Page 53 of The Queen's Serpent

Chapter twenty-nine

Diego

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

Lao Tzu

One moment, I’m sitting down to dinner alone in my den, as far away as I can get from the woman who makes my heart ache, and drives me insane simultaneously, and in the next second, parts of the glass ceiling are falling down around me, with an explosion from outside of the compound.

My skin stings as some of the smaller pieces of glass become embedded in my arms, and the back of my neck, which are exposed by my black t-shirt, and my ears ring loudly, forcing me to raise my hands to cover them. I race to my feet and stumble to the window, only to see the darkening sky lit.Holy fuck, they are setting everything on fire!

It looks like a war has broken out in my courtyard, with my men running in every direction, carrying weapons and firing back at the intruders. Who the fuck has found us? Could it be one of the other cartels, or is this Stella Stratford and the mercenaries she has waved a pot of gold at?

Another massive bang sounds from further within the compound, and has me running out of the den and toward my bedroom, where I know Issy was sleeping.Fuck, I have to get to her now, I have to protect her at all costs.I push debris out of my way, bile racing up my throat with the fear that threatens tochoke me, as I try to maneuver down the hallway, and past my men rushing past me.

“Who the fuck is attacking us?” I yell, but the sounds of gunfire drown out my voice.

I grab one of my men by their shirt and pull him towards me. He’s covered in blood and debris, and his eyes are prominent in his head. “Who’s attacking us? Where is Santiago?”

“Jefe, mercenaries, they have surrounded the compound and are firing rockets at us, and shooting anyone who is outdoors. They have killed most of the men who were on patrol.”

Mercenaries means they’re Stella’s men, fuck, why are they throwing rockets at us? Do they want to risk killing Issy along with us? There is no way that Stella authorized that. She would never risk injuring her granddaughter. That means some of them have gone rogue, and are willing to kill all of us. FUCK!

I push the man away and race down the hallway, reaching the door to my bedroom at the exact moment another bomb goes off. I hear the windows shatter, and the walls let out massive creaks. I force myself past the door; a scream logged in my throat as I take in the destruction before me. The bed is on fire, the ceiling has caved in where it leads to the washroom, and glass is everywhere.

Panic fills me as I search for Issy, flipping broken items out of my way and trying to find her underneath them.Please be alive, please be safe.I keep the mantra going in my mind, refusing to allow the possibility that she may be hurt or dead to register. I run into the bathroom, where further destruction greets my eyes, but other than the chaos, I don’t spy myPrincesa.

“ISSY! ISSY, WHERE ARE YOU?” I scream until my voice becomes hoarse, as I once again search the bedroom. The sounds of panicked men greet my ears, as the gunfire gets closer to the compound. Fuck, they will be upon us shortly. I have to organize my men and push them back, or we will be overrun.

With no signs of Issy in the room, I dash back into the hallway, yanking on whatever man crosses my path, and trying to get as many of them to follow me as possible. I frantically search all the faces around me, but still don’t lay eyes on Santiago or Issy. My only hope is that he was able to get to her first, and has her hidden and protected.

“How many are out there? Do we have a number? How many of our men are still standing from guard duty?” I roar my questions at my men, some of whom are already showing signs of battle.

“Jefe,at least ten or more are dead out there. They managed to get the drop on us silently coming in from the jungle and, without warning, launching rockets at the compound,“ Miguel replies.

“Has anyone had eyes on Santiago or the women?” I question with a lump in my throat threatening to stop my airway, and my hands clenched into tight fists as each of the men assembled shake their heads. Fuck! Where are they? Are they safe? Could they have already been captured?

Just as the thought crosses my mind, Santiago strides across the main room towards us, blood sliding down the side of his head, and an angry grimace on his features.

“Jefe, they are almost past the perimeter. We have to launch a counterattack! You have to activate the defense measures now!“ He shouts above the loud sounds coming in from all the destroyed windows.

“Where are the women, Santiago?”

“Mi madreis safe. I was with her when the bombs started to go off. I have not seen Isabella since lunch.“ His large eyes meet mine, and I witness nothing but fear in their depths. Fuck, where is she? Where would she have hidden? She has to be so scared right now.

“Issy was not in my room, I checked. She must have hidden somewhere else in the compound when we were attacked. Take two men and search room by room, Santiago. I want her fucking found and brought to me now.” I turn my attention to the rest of my men, and force myself to focus on what needs to be done right now, even though all I want to do is go search for my girl myself.

“The rest of you take up arms and positions like we have practiced. We must repel them, or we will all die before sunrise.” With my parting words, I run towards the hidden security room within the compound’s depths. Once I reach the door, I use my thumb to unlock it and seal myself within.

My eyes find the cameras hidden all over the compound and in the jungle, seeking out how many mercenaries are now at my door, ready to capture or murder me.God fucking dammit, we are overrun. There has to be at least forty or fifty men out there loaded down with weapons. Fucking Stella has sent a small army to do her bidding.

I search one camera after another, to see if I can get a glimpse of where Issy might be hiding, but all the cameras on the furthest western side of the compound have been disabled, probably from the rockets the bastards are launching at us. With no signs of Issy anywhere, I begin enabling all of the defense measures that we have hidden.

I activate the hidden electric wires around the perimeter, and release the gates on the guard dogs’ pens. The emergency bulletproof shutters slam into place on all the window openings in the compound, and I can see that three of my men have now made it to the roof-mounted machine guns, and are returning fire against the intruders. A few others have made it into the tree-lined sniper’s nests, and are picking the mercenaries off one by one.

Even with us attempting to defend ourselves, there are still so many blue uniformed fuckers on the screen. My eye catches movement in one of the lower screens, and I see Santiago moving from room to room, searching for Issy with two of my men. They are turning over debris and searching every section for her.Fuck, I hope he finds her.

I’m out of time, though. I can’t stay hidden in this room, or join in the search for her, no matter how much I want to. I have to help my men fight off the intruders, or it won’t matter if we find her, because they will take her away from me and return her to Stella’s arms, probably before shooting me down like a rabid dog.

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