1 | No Holds Barred [Among Thieves]

Twenty

Chapter 20 | Railyard

BEFORE LEAVING THE BUILDING, you rummaged through all the cabinets until you found the one with a first aid kit. There were a few bandages, some gauze, and half a tube of antiseptic, but that was more than enough to clean your wounds.

        You wrapped the gauze as tightly as you could around your leg and tied a knot over the wound. Once you were done, you headed over to where Nathan and Elena were standing on the patio.

        You peered down, seeing the soldiers searching for you, their guns held at the ready. It was bad enough that you had no weapons. Now that armed mercenaries were hunting you, getting to the railyard was not going to be an easy objective.

        "Wait here," Nathan told you and Elena.

        "Please be careful," you urged.

        One of those bright, enveloping smiles swept over his face – the smile that made your stomach do flips. "I always am."

        Hanging down from the edge of the patio, he let go and dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch. He made his way over to the nearby concrete barrier.

        You watched as a soldier walked in front of the concrete barrier, his back towards Nathan.

        Nathan grabbed the man by his bulletproof vest and pulled him over the barrier, putting him in a chokehold before quickly snapping his neck. He picked up the now-deceased man's pistol and pushed forward, hiding behind a pillar.

        Stealthily taking out another soldier, he then opened fire on the remaining men, killing them. He made sure the courtyard was clear before he ran back to where you and Elena were at.

        "Okay, it's all clear," he announced.

        You carefully made your way down the side of the patio, using a broken pipe to shimmy down. Landing on the ground, you walked over to one of the deceased soldiers and picked up his FAL.

        You handed it to Nathan before stripping the dead man of his ammo and giving that to him as well.

        You picked up a spare pistol and put the spare magazines in your pockets before walking over to Elena. She had a pistol of her own and was checking the ammo when she glanced up.

        "All right, let's head to that water tower," Elena said, placing the gun in her waistband.

        She walked over to a rickety-looking wooden ladder leading up to a half-blown-out roof and began to climb it.

        Once she was up, she glanced down at you. "There's a fire escape up here."

        Nathan came up beside you and gave you a playful grin. He looked smug, like a child showing off his toys. "Were you impressed? Got all those guys by myself?"

        "You went all Rambo out there."

        "I was thinking more Terminator."

        You let out a soft chuckle at his words, shaking your head at him. Climbing up the ladder, you met Elena by the green fire escape.

        You were in no condition to be boosted up to unjam the ladder, so you asked Elena to do the task. She had incredible upper body strength as well; you remembered her telling you she used to do rock climbing in college.

        Once Nathan boosted her up, she kicked the ladder down and you made your way up to the top level of the fire escape.

        You swung your legs over the metal rail and stood on the outer edge of the balcony. You jumped to the building in front of you, then hauled yourself up over the edge onto the flat, rough rooftop.