Page 58 of Knot All Is Ruined: Part 1

“Yes, sir,” Cris answered.

Toma gave a thumbs up. “Got it.”

“I’m not planning on dying today,” Victor muttered.

“Yeah, not gonna question that order,” I said, shivering at the thought of being blown up.

“I want to split up into three teams. Victor, with Toma, we need to make sure he gets to the control room no matter what. Petru, I want you with Dani coming in from the east side of the building. Tru, you should be able to work your way through the tall grass and scope the place out before crossing the open land to the plant operations building. Cris and I will come at it from the west. Once Tru and I give the signal that the coast is clear, Victor, you and Toma make your move, and we’ll cover you if anything happens,” Sorin instructed, laying out the plan with practiced ease. “Gear up, stay sharp, and watch each other's backs.”

Chapter thirty-one

With that final order, the guys instantly started on their routine. Guns were checked to ensure their ammo was full, knives strapped to the hip, comms placed on our ears, and emergency packs strapped to their belts. Cris and Toma double-checked their specialty kits before shouldering their backpacks and clipping them tight to their body. Petru walked over and threaded a belt with a holster on for me and tugged the thigh strap so it was snug but didn’t hinder movement.

We’d just started working on how to pull a gun from a thigh holster in training. I knew the feel but it was still odd. This holster also had a place for a knife as well. The blade was wicked sharp and I’d only ever handled a wooden one so I would know how not to slice myself open when having it on me. I was beginning to see how much I still had to learn and how little I knew.

“Do your own equipment check for me,” Petru instructed, as he passed me the handgun I’d been assigned.

This part I was confident in. The number of times Petru had me do this during all our sessions made it reflexive. Now I understood what he meant about needing a solid foundation to build off of. Understanding one part made it easier to flow into another and add on as my skills grew. Finished with my check, I placed it in the holster and continued making sure I had the two extra magazines of ammo in the pouch. Normally there would be a few other things, but since we hadn’t covered grenades and flashbangs, I wasn’t allowed to carry those. Which I didn’t argue about.

“Equipment checked and ready,” I announced.

“Nicely done, Wildflower,” Petru praised as he shouldered his sniper rifle. “Stay behind me and be as quiet as you can. I’ll be using hand signals to communicate. If you see something or need to get my attention, tap on my arm twice.”

“Understood,” I said, having learned to always give a verbal affirmative when given an order or instruction.

Petru smiled and squeezed my shoulder before giving the signal to move out and taking off at a steady jog. All the men in this unit had irritatingly long legs, and while I wasn’t short, I didn’t cover the same amount of ground they could. So a simple, easy jog for Petru was more like a run for me, but thankfully, all the daily conditioning and runs helped immensely. We were able to stay in the grove of trees for a bit, then he called a halt as we came to a chunk of open space before heading into the tall prairie grass. Both of us pulled out our binoculars and searched the area for any signs of movement or someone having passed through here.

This was one area I was still incredibly novice in. I understood the theory of the matter, but noticing if grass had been trampled or branches had been snapped from such a distance wasn’t easy to spot. Petru and Victor were the best at this in the unit, so while I doubted my skills, I trusted his. After a few minutes, there was a tap on my shoulder and we were on the move. I thought being in the tall grass would be helpful and keep us hidden from view. What I didn’t count on was the fact you couldn’t fucking see anything. Crouched low and moving like a little gremlin, I had no way of knowing if we were even heading in the right direction. The sound of the rushing river grew much louder and that’s when I realized what Petru was doing. Using the sound and keeping it on his right as we moved forward would lead us right where we needed to be.

“West is clear,” Sorin whispered over the comms, nearly making me jump out of my skin.

I’d all but forgotten the damn thing was in my ear. Petru, on the other hand, didn’t even flinch as he kept his sure steady pace forward. I drifted after him, walking in the path he made in the grass, remembering it helped to disguise the number of people in the group. Being so focused on my surroundings and keeping up, I almost ran into the man when he came to a sudden halt. Backing up a step I dropped to my knee and rested a hand on my gun, glancing in the direction the Alpha was. Petru motioned for me to stay where I was as he took his rifle in hand, looking at something through the scope. A growl caught my attention and I realized it was coming from Petru.

Lowering the gun, he tapped on his comm. “Guys, I’m seeing a Southern military vehicle stashed behind some rocks. It’s one of those all-terrain two-seaters.”

“Do you see any sign of someone around it?” Sorin asked.

“Negative, but if you want me to check it out, I can. It’s not too far off course,” Petru offered.

“Stick to the original plan. We need to get Toma in that control room. Once the coast is clear and he’s inside with Victor, double back and check it out,” Sorin ordered. “At least we know there might be two people to watch out for.”

“Roger that,” Petru acknowledged and silenced his comm.

With a flick of his fingers, we were on the move as he shouldered his weapon once more. It was only another few minutes before we came to another halt. Only, this time I could see the plant building right in front of us. Shifting to catch my eye, Petru instructed me to go left, closer to the river, and scout while he went right. He tapped his ear twice, telling me to signal with it if I found anything. I signaled my understanding and headed off to do my part. With the river blocking anyone from sneaking up on us from that direction, it made sense he would have to check it out. The grass became shorter and didn’t offer as much coverage the closer I got to the water. When I was on the edge of being fully exposed, I dropped to a knee and lifted my binoculars.

This was my first look at the river I’d been listening to this whole time. It wasn’t at all what I thought of when I pictured a river. The water was moving so fast that it had white caps and the roar was deafening this close even as I was still ten feet from the edge. I could see why they wanted to build the power station here since I could only imagine how much energy was created with its speed. The fact that the river was also a good two miles wide made it impossible for anyone to use as a way to get access to the plant itself, so if attacked, it could only happen from the direction we came. Not seeing anything that would cause me to believe anyone was lying in wait or another vehicle had driven through, I headed back.

Keeping an eye that the building was where it should be, I retraced my path through the grass. The sound of something rustling to my right had me freezing in place. Dropping low, I undid the strap holding my gun securely in the holster and listened. Closing my eyes, I tried to focus on the sounds other than the roar of the river. The sound of a stone being kicked came from ahead, another rustle to my right, and then the sound of a foot scuffing softly on the dirt behind me.

Fuck, I was surrounded. My only hope was that the person ahead of me was Petru, who would be close enough to help. Reaching up to my comm, I taped it twice then followed it up with the signal that I was in danger. Seconds later, someone leapt out at me from the grass, slamming me to the ground. Trying to make sense of what was happening, I thrust out with my knee and connected with the person making them grunt. Thrashing, I managed to get an arm free and smashed it into the closest body part I could. It happened to be their chest and while it didn’t do much, it would leave one hell of a bruise and got them to loosen their hold on me.

Scrabbling back, I caught sight of who it was. “Draza.”

“Hello, little Omega bitch,” he sneered, pulling out his knife. “Looks like there’s no one to save you from me this time. I think it’s time you and I had a little fun as I pay you back for everything you’ve done to me.”

Twisting, I reached for my gun and aimed it at the crazed man before me. My hand started to shake as he advanced upon me making it hard to hold the damn thing steady.

“Aww, looks like you’re not as brave as you keep pretending to be. See, that’s the thing about bitches, you can never trust them to follow through when it comes to the dirty work. They just don’t have the stomach for it,” Draza taunted.