***
Tanesha screamed and kicked when she felt Mickey grab her hand. “Let go of me you son of a bitch.”
“Stop it, Tanesha,” Mickey growled. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Tanesha saw Ghost coming towards them with a gun and froze. She turned to look at Mickey and realized he no longer had the grenade. He rather had a gun. What was that Skull had said about struggling with a man holding a gun again? She turned again in Ghost’s direction and realized that he was almost beside them.
“Fuck this,” Tanesha muttered and yanked her hand out of Mickey’s grip. Then she took off.
“No, don’t.” Tanesha heard Mickey scream and then heard Ghost curse. She took a quick peek behind her and saw Ghost bending down to pick his gun off the floor. Mickey had obviously slapped the gun out of his uncle’s hand.
“Are you crazy?” Tanesha heard Ghost’s angry bellow. “She has to die.”
“No, she doesn’t.” Mickey countered.
Immediately Tanesha faced forward again, she smashed into Donk and fell down. Then she watched as Donk pointed his gun at her head. His intent was clear…he was going to shoot her.
“Shoot the worm, Donkey.” Ghost commanded, finally confirming the real meaning behind Donk’s name. Too bad she was about to be killed by the donkey-faced man, Tanesha thought as she watched Donk release the safety catch on his gun.
But before Donk could pull the trigger, a bullet hit him in the chest and he fell down beside her, dead. Tanesha screamed and turned her head around just in time to see Mickey lowering his gun. Both Tanesha and Ghost stared at Mickey in shock. Tanesha’s shock was due to the fact that Mickey had actually killed for her. And Ghost’s was for the fact that his nephew had actually killed one of his men just to save the bitch. He didn’t need to be a genius to know that the boy was head over heels in love.
“Boss, let’s go.” Tanesha saw a man covered in tattoos scream at Ghost but Ghost couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from Mickey.
“Grab the girl, Cronus.” Ghost said without looking at his pilot. “We’ll use her as a hostage. Mickey?”
“Yes, Uncle,” Mickey responded quietly, looking slightly dazed. He looked like he couldn’t believe he’d actually killed Donk.
“I must say you really made me proud today with that grenade move.” Ghost said hoarsely. “Today, you also proved that you’re your mother’s son. My sister always acted blindly…crazily, when it came to…love.” He spat out the word with a sneer. “As you know, she gave up her only child for the love of a stupid maniac who beat her senseless. That is the weakness I always hated about my dear twin sister. Today you’ve proved that you have the same weakness, Mickey. That is a dangerous trait to have in our line of work.”
“Uncle…”
“Say hello to my sister when you see her.” With that, Ghost swiftly lifted his gun to Mickey’s temple and pulled the trigger.
“No!” Tanesha screamed just as Ty burst into the clearing.
Ty’s eyes went to Mickey as he fell, his eyes wide open in death. Ghost raised his gun to take a shot at Ty but Ty swiftly shot his gun out of his hand, making the head ZONKAI scream in pain. Ty didn’t see Ghost’s pilot who’d quickly begun to raise his own gun with an obvious intention of finishing what his wicked boss hadn’t been able to do.
Tanesha saw the man raise his gun and acted without thought. As if in a trance, she reached down to pull Donk’s gun out of his hand and took aim…and then she pulled the trigger. Everything happened so fast it was almost a blur. Ty heard a man’s cry and turned in time to see a man who was obviously one of Ghost’s goons, fall down dead. Ty realized the man not only had a gun in his hand but he was also turned in his direction. He didn’t need to be Einstein to know that he’d nearly gotten shot. Then he saw Tanesha, holding a still-smoking gun. She’d saved his life.
Ty saw Ghost turn around to run and shot his leg without even looking. Then he started towards Tanesha, who had just realized what she’d done. When he got to her he gently took the gun out of her hand, clicked the safety catch in place, and threw it down. Then he took her into his arms as she broke down.
“Oh God, I killed him.” Tanesha sobbed, trembling badly. “I killed a human being. Oh God, oh God, oh God… I’m so sorry. He…he was going to shoot you. I couldn’t allow that.” She sobbed.
“Shhh… It’s okay baby.” Ty soothed a bawling Tanesha. “It’s okay.”
From the corner of her eyes, she saw Ghost limping away. “He’s ge…getting away.” She said through her sobs.
“He won’t get very far,” Ty assured her.
“He killed Mickey because he saved my life.” Tanesha still couldn’t wrap her head around that part. “His own uncle killed him, Skull. He was his family.” She sobbed.
Ty rocked her as he would a child. He knew what she was going through. It wasn’t easy being around so much violence and death. And as if that wasn’t enough, she’d had to kill. That was not an easy thing for anyone to go through. She was going to need a lot of therapy to be able to put that past her.
“Listen, baby,” Ty said softly. “I need to go after Ghost. Wait here till you’re rescued. I’ve seen some military guys around. They will take you home okay?”
“Please don’t leave me.” Tanesha’s eyes widened in alarm. “I’ll tell them you saved me. Surely they will understand and pardon you. Please Skull.”
“I can’t do that Tanesha. I can’t be here when they come.” The disadvantages of undercover work, Ty thought grimly. It had to be acted out till the very end. “I have to go.”
“Then I’m coming with you.” Tanesha bawled. The thought of not seeing Ty even for a moment caused such pain within her chest. It almost felt as if someone was actually ripping her heart out of her chest.
“You can’t baby.” Ty’s heart was breaking. “Just go with…”
“No.” She sobbed. “I love you, Skull.” She finally let it out. “I’m in love with you. I don’t care where you’re going. I just want to be with you.”