Page 75 of Come Fill Me

With her vehicle in drive, she continued forward, into the night.

“Do you see her?” Jacob whispered.

Zeke huddled closer to the corner of the wall, sneaking a peek around it. There Kele was…three-fourths of the way down the hall. The prick behind her had gripped her hair so hard she had to lift her face to the ceiling, exposing her throat. Even from where he was, Zeke could see bruising on her neck.

He wanted to feel sorry for her and might, once his fury had passed. This was what she did when she loved someone, getting her people killed? Did she honestly believe Jacob was going to want her after this?

If he survived tonight.

Zeke shivered at the thought. He drove it away, refusing to consider that anything would happen to his brother. So far, they’d been lucky. Neither of them was hit, nor had any of their other men been injured, except for poor Samuel. Ike had radioed that he and Aaron had taken down several of Carreon’s men who’d broken away from this group to search the numerous halls and rooms.

“Is she there?” Jacob asked.

Zeke nodded then clamped his hand on Jacob’s arm, keeping him from moving. He whispered, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“If she sees me, she’ll do whatever I say, just like we practiced during the drills you made us take. It’ll give us a chance to fire on Carreon’s men.”

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no’?” Jacob argued. “If we wait for them to reach us, we’re going to be dead. We’ll lose the element of surprise.”

No shit. Zeke dug his fingers into his brother’s arm, refusing to let go. “I’ll do it.”

“She won’t listen to you.”

That was a chance he’d have to take.

“You’ll get shot,” Jacob argued.

Another chance he’d face. “Stay here,” Zeke whispered then shoved Jacob.

His brother lost his balance, his ass hitting the floor. Before Jacob could scramble back to his knees or get to his feet, Zeke was on his, rounding the corner.

The man who held Kele stopped. He must have loosened his grip on her hair because she lowered her face and stared, her expression as unbelieving as her captor’s.

Their surprise wouldn’t last forever. Zeke figured he had another second at most before countless bullets tore into him.“Down!” he shouted.

Kele went limp, dropping to her knees, then to her belly as he’d trained her and the other women to do in situations like this. The man holding Kele’s hair hadn’t let go so he also fell to his knees.

Zeke fired first, putting a bullet in the SOB’s forehead. The man behind him got one in his neck. As the others scattered, hiding behind the doors they’d shot open, Zeke lowered his other assault weapon and kicked it down the hall.

Kele stopped trying to pull her captor’s weapon from beneath his body and reached for the one Zeke had just provided. He dropped to one knee and fired, giving her cover. With the assault rifle in hand, she rolled to her back and sprayed the area behind her with bullets.

One of the men fell forward, his bloodied body halfway out of the room he’d hidden in.

She swung the weapon’s muzzle from side to side, taking in as much area as she could, firing repeatedly as she used the heels of her feet to scoot back toward him and Jacob.

Zeke flinched at the sudden report of gunfire coming from above and behind him.

Jacob. Fuck.

“Get down,” Zeke shouted at his brother.

He didn’t heed the advice, picking off one of the men who’d been foolish enough to lean out of his doorway to fire. The man’s weapon clattered to the floor. A split second later, his lifeless body fell on top of it.

“Bastard,” Jacob growled. “That’ll fucking teach you.”

“Dammit, get down!” Zeke yelled.

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