Page 279 of Forged in the Fire
Heart so freaking loud I didn’t know how it didn’t send the birds scattering for safety.
I slowed almost to a stop as I came up to the wall.
I looked in every direction.
Terrified.
Mortified.
Hurt.
No one was there to stop me.
A wave of relief pummeled me, or maybe it was just an exaggerated billow of grief.
The kind that drummed and churned and made you desperate to run, even though you were fully aware it was going to catch up to you at any moment and overthrow you.
I managed to get ahold of an overhead limb, and I hoisted myself up, using my feet for leverage as I hauled myself up on a branch and started to climb.
I reached the top, and a gasp of surprise that I’d actually done it escaped, before I fumbled back down the same way on the other side.
Free when it was the last thing I wanted to be.
FIFTY-EIGHT
SILAS
“This is it.”
I stood at the head of the worn table, my hands planted on the wood, eyes skating over every Crow in the dim, cavernous room.
Violence and determination buzzed through the air, and every breath was like sucking razors into my lungs.
Bare nicks that only added to the frenzy.
“Everyone has been given their assignments. If there are any questions or reservations, I need to hear them now.”
I glanced around again, gauging each of my men.
“Nay,” Cliff gritted, clearly speaking for all of them. “We are ready, Prez, and not one of us will stop until we bring these motherfuckers to their end.”
“World’s gonna burn tonight,” Regan added with a grim dip of his red beard.
My attention kept skating, meeting the nods and grunts of affirmation of every Crow in the room.
We’d been in meetings all day, hours spent going over plans in fine detail.
Final strategies.
Techniques.
Memorizing every entry point and guarded crevice within Kent Ellison’s compound.
The other jobs would be simple. Straightforward. Types that we undertook on the regular.
In and out without anyone knowing we were there.
It was the compound that loomed like a slaughterhouse.
