Page 88 of Beautiful Vengeance

The van continued moving, bumping along the road, the slight grinding sound beneath the tires suggesting they were now traveling over gravel.

Dread coiled like a snake in the pit of her stomach.

She shot to her feet and whipped around to face the rear door. The only way out was with a series of keys. Cursing, unsure what the hell was happening but knowing it was bad, she snatched a ring of keys from one dying guard’s belt and quickly began shoving them into the locks.

Nothing fit.

She grabbed the other guard’s keys and tried. Nothing worked.

Stumbling back a step, she glanced around quickly, looking for a way out. Of course, there was only the door.

Facing it, she ordered herself to calm down. Whatever shit was happening, they weren’t going to get her. She would not let them win, she would escape and call on her remaining loyal followers to—

One of the guard’s radios crackled to life. She jerked taut, staring at it in dawning horror as the familiar strains of a classical piece of classical music began to fill the silent interior. She recognized it instantly.

Ride of the Valkyries.

Her stomach pitched. Her skin crawled.No.

She whirled around in sudden comprehension, a wave of terror breaking over her. But she couldn’t see a camera. Even though she knew they were watching her. The surviving Valkyries. Including Kiyomi and her nieces.

With a cry of denial and rage, she reared back and slammed the sole of her sandaled foot into the steel doors. A sharp pain ripped through it as bone fractured. She yelled, staggering back with her weight now on her other foot.

Both guards were armed. She dove for the first weapon she could get to, wrenched it from the holster and faced the door. Fired repeatedly at the lock. The concussion of each shot ricocheted through her head, the deafening noise splitting her ears in the enclosed metal box.

The rounds rebounded, two hitting her in the legs. One in the stomach. She pitched forward, gritted her teeth as she rose to her knees and kept firing, determined to break through the doors standing between her and freedom. Refusing to accept that she was helpless while they watched and laughed on the other side of the camera.

A scream of rage burst from her as she emptied the clip into the steel in front of her.

It can’t end like this.

She was too important. Her work was too critical—it was going to change the world.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kiyomi was barely aware of the way Trinity was squeezing her hand as all of them stared at Amber’s laptop, riveted to the action on screen as their teamwork paid off before their eyes. Amber had remotely disabled the security escort vehicles, leaving them stranded a safe distance away from the transport van holding Jane.

The microcamera in the back of it gave them a perfect view of the interior. The cocktail of drugs in the coffee all three of Jane’s men had consumed prior to departure had taken effect at exactly the time it was supposed to.

A thrill of triumph coursed through Kiyomi when the music started. Trinity had suggested it, and they’d all agreed it was way too fitting not to include in this operation.

Jane’s face went slack with shock. Then the most satisfying expression of terror contorted her features as she recognized the significance of what it meant.

Kiyomi narrowed her eyes. “We are the choosers of the slain,” she said, heart racing as the woman freaked out and began trying to shoot her way out. Karma literally bit her, her own bullets striking her. “Loyal Unto Death,bitch.”

A resounding cheer rose up from the others.

Jane fell to her knees, struggled upright and screamed as she kept firing.

“My turn,” Chloe said, eyes gleaming with an almost fanatical excitement, chomping away on her gum as she pulled a detonator from her pocket. “I went old school for this, red button and all. Thought it was fitting.” She held it out, glancing around at them all. “Who’s gonna do the honors?”

“Has to be Amber and Megan,” Eden said.

“And Kiyomi,” Trinity added, squeezing Kiyomi’s hand. “This is their kill.”

Kiyomi looked at Amber and Megan, who both nodded at her. As one, they each put a finger on the button. “On three?”

They nodded. “One,” Amber said, Jane still screaming. She was out of ammo now, punching and kicking at the doors. No one would hear her. Amber’s secret little device had remotely driven the van onto a country road out in the middle of nowhere.

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