Ruthless People by J.J. McAvoy Page B

were a book he was trying to read, but it was in a language he didn’t understand.
    “Yes?”
    He shook his head. “We’re here.”
    And sure enough, the helicopter began its illegal descent on the beach.
    “Sir, ma’am,” Declan said, looking between us both. “We have a problem.”
    “What?” Liam and I asked at the same time.
    Monte clicked away at his computer. “The Valero have just gotten the recorder and
     are heading further out to sea. They have a boat waiting.”
    Taking a deep breath, I pushed the button overhead. “Jinx, take us . . .” I looked
     over at Declan and Monte for the coordinates.
    “38.09, -72.50,” they both said, quickly.
    Liam nodded, looking over at Antonio and Neal as the helicopter pulled up. “They’ll
     bring it to us. Melody and I will wait on their boat. You guys will shoot from the
     door.”
    They nodded while Liam stood up and looked over to me. He was doing so well until
     he opened his mouth again. “Or you can shoot and Neal and I can go.”
    Standing up, I glared right back at him. “Give me a rifle and the bullet goes in your
     spine,” I told him as I waited by the helicopter door. Jinx was going to have to circle
     around continuously. Liam stood in front of me, hand on the door handle and just stared
     at me, once again. Always with the staring, the creeper. For a moment, in the midst
     of the storm that was in his eyes, I saw worry. He was fucking worried about me, the
     fucker. This was not my first—nor would it be my last—jump out of an aircraft. He
     needed to grab his balls and take a shot of testosterone, because I wasn’t worried
     for shit. I just wanted this over so I could drink myself to sleep.
    Monte walked over to hand us parachutes, but we both shook our heads. They would only
     slow us down enough to be shot. We need to drop down quick and hard.
    “Jinx, take us as low as possible,” I said.
    Our stomachs dipped as we felt the helicopter drop. Somehow, knowing before Jinx even
     had to speak, Liam opened the door and in the darkness of the night, we could both
     see the yacht waiting below. He looked back at me, but I ignored him and pushed off
     the wall to jump. The moment the cold breeze hit my skin, I braced myself for the
     impact of the deck. When my body landed, I rolled as bullets came flying my way.
    Grabbing onto my gun, I turned and shot one right between his eyes just as Liam dropped
     onto the shoulders of another. There were screams and curses in Russian as Liam dove
     right beside me.
    “Come here often?” he said, chuckling as adrenaline clearly pumped through his veins.
     I supposed he was no longer seeing me as a china doll in that moment, but as another
     person on his side. Finally , the dipshit.
    “Not really.” I tried not to smirk back as more Russians came shooting at us. “The
     hospitality here is fucking shit.”
    “You should write a strongly worded letter.”
    Rolling my eyes, I turned and shot a man on the top deck in the kneecap. “This is
     more eco-friendly. Save the trees, and all that shit.”
    He grinned and then shot the man now screaming in pain in the head. “I was never good
     at recycling.”
    Two more men came forward, one right behind Liam, and another behind me. We both raised
     our hands as they yell at us.
    “ Kto vy? Vy lokhi! ” 9 they shouted at us.
    Liam smiled at me—he truly smiled for once—obviously enjoying this. “ Ya , Liam Kallahan. Eto moy zhenikh, vy tozhe mertv .” 10
    Just as the man finished, bullets went into the side of their heads, courtesy of Antonio
     and Neal, before the helicopter spun out of view once again. A second later, Liam’s
     phone rang and he placed it on speaker.
    “They are four miles away and will be there shortly,” Declan said. Liam said nothing
     before hanging up as I reached down to grab their guns.
    “Yarygin or Stechkin Pistol?” I asked him, causing him to frown.
    “The Russians can’t make guns for shit,” he said in disgust,