Page 76 of Rebellion of a Kingdom

Asher and I move to hover around Lincoln's laptop as he shows us entry points, and we discuss our own strategy. Once we have a little instruction on what to do, we all make off through the trees towards the compound. We are going to come at it from different directions but need to get eyes on it first, so we know where to send more of our manpower. The only agreed instruction is whoever gets to Elle and Jace first, gets them out of there no matter what.

I push through the foliage with Asher and Lincoln by my side. All of us are in small teams of three and four, to ensure we all have backup. We are still dressed in our tactical gear and I have more weapons strapped to me than I could have ever imagined. I’m not going down without a fight. None of us are.

I look at Asher, who is silently brooding beside me as we walk, “I want to be the one to kill Elliot.” Lincoln swings his head to look at me, but Ash doesn’t respond, so I carry on.“He killed my father, took everything from me. I want to return the favor.” I wait for his refusal, for him to fight me on it. Elliot might be a sick son of a bitch, but it’s still his father. I don’t know what plans he has for him, but I don’t care.

He stares at me, like he is looking directly into my head until he just grunts, “Greg’s mine.”

The rest of the walk is silent and as we get towards the edge of the tree line that leads out into the grounds of the compound. We all slow down as Max, Elijah, and Oliver all step forward, binoculars in hand to assess what awaits us. I can see them whispering back and forth, trying to come up with the best way to approach with minimal sighting. They point things out to one another and when they seem satisfied, they gather us all around.

“Alright, we’ve got around twenty guards hanging around the front.” He nods to Owen and Josh, “you two set up for sniper cover and take out as many as you can. More guards will be drawn there when the Crows get here, so Me, Oliver and Liam will cover the front too.” He looks at Zack, “you stay by my side.” He warns him, before turning to me.

“Split your guys up into two teams to hit from both sides. Harry and Landon will help cover them.” The guy’s nod as they listen to his instructions and start splitting up into two groups.

“You, Asher, Logan and Lincoln are going to enter through the back with Tyler.” I nod at his final instruction and we all start pulling out our weapons, checking them, and getting ready.

We wait for the rumble of the bikes to come round the bend and as soon as they appear, Max gives the order. A smile spreads across my face as I raise my gun and run off into the trees. Hang tight baby, we’re coming. I ignore the branches that whip into my face and the bite of the bitter cold. None of it will stop me from getting where I need to be.

Asher and Lincoln move silently beside me and I hear Logan and Tyler somewhere close behind us. All of us have a gun in our hand and look around, wildly searching for our first target. Once we see the edge of the back buildings, we slow our pace, as we creep closer. There are a few guards lingering around and none of them look like they expect much action back here. That's their second mistake. The first was helping to take my girl.

We stop in the cover of a few trees and all lock eyes with a nod before we step out and start shooting. The five guards are dead within a minute and we are pushing over the fence and opening the gate in the next. Ash approaches the back building first, followed by Lincoln and then me. Tyler leads Logan towards another, as we split up to cover more ground. We move between what look like two derelict buildings before we come to one that’s manned by a lone guard. Lincoln fires a bullet in his head before Ash and I can even move. He cracks the door open and dips his head inside.

“Fucking hell.” He mutters, as he swings the door open and reveals two semi-naked girls. “Motherfuckers.” He shakes his head and raises his weapon to show he isn’t a threat as they bundle together in fear. “We aren’t here to hurt you.” He adds slowly.

“Two girls secured.” Ash snaps down his comms. He secures his gun to his waist as he slowly approaches them. “We’re here to get you out of here. We are here for our friend. She was taken too.” They stare at him wide-eyed with fear, “she escaped once before, a few years ago. We just want her back and we can help you too if you want.”

One of the girls slowly nods, before she whispers, “please help us.”

“Alright. Come on then we need to be quick.” He reaches out towards them and the one who didn’t speak flinches.

“No.” She cries and Asher freezes. “I’m not going. No. They’ll find me.”

“Come on, Kiera, this is our chance.” Her friend pleads.

“I can’t.” She stares at the floor visibly shaking in fear.

Her friend looks up to us, “Her sister,” she whispers, “her sister was here with us, she wouldn't stay quiet, so they shot her.”

I grimace as soon as she says the words, but Asher doesn’t falter, dropping to his knees before them. “I’m sorry about your sister, but she wouldn’t want this for you. I promise it’s going to be okay. We just need to get you out of here.”

She looks at him, studying him, like she is trying to work out if he is genuine or not. She eyes all our weapons and just as she is about to speak, gunfire breaks out in the distance and she almost jumps out of her skin,

“No. I can’t. They will shoot me.”

“Here,” Asher opens his hoodie and then rips off his tactical vest.

“Asher.” I snap at him, he needs that fucking vest, but he ignores me.

“Put this on, no bullet is getting through that. It’s about a hundred feet to the back fence, where we have opened a gate. You run that way and head to the right, you’ll find all our cars. Hide there and wait for us.”

She stares at the vest in his outstretched hand as her friend begs her, “please, Kiera. We can’t stay here.”

Kiera looks at her friend and back to the vest before reaching out and taking it with a shaky hand. Her friend helps her stand, and she puts it on. They are both filthy and weak as they stagger behind us to the door where Lincoln has remained the whole time. He looks around and when he sees it is clear, he quickly runs them to the fence allowing them to slip out. Fuck, how many more girls like that are we going to find, it makes me sick to even think about it.

Once Lincoln comes back, we carry on moving silently through the compound, the gunfire continuing ahead of us. I’m about to step round a corner when Linc slams my body into the side of a building, covering me as bullets start to whizz towards us. He leans around to fire back with Ash crouched beside him doing the same. Another guy comes up behind us and I fire at him, hitting his arm and forcing his own gun to the ground. He doesn’t stop though, charging towards me as I fire another into his chest. He drops to the floor gurgling on his blood, and Ash reaches towards him and slams a knife into his throat, killing him instantly.

We continue to push forward and fight with every guard we come across. I’m bleeding and out of breath, as we move forward towards a building that the guards seem to be gravitating towards.

“That must be where they are keeping her.” Lincoln pants out, eyeing the same spot I am.

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