Page 121 of Ripped Lace (Ripped Bratva)

I raise my free hand and jerk a thumb back in the direction we came from. “Here with a delivery. Fuckin’ car broke down a couple miles back, if you can believe that shit. But the boss told me this one was important, so we hoofed it.”

“What’s the passphrase?” he demands. He’s still got the weapon trained in our faces. I’m getting really sick of people pointing guns at me. It’s taking everything I have not to unleash on this bastard right now.

But we can’t afford to raise alarms. Not yet. So the show must go on.

“In Tyrannis Speramus,” I say, reciting the words Raj told me to say.

The guard widens his eyes. “Blessed are the powers that be,” he replies cautiously, completing the ritualized exchange. He lets the gun swing down by his side. “What little filly have you got here?”

“I wasn’t told her name,” I answer. I give Elyssa a rough shake. She yelps and cowers away from me as though she’s terrified.

“She’s a pretty one,” the guard observes, licking his lips. “I’m surprised she wasn’t snapped up immediately.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t ask questions,” I say. “I just follow orders. Anyway, I gotta get going. You gonna let me through?”

“No,” he grunts. “We’re on lockdown. I’ll take the girl in myself.”

I feel Elyssa tense beside me immediately. This is not part of the plan. I’m not willing to wing it either.

“My orders were to drop her off personally.”

“Which you have done,” he points out.

“New protocol,” I lie. “Direct handoffs only.”

The guard frowns at that.Fuck—I went too far.

Time for Plan B.

I reach for my gun at the same time he reaches for his. But the poor bastard never had a chance. He doesn’t even manage to get his weapon leveled at me before he dies.

I’ve got a silencer screwed on, so the gunshot barely sounds out. The surly guard drops to the sandy ground, blood gushing from the hole in his skull.

“Oh God,” Elyssa says, turning from the sight and retching.

“Let’s go,” I order. “You can puke later.”

“I’m fine,” she says. She wipes her mouth and spits in the dirt.

We haul the gate open and slip through the crack. I’m struck immediately by how different this is from the world around it. Outside the gate is barren, sun-roasted desert. Hardly a damn thing lives or breathes.

But inside this rock-walled compound, we’re surrounded by lush greenery. The sound of lapping water and laughing children sounds from somewhere far in the distance.

The name makes sense now:The Garden. Like Eden. Pure and beautiful.

It’d be an easy place to fall in love with if you didn’t know the kind of rot that lingers at its core.

Suddenly, we hear the slam of boots on gravel. Elyssa’s eyes lock onto mine.

“Soldiers,” we both say at once.

I grab her and duck into a little alcove in the rock.

Once we’re hidden, I peer out. Four uniformed guards march through the area, heads on a swivel. One of the guards stops and looks around. Then he picks up his walkie-talkie and punches the button.

“No sign of a breach here,” he barks. “But we’re checking the perimeter now.”

“Fuck,” I growl.

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