Page 134 of Thrill Me (Dark Odyssey 3)

The plan was clever. We’re all splitting up to get inside so that we don’t alert too much attention.

We have thirty of us going in and guys on the outside.

All the strongest men from our alliances are here. That ranges across four families.

Me, Pa, Vincent, and Nick enter from the tunnels a mile out from the shipping company. We slip down there stealthily and walk, following Pa as he takes the lead, gun in hand. We have eyes watching for danger. A whole set up with a team who can see ahead of us.

We’re carrying communicators equipped to push through the signal limitation a person would normally experience underground. We learned well from previous encounters to go in prepped.

“I don’t like this,” Pa says under his breath.

“What Pa?” Nick askes.

“The feeling. It’s too easy. I won’t just assume they don’t know we’re coming. Those fuckers have been watching us. I won’t make the mistake of thinking they don’t know what we’re up to.” He keeps his voice low.

We’ve been walking for close to a mile now and it’s been smooth with no encounters so I won’t disagree with him.

“They know we’re coming and they want us here,” Vincent chimes in. “That’s what it is. They want us down here. We just have to be ready when bullets fly.” He looks to me and I nod.

I nod and I just keep going.

We continue on in silence. In the darkness of silence. The only light ahead of us is our flashlights.

What I think of is Mimi.

I hope she’ll be safe.

I hope she’ll do what I asked her to do and be safe.

Right now I don’t feel like I have tomorrow.

I feel like I’m walking to my death.

I get confirmation of the feeling when we enter a factory style warehouse twenty minutes later and bright lights switch on before us.

All our men enter at the same time.

On the platform on the upper level ahead of us is Diego Portaleu with over a hundred men.

Guns pointed at us.

Chapter Forty

Mimi

“Do you need anything else?”I ask Charlotte as I fluff a pillow and place it behind her.

She smiles up at me and shakes her head. Her stomach has grown so big in just a handful of weeks.

She’s just reached the six month mark but she looks like she’s ready to have her baby any time soon.

“Mimi, just sit with me for a second,” she says, shuffling to sit up a little straighter.

Mia is with the kids, helping Angela. I came to see how Charlotte was because I knew Gabe was with the men guarding the house. He’s the strongest person here and since I’m the person with the least responsibility I wanted to do something useful.

I just… it’s just hard being around her sometimes. It makes me feel like a hypocrite although I’ve actually never had any ill feelings toward her.

Now she wants me to sit with her.

---