Page 19 of Rage

My head bows once in agreement. “Yeah, ‘fuck’ is right.”

“I’ll go pack up the chairs and shit we left around the campsite,” Drake offers, already heading for the door.

“We should just leave it.” I glance at the clock. It reads ten after two. My chest constricts with panic. Shit, the women will be arriving at that port in a little less than thirty hours and we’re… “If we don’t leave soon, we’re never going to make it on time.”

The hulking viking doesn’t stop moving. Instead, he shoves on his heavy-duty boots, grabs his sweatshirt and throws the door open. I watch as he stomps down the metal stairs and disappears out of sight.

“The sooner we can pack up, the sooner we can get out of here, Owen,” Daisy murmurs, pulling her wrist free from my grasp. “I’m going to lie down and try to get some sleep. It looks like we have a long trip ahead of us. You’ll wake me if…?”

Her question trails off, but I know what she wants. Immediately I nod, “I’ll wake you from your nightmares Daze, always.”

Chapter 2

Wyatt

“You drive like a blind man, with a peg leg and noodles for arms, Dre! Watch out!” I yelp while I reach up and grab onto the oh-shit handle above my head. “Who the fuck agreed to giving you the keys to this thing?”

I choke down a shriek of terror as I brace myself for the impact as Drake barrels towards the rear end of the car in front of us. At the last minute, the RV jerks to the left. Drake says nothing as he turns the wheel and pulls into the fast lane. Cars honk their displeasure at the decision, but he simply guns the gas and we’re barreling down the road. I’m thrown back in the passenger seat, letting out a huff.

“You know, I think it’s time we changed drivers,” I complain as I swallow down my racing heart that’s crept up into my throat.

“I just started,” Drake objects, his deep voice practically a well enunciated growl.

I scoff. “It’s been three hours.”

“Exactly. Ijuststarted.”

“You’re going to get us pulled over and arrested,” I argue. “Oryou’re going to end up killing us!”

Drake shoots me a dark look. It’s pretty intimidating. He’s let his blond beard and brows grow wild this past year. With hislong hair down, he looks like a feral lumberjack, especially since he’s wearing a flannel shirt today. If I didn’t know him so well, I’d probably back down. Instead, I flip him the bird.

“We need to shave off time,” Drake grumbles, his eyes returning to the road.

My stomach clenches with nerves and frustration. We have less than twenty-four hours to get to our location, kill everyone there, and break those women out, but we’re still twenty-two hours away. If we don’t get there in time, the ten women locked up in a shipping container will be in the wind and we’ll never be able to find them. As much as I hate Drake’s reckless driving, I understand his motivations.

“Between us and them, Dre—” I growl between clenched teeth at one of my best friends. “—I pick us. I’llalwayschoose us.”

Maybe that makes me an asshole, always putting my life and the lives of my best friends first with each of these missions. If so, I don’t care. The five of us have been friends since childhood. Early in our lives, a horrific tragedy pulled us apart. Somehow, though, Daisy glued the five of us back together. Since then, we’ve become more than friends. Stronger than family. Our mangled, blackened souls have merged. We can’t live without one another. It’s an unspoken truth that hangs over all of us.Nothingwill tear us apart again.

Not even death.

Certainly not the cops, who could pull us over any minute now and run background checks on us. Our potential criminal records would get us jailed in no time. Owen’s good about erasing any existence of us in most police databases, but he’s not perfect. There’s no reason to risk getting arrested. None. Not even for the women we’re on our way to save.

If they’re even still alive. Who knows what condition we’ll find them in after they’ve traveled across the ocean in that steelcontainer. All the more reason to be cautious. We don’t want to risk everything for women who might already be dead.

Drake heaves a heavy sigh, as if my words are the most annoying thing he’s ever had to deal with. Still, the RV begins to slow. Annoying or not, he agrees with me.

“You should go help Owen with the planning,” Drake suggests bitingly. “We’re going to need all eyes on this since we’re coming in hot.”

“You’re the best when it comes to planning these types of attacks,” I point out. Drake’s background in military combat has come in handy before. I have no doubt we’re going to need it this time, too. “Which is just another reason I should be driving.”

Drake shoots me another glare. “Wyatt…”

“Alright, alright. I’ll go, but you get to drive for one more hour and then I’m taking over.” I unclick my seatbelt and head to the table and couch combo where Kingston, Owen, and Daisy are all seated.

There’s not a lot of space in the RV. Approaching the table, I inwardly cringe at how crowded the three of them look as they peer between Owen’s laptop and a spiral-bound road map of the United States that we picked up at a gas station a year ago and kept ever since.

“Any progress?” I ask. Rather than try to squeeze into the booth with them, I hop up on the counter across from them.

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