Page 61 of Guarded By Them

I swallowed a whelp of dismay and dropped to my knees on the ground. How had we not heard them coming? Wait, we had. When Ryan had heard something, it must have been them following us. I had no idea how they’d found the car, but they must have tracked us from there. Not that it mattered now.

The damage was done.

I turned my head slightly, trying to get an idea of who had followed us. I didn’t recognize any of their faces, but there were four of them. One for each of us.

“All of you, slowly take out your weapons and throw them out of reach,” the man who had a gun pressed to my head ordered. “Do it now. And don’t try anything. If I see you even breathe the wrong way, I will shoot your pretty little girlfriend.”

“He’s going to shoot me anyway,” I blurted.

I wanted the guys to do whatever it took to get free, even if it meant me dying. I cursed myself for not keeping hold of the gun Ryan had used to teach me to shoot. What had been the point in me learning if I didn’t have a gun? Not that it mattered. Each of the guys was armed, but there was no way they could risk attempting to shoot now. One of us would end up dead if they did.

“Shut your mouth!” the man spat.

Something struck me across the back of my skull—the handle of his weapon, perhaps. Pain exploded through my head, and I gasped and fell forward, my hands in the dirt.

“Don’t touch her,” Dillon snarled.

Infuriatingly, the man chuckled. “What are you going to do about it, Paddy? Now throw those weapons away.”

I blinked back tears as Kodee, Ryan, and Dillon each took out their guns and tossed them to the forest floor, out of reach. We were completely defenseless now.

I sensed the rage building in Dillon. I didn’t want him or any of the others to end up getting shot. I couldn’t see a way out of this. There were four of them and four of us, but we were the ones with the guns pointed at us. I wished we could step back in time, if only for a few minutes, and paid attention to what was happening behind us instead of focusing on the deer. I had been filled with such joy at the sight, it had almost felt like a blessing, but then I’d been dragged down to hell.

The man who held a gun to Dillon’s head spat, “You shot our guys, all because of this little bitch. You think we’re going to let you get away with that?”

So, these were Joe Nettie’s men. Not that it really mattered now. We were going to die out here, in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps we were close enough to the border that the guards would hear the gunshots and come looking. They might find our bodies, but the men who’d shot us would be long gone by then. It would mean Joe Nettie would most likely walk away from his trial, but I was long past caring about that. It had never been my fight. I’d only ever promised to give evidence because I’d thought it would keep me alive. Maybe I’d been completely selfish, and I should have just let them kill me. The guys would at least have still been safe then.

The guy behind Ryan shoved him in the back. “Who else were you working with in the city?”

“No one,” Ryan snapped. “It’s just us.”

“Bullshit.”

He kicked Ryan in the back, and Ryan folded over, a deep groan of pain emitting from his throat.

My heart lurched. “Hey! Leave him alone.”

“You have a gun to your head,” he said, amusement lacing his voice. “Don’t worry about him getting a kick.”

“I say we shoot one of them first, just to make sure they’re telling the truth and they worked alone,” his friend suggested. “I bet they’ll start talking once they realize they’re going to end up dead.”

“If we know you’re going to kill us,” Kodee growled, “don’t you think that’s going to make us even less likely to talk?”

The guy glared at Kodee. “You can shut up, too.”

“They can’t tell us anything more.” One of the other guys spat onto the ground beside Dillon. “I say we just shoot them all together.”

“Yeah, I wanna get out of here,” agreed the one who had a gun to Dillon’s head. “These fucking insects are driving me nuts.”

The sun was going down, and the midges and mosquitos were out in clouds. Good. It was a small thing, but I hoped they’d bite the shit out of these bastards. Make them suffer.

I looked to my right, to where Dillon was on his knees, the gun jammed against the back of his head. He caught my eye.

I’m sorry. I mouthed at him. I love you.

He shook his head, a barely perceptible movement, but enough to tell me I didn’t need to be sorry.

I love you, too, he mouthed back.

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