Rage and Ruin | 2

3 | 4

D E L P H I N I U M

I didn't quite know what to expect as Jaxon disappeared into thin air for the second time in two nights. He was going ahead of us to take out anyone or anything that might stand in our way inside the house.

      Jake and I stood by the car, waiting for Jaxon to do his job. Unlike yesterday, we'd come after it was already dark; the mask of night would help conceal us and our dark deeds tonight.

      Crickets chirped in the nearby bushes. I glanced upward, wondering if I could see any stars. As we were away from New York City and the pollution that came with it, they were more visible than at home. A splattering of twinkling stars was splashed across the inky canvas of nighttime. The moon was only a sliver directly above us, not emitting much light. My gaze followed a stray bat as it flapped through the sky, squeaking as it went.

      I could feel Jake's presence beside me, even without looking at him. He'd been quiet ever since Jaxon had left us alone. I knew that the rage inside him was building up and simmering, especially now that we were so close to Hundsen. I had no idea what was going to happen when he finally released the entirety of his wrath on the crime lord. No one but him had seen exactly what had happened the night the Club's lair had burned down, but I suspected something similar was about to take place here.

      The thing that also worried me was the fact that I had no idea what was going to happen tonight. Jake had promised me that I wouldn't have to kill Hundsen's wife, and for that, I was grateful. But Jake had never said exactly what he was going to accomplish. I only knew that it had something to do with the woman we'd spied on last night.

      "It's time," he told me, breaking the silence. Pushing off the side of the car, he stalked down the street and towards Hundsen's driveway. We followed the same path as last night, ending up on the side of the house.

      I stood in front of a window in the kitchen, peering down at the lock on the inside of the window frame. It obeyed my mind and flipped upwards, unlocking the window so that we could jump in. I took a deep breath and leapt inside the house. My feet hit the floor without a sound.

The enormous kitchen was empty, I realized. That meant we would waste more precious time as we tried to find Hundsen's wife. Jake jumped through the window behind me and immediately moved away from the kitchen and into one of the living rooms.

As soon as we'd turned the corner from the kitchen, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a burly man standing guard twenty feet away. Immediately, I stopped walking before he could see me.

The second thing I noticed was Hundsen's wife sitting on a couch, immersed in a book. The guard must have been there to protect her, as she was essentially alone in the house.

I turned to face Jake, waiting for his signal. He would handle Hundsen's wife while I took care of the guard. With a curt nod of his head, he gave the cue to get to work.

We both surged forward, Jake towards the unassuming woman, and me for the guard. The latter saw me first, immediately whipping his head to look at me and then drawing a gun off of his uniform. When he pulled the trigger for the first time, I realized that Hundsen would have trained his soldiers to shoot first and ask questions afterward.

He aimed a bit too far to the left. The bullet whizzed harmlessly through the air and hit a priceless vase behind me.

I glanced at Jake for a split second. He was leaned over the back of the couch, holding the woman down as he injected a needle into her arm. The guard followed my gaze and came to a conclusion of what Jake was doing. The gun was now raised towards my teammate instead.

Knowing that my job was to keep the guards away from Jake, I took the guard's distracted attention as a cue to kick him as hard as I could in the back of the head. Stumbling forward, he crashed into a table as he tried to support himself.

In an attempt to ward me off, he brandished the firearm toward me and let loose a load of bullets at random. I hastily jumped to the side, not wanting to get shot in the legs. That movement made me land right behind the guard, which I used wisely. My knives flashed in the light as they raced through the air and sunk into the soldier's back on either side. He slumped over the edge of the table and rolled off limply.

Jake appeared next to me, carrying the now-unconscious woman. "Get to the front door," he commanded, knowing that all the rest of Hundsen's soldiers in the house had inevitably heard the gunshots.

     We had to cross a long hallway in order to get to the front entrance. I thought that we were going to be able to get through without any problems, but then three guards appeared right in front of us. I stepped forward and thrusted my hand out as they lunged for me. My twin knives streaked through the air by themselves, aiming for the soldier's chests. One met its mark, the other stuck in the wall as the target moved out of its way. A bullet grazed my arm but I barely felt it.

     I ran for the two men, holding out my hands so that my blades flew back into my hands. At the last second, I dropped to my knees and slid between them.  The butts of my knives knocked into the backs of their knees, making the two soldiers fall. Without even looking behind me in hesitation, I plunged the knives into their backs. Hearing the sounds of the bodies falling forward behind me, I smoothly got to my feet; the way was cleared for Jake to bring Hundsen's wife through.

I marched into the entryway, preparing to leave. When gunshots rained down from above, I ducked down into the hallway again as I waited for my assailant to come down the stairs. There was a horrible moment in which the only sound was my pounding heart in my chest.

Then, the soldier showed herself and stepped off the bottom stair, holding her gun out to protect herself. Ducking out of the way of her weapon, I stepped to the side and dragged my knife across her throat.

We continued walking onward, ready to face whatever came next. I knew that there would inevitably be a guard by the front door and I wasn't mistaken. He stood between us and the exit, knowing that we had to go through him to get out. My eyes dropped to see a gun concealed in his gloved left hand.

He made a move to grab Hundsen's wife from Jake, who took a step away. Raising a gun toward my teammate, the guard demanded, "Put her down now. If you make any moves, I'll shoot."

I instantly stopped moving. Slowly, Jake laid the limp woman on the marble floor and raised his arms in the air. I knew what he was doing a second before it happened.

In one fluid move, he dodged to the right, grasped the soldier's wrist and snapped it back far enough that he automatically dropped the gun. Jake caught it and raised it to the man's head. A deafening shot rang out, making my ears ring.

Unbothered, Jake knelt down, picked the woman up, and strode out the front door with me. We left the quiet destruction in the mansion behind to join Jaxon in the getaway car