Page 135 of I Promise You
“Do you need backup? I’ll follow you out!” Rooker offers after taking down another from deep into the barn.
I hold my rifle up and shots are being sprayed all around us, but we’re taking them all down one after one, avoiding getting hit. I aim for two men with AK-47s over a wall and pull the trigger. They fall to the floor.
“I got this. Just cover me. She ran into the woods, but Omar is mine,” I roar. I need to get to her before they kill her.
I head for the breached explosion that Zeke created. My boots hit the frozen floor, there’s still a few inches of snow, and I grimace when I remember my Ari is running barefoot on this.
I’m taking her to my house, and we will spend the next few nights by my fireplace after this is over. I will not let her out of my sight for the next fucking century.
The woods are thick behind the barn. We’re in North Carolina, and I can see a glimpse of red glimmer in the moonlight. The dress I bought her has sequins and jewels and the night sky and stars reflect off her dress.
Omar, his daughter, and three men run after her. They’re shooting at her as they chase. Gunshots ripple into the air and they sound like fireworks.
“Creature!” I yell at our most lethal sniper as I get closer to them. He knows I’m calling for him to take the shot. I know he’s watching.
As if on cue, another bullet rings out by my ear, and the man chasing Ari falls to the floor.
His body falls against a rock and I take a quick glance as I run past his body, making sure he’s dead.
Creature is fucking good at what he does. Admiral Ravenmore made a great decision, adding him to the team. The fucker never misses. This man was running full speed, and he still hit the target in the head.
“Good shit.”
“I’ll leave you the rest,” he grumbles through the mic.
I lift my rifle now that I’m a few feet away from Ari. She’s hit a dead end and there’s a river flowing down hard. The sound of the river gets louder as I pull the trigger again.
I fire another shot, and that only leaves three men now. I have to reload my weapon, but I don’t have enough time. I won’t grant them quick deaths, anyway. I pull out my knife.
I can’t see Ari anymore. Maybe she’s hiding now that they are cornered towards the river.
My smart girl.
They don’t know where I’m at. I’m Death’s shadow tonight and I’m watching Omar call out for Ari.
“Spread out and find her. She couldn’t have gotten far,” Omar growls, ordering the few henchmen he has left.
“Dad! We have to run. He’s after us, we can come back,” his daughter pleads.
He slaps her on the face.
“We’re not leaving until I have Death’s head on a spike and his slut underground. Now fucking find them.”
“Yes, sir!”
But his daughter rubs her cheek, glaring at her father. She looks like she had enough. She turns around, walking into the deep woods, abandoning them.
He’s delusional. Even if he kills me, they’re surrounded. They’re not going anywhere. I watch his henchmen search around me. There are only a few left.
Don’t they know the shadows are my friends? The Reaper calls out for them, and I will deliver.
I creep behind a tree and watch one of them step into my vision to the left of me.
He’s short, but his frame is built…still an easy kill.
I grab him, palming my gloved hand over his mouth. I muffle his screams as I hug his body, twisting the gun out of his hand as I stab in the chest. Before he falls, I pull my silencer out and shoot him in the head, another one down.
I lay him down on the snow quietly.
