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

I said, and my eyebrows pulled together. “Are you okay?”

“I’m just really sorry,” the platinum-blonde said, and she looked up at me with tears running down her cheeks.

“It’s okay,” I said, and I rushed over to her and wrapped her in my arms. “Don’t be upset.”

“I’m just… really sorry,” Tara sobbed, and she pulled in ragged breaths against my chest.

I tightened my arms around her, but I was trying not to laugh the whole time. I knew it was just her hormones, but she had no reason to be so upset, and I couldn’t help but find it ridiculous.

“Are you laughing at me?” Tara asked.

“Noooo,” I said, but when I looked down at her pitiful face, with mascara running down her cheeks, I had to stifle another laugh.

“You’re so mean!” Tara cried, and she smacked my chest, but then she started to laugh. “Why am I crying?”

“Because you’re just really sorry,” I told her with a grin.

“Shut up,” she laughed, and she leaned her head against my chest for a second. “Okay. I think I’m alright now.”

“Good,” I chuckled. “Because we need to get this done.”

“You all aren’t done?” Anna asked, and I turned around to see the redhead climbing over the concrete barrier with Paige and Bailey right behind her.

“We had a bit of a delay,” I said.

“Does it have anything to do with the black smears on Tara’s face?” Anna teased.

“You just wait until you’re pregnant and crying about random things,” Tara said. “I’m never going to let you live it down.”

“Maybe.” Anna said. “But I won’t let you live it down first.”

“Alright,” I said. “Girls, help us get this done.”

“On it,” the redhead agreed, and the girls all spread out and started to carefully place drops of plasma liquid along the road.

There wasn’t much I could do to stop Tara’s hormones from raging out of control, but we still needed to work quickly. There was only a couple hours left until dark, and we needed to get this road blown long before that.

The girls and I worked quickly to get the plasma liquid on the bridge, then after that was done, we headed back to the jeep.

“How far away do we need to be?” Anna asked as we crawled back into the vehicle.

“As far as possible,” I answered. “As long as Bailey can still get a shot, that’s as close as we can get, and even then we’ll need to hurry away once she takes it.”

“You should let Minji and Hammer know that we’re about to blow it,” Paige reminded me.

“Good idea.” I nodded and pulled the walkie up to my lips. “Hammer, Minji, come in.”

“Here,” Minji responded almost immediately.

“What’s going on?” Hammer asked after a few seconds.

“We’re about to blow the interstate,” I explained. “We just wanted to warn you about the blast.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Hammer said. “We should be done in less than an hour.”

“Good,” I agreed. “Get back to the attack point ASAP.”

“Roger that,” Hammer said. “Over and out.”

“Minji,” I said. “You still there?”

“I’m here,” the Korean woman replied.

“If the NK troops radio about the blast I want you to tell them it must be the American resistance,” I instructed.

“Got it,” she replied.

“We’ll be back over there soon,” I added. “Over and out.”

“See you soon,” Minji replied, and I hung the walkie back on my hip.

“Are we ready?” Anna asked. The redhead had one foot on the dash, and she leaned back in her seat and looked out the window.

“As ready as we can be,” I told her.

“Bailey?” the redhead asked.

“I’m ready,” our resident sniper answered, and I glanced in my rearview to see that she already had her window rolled down, and she was leaning partially out of it with her plasma gun at the ready.

“Let me get a little bit further away,” I said, and I turned the jeep on and pulled forward.

Once we were as far as we could get away from the blast zone, I stopped the jeep but didn’t put it in park. We needed to be able to get away as fast as possible, so I kept one foot on the break and the other hovered right above the gas so I could switch the two at a second’s notice.

“Okay,” I told Bailey, and I caught her eye in the rearview mirror. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

Bailey nodded and adjusted herself out the window. “I’m ready.”

“It might take more than one shot,” I said. “It took me more than one at the other bridge earlier.”

“It won’t,” Bailey assured me. “I know exactly where I need to shoot.”

“Okay.” I nodded. The blonde was our resident sniper, and she was the best shot we had. If she said it would only take her one shot, then I trusted her. “Whenever you’re ready.”

I prepared myself to switch my feet, and I held my breath as I waited for Bailey to take the shot. My heart rate accelerated, and my body was tense as hell with anticipation.

“Ready,” Bailey said, and I saw a flash of blue out of my side mirror.

My right foot slammed on the gas as I released my left one from the brake. The jeep lurched forward and accelerated quickly as the sound of the explosion behind us rang through the air.

Our vehicle was hit with the force of the impact, and it skidded to the side for a split second and nearly hit the concrete barricade on the side of the road before I corrected the wheel and pushed even harder on the gas.

Concrete bits and debris rained down like a summer storm and hit the windshield, and I instinctively ducked my head, even though it was protected by the roof of the jeep.