and caught my eye as he pulled another smoke grenade from the clip on his belt and I nodded once, seeing his plan as clear as day.
He tugged the pin free and reached up, tossing the smoking canister into the helicopter through the open door before they got a chance to close it, causing the guards to yell out in fright.
I didn't give them time to recover from their shock, grasping the edge of the open door above me and heaving myself up and into the helicopter, making sure I didn't look down at the fall below us for a single second.
A gun was levelled at my head the moment I stood and Tatum's alarmed scream sounded through the haze of pink smoke just as I managed to knock the pistol aside before the guard could fire. The loud bang made my ears ring as his bullet sailed out through the open door into the nothing beyond and my heart leapt as I wrestled with him before he could fire again.
I wrapped my arms around him and whirled him around using brute strength, launching him out of the open door behind me before he even got the chance to try and fight me off. He fell with a scream that was drowned out by the roar of the propellors overhead and I forgot about him before he even hit the ground.
I dove at the other three guards who were little more than shadows in the pink smoke as the helicopter tipped sideways and Tatum yelled my name, like even in the murky depths of the smoke she could recognise me.
"We've got you, princess," I promised her just as a heavy fist found my jaw and I was knocked sideways by the force of it.
It was too smoky to be sure who was who within the confines of the belly of the helicopter, but seeing as I was happy to kill each and every one of them, that wasn't much of a problem for me.
I wrenched a knife from my belt, driving it into the chest of one of the guards as he lurched at me then lunged for another before he’d even fallen back into his chair. But just as I swung towards him, the helicopter dipped dramatically and I lost my footing, falling backwards towards the open door with my heart leaping as I dropped my knife and tried to grab anything at all to stop my fall.
My gut plummeted as I fell out of the door, but before I could fall to my death, a hand caught mine in a firm grasp and my gaze lifted from the churning propellors to meet Saint Memphis's cool, dark eyes.
The smoke grenade tumbled over my feet and twirled away into the darkness of the city below as the helicopter lurched the other way again.
"Watch yourself, brother," Saint growled like me almost dying had been a major inconvenience to him as he hauled me back into the belly of the aircraft.
I shoved him aside as one of the guards lunged at him, catching a fist to the jaw for my troubles before I was knocked from my feet and fell hard on my back with the asshole on top of me.
I fought like a demon, using every last drop of power in my limbs as I punched and punched as hard as I fucking could, feeling bone break as my opponent tried to pin me down beneath him.
Three gunshots went off in quick succession and Tatum's scream made my blood run cold as I failed to see anything beyond the beast of a man on top of me.
With a snarl of determination, I managed to get my knees up between us and I kicked out as hard as I could. The guard screamed as he was launched right out of the open door and I swiped blood from my face with the back of my hand as I got to my knees.
"Easy now," warned the asshole we'd been tailing earlier to find the lab, glaring at us from his position beside Tatum where he had a knife pressed to her throat.
Tatum's big blue eyes were wild and furious, not a drop of fear in them, just that burning determination to live which I loved so fucking much.
"I can put a bullet between your eyes before you spill so much as a drop of her blood," Saint threatened, his pistol aimed directly at Jonas as he stood facing off against him.
But the fact