Savage Ending (Savage Trilogy 4)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Savage

I’m still standing under the cover of the woods, staring out at the birdhouses clustered in trees and sitting on stilts dug into the ground, when Adam eases to my side and murmurs, “You feel it, too.”

I nod without looking at him, aware that he’s talking about that something I’m waiting on. Seconds turn into a minute before I whisper, “In an ideal world I’d wait for nightfall.”

He gives a soft snort. “When do we ever operate in an ideal world?”

He’s right. We need to move now. Since I have yet to receive the instructions from Max, I motion to the tree, which I assume to be my destination. Adam motions to himself and it and starts to move. I grab his arm and not gently. “You’re not going.”

“Think about Candace,” he snaps in a low, tight voice.

Exactly why he shouldn’t be here. Nothing like a couple of dead friends as a wedding gift to my wife. I release him and take off running. I’m halfway across the clearing when my gaze catches on a glint at the other side of the clearing. I duck behind a tree as stupid-ass Adam flies by me. He can’t just stay the fuck back. Hooked to my mic, I say, “Where are you, Asher?”

“East side of the circle, and yes I saw it, too. I’m going in behind that position.”

“Before the asshole shoots Adam,” I say, and I ease around the tree to find Adam squatting beside the targeted birdhouse, already digging. And God help us all, everything in my gut says he’s in trouble. I take off running toward the center of the circle, ensuring I’m the target. A gun discharges, but the bullets pelt a tree to my left. I dive behind yet another tree. Thank fuck, Adam does the same. Gunfire unloads for a full minute and then stops.

Asher speaks in our connected mics. “Four hostiles down. One on the move. I can’t see him. Assume he can see you.”

“Disco inferno, baby,” I say, and because Adam knows me, he knows exactly what I mean. We’ll take center stage, back-to-back, and just start firing, lighting up everything and everyone in our range.

“Are you fucking nuts?” Adam demands, rejecting that idea. “That’s a desperate solution. We have Asher.”

And a hostile in hiding who could kill either of them any second, I think, but I don’t waste words or time. If he’s not in, I’m on my own. Weapon in hand, I take off running.

Adam and Asher immediately unload their weapons, giving me cover, or I hope like fuck it’s Adam and Asher. Bullets pelt near my feet and I dive right and roll down a hill, into the woods.

I’m on my feet in a blink, and I’m following the sound of gunfire on this side of the woods. I don’t bother to hide or play coy. Coy is for pussies. I’m here to kill the bad guys and go home to Candace.

I round a corner and a dude in fatigues is suddenly a cornered deer in headlights, turning himself and his gun on me. Before he can threaten me more than he already has, I shoot him between the eyes. Just that easily, he’s dead. The end. Footsteps sound behind me and I draw my second weapon and whirl around to find two more hostiles charging in my direction. In other words, they think they need me alive, probably to get that data drive. I, on the other hand, do not need them alive. I shoot them both dead.

Adam and Asher appear to my left and right. “We’re clear,” Adam announces. “Dumbass. You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“Agreed,” Asher says, as he kneels beside a body and rips off the mask, exposing his face. “Any idea who he is?”

I glance at the thirty-something man with red hair and I’ve already dismissed him. “Never seen him in my life.” I turn to Adam, who’s removed the masked of the two other hostiles. I glance at the unfamiliar faces, dismiss them as well, and then eye Adam. “Did you get the data drive?”

He gives a negative shake of his head.

I’m already turning away, while Asher pats down the dead guy looking for ID we all know he won’t find, but he has to try. In a few quick beats, I’m kneeling next to the birdhouse post where our prize should be. Adam is right there with me.

“Did you know them, Savage?”

“Nope,” I say, and jackpot. I have the baggie with the drive. I’m also not oblivious to the fact that I drank my way through many a mission Tag gave me, and then buried secrets about the missions I did for Tag just to protect myself. And many of those missions were done with Max by my side. He says he buried this secret before he ever knew me and yet he somehow did exactly what I used to do, before he knew I did it?