Page 171 of Finish Line

“Yes.” Nick heads toward his room.

I go to Dom’s room because I left a black tank top on his dresser.

“Where are you going?” He walks into his room.

“Don’t even start, Dom. If you’re going, I’m going. I can’t sit here worrying if you’re hurt or not.” My hands move to my hips. “If you expected me to stay here, why have you been taking me to the gun range?”

“I don’t know.” He runs his hand through his hair. “The thought of you hurt makes me sick. I want to protect you.”

I cup his face. “I love you for it most of the time, but if you make me stay behind, I could never forgive you. I need this. How you feel right now is how I feel about you doing this.”

He huffs out. “Fine.”

We make it to the armory, where Frank hands me a bulletproof vest. “Made it for you.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Thanks.”

I grab a thigh holster and slide a .45 into it. Mav hands me a machine gun. He covered the different types when we went to a range, but right now, for my life, I can’t remember. I fill my pockets with extra clips.

We file into two SUVs and take off to St. Mary’s City.

About half a mile away from the warehouse, a Frank pulls us over.

We’ll walk the rest of the way.

Cin and Cam stay with the SUV if we need to retreat. Before we start our trek, my guys kiss me and tell me to be safe.

Frank leads the way, followed by Aaron, Beau, Nick, me, Mav, then Dom.

We arrive at the warehouse, where a garage bay door and a regular door beside it are closed.

Frank heads over to the regular door and jimmies it open. It creaks and echoes through the warehouse.

On the way over, Nick shows us the layout. This warehouse has two floors. Old, broken-down machines are scattered throughout this floor. Farther back are what look like offices and a break room. The owner’s office is on the second floor.

Beau is at the rear, and he makes it into the warehouse as the first shot goes off.

“I can’t see where the shots are coming from,” Mav yells. “Be careful.”

He runs in and ducks behind one of the machines.

“Go, Shelby, I’ll cover you,” Nick says.

I run and crouch beside Mav. Shots come from more than one place now.

A guy sneaks his way toward Frank’s back. Frank is busy with another guy, so he’s unaware of the threat. Without thinking, I aim and shoot him. Frank turns around, sees the guy on the ground, and looks at me. He gives me a nod. I bend over and throw up.

Dom comes up behind me. “Shelby?”

“I’m okay. I had to shoot him.”

“Yes, you did. If you hadn’t, he would have shot Frank.” He rubs my back. “It’s not much, but you did the right thing.”

We work our way through the main floor but don’t find Roger. We return from the last office when someone runs on the grated floor above us. Three people run toward the stairs and shoot.

I recognize one right away. I fire at him as I follow. Roger is out the door before I can catch up to him.

Dom yells at me to wait, but I don’t listen. I push the door open, and a shot pings the frame beside me. I’m out of bullets for my machine gun, so I pull out my 9mm.

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