Page 98 of The Chemist

Jared grabbed Zero and pulled him down behind an overturned couch.

“Cover me,” Jared shouted as he Rambo-style crawled across the floor before tuck-rolling behind a table.

Behind the table, a fight ensued. Shouting and smashing, Zero listened to the commotion as Jared fought an endlessnumber of men, it seemed. Two shots rang out before silence fell behind the table.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine,” Jared huffed out before throwing his hand up behind the table, essentially signaling to all the bad guys in the room where he was currently hiding.

As expected, a lamp sitting on a table near Jared exploded.

“Shit,” Jared squealed before lowering his hand and returning fire.

“Matteo is going to kill me if I return you back to him riddled with holes,” Chase shouted at Jared from somewhere along the back wall.

“Isaac might have something to say about it. Can’t say there’s much boning going on when you’re dead,” Jared responded, blowing the nose off someone crawling across the floor.

“I hope that was a bad guy,” Zero shouted, jumping up from his hiding place and shooting two more men standing off to the left.

“He looked sleazy and shifty. Not really the type of guy to be popular at an underground sex party,” Jared shouted back, picking up a full bottle of champagne and whipping it at some angry-looking man gripping a gun. The man gave a grunt before grabbing the back of his head and falling down to his knees.

Bad men were dropping left and right, but there was still no sign of Diesel.

“Fuck!” Chase shouted, capturing Zero’s attention immediately. He was clinging to his arm as blood spread through his fingers.

Shit! He’s been shot!

Just before Zero was about to hurdle a table to check on his boss and friend, a thick meaty arm wrapped itself around his throat, capturing him in a choke hold.

Fuck. Zero struggled against the man, holding him in a death grip. Stars flashed before his eyes as oxygen refused to enter his lungs.

Gritting his teeth, Zero jabbed his elbow into the man’s side as hard as he could.

The man barely let out a grunt.

More stars.

What the fuck was this guy made of?Zero thought to himself as he stomped down on the foot of the beast currently clinging to him like a desperate ex-boyfriend trying to hold onto his man.

Nothing.

Just when Zero had decided that this was the moment he was going to die, warm wetness splashed across his cheek.

Zero barely had time to register the sound of a trigger being pulled behind him when his body was pulled to the floor under the weight of the dead man still clinging to him.

“Fuck! Did I get you?” Jared rushed, grabbing Zero by the arm and pulling him up from the floor. He desperately searched for injuries, yanking at his arms and grabbing his face with his hands. It was only then, that Zero glanced down at the man missing half his face.

“Damn, you totally exploded that dude’s face,” Zero noted, disgusted and impressed both at the same time.

“Yeah, well, I figured Diesel would kill me if I let his new favorite toy get killed.” Jared smirked.

“I’m going to check the back,” Zero said as he cocked his gun and ran off toward the back of the club.

He felt like he was outside his body. His ears felt like they were underwater, and men kept attacking him from all sides. He wasn’t sure if it was his skills that kept him alive or if perhaps Chase was covering him as he ran across the room.

Miraculously, he made it to the long hallway leading to the bathrooms and the back door with superficial wounds andscrapes. He was pretty sure he would feel the pain tomorrow, but for now, his adrenaline was working overtime.

When he reached the back door, he was just about to shove it open when he noticed a metal door between the men’s room and the back door.

It was an odd location for a door. Perhaps it was a storage closet. Perhaps it was another office. But something about the door screamed, “shady as fuck hidden escape.”

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