No Relief (EMP Sabotage Book 2) by Grace Hamilton

Author:Grace Hamilton [Hamilton, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-10T16:00:00+00:00

17

“He’s dead,” Kay said softly. She was staring at her hands, which were dripping with blood. “Must’ve hit an artery or something. It all happened so fast.”

Jorge and Steph had retreated from the crane operator’s office once the shooting started, and they’d arrived a minute later. They were now crowded into the entry room with everyone else. Stella had her back to the door, watching the others circle around Ricardo in the entry room. She felt sick to her stomach, crushed by guilt. Ricardo’s eyes were half open, fixed on some invisible point in the air above him. The front of his shirt was soaked with blood. His cousin, Ignacio, was on his knees beside him, clutching his arm and sobbing.

“Judging by the severity of the wound, it was probably a high-caliber bullet,” Curtis said, moving up behind Ignacio. “Cut through that building like butter, but I don’t think much would have stopped it.”

Stella pushed off the door and made herself walk toward him. She knelt beside Ricardo, looking at his still face. He seemed calm, lips together, forehead uncreased. She reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “It’s my fault. I positioned your team there.”

Ignacio immediately reared up and looked at her, cheeks wet with tears, and Stella braced for the impact. She deserved the criticism, and she knew it.

“No, it’s not your fault,” Ignacio said through clenched teeth. “He is dead because of those maniáticos out there on the boats. It’s all their fault. All of it.”

Stella sighed and nodded. “Still…I’m sorry. I liked Ricardo. He was nice.”

“He was nice,” Ignacio echoed. “He was my best friend, not just my cousin.”

Stella didn’t know what else to say to this, so she just knelt there quietly for a moment. The other people were gathered around her, a few of them crying. Kay was trying to wipe the blood from her hands using a rag from one of the entry room’s many lockers, but there was so much of it.

“As soon as the flames die down, they’ll come back,” Curtis said. “I don’t expect them to flee. And they’ll be angrier this time. We’d better get ready.”

Stella rose, adrenaline surging so intensely that her whole body shook with it. She clasped her hands in front of her, wrapping them around the handgun, trying to quell the trembling to no avail. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for her to say something.

“Well, we knew they might get past the traps eventually,” she said. “They’re not going to destroy this building. We can be sure of that. They want this place. So, they’ll try to get inside and take over, and we just have to do what we can to keep them out.”

She looked around and saw all of the discouraged faces around her. Ricardo’s death felt like defeat.

Maybe we should just surrender the place and try to barter for our lives, she thought. At least then we might get out of this alive. She didn’t say it out loud.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.