"Ma'am, are you, Nadia Rufus," one of them asked. But she could tell he already had his answer to that.
Nadia's heart slammed hard against the wall of her chest as she quickly assessed the situation. She saw that the guns were trained solely on Angel which reminded her they were not aware of her relationship with Angel and had only come to rescue her.
She shut her eyes, and wished she could mind link with Angel and warned him of her next action. ''I'm sorry, baby I have to do this,' she thought to herself, right before she sprang away from Angel, leaving a few inches between them.
"Yes, yes I am!" she said a little too loudly.
"Shh!" one cautioned, placing a finger over his lips. "Your father sent us to get you, walk slowly into the water…" he added.
"Show proof! I'm not about to get out of this mess and into another one!" she snapped.
"What?" the man exclaimed.
"My family has enemies as many as the fishes in that smelly water you are in right now. If you want me to get inside there, buddy, you better show proof! People like you have been trying to kidnap me since I was three! Lucky for me, this perv," she said, gesturing at Angel, then added, "only have an axe to grind with my uncle otherwise, I would have been pushing up daisies by now instead of pretending to like him, doing me!"
"Jesus!" one said.
"Are you kidding me?!" another groaned.
"It's definitely her. Plain spoiled brat! Get your ass in here now, missy!" Another one snapped. "Or I will shoot you and deal with the consequences later."
Nadia clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, raising her hands up, she walked gingerly into the water to stand behind one of the men. The one who threatened to shoot Angel again pressed the cold barrel to his forehead and muttered, "Just like taking candy from a babe." He gloated and then started to press the trigger. Angel held the man's gaze, unflinching, noting there was no single sound in the camp anymore.
But the first attack did not come from the camp, it came from Nadia. Before the man could shoot Angel, she pulled out the knife embedded in her boot and stabbed the man, directly in front of her, in the back of the neck. The man let out a choked sound, distracting the one about to shoot Angel. The other three turned in her direction and gaped in shock but before they could react, Angel grabbed two of the men by their collars and slammed them hard against the third one. Guns went off, spraying uncontrollably in the midst of the three. Their bodies jerked severely before going limp. Angel let them go, allowing them to sink into the water.
Another set of men emerged from the water brandishing automatic rifles at the two.
Dock,' a voice sounded in Angel's head and he quickly lowered to the riverbank. The men made to fire their guns and then jerked to a stop one by one, falling face down into the water as bullets went through their foreheads.
Angel grabbed Nadia, lifting her up as he took off into the woods and only stopped when he saw a large tree he could use as cover. He quickly hugged his back to it, breathing hard.
The camp started to light up with gunfire, coming from both sides. Angel could feel pain in his side and the back of his thigh. Suspecting a few of the bullets must have gotten him. Nadia clung to him, burying her face against his chest.
"I'm sorry," she muttered.
"Shh… I know," Angel whispered, tightening his hold around her.
From the corner of his eye, he saw three shadowy figures rushing from tree to tree heading towards the water on his left. When the breeze blew against his face he could tell it was Xavier, Cole, and Darrow. Another set flanked his other side, and those were Ash, Hallec, and Wulfrun. They weren't shooting so he guessed Jason was leading the third team which consisted of his buddies he escaped with and a few of Ash's men. He swallowed when he saw Isabelle skittering towards them just as Cole's team entered the water. The gun firing continued and was deafening.
"Are you hurt? I can smell your blood," Isabelle whispered to Angel from the back of the tree directly in front of them.
“I got a few bullets in me, no big deal though,” Angel assured.
“Oh, God!” Nadia exclaimed.
“I am fine, babe. I promise,” Angel said.
“And Nadia?”
“I am fine. I wasn’t hit. Angel shielded me,” she quickly answered in a shaky tone.
“Great,” Isabelle said, looking about before rushing forward.
"Amelie is over there at the back of that marked tree with Opaline and Tiana, let us get you two to them," she said.
"The guys need backup," Angel said.
"You are hurt, let's take care of you," Isabelle urged.
"Please," Nadia whispered. Angel nodded. "Put me down, I can walk. I'm not hurt, baby, " Nadia added.
The three found their way back away from the river bank and came to an abrupt halt when they saw a man holding Amelie at gunpoint. Tiana was lying unconscious on the ground and Opaline had her back to another tree holding her shoulder. The front of her shirt was soaked with blood.
"Let Miss Nadia go and I will not shoot her in the stomach," the man said with a devilish grin. Angel felt his heart drop. The bastard was pressing a gun in a painful jab against Amelie's stomach. Her hands were bloodied, her nose was bleeding and there was a nasty cut on her left eyebrow.
"I'm going to give you one second to let her go or I swear I will tear you out limb from limb," Isabelle said in a guttural tone that gave the man pause. When he pointed the gun in her direction. Angel half shifted which caused the man to flinch back, Isabelle wanted to do the same but Amelie shouted at her not to.
"No! Belle no!" She cried. Isabelle slapped the gun out of the man’s hand instead.
Nadia reached forward to grab Amelie, gathering her into her arms, she turned away, shielding her as she forced Amelie to the side of a tree for cover.
The cry of the man rented the air as Isabelle and Angel tore him apart.
"Stay down!" Isabelle yelled at Nadia and Amelie, nodding at Opaline to hang in there as more armed men milled into the camp.
Two men saw them, letting out a loud curse but before they could yell for backup, a bullet went through one's throat and into the skull of the other.
They both fell down on their faces as a loud boom rented the air from the waters. They hunkered down for cover.
Nadia saw a big submarine emerge from under the water and was on fire. Another loud sound came from somewhere in the woods, the grounds lit up with fire and then there was chaos. Amelie grunted, cried out in pain and then muttered, "I think the baby is coming…"
Nadia cursed and yelled for Isabelle.