Page 142 of Promises in the Dark

The fucker let out a disappointed tsk, shaking his head before shoving the necklace back into his pocket.

“Too bad.”

He straightened up, turning to his goons and rattled something off in his guttural language. I didn’t need to understand it to know what he was saying. This was it. We were done.

I scanned the area, looking for any chance—anything. But we were screwed. There was no way out.

But if I was going down, I wasn’t going to make it easy for the bastard.

I shifted slightly, trying to gauge how tightly my wrists were bound. The rope was tight, cutting into my skin, but if I could just—

Before I could act, one of the insurgents stepped forward, rifle aimed squarely at my head. My heart hammered in my chest, but I didn’t flinch. If this was how it ended, I was taking at least one of these fuckers with me.

“Last words?” the boss sneered, looking down at me, clearly relishing this moment.

I met his gaze, my lips curling into a cold smile. “Yeah. Go fuck yourself.”

The gunman’s finger twitched on the trigger, and time seemed to slow.

This was it. The bastard was going to take me out right here, and all I could think about was how fucking helpless I felt, with my hands bound behind my back like some loser and no way to fight.

Then, the gunshot rang out.

But it wasn’t my skull that got blown apart.

The guy holding the rifle jerked violently, his head snapping back, blood spraying in a fine mist before he collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. I blinked, my brain struggling to catch up. He was dead. And I was still here.

My eyes shot upward, scanning for the source of the shot, and there she was—Raven. She was up high, perched on some broken-down tower or rooftop, her rifle raised, smoke still curling from the barrel. Two more of my crew were up there too, covering the high ground. They hadn’t abandoned us, after all. They had been waiting for the right moment.

“Cavalry’s here, boys!” Raven’s voice crackled over our comms, which those dumb bastards had stupidly left active. “Sorry we’re late to the party!”

For a moment, everything stood still as the insurgents around us realized what just went down. Their leader’s cocky grin faltered, replaced by a look of pure confusion as the panic spread among his men.

That was my opening.

I didn’t waste a second. My wrists were raw from the rope cutting into my skin, but the distraction gave me the chance I needed. I twisted, feeling the rough fibers scrape against my flesh, but the adrenaline surging through my veins made the pain fade into the background. With a final pull, the rope gave way, and my hands were free.

The fight was on.

“Go, go!” I shouted at my team, shoving myself off the ground and snatching up the rifle from the dead bastard next to me.

Pyro was already on his feet, ripping the rope from his own wrists. His hand slipped into his belt to grab his pistol, while Viper charged the nearest insurgent, tackling him with theferocity of a goddamn animal. I watched as he disarmed him, then used the man’s own weapon to cut down two more.

Even Red, who should have been running for cover, was in the thick of it, ducking behind one of their trucks and picking up a gun from the ground. I cursed under my breath, knowing I should tell her to get the hell out of there, but now wasn’t the time. We were fighting for our lives.

And these fuckers were about to learn what happens when you corner a pack of wolves.

Raven and the others were laying down fire from above, and it was an absolute bloodbath. Every shot they fired was dropping these assholes like flies. The whole thing turned into a full-blown shitshow. The enemy didn’t know where the fuck to run—every time one of them tried to make a move, one of my team would cut them down.

I was in it now, my rifle tucked against my shoulder as I squeezed the trigger over and over, sending rounds through these fuckers. Blood splattered across the dirt, bodies piling up.

I ducked behind cover, sucking in a breath before popping off another round. My pulse was through the roof, muscles tense as hell, but I couldn’t stop now. Not until every last one of these bastards was rotting in the dirt.

“Viper, flank right!” I shouted over the noise, seeing a group of insurgents trying to regroup near our vehicles.

He didn’t even wait for the full order—he was already moving, circling to the right with military precision, his assault rifle barking as he dropped them like fucking dominoes.

Pyro was already on the move too, flamethrower strapped across his back, switching to his sidearm and putting two clean headshots through those pricks before they even realized they were dead.

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