Page 30 of The Mercenary's Guide to Mishaps and Romance

“Like right now, they think I’m dumb enough not to realize they’re following us.”

“They’re following us?” I hiss as I look all around before I realize how suspicious that’s making me appear. Then I duck my head and look to him for guidance.

“Yeah. I’m trying to debate how I should do this. Like do I knock you to the ground and run?”

“Excuse me, what?”

He laughs and gives me a wave. “I’m joking, I’m joking. Honestly, I’m all out of ideas. I still like my plan to line them all up in a row and take a shot.”

Something Tavish notices makes him stop walking and lean against a tree. He stands there for a moment as I realize what I’m about to be faced with. No matter what we do… they want me alive… but they want him dead.

I mean, obviously, I’m pissed at him for bringing me here, but I can’t just watch him get shot and killed. Maybe we aren’t buddies, but the idea of doing all of this alone seemssignificantly scarier than with him by my side. Can I even do this alone? Anxiety stirs in the pit of my stomach.

“How many people have you noticed?” I ask.

“Oh, about eight or so.”

“I’ll… distract them. You find a way off this island and then get me back, okay?” I say, even though my brain is going, “What the fuck are you talking about? Why would you put yourself at risk when you could just lie down and hope he somehow miraculously wins like all the good guys do in the movies?” But this isn’t like the movies.

“No, don’t be foolish.”

I shake my head, determined. “Either you die here and I get taken or I distract them and you find a way out. But you have to promise me you’ll get me out too. That you won’t just leave me here,” I say, knowing I’m putting a lot of trust in this man. Why would he bother coming back for me if he finds a way to save himself?

“I can’t guarantee I’ll get you out. I mean, my current luck is pretty shit. And I have one gun with damn near no ammo.”

But if I don’t do this, he gets shot and that’s the end. If he’s at least out here… I’ll know that there’s hope, right?

“I’ll get a phone. Give me their number, quickly,” I say.

Tavish pulls out his phone and I watch him put the passcode in before taking it so I can memorize the number he wants me to contact. But before I get anywhere near the stage of memorizing anything, he shoves my head down as I hear a gunshot. Panic tears through me as I stumble and slam into a tree. Then I take off running, knowing it’s now or never.

“You better fucking come get me,” I yell. “You better not let me die out here.Pleasedon’t let me die out here.”

“I’ll give it a valiant effort,” he calls.

Someone grabs for me, and I slam an elbow right into their face before rushing out into the sand. There’s no cover out here,but my intention is just to draw them away from Tavish before I’m caught.

I hear the ATVs a moment before I see them spitting up sand as they reach me. I lunge into the ocean and just start running against the waves. They can’t follow me into the water from their ATVs, so they’re forced to get off. Quickly, I dive into the water, confident I’m getting my ass away from them, or at the very least, irritating them. While I did swim competitively in high school, I never expected I’d have to rely on that talent here.

The water stings my cuts as the fuckers seem to realize that I’m getting some good distance on them and they might need more help than they’d planned.

I don’t want to go too far out into the ocean, I’m afraid that my exhausted body might cause me to drown, but I don’t want to make it too easy for them to reach me.

“What the fuck is he? A fish?” the guy I’d stolen the phone from says as I realize I still have Tavish’s phone in my hand. I clutch it tightly, knowing that I can’t lose it or break it, just in case I manage to get the jammer down… however that works.

As though I have a fraction of an idea about what a jammer fucking looks like!

Now they’re all in the water, struggling to catch up with me as someone whips something at me. I don’t know what it is so I jerk back, but in doing so, the phone slips from my hand. I quickly dive down into the water and grab the phone as it slowly floats down. Then I stuff both phones into my underwear as I come up to the surface, just in case someone chooses to pat me down again.

The instant I break through the surface, I feel hands on me, making me jerk back.

“Come on now, don’t make this harder than it has to be!” the larger of Arthur’s two main guards yells as he grabs for me again.

With him holding on to my shirt and knowing that I have little chance of gettingawayfrom him, I decide to leap onto him.

“What the fuck?” he yells as I clamber up his body before I push his head under the water and try to ride on his back for a moment of reprieve.

“Why the hell would you take on this job? Like did you wake up and decide to be an asshole?” I cry as he fights for air. He’s smacking at me but my weight pushing him under disrupts his precision when reaching for me.

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