Chapter 23 Blood and Shadows in the Mill
It was clear now–they’d been targeted for a while.
Finished
All around them, dense woodland pressed in. Between staying in the car and waiting to be cornered or bolting into the wood. the latter gave them a fighting chance.
Kiara exchanged a look with Sibley. No words were needed. Both women flung open the car doors and sprinted into the
forest.
Behind them, the pounding of heavy boots shattered the stillness, Kiara grabbed Sibley’s hand and used the terrain to guide them toward an old canola oil mill she knew lay ahead.
Earlier, when Sibley had begged to come to Mount Morton, Kiara hadn’t stopped her. Partly, she didn’t want to see her friend disappointed–but mostly because she remembered she’d scavenged this place in her previous life. She knew the terrain.
Buildings meant cover, and cover was always better than being caught out in the open.
They sprinted for the mill, vaulted the fence, and darted into the main yard.
The plant had shut down after the heat waves maybe some workers still lived in the dorms, but the factory floor was likely deserted.
The refinery grounds were a tangled maze of structures and rusting machinery–perfect cover. Those men chasing them might want to settle some ugly score, but in here, it wouldn’t be nearly as easy as they thought.
They’d barely slipped into the plant and tucked themselves into a shadowed corner when the sharp patter of boots echoed through the
cavernous space.
From the voices, Kiara guessed there were about ten of them
Weapons in hand, they prowled into view, their laughter dripping with sleaze. “Well now.. why hide, ladies? Come out and have a little fun with us.
“Yeah, we’ll even buy you some candy.”
“I’ll take the short one. The tall one’s too dark and chopped her hair–just looking at her would kill the mood. But that short one? She’s mine. Hands off.”
Motherfucker!
Kiara’s jaw clenched. That was the first time she genuinely wanted to curse someone out.
The nerve. They actually started to pick their victim
Another voice rebuked, “Nah, the tall one’s better; she’s prettier and has more fire to her.
They kept tossing vulgar remarks back and forth as they swept the plant for movement.
Hiding wasn’t an option. Kiara’s only way out was to strike first,
She snatched up a chunk of hardened oil cake from the floor and hurled it toward a dark corner on the far side of the factory. The faint thad was enough to draw a pair of men in that direction. Someone hurriedly headed in that direction.
Moving fast, she grabbed another piece and tossed it the opposite way.
The group exchanged quick glances, splitting into pairs to follow the noise.
Kiara leaned close to Sibley’s ear. “Stay hidden, she whispered.
She pressed a Swiss Army knife into Sibley’s palm, then pulled the sack of oil cakes in front of her as a makeshift shield. With a smooth roll across the gritty floor, she crept toward the two men closest to her.
They never saw her coming. In one swift motion, her blade slashed deep across the first man’s artery, then the second. Both went down without a sound.
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Chapter 23 Blood and Shadows in the Mill
Finished
She took out the next pair just as brutally fast, but this time, a body toppled into a stack of metal drums. The crash echoed like a gunshot,
The remaining six men heard it and charged in, their boots hammering the floor.
Kiara’s plan to take them out quietly was blown.
She calculated fast–if all of them attacked at once, what were her odds? Slim to none.
These men moved like professionals, and they carried live firearms, No matter how she worked the math, she came up short.
The footsteps were closing in from every direction. Keeping her body low, she slipped around the hulking oil press, inching
toward the back
Then, a hand clamped over her mouth.
Her eyes shot up to meet the dark, unblinking muzzle of a pistol pressed against her temple.
BANG!
The same instant the shot rang out, someone shoved her head down hard.
“Ugh–The man behind her grunted in pain, his grip on her shoulder tightening.
BANGI BANGI BANG!
Gunfire exploded like drumbeats in her ears, the echoes rattling her skull.
When the ringing finally eased, she lifted her head. The men who had been closing in now lay sprawled across the concrete. blood pooling beneath their bodies; all of them opened their eyes wide, unable to believe death had come for them.
They weren’t all on the same side?
Kiara swallowed, impressed despite herself by the stranger’s aim–though her mind was already racing through ways to disarm him before he turned that weapon on her
Then something heavy sagged against her shoulder.
The man’s weight pressed into her shoulder, one hand clutching it for balance while the other clamped over a wound that spilled fresh, hot blood. His voice was hoarse and low- “Kiara… help me
She froze. That voice–she knew it.
Snapping her head around, she caught a glimpse of sharp, chiseled features in the dim light
Why in the world would he rist his life for me?
Before she could process it, Alec’s knees buckled. Blood loss dragged him under, and his six–foot–three frame nearly crushed. lver to the floor
She wanted to leave him–she really did. But he’d just taken a buller meant for her.
Walking away now would be the same as leaving him to die.
Cold as she was, Kiara wasn’t that far gone.
She clenched her jaw, and she hauled his arm over her shoulders.
Years of weight training paid off–barely.
Straining under his weight, she glanced at Sibley, who was peeking from behind a machine, knife at the ready. “Sibley, Kiara said through gritted teeth, “we can’t stay here. Let’s move.”
