“Good, what about the girls?”
“All good, as far as I know they’re all still going to their weekly meeting tomorrow and should be far enough away to escape safely.”
“Mick?”
I sigh. “That’s a problem, Mick isn’t here yet.”
“What?” Angel hisses.
I can’t see his face in the darkness, but I know he’s probably clenching his fists right now. Trust me, I get it. I want Mick gone as much as the next person, if not more.
“He didn’t come,” I explain. “I don’t know why.”
“I don’t like the sound of that man,” Ace mutters.
“He said he had business. He called me out earlier tonight, but I told him I couldn’t make it out until tomorrow. He wants me in for another fight. He was persistent.”
“Well, we’re here now. We have to do this. We can take Mick down when we get back – at least with all his workers here, he’ll have nobody to come after us.”
I nod, hoping that’ll work. Either way, we don’t get much choice. This needs to be done and it needs to be done soon. I stare at the guys, who all look tired. I ask them the question I know they’re waiting for.
“How is she?”
Angel sighs, “Not good man, not good at all.”
“We should have fuckin’ told her.”
“No, we shouldn’t have,” Ace snaps. “It wouldn’t have helped.”
“Where do you want the boat parked, boss?” Rusty asks.
“Drag it up under those trees so that when surveillance comes back on, they won’t see it,” I instruct.
Rusty nods, and he and Bull busy themselves dragging the boat out of the water. When it’s on the sand, we all grunt and hiss as we pull it up far enough that it won’t be noticed. Lucky it’s a sleek boat, but it takes a whole lot of effort for us to move it. When we’re done, I stand back, panting, anxiety swarming in my chest.
“Hope you’re right about all of this, boss,” Bull mutters, glancing at me.
“You got to trust me,” I say, but inside, I’m fucking terrified.
They’re all relying on me.
If I made a mistake, it’ll end for us.
“What now?” Ace asks, plonking down onto the sand.
I sigh and stare into the darkness. “Now we wait.”
JAGGER
By morning, we’ve come up with a strong plan to get the girls onto a boat. We’ve spread out through the trees with guns and one by one we’ll take the guards out. Our guns all have silencers, it’s the best we could do. I’m standing with Bull and we’re watching the open assembly area, waiting for the girls to come for their break. Even though it’s the same each week, I’m still holding onto my breath with fear that they won’t show.
Fifteen minutes in, I see a group of people. I shove Bull’s arm and he squints, staring into the distance. Six guards and a group of women all walk towards the assembly area. I wave my arms to give the other men the go ahead. Angel gives me a sign that indicates he’ll take the two closest to him. I know Rusty will take the two at the back, so Bull and I will take the two closest to us. It’s a precise hit, if we injure the girls, it could be a problem.
I raise the gun when they get into the small shelter and the women all sit down. Two of the guards have their backs to me, which makes for the perfect hit. I bring it up to my face, holding it steady, and close one eye to zero in on my target.
“You take left, I’ll take right,” I instruct Bull.
He nods. I press the trigger and before my eyes, the guard on the right falls flat on his face. Beside him the other drops. The girls all stare wide eyed, but they don’t scream. They’ve been beaten into never speaking or making any sort of sound unless they’re told. I watch the two guards at the back spin around and start rushing towards the trees when they too fall flat on their faces. Perfect shots. I take a step out of the trees, without thought.
A burning sensation rips through my shoulder and for a moment, I’m stunned. It’s then I realize I’ve come out too early. A huge mistake on my part. Angel didn’t shoot both guards. Blood trickles down my shoulder and the pain sets in like fire. I grip the gaping hole and growl with pain. Bull is quick and he’s behind me in seconds, putting pressure on it.
“Jesus, Jagger. What’d you run out for?”
“Fuck, I thought they were all down.”
The pain is fucking out of this world, and it feels as though a million hot pokers have been shoved into my flesh. Sweat beads on my forehead and my vision swims a little. I have to kick on, if I don’t, this will fail, and we’ll all end up dead. The pain needs to be the last thing I’m thinking about, or I’ll let us all down.