The elevator doors opened, and Fender and Melanie joined us in the living room.
I pulled away from Raven and regarded my brother. “Are you ready?”
He nodded.
Melanie looked as pale as a ghost. Her cheeks had no blood, her lips were the same color as her skin, and her eyes were dull. Her gaze was on the floor as if she didn’t want to look at the scene before her.
“Alright.” There was nothing left to do but say goodbye.
Fender turned his gaze on Melanie and studied her for a few seconds. His gaze was cold and hard, like he wanted to make this a clean break. But his eyes remained on her face like he would never be ready to look away.
She whispered to him. “I’m scared…”
He moved into her and cupped her cheeks with his big hands, cradling her face so her gaze was locked on to his. “You’ll be safe.”
“That’s not why I’m scared…”
He regarded her for a long time before he leaned down and kissed her. “Beautiful, I love you.” He pulled his hands away and stepped back without waiting for her to say it back.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “I love you too.” She wrapped her arms wrapped around his neck and hugged him tightly.
I didn’t want to say goodbye to Raven. But the sooner I left, the sooner I would be home. This was the last thing standing in our way. We could bury it in the past and move on.
She came in close to me. “Kill anyone who stands in your way. I don’t care who they are. Don’t let anything come between us.”
“I won’t.”
She leaned in and kissed me on the mouth. It was the kind of kiss she gave me when it was just the two of us alone in bed, full of passion and desire, warm breaths and wet lips. “I love you.” It was only the second time she’d said those words to me, but it felt like she’d been saying them to me since the moment we met. She never really needed to say it at all to show how she felt. It was almost redundant.
But I liked hearing her say it anyway. I like watching her say it. I liked feeling her say it. “I love you too.” I gave her a final squeeze before I turned away and walked off.
Fender joined me, and together, we took the elevator to the bottom floor and got into the car. He was the one behind the wheel, and he hit the gas to take us away from the apartment.
We didn’t speak to each other for a long time. We got on the main road and joined the other guys with their cars hooked to the trailers with the horses, including Rose. We had a couple hours before we got to the drop-off point.
With one hand on the wheel and his eyes on the road, he said, “I never understood what you saw in her. But now I do.”
Thirty-Six
Redemption
In a single-file line, we made our way through the terrain and approached the camp from the rear. With the light of our flashlights, we made it through, crossing the river and getting closer and closer. It was a few hours before sunrise when we approached the wooden fence.
We turned off the flashlights.
We got off the horses and tied them to the trees.
As Raven requested, I took Rose. She was a good horse, well trained, handled the dark without any reluctance. She crossed the river like it wasn’t her first time…because it wasn’t. I opened a bag on the saddle and grabbed a handful of oats. I opened my hand wide and fed them to her. “Thanks for the ride.”
When I joined Fender, he already had the ropes ready. “I’ll help you over. We should be near the stables, so the water pipes will be on the other side. Tie the rope there.”
I nodded.
He leaned against the fence and cupped his hands together for me to step into.
I held on to his shoulders, stepped into his hands, and then he lifted me up until I reached the top of the fence. He gave me an extra boost from down below so I could pull myself over and drop down again.
The camp was quiet.
I was still as I searched the grounds, to see if they had guards on duty. The only ones I saw were near the front gate. Two were at the top of ladders looking over the edge, as if they did expect us to show up. There were two other guards down below, both holding rifles.
But they were all looking the wrong way.
Fender threw the rope over the fence.
I caught it before it slammed against the wood and made a noise. I secured it to the water pipes by tying it in a triple knot. Then I gave a few tugs so he would know it was ready to bear the weight of the men.
One by one, they climbed over.
Fender was the next one to join me. He kneeled and looked around, seeing the men posted by the front gate. “Good thing we came from the rear. Good call, Magnus.”
When our men were over the fence, we fanned out and spread throughout the camp, ready to take each cabin silently. We didn’t want open gunfire if it could be avoided. We would rather save the bullets anyway.
Fender went to one cabin to take out the guards, and I kept moving to the rear. I suspected Napoleon was staying in Fender’s old cabin since it was the largest on the premises. I wanted that man dead, and I wanted to be the one to do it.
But I never made it.
An alarm sounded, blaring so loud that it would wake up everyone in the camp. It wasn’t ours, so it was something they must’ve installed when they settled.
I turned around and watched chaos explode.
Men ran out of the cabins with their guns and shot at our men. They were still outnumbered, so our guys were shooting most of them down. My first instinct was to check on Fender, but when I looked across to the cabin he had entered, he stepped out and glanced around, and no one came up behind him.
He must’ve killed them all with his knife.
I’d wanted this to be a simple takedown, but I’d underestimated Napoleon.
He knew I would get away. And he knew I would come back.
I was about to join the fray and kill as many men as I could, when something heavy slammed down into the back of my head.
I hit the ground, and my arms couldn’t break my fall. I hit the earth, blood dripping from my skull and mixing with the dirt. My vision blurred for a moment before I could turn over and look at my assailant.
Napoleon stood with his cane held in his hand, and he looked down at me with an unforgettable sneer. “You little rat.” He raised his cane and prepared to slam it down on me again.
Raven’s words came into my mind.
Kill anyone who stands in your way.
I rolled out of the way, and the cane missed me by a few inches. I stumbled to my feet, still disoriented, and pulled out my gun.
He smacked it away with his cane, and it flew across the ground, out of my reach. “You could’ve just lived your life. You could’ve accepted your surrender gracefully. Instead, you chose to come here to get beaten with a stick by an old man.” He swung his cane again, moving with a speed that defied his age. I backed away so he wouldn’t crack my ribs. But I tripped in the process and fell on my back. Gunshots and screams rang through the night as the camp was filled with pandemonium.
My gun was far away in the other direction now, so I reached for my knife.
But he was quicker because he didn’t have a head injury. He struck me with his cane, hitting me in the chest and making me cry out.
“Scream like a rat!”
I kicked him in the shin and made his knees buckle underneath him. I tried to crawl away.