Misted (Team Zero #5) by Rina Kent

I grab the sheets and anything flammable and surround his body with them. Crouching, I fumble in his pocket until I find the bottle of whiskey he always keeps with him. I pour it all over his corpse and retrieve my lighter. I set him and the sheets on fire and then I’m running towards Mist without looking back.

Nero can rot in hell.

I scoop her limp body in my arms and close the motel room’s door. I sneak through a creaky, small entrance for the staff and then I’m sprinting in the back alleys. Homeless people and dirty children stare at me with wild eyes as if I’m carrying a corpse. I want to fucking murder them for even suggesting such a thing.

Mist is alive. She’s the liveliest thing I know, and no one will take that away from her.

No one will take our dream away. It’s only a week. Our escape is in a week.

I wish I can fucking take her right now and never go back, but today is a special mission day. All Team Zero's members are out, and so are a few of the second generation assassins. Which means all the guards are watching us. They have trackers on us. I removed mine, and still carry it in my pocket to not raise suspicion, but Mist hasn’t, and I don’t even know where they planted hers.

If I take the time to search for it, I can put her life in danger.

She’s fucking pregnant!

My best bet is the hospital. An actual hospital, not The Pit’s hospital where the sadistic doctors treat us like lab rats. If the guards find us, I’ll distract them while the doctors take care of Mist. Then, I’ll find that tracker and we’re out of here.

For fucking good.

“Hawk…” she mumbles, her voice filled with vibrations from how her head bumps against my chest.

“It’s okay, Hellion.” I seal a quick kiss to her forehead. “We’re going to be okay.”

“The… b-baby…” Her eyes are closed, but tears stream down her cheeks.

“He or she is fine. They take after your stubbornness.”

Her lips twitch in what would’ve been a smile before her body falls limp in my hold.

I tuck her close to me so she’s more comfortable and continue sprinting ahead. The nearest hospital is a few streets away.

We’re almost there.

I round the corner of an alley and come to a screeching halt.

Three of The Pit’s guards wait with rifles raised high.

Fuck! How did they find us so soon? Even with the bloody tracker, we had more than half an hour before the deadline where they’ll be pushed to search for us.

“We’re going back,” one of them says in a detached tone. He doesn’t even spare a glance at Mist’s bloodied, unconscious body.

“She needs help.” I try to negotiate. If I fight them, Mist can be in danger.

“She was hit in the mission,” I lie.

“Giver her.” Another guard, tall and dark-skinned holds out his hands.

I hug her so tight to my chest, I’m afraid I’ll hurt her. No way in fucking hell will I let them have her.

The first one who spoke points a gun at my head. I glare back. Hades might let the guards discipline us, but no one is allowed to kill us. We’re his prized Team Zero after all.

He attempts to hit me with the rifle’s back. I duck, with Mist still in my arms, and kick him in the diaphragm.

He yells out some profanity, but before I can regain my composure and make sure Mist is fine, I’m hit at the back of my neck. Pain explodes in my nape. I stagger. Someone yanks Mist away from my arms.

I turn berserker and punch the one on my right. Then the one on my left. I’m hit thrice as hard, but I don’t stop. I need to save her. I need –

“Hawk…” She calls from the dark-skinned guard’s arms. She’s so frail and pale, blood soaks her face and drips onto his arms. Her panicked hazel eyes are looking at me with horror. “Stop.”

No. They’re taking her away from me, and I can’t even save her. I can’t fucking do anything for her.

I keep punching and kicking. My face is bloodied. One of my ribs must be cracked. My lower lip explodes with blood and my knuckles are busted open.

I don’t stop.

We have to get out of here. I promised I’ll take her the fuck out of here.

“Stop… p-please…” she sobs, the sound so haunted and wretched, it hurts more than punches and kicks.

I meet those hazel eyes that brightened my life, and it breaks my fucking heart that they’re filled with tears. They run as rivulets, creating a path down her bloody cheeks.

“Not now…” she shakes her head. “Please…”

I freeze. I just do. I let the guards bind me and drag me away. All I keep looking at is how she’s thrown into a van and I’m thrown into the back of another van.

Not now.

Our time isn’t now, but it’ll come.

We’ll escape.





28





Hawk





You taste of bitterness and ruin, and I’m ready to let it rip us open.



Present,

A deep ringing wakes me up. I reach blindingly to my side, but then realise that the sound is in my fucking head.

I grunt as I sit up and pain explodes in my upper back. My lips are dry and my head is so croggy, I see the world double.

Or triple considering that three lamps stare down at me.

I reach to the side of the table and I’m thankful to find pills and water there. There’s no label on the pills – or there is but I don’t see it. I chug them down, anyway. The pills can be for menstruation, and I would take them.