Page 122 of Beyond the Rules

My gaze shifted between them. I saw the determination steeling their faces, the affection gleaming in their eyes. These were the fierce soldiers who’d survived war, pain, and grief to rebuild their lives. The unsung heroes who went to hell and back to keep the world safe. The same brave warriors who were willing to challenge convention to build a future with me, despite my cowardice, my flaws, and my fears. They were not going to run away. They were willing to die.Forme.

I wasn’t going to get them killed. Not tonight. Not ever. I couldn’t allow the uneven exchange. They’d come to protect me. But I was going to protect them. Their lives were worth everythingtome.

“They’re wrong.” I filled my lungs with breath and met Dimayev’s cold gaze. “I’mUlysses.”

“A woman?” Dimayev’s eyes narrowed, but his jaw faltered and his lipsflapped. “You?”

“Yes, me,” I said. “And you’re shit outofluck.”

I leaned back and let gravity do the rest. I tumbled over the guardrail, dropped from the bridge and hit the water back first. The impact hurt. The cold stung my senses. The water enfolded me in a dark embrace and carried me downstream as if it were a living thing, intent on delivering me to myfinalfate.

* * *

Tanner

I saw it happen in slow motion. She just leaned away from Dimayev’s gun and then she was gone. Gone. The rage exploded in me. I pulled my handgun from the back of my pants and, diving behind the bulk of a shredded tire, started shooting. One of Dimayev’s men took the bullet I’d meant for him. Didn’t matter. I had eleven rounds left in my gun and they all had Dimayev’s nameonit.

“Listen up.” The stern voice in my ear shook me out of my killing mode. I took in the battlefield and located Zar, crouching behind the hood of the Suburban, taking heavy fire from Dimayev’s thugs, and then found Aiden, pinned down without his weapon on the opposite side ofthecar.

“Aiden, go get Nina.” Zar’s commands came through the coms, clear and curt, cutting through the racket. “Tanner, get to the oldbridge.”

For an entire millisecond, I hesitated. We couldn’t leave Zar behind. But then there was Nina, and I saw the Hail Mary in Zar’s strategy, the hope, however small, that she’d survived the drop and we could locate her in the rushingwater.

“That’s an order,soldiers.”

I clicked on my coms. “Whataboutyou?”

“I’ve got this,” Zar said. “Dimayev is mine.Go.NOW.”

* * *

Aiden

I slid my Ka-Bar out of my boot and tackled the man standing between me and the guardrail. I stabbed the blade into his liver and, dropping him to the ground, vaulted over the railing. An order was an order, but every fiber in my being screamed to follow Zar’s. I’d made Nina a promise. I was gonna hang onto her no matter what and I was never, ever leaving her behind. As I dove behind the railing, I wasn’t deserting my brothers. I was giving them—us—a reason to fight, tosurvive.

Dodging bullets, I squinted into the river. The moon illuminated the water, running high and fast. Up at the bend, I spotted a round shape bobbing. A head,maybe.Nina?

I dropped down from the bridge, crossed my arms over my chest, and hit the water crossed feet first. I started swimming right away, assessing the flow as I rode the river’s strongest currents. I was now fighting several new enemies: hypothermia, the river rapids, and the falls beyond the old bridge. Nina could be killed by any of those. Panic killed, too. My heart squeezed. Nina was terrified of thewater.

I struggled to keep my bearings as I approached the rapids. The water foamed over and around the rocks. I got hammered, even as I placed my legs ahead of me through the whitewater. Dammit. Nina was likely getting a good beating. If she gotknockedout…

I rode the flow out of the rapids and caught sight of some splashing on the tamer waters ahead. I knew I had sixty seconds, maybe less before I hit the next set of rapids. After that the river narrowed into the gorge and the whitewater turned class five, right before the old bridge and the falls. Anybody seeing the falls up close and personal wasfucked.

Objective number one: get to Nina. Objective number two: stay alive. Objective number three: get out of the river before the falls.Looking pretty grim, Black. Didn’t matter. Grim I could survive. Nina’sloss?No.

I swam for her life.Andours.

Chapter35

Nina

The rapids thrashed me as if I were trapped in a washing machine. I remembered my swimming lessons. I tried to keep my feet ahead of me and my head above water, but it wasn’t easy with my hands tied behind my back and the current furiously pounding me. Once again, I sank below the surface. The water poured down my throat and invaded my airways. Desperation. I wondered why I was delaying theinevitable.

Godddamit, Nina, kick. I had three good reasonstolive.

I broke through the surface and heaved a frantic gulp of air. My legs were growing heavy. The water was painfully cold and I couldn’t feel my hands and feet anymore. But as I started to sink again, I felt a yank. Something grabbed hold of my skirt and then a pair of strong arms came around me, lifting me up toward the light ofthemoon.

Air. Stars. I craned my neck. Aiden, clutching me by thewaist.

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