Page 232 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

“Is everyone clear on the plan?” Boston asks, and we all nod.

Our group moves out of the office with the plan to meet at Olympia, it being our first stop. Trace says the food deliveries happen today, and he has ordered one truck to log all its inventory. That will give us enough time to intercept it, and we have Colt meeting us there to be the faux delivery driver. He was our best option because he is down for anything and never questions what is asked of him. Even when he was told to not tell his girls, he’s just happy to know they are here safe with Brennan.

I head into the living room and spot Jolie snuggled against Brennan on the couch. Sinclair and Blayne are cuddled with each other on the other couch, and the surround sound is blaring away as zombies chase some guy.

Jolie leans her head back, and I press a soft kiss to her lips.

“Be safe,” she says, against my mouth. “And don’t let those idiots kill themselves.”

“No promises,” I joke.

I head out to my car and Kai, of all people, jumps into the passenger seat. “What?” he says. “Your face looks like I punched your dog.”

“You’re not exactly my first choice of passenger,” I state, turning the car on and reversing from my spot.

“I get that, but we need to move on. Shit happened in the past, but Jolie is all that matters now, and we are about to become fathers. Doesn’t this all seem stupid?”

“I’m fucking trying, but every time I close my eyes, all I see is you not going with her and getting that call.”

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry. Our intention was never to hurt you guys—it was always to keep her safe.”

“I would have done the same thing,” I admit with a sigh. “Maybe that’s why I’m so mad. I just don’t want to hurt anymore.”

“Me either. Can we start again? Take it day by day and see what happens?”

“All we can do is try.”

Kai puts the stereo on, and some nineties punk band blares through the speakers. He sings at the top of his lungs, and I find myself tapping the steering wheel.

Once we reach Olympia, I park in one of the underground parking spaces and most of the others are already here. Stopping to kiss Jolie and Kai tagging along slowed me down. We both head up to the meeting spot and see that Boston already has theweapons out and is ready to go. He doesn’t waste any time with small talk, and that is one upside to Brennan not being here. He is big on the safety lectures whereas Boston doesn’t give a shit. If you’re stupid enough to stray from the plan and you’re stupid enough to get hurt, then he sure as shit isn’t coming to save you.

We load up, and Boston gets a text from Colt saying he is ready to go. Everyone heads out, and sure enough, Colt is sitting in the driver’s seat of the van. We all slip into the back, and I slide the door closed. Colt turns up the music so much that Boston tries to yell at him, but it’s no use—Colt just pretends not to hear him.

Once we are clear of the Olympia gates and on the highway, and we are going well over the speed limit, “Bad Boys” by Inner Circle comes on the stereo. Kai climbs through into the front seat and sings at the top of his lungs, bouncing around, and all I can do is smile. I’m glad he is happy.

We make a sharp right and dip down into the area Marlow needs to open. The van comes to a screeching halt, and we all pile out.

“Everyone put these in,” Marlow says, handing us our earpieces. “Jimmie has disabled our tracking devices, but it only allows us an hour. We have already used almost fifteen minutes.”

“No problem, brother,” Chester says to Marlow, clapping him on the shoulder. “We get in, grab the bastard, and get out—simple.”

“Not so simple, actually. But you just stick to your part of the plan,” Marlow snaps.

I fit the small device into my ear and Jimmie’s voice rings out loud and clear, along with the rest of the guys.

“Let’s disable the cameras and loop them now, then open this door,” Marlow says, and we all wait.

“And done,” Jimmie declares moments later.

We head towards the elevator. It’s a bit of a trek from the bottom, wasting more time that we don’t have, and it gives me a few minutes at most to get the door open at the other end.

Once the doors to the elevator open, we all run—walking isn’t an option with this time limit. Leading the pack since I’m up next, I see the ladder come into view. I’ve never had to pick a lock at this angle. To be honest, I’m not even sure why he put a lockable door there anyway—one with an external lock and key would have worked better to keep us out. Though bolt cutters would have been needed in that case, and Brennan’s spy to cut it open. Either way, we would have gotten in.

I scale the ladder and pull out my kit and get to work. I shake my head as my damn hands tremble, the tools unsteady in my grip. What the fuck is wrong with me? I have never stumbled before, but it doesn’t help that I have eight idiots staring me down as they wait on me.

“You can do this,” Kai says, climbing the ladder behind me. “Remember when we were kids, and you would always try to outdo me in everything? When you realised you were better at this, you couldn’t stop smiling for a week.”

“It’s true, I am better at this than you.”

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