Page 271 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

“Fuck man, slow down a little. We have kids to live for now. If you kill us, Jolie will find a way to reincarnate you just to kill you again.”

Chester smirks but slows down a little—not enough to actually be a law-abiding citizen. But at least my brain won’t be splattered into the windscreen if we crash.

The clean-up crew still hasn’t arrived by the time Chester and I get there, but we expected that since Mr Fast and the Furious here was driving. We don’t bother waiting for them since their job is to load the bodies and clean the area.

We enter the building, looking around for any sign of where he would have been holed up. “Let’s try the top floor,” Chester says, pointing to a set of stairs.

I have to agree. Ziyon has lived underground for years; he would have wanted to be king of this new castle.

We take the three flights of stairs to the top floor. There is a short hallway and one door at the end.

The door is slightly ajar, and the frame has a smear of blood—a handprint. Chester points at it, and I nod. We move closer, and without further warning, Chester kicks the door open more.

We don’t need to look very hard, as a body is lying on the floor a couple metres into the room. Chester steps through the doorway, instinctively ducking when something is swung at his head. I rush forward as Chester takes a man to the floor.

“Stop, it’s me!” the man shouts. Chester raises his fist and halts, looking down. “It’s me, Paul.”

Chester pushes up and stands, but doesn’t offer to help him to his feet. “What the fuck are you doing? Why didn’t you call Brennan?”

“It’s hard to call someone when Ziyon takes our phones until our shifts are over, and his is password protected. I figured someone would show up eventually. The woman took the babies, and I have no idea where they went.”

“We have the babies,” I tell him, and his body physically loosens up. He knows his family was on the line.

“Thank god. Does that mean I can see my wife and kids now?”

I nod, watching as relief flashes in his eyes.

“Is he dead?” Chester asks, kicking Ziyon’s lifeless body.

“He sure is—she got him good. That motherfucker shot me, but I managed to get the damn bullet out.”

“Let me look. Chester, go check if the clean-up crew is here yet, and get them to sort this shit out.”

Chester doesn’t respond, but he kicks the body again, harder this time, before he walks from the room.

Paul leads me to the bathroom, where a first aid kit is already on the sink. “I tried to sew it up myself, but I couldn’t—my hands kept shaking too fucking much. So I put a damn sanitary pad on it and taped it to my skin.”

I snort, and he shoots me a look.

He lifts his shirt, letting me see his patchwork attempt; he has done a good job at taping the pad to his arm. Paul was bloody lucky it was there and not in his chest. No way he would have survived a bullet wound there.

“It should be good how you have it, for now. We can get a doctor to check it over, and I will make the call to get your family home. I’m sorry we used your kids as pawns.”

“Don’t be. I would have done the same if someone took my kids. Just don’t do it again. Unless you plan to only take my wife. I love her, but she is a royal pain in my ass.”

“My girl would kick my ass if I even thought that.”

“Yeah, well, wait until you have been together for over twenty years. Just make sure you keep the magic alive.”

“What the fuck are you two gossiping about in here? Clean-up has arrived, and I want to get home and see Jolie. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad this bullshit is over. And now we are for sure taking time off from this shit.”

“Strip down to your underwear,” I tell Paul. “Anything with any DNA needs to be left behind. The clean-up crew will bring you sweats and a hoodie.”

We all head into the living area, and the clean-up guys make us all strip down butt-naked and put on a brand-new set of clothes. This isn’t our first rodeo, so we know exactly what to expect. Creed usually deals with our stuff, but these guys are new. Even Chester doesn’t argue, which is strange. He must really need a break. He is right, though. We all need to take a few weeks to settle into family life and focus on us. Olympia will still be there when we get back. I’m sure there are other people who can deal with it. Brennan won’t like the idea, but I bet Jolie can convince him.

Chester makes the executive decision to take Paul home, since we are already on this side of the city. There is no need to drag him back to our house—Ziyon is dead, and we can get a statement from him later, if we need it. I made a call to Brennan after we stripped, and he agreed to get Paul’s family home. I assured Paul that he would be compensated for his time working for us. Not that he had a choice, but still, we are not completely heartless. Besides, you never know when we might just need him again.

“I need to make a pit stop before we go home,” Chester says, detouring back into the city after leaving Paul’s place. He doesn’t elaborate, not that I expected him to.

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