Page 58 of The Oath We Take

“Seems like the truck we’re looking for is parked on the lot,” Grudge says while we wait.

“Yeah?” I stand as best I can and crane my neck to look out of the side window without lowering it. Sure enough, same color, same make.

I want to claim the two guys who threatened and hurt Ember as mine. It should be my right to give them what they deserve. But if I do that, Butcher will want to know why.

Instead, I’m gonna lean into my role as enforcer, the one who handles conflict by resorting to violence. Let my title put them at my feet.

“Groups of three,” Wraith says as we climb out of the van. “Leave no man behind. They’ve come for our town. They threatened Quinn and Ember and Margie. Only assholes go for the women.”

I head around back to the rear of the building with Taco and Caleb. It’s a weird structure with lots of extensions that look like handmade death traps.

“It’s like a rabbit warren,” Caleb whispers. “Need eyes all around us.”

“Yeah, slow and steady,” I agree.

“Going in now,” Wraith says in my earpiece. He has Catfish and Grudge with him.

“Same,” I say.

“Us too,” Butcher says, taking Dice, our mechanic, and Wynn, another prospect, with him. “We’re taking the side entrance.”

A thin seam of light flickers beneath a closed door down the hallway, but other than that, the property is dark. It smells of damp, and is cool inside.

I turn a small flashlight on and hold it beneath the muzzle of my Glock. We’re in an unused kitchen. The fridge door hangs open and flies hover around the dripping tap.

Slowly, we make our way toward the closed door. There’s the murmured sound of cheering and clapping. Like someone is watching a sports game, likely on a phone or something. It’s too tinny to be a television, and fuck knows this place doesn’t look like it’s been set up for living accommodation.

Steady!

My heart is racing, and I need the reminder.

Short, stacatto bursts of gunfire suddenly erupt from the direction of the front of the house, which suggests Wraith has found trouble, but I resist every instinct to run and help him.

“Grudge is shot,” I hear when Wraith opens comms. He’s breathless, running, maybe.

“How bad?” Butcher asks.

“Losing blood but flesh wound, I think. He’s on his feet.”

“Fuck. Need help?” I whisper.

“Yes,” Wraith replies.

“We’ve got it,” Butcher replies. “On our way.”

The door we’re approaching opens quickly, and a man steps outside, weapon raised. In the confusion and darkness of the hallway, he doesn’t see me until I’m practically on top of him, and it takes a solid blow to the side of the head to knock him down and kick his weapon away.

Only meant to knock him unconscious but can see from the pool of blood starting to form that I’ve killed him.

“Get Grudge to the van,” I say as Taco and Caleb charge into the room to my left.

A long line of what sound like Russian expletives fill the room as I step inside, leaving the body behind me. Taco has a second man face down on the ground as Caleb manages to disarm him.

“Well, if it isn’t one of the very men I wanted to see.”

He’s the driver.

The one I really want is the asshole who slapped Ember to the ground, but this guy will make a happy substitution.

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