Page 91 of F*ck Steal Kill

As much as it sucked to use people to rescue more, I knew it was the right thing to do, and I wouldn’t make families deal with that loss if they didn’t have to. I had a heart; it was just battered and mostly black.

“One, two, three,” I whispered, stepping back into Quentin’s chest as the device fired, letting off a pop as it sent shockwaves or some magic shit through the door to disengage everything. I didn’t really know how it worked, just that it did. Joy was a freaking genius. A small plume of smoke rose, but otherwise, it was contained.

No words were spoken as I kicked open the door, my gun held at the ready for any guards that lingered on the other side. A man jumped up, dropping the phone he’d been holding in the process, an earbud falling out of one side. That at least explained how he hadn’t heard us.

Unfortunately for him, he was dead before he had time to raise his weapon, my finger hitting the trigger and nailing him right between the eyes within seconds.

One down, ninety-nine, something or other to go.

“I’m up,” I teased Lacey, the competitiveness helping to distract from the fear we were too late.

“Not for long,” she sang, firing two shots and taking down two more guards.

Grinning, we continued advancing, more men taking notice as their friends fell to the ground around them.

By the time we reached the next door, I was up to ten, and Lacey was at twelve. Grady and Quentin had yet to fire. Slackers.

Reloading while I had the time, I motioned for Quentin to set the next device. Smirking, he did as I asked, blocking me as it fired.

“My turn,” he whispered before stepping through the door first and firing off his own shot.

Fuck. That was hot.

“Why do I suddenly envision you fucking your men in the blood of your enemies?” Lacey asked, laughing as I only shrugged. I’d never deny it hadn’t crossed my mind.

This room was heavily guarded, and it took all of us shooting and ducking for cover as they returned fire to clear it out. I lost count of my kills but shrugged it off, thankful the vest had held. It had taken a few hits, and I’d have bruises to show for it tomorrow. Holstering my gun, I pulled my knife free as we neared the last door into the house. With the close quarters of the hallways, I wanted to be able to slice and dice as I moved and not accidentally shoot myself with a ricochet bullet.

Been there, done that, had the scar to prove it.

The hallway was eerily quiet as we tiptoed out of the hidden door. There was no way our arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed, especially since we hadn’t been trying to keep quiet. Slinking along the wall, my heart pounded in my chest as the adrenaline spiked. We were so close now.

Despite killing over a dozen men already, my thirst hadn’t been quenched. I needed to feel their blood as it seeped out of them, to watch them squirm and their eyes turn to fear when they realized the only way out was death. It might sound morbid, but it was the truth.

Until I had that, I wouldn’t be satisfied, not after what these assholes had done.

We made it another few feet without spotting another soul. Where were all the men? My spidey senses tingled that we were about to walk into a trap.

“This isn’t right,” Lacey whispered, echoing my own fears. “Maybe we should split up?” she suggested, her eyes darting in every direction as she calculated the distance and risks.

“No,” Q and Grady said before I could even form thoughts. Not that I disagreed, but sometimes their possessiveness went to the extreme.

Who was I kidding? I loved every second of it and claimed them back just as hard.

The hallway opened to a big room lying on the other side of the wall, and I had a gut feeling this was where Viper was taking a stand. From our angle, we couldn’t see into the room, and I wasn’t dumb enough to walk right out into the open. Unclipping a round silver ball, I tossed it in my hand a few times before crouching to roll it into the open space.

The ball could be heard as it rolled over the floor, but no one made a sound on the other side. Either I was wrong, and they weren’t there, or they were the quietest mercenaries I’d ever met.

It didn’t matter which scenario as the ball stopped, and it began a countdown of beeps, growing faster as it neared the end. And there it was, a faint squeak, a shift of a foot, the rustling of clothes. Someone was antsy.

A loud beep rang out in the quiet space as the ball opened at the top and released a mist. The four of us had pulled up our neck gaiters, blocking the sweet smoke as it permeated the room in record time. Coughing and furniture moving as people collapsed were the cues I needed before I rolled from my crouched position into the middle of the room, flicking my knife at the first thing that moved.

It landed in the shoulder of a Savage, his gun dropping as he clutched his arm. The others followed, though they stayed on their feet, guns popping off as they took out the rest of the men. Retrieving my knife, I kicked the guy who was still alive before kneeling next to him. Holding the blade to his throat, I glared at him.

“Where are the hostages?”

He shook his head, his eyes wide as he pleaded with me. This man might not be the killer the rest were, but there was no way of knowing. The only Savage that Ava had vouched for was Theo, and since he was already dead, I didn’t particularly have a lot of grace when it came to the rest.

Had he stopped to consider his actions? Did he care when others had been killed? I highly doubted it, and therefore I wouldn’t waste my time worrying whether or not he deserved death.

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