Reign of Wrath (Dirty Broken Savages #3)(86)

We’re outnumbered, so we’ll need to be quiet about it as we take out the guards. We coordinate our attack with a few whispered words and silent gestures, working out a strategy to take as many of them down in quick succession as possible. If we can get them all before any of them can sound the alarm, we might still be able to take Julian by surprise.

Knox will go first, and he plasters himself to the wall next to the corner he peered around, readying his weapon and steeling himself. He’s usually the type to go in guns blazing, no hesitation, so I know he’s nervous about this. It’s his cousin’s life on the line, the only one of his “brothers” with whom he shares actual DNA, and I’m sure he’d give anything to switch places with Priest—to be the one Julian took, if it meant Priest was still free and unharmed.

We’ll get him out. We can do this.

Gage takes his place right next to Knox, and Ash and I ready ourselves behind him, weapons drawn.

My gaze shifts to Knox, and his eyes glitter in the dim light as he holds up a hand, counting down with his fingers.

Three.

Two.

One.

Moving as a unit, we stream around the corner. Knox takes out the first guard, while Gage goes for the second. Ash and I race past them, heading for the third and fourth guards. Our attack is so sudden and unexpected that we manage to take out all four before they can raise the alarm, but the fifth man ducks out of the way as Knox drops the body of the first and moves to attack him.

The remaining guard grabs his gun and starts shooting in our direction, and we jump back, trying to scramble for cover.

“Fuck!” Knox curses.

More of Julian’s guards come rushing out of the room, armed and ready to fight, and it turns into chaos. The guards yell to each other, taking shots at us where they can. They rush down the hall, trying to overtake us in the same way we just tried to do to their buddies.

Knox roars his fury now that being quiet is a pipe dream, and he lashes out, knocking the guards back and taking a couple on with his bare hands, not really seeming to give a shit that they’re firing on him.

“Knox!” Gage calls out, ducking into one of the empty rooms as a storm of bullets rings out. “Get the fuck back here before you get shot!”

It’s hard to see in the chaos if Knox gets hurt, but when he ends up next to me, he seems alright. He’s breathing hard, and there’s fire in his eyes. These fuckers are standing between us and finishing this. Between us and rescuing Priest.

We can’t let that happen.

Bullets fly as we return fire, taking out what guards we can. They shoot back, and there are so many of them that we can’t move forward. They have us pinned down in a little corner, and it’s all we can do to defend ourselves.

The whole time I’m shooting, trying to make some progress, I can’t help the creeping feeling of terror that settles in my gut like acid.

What if Julian has heard the commotion and is killing Priest right now?

Logically, I know he probably isn’t. He wouldn’t resort to that unless he had to, since Priest is the only leverage he has against us. If he kills him, he’ll have nothing to bargain with.

So I keep pressing forward, holding on to that thought and letting it drive me.

Priest is still alive, and I have to get to him.

When Gage takes out one of Julian’s guards, sending him careening into a wall with a hole in his head, I see an opening. Without thinking, without hesitating for even a fraction of a second, I take it.

“Cover me!” I call to Gage as I dart forward, slipping down the hallway toward the room where Priest is being kept.

Gage curses, but he does what I asked. He, Ash, and Knox take on the remaining guards, holding them off while I slip into the room. I glance around quickly to get my bearings, and my heart seizes when I see the place where Priest is chained to the wall.

Julian lunges for Priest, and I draw my gun again and shoot at him, desperate to keep him away from the blond man.

I manage to clip Julian’s shoulder, and I lunge forward to finish the job, aiming for his head. Before I can get a shot off, Julian runs at me. Pure hate and disdain contort his features, and I try to duck back out of the way, but he nails me before I can get too far, bringing me down to the ground.

The wind is almost knocked out of me as we land on the hard concrete floor. My gun goes flying, and when I try to scrabble for it, Julian pins me down.

“Get the fuck off me!” I shout, grappling with him.

“I’m going to fucking kill you, you fucking bitch,” he growls. “You can finally be with your precious sister in hell.”

Any other time, I would have bristled at the idea that Hannah would go anywhere near hell if a place like that even existed. But now I’m too focused on the fight.

My gun went skittering across the floor in the struggle, and I don’t see where it went. That leaves me with just my bare hands as I try to fight off Julian. I put a hand on his face and push him away from me, trying to flip our positions so I can get on top.

It takes two tries, but I finally manage to roll us over. I straddle him, grabbing a fistful of his hair and slamming his head into the hard floor with a dull thud. He roars in pain, but instead of leaving him dazed like I hoped it would, the pain just seems to send a wave of adrenaline through him. He lashes out at me, slapping me across the face hard enough that my ears ring.

I jam my knee down, aiming for his groin, and he rolls away just in time to avoid it.