Page 70 of Anathema
“Always such a dirty boy. Your wife must be pleased with you.” She chuckled, lowering her gun. “Fine. You can take him, but Iswear to god. If he manages to get out of your custody or whatever prison you will be locking him up in, you’ll have a lot more to worry about than simply your balls in a vice.” Chyler’s quick shift in demeanor made me take a step back. I could feel the threat in her words; she wasn’t playing games with him. Honestly, I was shocked that she gave up shooting Adrian that easily.
“We’ve been on his ass for a long while. He’s not going anywhere.” Sergeant Drake reassured her as he stepped towards Adrian, pulling his cuffs from his belt.
“Easy on the suit; it’s worth more than your paycheck, Sergeant.” Adrian hissed as Drake turned him around, roughly shoving him up against the wall and handcuffing his wrists behind his back.
“What does it matter? Your new suit will be orange in the morning.” Drake chuckled, tightening the cuffs more than usual. “Hell, you look like my size, too; I might just keep this suit for myself as a parting gift.”
“You think a set of bars and a cement room are going to stop me from doing this all over again?” Adrian laughed as Drake jerked him to face us. “Keep me from Madis—” I gripped his chin tightly in my hand, making sure to dig my nails into his flawless skin.
“Say her name again. I fucking dare you.” I hissed, my eyes shooting daggers directly into his.
“I’ll always find a way back to Madison. She’s mine, Alexis. I fucking own her, and she knows it.” He whispered at me in a hiss.
Chyler stepped up, gripping his shoulders and driving her knee hard enough into his gut that he curled inward and grunted.
“If I find out you’ve even left your fucking cell to breathe fresh air, just once, I’ll kill you myself. Consequences be damned.” Chyler seethed before cracking him in his temple with her fist. At the same time, another SWAT officer ran in from around the corner, panting heavily.
“Sarg… The CIA agents… want a word with you.” He breathed out, attempting to catch his breath.
Drake shoved Adrian into the other officer’s hands.
“Here, take him to the surface, anddo notlet him out of your sight. Not even for a second. Do you understand?” He commanded, and the officer before him nodded, grabbing hold of Adrian’s arm.
“Understood, Sarg.” He gestured a salute before exiting the passage with Adrian in tow.
“Sounds like the boys from the CIA are waiting for us. Shall we?” He sighed, securing his rifle behind him and heading back the way we came.
Chyler and I glanced at each other, and I couldn’t help the look of resentment that burned in my eyes. I was pissed off at Madison and Chyler. The two of them left me in the dark for so long and then left me altogether these last eight months. I thought we were sisters and they cared about me. Now I wasn’t so sure anymore.
Breathing out a sigh, I didn’t say a word to her as I turned to follow Sergeant Drake. Whatever she had to say to me didn’t matter. I wasn’t ready for her apology, if she even had one.
Chapter 30
Derek
Therewasnothingthatcould explain the amount of pain I was in physically. I felt like I had been hit by a Mack truck, going sixty miles per hour. I attempted to get my hands back on Alexis when she was ripped from my arms, but instead, at least three of them began beating me down to the floor within seconds of her being dragged away.
Looking over at Dean and Atlas, it seems as though both of them had suffered the same beating I did. We all looked like we had lost an enormous bar fight and were licking our wounds in the back alley.
I couldn’t help the chuckle that broke the silence between us—the shit show we had all just taken part in.
“Seriously, Derek?” Dean groaned, picking Madison up from the floor and holding her in his arms. She clung to him for dear life as if he would disappear if she let go. I was unaware the two ofthem were this close. I got the hint of their possible relationship at the office but haven’t thought too far into it until now, especially how she fought to protect him from Adrian.
“Just like you to make light of a fucked up situation.” AJ laughed, clapping my shoulder with his hand as he came up beside me. “You’ve seen better days.” He added.
Turning my head to look him over, I smiled, my jaw hurting from the movement.
“You look just as good as I feel, AJ.” I sighed, taking in the scene that surrounded us.
The chaos had died down, the sound of gunshots few and far between. From the looks of it, most, if not all, of the Anathema members here had been killed, the ground littered with cloaked bodies and blood soaking into the dirt.
My head was pounding so hard that I couldn’t think over the ringing of the gunshots around us. I missed my opportunity to grab onto Alexis before she took off with Chyler. Both of them, I was assuming, were going after Adrian before he made it out of the tunnels. It felt like a good twenty minutes had passed since they disappeared. Where could they have chased him off to? Did they manage to stop him, or did he get away just like Roman Atwater?Fuck…
AJ elbowed me in the side as he gestured his chin to the few remaining SWAT officers who guarded the passageways branching off from the main room.
“Do you know anything about this?” He asked, crossing his arms over his chest with a strained groan.
“No, if I did, do you think we would be in the condition we are in now?” I scoffed, rolling my shoulders and neck. I was hurting now, but I knew that come tomorrow, I was going to be in much worse shape.
