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Langley laughed. “Have you seen the pension of a career agent? Well, it’s even less now with budget cuts. All these years of service, the shit we do, the shit we see, losing our families because we’re married to the job… Then these… assholes, who run it all, from these fucking corrupt clubs, rob the poor to feed the rich, and live in mega mansions. I want the fucking mega mansion. I’ve fucking earned it.”
“Money. That’s what you want. Screw the service and legacy you’ve left… you want money.” Hen snorted. “What a piece of shit.”
“Fuck off.” Langley was completely unhinged.
Though Ayelish didn’t see him behind her any longer, she knew he was close. She felt in her gut and knew he was hunting. Hunting them.
“Almost there,” she said to Rainy. “We’re almost…”
The world stopped, just like that. Everything stopped with a single hit from the side, or maybe the rear, Ayelish couldn’t be sure. What she was sure of was the ringing in her ears and the glass shattering around her. The guttural scream that filled the cab of the SUV that wasn’t Rainy, but her own.
Wit’s scream registered next, through the speakers, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying, just recognized it was him. She couldn’t see the ground below them, the buildings seemed… shorter. Nothing made sense. Then they hit the ground. Hard. And the world settled in around them as they began to roll, finally landing upside down when they hit a light pole. The airbags deployed, and that ringing in her ears grew louder.
It was all a daze. She was so confused but knew she needed to get her and Rainy out of there. But it was too late. Langley’s badly battered truck parked right outside her car window, and she wondered why they flew and rolled, but he didn’t. An odd thought at an odd time, but that was what ran through her mind. Until she looked at Rainy and saw her suspended in her seat, held in place by her seat belt just as Ayelish was. She was unconscious. Her face covered in blood. Her hair gleaming from the shards of glass tangled in it. She only imagined she looked much the same.
Getting her sense, or trying, she tried to unbuckle herself so she could reach for her weapon and have a fighting chance, but she was stuck. They both were. The spinning, so much spinning. Her head throbbed, her body throbbed, and all she saw were boots, headed right for her and no way to defend them from the imminent threat. This was it. She tried. She tried so hard to get them away from a crazed lunatic and failed. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open and fight the best she could while suspended upside down as the blood rushed to her head and added to the discomfort.
She closed her eyes briefly to gather herself when the boots stopped only inches from her, and she knew they were out of time. Wit wasn’t there yet, and the rest of the team was unaccounted for. They were all probably searching the streets, one by one, looking for them since Ayelish strayed from the course they’d been following. There wasn’t any more time. It was over. Then she took a swift kick to the head with a steel-toed boot, and the world grew darker and darker by the second.
A gunshot rang out, and she jumped, assuming it was for her. Maybe she’d been hit. She didn’t know. Everything hurt, and everything was numb. The only thing she truly felt was fear because Wit would see this. See her this way. See his sister this way. And if she died, the baby…
Her thoughts were muddled once again when Langley fell and cold dark eyes were on the ground, empty and staring back at her while a narrow stream of blood poured out from a hole in the center of his forehead. He was fucking dead, and Ayelish didn’t know who did it and wondered if this was a part of the game. If someone else was there trying to beat Langley to the prize. Well, they’d won because she was worse for wear and struggling to remain conscious. Game over.
In an odd series of in and out of consciousness, the events unfolding didn’t make sense. The world, when she could see it, was fuzzy again. She was awake, but then again, she wasn’t.
A man, with a knife, reached in, and she tried to scream but there wasn’t enough air left in her lungs or strength in her soul to cry for help. It wouldn’t matter anyway, who was going to help? There was a man with a hole in his head and another man wielding a knife that was quickly approaching her neck.
“Hold on, darlin’,” a man said. “I’m just cutting the strap to get you out.”
He was warm and kind. Familiar but still a stranger. Maybe she did scream, and she just hadn’t realized it because he was careful, consoling, and gentle while trying to ease her fear. Holding her with one strong arm, he used the other to cut her seat belt, and as gently as he could, single-handedly, he lowered Ayelish and pulled her from the wreckage. Cradled in his arms, she felt his hard chest against her body and felt… safe.
It wasn’t clear what was happening. It was a clusterfuck of flashes like a montage playing in her head of broken scenes from a tragic movie, but then… it wasn’t a movie. This was her life. This was happening, and the ending was being rewritten by a stranger she found comfort in. He gently laid her in the grass beyond a sidewalk and went back to the wrecked SUV.
He turned and looked at her over his shoulder. “I’ll be right back. You’re safe. Don’t worry… you’re safe.”
She watched him as he did the same for Rainy and pulled her from the wreckage too. There was something different about him with her. When he pulled her from the car and cradled her in his arms, he sat with her. Rocked her as his head fell back like he was in agony, feeling her pain. The moment was brief, but she saw it. The man quickly brought Rainy to the grass and laid her beside Ayelish. He tossed his backpack on the ground and dug inside.
“You’re bleedin’, girl,” he said softly. “I’m just going to wrap that head wound up for you.”
And he did. Gentle as could be, he quickly dressed her wound, then moved on to the rest of her visible injuries and did the same.
“You hold tight, you hear me, Ayelish? You hold tight and keep those eyes open. Keep ’em on me,” he said, and she listened and watched him as he did the same for Rainy like a fucking field medic in the middle of a war zone.
The man pinched the bridge of his nose and rested his hand on Rainy’s pregnant belly and let out a relieved-sounding sigh.
“Thank God,” he whispered. “Thank God.”
The baby? Was he referring to the baby? A rush of relief filled her. He felt the baby move. She couldn’t help but wonder… about her baby. She couldn’t fight the tears. She was so overwhelmed. By everything and then nothing as the darkness was closing in.
Sirens wailed in the distance, screeching tires a block or two away. Help was coming, and she turned to the man and reached for his hand, and he took it. Held it in his and patted the top gently.
“You’re goin’ to be fine, girl,” he said. “Help is right there. Wit is right there. You fight, young lady. You fight hard.”
Then he swiped the tears from her cheeks, gave her a familiar smile, and stood.
“Fight, ya hear me?” he asked as he backed away, tossing his bag back over his shoulder. She noticed he was in full military-like fatigues, a soldier, an operative… something. “Keep your eyes open. There ya go. You can do this, Ayelish.”
Then he was gone. In the literal blink of an eye, he disappeared. She found it funny that she blinked and he was gone like every cliché little saying about a blink of an eye. She blinked again and nothing happened other than the sirens grew louder, vehicles came to a screeching halt, and car doors slammed as shuffling footsteps came closer.
