Page 39 of Jager's Prey
But not freaking about her was easier said than done. I took a second to tuck my worry into the back of my mind as we hustled through the house. There were more people there than we thought. Each thug we came across, we ensured we took them out without firing a shot. At one point, Hermes dropped his guy a little too hard.
We paused, holding our breaths, waiting to see if anyone had heard. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed the thud, and we carried on.
Antonio Framaglia was nowhere in the house.
Jager made an appearance a little while later, climbing in through the window.
“The house is clear and—” She paused.
The sound of an engine entering the front yard caught our attention. I did the same from the other side of the window and we peeked out. The car was luxury, all black, tinted window. The driver scrambled out and opened the backdoor.
I’d never seen Antonio before, but I was pretty sure the man in the designer suit that stepped out was him.
Jager and I looked at each other just as an SUV pulled in beside the car and four men alighted from it. They were armed and looked like mountains, flanking their boss to the front door. We turned and made our way back down the stairs and was waiting for Antonio when he stepped through the door.
The moment he was in, Hermes took out the guard right behind him as I bodied the door close.
I looked up in time to see Jager grabbing Antonio by the throat and tossing him into a nearby wall.
He swore and his other men began banging on the door. Hermes turned to help Jager carry Antonio back into the living room and I reached for my gun.
A loud boom sounded heat exploded in my left shoulder. Gritting my teeth, I looked down to see blood and dropped to a knee.
“Shit.” I groaned as blood soaked through my shirt.
Arin “Jager” Chioma
“Mack!”I screamed.
“I’m fine.” He panted. “Go on.”
“Go.” Hermes took control of Antonio as I rushed back to Mack. Another bullet tore through the door and I had to duck out of the way. Blood was pooling from his left shoulder as he winced and tried pushing back to his feet but only managed to hit the floor again.
“Stay down!” I screamed. “Stay down!”
Pulling my gun, I gauged where the men were outside and opened fire. The grunt of pain caught my ear, but I fired where the other bullet tore through the surface before staying low and yanking the door open.
There were two bodies on the deck, but I knew there was a fourth man plus the driver. As I crawled out and took the men’s weapons—just in case—the driver popped his head up from below the porch and I fired.
His eyes rolled back into his head with the bullet between his eyes and he toppled over.
One to go.
I found him when he braced both his palms to my back and shoved. I toppled down the front steps, my guns going flying. I jammed my right shoulder hard as I scraped the side of my face on the ground. I closed my eyes to avoid dirt filling them.
Dust filled my lungs and all I could do was cough to clear it.
That only made it worse.
With the pain and the dirt in places it shouldn’t be, it took me a little time to gather my senses. He was quicker and rushed over to kick me as hard as he could in the side. I reached for his leg, but he merely pulled away only to kick me again. Each time, the force rattled my ribs and my brain in my skull. My right arm was throbbing like crazy now, the pain making the arm limp—for a moment, I thought for sure it was broken. It probably was since I had taken my entire body weight on it when I landed.
But that felt like a future me problem.
Growling, I yanked the knife from the holster on my ankle. When he tried kicking me again, I plunged the blade into his leg as hard as I could. I released it the handle while he screamed and tried pushing me away. Dodging his hands, I gathered all my strength to get to my knees and tackled him into the ground.
He tried reaching up for my throat and with my mixed martial arts training, I knew hot to handle that position. I straightened my spine, locked my knees against his side and began slamming my firsts downward.
Eventually, he toppled me over causing me to land on the arm again, making me scream. But I gritted my teeth and simply scrambled backward, until my back hit a vehicle. When he tried kicking me, I moved away and his first smashed through the window, sending glass raining down on me. For a moment, I covered my head and face with my arms which mean taking my eyes off him. He managed to punch in the side of the head.
