Page 152 of Darling Wildfire
“You know how it goes,” I said.
“Why do you think I’m out here with you?” He chuckled. “I’ve hiked a lot of these woods because exhaustion is the only thing that seems to help—and trust me, I’ve tried everything.”
We sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Knight sighed heavily.
“Do you ever think about ending it?”
“Every day,” I answered truthfully.
“I almost did it once Cap was gone,” Knight said. “I hiked out to this vista about five miles from here and sat with my gun to my head for hours arguing with myself.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Knight leaned forward and rested his arms on his thighs. “Just seemed like a waste of a bullet.” He barked a laugh. “In the end, I didn’t even think I was worth that.” He looked back over at me. “Why didn’t you?”
“My family kept me alive. Then after they were killed, every time I thought about it—I’d see the twins…” I shook my head. “If I ended it—I’d end my suffering, and that didn’t seem right. My family deserves retribution in this life and no one can give it to them but me. Until that’s done, I don’t deserve the peaceful oblivion of death.”
Knight nodded. “Well, I know you’ll get him—being on the wrong side of you would be nothing short of terrifying.”
His phone dinged, and he pulled it out, grinning as he read the message.
“Our Austrian friend is in.”
“When do you want to head over there?”
“Few days?” Knight shrugged. “We should put a plan together and then fly over and finalize it.”
“Agreed. Tell him we’ll be in town by next weekend. Do you have enough firepower?”
Knight didn’t look up from his text as he scoffed. “That’s embarrassing you even have to ask me that.”
I laughed quietly. “I knew you had your personal collection. I didn’t know you’d started stockpiling.”
Knight put his phone away and sat back again. “It’s a recent development. I started doing a few small deals here and there and ended up amassing a small inventory. One of those deals owes me a favor which is how we’re going to get overseas—he can fly us.”
“If we don’t find the treasure, I’m going to owe you big for this one,” I sighed.
Knight shook his head. “No sir, you’re forgetting about that op where you stopped me from getting my head blown off—twice! A few guns and a lift in a plane are hardly satisfactory exchanges,” he scrunched up his face. “Or maybe for my sorry excuse for a life it is, I don’t know, I’ll let you decide that.” He grinned over at me. “Besides, I was literally doing nothing with my life until now so don’t worry about it. You’ve brought purpose and excitement back into this old soldier’s life, I appreciate it.”
“Who are you calling old?” I grumbled good-naturedly.
Knight laughed. “I feel old.”
“We’re the same age!” I insisted with a grin in his direction.
“Tell that to my back,” Knight said in amusement.
Later that morning, I found myself alone with Nyx in the living room.
I was standing in front of one of the terrain maps we’d pinned up on the wall and he was looking over one of the historical documents we’d pulled from the internet.
“So this empire,” he said. “Tell me more.”
“It’ll be a private military company,” I turned towards him. “Legal operations with teams around the world. I also have plans for a nightclub that will be a front for illegal arms dealing.”
“You’ve really thought this out.”
I turned around to look at him. “What else was I supposed to do for the last few years? On the outside it’ll look like I’m after money and power—like everyone usually is—but it’s all a smokescreen for my real plan.”
