But Noelle had no plans to kill me. It wasn’t my life I was begging for; it was my freedom. That was… new. I’d never experienced the sweetness of freedom before, and losing it—losing the small taste of making my own choices—wrenched me to the core.
I slammed my foot back, and it made contact with someone’s shin, but his hold on me didn’t release. The iron grip on my arms didn’t slacken no matter how I twisted and heaved. There were too many of them.
“Good,” Noelle said. “Bring her to the truck.”
My captors dragged me one more step—and the bang of a gunshot reverberated from the nearest tunnel.
The man at my left jerked, blood blooming in the middle of his forehead. As he toppled, I dropped as low as I could go, lifting my legs so my weight would put more strain on the men who held me. I didn’t know what the hell was going on now, but I didn’t plan on being caught in any crossfire.
“Seven more,” an oddly familiar voice hollered. “No, eight. Take them all down—just be careful of Dess.”
My gaze shot up to see Julius emerging from the shadows of the tunnel, pistol in hand. Garrison came into view just behind him, clutching his own gun, his nose wrinkled but his eyes as intense as his boss’s. Talon marched out of one of the other tunnels, his muscles taut, a knife in one hand and a pistol in the other, with Blaze at his heels. The hacker let out a low laugh and raised his gun.
Someone swore. The two men who held me kept their grip tight, their hands digging into my flesh. The others hurled themselves at the newcomers.
My attackers had been unarmed—it would have been too risky trying to subdue me with any kind of weapons on them that I could have grabbed and used against them—and now that meant they were screwed unless they could take control of the battle at close contact.
Having seen Julius and his crew in action, I could have told them they were screwed either way. But I kept my mouth shut.
Shots blasted through the alcove. Noelle’s voice broke through the thundering sounds: “Get her out of here, now, now!”
My captors tried to haul me the way she was beckoning them, but with only two of them, I found a weak spot as soon as they were in motion. I swung my legs up again but this time rammed them into two kneecaps.
One of the men took the blow hard enough to stagger, and the second he was off-balance, I bounded off his body into a backflip. The hold on my arms and waist snapped. As I landed, I rammed the other man into the wall of the tunnel where another pipe protruded. It neatly cracked his spine.
As he crumpled, I rotated toward the man who was clutching his knee. “You’re next,” I murmured.
He had the good sense to look afraid. I wasn’t helpless, and no one around here was going to control me.
When the man tried to lunge at me, I dodged and then came at him with a hail of punches. One, two, three, clocking him across the head, smacking him in the jaw, swinging out with my leg next and knocking him right off his feet. As he sprawled, I leapt over him and stomped on his throat with all my might. He gagged for a second before I crushed his windpipe completely.
My ears were ringing with the gunshots that had careened through the space around me. It was silent now. The other five of Noelle’s men lay in pools of blood mingling with the puddles of sewer water.
Julius and his men stepped toward me—and toward Noelle herself, who was standing there by the narrowest tunnel, staring at the guys with her lips pressed flat.
She looked… afraid. She took a step backward, glancing behind her. I knew there was nobody else—only her and the ten men she’d brought who’d all been disposed of.
She’d brought that huge force just to take me down, to compel me to come with her. I needed to know why. What was really going on here?
I saw the second Noelle made her decision in the flick of her eyes. She whipped around and sprinted into the nearest tunnel. I swiveled to chase after her, and Julius’s voice rang out at the same time.
“Talon. No one leaves.”
The other man was a few steps closer. He reached the entrance of the tunnel before I did.
“No!” I shouted, just as Julius grabbed my arms. Before I could break free, Talon had already fired the shot.
There was a thump from down the tunnel that must have been Noelle’s falling body. My gut clenched.
“You asshole,” I yelled as Talon stalked down the tunnel to check. “I needed her alive! She’s the only one who knows—who knows anything…”
But maybe that didn’t matter, not when the four men who’d already slaughtered everyone else I’d ever depended on had me surrounded.
I yanked myself out of Julius’s hold and spun around, my back prickling with the awareness of Talon somewhere behind me. When I shifted to the side, that put Garrison behind me, still with a gun in his hand, but I liked my odds slightly better that way.
Julius watched me with a thoughtful expression. “Are you okay?” he asked. As if that mattered to him. As if they’d come—
Why had they come? They’d killed everyone… except me.
Talon emerged from the tunnel and gave Julius a brisk nod. “No one left who can say Dess was with us.”
“With you?” I demanded. “Who says I’m going anywhere with you? What the hell is going on?”
“We just saved your life, sweetheart,” Garrison said. “What does it look like?”
But why? I met Julius’s steady gaze, confused and ready to do battle all over again, even if I didn’t stand a chance against four fully armed, highly skilled killers. But it was Blaze who spoke.
“You don’t need that woman,” he said softly. “She’d only have lied to you anyway. I’m pretty sure that’s what she’s been doing your whole life. If you’ll give us a chance to explain, I think I’ve found something that’ll give you the answers you need.”