Page 94 of Red Rabbit
“I’m assuming you want the kill,” he said.
I knew what he was asking.
Did I want to be the one to kill Cooper?
I had thought about it a lot. I went over our history and everything we endured and went through together. Before all of this, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. He’d been my brother in arms for so long, our blood was spilled together and it ran too deep. But now, after everything that happened with Kaelin, I wanted him gone. My reasons for doing this were selfish. I wanted Kaelin safe and I knew Cooper wouldn’t stop. Dismantling the sex ring and the human trials were just a cherry on top.
“Yes,” I said.
He nodded and tossed his toothpick aside.
“Then I’ll see ya in there,” he said.
The next morning the energy in the air was electric as everyone moved about finalizing details, checking weapons and doing their pre-war rituals. Cal came up to me and the light in his eyes made me remember why we called him Chaos. There was a wild, erratic energy bleeding from him. He not only liked to organize chaos, he fed off of it too.
“You ready man?” He asked and I grinned as we gripped each other's forearms the way we always used to do.
“It feels good being back in it.”
“That’s why you need to come work for me,” Cal said with a smirk. “Your girl too, come to think of it. Have you seen some of the stuff she’s had a hand in? Half of the tech here is courtesy of Phox. Also, she insisted on owing me a favor for saving your asses so I just may ask her to lend me you for a bit.”
I knew he was joking about that part. Being in debt to Cal was playing the long game. He would only use a favor in the direst of circumstances and I respected him greatly for that. I chuckled and added some more ammo to my belt.
“She’s a fucking trip by the way—I know I told you already but Knight and Ghost saw her shoot some guy in the balls and then execute him.” He chuckled. “Joker must have done a number on her to make her fight the way she did.”
“When I found her, it was—it was bad,” I admitted.
“Then let’s raze this bitch to the ground,” he said darkly.
“Three—two—one—go,” Ghost said in my ear as the front gates of the Warren slid open under his control. We already took out the guards. North’s sniper was lethal. We slipped through the gates like smoke, North a step behind me at my shoulder as I led our teams to the metal doors leading inside.
“Unlocking now,” Ghost said. I pulled one open and North quietly took out the guards inside before we filed in and downthe hallway. “Hallway branches in 100 feet. Meets back up in the lab.”
I looked at North and he nodded, taking his team down the right tunnel and mine took the left. We swept through the halls, stopping at each room along the way.
“They know we’re here. Cooper is coordinating in the command room. I’ve shut down their camera access and tapped into their comms,” Ghost said.
We continued pushing and before the lab, we were met with a blockade of tables and chairs piled up against the door. The door itself was useless since Ghost disabled it. Cooper was going old school. We received enemy fire then and retreated to the closest doorways. They threw a few grenades but we advanced and took down the blockade.
The guards retreated around a corner and as my team held the hallway, I pushed open another door and found myself in a room that would have been a BDSM dungeon if I didn’t know the truth of the torture committed here. It was thankfully empty but my blood ran cold as I saw everything that could be used to inflict pain and not the consensual kind. I would be glad when Deathwing blew it up. We continued to push, the resistance slowly diminishing.
“Cooper is holed up in the lab with the remaining forces,” Ghost said. “He jammed the door. You’re going to have to force it.”
I saw the doors to the lab ahead. It was all glass so I could see everything going on inside. The glass was bullet proof, I saw there were already attempts of shooting through it and on the other side I saw North and his team working on getting through the door manually.
My team got to work and then laid cover while we swept inside. North’s team joined them and we quickly took out a few of the guards before advancing. Cooper and the remaining forceshad created barricades further into the lab and were shooting over it. North’s team was like an anvil though and when they got too close for guns, they dispatched them by hand.
Somewhere in the fray and chaos, I saw Cooper and headed towards him. He met my eyes and grinned knowingly. The bastard tried to shoot me but I was on him in seconds and threw his gun across the room. I landed two quick punches before he shoved me against a wall and put a knee in my stomach. I twisted, grabbing his arm and threw myself forward.
We fell onto a lab table, shattering glass as we rolled over the top and onto the ground on the other side. He landed on top of me, punching me squarely in the jaw before I flipped him and we broke apart, both of us panting as we circled and looked for an opening.
“You just don’t die do you, Wolfe?” He panted.
“You should know that better than anyone, Coop,” I growled.
He lunged for me again and we crashed into a glass cabinet full of blood vials. I barely felt the glass cut into me before I connected with his face and sent him flying across the room. He landed at North’s feet and looked up at him. He smiled a bloody smile.
“Well, if it isn’t Kaelin’s fallen angels come to avenge her,” he gasped out a laugh and struggled to pull himself to his feet but North grabbed him by his vest and landed a few punches to Cooper’s face. Cooper rammed his shoulder into North and they crashed into another cabinet. North lashed out at Cooper and sent him to the ground. He scrambled away from North but North stalked after him, looking every bit a predator calmly going after his prey. He grabbed Cooper again and hauled him to his feet, barely out of breath as he shoved Cooper against a table.
