Page 54 of Judgment Day

Chapter Sixteen

Scar

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Operation: JudgmentDay was in progress.

Dressed in all black, with their comm devices in their ears, night vision goggles over their eyes, duffles slung over their shoulders, and one weapon each in their hands, they began their trek through the woods. It was indeed a long trek. Scar kept glancing over at Exa to check on her. They left a few minutes early in case they ran into any complications in the woods.

At certain cameras, Seven checked in with Exa to make sure they were still okay. Liam was monitoring the cameras ahead. After Seven checked in, Liam checked in to let them know they were all clear ahead. A few times, Scar stopped and offered to carry Exa’s duffle. Each time, she turned him down. The last time he offered, she became irritated.

“Just because I’m a big girl doesn’t mean I can’t make this trek carrying my own shit. I’ve practiced this trek many times. That’s how I know it’ll take me twenty minutes to make it there. And that’s why I know I need to take a break right before we reach the judge’s property line. Okay, savage?” she snapped.

“What did I tell you about calling yourself big?” Scar chastised. “You’re curvy as fuck and sexy as hell. No matter what size you were, I would still offer to carry your stuff for you. So, stop it with that big girl shit before I carry youandyour duffle the rest of the way.”

Crazy ass.He loved everything about her. And he hated it when she talked about herself as if every part of her wasn’t perfect. She was perfection to him. Fuck what anyone else thought.

“Awww,” Seven chimed in over the comms. “He’s so sweet.”

“Sweet enough to make your teeth rot,” Skye added.

Exa chuckled. “You all know he can hear you over the comm lines, right? We’re all connected, remember?”

“Oops,” Seven said.

“I stand by what I said,” Skye added.

Scar smiled and glanced at Exa to find her smiling. They continued the rest of the first half of the trek in silence. They stopped right before they reached the road. Liam checked the cameras on the judge’s property while Exa and Scar took a short break. While they were on break, Scar checked Exa’s bulletproof vest to make sure she had it on correctly.

“It’s on right,” she told him, pushing his hand away.

“Let me check.”

“Scar!”

“Let me.”

She finally lowered her hands so he could check. She was right. It was on properly. That was a relief. But he was still worried. He wished he could handle this by himself. Having her there was a distraction. He wouldn’t tell her that. Yet, it was how he felt. His thoughts were on keeping her safe.

Fuck the judge. Yeah, he wanted that sick fuck dead. But he wanted Exa alive and well more than he wanted to see the judge suffer. Even so, this was happening, whether his heart could handle it or not. He just hoped he didn’t let his fear of seeing her hurt interfere with the job.Focus, Scar. For her.

“I’ve checked ahead,” Liam said over the comms. “All is clear on the second half of the trek. The guards are doing a walk of the perimeter. If they do like they did last night, this will be their final walk. They’ll get a bit lax after this. Stop at camera twelve and check-in. You can take a two-minute break there while I switch the judge’s cameras to the loop I’ve prepared. I’ll watch it for a minute to make sure it goes unnoticed then you two can proceed. Camera twelve will also be where you two put your gas masks on. Seven will activate the vapes when you all reach camera fifteen. Got it?”

“Got it,” Scar and Exa replied in unison.

Exa took a deep breath and released it slowly before asking, “You ready?”

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