Page 18 of Twisted Empire

I saw him hesitate and suspected he was thinking of the attacker years ago he’d needed to stab to save my life. But he didn’t shy away from the blades. He eased away from the bags and set them on the floor of the van beside him.

I went over next with a twist of dread in my gut. Fighting wasn’t really my thing.Killingwasn’t my thing at all, even if I’d had to do it once. I wanted to beat these bastards down, but if I could manage that without slaughtering them left and right, it’d rest easier on my conscience.

My gaze fell on a steel shaft buried amid the guns and knives. I carefully dug out the baton, extended it to its full length, and swung it through the air. A little of the tension inside me released.

It was solid and heavy enough to crack a bone, but not the sort of automatic death a shot or a stab would ensure. It kind of reminded me of the bars built into my prosthetic leg. In a way, I was extending the reach of my arm with this weapon just like the prosthetic extended my malformed leg so I could get things done more easily.

Something about that thought felt right. I sank down next to Dexter with a sense of satisfaction that I hadn’t been able to summon before.

Beckett had pulled a couple of guns and a knife from the bags, arming himself more thoroughly than the rest of us. When he looked at Maddie, she grimaced.

“My training is mostly in hand-to-hand combat—assuming I won’t have a weapon or at best I’ll have to make use of whatever random thing I can get hold of. I’d be afraid I’d shoot one of the people on our side if I tried to use a gun.”

He handed her a switchblade, the knife edge folded in. “At least keep this in your pocket, just in case.” Glancing back at the duffel bag, he hummed to himself. “I think we might be able to set this up so that you don’t need to do much fighting at all.”

Maddie bristled automatically. “Icanfight.”

Beckett held up his hands. “I know, believe me. But out of the five of us, I’m guessing that you have the least experience tangling with people who are more than happy to kill you if they get the chance.”

Maddie hesitated and then sighed in resignation. “Okay, that’s a fair assessment.”

“You’ll still play a crucial role,” he assured her. “We’ll just keep you out of the worst part of the fray as much as possible.” He patted the bag beside him before zipping it up. “My men under siege need to replenish their weapons and ammo, and you can be the one to deliver the goods. The rest of us will cover you."

A smile crossed my lips despite myself. Not only was Beckett determined to keep Maddie as safe as possible, he’d figured out an argument even she had to accept. Something Logan had failed at more times than I could count.

Beckett got on his phone again, checking how close his reinforcements were and then how things were going on the farm. After the last call, his mouth had tightened.

“We’re almost there,” he said. “And we’re going to go straight in. Do exactly what I say, and I think we can all come out of this all right.”

The van tore down the road and around another corner. Beckett moved to the door, bracing himself by the handle with one pistol already at the ready. He tipped his head to us, a signal to prepare ourselves to spring into action.

“We’re going to barrel right through the middle of the Doom’s Seed contingent, as close to the barn door as we can get. Someone’s waiting at the door to let Maddie in the second she reaches it. Maddie, you jump out and run straight to the door—it’ll be around the right side of the van. My men in the front of the van will hold off anyone who comes at us from that side, and the rest of us will defend the rear. We’ll use the van for cover with the barn at our backs. Got it?”

We all nodded. A metallic clinking carried from the front of the van—the sound of a rifle being cocked, I realized. My stomach flipped over.

Maddie was slinging the straps of the duffel bag over her shoulder. She hefted it to make sure she could carry its weight and then set it down again. I couldn’t stop myself from pushing off the floor to go join her.

I touched her cheek. “Never a dull day around here, huh, Piccolina?”

She laughed roughly. “I’m looking forward to some boredom when all this is over.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll find ways to spice up everyday life—ways much more enjoyable than this.” I tipped her face to meet mine and claimed a quick but emphatic kiss that I hoped told her how far I intended to go to guarantee we got that future.

I stepped back, grasping my baton. The driver gave a brisk shout. Then the van screeched to a halt, and we all sprang into motion.

Beckett whipped open the back doors and used them as a shield, taking a few shots out the back and then around the side. At the swivel of his arm, the rest of us charged forward.

Logan leapt out first and fired a shot of his own. More booms rang out from the front of the van, along with the thuds of bullets drilling into the van’s wall. A fine sweat broke out over my skin, but I sprang out alongside Maddie without letting my fear hold me back.

Maddie dashed around the side of the van with the duffel bags in tow. I shoved between her and a burly tattooed guy who lunged at her and smacked him across the side of the head with my baton.

He reeled to the side and yanked out a gun, but before he could take aim, I slammed the baton even harder into his wrist. At the crunch of breaking bone and a pained grunt, the pistol dropped from his hand.

Dexter was slicing out at another attacker who’d gotten close to the back of the van. Logan and Beckett were still firing, but the swarm of Doom’s Seed people was all around us. I lashed out at another who charged in close and pushed farther out of our temporary shelter to crack the forearm of a prick with a revolver.

The bang of the closing door sounded behind me, making my nerves jump for a second before its meaning sank in.

Maddie had gotten inside the barn. Maddie was safe—well, as safe as she could be while these assholes still had the whole area under siege.

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