Page 26 of The Edge of Intensity

I scan my surroundings and notice Marvin jogging our way with his gun drawn. “How many perps, do you know?”

“Two in the house.” Kathleen coughs. “Parker was going to take them out.”

She coughs again and I watch as Marvin takes a small bottle from his bulletproof vest and hands it to Kathleen.

Taking a sip she coughs once more and grumbles, “What the fuck? Who in their sane mind would carry whiskey instead of water during a mission?”

“A man who’d rather have a good last sip if all hell goes loose.” Marvin pins her with a penetrating stare. “You okay?”

“Better than the two dead bodies in the stables,” she fires back.

He gives her a tight nod and glances at me. “Stay here, I’m gonna check out the house.”

There’s no way I’m going to leave my old lady, and I’ll gladly listen to the man and trust him to clear the house.

“Wait,” Kathleen croaks. “Look.”

We all watch Parker carrying Cosima out of the backdoor. Marvin rushes toward them and fires off some words. Parker nods and says something in return. Marvin enters the house while Parker carries Cosima over to us.

He carefully places Cosima next to her sister and says, “I think we’re all clear. Marvin is gonna double check. I have no idea what the status is on the brothers who were covering the front, but we’ll know soon enough.”

“What a fucking clusterfuck,” I growl. “That Erwin fucker had orders written on his kitchen wall. A fucking hitlist, a plan to take all of us out, and the women along with all the animals too.”

Roper shakes his head. “Why the hell go on a rampage, suicide mission?”

“According to Marvin they were going to leave tonight and settle down in another state,” I grimly tell him.

Kathleen lets herself drop into the dirt and as she stares up into the sky she mutters, “Thank fuck we managed to kill them all to prevent them from ruining other peoples, and animals’ lives.”

“All clear,” Marvin bellows as he jogs in our direction. “EMTs are at the scene.”

“How are the brothers doing who were covering the front?” Parker questions.

Marvin comes to a stop next to me. “Three are severely injured, the others have minor injuries.”

He steps forward and tries to scoop up Kathleen who is fighting him tooth and nail.

“Get the fuck away from me,” she snarls.

He has a solid grip on her and starts walking. “Stop fighting. You need to be checked out. You were pulled from a fire and you have blood on you.”

“I can fucking walk,” I can hear her say, but it’s useless because Marvin is still carrying her when he enters the house.

I wrap my arm around Eastlynne and pull her close. “Come on, you need to be checked out as well.”

“I’m fine,” she mutters and turns to Cosima. “What about you, Cosima?”

“In pain and can’t see shit. Nothing new because that’s how I fucking was before people came in to shoot up the damn place. And why do I smell smoke? Are the horses okay?”

“Kathleen and I managed to set them free,” Eastlynne tells her.

Cosima turns her head and I know she just mentioned she can’t see, but it’s as if she’s trying hard to glance around. “We need to get them back.”

“I’ll handle it,” Parker rumbles and grabs his phone.

A few heartbeats later he ends the call and says, “Alfie and Joaquin took out two fuckers who tried to shoot their way onto the property. They think they’re in the clear now too. A few of them are coming over with trailers to take the horses to our ranch.”

“Thank fuck,” Cosima grumbles. “That’ll give me a few days to be completely by myself.”

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