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“He’s running toward Mimic,” Phantom said. “I’ve got to stop him.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Roman said. He handed the book to Wyatt, talking above the skull-splitting sound of the sirens. “Hold on to this. Get back to Mustang.”
“I’m staying with you,” Wyatt said, shaking his head. “I’m not getting separated from you again.”
No, Wyatt didn’t want a repeat of last time. Whenever they got split up was when shit went south… not like shit hadn’t already gone all the way to the South Pole at this point. Still, he wasn’t leaving. He wasn’t going to risk it.
Roman must have understood there was no arguing with him, nor was there time. He shook his head and said, “Fine,” before hurrying out of the room.
Bang Bang put a firm hand on Wyatt’s shoulder and squeezed. “Good choice, broki. Let’s go get Mimic.”
They ran into the hallway, red lights flashing down the hall, stretching their shadows behind them. Two Pride members bolted out of a side room and were quickly taken out by Roman. Wyatt held the tome close to his chest as he followed, the spike of adrenaline nearly giving him X-ray vision. He stepped over the dead bodies and continued on with the two men, running down a widening hall and seeing Phantom directly ahead of them.
He was engaged in a fistfight with two men, their guns sitting feet away from them after Phantom must have disarmed them. One of the men connected a fist with Phantom’s chest, but that gave him the chance to grab the man’s wrist and twist, turning him in a circle and moving his arm like a pretzel, slamming him up against the wall and driving a knee up hard between the man’s legs. An excruciatingly loud shout pierced through Wyatt’s ears as the man’s arm surely broke.
The other Pride member went for Phantom’s back, but Roman was on him in seconds, grabbing the man by the necklace and yanking him backward. He was thrown off-balance, made worse when Roman crashed a fist against the side of his head.
He fell to the ground like a bag of potatoes. Phantom choked his guy out, dropping him to the floor.
“She’s in there,” Phantom said, pointing at a door that was cracked open.
Roman didn’t waste any time. He ran to the door and threw it open, stopping at the threshold. Wyatt came up behind him, his heart sinking down past the ocean floor. Leonidas was in the center of the room, holding a gun up to Mimic’s head, flanked by four other Pride members, all of them with their guns trained on Roman’s chest.
Leonidas chuckled, smiling so that his yellow teeth were on full display. “I didn’t realize you were delivering the pages in person. It’s better service than Amazon.”
“Let her go,” Roman said, stepping inside the room.
“You know the deal, Roman. If you want her in one piece, then hand over the pages—and the tome.” Leonidas’ beady eyes went to Wyatt, a quick flash of unchecked anger crossing over his expression. Mimic looked as calm as if she were waiting in line to order food at the mall. She still wore the cleaning uniform they’d worn to infiltrate Hammerhead Island, sporting her bruises and cuts like badges.
“How can I be guaranteed you’ll let her free?” Roman took a few more steps, slow, deliberate. A woman to Leonidas’ left raised her rifle and snarled, her blue eyes looking like they belonged to a feral cat and not a human being.
“I always follow my word.”
“Please forgive me for not being able to trust a lying snake.”
That seemed to piss Leonidas off. He grabbed Mimic by the hair and yanked her head back, pushing the gun hard into her throat. “I am not a liar or a snake. I am a man of my word. Now, give me the pages and I’ll let her go. Don’t give me the pages and you’ll find yourself at the bottom of the ocean with the rest of your friends.”
“We already are at the bottom of the ocean,” Roman said in a near deadpan tone. Wyatt almost snorted. Almost. His fear was much too strong to allow for any laughter.
Leonidas looked shocked. He shook his head. His finger danced on the trigger. Mimic clutched at his forearm, digging her nails into his skin and drawing thin lines of blood that seemed to go unnoticed.
“Fine. Fish food it is.”
Wyatt braced himself. They were outnumbered and outgunned—he couldn’t see much of a way out.
Neither could he see Phantom sneak past them, making his way to the back of the room and using the stealth of a panther to sneak up and knife two of the men with their guns trained on Roman.
All hell broke loose thereafter.
The two men fell into a pool of their own blood as Phantom rolled backward, dodging the bullets from the other two Pride members and landing a few feet away from Leonidas. He swung his leg out and smashed it into Leonidas’ ankle. It was enough to make him lose his grip on Mimic, who was ready to run. Leonidas tried snatching her but stumbled, something in his ankle having cracked.
