Page 110 of Haunted Hearts

He swings the door open, and bullets begin flying through. I back myself up to the wall, slowly moving closer to Cade, and I think the barrage won’t ever end. Cade moves. For a moment, I think he has a death wish, but the bullets stop.

“They’re reloading!” he calls out, turning and sliding a pistol to me.

Cade moves skillfully, firing three shots. I hear three bodies drop to the floor and look at him wide-eyed.

“Come on,” he yells as he moves into the room.

It’s a large space with more steps going farther down. Above us are two side balconies, with a third centered directly ahead. I notice movement on the upper left balcony.

I go to move, but the man drops dead.

“You’ve got to have better reflexes than th—”

Cade is cut off when I shoot, dropping a man that was approaching him from behind.

“You were saying?” My tone is cocky, but he’s right.

Cade gives a sharp hand signal, directing us to separate pillars beneath the balconies lining each side of the room. We move quickly, keeping low. From my cover, I scan for Alok, but he’s nowhere in sight.

We stand there for a moment, waiting for more guards, but none come. It’s silent, far too silent.

Cade moves to the stairs. We quickly make our way down to the double doors.

We are stopped by a gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair, in all black tactical gear, fairly similar to Cade’s.

“I taught you well,” the man says, twirling a knife between his fingers.

“I’ve been looking forward to our reunion, Darian.”

“It’s been too long!” The man raises his arms out to the side. “You’ve grown!” He laughs, its deep resonance reverberating through the room.

“Look, I don’t have time for this. So either step aside, or let’s get this over with,” Cade responds.

“Always so straight to the point with you; some things never change, do they.”

Then Darian says, “Considering you took out my entire team, though, I’d say you’ve already proven your point.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Cade asks, confusion on his face.

“Means I’m old, and I’m not getting paid enough for this shit.” Darian tosses the knife to the floor and kicks it away before approaching Cade.

I point my gun at him, preparing for a wrong move, but Darian just looks at me and chuckles.

“Place your nondominant hand on the bottom to stabilize yourself for a cleaner shot,” he says as he moves in front of Cade and looks down at him. “I was hoping I’d run into you, boy.”

“I’m going to need you to move aside,” Cade says plainly.

Darian nods. “I’ve got no intention of stopping you, Cade. I only took this job to see what kind of man you became.”

“You stole my sister,” Cade says, his voice low.

“Not by my own order, but you know how that is, don’t you? We all have regrets, just pawns, doing what we’re told.” He smiles. “How many atrocities did you commit before deciding you had enough?”

“I’m not here to reminisce about my fucking past with you.”

“I always knew you’d be the best of us, but then again I was never truly a part of the Covenant, just a hired hand.”

I can feel the rage building within Cade, his fists balled tight. He steps into Darian’s face.