Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series, Hayley Lawson [books you have to read TXT] 📗

cut her own hair before Afana’s men found her. She had chopped at her hair with a dull pair of scissors, managing to get halfway finished before they’d gotten to her.

The scissors sucked at cutting, but they were great for stabbing, as the first man who tried to drag her away found out. That had resulted in a severe beating, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. When she got to the bunker, her face was a lumpy, bruised mess. It had been impossible to tell she was a girl.

The girls were led down to the bottom level of the bunker, and the boys to a level above. Ryder had followed the boys, and no one gave her a second look until Terrier stopped her.

He was a giant compared to the tiny six-year-old. Just the sight of him towering over her terrified her, but what scared her even more was the confused look in his eye, like he was wondering what the hell a little girl was doing with the boys.

Terrier had banished her fear with a warm smile. Then, he stepped aside and let her follow the line of boys. From that point on, Terrier had watched over Ryder. She’d never asked him why he did it, or how he knew she wasn’t a boy.

It was enough that he had shown mercy.

Now, at the edge of the forest, Ryder desperately wished her old friend was with her. She could use some of his guidance right about then. She didn’t know which direction to turn, although any direction had to be better than where she’d come from.

The land the bunker had been built on was higher than the surrounding areas, except for the mountains in the distance. It had been good planning on the part of the old government since it hadn’t been affected by rising water levels. If it had been built at a lower elevation, everyone in the bunker would have drowned when the climate changed and Siberia turned into a swamp.

As it stood now, Afana’s bunker was situated on an island of forest, bordered by water on all sides. Ryder would have to cross through dark, stagnant water to get away.

A new fear set in. She’d never had to swim before, and she had no idea what lurked beneath the opaque surface of the swamp water.

I’d rather kiss Nestor than cross it. The thought made Ryder want to vomit. Fuck that.

The water it would be.

Chapter Five

“Where’d you say Ryder was, again?”

Shit, damn, and fuck it all! The moment Ivan dropped lifeless to the ground, Terrier knew he’d made a strategic error. Ivan’s wild attack had interrupted Sergei’s interrogation about Ryder. Sergei was certain that Terrier was lying about the whereabouts of his friend; Terrier had seen it in Sergei’s eyes. Now that Ivan was dead, Sergei would come after Terrier.

Terrier’s mistake was that he only had one axe left. The rest were in Ivan’s body, too far away now to retrieve.

Sergei had his machete in hand and looked ready to use it. Pavel had an arrow aimed at Terrier’s head. Nestor had been busy ripping off the bottom of his sleeve to bandage Ivan’s bite, but once he was done, he wiped his bloody knife down his pants and held it at the ready. Branches crunched behind Terrier, and he knew the spy, Yegor, was behind him and that he would have a knife ready to slit Terrier’s throat.

They were all after his head.

Terrier had seen them fight. He was stronger than any one of them, but together? There was a chance they would kill him. Terrier’s life wasn’t so precious that he feared losing it, but if he died, who would protect the women in the bunker? Who would wait for Ryder to return?

The clearing was tense and silent. Terrier feared that the slightest movement would shatter the stillness, and then the men would cut him down where he stood. It was only a matter of time. The hunters were ready to attack. They just hadn’t decided who would go first.

So, Terrier took the initiative. “I know where Ryder is.”

The cruel look on Sergei’s face faltered as the words penetrated his bloodlust. The man didn’t want to return to the bunker and inform Afana that he’d let a traitor escape.

“Where?” Sergei asked, scowling.

“I will only tell Afana.” Terrier was quite proud of himself. This gambit would buy Ryder more time. Normally, Ryder did the thinking for them both, but the old dog still had a few clever tricks in him. The thought made him smile.

Sergei gritted his teeth. “What the hell are you grinning at?”

“Nothing,” Terrier said. “Are you coming, or are you going to stand out here with your dick in your hand?”

He headed quickly in the direction of the bunker, hoping the hunters would follow. Once they did, he planned to slow the hell down. He was in no hurry. They could carry him if they wanted to.

Terrier smiled at the thought of Sergei, Pavel, Nestor, and Yegor carrying him above their heads like he was the king of the bunker. He laughed aloud at that thought.

Pavel looked at Sergei. “He’s fucking lost it.”

Sergei waved his machete at the men. “Go after him. What are you doing, letting him walk off on his own?”

Nestor and Yegor ran after Terrier. Pavel didn’t. He looked down at Ivan’s head.

Sergei lifted it off the ground by the hair, and the two men looked into Ivan’s face. His mouth gaped open, and it was filled with ugly sores.

“What in the fucking hell happened to him?” Sergei asked Pavel, who shrugged.

Sergei shook the head, and the movement made Ivan’s eyeball shake.

“Fuck it,” Sergei said. “I don’t know and I don’t care!” He looked at the other man with a shit-eating grin. “I’m going to get my pick of the women tonight for this.”

Pavel nodded. “Just watch out for Lisa. I hear she’s dirty.”

Ryder heard rustling behind her, and she knew she had no choice