Page 81 of Purgatory
Chapter 49
Jax
(A few hours earlier)
I signal for Sadie to stay in Hawk’s bedroom, for now, as I lead Aly out onto the balcony with Hawk trailing behind us. Immediately, I see the dicks Hawk was referring to when he mentioned a few wanderers. They're scattered all over the back of the house looking everywhere except where we are. Convenient for us, stupid for them.
Hawk takes watch, aiming at the morons while I go down on a knee, hoisting Aly up onto the roof before Hawk and I join her. Crouching down, I set up her S.A.W., or Squad Automatic Weapon, making sure the thing is loaded and ready to go before we do the same. I have her positioned prone on deck since this particular gun is heavier than the AR she trained with and may be too much for her. I, on the other hand, decide to stand with mine, aiming down and waiting for the cue to rain on their parade.
I look over at Hawk and see that he’s wearing the same demented face he always did when we were deployed. He’s like a fucking Golden Retriever with his big ass grin and no cares in the world. I swear if he starts to shake his giddy ass, I’ll put a bullet in it myself. It’ll be later with an airsoft rifle but it’ll still hurt like a bitch. The thought and visual puts a smile on my face.
BOOM!
The roof beneath us bends and bellows from the blast of the frag grenade Cole just let loose.Game time.
In quick succession, Hawk takes out the bastards on the left while I take the ones on the right. Even Aly, the beautiful warrior she is, lets off a few rounds, tagging one guy and dropping another. I couldn’t be more proud of her and grateful that we managed to train her before this shit, even if it was just the basics.
Once the coast is clear, I grab ahold of her and lower her down to the trellis, reluctant to let her go and watch her leave but knowing it’s necessary and that we'd see her again soon. We just need to finish this and she needs to be safe and away from here for us to do so. This is the only way.
I let her go, standing back up again as I watch to make sure the path is still clear to the beach. She’s about halfway there when two new guys show up and start a chase but Hawk and I are on them like white on rice. They don’t stand a chance. Aly doesn’t even turn around to see where the shots are coming from and it makes me all the more confident, she’ll be ok. The training is kicking in. The trust is there. All she needs to do is be able to read that map, drive the boat and get to the safehouse.
We lose sight of her as she starts to swim in the water. The distance too far for us to see her properly so we take it on faith that she made it and is now speeding away as fast as she can. It’s only a few more minutes of intense waiting before we see the flare go off.
Atta fucking girl! You did it, baby.
I bump Hawk on the shoulder, nodding my chin in the direction of his balcony. Now that the anxiety of watching and waiting for Aly to safely make her escape is over, we can focus on what we do best. Seek and destroy.
Time to set up some distractions
Chapter 50
Hawk
Aaah, I fucking missed this shit! The adrenaline, how me and the guys barely need to communicate to know what the others are thinking. The synchronicity is other worldly. Nothing compares. Well... no. Scratch that. Sex is better. Sex with Aly is definitely better.
Damn, her ass looks fucking scrumptious right now....
As I watch her run away from us and out toward the lake, I can’t focus on her leaving. I focus on what I’m going to do to her when we get back to her again. Fuck. All three of us, now. Poor girl won’t be able to walk straight for a month. That’s ok, she won’t need to. We are gonna pamper the ever-loving shit out of her for the rest of our lives.
It still amazes me. The turnaround Jax made. Cole and I knew how much that girl was getting under his skin. We could see her dancing her cute butt and wrapping herself right around his stubborn fingers. I’m happy for him. I’m happy for us. We’ve always been a band of brothers. Inseparable. Even when there were miles and miles of distance between us, there was never any distance between our hearts. We love each other and now we all love her. It just makes sense when you think about it.
Jax nudges me on the shoulder and motions back toward the house. I grab my gear and follow him off the side of the roof and back into my room. We cross the hallway where Cole is posted with Sadie and move back into Jax’s room. I wait atthe foot of his bed for his next instructions while he goes to his closet and pulls out two huge mounting platforms. Cause yea, having mounting platforms where his sneakers should be is totally normal. For Jax it probably is. Moving on...
Jax moves to the window closest to him and places one beneath it. He then makes a motion with his chin to the other one.
“They’re for the S.A.W.s. We can mount them and place a hold on the triggers so that they fire off continuously, creating cover so we can sneak out the back and down to the trail head.”
I nod and start to set mine up under the opposite window. Once it’s good to go I look back to him.
“Uh, ok. So, uh, what are we gonna use to make ‘em keep going after we’re gone? Duct tape? I can try to grab a couple chickens to have at it but those bitches are broody as fuck right now and might peck out my eye balls.” I thumb over my shoulder, completely fucking serious about his bitchy ass chickens. I swear, if we weren't about to leave, they’d be headed straight for my dinner plate in a day or two.
He shakes his head and scoffs under his breath before tossing me a couple of green elastic strips. I cock my head at them. He can’t be serious with this MacGyver shit.
“Boot bands? Seriously? The absolute bane of our military existence is gonna save our asses?” He just stares at me with his one eyebrow up like it’s gonna intimidate me... Ok. Fine… It does… Fucker. I give him a two fingered salute and get on with it, reloading and wrapping the band around the trigger letting it go to town.
With the S.A.W.s doing their job, we hightail it out of there grabbing Cole on the way and head down the same exit Aly took. Out the window and down the mother fucking trellis like we just jumped out of a damn Shakespearean play. Let’s just hope our story is less tragic.
I gotta hand it to Jax, though. Every year we came out here for the summer, I never looked at the house as a fort.
