Sinners' Playground (The Harlequin Crew #1) - Caroline Peckham Page 0,113

men lay dead on the street and Merkle and our guys were moving to sweep the area for any others.

"Come on." Fox looked toward the lighthouse, his shoulders tense. "They'll know we're coming. We have to switch to Plan B."

"Hell yes, I love Plan B," JJ whooped and I smirked at him, happening to agree on that.

JJ ran around to the trunk of the car, popping it open and taking out a rucksack then slinging it over his shoulder before tossing a pack to me. Fox reached into the trunk and took the huge assault rifle, shouldering it and nodding to me. I grabbed the three plastic oars and Fox whistled to Merkle across the street to signal the change of plan.

Merkle nodded and started running up the road, taking his men with him while we hid in the shadows on the beach, waiting as they made a charge for the lighthouse. Gunfire soon echoed back to us from up near the looming Sailor's Eye. The light no longer worked on the top of the huge structure since the boat yard down this way was no longer used for commercial goods. But this marked the very edge of The Divide and if Maverick claimed this territory it would make it easier for The Damned Men to push further as they’d be claiming the best fucking lookout in the area.

"Come on," JJ encouraged, pushing me to get me moving and we all started running across the sand towards the waves.

It was pitch black out here and we had to make sure we weren't fucking spotted or the moon didn't decide to give us away. But so long as Merkle was keeping The Damned Men busy at the lighthouse, no one would be looking for us anyway.

JJ dropped his pack, taking out the folded black dingy and me and Fox stood back as he yanked the cord on it. Air filled it fast and as soon as it was full, I passed ski masks out from my bag and we tugged them on to hide our faces in case any lights flashed our way while we were on the water. JJ pushed the boat into the waves and we all grabbed onto the sides of it then ran into the sea.

I jumped in behind Fox while JJ dove in behind me and I tossed them an oar each before pushing my gun into the holster on my hip. We started rowing hard against the waves, totally silent but in complete synchronicity. We'd practised this a thousand times and knew each other to the depths of our souls and back anyway. We'd learned to communicate without words a long time ago and that was what made our unit so unwavering.

We were soon out in the open water, moving fast towards the lighthouse as we circled around to the rocky outcrop it sat on, coming up behind our enemies in the shadows. The waves were calm tonight and we made steady progress towards the dark rocks ahead of us.

Shouts of pain sounded out from somewhere ahead but it was impossible to tell if it was one of our men or Maverick's. We just had to grit our teeth, stick to the plan, keep moving. Reclaim our fucking land.

We finally made it to shore and Fox leapt out, tugging the boat up the rocks as we dove out too to help. Then we ran across the rocks towards the smooth stone wall that rose up high above us, the darkness thick and giving us good coverage as we reached it. We pressed ourselves to the cool wall and I took my handgun out, raising it as I moved behind Fox who had his assault rifle ready to fire.

We reached a back door which was firmly locked and I unzipped my pack, tossing Fox a small pack of explosives. He stripped the tape off the back and used the adhesive backing to stick it over the lock.

Fox stood well back, aiming the gun at the doorway and JJ snatched the trigger from my hand just as I was about to blow it, winking at me before pressing the button. Asshole.

A bang sounded that echoed through my skull as stone and a chunk of the door scattered at our feet. I forgot to curse JJ as Fox kicked the remains of the door open and swung his gun left and right, hunting for enemies. But none showed their faces.

We moved after him as he led the way