Page 218 of The Company

“What?” he asks, barely turning to face me. “What the fuck are you talking about, Sash? Harper’s up there!”

“James can take care of Harper, Nick. Just don’t go. This is our chance to get out. To get away. Let the gangs take out the Company. James will get Harper out and meet Merc here in a few minutes. We can get another boat and leave. Let them mess with the files. We don’t need the stupid files.”

But the whole time I’m talking, he’s shaking his head. “We need those files more than you know, Sasha. We can’t leave here without them. I can’t leave here without Harper. You stay here, wait for Merc. I’ll go get Harp and James, and we’ll be right back.”

“No!” I stomp my bare foot. “No. I’m tired of always being put last. Why can’t you put me first for once? You say you love me, that you’d do anything for me. Then choose me, Nick. Choose me and let’s go!”

I push him in the chest and he grabs my wrists and holds them tight. “I did put you first, Sasha. I left you in that hotel and told you to move on. Get a life. Live it. I put you first and you came here looking for me. With this crazy fucking plan that Tet cooked up and you bought like it was on sale for Christmas. What do you think is happening here right now? You can’t plan a job like this and then go half in. You can’t leave your team behind. That’s bullshit.”

“I don’t care! I just want us to live. I just want us to get away and live our lives.”

“There is no us, Sasha. How do I fucking make you understand? I’m not taking you as a promise. We’re not killing all these people tonight so I can take you as a promise. When we get out of this mess, you’re going home with James. Not me. So stay here and stay out of sight. Or come with me and be prepared to fight.”

And with that, he drops my wrists and starts jogging back towards the stairs.

What choice do I have?

I follow him into the war zone, hoping and praying we get to leave here together, but knowing damn well we’re probably all going to die.

Because isn’t that how James and I planned it? Isn’t that what we decided? Shoot everyone. That was the original plan Tet told me outside the Hummer that day in the Wal-Mart parking lot after Harper was drugged. We’ll shoot everyone. And this party, a party he knew was coming for months, was the perfect place to accomplish that objective.

No one left alive.

And when your army is a street gang who’ve been looking for revenge for a dozen years, well, all bets are off about who lives and who dies when the bullets start flying.