The Love Of Money - Episode 171
30-07-25 (04:04)
Marcus' investment pays off.
I heard a wet cough and imagined Natashya on the
floor, blood gurgling from her lips and painting the cold
concrete floor in dark crimson. Fuck... the last thing I
wanted to do was have that image burned into my
brain, but I couldn't help myself. With my head turned
away from the gruesome scene, I opened my eyes just
enough to peer out of the corner and see... something
wholly unexpected.
The man holding the gun to Natashya's was clutching
his throat as blood spilled around his fingers and from
the corners of his mouth. The gun dangled from one
limp finger a moment longer before it slipped free and
clattered across the floor. He dropped like a sack of
potatoes, giving me a clear view of the doorway and
the person who stood in it, gun pointed at the body of
Natashya's would-be killer. Chloe. She had an unarmed
man a couple of inches taller than her in some kind of
hold, the entire half of his lower face a bloody mess;
one arm hung limply at his side.
I wasn't the only one looking around in confusion. Two
guards had been flanking their leader on the left and
two on the right. While I was processing everything
that had just happened, they were doing the same.
One dropped to a knee beside his leader, and two
began swinging their weapons around wildly. The
remaining one was a touch quicker than the others. He
turned his slick-bald head toward the door and brought
his weapon to bear on the intruder.
Chloe reacted in the same moment, kicking the man
she was holding and sending stumbling into Baldy. It
momentarily prevented him from training his rifle on
her as it got caught on the torso of the man thrown at
him. The movement caught the attention of the other
guards, who trained their weapons on my bodyguard,
and she took a shot at the third guard who had been
standing just to the right of his commander - a blonde
man with close-cropped hair.
Blondie's ear exploded in a geyser of pink mist as three
of them opened fire at Chloe's head just as she
disappeared around the corner of the doorway. The
gunshots were deafening in the mostly empty concrete
storage room, and I could barely hear Natashya
screaming as she dove to the ground, her hands over
her head.
Baldy shoved Chloe's victim aside so he could take
precise aim, and the new, bloodied guard dove over
Natashya's prone form and on top of Leader's body,
scrambling for sidearm with his remaining functional
arm. The woman with the glasses who stood off to the
side threw her arms over her head and dashed away
from the firefight, disappearing from view somewhere'
behind me. I heard her shout something I couldn't quite
make out, and the man who had wanted to kill me
replied with something equally unintelligible.
The chair hung from my bloody wrists as struggled to
stand, unwilling to sit there and be collateral damage.
None of them were paying any attention to me...
maybe I could get the drop on them or provide some
sort of distraction to make it easier for Chloe. At the
very least, I could dive on top of Natashya and give
some kind of cover for her. She'd been through enough.
The four guards fired several more shots at the edge of
the door and the wall next to it, shredding the metal
frame where' Chloe's head had been only moments
ago. Then, someone peered around the other side of
the frame. Crouched low, Shea fired two rounds at the
goon to the farthest right, who looked like the oldest of
the bunch. She hit him in the thigh with the first shot
and the side with the second one. Her head
disappeared around the edge of the frame just before
the remaining three mercenaries changed their focus on
her.
The older merc dropped to a knee as he screamed out
in pain, reflexively grabbing his leg as he cursed. Chloe
peered around the door and fired a single shot, catching
him above the left eyebrow and sending his lifeless
body the rest of the way to the floor. At the same time,
I saw Jon round the corner of Shea's side of the door
and put two bullets in Baldy's chest before
disappearing. Chloe ducked back as well. Three goons
down. Two left. Well, two and a half if you counted the
plus-one Chloe had brought to the party.
The plus-one rolled onto his back and sat halfway up
with his gun trained at the door as Shea peeked around
the corner. She took a bullet to the shoulder as she
fired three shots, putting the half- dead man out of his
misery. I had just managed to fully right myself and
nearly toppled over out of concern when she'd been
shot, but she merely vanished from sight, leaving a
smear of blood on the doorframe where' she'd been
just moments ago. She disappeared just in time to miss
a bullet that instead carved a chunk of concrete where'
she'd just been. Jon tried to peer around the same
corner a second later and nearly got his head blown off,
ducking back before he managed to fire a shot.
One ankle was still bound firmly to my chair leg, but I
managed to shake the other one loose; the cuff had
been latched to the underside of the chair's stretcher
instead of over it like the other, allowing it to slip free
now that the entire thing hung a few inches off the
ground as it dangled off my wrists. It wasn't much, but
at least I could semi-walk.
The first guard to the left, who appeared to have burn
scars on his face, ran up to the wall next to the door,
pressing himself flat against it while holding his rifle at
the ready. Blondie, who'd been the one to nearly take
Jon's head off, backed up a couple of feet, crouched
down, grabbed Natashya by the hair, and hauled her to
her feet. He held her in front of him and pressed the
barrel of the gun to her head. Natashya struggled
against his grip until she felt the cold steel press into
the side of her face. A half-scream-half- sob escaped
her lips.
"Fucking drop it!" he demanded. "Drop your guns now,
or I'll kill the fucking bitch!"
"You kill her," Chloe called out coldly, "and you won't
leave here alive."
I stepped forward as quietly as possible, watching
warily as the man pressed against the wall inched near
the door. My wrists burned so badly I wanted to
scream as the cold metal bit into my raw, bleeding
flesh. I did my best to ignore it as I stepped forward
until I was within a few feet of the man. I thought I'd
lost Natashya; I wasn't going to lose her again.
"You forgetting ab-"
I lept at the man and crashed into him, aiming for his
gun in hopes that it would be enough to move the
barrel away from Natashya. I felt my head slam into
the gun as my body connected with his, and I let out a
wordless yell that was drowned by the sound of
gunfire as we both crashed to the floor.
With my hands still bound behind the chair, there
wasn't much else I could do at this point. I simply tried
to wriggle my body on top of him and slam my head
into his face. My first stroke caught him on his
cheekbone; there was enough force behind my strike
that I bounced his head off the concrete like a
basketball. I heard more gunshots go off behind me,
but all I could do was hope that they were from the
good guys and not the bad guys.
Blondie kicked me off him and rolled on top of me as
the fingers of one hand closed around my windpipe,
and he began to squeeze.
I flailed my one free leg, trying to knee him in the
back... doing anything to get him off me. Don't forget to leave a Comment 
