Life From Your Lips (Ruby Rose fanfic)

TWENTY-THREE (Iselen POV)

"Stop, police!"

And suddenly, chaos erupts. French sailors drop the dolly cart in the middle of the beach not caring if the antique vases break and they run towards the boat on the shore to try to reach the bigger ship, but their escape route is blocked by coastguards that are getting closer on a speedboat yelling at them to stop using a megaphone. The beach is dark, only the sand shines in pearly shades under the moonlight, but the beams of light coming from the officers' flashlights illuminate the scared faces of Mr. Ellin and his thugs when they come running from the parking lot, stumbling down the stairs, and hiding behind bushes when one idiot starts shooting his gun.

Noise is deafening and bullets whistle, flying very close to the cave entrance. Ruby pulls my arm to force me to squat down and hugs me tight while I feel my heart racing in my throat. Some sailors have jumped on the boat and are trying to dodge the guards that are still screaming at them with the megaphone, a helicopter joins the racket and the powerful light illuminates the bigger ship that's trying to escape despite more coastguard speedboats are surrounding them. Some police cars arrive to the parking lot on the top of the cliff and the backup officers climb down the stairs as fast as they can to help their mates that are still hiding while Ellin's thugs shoot their guns in the darkness. Miss Freedman cries scared, crouching behind the big wooden box and covering her head with her arms.

Lara is nowhere to be seen... That fact seems to snap me back to reality and I look around, frowning bewildered, till I spot a darker shadow running across the beach in the opposite direction, moving away from the police cars. Coward bitch... I tap on Ruby's shoulder and point at the big rocks, the princess looks confused till she realizes the woman is running away and she shakes her head, smiling amused.

"It's a dead end," she yells in my ear to be heard over the noise. "She has to climb up the cliff, it'll be dangerous but she still can escape if she's lucky enough..." she admits grimacing. "We have to warn the police so they can arrest her."

"No, forget about that, the officers will deal with her, we need to get the goddess back," I answer firmly and my gorgeous priestess nods. "I'll take the dolly cart those idiots dropped on the sand and you'll take the box..."

"No fucking way," she replies angrily. "You could get hurt by a stray bullet and you know I'll go crazy if something bad happens to you... I'll go to take the cart and Goddess Isis will protect me..."

"You seem to be very sure about that," I complain trying to release myself from her arms. "If a stray bullet hurts you, I'll be the one going crazy, Meri."

"If the Goddess wants me to rescue her, she better make sure I'll stay alive. Come on, move your cute ass while everybody is busy and it's still dark, this is the only chance we'll have." I nod reluctantly and take a deep breath while the princess counts to three.

We both run out of the cave, I only need to move a few steps to reach the box but she has to run more meters while bullets hit the sand around her feet. The police are returning the fire nonstop and Ellin and his minions are seeking refuge behind some boxes, there's no way they can escape from this beach but they're desperate and I think they'll fight till the end. Ruby moves away the box with the vases carefully while I roll my eyes hard, this is not the right time to be delicate, although an archaeologist would never damage valuable artifacts. Finally, she manages to grab the dolly and drags it towards me.

"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing?" Miss Freedman gets up, very angry despite she's scared too, when she realizes we're trying to steal her precious statue but she doesn't have time to cry again drawing attention from the police or thugs because my clenched fist hits her face hard and she falls back on the sand, passing out. She looks ridiculous lying on the beach with her designer clothes and high heels.