Page 76 of Ruthless Commander
“I have to go,” I muttered, and turned just as gunshots cracked out again.
Edon snapped his gaze toward the sound as it grew louder and then strode forward, lifting his rifle from his side. “Go, I’ll take care of as many as I can.”
I jerked my gaze toward the sound of gunfire as it exploded, then licked my lips as I took a step toward what was left of the hallway. Agony ripped through me as I moved. Something deep howled in my side, but I didn’t look down…didn’t focus on anything but her. “Stay safe, brother.”
“Always,” he answered, already lifting the muzzle and taking aim.
Crack!
The shot exploded as I left him behind. Blood called to blood inside me. That ache throbbing and snarling, demanding that I stay by his side. But there was a louder part of me that demanded obedience, the part that clenched and throbbed, that ached for another even more.
Xael occupied a space inside me that even blood couldn’t touch. In the darkness…she was all that remained. I lifted my hand, drew my gun from my holster, and winced, striding toward the automatic doors as they opened. Well, at least we hadn’t lost power.
I lowered my head as the cyclonic wind died away in an instant, leaving me stumbling until I caught my balance. Above me…there was blue sky once more. “What the fuck?”
Dark clouds swirled around the island in the distance. But right now…we were in the eye of the storm. The eye, that would pass much too soon, then the winds would return, even worse than before.
Crack!
Crack!
The sound of gunfire drove me forward. I ground my teeth and lengthened my stride, scanning the buildings.Where the fuck are you, Xael?Plumes of black smoke drifted over the buildings in the distance, coming from the water. I tried to think like she would…but it was the bodyguard whose image rose in my mind's eye.
He’d want her off the island, no matter who he left behind.
He didn’t care about anyone else…which was exactly what a bodyguard should do. I strode toward that black smoke as the idea took hold. He couldn’t fly the jet, and he wouldn't take the risk, but the boats…now those he’d use to get her away from here. I would.
I'd hoped to…until the goddamn attack.
Crack!
I smothered the urge to turn around, to open fire alongside my brother, and kept walking, raising my hand to the roaring agony in my side.Get to her…that’s all that matters. Just get to her.
I strode forward, heading past the buildings and toward the water. The black smoke drifted through the still air, causing me to cough and gag. I slapped my hand over my mouth as I strode toward the water. But the closer I came, the less I could see through the smoke…but I could hear enough to know she wasn’t here.
The burning hull of one of the cruisers bobbed in the water beside the dock, then slowly sank. I spun, searching the water and the island. Where the fuck was she?
I had nowhere else to go, nothing but to walk. I made my way back along the dock and climbed, that tearing in my side growing fangs with the effort, until I crested the side.Where would they go?Where…
I scanned along the buildings as instinct pulled me forward. Flashes of memories came rushing back to me, memories of when they'd called meKomandant...memories of when they'd feared me. I rounded the corner of a building as the past took hold.
In an instant, I was the soldier they'd sent in alone, the one they knew wouldn’t hesitate…the one they'd feared. I lifted my weapon as I neared one of the buildings, then stopped. Something made me turn my head toward a building in the distance. Instinct drove me forward and I followed that dark whisper, cutting across the grounds as the sound of gunfire continued to crackle.
Darkness seeped out from under the external door on the far west side of Building Three. It was an access door, one that led to a storeroom and the inside of the building. A door that was supposed to be locked…
Through the gap at the bottom, an inky blackness seeped out, and the closer I came, the more I realized what it was…blood.The island was under attack, the heirs of the Commission being hunted, and I was sure more blood had been spilled this day than any in the history of the controlling Mafia families. But it was that blood that made me freeze,that blood that made me take notice.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my card, praying like hell the security hadn’t been damaged. The closer I got, the more the biting stench of the smoke gave way to something sweeter and metallic. I didn’t need to reach down to know my instinct was right. Instead, I pressed the card against the scanner and yanked open the door.
Darkness gave way to smoke-hazed air. I blinked through the dimness, catching the wide-open stare of Xael’s bodyguard. “No.” I jerked my gaze up to scan the gloom before turning to him once more and knelt beside his body.
A single shot to the head, the exit wound…substantial.Had Xael done that?
The thought rose swiftly. If she had…then she'd had a reason.
I stepped across his body and headed further into the room, leaving the bodyguard without a second thought. He was no use to me now. Need burned inside me like the sting in my eyes as they watered. All I cared about was her…Finding her…protecting her.
Then getting her the hell off this island.
