I’m not naïve enough to think that this means they’re cured of their inner demons, but it’s a step in the right direction. And I can’t help but feel a little satisfaction that they could be there for one another when Theo and I couldn’t.
“So, what happened that caused both of you to look like extras from a bad horror film?” Theo asks having retrieved some cloths we fashioned from old clothes and a bucket of water. He ushers them back outside into the weak February sun and hands the supplies over to them.
“We were ambushed on our way back,” Ollie says after wiping her face clean. “By Ethan and three other guys from the Lodge.”
A string of curses fly from Theo’s lips.
I suck in a sharp breath. “You’re kidding.” How the hell did that slimy bastard find us?
“I wish I was,” she says grimly. “They had us surrounded in a small side street with two guns trained on us, determined to sell Alex off to the Scourge and keep me.” She swallows hard, and it doesn’t take a genius to understand what they meant to do to her.
I bite back a snarl as my hands clench into fists and I resist the urge to slam my fist into the wall. Or go out and find the bastard’s corpse, chop him into little pieces. If only I could resurrect him so I could kill him again, but only after torturing him for days. I want to make that bastardbleed.
Ollie carries on, oblivious to my internal rage. “I managed to get close enough to Ethan—he had one of the guns—and stab him with an arrow while Alex dealt with the other three.”
My brow furrows. “An arrow?”
“Idiot forced her to drop her knife and bow, but forgot about the quiver full of arrows. So she made sure he’d never forget again,” Alex says, pride shining in his gaze as he smiles at Ollie.
With a nod, I study Ollie with new, impressed eyes.
I knew she was tough—she saved my ass last night—but that she kept her cool enough to save herself during an intense as fuck situation is admirable. I’ve deployed with people who freaked out at the first sign of danger and forgot every ounce of training, so to have a civilian like Ollie out perform them is insane.
And sexy as fuck.
Ollie waves him off. “Alex did most of the work during that, especially since I was useless after stabbing Ethan.” She swallows hard, and I can see the shadows in her eyes. She’s still not okay at taking two lives, but who is aside from psychopaths and sociopaths? I’m sure as shit not. But after the career I’ve had, I’ve learned to accept that darker side of my soul.
I just hate that Alex and Ollie will have to do that, too. All thanks to this shitty virus that ended society as we know it.
“But killing a bunch of people aside, we have bigger problems,” Ollie says, breaking through my thoughts.
“What problems? Did you get spotted during your scouting mission?” Theo frowns. He’s standing beside Ollie, wiping her shoulder and neck with what is becoming a very bloody rag.
Alex shakes his head as he washes his hands with some of the water, causing bloodied droplets to splatter across the concrete floor. “No, weskirted around the entire camp without being spotted. No, our problem is that Ethan confessed to being the reason Scourge gang members ambushed us last night.”
Theo and I curse.
“That’s not all,” he continues. “We believe the Scourge knows we’re planning to attack. So whatever plan of attack we were going to come up with for Friday won’t work.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck!This is bad,reallybad.
What was once an incredibly risky, dangerous rescue has become almost impossible. I rake a hand through my hair and begin pacing, my mind whirling as I try to think of a plan.Anythingthat could make this possible. But I’m coming up empty.
“Are you sure?” Theo demands, his jaw clenched and his eyes tight. He knows as well as I do how fucked we are.
Ollie nods. “Very sure. Ethan admitted to selling us out for weapons and other shit while he was taunting us.”
Fuck. This is literally the worst-case scenario. If this were a military operation, we’d have aborted and a part of me wants to. I don’t want to risk Ollie or my brothers, not when the odds are so stacked against us. But I can see the determination shining in Ollie’s eyes; regardless of how fucked we are, she’s still going after her brother. Besides, while I may detest my ex-wife, she and the other two women taken don’t deserve to be left at the mercy of the Scourge for longer than necessary.
But dammit, Friday was our best chance. Which means we’re going to have to do something even riskier.
I rake a hand through my hair. “Friday’s out, then. Which means we’ll need to attack within the next forty-eight hours. The sooner the better, since they won’t expect us before Friday.”
“That makes sense, but how are we even going to do this? We’re heavily out-numbered and out-gunned, especially now they know we’re coming,” Alex says with a frustrated breath as he finishes scrubbing the blood from his arms. “They have guards crawling all over the place in camp, including guards with rifles sitting on watchtowers.”
Theo drops the rag he was using to wipe down Ollie into the bucket of water. “How many captives did you see there?”
“I don’t know, maybe forty or fifty,” Ollie says after a moment.
