Page 103 of Reaper Released

“I have the antidote here. Tell me where the girl is, and I will let you live!” His eyes dart to the door. “Is she under that storeroom?” His eyes go wide, and he nods. “Let me help you.”

He nods again as he goes blue. His eyes bulge, his mouth foams, and blood starts leaking from his nose and ears. He slumps back into the wall. “Game over, motherfucker!” I whisper, and I hear a chuckle back through my earpiece, patting the dead guy down. I find a bunch of keys, snatching them up and grab the bag. I crack the door open, looking both ways down the corridor.

I slip out and over to the store room, slipping the door shut behind me, hoping that will draw less attention than the lack of guard. I walk into the room, sliding the bolt back on the hatch in the floor. There are some steps leading down. I go down the steps. I pull the hatch shut behind me. The smell hits me, damp and dirty, sweat and piss. As I creep down the wooden steps, I can see six cots with bodies on four of them. I whisper, “Tali, it’s Ray!”

One of the bodies shoots up. “Ray?” She coughs out a sob. “I knew you’d come.”

“Shh, we still need to get you out of here.” Walking over to her, she hugs me, and I check her over a split lip and a few bruises. She points to her ankle. I slip into the bag and grab the bolt cutters, snipping the chain. I move over to the other beds and find three other girls dirty and bruised. I snip their chains too.

“I’m gonna get you all out of here. I need you to be quiet. I need you all to do what I say you got it?”

They all nod. Reaching into my boot, I give Tali her mum’s gun, and she smiles. I wink at her and lead the way. I fling the duffle over my back like a backpack, arming myself with a Glock and a grenade. As I creep up the stairs, I hear mumbling outside the door. Rushing the girls out, I close the hatch and slide the lock back in place. Raising my fingers to my lips, telling them to be silent, I shove them unceremoniously behind some stacks of crates and we wait.

“Where the fuck’s Joker?” I hear from the hallway as Cerberus flings the door open. He scans the room, checking the hatch is bolted. “If he’s fucking that slut in the shitter, I’m gonna lose my shit. Find him!”

As he slams the door and walks back down the hallway, glancing around, there’s a small window the girls can fit through, but I know I won’t. I crack the window open. “Be silent. Tali, you go first. The guys are gonna come get you, go with them, okay? I will make my way back to you.” Tali nods. “Guys, change of plan. Four girls are coming out the storeroom window on the opposite side of the bathroom. I need you to get them. I can't fit through the window. I will make my own way back, okay?”

I hear grumbles and shuffling as I start stuffing Tali out the window. It’s a tight fit, but she makes it with a slight thump on the other side. I throw the next girl through as I hear the guys come around the corner, and Tali throws herself at Steel, sobbing. “I’ve got you, kiddo!” He strokes her hair back and hugs her close.

I throw the third girl out as I hear talking from the hallway again. I grab the last girl by her hand and drag her behind the crate. “Get them out of here!” I bark at the boys. “Go, leave my keys on the bike. I will get us out!”

“I’m not leaving you!” Steel grimaces through my earpiece.

“Steel, please get them back to the villa. I will meet you there!”

“Fuck!” He gasps as they take off running.

I turn to the girl when we move. “Grab the back of my shorts, stay with me, do not let go for anything, stay close, okay? This is gonna be messy. If I tell you to run, run and don’t look fucking back, you got me?” She nods, trying to hold in her tears. I cup her face. “I’m gonna do everything I can, okay?” She nods.

The door flings open, and Cerberus and another guy stride in. “Check the cellar!” he barks as the guy opens the latch and slides in. I run out, slamming the latch shut, sliding the bolt in and kicking out Cerberus's legs from under him. He hits the deck, my element of surprise knocking the wind out of him as I dart out of the door. The girl follows me. I turn right and run to the bathroom. Grabbing her, I shove her out the window as I’m half out. “You fucking whore!”

I’m grabbed and dragged back. “Run!” She takes off sprinting.

I hear Dice over the earpiece. “Shit, I’m going back for the girl!” I hear the roar of his bike and trust that he will get to her as I’m thrown on the floor. I hear the screech of tyres. “Get on! I’ve got her, Ray!”

Cerberus is towering over me. I cower away from him “Please, please don’t hit me. I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” He laughs in my face as he grabs me by the hair.

“You’re gonna fucking pay for this, you slut.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t have a choice. It was…” I trail off.

“It was what? It was who? Who the fuck are you working for, bitch?” He kicks me in the ribs, and I feel a twang, a sharp pain. Fuck, I think he’s broken a rib. I gasp and beg some more just for safe measure. “Please, you don’t understand!” I clutch my ribs and double over. “Please let me tell you, it’s…”

“Fuck spit it out!” He spits in my face while gripping my hair. Thing is, he’s totally underestimated me. While he’s getting in my face, I’ve slid my other arm that’s not holding my ribs into my boot and slid out my Emerson Combat Karambit, gripping it tight in my hand. I smash it upward through his neck, then remove it and stab his cheek. He gasps as he grabs for his neck, but I’m stabbing over and over again. He crumples to his knees, still trying to hold his neck while he bleeds out, and I stab again and again for good measure. The blood is sliding all over me, and I kick my leg out and shove him away from me as he convulses on the floor.

I try to climb out the window, but all the blood… I’m too slimy, too slippery. I’m covered head to toe, so I decide the only way is out the front door. Reaching into my bag, I grab both grenades, ripping the pins out and grasping the triggers taking a deep breath.

“I’m heading out the front door any minute, guys. Get away from here. I won’t be far behind you… hopefully!”

“Fuck, Ray, what you gonna do?” Dice chimes in.

“Just get them girls to Carmen’s. I will meet you there, Steel. Make sure they’re safe, okay?”

“Okay, beautiful, just come home to me, okay?”

“On it, baby!” As I step out into the corridor, I’m met with a young prospect with a look of sheer horror on his face. “Turn the fuck around, dipshit. Don’t make any sudden moves, or I will blow us all sky-high. You hear me, motherfucker?”

He nods, raises his hands, and backs down the corridor into the bar. Things quieten. As I walk in, there's a clatter as a few of the guys jump off their stools, knocking them over. “No fucker move, or I will blow us fucking up. Go on, underestimate me if you dare. Cerberus just did, and he’s dead on the bathroom floor in a pile of his own blood. Joker’s toast, too, so step fucking back, arseholes!”

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