Page 121 of The Merciless King

He has a clean shot.

Gianna, I love you. I’m sorry I never told you.

––––––––

IF I HAD five more minutes in my life, I’d spend them with her. Telling her I loved her. I just want one more minute. To say goodbye.

But the aim is clear. Dante will not miss. I can see this man is a deadly killer.

Then he lowers his fucking gun, turns, and runs.

What. Just. Happened?

“Get down, get down, get down!” someone yells as I pull my weapon out and crawl toward a couple of empty crates to take cover.

More tactical men fill the warehouse as the women below begin screaming loudly.

Amy.

I duck my head as a bullet flies over it, missing me by inches.

“Motherfucker,” I cry. Fuck, this is chaos.

Where the hell is Gianna?

Connor skids to a stop near me and crouches, tossing me a bulletproof vest. “Put it on.”

“Thanks,” I say, tugging it over my head as he covers me, letting off some shots. “They’re downstairs. The women.”

“FBI aren’t here yet.”

Why the fuck not?

“What?” I yell over the gunfire and lift, taking out a Baldassare soldier about to target Nathan.

Mack waves out his arm and we drop. Smokes fills the warehouse as I cover my mouth with my shirt.

Connor holds up his hand to me. Five.

Five minutes? The FBI is five whole minutes away? That’s a fucking eternity in a situation like this.

What the hell happened? They were supposed to be here.

The gunfire stops—nobody is shooting into the smoke—so Connor and I climb out from behind the crates. I grab a rifle that’s dropped on the ground and run downstairs.

“Wait,” Decker says from behind me. I turn, staring at him in question. “Don’t open the cell doors.”

He’s staring at the women trying to hide his disgust, but it would take a cold man to achieve that.

“Braxton!” I hear Amy’s call and turn.

“We have to let them out,” I yell back at Decker.

“Trust me. Wait for the feds.” He lays a heavy hand on my shoulder. “They’re in shock and will run. Not my first fucking rodeo, pal.”

Plus, there is gunfire above us.

Shit, he’s right.

---