“Alright, Tobias, you’re volunteered yourself for distraction duty,” I say, patting him on the shoulder. “Make sure that the guys next to the house aren’t looking our way while we’re busy killing them off.”
His eyes open so wide I can see the whites of his eyeballs in the moonlight. “You can’t be serious! Are you trying to get me murdered?”
“You’ll be fine, just play it smart.” I’m sure that since he and Ollie share genetics, he’ll have enough brains and bravery to think of a way to keep himself safe while distracting them.
Alex sighs, taking pity on the man. “Do you want to swap with me?” he asks. “I don’t mind playing distraction just as long as you know you’re going to be slitting people’s throats if you go with Theo. It’s probably going to be messy and just as dangerous.”
Tobias blanches. “Never mind. I’ll play distraction.”
“Good choice,” Alex says as he claps him on the shoulder. “Give us fifteen minutes to get into position before you start and try not to die.”
“Right.” He hesitates. “I don’t think I need to tell you this, but my sister will kick my ass if either of you die during this, so just… don’t die either.”
“We’ll be fine,” I say before he slinks off into the darkness. I watch him go before turning to Alex. “You ready for this?”
He nods curtly. “I’m ready to have Ollie back in my arms.”
Same. “Alright, time to get our girl.”
It takes us tenminutes to sneak around before we’re finally able to see both the door and our prey.
Harlow, like the good dog she is, stays quiet and low to the ground, eagerly following Alex’s silent commands as if they’ve been training together for years. I’m pretty sure she’s the only thing that’s kept him sane since Ollie and Rhys’s kidnapping.
We’re crouched behind an abandoned tractor as the small group of Scourge members stand guard outside the door to the building where Ollie and Rhys are. They talk quietly as they stand to attention like some wannabe idiots playing soldiers with their weapons ready at a moment’s notice. I’m relieved to see that Luke isn’t here.
Maybe we can actually get away with this hare-brained scheme.
Alex nudges my arm, drawing my attention to him. He points to the left of the tractor and then at me before pointing to himself and then to the right. His message is clear; I go left and he goes right.
I nod and give him a thumbs-up before slinking to the left side of the tractor while sliding my knife out of its sheath. My heart pounds against my chest as that heady mix of adrenaline and fear surges through my veins. When Tobias finally unleashes his distraction, we’re going to need to strike hard and fast before they can react and turn the fight.
Waiting those last few minutes for the distraction is almost torture. I just want to get this over with so I can have Ollie back.
“Come on, come on,” I mutter under my breath as my hand tightens around the handle of my knife. And then I hear it.
It starts as low, confused murmurs from the group next to the ruined house, but those quickly turn into shouts of alarm. A gunshot blasts in the night, causing our targets to jerk in surprise and look at each other nervously.
“One of us should see what’s happening,” one guy says as he shifts nervously from foot to foot. The others remain quiet, causing him to sigh in resignation. “Fine, I’ll go.”
He stomps off, disappearing around the side of the outbuilding.
I catch Alex’s eye from the other side of the tractor. He’s poised and ready to strike, a predatory gleam in his eyes that mirrors my own. Henods once and holds up his hand, counting down from five all the way to one.
As soon as that final finger drops, we explode into action.
I clap my hand over the mouth of the nearest man and savagely rake my knife against his throat. Blood bursts from the wound as he gurgles and gasps while feebly fighting against my hold. I drop him and step over his body, my focus on the next man who’s staring at his dying friend in shock.
He has no time to react before I’m on him. The cut to his throat is much less precise than on the first guy, digging deeper than I intended and causing his blood to spray in a wide arc, only barely missing me. As he slumps against me, his fight draining along with his life, I glance over at Alex.
The ex-rugby player looks like a terrifying ancient Viking, grinning manically and covered in gore as he drops the body of the man he just killed. There’s not a flicker of remorse or hesitation in his eyes as he zeroes in on his next target.
I’m concerned, especially since he’s terrified of becoming like his father. Not that he’s ever been capable of that. But now isn’t the time or the place for this conversation, not when we still have two more men to kill.
These last two put up more of a fight, with one of them having enough time to bring up his gun. Luckily his aim is shit, so Alex and I jump out of the way as the deafening crack of his gun echoes in the night. The other wields a barbed-wire covered bat that he gleefully swings in Alex’s direction. Alex ducks and before the guy can swing again, he grabs him and ends his life with a savage stab to the throat.
That just leaves one guy alive.
I see the moment he realises because his eyes widen and his hands tremble on his gun as he aims to take another shot. But I don’t lethim get that far, closing the distance between us with brutal efficiency and slashing the knife across his throat. And then it’s just me and Alex amongst a pile of dead bodies with shouts and gunshots echoing in the background.
