novelxo Savior Complex: Chapter 24
Erik and I arrive a few seconds before Anders and the rest of the team go in. Anders shatters the glass with a taunt, and a dozen armed operatives turn toward us. Ant pops up from behind a desk to join us, and we rush through the huge opening.
A few assholes get off a couple of shots, but our team is no joke, and the traffickers are immediately overwhelmed. Anders and Max take out four guys right in front of them while Ant drops to his knees and slashes one guy’s groin, releasing a flood of blood.
The guy with the gun on me fires wide, a big mistake on his part. I close the distance and disarm him, shoving the muzzle of his own gun under his chin, aiming at the ceiling through his head.
He grabs my hand, shouting, “No!” as I pull the trigger.
He falls to the ground sounding like a dropped backpack, next to a guy Ant just stabbed in the temple.
Anders and Hopper stab a guy at the same time, then start arguing over who gets the kill. Omar tells them to shut up, then breaks a guy’s neck.
Anders scowls at his husband. “Show off.”
In the meantime, Levy and Nacho are working toward us. Levy punches a guy so hard his knees wobble, reminding me he’s a black belt in judo. He then grabs the guy’s head and pulls it toward his knee, knocking him out cold.
While that’s happening, a huge guy lands a solid shot to Nacho’s nose, and Levy makes him pay for it with a devastating kick to the ribs. The guy drops to the ground, and Levy towers over him, knocking him out with a vicious downward punch.
All in all, it takes less than five minutes for our team to take down the security force. A few of their guys are still alive, but not for long if Hopper has anything to do with it.
“Hopper,” Omar says calmly, “you can come back and kill everyone you want to, but let’s get the kids out first, okay?”
Standing with a man’s tongue in his hand, Hopper bites his lower lip. “You’re right. Sorry.”
“The tongue,” Omar says mildly.
“Oh yeah,” he says, dropping it on the man’s face.
Ant snorts, still trying to pull his knife from a very dead guy’s temple and not having much luck with it. Erik walks up to him, holds the man’s head, and then yanks the knife out for him, handing it to Ant. “Good job.”
“Thanks,” Ant says, wiping the blood off on the man’s shirt.
A few minutes later, Anders walks in from the office area, a silver case in hand. “Okay, I’ve got Charlie on the mend. It’ll be a few more minutes before he can walk though. Let’s get the kids out of here before they send in more people.”
He then walks up to Nacho and resets his nose before giving him several tiny injections around the broken bone.
“It’s gonna sting for a minute, but you’ll be good after that.”
“Don’t suppose you have anything for the bruises? If I go home with double black eyes, Bram is going to want somebody’s head.”
“Oh, easy,” Anders says, grabbing an enormous hunting knife from his sheath.
I raise my brows, not exactly sure where he’s going with this. He winks and gestures to the guy lying facedown in a pool of his own blood. He’s the one who broke Nacho’s nose.
The man is hurt but breathing. Anders grabs his hair and pulls his head up, slicing the knife clean through his neck, easily separating it from his body.
“If you want, I can gift wrap it for him.”
Nacho laughs and smacks Anders’ shoulder. “You are one fucking crazy dude.”
“Eh. Those tests were never conclusive,” Anders drawls, taking a quick selfie with the head.
A familiar laugh goes through our little group, and I assume it’s a joke he’s made on more than one occasion.
In the meantime, Levy’s made his way over to the children and is speaking to an older kid. I walk up beside him and listen in.
“It looks really scary in here right now, so you’ve got to help me convince all the little kids to keep their eyes closed as we lead them out of here, okay? We’ll do like the elephants with everybody holding on to each other’s shoulders, and we’ll close our eyes and walk out of here.”
The kid nods. “Okay.”
Omar, Max, Anders, and I quickly make a path, and Levy guides them straight out the front door. Just as we reach outside, Hedy pulls up in one of the buses with the little girl sitting on the bench behind her with Ant’s very large brindle pit bull panting serenely at her side.
“Heard y’all needed a pick-up,” she says, grinning.
The older kid’s eyes land on the little girl and widen, tears forming instantly. “Bella?” he asks, his voice warbling.
“Esteban!” she squeaks, popping up and racing to the steps, where she practically flies into his arms.
He finds Levy. “Where did you find my sister?”
Levy points to me. “He found her with one of the kidnappers.”
Still holding his sister, Esteban wraps an arm around me, sobbing into my chest, “Gracias, gracias, gracias.”
I look into Levy’s eyes, wordless, as I cup the back of this young man’s head. He taps his heart with two fingers. That’s two kids we saved together.
Still, we don’t have the luxury of time, and Esteban quickly shifts to helping us get the rest of the kids onto the bus. Just as the last kid is in place, a large SUV pulls up, and six operatives pile out. Hedy takes off, and Ant pulls his gun, quietly dispatching three operatives before they can react. Anders and Hopper fight over the other three and watching them work is a little too satisfying. I might need to talk to Hedy about that.
When they’re done, Hopper and Anders stand over Ant, shaking their heads.
“One of these days, we’re going to show you how to have fun with this, kid.”
“Oh, that was fun,” he says, smiling broadly.
“But you look so serious.”
He gestures a thumb in my direction. “It bothers those three if I look like I’m enjoying myself.”
I look behind me. Erik and Levy are standing there with their arms crossed.
Ant shrugs. “Gotta be careful with their delicate sensibilities.”
Grinning, I pull Levy to me and kiss his temple. “How are you doing? Was the blood too much?”
“Maybe it’s the company I’m keeping, but making bad guys bleed isn’t so bad. As long as I don’t think about it too much.”
Now that the coast is clear, we call Hedy back so Levy and Nacho can go with her and the kids to the retrofitted hospital. Hedy asks Esteban about his and Bella’s parents, who may still be local. She sends a quick notice to Wimberley, and they start looking into it.
I stand guard as the rest of the team picks through the bodies, looking for clues, grabbing cell phones and anything else that looks like it could be worth something. By the time we’re done, Charlie, who’s looked better, can walk on his own. We meet Hedy at the airstrip an hour later and quickly load up on the plane, ready to go back home.
Levy rests his head on my shoulder and his hand on my chest as we take off. In contrast with his excitement on the way down, Ant sits quietly in his seat, cross-legged with his hands resting on his knees, meditating. The slight tension that constantly runs under his skin is gone, and left in its place is peace.
Erik sits across from him, baldly staring at him, confusion marring his handsome features.
As we circle for the landing, Hedy’s voice comes over the PA, announcing that Esteban and Bella have already been reunited with their parents, who never left the area. Levy plants a huge kiss on my lips, and Ant acts like he’s going to throw up, but his eyes are far too happy for me to believe any of that. I don’t know Hedy that well, but I have a feeling that all the reunited families are about to get a major life upgrade.
Less important to those on the plane, she also announces that Parker calculates we’ve cost the semiconductor plant over a million dollars with this one operation alone. It’s not much for a multibillion-dollar company, but it’s a solid start.