Page 43 of Of Sinners & Salvation
“Go right ahead,” Nathaniel says. “Through that door and then an immediate right. But this is just entertainment for me. It’s life or death for you.”
“Not for me,” Walker says smugly as I stride ahead with Angel to check the hall. “Apparently I count as a Sincero here. Good thing they brought me instead of you.”
“Definitely a good thing,” Nathaniel says. “Since you’d be useless in my place. Hold right there… Okay, camera’s down, go-go-go…”
We turn a corner and rush down the hall that Nathaniel’s hidden for us.
“They’re definitely on to me,” Nathaniel says, sounding especially cheerful. “Two guards headed your way. Might want to duck into a room.”
Instead, Angel draws his firearm, lifting it and cradling the butt in his other hand while he takes aim. We slow, creeping along behind him until the guards turn the corner. I want to be the one in front, leading and guarding them. That’s my duty. But I don’t have a weapon, and I know better than to ask a gangster for his gun. There are limits, even to my influence, and asking for something unreasonable is a good way to lose my power over them. So I hang back, shielding Mercy with my body in case the guards come around the corner with guns blazing.
“When you said you’d already been here,” I remind her, keeping my voice quiet so the conversation stays between us. “I want you to know that I’m well aware of that. I didn’t mean to imply that you’re not fully capable of taking care of yourself. I’m proud of you, lamb.”
“Thank you, Father,” she says, smiling up at me.
“But while I’m around, you should know that I’ll always take care of you, as far as you’ll let me.”
She nods, biting down on her plump lower lip, her luminous eyes cast upwards at me. “I’d let you,” she murmurs, her voice sweet but seductive.
It sends a jolt straight to my groin, and I have to swallow hard and tear my eyes from hers. She’s the picture of innocence, a sweet little lamb, as if she wasn’t just writhing in ecstasy with three men penetrating her at once while a fourth looked on; as if their cum isn’t leaking down her thighs at this very moment.
Angel squeezes off several rounds in quick succession, the shots deafening in the corridor. Their echo joins with the ringing in my ears, and I put a protective arm around Mercy when she cowers against me, palms pressed to her ears.
“Everyone okay?” Nathaniel asks, and I catch a glimpse of his startled face on Walker’s screen.
“All good,” I say, raising my voice so he can hear. “Where to now?”
“End of the hallway,” Nathaniel says. “I’ll disable the lock. You’ll be outside then, if no one stops you.”
“Aww, thanks for your concern, baby cousin,” Walker says. “I knew you loved me somewhere deep, deep down.”
“I wasn’t worried about you,” Nathaniel says. “I was worried about your lack of subtlety. Now they’ll be all over you.”
“Let ‘em come,” Angel says darkly. “I’ll take down every fucking one of them for bringing Mercy here.”
“I’m hanging up,” Nathaniel says. “I can only do so much, and that does not include saving you from yourselves if you’re going all kamikaze.”
He hangs up over Walker’s protest. The man scowls at Angel. “Nice going, meathead. You pissed off our guide.”
“Yeah, well, we didn’t need him anymore, anyway,” Angel says. “And we don’t need you. So why don’t you stay here on Pedophile Island where you belong, and we’ll go home.”
“Whoa, what the fuck,” Walker says. “You can’t just be throwing around accusations like that.”
“I wasn’t aware traffickers carded people before they kidnapped them,” Angel says. “I guarantee you there are minors here. Unless I’m wrong. Mercy? Did they card you before they threw you in the van?”
“No,” she says, glancing at Walker. “He’s right. There are kids here. But to be fair, I don’t know what exactly everyone is here for. I think some are legitimately getting care.”
We hit the door at the end of the hall, and the alarm with the ear-splitting volume goes off again.
“I thought Nate was disabling that,” Saint yells as we all rush through the door into the cold night outside.
“Told you not to offend his delicate sensibilities,” Walker says, jogging away from the building with us. “Nate is the king of petty.”
“Do you think he let them access the cameras too?” I ask. “They could have seen us leaving. They’ll see we have Mercy with us and search the island.”
“No way of knowing,” Walker says. “I can call him back, but I guarantee he’ll send us straight to voicemail until he gets an apology. And maybe a good grovel.”
“Fuck you, Sinner,” Angel says. “I’ve never groveled in my life, and if I ever do, it won’t be for his bitch ass. Or yours, if you’re just trying to see me simping because I unmanned you.”
