy. Okay, clearly these vehicles were army-spec reinforced, because that had been a hard hit.

Wanting to see the Deliverance van better, I tried to turn my head all the way around, wincing at the twinge in my neck. I twisted around far enough to see that the van was completely crushed and clearly undrivable. Humans were stumbling out of it.

My attention was back in the car then as Ryder reached out and gently touched my lip. “Trust me, that hurt worse for them. You okay?” As he pulled back I looked down at his thumb to see a little blood. I must have bitten my lip by accident, something which tends to happen when you go from eighty miles an hour to a dead stop.

As the metallic and sort of sweet scent of my blood filled the car, Ryder’s eyes began to slightly pulse—silver to black—the way the vampires’ did when they couldn’t resist my blood. It had been a while since anyone vamped out on me. The enforcers especially were used to my unicorn blood now. I was pretty sure there was more than blood on Ryder’s mind right then, though.

“Happy Thanksgiving…” Kyle’s sarcasm distracted us from the surge of adrenalin, bloodlust, and attraction rocketing between Ryder and me.

Before I could come up with a sarcastic reply, Ryder was slamming on the brakes again. For fuc—what now?

A roadblock, about ten yards away from our vehicle. Shit. Two blacked-out Chevy Tahoe’s were parked sideways, with about seven people crouched and standing around them. That first glance was enough to tell me that these people were very different from the douchebags following us, but still human.

Their clothing reminded me of some sort of defense force or military uniform, but of the hardcore variety. Their attention was locked on us, and even as we gave them hard stares back, they didn’t flinch at the full convoy of ash enforcers. They remained serious-faced, weapons in hand.

Yep, the badass vibe was totally making sense; they were definitely some sort of special forces. Based on my many hours of television watching, they looked a hell of a lot like SWAT, with face shields and all.

As Jayden’s car screeched up to halt beside us, I pulled my gaze from the GI Joe humans across from us, and turned to Ryder. I was opening my mouth to suggest we U-turn and head back past Deliverance, when the enforcer’s eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror. It was rare to see anything but confidence and lethalness cross his face, but in the moment I swear there was a flash of fear and uncertainty.

It was only there for a second, that minor creasing of his brows, shadowing in his eyes, but it had been there for a reason. Swallowing hard, I turned in my seat.

Frickity frack, we were toast. Barreling down the road were six black vans, exact replicas of the Deliverance van we’d just trashed. One held some crazy-ass firepower on top, looking like a freaking war machine ready to kill thousands.

I spun to the guys, ready to start beating a plan out of someone. We might be in a bulletproof Humvee, but something told me the Bible freaks had learned a lot from our last attack. Hence the big guns, which were no doubt armor piercing.

Jittering in my seat, I managed to halt my tirade of spewing panic as I noticed Ryder was already busy. He was leaned forward in his seat, and there was no fear on his face now, just a calculating expression. I followed the line of sight and found myself staring at one of the SWAT men. The massive dude stood way out in front and wore authority like no one’s business. Definitely some sort of leader. He was tall, built like a truck, and had piercing blue eyes.

Ryder and Blue Eyes remained engaged in their epic staredown silent conversation. WTF, guys? We so did not have time for any sort of male pissing contest. If we didn’t move in the next few minutes, we were dead.

I was just about to start kung-fu fighting someone’s ass, when finally Blue Eyes nodded and waved Ryder over with his head. The enforcer let out a very low exhalation of air, and I realized how tense he was.

Kyle, who had been following the silent conversation too, picked up the radio. “Take position behind the blockade.”

No one hesitated, the tires on both cars screeched as engines roared to life and the boys maneuvered our vehicles to the side of the blockade, out of the way. Doors flew open as we all popped out of the Hummers, and crouching low, weapons held close to our bodies, we ran across to get behind the blockade of the human SWAT team.

As we passed him, Blue Eyes glared at Ryder. “My beef is with the Deliverance today. I have no orders to take your kind in. But don’t get in my way.”

Your kind. Ouch. Something told me Ryder and Blue eyes knew each other, but there was definitely no friendship there.

Kyle looked them up and down. “You military now, bro?” Okay, they definitely knew these guys.

Blue eyes shrugged. “That’s classified.”

More of the SWAT guys turned their hard stares at the enforcers. Both of the groups were doing the whole dominance staredown thing. Except for me, because I was born with a brain instead of a penis. Although I did take a second to turn flinty eyes on one of the SWAT boys who was checking me out a little too thoroughly. Yes, I was the mythical female ash, but there was no way he was going to learn anything about me by staring at my ass. Before I could tell him to put his eyes back in his head, a bullet sailed past my ear and tires screeched behind me.

“Down!” Blue Eyes yelled and I dropped to the ground, rolling underneath the Tahoe. I heard scuffing feet, and from my spot on the ground saw the SWAT team situating themselves around the vehicles.

Wanting to get further from the bullets, I rolled myself fully under the Tahoe, keeping the momentum going until I emerged out the back. Ryder was right behind me, Kyle to my right. Popping up to my feet, I was much more secure at the back of the two huge cars, facing toward the oncoming attack.

Blue eyes was speaking into a bullhorn, his deep voice echoing around the entire area. “Deliverance, you have officially been categorized as a terrorist organization. Get out of your vehicles and place your weapons down or we will shoot to kill.”

Around me, my enforcer team stepped up into firing positions, spread across the back of the vehicles. No way would these boys sit out in a firefight like this. Sam almost looked gleeful as he loaded his gun. I flicked off the safety on mine, grateful for all the hours I’d been clocking in the firing range. I could almost always hit the moving targets now. Which was important. Very important.

Markus tossed an open duffle bag at Ryder’s feet. The enforcer dropped down and rifled through it to pull free bulletproof vests. Sweet. Maybe I would walk away with my life today.

“Armageddon is upon us!” A high pitched female voice whined out of another speaker. Did all of these humans carry around loudspeakers or something?

I knew that whiny voice. It was the crazy bitch who’d killed those ash and nearly killed Ryder.

Ryder grabbed a vest and helped me slip it on, securing the last strap as the gunfire began. Oliver did the same for Jayden, who was the only one here unarmed.

Ryder leaned in close and whispered in my ear. “We could run, but we may need a favor from these boys in the future, and they’re outnumbered. They could use our help.”

I nodded. It was the right thing to do.

As the noise of bullets increased, one of the SWAT guys tumbled off one of the cars and slid backward into Kyle’s outstretched arms.

“Man down!” Blue Eyes roared.

“I got you, bro.” Kyle ripped open a med kit—seemed the boys had emptied the Humvees of the important stuff when we’d ran here—and began to treat the fallen guy.

Blue Eyes was still barking orders, and at the same time seemed to be ducking between the two vehicles constantly. His shots were scarily accurate. I saw him take out at least five Deliverance in under a minute.

Actually all of these guys were highly trained and absolutely brutal. They definitely shot to kill, and a small, sick part of me enjoyed that. Deliverance should not exist. They were murderers, killing innocents for their sick sense of right and wrong.

Deciding I wanted to be a little closer to the action, I snaked my way around the side of the closest Tahoe. The back door was open, offering me some protection, and I propped myself up on the step so I could shoot over the top of the window. A quick headcount had at least twenty Deliverance assholes, and they all seemed to be armed. Shit! Was that a freakin’ AK-47? Steadying my hand over the doorframe, I breathed deeply, allowing my mind to release the fear and panic and step into the zone.

The weapon bucked in my hands as I shot once, twice, a third time. I heard two shouts, and knew I’d nailed them hard. The third bullet had clipped the crazy old bitch, whom I particularly wanted to kill, because she’d shot at my guys. No one touched my boys.

Blue Eyes swung around to me then. “I don’t want an untrained female on the front line. Stand down.”

Oh hell no. I flipped him off before lifting my gun up again. I heard a bark of laughter from behind and knew it was Jared. He would find that amusing; he had a particular distaste for authority.

With a shake of his head Blue Eyes resumed his previous position and went back to taking down crazies. After a few more rounds from us, the Deliverance had lost at least half their members, which must have been their signal to start gearing up to use the big machine gun on the roof. I saw two of the guys crawling their way up, others flanking around them to provide backup. I squinted again, taking aim, and fired. A female spun off the side of their car then, but another stepped in to take her place. Dammit. Were they multiplying?

“Take cover!” one of the SWAT bellowed, and on instinct all of us hit the ground. Under the Tahoe I could see Ryder and Sam, who had been exchanging fire with a small group of Deliverance to the left side.

I flinched as the first bullets from the heavy machine gun started raining across the ground and cars. Bullets pierced right through the door above my head; nothing was stopping those shots. Shit. I army-crawled my way backwards, sticking close to the car until I could scoot back around to the rear. I expected to find Kyle and company back there, but it was only Jayden. His eyes were wide, the silver swirling into the black as we both pressed ourselves to the rear panel.

“That is one hardcore gun,” my BAFF whispered. “How the hell are they going to take it out?”

Oliver popped up beside him then, scaring the absolute heck out of both of us. “Ryder and Lincoln are going to come in from either side. One of them will be able to take the rest of the Deliverance down, no worries.”

What the actual … seriously? “Who is Lincoln and where can I find Ryder so I can kick his ass? Dude just got out of hospital for being a hero.”

I was so angry I was literally shaking. Well, angry and scared. No matter how lethal Ryder was, he was not bulletproof.

“Lincoln is the head of this special forces division. We’ve had a few run-ins with them. Generally we live in an uneasy truce, but they do seem to just be waiting for the day we fuck up and they can nail our asses.”

Ah, Blue Eyes.

I’d already tuned out of the conversation, trying to figure out how the hell to chase down Ryder and haul him back to safety. I was crouched again, attempting to see along the ground to find where all the men were. But I kept getting blocked by a bunch of debris which had been smashed off the cars.

The bullets died off then and the ringing in my ears intensified. Hadn’t even realized how loud that machine gun was until it stopped. Using this moment, I popped myself up and launched onto the back step of the car to see above the roofline. I wasn’t stupid enough to go any higher; there were plenty of Deliverance there still, but I needed to see Ryder. Before I managed to fully take in the scene, which was pure carnage—that gun had shredded the cars and debris was absolutely everywhere—Oliver yanked me back down. Just in time too, as the heavy bullets started up again.

“Heard them reloading,” Oliver said. “Figured you’d like to keep your brains on the inside.”

I gave him a quick hug, my breathing a rapid. “Yep, totally. That’s where I like my brains.”

Oliver gave me a nod, before turning back to Jayden. The two of them were trying to creep around the back, I think to help out Kyle, who was stuck in an awkward and not so safe position. Everyone had something to do except me, and I was not okay with that.

I caught a glint of metal then, a few yards away, against one of the abandoned looking buildings which had us boxed in here, a ladder leading up to a platform or rooftop terrace. The building was only two stories high, but that would be more than enough to give me a decent vantage point. If I made it to the ladder I’d be okay; it was on the backside of the building, and the only people who would see me were ones in the same position I was in right now.

Flicking the safety back on, I tucked my gun into my holster, and taking a deep breath forced down my fears and lifted myself off the ground, keeping my head as low as possible I ran, using whatever cover I could find.

“Charlie!” Jayden whisper-screamed after me.

I ignored him because there was no time left to do anything but sprint as fast as I could. The entire time I was waiting for bullets to rain into me. If the losers manning that massive machine gun caught sight of me, I was dead.

The building closed in and I found myself encased in the shadows, protected and safe.