Page 17 of Black Bay Defender
Another gunshot went wild before that gun went skidding across the metal floor to stop by Kong’s foot. He and Leo both struggled against their chains as blood splattered the walls and sprayed their faces. The violence… Kong approved. If he’d been the one to get free first, he would have done the same to avenge his best friend.
Grief struck him hard, stilling his movements for a moment. Lark… A low rumble rattled through his chest. She would heal, he reminded himself. It would take time for so severe an injury, but she would heal.
Grady rose from his victim, blood splattered and panting. It was over. Too soon in Kong’s opinion, but they didn’t have time to linger and give the bastard the slow torment he deserved.
Kong watched, working the gag with his teeth, as Grady squatted down by Lark. His bloody hand reached for the hood, his fingers trembling. Gently, so gently, he pulled it off only to release a broken cry at the sight he beheld. Tears streaked the man’s cheeks, cutting a trail through the blood splatter that marked him as he collapsed back onto his ass.
Tears clouded Kong’s vision as well and a lump rose in his throat to choke him. Seeing his friend like this… Dark blood matted her vivid hair. It was an obscenity to see that sunny mane marked by violence. Her eyes were open, staring blankly, but they’d lost their glow. Carefully, reverently, Grady closed them.
A rope had been tied around her head to force her mouth shut and when Grady pulled it off, it revealed the extensive bruising and abraded skin underneath. Some of her scales had been torn away.
A choked sound of grief ripped from Grady’s throat as he pulled that limp body to his own and held her tightly, rocking her gently. The tenderness with which he embraced her was in direct opposition to the volatile rage that still clung to the man like a second skin.
Finally managing to chew through the gag, Kong spat out the sodden cloth. “She’ll heal,” he gruffly stated. He swallowed hard, trying to wet his parched throat. “She’ll heal.” It was as much a reminder to himself and Leo, who was staring at Lark with bleak pain in his golden gaze, as it was for Grady.
Grady cradled the back of her head in his hand, still rocking her. “How?” His eyes flicked to Kong with a mixture of grief and disbelief. “How is that possible? She took two to the head at point-blank range.”
“It’s possible. It’ll take time, but she’ll heal.” Kong swallowed again as memories from the lab and his childhood tormented him. “I’ve seen it before. But we need to get her home.”
With a nod, Grady swiped at the tears tracking his face before he carefully laid Lark down and rose to his feet. Approaching Kong, he grabbed onto the chains with his metal hand and with a quick jerk, snapped the links so Kong could shake them off. The sound of the heavy links hitting the metal floor was loud in the enclosed space. The action was repeated at his ankles before Grady moved on to Leo.
Kong stood, his muscles protesting the movement after the tight restraint, but he ignored it. This was nothing, a minor inconvenience that his body would quickly deal with. Much quicker than what Lark was facing. He couldn’t look at her, his friend, so still, so lifeless, or he’d break down. They needed to get out of here.
No boots, no gear or weapons but for the nine-mil still on the floor, no phones, and all of them had been painted red with blood – a sight that would horrify civilians if any were in the area. He didn’t even know where they’d been moved. Were they still close to the warehouse?
He turned to what remained of the enemy. Squatting down, he searched through the mess for a phone. Christ, the smell. The man’s bowels had let go, the strong odor mingling with the acidic scent of fear sweat, the iron tang of blood, and the first hints of decay. Kong’s eyes watered. He’d always been sensitive to scents but this one was like a layer of fur on his tongue, clogging his nose and choking his airway.
He found the man’s cell in his pants pocket – or what was left of it – the thing was in pieces. Useless. Dammit. Rising, he looked to the others. “We need to find out where we are, contact the General. Get a clean-up crew here before someone finds this mess.”
Nods of agreement before Leo said in a voice that held more lion than man, “Hopefully that stain over there left a car outside.”
Their luck was holding. The container they’d been held in was one of many stacked in a large storage yard, with no one around to see them and the violence that marked them. The stain, as Leo had called him, had indeed left a vehicle outside. A newer model, it had an onboard system Grady confirmed he’d be able to access to make a call to the General, though the man was loathed to release Lark from his arms so he could do so.
“I’ll take her,” Kong offered thickly, holding out his arms. “I’ll keep her safe for you.”
His lips were pinched, his expression pained, but he finally nodded and handed her over. As soon as he was in, the call pending, Grady retrieved Lark, leaving Kong or Leo to speak to the General as he climbed in the back seat with his precious burden.
Kong stared at them for a moment. He’s in love with her, he thought to himself. The cold, robotic soldier had fallen in love.She’ll be all right, he wanted to say, but he couldn’t manage to choke the words out. He got it. He felt it too. It was hard to hold on to hope when you were looking at the face of death. Especially when it was on the face of someone you loved.
Chapter Ten
TheGeneralsentahelicopter to retrieve them as well as a crew to clean up the mess Grady had made. He barely noticed the trip back to Black Bay, his focus on Lark and the tiny sign of life he’d detected when he’d pressed his ear to her chest. When he’d scanned her with his ocular upgrade, he’d panicked. No pulse, no respiration, and her body temperature was cooling. He refused to believe it. Kong had told him she’d heal and he wanted that to be true so badly he wouldn’t entertain any other outcome. Then he’d heard it… Slow, so slow, and barely noticeable even with his auditory upgrades, but there’d been a heartbeat. It gave him hope and he’d grabbed onto it like a lifeline.
It was only once they’d returned to the island and he’d disembarked from the helicopter with Lark in his arms that he snapped out of his trance-like state. Someone was trying to take her from him.
“Back off!” Anyone listening to him would have thought he was the one spliced with animal DNA his snarl was so feral.
“You will give her to me.”
“The fuck I will,” Grady returned as he looked over the woman standing in front of him making that demand.
She was tall, though not quite as tall as Lark, and her slicked-back, golden-brown hair was almost an exact match to her skin tone. Her features were long and narrow, her nose slightly hooked, and the eyes that glared at him were golden in color. Not the gold of a feline though. This was something different.
A clicking noise had his eyes flicking downward. She had long, curved black nails she was tapping together in an agitated rhythm. Lethally sharp claws. He looked again at her face. Not claws, talons he decided. This was a bird of prey.
“She needs to go to the infirmary, Commander Carter. The bullets need to come out so she can heal faster. She also needs to be bathed and kept safe while she heals. This will be done by me and her sisters. This is our right and our responsibility. Youwilllet us do it.”
Grady hadn’t noticed the other two women flanking this one. Each of their glares was hot enough to burn. They would not be deterred, and by the looks on each of their faces, they would fight him over this.
