Page 57 of Cruel (Brutal Academy)

Hunter grinned. "There's no such thing as too many." He grabbed one of the attacker's guns and held it in his hand while he slung the rocket launcher over his shoulder. "For the record, it's shows likeFireflyandStargate. Not to mentionBuffy the Vampire Slayer."

"Yeah, well don't get us killed by doing stuff that works on TV," Dane said.

"I'll try my best, but I make no promises," Hunter said. "Where to next?"

"We wait a couple of minutes," Slade said. "The noise we just made won't go unnoticed. They may come to us."

"Better than coming on us," I quipped.

"I'd prefer cum to bullets," Lila said.

I smiled at her and draped an arm over her shoulders.

"Me too, babe, me too." I loved the idea that this was going down while she was still sticky with mine. I definitely wanted to try that strap on dildo thing with her again. That felt incredible. And probably the closest I'd ever come to having a cock in my ass.

"Down this way," someone in the corridor called out.

We pressed ourselves back against the walls, keeping flat in the shadows. Without knowing if the approaching footsteps belonged to friend or foe, we held a collective breath and waited.

"Clark?" A male voice asked. "Calzone?"

Absolutely not friends. I frowned, trying to gauge who sent them. They were common enough names that they didn't stand out in my memory.

After what happened in Vancouver with Abbie and Wolf Venom, the Fiorelli family were still more or less in disarray. I couldn't rule out the possibility of their involvement. If that was the case, it was probably Hunter and me they were after. Hunter killed the family's eldest daughter. I’ve never known a Fiorelli to be particularly forgiving.

Lights flickered in the corridor. A phone or a torch being shone this way and that. Finally, it shone through the doorway into the lab.

"In—" He never got that word out before a bullet slammed into the side of his head, courtesy of Slade.

He barely hit the ground when four more took his place.

They first shot wildly. A couple of bullets hitting a shelf of bottles right behind me, igniting the contents.

"Fuck." I pulled Lila down to the floor with me. "That almost singed my hair."

"No one singes my brother's hair but me," Hunter declared before shooting the asshole in the hand. Then in the chest for good measure.

"Thanks for defending my hair, bro," I called out.

"Any time, bro," he replied.

The other two attackers ducked to either side of the door.

"We have the Academy surrounded." One spoke in an accent I couldn't quite identify. "There's no way out."

"I hate to break it to you, but that's very much untrue," Hunter said. "Also, if I was you, I'd leave while I was still alive. Just some friendly words of advice. I don't expect you to listen."

"The fucking Brantley twins," the attacker growled. "I'm particularly looking forward to killing you two."

"Will you do us the courtesy of telling us who sent you before you kill us?" Hunter asked. "It seems like the least you can do."

"Fuck off," the attacker called back. "I'm not telling you shit."

"Mercenaries," Slade said. "They're not telling because they don't know. They just got paid to come here and kill."

"It's a nice job if you can get it," I remarked. "But a cop out. Whoever sent them is trying to send a message. If we don't know who that is, how are we going to know what the message is meant to be?"

"No message." He sounded Italian. "Just your death."

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