“Well, you’ll probably need more gunfire if that’s the case. There’s too many guards, though, Vik. You’re better off leaving Black Hollow and starting somewhere else,” Amir instructed.
“And if they followed me and Inés? If they chased you all down in association with me? What then?”
Carson leaned in and snarled, “Then we handle shit as it comes, Vik.”
“They won’t stop. Not with Otis whispering in their ears.”
We all stood quietly then, weighing our options.
“We station somewhere else for the time being.”
“I refuse to take defense when offense has always been the fucking answer! It’s what I’ve been saying this whole fucking time!” I yelled.
“Vik, we are three fucking men, two women and an unborn child. What the fuck can we do against a compound of a few hundred, huh? Get your fucking head on straight!”
I shoved his shoulder and came head to head. Amir held us both apart.
“The moment they come for your fucking child, you’d react differently. Hell, they’re probably coming for it now and you’ll get caught with your pants down. Is that what you want, Carson? To wait until it’s too late?”
I could see the thoughts rolling through his mind as he considered my words carefully.
“I’m scared,” Vanessa whispered, and that was all it took for Carson’s nostrils to flare and his eyes to glint with determination.
“Lucky for your punk ass, we’ve been slowly hoarding weapons.”
I lifted my brows and removed half of my mask so they could see the smile breaking across my face.
“Where are they?” I asked.
“You’ll see. Follow me,” he commanded and we all did, trekking another mile or so away from Black Hollow and the topside huts until we came about a very familiar grave marker.
Katherine’s.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I barked, pulling my rifle from my back and pointing it directly at Carson and Amir.
They threw their hands up, palms facing out, glaring at me.
“Put that shit down, Vik. I’m not going to tell you again.”
“This hole showed up a few years ago and we’ve been storing supplies on this hill since, burying it one by one. We figured nothing was out here. Our communal graves are on the opposite side. What the hell are you talking about, Vik? What is up with you? You’re going to have to tell us what happened so we can fucking understand all this insanity.” Amir looked genuine in his talk.
Carson continued to glare stoically, but that was always his strength—not letting anyone know what he was thinking.
How could they have known? How could any of them know this was where I buried her? The only story they heard was that I was the only one who made it back from that mission. Me and Angel, that was.
Putting the gun down, I pulled up my goggles and stared at them intently.
“It was Katherine’s grave.”
“What?”
“What are you saying?”
Inés shuddered beside me, hiding her face away from our companions.
“We were captured. I was on a mission to take out the closest clan. But we were intercepted, captures and the next thing I knew, I woke up in a torture chamber.”
“Fucking hell.”
