Mercury Striking (The Scorpius Syndrome #1)(107)

He laughed and grabbed her shirt to haul her against him. “I’ve dreamed of this. Of screwing you in the water while you drowned.” His sharp teeth sank into her lip. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring you back so I can do it again.”

Her lips ached and blood dribbled down her chin, but only the deep water filled her mind. “Bret, please,” she whispered.

He sighed and pushed her down.

She went under, the water overtaking her and sliding down her throat. Her mind sparked in pure terror, and she fought back, her lungs compressing.

He lifted her by her hair, and she rose, coughing out water. The chlorine burned her throat, but she gulped in air, trying to breathe. He grabbed her close, his body tight. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to die. This is a short lesson, and you’ll learn it well. Then you’ll live with me and continue your work on Scorpius.”

Fire lit her, and she clutched his dick through his pants, squeezing as hard as she could.

He yelped and released her.

Sucking air, spitting out water, she shoved for the other side of the pool.

“You bitch,” he shouted, tackling her from behind. She fell again, his weight on top of her, her face smashing against the tiled bottom of the shallow end. Her mouth closed, trying to keep the water out, and her lungs started to burst. Her last thought was a picture of Jax Mercury running a knuckle down the side of her face, his expression so gentle her blue heart hurt.





Chapter Thirty-Seven





I’ll follow you into the depths of hell, and if I can’t get you out, I’ll quash the fires.

—Jax Mercury




Jax waited until Raze, Tace, and Sami ditched their bikes and met him by the side of the too-quiet road. “We’re ten minutes out from the subdivision. Something feels off.”

Sami nodded. “Moonlight is good, but there’s no sound in the desert. No wildlife. It’s as if everything is on alert.”

The woman had good instincts. “Raze?” Jax asked.

“My guess is that Atherton called his forces in, and they’ve spread out. Waiting for us.” Raze rolled his shoulders. “Feels like we’re walking into it.”

Yeah. The three trucks lumbered to a stop, and soldiers jumped to the ground. Some trained in combat, some just trained since Scorpius, all serious and carrying weapons. Fifteen men and nine women in addition to Jax’s central four.

He gestured everyone around and started drawing in the sand. “If this is the house where Atherton is, I’d expect resistance here, here, here.” He continued marking spots. “We don’t know how many soldiers are here, but we have to prepare for the worst.” Then he set up contingents of four to spread out and infiltrate from every direction. “Raze and I will infiltrate behind enemy lines and reach Lynne.”

The soldiers fell into step and headed through the subdivision, all fairly quietly.

“They’ve been trained well,” Raze said.

But well enough? Not against real military, if that was what the president had amassed.

Five minutes in, and the night lit up. Explosions echoed all around.

A blur of purple sprinted out from behind a stucco wall, and Jax reacted instantly, slicing his knife into the gang member’s gut before dropping him to the ground. Holy fuck.

Raze took down the guy’s partner, snapping his neck.

Jax turned, breathing heavily, his gut burning. “Twenty is here.”

Raze stood, his lips forming a grim line. “Smart. Atherton recruited Twenty to increase his forces against us. We don’t have enough people.”

No, they didn’t. “Grab everyone and head back. I’m going in,” Jax said.

Raze clasped his arm. “No. Your people made the choice to enter this fight, and it’s one they believe in.”

Jax whirled until they were nose to nose. “If I let them go into an ambush like this, I’m no better than Cruz.” Cruz had been willing to sacrifice any member of the gang, any brother, to follow his own agenda. Jax wasn’t that guy.

“No. They followed you willingly, and they’re fighting for Lynne. Let’s do this and trust the training.” Raze released him.

Jax swallowed as fires began to burn around them, the smoke turning the moon a dingy yellow. Raze was right. They needed to find Lynne and end this. “Stay on my six.” He broke into a jog, watching the shadows. Around them battles raged, and cries of pain filled the night. Jax flashed back to a battle years ago, one across the world, and his body shook with each boom.

The blood across Frankie’s face, the wound in his neck just spitting more blood. The scent of death, more powerful than the stench of fear. The sound of Frankie’s breathing, which somehow drowned out the patter of gunfire erupting around them.

His short dark hair burned with embers, and his too-pale face seemed devoid of any life.

Jax’s arms shook with the remembered pain of punching through heated glass and trying to pull his dying buddy’s body free. His one real friend in the world. A guy who’d never asked for anything but friendship.

Jax had failed so completely, even his gut hurt.

He jerked back to the present, trying to fuzz the past. And he kept on running, even as his arm ached with remembered pain. He couldn’t fail again. Not Lynne.

Now that he knew Twenty was near, he knew what to look for and avoid. He and Raze made it inside the subdivision and to the center as the fighting went on around them. He attacked on the way in, noting Raze doing the same, while their forces disabled vehicles and fought around them.