Sixteen
January 25th
1:20 A.M.
Watching Indigo fall into that river, uncertain if she’d been shot, was one of the worst moments of his life. And he’d seen and experienced a lot of horrific things in the fifteen or so years since he’d joined the military.
How could any of them compare to this, though?
His girl, already so weak and vulnerable, once again been battered by life. When the hell was the universe going to give her a break?
When was it going to give her back to him?
She’d been so close, he’d been minutes away from having her where he wanted her, safe in his hold, and yet ultimately, he’d been too far away. Now it was further away again. The river carried her away from him and given that his teammates had grabbed him before he could risk jumping down to the bottom of the cliffs so he could fling himself into the river and go after Indigo, it was going to take even longer to get her back.
He would have jumped.
Would have risked everything to try to get to her as quickly as he could.
If Steel and Dragon hadn't grabbed him like they’d known exactly what he was planning to do, he would have done it. Really, it wasn't even anything he had consciously planned, he’d just been driven by the need to get to Indigo, and it overrode everything else, including common sense.
Now they were making their way down to the river. Voodoo was so painfully aware that for each step they took, the river could drag Indigo the equivalent of two or more steps further downstream.
Every few seconds he glanced at Dragon. The man could smell everything, including death, and he was hoping that if the worst happened, his friend would at least be able to prepare him for it.
Dragon nodded, and Voodoo took that to mean that Indigo was still breathing, still doing what she did and surviving.
Whoever had fired that shot at Indigo must have immediately disappeared back into the trees, because they’d never seen who it was. It had to be the burning man, though, who else could it be? They knew he was out there, and that he’d been following Indigo the entire time.
Finding their way down to where Indigo had been was quicker than he could have hoped for, if the burning man hadn't shown up and shot at her, it would have taken him less than ten minutes to get to her. Instead, she was gone, and he was still chasing after her.
Not that he’d ever stop.
No matter how far he had to go or how long it took, Voodoo would never give up on Indigo. He’d track her all night, all day, all year if that was what he had to do to get her back.
“Someone up ahead,” Blade warned them, his voice quiet, a hint of sound heard only by the six of them.
Dragon nodded in agreement, and Lion pointed to something so far only he could see.
“I smell blood,” Dragon added. “It’s the same man who was driving the car Indigo caused to crash.”
That was what they were expecting, but there were still at least five other men who had been with Dr. Gardner, and they had no way of knowing if any of them were aware that he’d killed some of the men,that the car had crashed, or that Indigo was free again. Without anything to prove otherwise, they had to play things worst-case scenario and assume that those men were also out there somewhere by now.
“Sixty or so yards that way,” Lion said, adjusting their course ever so slightly.
As they approached the man who had burned his beautiful, precious girl, Voodoo felt his adrenaline amp up. While he might be running on fumes after days of hiking through the forest, protecting Indigo, worrying over her, trying to heal her, killing over and over again, when taking lives was something he avoided whenever he could, this was one target he was going to enjoy torturing, enjoy killing.
The sounds of footsteps grew loud enough for all of them to hear, the sound of ragged breathing, the metallic scent of blood strong enough to reach all their noses.
And then Voodoo saw him.
A shadowy figure stumbling through the forest, seemingly oblivious to the fact that not only were they following him, but they were seconds away from catching him.
Because they all understood what Indigo had become to him, none of his teammates attempted to step in, allowing him to do what he needed to do.
Throwing himself at the burning man, Voodoo tackled him to the ground. The other man screamed at the contact, and then began to thrash, attempting to buck him off.
Not happening.
