Page 61 of Talk to Me

Down the first one went.

Pop.

The second.

Pop. Pop.

Third and fourth.

Pop.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

Let them serve as a warning to the others who might follow. The alarm suddenly sounded outside, the muddy light went spotlight bright and the lamps seemed to rotate position. They were going to use the light to reveal where Locke and McQuade went with Patch.

I thought not.

Pop. Pop. Pop.

The .308 worked her magic. The lights extinguished as fast as their flare could expand. One went down in a shower of bursting glass and hot wires. When the last one was out, I targeted the door.

Three men had made it out during the distraction. I winged the one farthest forward as he dove for cover before taking headshots on the other two. Their survival rate would go up if they halted pursuit.

The idiots inside seemed to finally get the picture that coming out through their single chokepoint was a dumb idea.

Excellent. I switched weapons, taking the reprieve to launch a few grenades toward the lot. They had to have other vehicles elsewhere or they were bussing in their guards. Cause they had way more people exiting than the vehicles would have accounted for.

My phone buzzed in my back pocket as I reclaimed my rifle. My winged man didn’t let the grenades flush him out. Ice in his veins.

I could respect that.

Another two buzzes. They had Patch at the vehicle. Extraction imminent.

As much as I’d like to play with this shooting gallery, it was time to go. I broke down the guns and repacked them without breaking cover. Then I hugged the weapons bag and rolled down the slight slope toward the water.

I didn’t go all the way, I didn’t have time to deal with the local reptiles. Once I was lower, I rose to my feet and began to run. We’d parked nearly two kilometers away and used the local flora for cover.

They wouldn’t leave the grove until I was in sight. With no lights from the parking lot and clouds having gradually rolled in during the day, I didn’t need to move with the shadows. The whole world was a shadow and my eyes had adjusted.

At less than half a klick away something hot creased my side and I pivoted, siting the muzzle flash in the dark as another bullet whistled so perilously close to my head that I felt the heat of it.

I fired in rapid succession and heard the grunt and collapse of my pursuer.

Then I was running again. Adrenaline sang through me, giving me the speed I needed. McQuade had a gun pointed at me as I descended into the copse.

He nodded and then motioned to the passenger seat. Then he was starting the car. This was the moment where everything could go wrong. I slid my rifle bag into the back and flicked a look at Patch. I couldn’t see anything except long hair escaping the blanket she’d been wrapped in. There was an IV in, already attached to her hand.

McQuade worked fast. Gun in hand, I pulled my seatbelt on. I needed to focus on shooting, not flying out of my seat. As it was, I put the shoulder strap behind me so the lap belt was all that remained. She was with us and safe. I could do a full assessment once we were clear of these assholes.

“Secure?” McQuade checked, his gaze on the rearview mirror.

“Secure,” Locke answered.

“Stay down and cover her.” McQuade said nothing else as he put his foot down and the vehicle climbed back onto the road. We had no headlights and all the interior lights were turned down.

A moving target was harder to hit, especially if you couldn’t see it. The only problem we had was I could hit one I could hear. There was no muffling the engine.

Silence filled the vehicle as McQuade accelerated down the road. I kept one eye on the side mirror. The flames from the fires behind us quickly vanished, swallowed by the darkness.

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