Tyler hears it too, his entire demeanor shifting from alert to deadly.
“Take the one on the left.” A lethal calm threads through his whisper.
My chin lowers and we split apart abruptly.
I drop into a crouch and advance through the shadows between stacked pallets while rainwater splashes against my boots. My breathing stabilizes automatically.
The world narrows.
The closer they get, the quieter everything inside me becomes.
One of the guards takes another drag from his vape while the flashlight bounces aimlessly, the light reflecting off the wet ground.
“Seriously, man,” he snickers. “That blonde is making these idiots spend thousands tonight.”
Rage bursts hot beneath my ribs.
The moment they pass my position, I strike and explode from behind the pallets and hit the first guard with enough force to drive him sideways into the containers.
The umbrella flies from his hand.
Before he can make a sound, my knife punches into his stomach.
His mouth gapes, stunned.
I rotate the blade viciously.
Simultaneously, Tyler grabs the second guard from behind and fires a suppressed round into the base of his skull.
The shot vanishes into the storm before the echo can emerge.
My guard topples backward, gasping.
I seize him by the collar of his shirt and shove him against the metal container wall.
“You think this is funny?” I snarl.
Blood bubbles from his lips without delay.
Awareness dawns on him before fear takes over his face completely.
“Wait—”
I plunge my knife into his shoulder before he can finish.
His scream tears through the storm.
Tyler’s head snaps toward me.
“Reap.”
I can only make out fragments of his words.
My heart is pounding louder than the thunder.
The guard whimpers as I thrust the blade in deeper.
“You stood outside while they screamed in there.”
