Page 72 of The Ghost of Rage's War

“Prepare to die?” Davies asked in disbelief. “What are you? The fuckin’ Terminator?”

“Shut it, you damn asshole!” Dylan snapped and ducked as the Fangs answered with a round of shots.

“Death it is!” Dylan yelled. “Open fire at will!”

It was chaos. Even though they had cover, they were still taking heavy fire.

“Fall back!” Davies suddenly screamed. Dylangrabbed his bag as his people began running to the second line of cover.

An explosion blasted Dylan sideways. He hit the ground hard but got up and looked slightly stunned.

“Grenades!” Vinnie yelled and spun around, hitting the floor as bullets tore through his vest. Armour-piercing bullets, Dylan realised.

Davies was dragging Niko, while Indigo and Wolfe were pulling Chappie towards the second row of containers and busses. Dylan’s gaze kept flicking to Vinnie, and he watched as Booth came out of the smoke, his face blackened and limping, but he ducked and grabbed Vinnie. Booth roared as he slung Vinnie over his shoulder and headed towards shelter. As soon as his people were behind cover, Dylan raced to join them.

How he didn’t get hit, he didn’t know, but somebody was looking out for him.

“Call out!” Dylan yelled.

His team called out until Davies replied, “I’m here, but we’ve lost Niko and Vinnie. Chappie has an arterial bleed. Beckett is calling in the ambo.”

Shock flooded Dylan.

Niko was gone. The man who’d joined him when he opened the PI company, was dead. Dylan’s mind touched on Vinnie’s laugh and the tricks he’d play in the office. But he couldn’t dwell on them as the Venomous Fangs began firing again.

“Open fire,” Dylan yelled as he clicked his radio. “Andrew, two dead, Niko and Vinnie, one on the way to hospital.”

“Roger that,” Andrew replied.

Dylan switched off. He concentrated on shooting anything that moved; the Fangs had cost him two of his own.

“Jase is down!” Nyx screamed as sirens wailed behind them.

“Get Jase and Chappie out of here,” Dylan demanded. He was down six guys already.

Emergency responders couldn’t approach as orders kept them from the gunfire. They’d set up points to collect the wounded and dead. But to his surprise, it came in close, and he saw it was a heavily armoured Army carrier.

Two men in combat uniforms opened the doors, and London carried Jase and then Chappie over. Max ran Vinnie’s body to them, and London followed with Niko.

Dylan didn’t look as the ambo pulled out and continued firing instead. The Fangs had been cut in half, but Dylan had taken four losses. Bodies lay on the ground in front of him, and yet they kept coming.

A startled cry near him saw Jessie hit the floor with a bullet through his throat. Jessie held his gaze as he choked on his own blood before his eyes closed.

Dylan yelled and rummaged in his bag for grenades. He launched them one after another in sheer rage.

His people were dying for what? An asshole’s false claim of ownership. Never before had Dylan felt so inadequate. He was swamped by an unprecedented hatred.

Dylan grabbed a machine gun and, roaring his pain, stood and fired like a madman.

Men fell in front of him as people shot back, but their bullets still missed him. Behind Dylan, Hawthornes upped their attack as Fangs scrabbled for cover. It was sickening that they were piling their own dead on top of each other and using them for cover.

He stayed there until his clip ran out and dived behind the barrier again.

There was so much blood on his hands he didn’t know if he’d ever get them clean. All he could ask was why?

Davies

Why did they keep fuckin’ coming? Over half of them were dead, and yet they still fought. This couldn’t be loyalty to Fury. This was more. It did not make sense. What type of men did this?

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