Page 64 of Hunted
I see the other man pull a photo from his pocket and when he passes it to the leader, I get a glimpse of a photo of Bower and Kingsley.
My eyes widen in fear as I look at Kingsley. Were they warned about us coming? Or were they hired by the mercenaries? Maybe they’re the ones who hired the mercenaries.
I glance over my shoulder towards the warehouse.What the hell is in there?
One thing was for sure; we were in trouble. The men seem to come to a conclusion as the leader turns to the man holding me and says something, pointing to the warehouse. The grip on my arm tightens as he starts to drag me towards the building.
“No! King!” I yell, trying to pry the fingers off of me.
“Where are you taking her?!” he yells as he tries to get up, but the leader pushes him back down with a foot to the chest and raises his gun as if to shoot.
Suddenly, I’m not looking at Kingsley anymore, I’m looking at my dad being held by knifepoint in the middle of the jungle. I blink and the image is gone, replaced with my current reality.
Last time, I crumbled and did as they said, hoping they’d spare my dad, and they took everything from me. Iwon’tlet that happen again. This time… This time I’m not a defenseless thirteen-year-old girl. I’m not helpless, and I’m not weak.
My eyes scan the ground and I see a small rock that will have to do. Quickly spinning towards my captor, I scream as I raise my leg andkick him squarely between his as hard as I can. He lets go, immediately dropping to his knees as he cups his junk.
Without pausing, I grab the rock and swing it at the side of his head, making him fall sideways as I run the few steps towards the leader, who has turned his head to look at the commotion I’m making.
When he sees me running towards him, he starts to turn his gun towards me, but I reach him first, crashing into him and making him stumble backwards.
I swing the rock at his head, but he uses the gun to push me back and swings it at me. I drop my rock and grip the gun and am able to prevent it from hitting me at full force when it connects with my temple.
Kingsley must be fighting another one of the men because I can hear yelling and scuffling happening close by.
The leader and I play tug of war with his gun, and I start to realize how bad this plan is. This guy is taller, bigger, and obviously stronger than me. Any second now, he will pull his gun free from my grasp and shoot me. Then Kingsley.
I try to kick him between his legs, but he twists so I only end up kicking his leg. A gunshot rings out, making me flinch, and the leader uses it as his chance to finally yank his gun from my grasp. He swings it towards me and before I can even take a breath, a loud BANG rings through the air.
My eyes fly shut, and I gasp, my breath catching in my throat as I wait for the pain.
“Fuck, sweetheart? Are you okay?” I open my eyes as Kingsley runs up to me, rifle in hand as his free hand roams over my face and arms, as if looking for injury. I look down and rub my hand over my chest, where I expected to see blood.
Looking behind Kingsley, I see the leader and the third man lying on the ground, blood pooling around them.
“You shot them,” I say in stunned disbelief.
I look over my shoulder at the man I’d taken down. He was either still unconscious… or dead.
A stampede of footsteps comes running towards us and Kingsley pushes me behind him, instantly raising the rifle in defense. Before I can even grasp what’s going on, he lowers the weapon and drops his defensive stance as he lets out a deep breath. “Thank God it’s you guys.”
I peek around him and see my other three guys running towards us.
“What the fuck happened?” Reece yells as they get closer.
“Are you two okay?” Bower asks, running right up to me and hugging me tight. He then pulls back and looks us both over, searching for injuries.
Weston pulls me in for a hug before pulling back, his eyes narrowing in on my forehead. He uses his large hand on the side of my neck to tilt my head to get a better look. “You were hit.”
“You should see the other guy,” I say jokingly, using my thumb to point to the maybe dead guy on the ground.
Weston and Reece move to the body, and I hold my breath as Weston takes his pulse. “He’s alive.” I release my breath, not sure why I’m happy about that.
He looks at the bloody gash on the man’s head and raises an eyebrow at me. “Rock?” A small smirk plays on my lips, and I shrug.
“What happened?” Reece asks, surveying the bodies around us.
“They came out of nowhere, forced us out of the van, and threw me to the ground. We couldn’t understand them…” Kingsley trails off as his eyes flick to mine.
