Wild Tiger Chase | Book #2 (Complete)

56: (do not) pull the trigger

— Léon —

A warm, gentle breeze made his hair dance, and for a second, Léon thought he was waking up inside a dream. He was so calm and comfortable, it was almost like being a kid again, living inside the old Egg Yolk and traveling OC with Amma. Léon pretended his chin was resting on his arm while one of his hands dangled out of the NAV's window. Amma would be at his side, driving and humming some old country song he couldn't understand. No worries, no fears.

To make that fantasy even more believable, there was sunlight against his closed eyelids; patches of light and shade moved across his face every time the breeze blew stronger. He opened his eyes. There were massive trees all around him, reaching out to all sides with their branches and twisting them together to create one single, giant canopy.

Léon groaned. "Amma?" He tried to rub his eyes, but something stopped him.

His wrists were tied. He was lying on the grass, and there was a freshness in the air that he hadn't felt since Caidara's pocket dimension. The air here was pure and crisp; considering the massive shield around the place and the golden air-purifying towers, the air here was probably more expensive than his entire neighborhood in NC.

"No," a deep voice said, shattering the calmness in that small paradise. "Fuck you, Jackal, that was not the deal!"

And with those words, all the events from the past two weeks boiled back to the surface.

Shit.

Léon squirmed and tried to free his hands, but the zip tie bit into his flesh, tighter every time he moved. He looked around; his heart raced. Léon recognized the sculptures and monuments around him. Age-old angels, saints, and other pieces of rock were chewed away by acid rain. He was in a graveyard.

"I'm the only one here who can say what is and what isn't the deal," Jackal answered. There was nothing but calmness in her voice. "Now you'll give me that gun and the wielder or the deal's off, Caetano. It's your choice, really—but I don't think Vanessa can survive without this."

That little word made Léon's eyes flick toward the voices. Cae and Jackal stood a few meters from him while the latter held what looked like a test tube with the serum—the supposed cure for the sickness. A small distance away from Jackal, Modraniht, Rio, and a woman Léon couldn't recognize watched the scene with different degrees of fear, shock, or anger. Beside them, Toni's expression was blank. When Jackal tried to step forward towards Léon, Cae aimed Toni's gun at her.

"Not one more step," Cae growled. "I won't give away my one defense against you. I'm telling you, Jackal. Just give me the serum, take the guy, and I'll go."

Jackal narrowed her eyes. "Well, if you insist on rejecting my offer, I'll have to believe you don't need it." She raised the small test tube and smiled as her fingers tightened around the delicate glass. Cracks webbed out. "It's your last chance, Caetano."

Cae grimaced. He lowered the gun, his hands trembly, and spat out a long line of swearing. He took in a deep breath and, in one single movement. He put the gun on the grass. Cae kicked the gun and made it slide sideways, away from them all.

"Give me the serum," Cae ordered.

With a smile, Jackal did.

Wait. They still hadn't developed a working cure, had they?

Cae took the test tube from her hands, Looked one last time at Léon, and ran away, disappearing through the trees and stones in the graveyard. When Léon couldn't hear Cae's steps anymore Jackal let out a sigh.