Page 71 of Saving Her

One instruction into that communication device and my sisters are dead.

“No.” Argus inches toward the driveway, his lips pressed to the mouthpiece in his palm. “Can we get—”

Luca lunges, landing a left hook to Argus’s cheek, his other hand gripping the rifle. He yanks the weapon forward, sending the guard stumbling while Hunter lashes out at Otis, pummeling with one fist then the other.

I scramble backward, stepping out of the way as my protectors attack with brutal efficiency. The guards don’t have a chance to retaliate. They drop. From knees, to palms, to stomachs.

It’s such beautiful savagery.

That is, until the sound of gunfire erupts from inside and my brief sense of optimism vanishes in a punishing heartbeat.

11

Luca

I slamthe guard down on the cement as gunfire explodes inside. The screams of women follow.

Penny’s friends are in trouble.

I shoot Hunt a glance, his ferocity meeting mine for a brief second before he lands a vicious kick to the guard laying before him, his boot making a direct jaw hit. Otis falls limp. Out like a light.

I’m not as kind. I drop to my knees, grab my blubbering enemy around the head, and break his neck with a swift jerk of my hands.

“Where is she?” Decker speaks into my earpiece. “Where’s Penny?”

I scramble to my feet, snatch the rifle along the way to point it toward the sound of approaching steps.

It’s Deck, his eyes filled with fury as he yanks two pistols from the back of his waistband. “Where the fuck is she?”

I drop the rifle, catch the weapon he lobs at me, then turn to find her. “She’s…” I keep turning, not seeing her anywhere.

“Fuck. She must have slipped by me.” Hunt snatches the second thrown pistol and makes for the mansion doors. “I’ll get her.”

“No.” Decker rushes in front of him. “There’s still one more guard outside. You take care of it. I’m going after my sister.” He doesn’t pause for confirmation as he shoves his way past Hunter to disappear inside.

“I’m going with him.” I follow, stopping beside Hunt to hand over the car key. “Put Otis in the trunk. We’ll need him later.”

I maneuver inside the mansion, turning down the hall to the right as Decker runs in a crouch along the left.

I pass doorways, giving each room a cursory glance, my gun aimed and ready as I panic over finding Penny. She can’t have gone far. She was right there. By my fucking side one minute and gone the next.

I don’t stop my search until shouts carry from around the corner of the hall. I slow, quietening my steps as I lean close to the wall and chance a glance around the edge.

There’s a guard a few yards away, his rifle pointed toward an open doorway, his aim low. “Get up, bitch.”

Fuck.It could be Penny.

I shoot, blasting the motherfucker in the head to plaster his blood over a nearby painting, his limp body flopping to the floor.

More screams lash the air, the closest coming from that open doorway, the sound quickly smothered. There’s the shout of men from another corner of the house. The thud of a struggle, too.

I creep toward the room, stepping over the dead guard, and chance a glance inside the darkened interior.

“Penny?” I blink to adjust to the lack of light and find three bunks. A dresser. A closet. But no warrior woman, only the faintest hint of movement from the far corner. “Shorty, is that you?”

I crouch slowly, the movement incremental, my gun still at the ready. “Are you in here?” I flatten onto my stomach, doing a visual sweep under the beds to find two wide eyes beaming back at me from under the farthest bunk.

It’s another woman, her body shrouded in darkness.

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