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I don't know what to say to that. Not because it makes me care about him any less, but it's heartbreaking to see how broken he feels. "But you did get out. And now you're using those skills to keep me safe. To keep me from getting hurt."
His laugh is completely devoid of humor. "Not meaning to downplay your life, 'cause I'm gonna make sure no one comes close enough to threaten it, but I don't know that saving one life is gonna make up for all the ones I took."
"It's not a scorecard, and I think you’re amazing.”
“You wouldn’t if you?—”
“Shut up. I’ve been a prisoner for ten years. Look at me. I’m not a trained killer. I’m just a girl who some sicko decided to mess with. Do you think that if someone had given me the training and the chance to get out, I wouldn’t have taken it? Do you want to know the names of people Kane employs that I would have stabbed in a second if I knew I could get free? I didn’t need to count sheep to sleep, I could just list them in order from most to least guilty until I fell asleep.” I stand up straight, holding my head high. “So no, I don’t think you’re a monster. I think you became the man you had to be in order to survive.”
“Jessica…”
"I don’t care what you had to do to get out of that cell. It brought you here. To the Outlaw Sons, to Tex, to Riot. To me."
"I'm broken goods, Jessica. I don’t want to worry every night about if you’re gonna roll over in your sleep and then I wake up with your blood on my hands."
“Then we get two beds.”
He snorts, but he also puts his hand through the door and I take it, squeezing tight. "You’re a lot tougher than you look. I saw it in you the first night we met. You looked like a scared little kitten, but you weren’t afraid to hiss. Look, I can’t promise you anything, but maybe when this is all over, we’ll see how things go. I… Fuck. I’ll stay open to the idea, but I can’t do it alone. We’ll talk. You, me, Tex and Riot. I—” He stops, then lets go of my hand as he cocks his head, listening to the little earpiece he's wearing. He's gotten a message from the others. "Shh. Go sit down, look fucking dejected or whatever. Somethings happening."
Oh God. Someone's coming.
32
JESSICA
Ghost slips awayfrom the door, and immediately my heart starts racing. He puts himself behind a corner right by the table, leaning against the wall like he’s not paying attention. If someone's coming, I don't hear them yet, but I trust him. I just need him to be okay, and I’m not going to let him pull back again. I'm not going to pretend I can fix all the pain that he's gone through or the guilt he has to be carrying, but it makes me want to do my best to make it as easy on him as I can. Because I care about him, just like Tex and Riot.
He glances my way and frowns. With a quick hand motion, he gestures for me to move back. I do, but not so far that I can’t keep watching out the little viewing window. Maybe it's for my own safety, or maybe he just doesn't want me to see what he can do, but I don’t want to go blind into whatever is about to happen. I shake my head, and the frustration is clear in the set of his jaw, but now's not the time for arguments.
Then I hear it. The footsteps are light and quiet, but definitely there. Ghost's waiting quietly, his gun in one hand, and a vicious looking knife in the other. I couldn't look away if I tried.
It's not long before shapes dressed in mottled dark clothing from head to toe appear at the end of the hallway. From inside the cell, my view isn't great, but enough to make them out. They have helmets, dark face masks, scary looking guns, and from what I can tell, every possible advantage on Ghost. Why are there so many of them? And why is anyone expecting him to handle this alone? Ghost might be skilled, but he’s only one man.
How did these guys get this far in the first place? My blood chills. Did something go wrong outside? But no, they warned Ghost, right? So they have a reason.
The crack of a gunshot goes off upstairs. One of the soldiers glances over his shoulder, but seems unconcerned. Is it part of their plan? Does this mean they've taken control of the compound? God, I wish I knew more about what’s happening.
The front one holds up his hand and makes some kind of signal. The other three spread out and start to move into the room, gliding like shadows. These guys are professionals, but then Victor already lost a man. He wouldn’t risk looking weak by sending anything less than the best this time.
Even with Ghost there, my blood is ice. What if they're too much for him? The soldiers don't seem to have noticed me yet, but there's no way out of this room, so they have to know I'm in one of the cells. I'm surprised they can't tell where I am just from the sound of my beating heart.
Ghost explodes. One moment, he’s still, a statue in the shadows, the next one of their soldiers drops to the floor like someone hit the off switch. Their leader freezes. By the time Ghost is past him and on to the next, the leader drops to the floor with a knife still sticking out of his masked face and thick, red blood spurting out around it. He never even got to scream.
The next guy does though. Ghost takes the man's arm and wrenches it around to his back with a sickening crunch, then uses him as a screaming shield while Ghost levels his gun and puts a big, bloody hole between the eyes of a fourth one. The massive boom inside the little room has me clutching my ears, but I can't look away from the carnage. Not until I know Ghost is safe.
The one Ghost shot tumbles backwards until he slams against the wall and sags down it. The bullet must've gone all the way through, since he leaves a red streak behind him as he slides.
Ghost never stops moving, spinning and dragging his human shield. There's a second crack, another bone broken, and the guy screams louder. The last one tries to level his machine gun, but Ghost throws the man he's holding at him. Even as the two black-clad soldiers collide, Ghost is right there. I have no idea where he got the second knife from, but he buries it deep in the last guy's neck.
Still not stopping, he kicks the guy with the broken bones over so that the helmet isn't in the way, aims the pistol at the man's face, and executes him. This time I look away, suddenly glad I skipped lunch.
Riot was brutal with Troy, playing with him before putting an end to it. Making sure Troy felt the pain Riot thought he deserved for messing with me.
This was nothing like that. This was pure efficiency. I'm pretty sure Ghost had all five men down in just as many heartbeats, and he's already got the last knife back and is aiming his gun down the hallway in case there are more. I knew he was cool under pressure, but this was almost machine like. Somehow I'm falling for a man that can do… that.
I should probably be running the other way as fast as I can, but I haven’t lived the kind of life that has let me pretend bad things don’t happen. I already knew he was dangerous, and I’d rather have him at my side than anywhere else.
But man, it's chilling to see him in action.
