Page 66 of Beta Team-The Saviors: Part two
Taking a deep breath, I reach for the doorknob and open it just enough that I can peek out. Just like he said, the voices are coming from the opposite way that Cryptic is sending me. I open the door fully so I can slip through and press myself against the wall. I follow his directions and lean out when I get to the hallway, but that’s when I see three guys coming my way. I pull back and roll my shoulders, more than ready to fight my way out. They underestimated me. Again. My mind goes to Gavin, and I know he’s blaming himself somehow because that’s whathe does. I shake those thoughts from my head.I’m coming back to you, Baby.
I look again, and the hallway is empty. I turn right and open the door that Cryptic indicated. It takes me straight outside, so I slip into the night. I make it three steps out when shit erupts around me. Lights come on, shouts fill the night, and right behind me is the sound of a gun cocking.
“Where the fuck are you going?” A guy growls. I spin around without blinking, lift my foot, and kick him right in the chest. He stumbles back, and I turn on my heel.
I start running, dodging bullets as they whizz past my head. One slices through my arm, but besides a hiss of pain, I don’t stop moving. I can see a tall chainlink fence in the distance, and that’s my goal. Up and over so I can disappear into the cover of trees. I can hear boots pounding behind me, and I push my body to its limits, to run faster. The fence is within touching distance when someone tackles me from behind, and we slam into it.
“I’m getting real tired of your shit,” I grunt, pushing back against him. I spin and punch as soon as his face comes into view. His head snaps to the side, and I scramble for the fence. I make it halfway up when someone grabs my foot to try to drag me back down. “Not today, asshole.” Clinging with one hand, I twist and jerk my foot free. For all the days I cussed Ari out for the strength training, I could kiss his fucking mouth right now.
I climb to the top, spin over, and start climbing down the other side. I get almost to the bottom when more people come running. I glance down, check the distance, and drop, making sure to bend my knees for the impact. My ankle protests, but I can’t stop now. I push off the fence and take off into the forest. I don’t even try for stealth until I get far enough that they can’t see me anymore. I slide behind a tree to catch my breath and listen for any noise. A twig snapping to my right makes me move around to the other side of the tree. I can hear them talking inhushed voices, so I wait for my chance. They move further away, and ignoring the throbbing in my ankle, I take off running at full speed, pushing branches away from my face as I go.
I can hear them closing in behind me, and there’s a drop off in front of me. I skid to a stop and look over the edge, and it’s further down than I originally thought. I have two choices; stand here so they can grab me again, or go down. I do the only thing I can think of.
I close my eyes, and jump.
29
KEON
Tyler disappearing while he was with me has been eating away at the tight lid I keep on my anger. This motherfucker has almost pushed me far enough to rush into that prison alone.
As soon as we’re all in the SUV, Tivon pulls out of the driveway at breakneck speed. From what Nolan said, Tyler is about twenty minutes away but by the way Tivon is driving, we’ll get there much sooner. We’re already pulling on our vests and making sure our AKs are ready. Tivon is driving one handed while Ari helps him strap his vest on.
“Nolan, are you there?” Ari asks once his phone is connected to the SUV.
“Yep. Tracker is still blinking in the same spot. The warehouse they have him in looks empty. Axel is on his way too.”
“We’ll get there before him,” I say. “We aren’t waiting.”
“He didn’t think you would. He just wanted to be there for backup,” Nolan replies. “The tracker keeps losing signal and coming back online. Holden said that it’s still where it’s supposed to be, though.”
“What else is in that area?” Tivon asks.
“Not much. Some more old warehouses and woods. I’m sending some pictures to Ari.”
Ari loads the pictures and starts flipping through them. He stops on one surrounded by a tall chainlink fence and zooms in. “That definitely looks like an Abraham special.”
“I’m going to crush this Cryptic asshole’s skull when I get my hands on him,” I growl, getting more pissed by the second. “If it wasn’t for him, they wouldn’t have grabbed Tyler.”
“He did what he had to do for his brother,” Gavin says quietly, making me snap my head to look at him.
“You’re defending this motherfucker?”
Gavin shrugs. “I know what it feels like to do whatever you can for your siblings.”
“He got your boyfriend kidnapped!”
“Keon,” Ari barks. “Cool it.”
“No. It’s fine,” Gavin turns to face me. “Yeah, my boyfriend got kidnapped. He got kidnapped doing his fucking job. If you’d take a step back, you would see that. No one is to blame here but Aharon and Abraham, plus the rest of these punk fuckers breathing down our necks. We don’t know why Cryptic is doing what he’s doing, but we do know he loves his little brother. Any of us would have done the same thing to save each other and damn the consequences. What Idoknow is Tyler is fine. I would feel that shit like a missing limb if something had already happened to him. Get your head back on straight, and stop blaming yourself.”
“I’m not.”
“Don’t lie to me. I’ve had that look more than once in my life. It’s not your fault, Keon.”
I open my mouth to argue, but snap it closed when I realize I don’t want to lie to them. “I should have protected him.”
“We’re all lucky we got out of there,” Tivon responds. “We were surrounded and did what we could. You can’t take this all on yourself. Wewillget him back.”
