Dead Man's Isle (Harlequin Crew #2)

by Caroline Peckham

  “Three,” he said. “And I gave you my last clip.”

  “Fuck.” I counted what I had. “Eight.”

  The Uzi went quiet and I leaned around the wall, firing true and taking out one of the cronies covering Chester as he reloaded. The guy to his right returned fire and I cursed, ducking back as pain burned across my arm and the bullet grazed me.

  JJ fired two of his final shots to take down the asshole with a roar of anger just as Chester got his Uzi firing again and rounds hammered into the wall.

  Fuck. This.

  I panted as I remained within cover, trying to figure out what the hell to do. We couldn’t keep this up much longer. We were down to our final bullets and if we didn’t move soon, this whole building could collapse and we’d go down with it.

  I had to get to Rogue before that happened and these traitorous motherfuckers were keeping me from finding her.

  An ear-splitting boom made me flinch and a crack tore along the floor beneath us, a tremor vibrating through my body which said we needed to fucking move. And right now.

  “JJ, run!” I barked and we leapt to our feet, firing off what few shots we had as the floor started to collapse beneath us.

  We sped into the room as the floorboards began to split open and Chester and Jolene were forced to stop firing so they could get out of harm’s way.

  I ran furiously with JJ just ahead, trying to make it to the other side of the room but suddenly the floor was disappearing beneath me and I lost sight of everything as I fell, dropping my gun where it went skittering across the floor.

  I threw out my hands with a growl of determination, grabbing onto anything I could, my hand locking around a rug and gripping tight.

  I ducked my head as an armchair went tumbling over me and cursed as the rug started dropping inch by inch, the couch it was under slipping down the sloped floor toward me.

  I started to climb, panic clawing at the inside of my chest as I fought to hold on. But it wasn’t me I was afraid for, it was Rogue and JJ. I needed to save myself so I could get them out of this hell. I was born to look after them, it was in my blood.

  One look over my shoulder showed me my death. I was hanging fifty feet above a dancefloor two floors below me.

  I growled as I clung on with a feral determination, but the rug kept slipping and the couch was coming closer and closer to falling.

  No, come on, come on.

  I reached for a broken floorboard above my head which was still attached to the main floor, desperate to get hold of it as I gritted my teeth and worked to climb higher.

  “Fox!” JJ shouted from somewhere far away, his panic clear.

  Gunshots rang out again, a furious tune of bullets tearing through the room above and JJ called out something I couldn’t hear.

  The couch came falling down and I lunged for the floorboard with a gasp of alarm, grabbing onto it by the tips of my fingers, the sharp edges slicing into my hand.

  I battled to heave myself up as the couch went tumbling down to the floor below with a loud bang and I swore between my teeth, fighting with everything I had to try and get up. For Rogue. JJ. I could do it. I could fucking do it.

  Only I couldn’t. And my fingers were failing me as they came loose and I saw my death terrifyingly clearly, hating myself for letting them down.

  A hand locked around my wrist half a heartbeat before I was a goner and I was wrenched up with a ferocious strength that had me falling against my saviour and knocking them to the ground.

  I found myself gazing down at my brother, but not the one I expected to find. Maverick’s brows were pulled together and he shoved me off of him, placing my gun in my bloody hand.

  “Shut your fucking mouth,” he growled, even though I had no goddamn words to say anyway.

  He’d flipped a table up to give us cover and I hunted for JJ as I crouched behind it, spotting him behind a couch, trapped on the opposite side of the huge hole in the centre of the room.

  Chester and Jolene made a run for the door and the floorboards gave way beneath them as another tremor ran through the house. Chester screamed like a girl as he went through the hole and Jolene fell to her knees, trying to pull him out of it as he latched onto her arms.

  “You great, big, wildebeest,” she growled through her teeth, clawing at his back as she tried to save him.

  “Don’t let me go, sugarplum!” he cried, pulling at her arms and half dragging her through the hole with her.

  “Stop!” she screamed in panic, slipping forward and I watched as she fell half way through, her skirt ripping up the back and showing off her ass. “No!” She tried to let go, fighting to get free of him but his hand suddenly fisted in her hair and she screamed, trying to push him off.

  Chester fell with a roar and he didn’t let go, dragging his wife through the hole with him and their screams tangled with the rumbling and shaking of the Dollhouse as they fell.

  A hard thwack sounded their fate and silence followed, making satisfaction fill me over their deaths.

  It didn’t last long though as the ceiling shuddered and I leapt out from behind the table, running to the edge of the hole and ripping a long mirror off the wall, laying it down over the gap parting JJ from me. It only just reached, but I had to hope it would hold long enough for him to get across.

  “Come on,” I urged JJ and he blindly trusted me, heading over to the mirror while I held it steady.

  Maverick moved close beside me as JJ carefully made his way across and cracks spread over the glass. Maverick caught his shirt in his fist, dragging him to safety and I looked at him in confusion, ripping a piece of my shirt off and binding it over my right hand which was bleeding like a motherfucker.

  “Don’t go getting any ideas about us being besties again, I just need more men hunting this house for Rogue before it falls down,” Maverick gritted out, shoving JJ away from him as he released his shirt.

  “Fine by me,” I hissed and JJ mumbled a shocked thank you at Maverick who pointedly ignored him.

  We raced through the door together, finding ourselves in a dark corridor where the lights were flickering and the floor was groaning.

  The passage to our right was blocked by debris, so we turned left and soon arrived in a massive room that overlooked one of the balconies outside. Large pillars held up the ceiling and my heart froze in my chest as the house shuddered and one by one the pillars began to fall, bringing the roof, the sky and the whole world down with them.

  JJ grabbed my arm and we started racing toward the doors that led out to the balcony, but we were too far away. We weren’t going to make it. All I could think of was Rogue as terror rippled through my core and I realised I’d failed her. I was going to die in this house and never see her bright blue eyes ever again or her smile which held the purest kind of power over me.

  I love you, hummingbird. And I’m so fucking sorry.

  I ran and ran down dark hallways, going as fast as I could while hunting for another way back up into the building as the sound of gunfire and screams carried down to me from above.

  But it didn't matter what was up there because I was being hunted by my own personal monster down here and there could be no worse fate for me than being caught by him now.

  I launched myself around another corner and almost sobbed in relief as I found a set of stairs there, throwing myself onto them and racing up as fast as I could.

  Shawn had lost track of me somewhere down in the dark when the walls had been shaking and the roof collapsing in chunks and I was going to take every second of advantage I had to escape him now.

  My legs burned and lungs laboured as I raced up to the ground floor and I wrenched the door open, a scream escaping me as I collided with a hard body.

  "Rogue?" Chase gasped, pushing me back a step as he looked me up and down and my eyes widened as I found him there before me.

  "Chase? What are- no, fuck that. We need to get the hell out of here. Shawn's right behind me and I don't have a gun."

  Chase
's upper lip peeled back and he drew his own pistol, giving me a shove to put himself between me and the door. "You need to run. The whole fucking building is going to come down. I'll deal with Shawn."

  "Wait," I gasped, grabbing his arm and yanking him to a halt as he made a move to leave me and he swung around to face me angrily.

  "Just go," he barked, but before I could argue with him over it, another explosion rocked the building somewhere ahead of us and I screamed as I threw my hands up over my head.

  Chase grabbed hold of me, throwing me against the wall and pinning me beneath his body as he crossed his arms against the wall above us and tried to shield me from the lumps of falling masonry.

  I coughed as I clung to his shirt, fear paralysing me until the building stopped quaking then he grabbed my arm and started hauling me along through the dust that had billowed up around us.

  I threw a terrified look at the cracks spiderwebbing through the ceiling and pointed to the far side of the open room we were in where a doorway was looming in the shadows.

  Chase threw a conflicted look back towards the stairwell I’d emerged from then caught my hand in his and started running for the exit.

  I stumbled over broken pieces of furniture and several lumps of masonry and an awful groaning sound filled the air from overhead, promising us a quick death if we didn't get the fuck out of here sharpish.

  A gunshot went off behind us and Chase threw me in front of him to shield me as he returned fire, cursing Shawn as he emerged on the far side of the room, coughing and laughing through the dust.

  "You can run, sugarpie, but you know you can't hide forever," he called, making my heart spike with fear.

  Motherfucker.

  I ripped the door open and dove through it, grabbing a fistful of Chase's shirt to make sure he was following me.

  "You don't need to yank me along like a dog," he snapped as we started running down a corridor where another door beckoned us on.

  "Well I don't know when I might turn around and find myself alone like last time," I bit back.

  But he didn't manage to answer that before an enormous crash sounded again and the entire building rattled around us. I almost fell in my stupid fucking shoes and Chase hurled me off of my feet, throwing me over his shoulder and running flat out towards that door.

  He slammed into it with a curse, dropping me back to the ground as he found it locked and shoving the pistol into my hands.

  "Point and shoot, little one, it's not rocket science."

  "Fuck you," I hissed, raising the gun and trying to aim straight with my nerves shot to shit and the roof trembling overhead like it was going to come crashing down on us at any second.

  Another huge crash rocked the building and I flinched as Chase slammed his shoulder into the locked door over and over again, making the hinges rattle while the whole thing trembled.

  "I fucking hate you, Chase," I said, my voice raw and my hands shaking where I held the gun as more and more sounds of destruction came from around us and I tasted our death in the air. "I hate you so fucking much, but I love you too. I've always fucking loved you and that's the problem, isn't it?"

  The door flew open with an enormous crash and Chase turned to look at me as he righted himself, his dark curls falling in his eyes which were wide with disbelief at my words.

  "Did you just tell me you-"

  A crash sounded through the roof right above my head and I looked up in time to see a massive beam come tumbling through the ceiling, poised to crush me in one fatal strike.

  But before I could be flattened by the harbinger of my death, strong arms banded around my waist and I fell through the open door with Chase on top of me. The gun went flying out of my grip as I was crushed beneath him and a cry of fright escaped my lips as I expected the whole building to come falling down on top of us.

  Chase’s hands slammed down on the carpet either side of my head and he gritted his teeth as he held himself up like that, shielding me from the bricks which were tumbling down from above. His gaze met mine with this burning, searing kind of desperation and my heart raced with panic as more debris rained down on him and he grunted in pain.

  The moment the downpour lessened, he was scrambling upright again, tugging me with him and moving into the room, but we both fell still at the same moment.

  The room we were in was small and without windows. There was no way out and the only thing inside it was a tall, metal safe which stood at the back of the space, the door standing open and revealing nothing inside it.

  "Shit," I breathed because that was it. Our last chance to get out of here before the whole place came crashing down on our heads and we were crushed.

  Chase licked his lips, his chest rising and falling heavily as he looked around in desperation, clearly realising the same thing as I had while more chunks of ceiling fell down around us.

  "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry I came back here. I'm sorry about Shawn and Fox and coming between-"

  "Shut up, ghost," Chase snarled. "You're not fucking dead yet."

  He grabbed my wrist and hauled me across the room towards the safe, throwing up an arm as more debris rained down on us and that groaning noise got louder. Any second now and it would all come crashing down. It would crush us here in this fucking place and that would be it. All of it come to this. Nothing. The end to a story that had barely begun.

  Chase threw the safe door open wider then started ripping the metal shelves out from inside it.

  "Get in," he barked as he hurled the last one aside.

  "We won't fit," I protested, realising what he was trying to do but he grabbed me before I could make any more protests and shoved me inside.

  "You'll fit, little one. You always were fucking tiny."

  My arms pressed to either side of the confined space while my head brushed the top of it and my heart raced with panic as I realised what he was saying. I'd fit, but he wouldn't.

  "No," I snarled, making a move to step back out of it but he shoved me again, making me stay inside.

  "Don't make me close the fucking door," Chase barked, "Because so help me, Rogue, I'll do it. Just let me be the good guy for one fucking time in my miserable life, alright?"

  I shook my head as a crash tore through the room and I caught hold of the front of his shirt, yanking him towards me like I could force him into the tiny space with me if I just wanted it enough.

  Chase's broad shoulders jammed in the opening and a sob escaped me as he dropped his forehead to mine and I felt him giving up.

  "It's okay," he breathed, his hand skimming my waist as I shook my head in refusal and the building continued to fall apart around us. "It's okay, little one. Don't cry for me. Just go on hating me. I don't want this to make you cry."

  "Then get in here with me," I demanded even though it was useless and we both knew it.

  I yanked on his shirt harder, trying to force the impossible and suddenly his lips were on mine, the taste of them so bittersweet because I knew what he was saying to me with that kiss and I refused to hear it. I needed him. I needed him like I needed all of them even when I hated them. I’d never stopped needing any of them and I couldn’t let this be the end for him.

  "Where are you, sugarpie?" Shawn's voice called out over the sounds of destruction and Chase broke away from me, looking back towards the door with his jaw clenching.

  "Promise me you'll stay here, little one," he growled.

  "You stay," I demanded in return, my grip on his shirt tightening painfully.

  "I'm not letting him find you here."

  The groaning was getting louder and as I looked up at the ceiling in fear, Chase shoved me hard enough to break my hold on his shirt and knocked me right into the back of the safe again.

  I screamed as the roof collapsed above him and saw him diving away from the worst of it moments before the whole thing came crashing down.

  Bricks and mortar slammed into the metal safe all around me, the sound deafening as the entire room was filled wi
th it and I was forced to shield my face, cowering in the back while screaming and screaming for the boy I used to love.

  But as more and more of the building caved in all around me, I found myself trapped with no one to answer my screams and no way of knowing what had become of the Harlequin boys who owned me heart and soul.

  I was trapped in the dark just like I had been for all of those long, lonely years. But this time I couldn’t be sure I’d ever find my way back out again.

  I made it out of the falling wreckage somehow still breathing, still moving, praying my girl would be okay. As I climbed over a pile of debris, I made it to the relatively intact corridor and heard Shawn singing Boom! Shake the Room by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince under his breath. This guy had some serious issues.

  I ran down the corridor with my heart in my throat, hating leaving Rogue behind but I was sure that safe would live up to its name and look after her. I couldn’t go back, so all I could do right now was kill fucking Shawn and try to get the hell out of here.

  A bullet slammed into the wall beside me and I cursed. Speaking of the motherfucker.

  “Did your daddy teach you to shoot, shithead!?” I shouted, turning down another hallway which trembled ominously, drawing more of his attention to me in case he even considered searching for Rogue the way I’d come from. “Because I know he wasn’t aiming to knock your momma up when they had you.”

  A bullet tore through a bright pink lamp as I passed it and my heart crashed into my ribcage.

  “Don’t you talk about my momma, boy!” Shawn shouted.

  I ran harder and faster, unsure where I was even going and not giving a damn so long as this asshole was nowhere near Rogue. Life was still somehow clinging to me, refusing to let me out of this world anytime soon so I was sure I had a chance of surviving this yet.

  I ducked around the next corner, pressing my back to the wall and my brain yelled at me to move, but my heart rooted my feet in place. This piece of shit needed to die. I had to send him deep, deep into hell where he could never touch my family again, and if I had to go there with him then that was fine by me.