Page 2 of Last Destination

Ten feet from Nikki’s position was too far to grab his gun without risking Clube de Morte in the crossfire. I would have to use a shield.

Using Captain Adams was my preference. The sniveling puxa-saco scrambled to the bushes’ edge and hovered there, tears flowing like rivers instead of protecting his crew. He would not be a loss to this world, but I would not take my captain’s decision away from her. Jamie owed her penance, and she would demand it on her own.

There was only one option.

Brooks’ body toppled toward Diaz. Before Diaz could push their mangled form out of his line of fire, I leaped and propelled myself forward, catching their body before it hit the earth. I pulled it across my torso as a shield, one forearm clamped across the mangled chest cavity where a heart used to beat. My head remained protected against the back of their skull. The tangy, sweet scent of blood filled my senses as the warm, sticky residue of life seeped through my clothing.

Diaz had not expected the move. His steps faltered and soulless eyes widened as Man and Meatsuit stepped toward him. I would have smiled if my gang were not in danger. I was Frankenstein, a monster made from man. The brief flicker of dread in the soon-dead man’s stare was enough to confirm it.

The element of surprise could be a killer’s best weapon. Today, it was my only weapon.

Instead of backing away with my armor, I surged forward, using the weight of two bodies to push against Diaz and overset him. The gun went off again at his side, and a warm gush of fluid seeped against my thigh, but it was not my own.

We landed in a heap of limbs. Removing my forearm from Brooks’, I pushed upward by pressing down across their shoulder blades and my thighs clamped on either side of their hips, and captured hands, fully pinning Diaz in place with Brooks’ body as a cage. His wretched gags of revulsion were music to my ears as the piss-poor excuse for a human being writhed beneath his own carnage.

Movement rustled to my right. Nikki’s elegant fingers offered me the revolver with the shell-shocked expression of a haunted man. My chameleon, my right hand, there when I needed him most.

Dipping my head in thanks, I palmed the warm metal in my right hand and drew a breath of fetid air.

“I fucking hate you, cabrón.” I repeated his earlier words. “Snakes will feast on your body, birds will pick your bones clean, and you will be remembered as a pathetic puxa-saco, if you will be remembered at all. Pagemento em morte.”

Payment in death. Clube de Morte’s final parting words.

I released my grip on one shoulder and pressed the weapon to his temple, cocking the hammer with a satisfying snip. Shifting Brooks’ body to cover as much of the back spray as possible, I pulled the trigger.

The high-pitched trill filled my ears as cool flecks of tissue escaped from the cover of Brooks’ body. The light escaped Diaz’s eyes, replaced with shattered bone and a pool of crimson, a fitting end to the life of a coward.

The anger dissipated from my body as his soul flowed straight to hell.

Pushing off the pile of human flesh, I rose to my feet, returning the gun into Nikki’s limp hand. A single tear slid down his cheek beneath the shattered lens of his glasses. He swallowed thickly and tightened his grip on the weapon before shoving it back into his pocket.

Ambrose rose, the back of his head and shoulders covered in the spatter of Brooks’ blood. Marley’s ashen face peeked out from beneath his cover, her forehead dotted with thick red droplets like carelessly thrown paint.

The jungle became a silent tomb while my ears recovered from the backfire, but Tessa’s sobs rose over the din. My ángel stumbled to her feet and rushed to her side, pulling the smaller woman into her ample chest to soothe her.

I wanted to bury my face in that chest, to hear her heartbeat and feel the softness of her skin. But my ángel was angry with me, and hurting. My retreat had caused her pain.

It had not escaped my notice Vanessa and Danny were no longer here, two more bodies given up to the jungle.

“Are you okay, man?” Ambrose’s American cadence broke through the still fuzzy layer of sound filtering through my skull.

My gaze roamed up my body from foot to head. My jeans had absorbed much of the blood, clinging to my thighs in a sticky suction. White fluff and pink jelly coated my shirt and leather jacket. The stench of death was familiar, pungent and rancid, with a vinegary sweetness that coated the back of my tongue.

My shoulder tingled and pulled with every movement, but the gash was not new. I’d been spared from a gunshot wound.

“I am okay.” Solemnly, I dipped my head in reassurance before seeking Marley and Nikki once again.

Nikki knelt next to the traitor, speaking in low tones, while my ángel’s green gaze flicked over my features as she rocked Tessa back and forth as if she were a child.

“I’m glad you came back.” Her lips quivered, matching the shake of Tessa’s shoulders. “But why did you leave?”

Her words were barely a whisper, but the pain in them screamed loudly. I had struck a nerve more forcefully than I realized with my competent captain. My error in judgment had caused her great pain. It was not just Jamie who would have to beg her forgiveness.

“I need to get clean.” I left my gang to comfort themselves and made my way through thick ferns and exposed tree roots down to the river. The water no longer roared with vengeance but remained several feet deep, eddies forming small swirling pools at the base of the cove where we had once slept. One misstep forced me to slide downhill several feet in thick mud before regaining my footing.

At the river’s edge, I untied the laces of my boots and tucked them beneath a leafy bush to protect them from getting soaked. I stripped naked, peeling off each filthy layer, and hung my clothes on a heavy tree limb to wash once my body was clean.

The water cooled my skin, in silky contrast with the viscous layer of blood. Just a few feet from shore, I was almost up to my shoulders. I stepped out further and submerged my head under the water, squeezing my eyes and mouth shut and floating just beneath the surface.