Death Kings

Chapter 14

Callum

Jaxson grumbles about the bulletproof glass when we get to his covert location in the foliage, 400 yards from his scoped position.

"What's happening?" I ask him in my whispered voice, sweating from having to climb up a tree to him.

"Maleigha went back in with four guys and another girl. Shite Cal, I'm worried about our husbands. I'm glad you guys are here. I'm about to go out of my feckin' mind. Check on it for yourself." Jaxson sits up on the branch from lying down, passing his 6.5 mm Creedmoor rifle to me.

I stare through Morticia's scope to see Ryder punching one guy in the jaw. He might be unarmed, but his body is lethal. It doesn't faze the guy, so I see Ryder's pants-clad leg nail the man in the ribs with force. My ribs hurt viewing that.

My cousin has used that move on me before and accidentally fractured my ribs. He was going easy on me then. This guy gets the full force of that spin kick.

Another man goes after Ryder, but he delivers a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking him away.

I adjust slightly to check on my half-brother. Etienne has one idiot on the ground in a figure four-leg lock, deftly snapping the guy's ankle. I can tell the man is screaming, no pain tolerance on that one

Another man goes for him. Etienne is up on his feet, speedily flipping the guy up and over his back by the guy's arms. I watch in fascination as my more muscular half-brother has the guy's back to his with the man's legs in the air. Etienne jumps up, landing with such force it snaps the man's neck. He did the vertaebreaker move, a move he learned in the ring. Etienne would have snapped his neck if hadn't learned to relax exactly right so that wouldn't happen when the move was done to him.

That's when I hear Dominic'swhistle signaling it's time for us to move to get them out. Jaxson and I climbout of the tree to join our family. We go over the plan first, letting the sunsetso that it's nighttime. Our work is better accomplished in the darkness to hideus.

Natalie, Jaxson, and I keep to the blackest parts, quietly. Dominic, along with Lucifer and Owen, stays behind at a distance. They will be the second wave, watching our backs and sweeping in behind us to make sure no one is left alive.

Jaxson has already learned where all the guards are stationed. There are two at the backdoor, two at the front, and one under the window that occupies the room Ryder and Etienne are being held three stories up. Too uncomplicated. Natalie signals me to the window, having Jaxson take the back while she removes the ones in front.

How do I want to perform this? I glance up at the well-taken-care of plantation-style home. I think I'll do this the uncomplicated way. I squat in the bushes, fastidious to be silent. Is this guy a shoot-first or a curious cat? I throw a rock off to the side, away from myself and my family. He is not a shoot-first type. He walks part of the way, his eyes just scanning the area as he also listens closely. Interesting.

I purposely make just enough noise in the bushes to sound like a small animal. The curious cat guy came to see what made the noise, but he didn't reach me all the way. Nope, he stops between the window and bushes. I curse in French under my breath at him. I make more noise to see if I can pique his attention. I'm rewarded with him coming closer. He hasn't even pulled his gun. Most people at least get a flashlight out. That's right, come slightly nearer.... Ici, minou. Here, kitty.

When he is close enough to touch, I reach out, jerking his legs out from underneath him. I'm quickly on top of him with a knife to his throat.

"You're just a kid!" He exclaims, startling me before I almost slit his throat.

"Do you know what's being done upstairs to two more kids my age?" I question.

"There are more than just Miss Maleigha and Mister Raleigh upstairs right now?" He contemplates, confused.

"Have you bothered to see into the window you are guarding?" I query.

"No, never. I'm under strict orders to not look in the window. I need this job," he replies with no fear in his voice.

Something about this doesn't seem right to me. "You do not know there are two guys my age being assaulted as we speak?"

"What?! No, no, no, that can't be right!" The man shouts in disbelief.

"See for yourself." I haul the guy up so he too can view Etienne's naked derriere being held up by this throat against the one window. "Now, do you believe me? That one there is my brother," I bark at the man whose neck I still have a knife held against.

"Just a few years older than my son..." Tears are streaming down the man's face, not because he is begging for his life, but because he is imagining this being done to his son.

I glance back to the window, watching with horror as a syringe is being plunged into Etienne's neck by long manicured yellow nails with diamonds at the tips. I try to shout, but nothing comes out. Damn it! If it weren't for these almost severed vocal cords of mine, I could have warned him.

I extract the knife, then I place his head in a chokehold. "Sorry about this, but I don't want to kill you. So, take a nap while my family rescues my brother and cousin. You won't recognize my voice, or I will find you to finish you." The curious dad went off to dreamland from being deprived of oxygen. I gently lower him to the ground, placing a Bunk Security card in his pocket. That way maybe he will have another job after leaving this one.

The curious dad didn't see my face. Not only do I have a hood on my head, but I'm also wearing a black neck garter face mask with neon playing cards that have poker symbols that are bleeding red. We are the Cards royalty and household members, so matching facemasks for everyone. We even grabbed one for Ryder and Etienne each.

Natalie already has put a bullet between the eyes of both men guarding the front. Ange must be in a foul mood not to even want to attempt to not kill. She wants to dislodge Ryder and Etienne from their torture immediately. After witnessing Etienne go down through the bars of that window, I'm with Angel. Kill everyone else.

We heard Jaxson whistle a single high-pitched bird-like sound that signals he slaughtered the guards at the back. Natalie creates the same sound back to him.

We enter through the front while Jaxson enters through the back. Death is coming on swift wings for those who keep us from our Fox and Gator Kings.