Hidden Truths - Page 77

A hand grabs the edge of the tablecloth in front of me, and the head of one of the guards appears under the table. He grabs me by the hair, dragging me out, just as Nana Guadalupe presses her gun to his temple and fires. Blood and brain matter explode all over my dress, but I don’t have the time to dwell on it because another set of hands seize my ankle and tugs me back. I grab onto the table’s leg and turn to see Diego’s furious face.

“Come here, bitch!” he snarls, pulling on my leg.

I aim the gun at his chest and let the bullet fly, but it hits his shoulder, which only enrages him more. He yanks on my leg again, and the gun slips from my hand.

My heart skips and my breathing stops. Cold sweat breaks across my forehead. My eyes go wide as Diego levels his gun on me.

Suddenly, a huge mass of something black smashes into Diego’s side and the bullet meant for me explodes into the overturned chair, missing me by inches, but raining debris all around. I gape at the beast that holds Diego’s neck in her jaws, listening to the strange gurgling sounds coming from the throat of the soon-to-be-dead man.

“Mimi?”

The dog turns its head toward me without letting go of its prey, shakes her head, and Diego’s bones break with a crunching sound. A long whistle reaches my ears, and Mimi’s head immediately snaps to the side. She lets out a low growl and dashes after a soldier who’s running away. I watch with wide eyes as she jumps on his back, throwing him to the ground. Blood sprays everywhere as Mimi sinks her canines into the back of the man’s neck.

The whooshing sound keeps piercing the air every couple of seconds. Another explosion booms, followed by one more, and the left side of the house where the kitchen used to be collapses, a cloud of dust envelops everything around.

The cocking of a gun sounds behind me, and I turn to see Nana Guadalupe aiming at another soldier. She fires but misses. The man begins to raise his firearm but stills in mid-motion and falls to his knees, revealing a black-clad figure standing several yards away, holding a gun. I blink, then stare, taking in his tactical pants and the assortment of weapons strapped around his legs. I let my eyes travel up over the bulletproof vest and black shirt to lock on his face, camouflaged with military paint. I can’t see his features clearly, but I’d recognize his pale hair anywhere.

“Sergei,” I whisper, and tears streak down my face. He came for me.

“Your Russian is even more handsome all geared up,” Nana Guadalupe mumbles next to me.

“What?” I ask, not moving my eyes off Sergei as he runs toward a parked car where two more soldiers are hiding.

“Last night, when I was taking dinner to Diego’s soldiers in the barracks, he jumped out of the bushes. I almost had a heart attack.”

“You knew what he was planning? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Sergei stops, shoots one of the soldiers, then continues running while jumping over dead bodies on the ground.

“He said it was a surprise.” She chuckles. “I think it’s romantic.”

“Romantic?” I take in the crumbling walls of my childhood home, then scan the lawn covered with blood and dead bodies, halting at the two outer buildings just off to the side. Or… what was left of them.

A loud bark reaches me, and I snap my head back to Sergei, who has almost reached the car where Mimi is attacking the remaining soldier. There’s another man ducked behind the pile of debris, thirty or so feet from Sergei. He’s clutching a rifle in his hand, and as I watch, he raises the weapon. I grab my gun from the ground, aim, and send all the bullets I have left at the soldier. Two hit him in the chest, and he topples over. Nana, too, cocks her gun and fires three more bullets that way.

“Just in case,” she comments.

When I look back at Sergei, he’s standing over the body of the last soldier, blood dripping from a long knife in his hand, talking into his headpiece. He throws a look at the man Nana and I just shot, then turns toward us and raises his thumb. Yeah, he might be a little whacky, but I love him anyway.

The rumble of an engine nears, and a couple of seconds later, a car stops on the driveway, and Felix’s head pokes out of the window.

“Let’s go!” he shouts.

I take Nana’s hand in mine, and we run to the car.

Angelina pushes her nana onto the passenger seat, but I can’t make a move to join them yet. There could still be someone around, and I plan on eliminating them before they even think about becoming a threat to my girl. I’m not sure how many of Diego’s men I killed in the last twenty minutes. Somewhere between thirty and forty based on the rough count.

I wasn’t thinking too clearly, and don’t even recall how I ended half of them. I was scared shitless that someone may hurt Angelina if I wasn’t fast enough. It was adrenaline, instinct, and muscle memory, but I’m fairly certain I got all of the hostiles. Mimi took care of a few. And I think Angelina’s nana offed at least three. It sucks that I didn’t get the opportunity to kill Diego myself, but having his throat torn out must have been an extremely unpleasant way to die. That fact makes me really happy.

Angelina shuts the door after Guadalupe, but instead of getting inside the car, she turns to face me and just stares at me with her hand covering her mouth. Her fancy dress is torn up in a few places, and blood has been splattered over most of it, but it’s nothing compared to what I probably look like. I should have let Guadalupe tell her about my plan and keep Angelina inside. It’s possible she’s even more scared of me now. Quickly, I hide my hand that’s still holding the knife I used to kill the last manbehind my back. I don’t dare approach her because I don’t think I could stomach it if she flinches away from me. If there is one thing I can’t bear, it’s Angelina being afraid of me. When she lowers her hand I see she’s crying, and something inside of me falls to pieces.

I step back.

Felix can take them to a safe place and come back for me later. I won’t make her endure my presence or distress her any more than necessary. Maybe I should go around and check if any of the motherfuckers are still alive and correct that mishap. Yes, I’ll do that. I will my eyes away from Angelina and head to the nearest body when I hear her call my name. I turn around, and my eyes widen as she bolts toward me on bare feet, clutching the skirt of her ruined dress in her hands.

“Sergei!” she calls again, jumps over a dead soldier, and leaps into my arms. “You came for me.”

“Of course, I came for you,” I say and kiss her like my life depends on it. “I will always come for you, baby.”