I avert my gaze, feeling as though I’m intruding. When he finally pulls away, her lips are swollen and her eyes are sparkling with desire. That desire dissipates into fear when he steps away from her, his gaze full of regret, and leaves the watchtower, several security team members following him.
“Are you finally deciding to take my offer seriously?” Luke calls out in an infuriatingly smug tone that makes me want to put a bullet between his eyes.
It’s tempting, but I resist. I’m now down several men, and they still have guns and potentially explosives. I can’t afford to turn this into a bloodbath. Once Alex, Theo and the others have dealt with the Scourge inside Haven, we can regroup and drive these fuckers from the gate.
Although every part of me is screaming that something’s not right.
Not once has he taunted me with the explosives, even though Theo heard they have them. Not sure by who, butsomeonehad to have seen them to spread rumours about them, right? I need to get eyes on them, to verify they exist. Those explosives are the only reason I’m still standing up here, engaging with these bastards instead of helping Theo and Alex fight.
I grind my teeth together and force myself to appear relaxed. “I told you before, Luke. We’re not taking your offer. Now how about you fuck off back to whatever hole you crawled out of.” Maybe if I goad him enough, he’ll show them to me. Or he’ll shoot all of us dead for insulting him.
Although that he hasn’t shot at us yet leads me to think he doesn’t want us dead. At least not yet. No, he wants something. I’m just not sure what.
Ollie stiffens beside me and I can practically hear her screamingwhat the fuck are you doing?in her head at me. However, she stays quiet and I can’t help but brush my fingers against her arm, a silent thanks for her trusting me even though this plan is risky as fuck. Not unlike half the shit she comes up with, to be honest.
Luke cocks an eyebrow but otherwise doesn’t rise to the bait. “Tough words coming from a guy hiding behind a wall while his people are getting shot at.”
I can’t help but snort. “If that’s your attempt to goad me into somehow giving up my position, it’s pathetic. My ego isn’t nearly that fragile. Especially when all I need to do to end this is to shootyou.” I raise my rifle.
Several Scourge around him shout out in alarm, with some even trying to place themselves between him and my gun. Luke, however, like the crazy bastard that he is, just laughs.
“Do you seriously think I came here not expecting this?” There’s a dangerous glint in his eyes as he grins at me. “I’m not that stupid. So I’ll tell you this once; you shoot me and that pretty woman by your side has her head blown off. On a completely unrelated note, did you know Mark was a sniper for the Army?” To punctuate his threat, a red dot appears on Ollie’s forehead.
My stomach drops. Ollie freezes next to me, her breath catching in her throat, and pure terror flashes across her face.
Fuck.
I drop my rifle and the red dot disappears from Ollie’s head.
“That’s what I thought,” Luke chuckles and the men around him relax. “It’s always good to have contingency plans in place, just in case. You never know what will cause someone to fuck up.” He shrugs, themovement causing his coat to open, revealing a handgun and… nothing else.
No pipe bombs or explosives in sight.
My eyes flick to his men. While there’s a chance one of them could have them… my gut is telling me Luke isn’t the type to give that responsibility to anyone other than himself. Besides, every single man behind him is wielding some sort of weapon; from cricket bats and golf clubs to pistols, hunting rifles and shotguns. Everyone has their hands full, making it even less likely for them to have explosives.
But this makes no sense. Why would someone spread the word that they had explosives if they didn’t? Unless it was to keep me here…
Dread sinks in my stomach like a stone. Something big is about to happen, something they wanted to keep me away from.
I whirl around from Luke and the Scourge and grab Ollie’s arm. “We need to leave,” I tell her, my heart pounding against my chest.
Her eyes widen. “What about them?” she asks as I drag her to the ladder.
“Ignore them. They can’t get through the gate and they’re purposefully keeping us here.”
“But I thought they had explosives?”
“Someone lied.”And betrayed us. I need to find out who they are because they might be how the Scourge got inside Haven.
I shove her down the ladder and turn to the security guard still left in the tower. “Keep an eye on them but stay out of view as much as possible. If they try to attack or move towards the gate, ring the bell and run.”
The guy nods and goes to do what I ask, using the wooden wall to crouch behind and peering through the small holes we drilled through the reinforced wood to keep watch. Satisfied that he’ll follow orders, I hurry after Ollie, who’s standing at the bottom of the ladder.
“So what’s the plan?” she asks with a confused frown on her face.
“We go help Alex and Theo and then find out who spread the information on the Scourge and their weaponry.” That should narrow downwhich hidden exit has been compromised since the only people who know all four of them are me, Alex and Theo. The Council knows two of them, and certain members of the security team know another. The fourth is one only the three of us know about.
Ollie and I hurry away from the gate and into a lightly forested area on the outskirts of Haven, keeping the wall to our left. I’m desperate to check the hidden exits, but the panicked shouts and screams from our people urge me onward. Once the Scourge have been cleared from Haven, we can hunt down our traitor.
