Without Law 18 by Eric Vall (most difficult books to read .txt) 📗

to hurt her feelings by joking with her like they always did.

“Potatoes?” Minji asked as Tara tossed a few into the pot.

“Potato, cabbage, and sausage stew,” Tara said with a small smile. “I’ve been craving it all day.”

“How are those pregnancy cravings treating you?” Minji asked. “When my cousin was pregnant all she wanted was grapes.”

“Grapes?” Tara asked, and she wrinkled her nose.

“I know,” Minji laughed. “They’re good and all, but they aren’t something I’d want to eat every day. She ate them all the time, though.”

“I guess if I’m craving anything, it’d probably be a Ding Dong,” Tara sighed. “A frozen Ding Dong would really hit the spot right now.”

“Frozen?” Paige asked.

“Yeah.” Tara nodded. “They’re so good.”

“Hm.” Paige shook her head. “I never tried it.”

“Oh, my God, we totally--” Tara started, but she was interrupted by Hammer rushing over to us.

“Tav,” the SEAL said, and I could tell from his voice that this was serious.

“What is it?” I asked as I stood up.

“I just got a radio from my guys on the boat,” he explained. “There’s some NK foot soldiers trying to recapture the ship.”

I had expected bad news, but I hadn’t expected that.

Chapter 3

I figured we’d left a few foot soldiers who weren’t on the ship when we attacked, but I didn’t think they would be bold enough to try and go after the ship again.

They were outmanned and outgunned. These guys had to be idiots to think they’d be able to get the ship back.

Then again, they weren’t complete idiots. They’d waited until there were only a few men on board for the night, so they had some semblance of sense.

And sense in an opponent was a dangerous thing.

“What?” I asked, and my eyebrows pulled together with confusion and concern. “How many?”

“They said only five or six.” Hammer shook his head. “But they have plasma weapons, and they’re firing at the destroyer.”

“Shit,” I breathed.

“The guys can’t get an angle on them to take them out,” Hammer added.

I looked over at the girls, and they had all stood up and were ready to go.

“Looks like dinner will have to wait,” I said. “Let’s go.”

If these foot soldiers thought they could take their boat back, they had another thing coming.

We all piled into the jeep, and the tires spun out on the dirt as I hit the gas and headed toward the water.

Hammer was in the passenger seat where Anna usually sat, and the redhead squeezed into the back with the rest of the girls.

“I instructed my men to move out,” Hammer said. “But they’re not experienced sailors.”

“I can’t believe those assholes are attacking,” Tara grumbled. “Like, you can clearly see we killed all your fucking friends, right?”

“How did so many survive anyways?” Paige inquired.

“Eh, I can definitely believe they’re attacking,” Anna countered. “You’re right. We did kill all their friends, and since they pretty much have nowhere to go, that means they have nothing to lose.”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Paige said.

“And as far as how many survived,” Hammer added. “We must have underestimated the amount of men they had on shore still.”

“Right.” I nodded. “They must have been posted somewhere on the other side of the bridge.”

“Why not come across the bridge, then?” Paige asked. “They could have tried to take us out directly.”

“They may be assholes, but they’re not totally stupid,” I said. “They know they wouldn’t win that way. That’s why they’re fighting the way they are.”

“Yeah, like cowards,” Tara muttered.

“They’re being smart,” I countered. “They can’t win in a head to head battle, and they know it. But if they take out the men on the ship, then they’ll have control of the water again.”

“Not to mention all plasma weapons on board,” Anna added.

“Right,” I agreed. “We can’t let that happen.”

“Lieutenant,” a voice came in over the radio. “What’s your ETA?”

“Less than five minutes,” Hammer replied. “What’s going on?”

“They’re coming at us hard,” the SEAL on the other end said. “We’re firing back, but they’re behind one of the concrete barricades across the water. We can’t get a good view on them.”

“They must be firing with their plasma guns,” Paige said. “They can only shoot so far, but if they manage to hit the plasma weapons that’s going to cause one hell of an explosion.”

“Right,” I agreed, and I gritted my teeth and pushed harder on the gas.

It didn’t take long for us to get to the designated spot from the night before, and we all quickly hopped out and made our way to the concrete barricade on our side of the river.

We crouched down and watched.

“We’re in position,” Hammer said into the radio.

“Roger that,” the SEAL replied. “Do you have a line on them?”

“Not yet,” Hammer said.

Our boys were firing right then, but after a couple more shots they stopped. My eyes narrowed on the area across the bay as I searched for the NK soldiers that were hidden.

Suddenly, a flash of blue shot out from behind the barricade, then another and another. They were hitting the ship wherever they could.

It didn’t seem as if they had a specific area in mind, which was even worse than if they had. They were going to hit something by accident and fuck up the ship.

At that point, I wasn’t sure if they were trying to take down the men and get the ship back, or just take down the ship in general. The old ‘if we can’t have it nobody can’ bit.

Whatever the case, the larger plasma weapons on the deck of the ship were still intact, and those assholes were coming dangerously close to hitting them.

“Fuck,” I growled. “We need to take them out before they