Page 65 of Rogue

Clive is down there too, leaning heavily on a walking stick, sweat running down his face, glinting silver in the headlights. The two Hydras with him look like they’re preventing him from escaping more than guarding him.

“You can let me go,” Clive pleads, not for the first time. “You have the women. Just let me go.”

“No,” the guy next to him says. “You’re too much of a liability.”

The trucks are almost loaded. They’re about to leave.

“What are we doing?” Blade asks. “We’re not letting them leave, are we?”

There’s a fire in his voice that I’m not used to hearing anymore. He sounds like he used to sound, back in the beginning when taking down bad guys was the only thing that mattered to him, the more the better.

“We wait for them all to get inside the cars then shoot out the tires of the first one,” I say. “And then we swarm.”

“And I’ll send a high frequency noise through their headsets as you do,” Skye says over the radio frequency that we’re all tuned into via our own headphones. “It should disorient them. But you probably won’t have long.”

“We don’t need long,” I ask. “Just long enough.”

I take a deep breath, trying in vain to calm my racing heart and find the words I need to speak. I’m about to ask my men and women to risk their lives yet again. And this time it looks more hopeless for us than it ever did before.

“If we let those assholes out there drive away, we failed,” I speak, addressing them all. “And if we fail more innocent women will die.”

My voice cracks under the weight of what I’m about to say.

“That’s the part that’s guaranteed,” I continue. “What’s not guaranteed is our survival. I’m going to do what I can. And I ask you to stand with me. Will you?”

The split second of silence that follows seems to last years and it feels like a ton of bricks pushing me into the ground.

“I’m with you,” Creed says. Followed by Alice, Trinity, Rock and then all the rest.

“We’re all with you,” Blade concludes. “Now let’s get this done. They’re leaving.”

He’s right. There’s no more time to delay. The men and women and all the boxes are packed into the vehicles and the first one is rolling.

“Shoot out the tires,” I tell Rock and Trinity, the two best snipers we have. They both lift their rifles. “Then give us cover.We aim for the trucks and vans carrying the women. Our priority is driving those out of here with no casualties.”

It sounds like a pipe dream, like a naive little piece of wishful thinking, like a prayer. So God better be listening tonight.

The two shots ring out and find their targets on the first attempt. The car in front was just picking up speed and the exploding front tire makes it swerve then and roll onto its right side, stopping the two vans behind it.

“I’ve sent the noise over their headphones,” Skye informs us.

“Then let’s do this,” I say and sprint towards the vehicles with everyone close on my heels.

None of the cars are moving and Hydras are stumbling around, some falling out of cars and vans as they pull the headphones out of their ears.

Bullets start flying, but I wait until I’m right on top of the first guy I reach before firing my gun.

Pretty soon everyone’s shooting and the sound of gun fire is deafening. A bullet grazes my arm, feeling like the fires of hell come for me, but I don’t let it stop me. As long as I’m standing, I’ll fight. Hydras are down all around me, black mounds against black asphalt. The only light is coming from the headlights of the vehicles, many of which have already been shot out. Clive is cowering behind the large front wheels of one of the trucks. I’d take him out, but Blade beats me to it.

I lose count of how many Hydras I’ve taken down. Many. But more keep coming. They’ve got us surrounded. I’m crouching with my back to one of the trucks, Creed and Alice by my side. The rest of my men and women are sheltering behind the other trucks. As far as I can tell, all are still standing.

But that won’t last. It can’t. Not with this much shooting.

The Hydras are regrouping. Twenty of them at least are left standing and they’re forming a circle around us as theyapproach. Blade suddenly appears behind them, firing and taking down one. Then five turn and start firing at him.

Breathing is like trying to inhale a block of cement. I try to scream his name, call out to my friend, my brother, but no sound comes out. Alice and Creed seem to have to same problem.

I leave my hiding spot and start firing at the advancing Hydras, Alice and Creed joining me. And as one the entire MC starts leaping from their hiding spots and doing the same as we try to reach our fallen brother, our VP, the man whose calmness and quiet wisdom has always kept us on the right path. One of my oldest friends in the world. Bullets are whizzing everywhere, none hitting us. For now.

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