Something to Die For by Kaye Blue

Forty-One

Lucas

The next day,I saw Angel in the dining hall.

But she wasn’t herself.

At first, I couldn’t put my finger on what was different, but something was. I tried to make eye contact with her, but I couldn’t, or rather, she wouldn’t meet my gaze.

I didn’t want to be too obvious, so I gave up, but the knot of worry in my stomach wouldn’t go away.

Didn’t go away the next day when she still seemed dazed. Herself, but not quite.

I couldn’t bear it.

I risked walking up to her, whispered in her ear, “Tonight. You know where.”

She didn’t acknowledge me, and I almost wondered if she’d even heard me, but I went to the place and was relieved to see her there.

I wanted to reach for her, but something in her eyes held me back.

“Angel?”

She met my eyes, her own watery, distant.

Hurt.

“What’s happened?” I asked, every nerve ending in my body on alert.

I felt like I couldn’t get a full breath, knew that something was wrong, and I could guess at who was responsible.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she wrapped her arms around my waist and held me.

I stayed still, but then, eventually, put my arms around her.

She sighed deeply, the sound one I had never heard from her, not even in the beginning.

“Just take care of yourself, okay?”

I hated that voice, barely recognized the timidity in it, the uncertainty.

She had never sounded that way before.

In fact, her unwavering belief, it was the thing had driven me on.

I didn’t see any hint of that now.

I squeezed her tighter then let go, my gaze searching her face.

“I’ll kill him,” I said.

My voice was quiet, my words certain, and that seem to shake something in her.

She shook her head, her eyes pleading. “Just take care of yourself.”

I had so many emotions, I couldn’t name them all.

I wanted to find him now, remove his head from his body, but something in her eyes stilled me.

“You do the same,” I said finally.

How feeble. How pathetic.

I’d fucked up a lot in my life, but I have never failed anyone the way I’d failed her.

She must have seen something in my expression, because her own hardened, reminded me of the Angel I had seen so many times before.

“Don’t. Don’t do anything stupid. We’re still going to get out of here,” she said.

I didn’t argue, didn’t say anything at all.

Instead, I hugged her close and then walked away.

I felt like I was in a daze, but as I walked, my focus became clear, stronger.

When I made it back to the barracks, I looked at Hunter, who stood, sensing something in my demeanor.

“Now?” he said.

I nodded, and Langley came over to stand next to Hunter.

“Let’s go over this one more time,” he said.

* * *

Angel

I wasa wreck as I walked back to Adler’s.

I’d wanted to seem to be okay, but I’d failed at that.

One look at Lucas, and it seemed he could see into my soul.

Those dark eyes had probed me for years, seeming to stare into me but never giving anything away.

They had given things away this time.

Had showed me the exact moment he knew what had happened, had let me see the anger in him, the hurt.

I felt them all, probably a hundred fold, but making sure he was okay overrode all of that.

I wouldn’t let him do something that would get himself injured, killed.

Or even worse.

I just hoped he knew that, had to have faith that he did.

I made it back and went to the desk like always.

“Are you still sulking?” Adler asked less than a second after I’d sat down.

I groaned internally but schooled my features and looked at him.

“I’m sorry?” I said, blinking at him.

“Angel, don’t try to play dumb. You’re bad at it,” he said.

I felt my teeth go on edge, and I used everything I could to keep myself calm. Inside, I was raging.

This motherfucker was telling me how I felt, talking to me like I didn’t want to tear him limb from limb, like I wouldn’t the first chance I got.

But I couldn’t let any of that show.

So instead, I blinked again.

“I’m not sure what you talking about, but if you want to be more clear…”

He smiled, the expression coming out more like a grimace.

“Fine, we’ll play this your way. But remember. You made your choices. And the ones you make from here on out will determine your fate. And his.”

“What—”

The sound rippled through the air, an explosion that seemed to make the building shake at its foundation. He looked stunned and then stared at me before running toward the door.

“What was that?” Adler yelled.

He seemed confused but quickly recovered himself and reached for the gun that was always near his side.

“Stay close,” he said.

I followed and had planned to do exactly that.

Remembered what Lucas had said, how he’d drilled into me the need to be ready.

I was, and it was exciting, but I didn’t get ahead of myself.

Instead, I followed, hoping this would play out however Lucas had planned.

Adler left the trailer and walked into a camp that was shrouded in darkness.

All the lights had to be out before sunset, but there were illumination lamps strategically placed so that people weren’t totally blind.

Those had been extinguished.

And not even the stars, which burned bright in the sky, lit things up.

“What has happened?” Adler asked, his voice low.

I said nothing, knowing that the question wasn’t directed at me, at least not really.

Instead, he was probably looking for his soldiers, or more accurately, the men he paid with protection and resources.

Resources he hadn’t been providing recently.

The camp had been quiet, all of the focus on the explosion to the south, but in an instant, the noise became almost deafening.

By my count, there were seventy-five people here, and they seemed to all speak and move as one, all headed in different directions.

The chaos had been intended.

If Lucas had done what he said what he was going to, and I didn’t doubt that he would, he had unlocked all of the barracks that were locked and strongly urged people to leave them.

They poured out, the spacious-seeming yard now full, the orderliness with which the place usually ran nowhere apparent.

Instead, people seemed to move at cross-purposes, some headed for the storage sheds, some headed toward the vehicles, others just looking for a way out.

“Stop!” Adler called out, but no one seemed to pay him any attention.

At least not until he cocked his gun fired off a round.

The place froze but then became animated again, people moving more vigorously than before.

I locked eyes with Adler, and he reached for me, the gun pointed directly at my chest.

I didn’t put up a fight.

Instead, I followed as he pulled me, going but giving at least some measure of resistance.

After all, I needed this to be believable.

“What’s happening?” I asked as he dragged me toward the trailer we had just come out of.

“The end, it seems,” Adler said.

He seemed calm, but I didn’t miss the hint of panic in his eyes.

In fact, I relished it.

I kept my own expression clear, knowing he probably couldn’t see me, at least not well with how dark it was, but not wanting to take the risk.

I didn’t say anything else, and instead looked around me, saw people scurrying this way, stripping the place of whatever they could find.

He kept moving, heading toward the trailer, and then passed it.

So far, so good.

As he walked, he reached for the chain around his neck and took off a key. He unlocked one of the last storage buildings at the far end of the perimeter.

“What is this place?”

“I told you not to play dumb, Angel. You’re not good at it.”

“No, she’s not,” Lucas said.

His voice was quiet, so much so that I wasn’t sure if Adler had heard him.

But if he hadn’t heard him, he definitely felt the hard punch that Lucas delivered to his cheek, one that made him flinch.

Adler recovered quickly, diving toward Lucas and kneeing him in the stomach. They grappled for a while, the gun that Adler had dropped seemingly forgotten.

But not by me.

I grabbed it and held it in my hand, the weight familiar, comforting, but not as comforting as what would come next.

“Lucas, back away,” I said.

He seemed focused on what he was doing, but he immediately responded to my words.

He put distance between himself and Adler, who stared at me, eyes confused. “Angel, what are you doing?”

“Angel, what are you doing?”

Lucas echoed Adler’s words and seemed confused, but I didn’t look at him, just looked at Adler, saw the moment realization dawned in his eyes.

“Angel, I—”

Whatever he was going to say was lost on the sound of the gun firing.

I hit him in his center chest, watched as he dropped to his knees then slumped to the ground.

Then, I got closer, fired an additional shot to his head.

I looked at Lucas then shrugged. “Better safe than sorry,” I said.

“I guess so,” he responded.

Then he went toward the storage building, the one that held a fully loaded vehicle.

“Hunter, you coming with?”

It was only after Lucas spoke that I saw his cousin appear out of the darkness. I’d been surprised, and alarmed, when I’d first seen him, but Lucas had assured me that while his cousin wasn’t harmless, he was an ally.

“No, told you that I have some things to take care of,” Hunter said.

“What about you, Langley?”

“Same. Good luck,” the other man said.

Lucas nodded and grabbed my arm and pushed me into the truck.

“What about everyone else?”

“I think they’ll be fine,” he said as he put the vehicle in drive and drove away.

I looked back, saw Adler’s body lying there, saw as the others in the camp scoured the rest of the place for anything that might be of use, saw Hunter and then Langley fade into the darkness.

When we drove through the gates, I looked back one last time and then turned to face forward, not thinking about what I’d left behind but instead what lay ahead.