Blood and Bone | 1

5 | 1

    

      Police cars surrounded the building, their red and blue lights still flashing. A few officers lingered around, ready for trouble when it came. They all turned to look at us when the front doors slammed shut. One by one, the guns went up to protect them against us.

I glanced behind me through the glass windows. The police officers inside were getting nearer every second.

I turned back, looking for Jaxon since he had the stolen computer. But Jaxon wasn't there; he was simply gone.

The front doors opened and the police officers flowed out, barking out orders in rapid German. We were surrounded. My teammates looked around at each other, unsure of what to do. They'd never had a run-in with the law enforcement before.

Suddenly, a vehicle pulled up to our left. My anxiety increased as I thought it was another band of police officers arriving to help bring us down. But it was Jaxon, driving the massive truck Jake and I had stolen from the Club.

      "Get in!" He yelled.

As we started running to the truck, gunfire started opening behind us. To stall the police, Kane ducked down to get a good grip on the side of one of the police cars. Lifting it up above his head, he sent it smashing into the men.

      As they stopped firing in order to get out of the way, we began rushing into the back of the truck. I slammed the doors shut as Jaxon stepped on the gas, throwing everyone into each other with the sudden movement. Bullet holes appeared on the sides of the truck as the police attempted to pop the truck's tires.

      I made my way to the front and stood in between Jake and Jaxon in the two cab seats. Jaxon turned the car sharply onto a freeway on-ramp in our attempt to put as much space between us and the cops. From what I could see, they weren't following us.

      "Is anyone going to explain to me what just happened?" Riley asked indignantly from behind me.

      "Yeah, why are the cops after us after everything that we've been through?" Arlo agreed.

      Jake and I shared a look. He gestured to me with his palms out, urging me to tell the story of what had happened while the rest of the crew had been gone.

      Sighing, I faced the group. "While Jake and I were alone together, we had some very close calls with the Club. We managed to slip away at the last second every time. At the airport where you six were going to be transported, we took on the Club in a fight."

      We won," I spoke slowly, choosing my words wisely. "But barely. A lot of property ended up being destroyed during the fight."

      "How did the police know that it was you two who caused the damage?" Finn asked, sounding as if he was afraid of the answer.

      "Long story short, they framed us," I told them. "They made it look like we were criminals who were looking for a quick way to make money. And now, we're wanted by the German government for it."

      "What are we going to do?" Gigi asked quietly. "Now we're being followed by the Crepuscule Club and the law enforcement."

      "Just another normal day," Jaxon said sarcastically.

      "We're in over our heads now," Finn spoke softly.

      "Speak for yourself," Jake asserted coldly. "This will set us back, but we haven't lost. Hundsen is going to keep attacking us until we show him that we're not to be trifled with."

      He looked around at the group. "Time and time again, we escape his grasp out of sheer luck. It makes us look weak, desperate. We need power, we need ruthlessness and cunning to combat him. We need to be stronger than he is, or he will keep coming back for more."

      "So what do we do?" Finn inquired, looking to Jake for the answer.

      "We polish our weapons and get ready for battle, because this time, we are bringing the fight to him."

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       Outside, the sky was navy blue and the stars were beginning to show. I sat in the back, turning my knife over and over in my hand. I could barely see my own reflection in the dark.

All of a sudden, the truck lurched and the engine gave a spluttering noise that could even be heard from where I was sitting in the rear end of the truck. Jaxon cursed under his breath and pulled over to the side of the road. He got out of the driver's seat and slammed the door behind him.

At the bang of the door closing, Arlo awoke with a start. The hood creaked loudly as Jaxon propped it up to look at the engine.

"You all might want to come out of the truck," came Jaxon's voice from the front. "It looks like we might be here a while." So I stood up and got out of the back of the truck. The others followed me.

Kane stood at the back of the truck looking at the computer that we'd stolen. "Is there any word from Hunt?" Riley asked, moving to stand beside him and see what he was looking at.

      "Yes, actually," Kane answered, his fingers going still on the keyboard. "He responded to our message."

      "Read it aloud," Jaxon requested from where he was fixing the truck.

      ""I will be in London for three days due to a conference that I will be attending. Be at the English Swingate ferry at 3 in the afternoon."" Kane looked up from the computer screen. "That's all he said."

      "We don't even know where we are now, much less where the ferry is," Arlo complained after letting loose a string of colorful curse words.

      "The location of the ferry isn't our top concern," Riley interjected. "Our main concern is staying alive long enough to get there. With both the Club and the German police after us, it won't be easy."

     Finn scoffed in the silence that ensued Riley's declaration and all the eyes went to him. "What?" Riley asked suspiciously.

      The blond boy shook his head. "Sorry. It's just...how many times have we heard that before? We have to stay alive long enough to escape one bad situation, and once we do, we're thrust into another worse one. When will it stop? When Hunt decides that we don't need to be his working henchmen anymore? Or when we're dead?"

      No one else spoke; no one knew what to say to that, because deep down, it was what we'd all been feeling. It was what I'd been feeling for four years now. I was almost glad that someone now understood what I went through every day. I was a hunter, a killer. But really, I felt like the prey; never knowing who might try to kill me.

      But it wasn't a feeling I would wish on anyone. Not anyone on the crew, anyway. There was one man that I desired could feel it. I wished I could inflict on him as much pain, emotional and physical, that he'd delivered to me.

      I spoke up suddenly. "Jake was right with what he said earlier. We're weak. We have flaws and Hundsen is pinpointing them to bring us down. If we don't fix ourselves first, it will be our downfall."

      "What are our flaws?" Gigi asked after a moment of hesitation.

      I turned to look into her shining eyes. "What?"

      "You said that Hundsen is using our flaws to take us down. What are they?"

      I blinked, not having been expecting the meek Gigi to ask that question.

      I then began talking, phrasing my words carefully, "Our biggest flaw is that we have not been working as a team. This whole time, we've been disjointed and all on different levels. Of course it would happen to a group of people with such different backgrounds and circumstances that were thrown together out of the blue. But it can't go on, or we'll just continue to work against each other. If we're not the best that we can be, then we will perish at Hundsen's hand."

      I looked around at all my crew mates. "We are weak, when, in reality, all eight of us combined should make for a formidable enemy. And in order to strike fear into our opponents, we first need to be fearsome. Anyone who's willing to challenge us needs to see that."

      "We need to crush Hundsen then," said Riley.

      "Yes," I agreed solemnly. "We need to bring Adiago Hundsen to his knees."