Page 79 of Fighting Salvation

“You don’t buy the best in this game, Hansen. You earn them through loyalty.”

Hansen bellowed out a humourless laugh. “Loyalty is worthless. Only power and money matter. You can count on that, but loyalty is fleeting.”

How much damage had his own mother’s actions caused this man and how much was just that he was just a fucking bad, evil person? He didn’t know. He certainly wasn’t lily white but was that nature or nurture? “I’m sorry for what happened to you, Joel. I really am, but this,” he lifted his arms and let them fall to his sides again as he shook his head, “didn’t need to be this way.”

“Save it. I don’t want your sympathy. It won’t save you either, so don’t bother, brother.”

“I know, but I needed to say it.”

He turned his body back towards the front, hoping the conversation had distracted Hansen long enough for whoever was on the rocks to do whatever they planned.

Bás watched as two of the soldiers in the front moved a large missile into position, his shoulders tensing.

Shit.

His belly dipped as dread and panic gripped him and the feeling of being absolutely helpless was paralysing. Movement on the boat drew his attention but a sense of being watched made his hair stand on end in warning. The wind whipped his hair, and the energy seemed to shift.

Hansen must have felt it too because he turned just as a bullet took out one of the two men behind them. Bás fell to his knees and barrelled into Hansen, taking him to the ground. They grappled for his gun and Bás caught an elbow to his already broken ribs and winced in pain. Ignoring it, he rolled away, pushing to his knees just as more gunfire filled the night.

Movement behind him made him glance back as Hansen pulled a knife from his boot and dove at him. He slashed wildly, catching Bás across the arm as he tried to wrestle it from his grip. The cut was clean and Bás bellowed as he swung at Hansen, blood spurting across his face. The knife fell to the ground, out of reach and for a second they just stared at each other, two men who had been friends, and were now enemies, ready to send the other into the afterlife.

All at once they moved, like gladiators fighting to the death and that was exactly what this was. They exchanged blow after blow as hell broke loose all around them. Finally, Bás got the upper hand and staggered to his feet as Hansen rolled to his knees.

He blinked blood from his eye as Reaper and Bein moved in beside him and held their weapons trained on Hansen but didn’t get involved. This was between the two of them now. Jack, Smithy, and Zack were helping the other three men into wet suits.

Hansen was breathing hard as he staggered back. “You’d kill your own flesh and blood, Niall?”

“You’re nothing to me. You’re less than nothing. For years I spent my every waking second thinking about killing you. About vengeance for my family, and how it would feel to finally see you pay. But you know what? I feel nothing but relief because you’re worthless. My mother did the right thing in getting rid of you. You’re poison, a disease that infects everything and I’m going to rid the world of you and everything to do with you. I’ll find every child you fathered, every child in this programme, and I’ll tear your legacy to shreds. In a few years, nobody will remember your name because there won’t be any trace of you. I’ll eradicate you.”

Without a second thought, he lifted the gun Reaper handed him and fired three bullets into Hansen, one for each of his family. He turned and dropped the gun at his feet. His energy was flagging and the wound in his arm was pissing blood in a stream any middle-aged man would be proud of.

“Boss, we need to go.”

Bás staggered back, the relief lifting so profound that it almost sucked every ounce of energy he had with it.

Jack gave a signal over the radio and handed him a suit. “Here, put this on. You’re like a walking advert for Sharknado.”

Bás only knew the reference because of Fleur, Snow and Seb’s niece.

He accepted the help as he put it on and they made their way to the base of the rocks, slowly but surely. Luckily there were enough of them to help each man and he leaned into Reaper.

“Is Val okay?”

“Yeah, your girl is fine. Or she will be when she sees you.”

That was the only thing that mattered to him. “Rykov?”

Reaper shook his head and Bás felt a pang of guilt. He’d suspected he hadn’t made it, but the confirmation was still difficult to hear. The water was crashing against the rocks as they donned fins and a mask, the pain in his body almost making him pass out a few times but he focused on the next step and the next until they were sitting on the rocks.

Reaper dipped his head as an explosion rocked the island.

“We need to go.”

“Am I about to be shark food?”

“We didn’t see any on the way in but I’ll explain later. I want you to take this. We only have two.” Reaper tried to give him a propelled sea scooter but he pushed it away. “Give it to them, they’re much weaker than me.”

Reaper looked at him and he could see he wanted to argue with him but in the end, he nodded and rushed over to Jack, who was helping Santa into the water. Jack glanced at him and said something to Reaper, who nodded.