Page 121 of The Wrecked One

It didn’t matter. They were outnumbered. And they’d have to stand there and wait for the clock to wind down those three minutes before they could come for us.

I shook my head, not too shocked that Stef had left his son behind without so much as glancing back at Hugo, still laid out in the ring. Keeping Sly alive must’ve been his contingency plan if Hugo lost.

My dad offered his hand as Jesse and Mason joined us in the cage, squaring off with the bodyguards now in there, too, waiting for the moment they could get to work and take them down.

From the corner of my eye, I noted the rest of Falcon moving into action as planned, leaving to head for our hidden weapons. But Mya was still standing outside the ring like a statue as Sydney tried to pull her away.

“Go,” I begged. “And you, too, Dad. You should already be gone.” I checked the timer on the screen. Ninety seconds until we were allowed to fight again, but that was assuming Stef didn’t order his side to abandon the rules given what happened to Hugo.

“Oliver.” Mya’s soft voice hit my ears.

“Please, go,” I pleaded, my voice breaking as I held my shoulder. “I love you,” I called out to her just before Sydney forced her out the door, thank God.

“Don’t leave her side, not for a second,” I directed to my father, trying not to get choked up while letting go of my bad arm. “If anything happens to me, though, you . . .”

“Nothing will happen. Now go kick some more ass.” Dad slapped my good arm, gave me a confident nod, then hurried from the cage, disappearing in the direction I’d last seen Mya.

“You solid?” Jesse asked, keeping an eye on the clock while Mason remained focused on the bodyguards as time dwindled down to less than ten seconds.

Nicholas was still looking on, an eager crowd gathered behind him at the bar.

God, this was some fucked-up shit.

The pain in my body was starting to catch up with me now that the adrenaline rush had worn off.

“I’ll be better when Mya’s off this island,” I said under my breath just as the timer went off.

Jesse didn’t hesitate, quickly neutralizing his target as Mason followed suit with his mark and I kept watch to ensure we didn’t have any surprise visitors. As phase two had barely begun, I doubted Soren’s men had made it onto the island already, but I wouldn’t put anything past them.

Once both bodyguards were lights-out, Jesse went over to Hugo, in preparation to drag him out.

We’d had three plans set in place based on the outcome of the fight, and I was relieved we were falling back on plan A. My knockout win meant we’d be taking Hugo with us. We needed him alive for questioning. He’d die at some point, and if I was lucky, it’d be by my hand.

“We should get—” Loud back-to-back booms, sounding a lot like fireworks, came from outside. But this was no fucking victory celebration. “Mya!” I yelled on instinct, fear gripping hold of me.

The three of us rushed from the cage, leaving Hugo there. I took off in a sprint for the door with zero regard for what I’d find on the other side of it and not remotely giving a damn I was shoeless and only in shorts. I had to make sure Mya and the others were okay.

Mason swung the main door open and we hurried outside to find a Reaper engulfed in flames. The drone had crashed a hundred feet or so away. Looked like the Sorens had opted to violate Nicholas’s rules and take out the overhead protection, more than likely with the help of that CIA fuck.

“The smaller camera drones have been taken out, too.” Mason pointed to two other burning objects.

The surrounding area was empty, and I hoped to God that meant Mya and the others safely made it to their positions.

“Why in the hell would they take down the Reaper?”

Jesse did a three-sixty, looking around for potential snipers. I doubted they would be in overwatch positions yet, not unless they snuck on the island early. Then again, Wyatt had planned to do that very thing.

“I get the cameras and wanting to kill signals, but don’t the Sorens realize what they just did taking down the drone?”

“How could they not know they’d open Pandora’s box with that move, and we’d have no choice but to protect the skies by calling in the Air Force for backup?” Mason gestured for the door, reminding us we still had to complete our part of the mission and secure one of the Sorens to take with us for questioning.

But then a thought hit me, and I went stock-still. “Because it wasn’t the Sorens who did this.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Mason nodded in agreement, reading my thoughts. “I guess we’re skipping to the emergency plan. We need to get Hugo before it begins raining RPGs on us.”

He opened the door just as Jesse yelled out, “Incoming.”

Mason let go of the door, and I wasn’t sure what in God’s name he was thinking, but he shoved Jesse and me off to his side, throwing himself on top of us as a human shield before the building blew up.

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