Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series Hayley Lawson (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📖

“Take one for the team,” Carter yelled after him. Ryder pushed Carter, making him stumble. “Come on, you know it’s funny.”

“Wait up, Leandro,” Ryder called, running after him. When she got to his side, he was fuming.

“Why did you have to laugh too?” Leandro asked, annoyed.

“Because it was funny,” said Ryder guiltily. She knew it wasn’t something she should have laughed at. Was it a touchy subject for him? Massimo had said he didn’t have girls come to his house. “Sorry, but you know he’s just joking. Don’t let him get to you.”

He knew Ryder was right, but that didn’t make it any easier for him. Leandro was a private man about everything, especially his love life—or, well, the lack of one. It wasn’t that he didn’t want one. He had just thought there was no one, until he met Ryder.

“I try not to let him get to me, but he just doesn’t stop.”

Ryder grinned. “I just block his voice out now and then. It helps.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Ryder and Leandro headed out of the woods with Carter, Koda, and Clint, and given that the smacking sounds of the shovel had ended, Vicky would catch up to them soon. Ryder began to wonder what Carter had really promised.

She had a feeling that Carter wasn’t joking, and it was a booty call from Leandro.

Ryder and Leandro stood at the edge of the trees, completely shocked by the sight in front of them. It took a few moments to fully understand what was going on, during which Carter and the others joined them.

Willard was on the ground with a Mad under him. His face was bright red, and he looked like steam was going to come out of his ears like a teapot. He was being jolted up and down as the Mad bucked beneath him. The Mad was trying to get to Willard, but Willard had pinned the thing down with his knees and body weight—which wasn’t much.

Carter pointed at them and laughed. “He looks like he’s banging the Mad.”

Carter was right. Willard and the Mad did look to be in a compromising position.

He placed his hand on Leandro’s shoulder and made kissing sounds. “Are you taking tips for later?”

Leandro shrugged Carter’s hand off.

“What are you playing at? Kill it!” Willard screamed as the Mad angled his head toward his neck to bite him. Willard punched him down.

“Looks like you’ve got him.” Carter nodded. “What happened?”

Massimo walked out of the bushes on the other side of the road and looked at Willard and then the others.

“Where have you been?” Willard snapped.

“I went for a jimmy riddle,” Massimo told them. Everyone looked at him.

“A piss,” Leandro explained.

“Jimmy riddle—piddle,” Massimo clarified, which was greeted with groans.

Massimo looked at Willard and started laughing.

“You freaky weirdoes, help me out!” Willard snapped, breathless. Soon he’d lose this fight and there’d be a Mad on the loose. Willard’s knife was in the grass just out of his reach. It had must have fallen out when the two started tussling.

Vicky stepped out of the trees, bloodier than they’d left her and with her shovel over her shoulder. It looked like her weapon of choice, and it suited her.

“Willard, courting problems as usual?” she snarked, looking down at him.

“Vicky! A ray of sunshine as always!”

She winked. “I aim to please.”

Carter nudged Leandro in the ribs and raised his eyebrows, grinning.

Ryder picked up his knife, put her boot on the Mad’s head, and drew the knife across his throat. Blood sprayed and Willard leapt off the body, but he wasn’t quick enough. He had blood splatters down his clean clothes and didn’t look thankful at all.

Ryder smile nervously.

“I want your records as well,” Willard said to Massimo. That instantly stopped Massimo’s laughter. It had taken him years to gather all the records.

“Sure,” he muttered and looked at Leandro.

Leandro would be relieved to get rid of the ABBA records, but he had a feeling that many runs to the abandoned mall were in his near future. Ryder would come with him to get a doggy bag, it would be fun.

Sergei swatted flies out of his way as he and Yegor sat on fallen trees waiting for Ryder and the others to leave. He hated flies and the outdoors, as they reminded him of where he was from. He’d never called that place home.

The bunker was his home.

He’d tried to erase from memory everything that had happened to him before moving to the bunker, but some things you just couldn’t forget. Unlike most people in the bunker, Sergei was actually happy to be there. It was all-out better than that other place. Afana had saved him.

The day Afana’s generals came had been unforgettable. He’d heard about men rounding people up, and he’d hoped that he’d be lucky enough to be taken. When they came to his camp Sergei ran to them, away from his family. His family didn’t try to stop him or get him away from them, like other families. Many kids’ parents were murdered by Afana’s men as they tried and failed to get their kids back, but not Sergei’s. He didn’t want to be with his parents any more than they wanted to be with him.

Sergei’s mother said he was too much like his grandfather, who had been a twisted drunk. He had been only seven when he was taken, and he wasn’t a drunk. Twisted maybe, but not a drunk.

That came later.

He remembered the first day she’d said that to him. He had been about five and had just skinned his first animal—Olli, the family cat. His mother loved it more than him. He’d gotten all the skin off in one piece, and had been quite pleased with his first attempt. His mother and father didn’t see it like that.

His mother sobbed over Olli and screamed at Sergei, calling him evil. His father comforted his mother, but not Sergei. They didn’t see how skilled he was